A Friendly Demonstration
Chapter 49
"Well…" Jen said as she drained her second cup of coffee, "That was good coffee, very good coffee!"
"As good as Starbucks?" Victor teased her.
Jen gave a mock shudder, "Have you tried Starbucks over here?" she challenged Victor.
Victor grinned, "Jen, you know how I like my coffee, this… this… is just about drinkable, but as for commercial coffee houses, no thanks! 'Fat free latte, with distilled water, cappuccino with non-dairy creamer,'" he mimicked sarcastically, "No thanks! If God had meant coffee to be anything other than black and strong, he'd have had the beans grow so that they tasted of milk!" and then he did shudder as he contemplated the awfulness of that idea.
"So… I take it you're addicted to what Harm calls 'Marine Grade' coffee, drunk black without anything in it?" Mattie asked.
Victor grinned, "Of course. Is there any other way?"
Jen chimed in with "Oh, trust me Mattie… There is!"
The teenager looked from one to the other, and although she couldn't see, she had a feeling that Jen and Victor were holding hands under the table, and the teasing look in their eyes also told her that they were sharing an old, re-hashed joking argument, pretty much the same way that she and Harm wrangled over suitable pizza toppings. Mattie had been slightly wary of Victor, not that he had been stiff, unbending or unfriendly, but she had been concerned for Jen's sake, but now observing the two of them and seeing the happiness in Jen's face – the happiest Mattie had ever seen her look – the rather stern Marine completely won Mattie over.
"So…" Mattie finished her coffee, agreeing silently with Jen's opinion of it, "What are we going to do now?"
"Well, I thought we could just sit and talk for a while before we order lunch…" Jen suggested.
Mattie nodded, "Okay by me… but if we're staying, it's getting kinda cold out here, could we move this indoors?"
Jen looked up at the sky. The pale autumn sun was beginning to be covered by thin grey clouds, and it did feel cooler, probably due to a slight increase in the wind speed. She wasn't particularly uncomfortable, but reckoned that Mattie as still acclimated to the still warmer, for the time of year, temperatures of Virginia and DC.
"Sure," she smiled easily as she got to her feet, "Do you need a hand, Mats?"
"Nope I got it covered!" Mattie grinned.
"Yeah, I thought so!" Jen agreed as she hung back a little to let Mattie precede her and Victor.
Victor slipped an arm around Jen's waist and murmured for her ears only, "Independent minded little cuss, ain't she?"
"Of course she is!" Jen looked at Victor in some surprise, "And it's that independent streak that's going to see her back on her feet and at Annapolis!"
"You think she'll make it?" Victor asked dubiously, indicating the wheelchair bound figure a few yards in front of them.
"Damn straight she will!" Jen said fiercely.
"Hey, easy, Tiger… I'd like to see her back on her feet as much as anyone… I don't know her yet, but what little I've seen I've liked… and I did little bit of investigating behind the scenes…" he caught Jen's accusing eye, "Hey, I used to be a cop. It's what I do! And talking to folks back in the States, they all said how good she was for the Captain and she didn't deserve what happened to her. So yeah, I'd like to see her back on her feet – and at the Academy, if she can make it!"
"She'll make it!" Jen affirmed, "She's got to. Otherwise there isn't any justice in the world."
Victor just gave a quiet grunt and tightened his grip into a one-armed hug, 'Jen… there never has been any justice in the world', he thought, but perhaps wisely said nothing.
By the time they got indoors Mattie had already wheeled up to a table, and once again making sure that her wheelchair brakes were applied, hauled herself to her feet but her right knee seemed to give way a little throwing her off her already precarious balance and instead of lowering herself into the wooden chair she almost fell into it.
Jen started to rush forward, but was stopped by Mattie turning her head over her shoulder, "Hey, I made it! Maybe not as smooth as I wanted, but I made it, and I'm fine, Jen, honestly!"
"Maybe, pint-sized," Victor ginned, "but spare a thought for Jen! How do you think she'd feel if she had to call the Captain and tell him that you'd been taken to hospital because you'd had a fall?"
