34
Gill put down the phone with a slightly worried expression on her face and sighed.
"Something wrong?" Sue put down the magazine she'd been idly thumbing through while Gill talked to Harm, or 'That Dishy Yankee Sailor' as Sue persisted in calling him, more to tease Gill than anything else.
Gill shook her head, "I'm not sure, at least I don't think so. No.. Well… I hope not…" she said uncertainly.
Sue gave her friend a quizzical look, "You're not making much sense," she observed.
Gill nodded, "Probably not… but that was Harm…"
"The dishy Yankee…"
"Do not finish that phrase!" Gill warned her friend.
"Spoilsport!" Sue shot back at her, but then settled back into her chair and asked, "Seriously, Gill, what's the problem?"
"Well, that call was to tell me that he was successful in adopting his ward…"
But… but that's good news isn't it? It's what he wanted?" Sue said, but the as a germ of a thought crossed her mind she asked, "But it's not what you wanted is it? But why not? You want him to be happy don't you?"
"Of course I want him to be happy! And I am happy for him that he's got what he wanted, and apparently what Mattie wanted. But I'm worried that she'll try and drive a wedge between us. Remember he's all she's got left by way of a family, and she's just seen him nearly be destroyed by that Mac the Marine woman, and from what I gather, reading between the lines you know, is that she's very possessive and fiercely protective of him. And I don't want to end up as the wicked stepmother!"
Sue let put a gurgle of honestly amused laughter, "Oh Gill, you could never be a wicked anything!" she assured her friend.
"That's easy for you to say!" Gill accused Sue, "But you're not a teenaged girl anymore!"
"Well! That's a complete volte-face!" Sue giggled, "Wasn't it only ten days or so ago that you accused me of being a Petra Pan, the female equivalent of the boy who never grew up!"
"Oh… I did, didn't I? But that doesn't mean you didn't grow older!" Gill replied with a sly grin.
"Oh! Ouch! Meow!" Sue said and giggled, but then taking a breath asked innocently, "So when does the sailor come home from the sea?"
"He flies in Tuesday night, but he has to be back at his desk by Wednesday morning…" Gill said, her face showing her disappointment that Harm couldn't either get back sooner, or that he couldn't take a day off before he started back on duty.
"So… are you going to pick him up at the airport? You could hi-jack him, whisk him away to some sleazy motel and have your wicked way with him!" Sue enthused, and then to her astonishment she saw that Gill was blushing. "Gill! Don't tell me you've done just that! Or… No! Wait! You haven't done the deed with him yet, have you?!"
"That," a still pink-faced Gill replied with awful dignity, "Is for us to know and you to wonder about!" but then spoiled the effect by giggling too.
"Oh, Gill… you're hopeless!" Sue lamented.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Jen had been anticipating the knock on the door and crossed the room with three quick, light steps. "Hello Victor," she smiled as she opened the door, "Come on in, I won't be a minute."
Victor Galindez grinned, "Hi, Jen, that's okay, I am a little early…"
Jen glanced at her watch and chuckled, "Hey, only by two minutes…." She cocked her head and regarded him quizzically, "This is a date, right?"
"Yeah, right," Victor agreed puzzled by Jen's rapid change of subject.
"Okay it's a date, not morning formation, so a couple of minutes either way aren't going to disrupt the whole evening, are they… Jarhead?" she grinned, pleased with the success of her ruse.
Victor too grinned, "No, I guess not," he conceded, "but my Momma done tol' me that it was just as bad manners to be early as it was to be late, and our DI always said that we Marines needed to have better timing and a better sense of direction than squids – just to make sure they put us ashore at the right time and at the right place!"
Jen laughed delightedly, it hadn't been easy getting Victor to unbutton – figuratively anyway, it was far too soon to even think about literally, she scolded herself as she felt the blood rise to her cheeks – and that he was now able to joke with her, especially about the Cops he loved so much, was, to her mind, a signal success on her part.
Victor watched Jen as she laughed, a sympathetic grin of pleasure breaking out across his usually stern features and his eyes softened. She was such a beautiful young woman, how in God's name, did she ever become interested in a beaten up, old leatherneck like himself.
