Chapter Six

2200 EST
Rabb Acres

Belleville, PA

Harm looked over at his sleeping partner and couldn't bear to wake up his other Sarah. He walked over to the passenger side and gently picked her up into his arms.

"Harm?"

"Shush, go back to sleep. You must be real tired from driving and the fair." He told her. To his amazement, his normally feisty no nonsense marine wrapped her hands around his neck and carried her into the house and up the stairs. Once he had settled her into the guest room he went to his own room. Taking off his jeans and hanging them over the chair, Harm heard something clink to the ground . . . the key!

Harm picked it up and studied it, he knew which room it went to in the house, the room that his grandmother kept locked up. He remembered the one time that he tried to get into the room, Grams was so mad at him, he vowed to himself he would never try to get into the room again.

Settling into his bed he looked at the ceiling. When he was younger he loved his room, his grandmother had painstakingly covered the ceiling with planes soaring into the sky. Harm had always sworn that he would do the same for his children. Counting the number stars that his grandmother had put on the ceiling he lulled himself to sleep.

0630 EST
Rabb Acres
Belleville, PA

Mac woke up the next morning still in the clothes she had worn the day before in a strange room. Looking around she remembered she was at Harm's grandmother's house. Slipping on a sweatshirt, she started her quest to find her partner. She tried several doors, realizing that she didn't know which one was his bedroom, she finally found the right one, and she knew she did because of the planes on the ceiling. She smiled. She had always envisioned Harm painting planes on the ceiling for their little boy.

The window was open and Mac peered out. "Hey Ninja Girl, you wanna join me out here?"

Mac was started and bumped her head on the window. "Harm, you could give me a heart attack, I didn't realize you were out here." She said gingerly rubbing her head while stepping out to the roof.

Harm reached over and helped her steady herself. When she finally got her bearings she sat next to him and he started rubbing her head. "You are going to have a nasty bump. I'm sorry for startling you."

"Don't worry about it." She looked out into the distance and saw the sun rising across the meadows. "Harm, its breathtaking."

"It's my favorite spot. Gram used to tell me that if I ruined the shingles that she would kick my six." He laughed.

"So what do we have to do today?"

"I need to pick up Sergei from the airport and meet with the preacher." He told her while playing with the key in his hand.

"Okay, I'm here too, tell me what you need me to do. I'll pick up Sergei, you go meet with the preacher." She smiled at him. "What is that key for?"

"Gram told me in her will to open the room I have been dying to get into, but she left instructions for me to wait to do it until after her funeral." He explained to her. "Okay, I have to go collect the eggs and feed the livestock. When we get done with everything do you want to go horseback riding?"

"I don't know how."

"Then we will ride together and I will teach you. Gram raised these horses to be gentle creatures."

"I don't know."

"It will be fun, I promise you."

"Okay Flyboy."

Harm helped her up off the top of the roof. He caught the far away look in her eyes.

"Sarah, what are you thinking about?"

"Your grandparents, what were they like?"

"Gram was a gentle loving woman. She was quiet, yet strong. You could always tell she dealt with a lot of things in her life. My grandfather was Peter Rabb, I didn't know much about him."

"Your grandfather's name was Peter? I thought it was Francis."

"Why did you think that? Actually now that I think I had an uncle named Francis. He died in the war. Gramps died while in summer of 1942 during the battle of Midway."

"Oh."

Mac climbed into the window with Harm and they started their task for the days.