Chapter Twenty Four
1700 EST
1395 Kalmia Drive
Harm pulled into his driveway. He would never get used to the idea of owning such a huge home with an oak tree in the front yard. On his way home he had picked up some pasta for him and Mac and some bread to go with it. He had also picked up the pictures that Mattie had put in for him.
He started making dinner for them when he heard Mac pull up into the drive. He watched her get out of the car. She looked so beautiful to him even though all she was wearing was a pair of jeans and a white baby-fit t-shirt paired with a brown belt and brown clogs. In her hands she held a funnel cake lightly sprinkled with white powder sugar complete with strawberries in the middle.
He walked up to the door to let her in. "Welcome Mac. This is the first time you have been here since the trail started. Let me show you some finished products." He took her on a quick tour of the house, he showed her Mattie room which still had the sign on the door saying Keep Out Or Else, he showed her the guest rooms that he had made up for his parents and various other guests. He then took her upstairs to the FROG.
The FROG had been converted to a large play area with Harm's old couch in it. He had even sprung for a large television and two papasan chairs so Mattie could entertain her friends one day.
"Harm, I thought you were going to turn the FROG into an extra apartment."
"I will one day, but I did this for Mattie for right now. I wanted her to have an area where she can entertain her friends without having to contend with Mackenzie's crying, and her getting into everything as she gets older and mobile." He heard the timer ding through the baby monitor which he had set up in the kitchen. Mac gave him a curious look. "Well these things come in handy. Mattie has already warned me though not to use it to spy on her."
Mac let out a short laugh, "Welcome to teenage-hood Flyboy."
"I know Mac, I know. Lets go eat. I have us set up on the screened in porch. Why don't you head out there and make yourself comfortable while I make us our plates. The salad should already be out there, and I will grab the dinner rolls. I made spaghetti for us tonight."
They made their way down the stairs. Mac went out to the patio while Harm busied himself with the dinner rolls. Mac sat in the patio and stared out into the pool area. She put crossed her hands over her arms, she flinched when she realized she had touched her bruises unconsciously. Unfortunately for her, it brought back the memories of the assault, and the tears started welling up in her eyes. Harm walked out and saw her backed turned to him.
"Fresh rolls and I brought out butter for you to put on them." He set everything down and looked into her eyes. His gaze followed her arms to were he saw the remains of a bruise, the shape of a hand almost. He could tell she tried to cover it up with makeup. He sank down in front of her chair and started thumbing away the tears. "Honey, let it all out. Trust me, it will make you a lot better."
Mac looked at him incredulously. "How would you know?" Mac pushed away from him and got up and ran towards the door leading to the pool. Harm instincts kicked into high gear and ran after her.
He caught up to her at the edge of the pool where she sank to the ground. "Baby, scream, scream at the world."
"It won't make it better."
"Yes it will, trust me I know."
"No you wouldn't. You haven't been tortured before! You don't understand what it's like."
He sank down next to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, and brought his lips down to her bruise, and kissed her softly there. "Mac, never in my life have I wanted to win a trial so badly. I want to put these jerks away for what they did to you. If I you had let me closer to you, I would have been able to help you through this. Mac, you are never alone, and I don't want you to forget it."
"You would have gone off half-cocked like you did when I was in Paraguay if I had told you initially what they had done to me. I wanted to wait until the trial was over. I am strong enough to handle this on my own. Besides, no one I know can help me through this, no one knows what is like to be tortured, to want death so badly, that you begin to welcome the thought."
"You start wishing that you were dead. You even start reaching for the shards of glass on the ground. You can hear the voices in your head telling you that it would be so much easier, to succumb to the pain to go quietly into the night. Then there is that other voice in your head telling you 'Damn It. You serve the United States of America, you do not back down, and you fight, you fight for everything. These bastards are not going to win."
She looked into his eyes. She saw something behind the veil he was keeping up, "China!?"
"Damn, no one was supposed to ever bring that up again. It was perhaps the one thing that Krennick ever did in her life that was good for me. If it wasn't for her I would still be in that jail in Hong Kong."
"Harm, what happened?"
"Nothing in comparison to you."
"What happened, please tell me."
"Why do you want to know so bad?"
"How do you know what I am going through, and how come I didn't read about this in your service file?"
"It was classified. But, I'm gonna fill you in anyway. It was a year before you came to Jag. Meg and Krennick helped broker a deal to get me out of China. They had rammed my fishing boat, and held me a jail cell for a week. They fed me so many drugs, alternated between cold and hot, light and dark, SOP for torture. Except they let me think my father was in the cell below me. I didn't feel right for weeks. I can still hear Dad in my head," Harm looked away from her, he didn't want her to see the pain. "But this was nothing compared to what they did to you. Those bastards almost raped you."
"Harm, what they did to you was just as bad what they did to me. They messed with you head, feeding on your hopes and dreams that your dad was alive. I would have done anything to protect you from that."
"Well it was something you needed to know. I can help you heal, let me help you Sarah."
He held her tight. This time after being tortured, she understood why Harm had acted the way he did.
"I understand Paraguay now. You came to save me from what you had to go through."
"That, and other reasons Mac. Just know that I will always be here for you always." Why couldn't he just say that he loved her? How hard could it be to say those three little words.
"I understand that now. How am I ever going to repay you for everything?"
"Tell me that that everything is going to be alright with you, that is all I ever wanted. All I have ever wanted for you was for you to be happy."
"You know, I feel happiness right now, and I hope you feel it too after I get finished telling you this." Mac said turning deadly serious for a moment.
"Sarah, honey, what is it?"
"You know, there is really no easy way of telling you this, and I hope you will forgive me for keeping it a secret so long, I just wanted to wait until after the trial," she took a deep breath mentally preparing herself for what she was about to say, "Harm, I was told by a Lt. Blumenthal that I am Mackenzie's biological mother."