As Jen's laughter ceased she turned to pick up her purse and her lightweight jacket, but as she did so she caught Victor's eyes resting on her and the slight smile that curved the corners of his mouth. "What's up… or…" as the thought struck her she smiled impishly, "did you just see something you like?"
"Oh… I definitely like!" Victor assured her, and he did. Jen's dark red shirt, opened by one button at the throat and the form fitting tan slacks she wore showed her off to her best advantage, while her rich, dark brown hair, it's sides held back from her face by a pair of barrettes fell in a shimmer down her back.
Jen smiled again, pleased with the compliment and thought that Victor had scrubbed up pretty well too. His black crew-neck lightweight sweater was snug enough to hint at the muscles of his arms and chest and together with the faded but clean jeans gave him the look of a dark, but controlled jungle predator.
Giving her head a slight shake, Jen forced her rebellious mind away from the track it wanted to follow and asked, "So, where are we going?"
Victor grinned as he held Jen's jacket for her, "You play pool?" he asked.
Jen chuckled, "Does a fish swim?"
"Good… because I've found a pub where they serve real ale – whatever that is – good food, and they have a pool table, and it's within walking distance!"
"Oh… do you mean the Duke of Wellington?" Jen asked, "I've seen it of course, but I've never been in."
"Yep, that's the one. So, are you ready, Miss Coates?"
"Ready, aye, ready, Mister Galindez!"
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Harm put the phone back on its hook, "Thanks Bud, let me know how much that call was, when you get the bill!"
Bud Roberts waved off Harm's thanks, "Don't worry about it, sir!
"But I do, Bud. It was cheaper than using my cell, but it was a trans-Atlantic call and that's not cheap by any method of accounting!"!
Bud Roberts drew himself up to his full height and looked Harm in the eye, and then speaking more sternly to his senior officer than he had ever done, he said, "Sir. You are a guest in my house. My house is not an hotel. I would no more dream of charging you for that phone call than I would dream of charging you for your room or for the meals we share!"
Harm saw that he was in danger of seriously offending the younger man, and with a grin he clapped him on the shoulder and conceded, "Okay, Bud… have it your way! But just one thing, please?"
"What's that, sir?" Bud said in voice more nearly like his usual tone.
"Just that. No sir, please. If I'm a guest in your home, then I don't expect to be addressed as a guest in an hotel. You know my name, Bud, so please use it! Ah!" he held up a warning finger, "You can't have it both ways, Bud!"
"Can't have what both ways, sweetie?" Harriet asked as she came into the hall to find what was keeping the two men from the table.
"I was just telling Bud that he can't in one breath say I'm a guest in his home, and then turn round and in the next breath treat me like an hotel guest!"
Harriet's face crinkled in a puzzled frown, "Bud? Sweetie?"
"The Cap… uh I mean Harm…" Bud amended his sentence as Harm coughed meaningfully, "Wanted to pay for the phone call to England, and I said that he couldn't because he was our guest…"
"Bud Robert, I'm ashamed of you!" Harriet declared, "The Captain isn't a guest – he's family!"
"Then in the name of all that's holy, would the two of you stop calling me, 'sir' or 'captain' and use my name! You've both known it long enough!" Harm said decisively.
"He's right you know," AJ's amused voice came from the door leading to the family room, "You have known his name long enough to use it. Mind you," he added thoughtfully, "You've known my name for even longer, Harm. But you still call me 'sir' and 'admiral'!"
Harm gave his former a CO an indignant look, "Darn it! Hoist by my own petard!" he lamented.
"You certainly are, Harm!" Harriet ventured a try at his name, "Now come along and sit down to dinner. I didn't slave over a hot stove all day just to let it go cold!"
"Best do as she says," AJ agreed, "she may only be a Lieutenant in the Reserves, but in this house, she's the Household Six!"
"True," Harm agreed, while Bud seeing the look in Harriet's eye decided that in this particular case, silence was the best policy, but he slipped his arm around Harriet's waist and gave her a slight squeeze and was rewarded with a smile as they made their way back to the dining room.
