Disclaimer: not mine

After waking to find she was in bed alone, and then hearing voices downstairs, Mac got up, pulled on her robe and headed towards the smell of pancakes.
"Mmmm," she said, wandering into the kitchen. "Smells good."
"You have a sixth sense about when breakfast's ready, don't you?" Harm teased, as he slid the last pancake onto the plate.
"Aha," she replied, before yawning. "Morning, honey." She reached in and kissed him quickly.
"Good morning to you too, gorgeous," he said, pulling her back and kissing her thoroughly.
"Should I come back later?" Mattie announced standing in the doorway.
"Mats!" Mac said pulling back. "It's so good to see you," she said embracing the younger woman.
"It's good to see you too," Mattie said, hugging her back. "I'm so excited about the wedding."
"Me too," said Mac. "Harriet has your dress all ready and I can't wait to see you in it."
"I can't wait either," Mattie said, hooking her arm through Mac's and leading her out to the dining table."
"Don't worry about me, I don't need any help in here," Harm grumbled good naturedly.

After breakfast and a lot of chatting and catching up, Mac went upstairs to shower and dress while Harm let his parents in and made a fresh round of coffee.
"Mom and dad are here when..." he started but stopped as he saw her packing a small case. "Um...what's going on?"
"What?" Mac questioned turning to face him. She was dressed in jeans and a blue shirt and her hair was still wet from the shower.
"You're packing...going somewhere?" he asked, knowing they had packed their cases for the honeymoon already.
Mac smiled at the confused and concerned expression on her husband-to-be's face.
"I am," she said, reaching up and kissing his lips. "Have you forgotten tomorrow's our wedding?"
"No, I haven't," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding on tightly.
"Then have you forgotten Mattie and I are spending the night at the Roberts' so we can uphold at least one tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other?" she asked, kissing him once more.
"Oh," he said with a smile. "That part I had forgotten. You're not leaving right now though, are you?"
"Not until about 1400," Mac said, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"That early?" he questioned, wanting to keep hold of her for as long as possible.
"That early," Mac agreed. "We have to do the final fitting for Mattie and Harriet...do a run through with hair and make up...Harriet's organising a small bachelorette party ..."
"Really?" he questioned, this was the first he was hearing of it.
"Really," she confirmed. "Food, fun..."
"Male stripper fun?" he asked seriously.
"Do you think Harriet would organise a male stripper for a party in her home?" Mac asked with a smile.
"I guess not," he admitted. "What am I going to do?"
"Whatever you, Frank and Bud come up with," she said kissing him soundly before packing the last of her things.

When the time to leave did come, Harm was torn between feeling excited and anxious. As he stood by Mac's car he pressed one hand against her door to prevent her opening it. Once he let her go, the next time he'd see her they would be standing in front of the minister. It had taken them a decade to get this far and though he had no doubts about the following day, he was just a little nervous that if he let her out of his sight, something would go amiss.
"I'm going to be there," Mac whispered, looping her arms around his neck as she leant back against the car. "Don't look so worried."
"I'm not worried," he replied, leaning his forehead against hers. "Just..." He didn't know what adjective to use.
"I will be there," she repeated, "I'll be the one wearing white at the end of the aisle this time tomorrow."
"I'll be the one at the altar," he said, kissing her briefly.
"Don't be late," she chided kissing him back.
"Me late?" he said with a smirk. "There's no way I'll be late, don't want to give you any reason to change your mind."
"Never going to change my mind," she said. "I love you so very, very, very much and tomorrow I will be your wife and we will get our happily ever after, Harmon."
"I love you so very much, Sarah," he whispered in reply. "And I can't wait until I'm your husband."

Mac's afternoon and evening were a delight; Trish had made the journey to the Roberts' with Mac and Mattie to have a final inspection of all the dresses and to ensure everything was in order. Harriet had also invited Trish to join them for the evening's festivities which she had readily accepted. The dresses for Harriet and Mattie were dark blue in colour and something which they had agreed upon over several phone call and emails. Knee length, the summery dresses suited them both and would be wearable for future occasions, something unusual for traditional bridesmaid's dress.
After seeing her mom in her dress, Nikki insisted on putting on her flowergirl dress. The dress was a simple floor length white dress with a dark blue sash.
"She's adorable, Harriet," Trish gushed as Nikki danced around the room.
"She's so excited," Harriet replied. "It's all she's talked about for weeks."
"Me too," Trish said with a laugh.
Once all were satisfied the dresses were perfect, they were taken off and hung in the master bedroom closet.
"Your turn, Aunty Mac," said Nikki, pointing to the wedding gown.
Before Mac had the back zipped up, Mattie and Harriet were in tears.
"Just beautiful," Harriet said, straightening the sleeve.
"Oh, Mac, it's gorgeous," enthused Mattie. "So...perfect."
"You really think so?" Mac asked, even though she thought it was perfectly perfect herself.
"Oh, yes," Mattie said. "Harm is going to die when he sees you."
"Well, that would spoil things, Mattie," Trish quipped and Mattie wasn't too sure how to read her.
"Oh, sorry," Mattie said. "I just meant..."
"I know it was a joke," Trish said with a smile, patting her arm.

