A Snowy Weekend – Part 13

Disclaimer - See part one for all important information

9:41 AM

Mac still looked agog at Harm, eagerly awaiting his explanation about what he'd planned. "Come on, Harm. Don't keep us waiting here. What is this 'supermarket'-talk about?"

"The Ebenezer supermarket," Harm corrected Mac's statement with a smirk and took a seat in one of her armchairs, placing his younger godson on his lap. "Jimmy and I visited the Ebenezer supermarket. Oh, and may I add what a very nice lady you have as a neighbor, Ms. MacKenzie. She reminds me a lot of my grandmother. Mrs. Ebenezer says hi by the way."

Mac frowned and then raised her eyebrow. "You two were visiting Mrs. Ebenezer? Why?" She incredulously asked, not believing her ears were working right at the moment. "Please, Harm. Tell us about your plan B." Now more than before Mac was impatient to hear about her partner's idea. "What are you up to?"

"If you insist," Harm promptly said and thought about what happened just a few minutes earlier.

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Flashback

A few minutes earlier

Mrs. Ebenezer's Apartment

Harm lightly knocked on the door and hoped he wouldn't disturb Mac's neighbor. Jimmy stood right next to him, watching his godfather with hawk-eyes.

After a lot of thinking he'd finally come up with a plan B to do another Rabb family tradition with his favorite boys and girl. However, soon Harm had to give up this idea since Mac's kitchen was simply missing most of the supplies they would have needed.

Thankfully, he found a package of chocolate chips in one of her cabinets while rummaging through Mac's kitchen and immediately thought about baking his grandma's favorite chocolate chip cookies with Mac and his godsons. Only two ingredients were missing and Harm now hoped to get some help from Mac's neighbor.

"Yes?" An elderly woman asked through the partly opened door.

"Mrs. Ebenezer?" Harm asked and got a little nod as response. "My name is Harmon Rabb. I'm a friend of your neighbor Sarah MacKenzie."

Mrs. Ebenezer immediately showed him a bright smile and opened the door of her apartment wider. "Oh, you're Sarah's commander."

At first Harm frowned while hearing what Mrs. Ebenezer was calling him, but then he returned her smile and nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

"What can I do for you, Commander? Sarah and Little AJ are okay, aren't they?" The elderly woman asked with worry clearly audible in her voice. She looked down at Jimmy, who shyly hid his face behind Harm's leg.

"Please call me Harm and yes, Ma'am, Sarah and AJ are okay. But obviously we're stranded in the apartment today and I thought about baking some chocolate chip cookies, but…," Harm started to explain.

"But Sarah's kitchen doesn't have the ingredients for the cookies," Mrs. Ebenezer concluded Harm's sentence and chuckled. "Am I right, Harm?"

Harm laughed and shook his head in wonder. "You really do know my partner, don't you?"

Mrs. Ebenezer just nodded her head and laughed as well. "I once asked her if she had some vanilla extract I could borrow and Sarah told me that she had none and that baking wasn't really her thing."

Now it was Harm nodding his head. "It obviously is still not her thing, because the vanilla extract is still missing. And so is baking soda."

"Why don't you and your little boy here come in, Harm? I'm sure I can help you out," Mrs. Ebenezer said, letting him and Jimmy enter her apartment.

"That would be great, Ma'am. At first I thought about making a gingerbread house, but to find any ingredients for this project in Mac's kitchen was literally a dead end. I think we could've made the icing and the decoration, but that's about it," Harm told her while he and Jimmy followed the elderly woman into her kitchen.

"So baking chocolate chip cookies wasn't the first choice?" Mrs. Ebenezer asked and took the vanilla extract and some baking soda out of one cabinet.

Harm took the items out of her hands. "Thanks, and no, baking the cookies wasn't my first choice. I wanted to do one of the Rabb traditions and make a gingerbread house with Mac and the boys. I've done quite a few with my grandmother while I was a little boy, but I guess that's something we'll have to do another time."

"Maybe not," Mrs. Ebenezer only replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Maybe not, Harm. I think I can help you out with your problem."

"How so?"

Mrs. Ebenezer smiled at him and pointed with her forefinger behind her back. "The tradition you had with your grandmother as a child is the same tradition my grandson and I have. Timmy, my daughter and son-in-law wanted to visit me this weekend but sadly, my grandson got the flu and they couldn't come," she started to explain and then turned around to show Harm all the items she had for the gingerbread house. "I already baked the wall, roof and chimney pieces. I would like you to take them and the other stuff I bought for the icing and the decoration."

Harm was perplexed. "Are you sure, Ma'am?"

"Very. If you don't take it I would throw all this into the trashcan anyway."

"I don't know what to say," Harm quietly answered, still being perplexed about the offer and the positive outcome of his little visit.

"Just say thank you, Harm. I'm just glad that I can help and I know you'll have a great time."