Although dinner this evening was in some measure celebratory, the presence of AJ and Jimmy in their booster seats and the twins in their high chairs required the covering of the fully extended Maplewood table with the waxed cotton cloth that usually covered the kitchen table where in normal circumstances family meals were eaten
Sydney Walden and Mattie were already at the table dividing their time between ensuring the children didn't get up to mischief and discussing the events of the day, and both gave a smile and a slight sigh of relief as Bud and Harriet returned to the room. Bud taking up his position at the head of the table with Jimmy to his right and AJ beyond him, while Harriet sat at the foot of the table flanked by a twin on each side.
Bud reached for the big pot of seafood Jambalaya ready to dish up to his sons but was stopped by Harriet. "Bud, I know we aren't ones for religious display, but maybe a few seconds silent prayer in thanks for what happened today wouldn't hurt?"
Bud nodded gravely, "No, it wouldn't… so if everyone doesn't mind…?" he put the pot back on its coaster and bowed his head, everybody else following suit, and even the twins seeming to understand that they needed to stay quiet.
Maybe Bud didn't formulate a proper prayer, but he was truly grateful for the happiness that he saw on Harm and especially on Mattie's face. The teenager was usually cheerful, but the grin she'd worn on her face ever since she Harm and AJ – with Sydney, of course – had almost burst through the front door in their excitement at bringing home the good news was bright enough to light up the whole room. And for that, after so many disappointments and delays, he was indeed truly thankful.
The short silence ended, the food was dished up and for a while conversation was desultory as healthy appetites demolished Harriet's offerings. It wasn't until empty plates had been pushed away and knives and forks laid down that Harriet, with a sly grin at Harm turned to Mattie, "So… tell us, Mattie Alison Grace Rabb, exactly what did happen in court today?"
Mattie laughed, "It was fabulous, AJ was awesome, and…"
"Uh… That's a little familiar, don't you think, Mattie?" Harm interrupted.
Mattie looked at him and appeared to give his observation some thought, "Um… Yeah… well it might be… but, Sydney says I've got to call her by her first name, and it makes it kinda awkward of I have to say 'Admiral' or 'Mister Chegwidden'…"
"Not that!" AJ interrupted in alarm, "Never 'Mister Chegwidden'… not that it isn't better than 'Baldy' or 'that mean old jerk'. No, I'm quite happy for Miss Rabb to call me AJ." He grinned
Mattie flamed crimson, "Where… uh… who… how… Oh…somebody just shoot me now please!
"Howe did I find out?" AJ grinned, "Hey, I was the JAG, you know!"
Mattie's face, as red as it still was, lit up with sudden understanding, "Jennifer Coates, I'm gonna kill you!" she promised.
Chegwidden shook his head, "No, don't do that. Your new father needs his Legalman. Besides at the time you said it I was acting like a jerk…" he paused and looked across the table at Harm, "And I never really apologised for that, did I Harm?"
Harm shrugged and looked uncomfortable, "Not in so many words, no, you didn't. But you've made up for the way you acted then in so many ways. Not only would I have never made Captain without your recommendation, I strongly suspect you had to do some pretty intense lobbying behind the scenes, as well as calling in practically every favour anyone ever owed you, and that's besides all the pro-bono legal work you did for myself and Mattie, culminating in your appearance in court today. No, I'd say any need for apologies is long since done away with, and it's Mattie and I that owe you our thanks!"
"That works for me too!" Mattie interjected forcefully, bringong another round of laughter to the table, and another blush to the teenager's cheeks.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
It was much later on that Harriet slipped out of Mattie's room and stuck her head into the family room, where AJ and Harm were talking over the logistics of getting Mattie to London while Sydney curled up in one of the armchairs, listening, and occasionally offering a quiet comment to ensure that the two men didn't entirely neglect the female point of view.
Harriet listened quietly for a few moments as she too settled herself comfortably and waited for a natural break in the conversation before she looked at Harm, "Your daughter's ready for you to go in and say goodnight to her," she smiled.
Harm nodded, "Thanks, Harriet, I don't know what we'd have done without you these past few months. You and Bud have put me so far in your debt… My daughter hey?" he broke off what he was about to say as his brain caught up with his ears and he realised what Harriet had just said. "Wow! That sounds so strange. Strange, but good, damned good!"