Later that evening, Harriet had set out a feast for the four ladies and the twins. AJ and Jimmy were staying overnight at a friend's place and Bud had gone over to Harm's. It was all Mac's favourites and Harriet made sure her plate was never empty.
"If you keep feeding me the dress won't fit me tomorrow," Mac said, leaning back in her chair. "I think I've eaten more tonight than I have in the last week."
"And no way for Harm to help you work it off," Mattie said with a giggle.
"How would Uncle Harm help?" Nikki asked and all eyes turned to Mattie.
"It's all yours, Mats," said Mac with a smirk.
"How would he?" asked Michael, wanting his twin's question answered.
"He and Aunty Mac go running," Harriet said when she realised Mattie didn't have an answer. "And do lots of exercise."
"Oh," said Nikki, she'd been hoping it was something more – like magic.

When dinner was done and the twins were in bed, the ladies sat in the living room, drinks in hand, and chatted away. Harm was the favourite topic of conversation and each related their own Harm stories... the good, the funny ... the bad was left out completely.

Meanwhile, Harm, Frank and Bud sat around the dining table at Harm and Mac's talking over pizza and beers. Harm had just gone to the fridge for the second round of refreshments when his cell rang and the news wasn't good.
"What's wrong?" Frank asked when Harm reappeared without the beer.
"That was Alice Kendall, the functions coordinator at The Rose," he started. The Rose was the restaurant where they were having the reception. It had a small intimate function room and the food was exquisite. After looking at several places, they had deemed this one perfect due to its romantic atmosphere and the name...after all, their romance started in a very similarly named venue, even if neither of them realised it at the time.
"What's wrong?" Bud asked.
"The fire alarm was triggered accidently, it set off the sprinkler system and the whole place is waterlogged," he reported. "It won't be ready for the reception tomorrow...and the cake is ruined."
"Oh," Bud said, "That's a big problem. You can have it at our place," he offered.
"That's generous of you," Harm said, "But then there's the issue of decorations and food and cake – not much time for organise that and I don't want to let Mac know."
"Why don't you see if we can have it at Langford's?" Frank suggested. "Mac loves the place; the weather tomorrow will be warm so if we could get the beer garden it would be perfect. There's still time to go and get the decorations and ..."

Harm grinned; Langford's would be perfect. There would only be about 20 of them and they could order from the menu. He was sure between the three of them they could decorate the place and do something about a cake.

Several long phone calls later and Harm had booked out the beer garden at Langford's for the evening. Usually catering for up to sixty guests a night, Harm had been happy to pay a surcharge to ensure they had it to themselves.

Additionally, they could set up around lunchtime to ensure it was ready for the reception. Grabbing his keys, he was glad he had only had one beer before the initial phone call.

Their first stop was to a party shop where they engaged the help of a middle aged woman who seemed to know a lot about wedding decorations. Walking out they had boxes of ribbons, candles, glass bowls and assorted decorations, including a range of items Harm had never known existed. Next, they stopped at the grocery store to see about a cake. After looking at all the variations in the bakery department Harm couldn't decide what would work.

"How about the one with the chocolate frosting?" Frank suggested. "Mac loves chocolate and ..."
"She had her heart set on the one we had picked," Harm said, scanning the shelves once more.
"Why don't you see if they can make you another one?" Bud asked.
"At this time on a Friday night, I doubt it," Harm said with a frown before the answer dawned on him. "Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate!"
"What?"Frank asked.
"Mac loves chocolate. Her favourite midnight snack is chocolate ice cream with chocolate topping and crushed Oreos," he reported grinning. "So, if we can make any concoction that involves chocolate she'll love it."

