Anyway!
Enjoy!
Jackie
Part 50 – Is It Too Late To Elope?Harm's a great kisser. Scratch that, he's freaking awesome! And those hands of his! The man is sneakier than a Marine recon team on a mission. He's trailing kisses down my neck as his hand finds a little spot on my lower back. He fans his fingers over the area.. Involuntarily, I moan into his mouth and arch my body against him.
Horny teenagers have nothing on us.
I always knew that with Harm things would be hot and passionate but never that it had the ability to burn hotter than a supernova. "You never told me what you wanted, Mac."
This is true and though, it's not quite the answer he was looking for, "You. Just you." I whisper against his lips and then we're kissing again. There's something nagging at the back of my mind, but at the moment, it can't be all that important.
Harm's rich chuckle tells me other wise. "Wrong answer, counselor." Gently he takes my face between his hands and kisses me deeply and then stops. Just like that, he stops. Damn the man. "I need to put some space between us before the wedding planner, Jen and Harriet catch us making out like teenagers."
"Teenagers ain't got nothing on us." I snort and consider that, perhaps, the flyboy has a point. Well, we were making out in his car. I rest my head against the car seat and sigh. "What I want. . .I don't know. . .What do you want?" Considering that Harm is a man, I can tell that the question is going to be answered by some sort of diversionary tactic.
"I want whatever you want, babe." He isn't quite sincere either. When I lie, I mean 'omit the truth', he claims that my lips do an upturn thing. And when Harm lies, he fidgets and guess what the flyboy is doing now?
I place a hand on his knee to stop it from getting me car sick as it shook the car. "Harm, it's our wedding. I don't want to be the only one planning it and I want your input."
"My input? I'm still considering the eloping suggestion I gave you last week." He grins impishly and waggles his eyebrows suggestively. He squeezes the steering wheel and points up the road. "We could leave now, make it a whole cross country adventure?"
Oh brother. The romance is astounding! "Oh really?"
"Yup! We're one hell of a team, you know? Butch and Sundance. Rabb and MacKenzie. Harm and Mac."
"Ying and Yang. Frick and Frat."
He gives me the evil eye almost as if he were minding a child. "I mean it. . .I can tell that this is going to be a royal pain in the ass. We're going to be driven past the point of insanity. . .just want to marry you not make it into an affair that even the President would be upset if he missed." I agree with that. I just want to marry him. The where and how is really all a dog and pony show for our friends and family. "So, what do you say? We can just take off right now. Once we're out of Virginia, then we call everyone. So that they a) can't find us and b) can't coax us back easily."
Is he serious? "You're serious?" He nods with quite a good amount of enthusiasm. "Oh God, you are."
"No wedding planner, no band, no. . ."
I am glad he's so optimistic about this, one of us has to be. "And no General to bust our asses for going UA?" Ah, and that takes the winds out of his sails. "Harm, we've spent the last nine years pushing each other away and, effectively, driving our friends crazy because of it, I think they might want to be there when it happens.. . .Besides, I did the eloping thing once and there's nothing charming or romantic about it, no matter how it sounds."
"Oh." The expression on his face falls slightly and he stares down at his hands which are now on his lap. "I kinda forgot that you went through one of these before. . .And that you were planning another."
I shake my head. "Mic was planning the wedding I was just. . .you know, it doesn't matter. Chris and Mic are in the past and staying there. . .I am talking about a wedding. A real wedding with the man that I really love." Reaching over, I place a hand on his. "I promise, if this gets too crazy, we'll back off and give us more time."
Harm sighs deeply and turns to look at me. "See, that's the thing, I am tired of the time thing. . .We've wasted so much time." He shakes his head and cringes when he stares out the front window. "They're here." I go to hop out of the car when his hand wraps around my arm and pulls me back in. "If it gets too crazy, we'll back off." He reassures my earlier reassurance and then kisses me senseless. Hurrying around the car, he opens the door for me and we then exchange pleasantries with the ladies.