Harm quickly gave her a peck on her cheek and then one of his best flyboy grins. "Thank you, Mrs. Ebenezer," he said and then came up with an idea. "I'm sorry about your grandson though. Why don't you just come with Jimmy and me? You could spend the day with the boys, Mac and I. You could help us build the gingerbread house. I'm sure the kids and Sarah would love to have you around."

Mrs. Ebenezer smiled and shook her head. "Thank you, Harm, but this is something you should enjoy with the boys and Sarah," she disclaimed. Then she got an impish grin on her face and winked. "Maybe you and Sarah could practice for the future."

To say that this statement made Harm speechless and feeling dumbfounded was an understatement. First she was calling him 'Sarah's commander' and now this one. 'What's going on here?' Harm thought to himself. "What exactly has Mac told you about me, Mrs. Ebenezer?"

"Oh, not much. It was more the things she hasn't said. You know, the words you can read in between."

Harm chuckled. "You sound like a lawyer."

"No, Commander. Just like an old woman with a lot of experience and a very good knowledge of human nature," she explained and then added with a smile. "And now you better go before Sarah calls out the cavalry."

Harm once more kissed her cheek and gave her a bear hug. Then he took the items from the kitchen counter before following Mrs. Ebenezer and Jimmy to the apartment door. "Thanks for everything, Mrs. Ebenezer."

"My pleasure. Please tell Sarah I said hi."

"Will do," Harm promised. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Harm," Mrs. Ebenezer said. Then she looked down at Jimmy and waved. "Bye, bye, Jimmy."

Jimmy shyly waved back before following his godfather back to Mac's apartment.

End of Flashback

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Present

Mac's Apartment

"Harm?" Mac called and once more tried to get his attention.

"Huh?"

Mac chuckled and shook her head. "You spaced out on us, Commander. You wanted to tell us about why you were at Mrs. Ebenezer's. What's in these boxes and bags?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. Okay, to make a long story short," Harm started to say and got up from the armchair to show Mac what he had in all the bags and boxes. "I thought we could do our very own gingerbread house, but your kitchen, Ms. MacKenzie, doesn't have what's needed for a project like that."

Mac only shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not Martha Stewart, Harm."

"Yeah, Mrs. Ebenezer and I came to the exact same conclusion," Harm countered. He got an 'excuse me'-look from her in response and immediately continued with his story. "Anyway. I found a box of chocolate chips in your cabinet and thought we at least could bake my grandmother's famous chocolate chip cookies. However, since you're not Martha Stewart, two important ingredients were still missing."

"Only two? Wow, Martha Stewart better look out then," Mac joked and gave him a sweet smile.

Harm let out a snore. "Yeah, right."

"So I gather you went to Mrs. Ebenezer to get those two missing things?"

"Yes, Sherlock, that's the reason why Jimmy and I visited her. And guess what, she had those missing ingredients in her kitchen."

"Which means we're able to bake chocolate chip cookies today," Mac concluded and high-fived with AJ, who was still sitting right next to her. "I like this idea, Harm."

"Me too," Little AJ immediately agreed with his godmother and giggled, the disappointment from earlier was already gone and forgotten.

"Oh, wait, you two. You haven't heard the best part yet," Harm said and took out a box with the wall, roof and chimney pieces for the gingerbread house to show them. "Mrs. Ebenezer made these so she could build a gingerbread house with her grandson."

"And why do you have them now?"

"Timmy got the flu and couldn't come with his parents. That's why she gave me all this stuff," Harm explained and pointed at the boxes and bags on Mac's coffee table. "Now the only question is if you feel like working on a gingerbread house?" He wanted to know and first looked at Little AJ before turning his gaze to Mac.

Little AJ and Mac looked at each other, started to smile and exchange a quick nod. Then they turned their gaze back to Harm. "I'm in," they said in unison and giggled.

Harm laughed and sighed in relief. "Great, then we better get started. Maybe we'll even be able to bake the cookies as well."

"Yes!" Little AJ yelled and jumped from the couch.

"Ye, ye, ye," Jimmy happily copied his big brother's words and started to bounce up and down right next to Harm.

Harm took him into his arms and gave him a hug. Then he looked at his elderly godson and saw that he was still wearing his pajamas. "Why don't you get changed and then we can start," he told AJ.

"Okay," Little AJ answered and quickly ran into the guestroom.

Mac slowly stood up from the couch and stepped nearer to Harm. "I like your plan B, Harm. There really is always a plan B, isn't there?" She quietly asked and touched Jimmy's soft cheek. Then she looked deeply into Harm's eyes and could see the bright glimmer in them.

"Yes, I promise. There's always a plan B. You just have to look and find it," Harm softly repeated his words from earlier this morning, never breaking their gaze.

"Don't make a promise you can't keep," Mac quietly said and quickly kissed his cheek. Then she turned around, got the bags and boxes from the coffee table before making her way to the kitchen.

Harm's eyes followed her and as soon as she disappeared into the kitchen, he quietly replied. "I haven't yet, Sarah. I haven't yet."

TBC…