Harriet smiled, just as pleased that he had abandoned what she felt were unmerited thanks as she was with his pleasure at calling Mattie his daughter. The latter was far more important than the former, and anyway, she didn't think she'd done all that much, she'd just helped out a friend, and that's what friends were for, wasn't it? And anyway, Mattie had been a godsend around the house, during the past few months, taking a huge percentage of the burden of looking after AJ and Jimmy while Harriet concentrated on the needs of the rapidly growing twins, a burden that was heavier even than she'd anticipated. She blinked as she became aware that Harm was calling her name, "Oh, sorry… I was thinking…" she apologised.
"Oh, okay, I just wanted to say thanks for everything," Harm said simply.
"You've said that enough, Harm. Now… go say goodnight to your daughter!"
"Yes, ma'am," Harm smiled again and stood.
As he did so, A J shared a look with Sydney and they too rose from their seats, "We'll be going too, Harriet," the former JAG said, "So say goodnight to Bud for me when he…"
"No need for that, Admiral! It looks like I made it back downstairs just in time!" Bud said
"You did indeed!" Sydney smiled and with a hug for Harriet and a smile for Harm and Bud, she led the way to the front door, where goodnights were said and Harm, Bud and Harriet watched as AJ slipped an arm around Sydney's waist as they walked down the path to the Admiral's waiting SUV.
"That's something you don't see very often," Bud remarked quietly as the big, black vehicle rolled away from the kerbside.
"What's that?" Harriet asked.
"The Admiral being openly affectionate, putting his arm around Sydney like that."
"Oh, Bud it's because he loves her!" Harriet exclaimed.
"Yeah, we know," Harm added, "but Bud's right, he rarely lets any emotion show. Well… other than anger or impatience," he added reflectively, but with a great degree of feeling.
"Well, you must admit, some of your antics were almost guaranteed to anger him!" Harriet pointed out, "Just as you're not going to say goodnight to Mattie is beginning to get to me!"
"Oh… okay, I'm gone, I'm gone!" Harm said hastily and stepping back into the lobby he turned to his right and tapped on Mattie's bedroom door, "Man on deck!" he called out.
"Come on in, I'm decent!" she replied.
Harm opened the door and saw Mattie already in bed, propped against her pillows and dressed, as far as he could see, in what seemed to be an over-sized T-shirt, her hair, freshly brushed hanging loose around her face, and with her wheelchair, one arm removed from its socket parked hard against the side of the bed.
"Hey, squirt, just come to say goodnight," he said softly.
"Uh-huh…But do you got couple of minutes? Today's been such a whirl, and there's been so many people around the whole time that it doesn't seem that I've had a more than a minute or two alone with you… and I need to talk with you."
Harm perched on the edge of the bed and said, "Yeah, I know, it's been a mad, mad day, but it's been worth it, don't you think, Mats?"
"Damn straight it has!" Mattie agreed and looked Harm straight in the eyes, defying him to reprove her on this one occasion for her language, but just for once, he grinned and nodded in agreement.
"I couldn't have put it better myself, kiddo!"
"Yeah…" Mattie dropped her gaze and seemed to slump back into her pillows.
Harm reached out a gentle finger and topped her chin up again so that he could see her eyes, "What wrong, Mats?" he asked quietly.
Mattie sighed, "Not wrong, exactly… but… we've been waiting so long for today to happen, and I was fixed on it… target fixation, I guess is what you'd call it, but that now it's done and I'm legally yours, it feels like… Oh… I don't know, like there should have been a parade, with banners and marching bands and all that… but it was just 'bang' of the judge's hammer… and I don't really feel any different… and I know I should!"
"Feels like a bit of anti-climax, huh?" Harm queried.
"Yeah, it does… but it shouldn't! This is the most important day of my life!" Mattie protested.
"The most important day maybe – so far!" Harm disagreed, "The most important days of your life are still way ahead of you, Mattie Rabb, there'll be the day you graduate from the Academy, your wedding day, the birth of your first child… You've still got all those to come."
Mattie gave an inelegant little sniffle, "Do you think that will all really happen?" she asked, her heart in her eyes.
"No, I don't think it, Mattie, I know it!" Harm assured her, "but why wouldn't it?" he asked.
"How can you know it?" Mattie challenged him.