The wedding planner's office is located in quaint little building just outside of Alexandria. Apparently, Trish knows him as he was the one that planned her close friend's wedding three years ago. The four of us step inside and are greeted by a woman who served as the assistant. "Hello!" She beams, comes around her desk and manages to hug us four, all at once. She stares at Harriet and Harm and takes their hands, joining them. "Oh, you must be the happy couple, I could see it in your eyes."
"Ah, ehehe. . .well." Harm stammers and Harriet just giggles. Oh, I know Harriet thinks that Harm is attractive, I am not stupid. I am not jealous either. In fact, this is just comical. I step back slightly and watch the interaction between them. Harriet blushes a deep shade of red and Harm is trying to back peddle while staring at me with that 'I didn't do it' look. "Actually, she's my wife. . .er, fiancé. . .Soon to be my wife." He reaches his hand to me and before I have a chance to take it, the woman attacks me.
Literally. "Oh my God, I am such a fool!" She hugs me to the point that I could feel my intestines wadding up into a ball. Christ. Breathing. Need. Air. "It's just that. . .Oh, never mind. . .I am Radinka, but everyone calls me Radi." This woman is either suffering from a hyperactivity disorder or was a cheerleader in a past life and has retrograded.
"It's alright. . .Trish Burnett sent us." I hope that dropping Trish's name gets the ball rolling. I really don't want to spend all Saturday here. Really, people who are that cheery, scare me.
Radinka, loudly, smacks her hands together making the four of us jump. "Trishie! Oh my God, she is such a lovely woman. She Jacques and I did the whole Kellerman wedding. . .It was beautiful. . .Oh, I must show you the pictures."
"Is Jacques in?" Harm asks with quite a terrified look. Seeing as I all but stomped on his eloping idea, if I know Harm, he's probably considering to kidnap me and elope anyway. Can't say I blame him.
"Yes! Please step right in!" She all but skips to a heavy looking wooden door, knocks twice and opens it up without being invited to. "Jacques this is Trish Burnett's son and his fiancé and friends!"
Jacques doesn't look like a Jacques at all. I mean, I was half expecting a rather thin man with a funny looking mustache that curled up. Pale skin and some expensive as hell black suit. But no, this man looks like a linebacker for the 49ers! He's huge, muscular, dressed in a grey suit with a pink shirt and even brighter pink tie. "Aie dios mio!" Oh yea, Jacques my ass. By his dark skin and accent, I figure the man is likely from the Caribbean. This man's real name is probably Juan and is, undoubtedly same-sex oriented. He gets up quickly, sashays across the room, walking much more femininely than I could ever pull off and he comes right to Harm. "Harmon Rabb Junior!" He says with a very rich, very Latino accent. "Aie! Jour mami told me mucho about joo! Cam here!" Jacques grabs Harm and puts a squeeze on him. Next, he heads to me. "You mast be Sarah! Trish sent me pictures of joo two." I am the next one on his bear hug and, after a quick introduction, so are Jen and Harriet.
"Please, sit down." He waves to the chairs along a round conference looking table that is in a room attached to his office. I take a seat next to Harm and the girls sit across from us as Jacques sits at what should be the head of the table. "Okay. . .Sarah, Harm. . .what do joo whant?"
Harm chuckles and turns to me. "We were just discussing that, actually. . .We really don't know."
Harriet, Jacques, Jen and Radi all chose this moment in time to answer unanimously. "You don't know?
"Aie, dios." Jacques places a hand on his mouth, covering his shock. "Joo know, it is berry bad not to know. . .That makes my job mach harder. . .Aie. . . Bueno." He swings out of his chair, walks to a credenza and pulls out six books which he places at several spots along the table. "Dis are pictures of weddings I did just last jear. . .Joo can browse, see if there is something joo like."
I pull over a book and Harm and I glance through several pictures. Some of these weddings are hideous. We stop at one where all of the grooms men are in light pink suits and the bridal party is wearing lime green. It's a 'don't look directly at the wedding party' type of affair. "Ah, jez. . .That was a beaaautiful wedding. . .Joo like?"