Knowing the chocolate mud cake recipe Mac loved off by heart, Harm picked up the ingredients, along with a multitude of other items and headed to the check out.
"There's more chocolate here than at a Cadbury's factory," Bud said, looking at the items in Harm's trolley.
"And Mac will love it all," he replied with a laugh.

As the ladies ate and had fun, the men slaved away in the kitchen coming up with the perfect Death by Chocolate cake. Deciding it needed something else, Harm halved the cake and added a chocolate mousse filling before covering the cake in chocolate fudge.
"Not quite the traditional wedding cake, now is it son," Frank said, studying the masterpiece.
"No, it's not, dad, but we've never been the most traditional couple," Harm said with a smile.
"What on earth...?" said Trish walking into the kitchen around midnight and surprising them. She surveyed the scene in front of her – flour, cocoa, chocolaty splodges all over the place, all over her son and husband.
"Where did you come from?" Frank asked, moving to kiss his wife.
"Caught a cab back," she said, still trying to work out what was happening. "Baking is not normally a bachelor party activity."

Over the next few minutes they told Trish of the happenings of the evening, their shopping spree and baking efforts. They informed her of the need to set up the garden themselves around midday and how they had planned to do it all without Mac's knowledge. Impressed with their arrangements and efforts, Trish took it upon herself to send Harm to bed and Bud home while she saw to the cleaning up.
"I can't believe my baby's getting married tomorrow," Trish said as she hugged Harm at the foot of the stairs.
"I'm 41, mom, not exactly a baby," Harm replied holding her tightly.
"Regardless of your age, you'll always be my baby," she said, kissing his cheek.
Harm drew a deep breath – no time like the present.
"I wasn't your only baby, was I?" he questioned, draping his arms over his mother's shoulders.
"Of course you were," Trish said with a smile. "My one and only."
"Mom," he said quietly. "Mac told me...well, she didn't exactly tell me she sort of said something which made me think that maybe..."
"Can you clarify that?" Trish asked, confused about what he was or wasn't referring to.
"At the spa on Thursday..." he began and Trish nodded, she now knew what had him tongue tied. "She said you and Harriet shared similar stories about the loss of a baby...I know about Harriet's but ..."
"But not mine," Trish finished for him and he nodded. "Sit with me," she said, and they sat on the third step.
"Frank and I had tried for a number of years for a baby and were very excited when I found out I was pregnant. I was 37 at the time and there was a risk because of my age ..." she started to explain.
"37 is not that old...lots of women are having their first baby after that age," Harm interrupted, his mother's hand held tightly in his.
"Not now it isn't, but you have to remember I had you at 21. In those days that's what you did, had your babies young," she said, before taking a deep breath. "So, we found out we were pregnant and decided to keep it to ourselves for the first trimester, until we were out of the danger period."
"But why didn't you tell me?" he questioned. He could understand not telling the world but he was her son.
"Because, honestly, I didn't know how you'd take it," she said, squeezing his hand. "You were so obsessed about your father during that period and you and Frank weren't getting along all that well..."
"You were 37," Harm said as the timing of it all dawned on him. "That's when I went to Vietnam."
Trish nodded. "Yes, it was. It was a week after you'd left I suffered a miscarriage at 11 weeks," she said quietly, aware Frank had now joined them.
"11 weeks," Harm said, dropping his head. "You lost the baby at 11 weeks," he repeated as tears welled in his eyes. It had nearly killed him losing a baby he didn't know existed; he couldn't imagine his mother's pain at losing a desperately wanted baby 11 weeks into the pregnancy. "It was my fault, wasn't it?" he asked, looking up at her with a tear stained face. "It was the stress of my leaving to search for dad, wasn't it?"

Trish smiled sadly; there was no real answer to that. She had never known whether there was a direct correlation between Harm's absence and the miscarriage or whether it had just been coincidental timing.

Realising Trish's lack of response would make Harm feel worse, Frank spoke. "We never blamed you," he said and Harm turned, surprised he was there. "Yes, there was a lot of stress with you gone but women miscarry every day without such stress. It was just one of those things."
Harm closed his eyes as the new information washed over him. His parents had dropped everything to come and help him and Mac deal with their loss and yet when they had suffered their greatest loss, not only was he not home to help he never even knew.
"I'm so sorry," he said, squeezing his mother's hand with one of his while holding the other out to Frank. "I'm so sorry."
"It was a long time ago, son," Frank said, taking his hand. "Yes, we get caught up with the 'what ifs' from time to time but we've had a wonderful life and we have one terrific son who is getting married tomorrow, what else could we ask for?"