"Because I know you, and I know how much guts and determination you've got, you will do all those things I said Mattie and much, much more. But why all this sudden negativity, you've always been so positive before, and you've done well, better than the doctors thought, and a lot faster than they thought! So, why?"
Mattie made a vague gesture towards the foot of the bed, "Well look at me… I can't stand up, I can't walk, hell, I can't even get dressed and undressed without help. I'm fine from the waist up, but I can't put on my pants or a skirt without help, I can't even put on my underwear without somebody to put them over my feet and slide them up my legs – oh crap!" she ended with gasp, "Harm, what happens when I get to London? Who's going to be there to help me? I mean you… I … you can't… Oh… it's not going to work out is it?" she wailed and burst into tears.
Harm had a shrewd suspicion that what Mattie was going through was a release of tension after all the anticipation, doubt and worry of the preceding weeks and an outlet for the emotions that had been building up and which she had been unable to let go until now. Today's events had, as far as her over-loaded emotional circuits were concerned, been the last surge that caused those circuits to blow.
Harm knew that Mattie was extremely reluctant to let anyone else see her cry and he felt a pang as he realised she was so distressed that for once it didn't matter to her. All he could do was take her in his arms and let her sob against his chest while he rubbed comforting circles on her back and murmured soft encouragement and endearments into her copper curls.
Eventually the sobs died away, but for a few moments yet Mattie allowed herself to rest in the comfort of Harm's arms, but then she gently pushed herself away and managed a bleary smile, "Oh… heck… I'm sorry about that… I don't usually …"
"Hey, it's all right, it's all right…" Harm said softly, reaching over and pulling a couple of sheets of Kleenex from the box on Mattie's nightstand. "It's been a hell of a roller coaster, and I'm not surprised you blew. In fact, I'm kinda relieved you did… and sorta proud too…"
Mattie stared at him blankly for a moment or two before she dabbed her eyes dry and blew her nose, "Huh?"
"Well… bottling things… your emotions, up inside isn't the healthiest habit to get into. I am speaking from experience here. So that you could let go explains the relief. And because I know you find it difficult for you to let anyone see anything you think of as a weakness, then I feel proud, and humbled at the same time, that you could let go in front of me. If that makes any sort of sense?"
Mattie thought about what Harm had said for a minute or so, and then snuggled in close to him, lifting his arm and letting it rest along her shoulders, while she laid her head in the hollow if his shoulder, "Yeah, I guess it does in a way… but it still doesn't solve the problem…"
"No, it doesn't, but I have, believe it or not, been thinking about that. Now, I know you've had enough of hospitals, but I have arranged for you to be seen by the top doctors in the top spinal injuries place in the UK, at a place called Stoke Mandeville, which is about a forty minute drive from home, if that much. You'll be there for a week or so while they do some tests and see if they can come up with a better prognosis and treatment regime than you've had so far. While you are in Stoke Mandeville, I'll hire a nurse to help you up in the morning and help get you to bed at night, but I'm hoping that you and Gill will become good enough friends to let her help you out, and I'm pretty sure that Jen will be a frequent visitor…" Harm let his voice trail off hopefully.
"M'mm… I can't wait to see Jen again," Mattie agreed, and squirmed a little closer to Harm if that was possible, "I really miss her, you know?"
"No, I don't, but I can imagine," Harm agreed, "But you need to remember that Jen needs a life of her own. She's done a fantastic job helping me with you, in DC, in Blacksburg and here, but Jen is a beautiful young woman, she needs to make a life of her own, settle down, get married, have kids… and you… well, in that case you'd be aunt Mattie!
"That sounds so weird!" Mattie grinned, "But yeah, you're right, and for me to wish anything else would be selfish, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, Mattie I'm afraid it would, but if there's anything in this world that I'm absolutely certain about is that you don't have a selfish bone in your body!"
Mattie made no reply at first but continued to take comfort from the feeling of being protected in Harm's embrace but eventually she asked in a small voice, "Tell me more about Gill?"