No. "Oh yes, it's lovely, but I think we wanted either a traditional black and white wedding or something with more earthy tones." God, I suddenly sounded like one of those people that tell you what you should and shouldn't wear. I have to say, my choice of clothing has progressed during the years. I went from sporty, to slutty, to conservative to, I think, stylish. And that's when Jacques pops me with a question I wasn't prepared for.
"Are joo a virgin?"
Had I been drinking something I'd have choked for sure. "Excuse me?" Is anyone a virgin these days?
"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Harm asks, rather defensively as a vision of him hanging Jacques by his tie comes into mind.
"Aie dios! I didn't mean to offend, but, joo know. . .Some women don't want to wear white." He holds his hands up in surrender and then flutters them down as if he's getting rid of some imaginary spirit. As he does so, I hear him say a few things in Spanish that I just can't understand. That was weird. "Okay. . .Harmon, joo a Navy Officer, si?"
"Yes." Harm answers and I can see where Jacques is going with dis. . .Umm, I mean THIS.
Jacques smiles brightly. "Okay, we can have the wedding at the Naval Academy. . .I do a wedding there last January and it was soooo presioso! Very precious, very pretty. . .The uniform is like. . ."
"No." Harm and I say in unison, then turn to each other in bewilderment. "Mac, I thought you would want a full blown Navy wedding."
I shrug. The thoughts of Harm in dress whites is. . .sigh. . .talk about a knight in shining armor. But, "I am not so sure I want the whole Navy thing. . .I mean, the Navy and the Marines have dictated what we do and who we are for so long. . .Don't get me wrong, the Navy is part of you and the Marines are part of me. There parts that we both love about each other, but. . .it shouldn't be the only things that define who we are."
The flyboy is staring at me with such a look of bewilderment it almost seems like he went into shock. It's then that I turn to my friends who are staring at me with tears in their eyes. "Sarah, that is sooo. . .beautiful." Cries Jacques who removes a pink hanky from his breast pocket and proceeds to LOUDLY blow his nose. "Oh! Jacques has an idea!!" He shrikes and swoops down on another book like a hawk. He leafs through quickly and stops at a picture that is quite breath taking. "This is in Maryland, right on the Chesapeake bay. . .Joo could have the ceremony outside and then joo have a choice. A tented ballroom which fits 300 people or a small ballroom that fits up to 150 people. . .It's berry pretty. . .A little expensive, but, Jacques is good friends with the owner."
Harm and I share a look, a knowing look. You know? One of our silent conversations. I want this place, I do. And it's not so far away that our friends won't be able to join us. "You're thinking the same thing I am, right?" He asks and I pray that our connection doesn't falter.
"I think so." I say with a nod and point to the indoor, 150 seat ball room. "We want this." Harm smiles as I point to the breathtaking ball room overlooking the bay.
At the point Jacques lets out a blood curling yelp and flutters his hands around like a butterfly. "AIE!! Dis is just so. . .I tink I am going to cry!" And he does. For that matter, so do Jen and Harriet, my trusty 'assistant's' who haven't said much of anything during the whole ordeal. I'll get them later. "Now we need to make a list of what we need.
"Well, a dress is the most important thing." Harriet says grinning at me conspiringly.
Jen agrees with a nod. "Yes, and the rings. . .And the Commander, er. . .I mean, Harm, needs something nice to wear that will go with the Colonel's dress." No matter how much we try, Jen can't seem to shake the Commander/Colonel, Sir/Ma'am thing. For that matter, neither can Bud. "I mean, Mac."
"Jes, jes. . .and then there is the food, chicken, fish, pasta, shrimp. . .Oh! Si! The music, a band or a DJ?. . .AIE! BOTH!!" He beams and continues to rattle things off like 'boquet', 'garter', 'flowers', 'decorations.' It isn't long before I am getting a massive migraine.
Sighing, I lean towards Harm and whisper in his ear. "Is it too late to elope?"
I wonder how long it would take us to drive to Vegas?