Harm smiled, "Gill? Now, where to start? Well… let's see… she's beautiful, quite tall, with rich brown hair, pretty much like Jen's, but with green eyes… she's just tall enough for my chin to rest on the top of her head when I hold her close. She's an army Captain in the British Royal Artillery… she's sharp, confident, funny and very kind and compassionate, and her soldiers, well at least the one I got to know, like, admire and respect her… Like most English people, she's a little hard to get know, but once she decides she's your friend, you couldn't ask for a better one…"
"Is she career military?" Mattie asked worriedly, "Like Mac? I don't want to see you get hurt again…"
Harm smiled and gave Mattie a gentle squeeze, "No… I don't think she's like Mac… she hasn't got that hard brittle edge to her that Mac always had… and besides, could you imagine Mac making out with me under a tree in a parking lot…"
"Eww! That's something I don't even want to think about!" Mattie protested, but then her curiosity got the better of her, "Uh… do you mean that's what you and Gill really did?"
Harm grinned, "Just the once, and then she went off into giggles thinking about what her Grandma would say if she ever found out!"
Mattie giggled, "She sounds like fun!" she said, but Harm detected a note of wistfulness in her voice.
"Ye, she is fun, and good and kind, and all the other things I said about her. So… I hope you'll give her a chance."
Mattie nodded, "I'll try…" and was rewarded by another gentle squeeze.
"But exactly when am I going to meet her?" she wanted to know.
"Well, that's what the Admiral and I were talking about earlier," Harm said, his voice becoming grave. "Once he gets the court papers, he'll have to send them to me, and I'll have to register you with the Navy as my daughter… wow, that sounds weird, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, I reckon it does… Dad," Mattie said with a smile.
"Anyway once that's gone through, we'll have to get your passport changed, so that the name on your passport matches your new legal name. I can do that in one day in London. The passport section of the Embassy is just across the yard from JAG. And then once that's all done we'll have to book you an AMC flight so that you can join me in the UK. All in all, and depending on how long the court takes to get the papers to the Admiral, about six weeks, I guess."
"That long?" Mattie sounded disappointed. "I was hoping it would be quicker than that."
"Well…" Harm gave Mattie another gentle squeeze, "I reckon that's the worst case scenario, it could be a week or so quicker, but so much depends on things that are outside my control. Believe me, if I could, I'd strap you into the back seat of an F-Fourteen and fly you to the UK myself!"
"Now… that would be really cool!" Mattie said fervently.
"Yeah, but it's not going to happen, squirt, so we'll just have to be patient."
"Yeah… I guess so… Dad."
"M'mm," Harm replied his heart overflowing to hear that word on Mattie's lips.
"You don't mind do you, me calling you 'dad'," Mattie asked.
"No… I don't mind. In fact I love it… but are you sure you're okay with it? I mean you don't have to start calling me 'dad' just because a piece of paper suddenly says that you're my daughter."
Mattie considered how she felt for a few moments before she answered, "Umm… it's not that I'm not okay with it. It just feels… I dunno…strange… I can't really think of you as dad, that's the alcoholic who ran out on me… so is it okay if I keep calling you 'Harm' just for a while?"
"Hey… that's completely okay with me, as long as I get to keep calling you squirt!" Harm grinned.
Mattie wriggled a little away from Harm so that she could look up into his face, "Yeah… right… not like that I have any choice in the matter… after all you're the one with the wallet, and I do have to think about my allowance!"
Harm chuckled, "Now you are, from what my married friends tell me, really beginning to sound like a daughter!"
Mattie gave Harm another quick glance before answering, making sure that he wasn't being serious before she said, "Harm… you still have a long way to go!"
"I know that, squirt, I reckon we both do, but I also reckon it's going to be a fantastic journey – for both of us!"
"Yeah… it might just be that," Mattie agreed.
"So… all your doubts put aside for the night?" Harm asked.
Mattie smiled, "Yeah, for the night, anyhow…"
"In that case," Harm said, gently disengaging his arm from around Mattie's shoulder and helping her to lie back against her pillows, "I'll wish you a good night and pleasant dreams. And if it's any help, just remember that I love you," he finished bending to kiss her gently on the forehead.
"I love you too, Harm," the teenager replied, her eyes moistening.
"Okay, goodnight, squirt." Harm said standing.
"Good night," Mattie answered and sighed as the tall figure of her new father slipped out of the room. For a few moments Mattie lay still, thinking over all that she and Harm had said to each other, before she stretched out an arm and flicked the switch that turned her bedside light off.