"Uh… yeah…" Mattie looked stunned for a moment or two as she tried to imagine scenario and then grinned sheepishly, "Uh… well… yeah… I… uh… I guess never thought of that…"
"No, I didn't think you had," Victor said with a smile that robbed his words of any offence as he pulled Jen's chair out for her to sit before grabbing a third chair for himself, "but try to spare her any worries on that score. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay… and Jen… I'm sorry. Victor's right, I should have thought of what Harm would say to you if I hurt myself while I was with you."
"That's okay, Mats, just don't give me any more heart attacks!" Jen grinned, although she knew she would be in for an uncomfortable few minutes with Harm if anything should happen to Mattie. But she also knew that once he'd calmed down Harm's sense of justice would have kicked in and he would have apologised, knowing that despite Jen's best efforts, if Mattie really wanted to try something then she would, and there would have been nothing Jen could have done to prevent it happening.
"I promise!" Mattie said more cheerfully, responding to the laughter in Jen's eyes.
"Okay… now that's settled, what does everyone want to eat?" Victor said easily, smoothing over a potentially awkward moment.
Jen and Mattie looked at him blankly, despite his earlier expressed intent, he hadn't brought menus back to either table, and neither of them had any idea of what was available.
"How can we order when we haven't seen a menu?" Mattie demanded, while Jen nodded her agreement.
Victor grinned, pleased at his success at baffling the two girls, "The menu is on the wall behind you," he said smugly.
Jen twisted around in her chair to look at the blackboard fixed to the wall and then turned back to Victor, "Gonna get you for that, Jarhead!" she promised
"Yeah, bring it on, Squid!" Victor retorted as both he and Jen chuckled at the mock ferocity of their threats.
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"Harm, darling?" Gill's voice broke the dimly lit quietness of the bedroom, the only light coming from around the edges of the tightly drawn drapes.
"M'mm?" Harm murmured into Gill's sweet-smelling hair, as her head rested in the hollow of his shoulder.
"I'm hungry…"
"Again? You've only just had breakfast!"
"Sweetheart, that was nearly four hours ago… and… and… besides… we've been burning off quite a few calories meantime…"
"Four hours, hey? Wow, doesn't time fly when you're having fun!" Harm wise-cracked.
Gill twisted around so that she was lying on her stomach, her chin resting on her forearm which was laid across Harm's chest, so that by raising her head slightly she could look him in the eye.
"Feed me!" she growled.
"Nuh-huh… too comf'able here," Harm drowsed.
"We can come back to bed after you've fed me?" Gill suggested with a meaningful intonation.
Harm opened one eye and squinted down at her, "That's bribery…" he complained.
"Well… maybe… but is it working?" Gill asked hopefully.
"Dunno… I mean, it's a great idea, but it's just sooo comfortable here right now…"
"Oh, it is, is it?" Gill demanded, sitting up with the light of battle in her eyes, "Well! We'll soon see about that!" and fingers crooked she dived for Harm's ribs.
"Gill! No! Stoppit!" Harm protested as he writhed and squirmed in an attempt evade her tickling fingers.
"Not a chance, sailor!" Gill gurgled as she launched a new attack with even more intent.
"Right! You asked for it!" Harm growled and retaliated with his own counter-strike
The grappling became less aggressive and more sensual as the minutes passed, so it was about twenty minutes later that Gill finally gasped, "Oh… wow… now you have to feed me!"
Harm lay on his back, one arm shielding his eyes and the other curled around Gill's waist as he held her close to him, "M'mm…and look at the mess we've made of the bed… it's not so comfortable any more. So… we have two jobs on our hands… make lunch and re-make the bed!"
"M'mm… and with clean linen too, I'd say," Gill smiled.
"Okay… you make the lunch and I'll put fresh sheets on the bed and throw these into the washing machine!"
"Sounds like a good idea," Gill murmured and then cat-like stretched luxuriantly, "but first I reckon we both need to take a shower!"
"M'mm prob'ly… separate or together?"
Gill giggled, "Harm if we shower together we'll never get any lunch!"
Harm grinned, "Either I've spoiled you, or you've got a hyper inflated sense of my potential!"
"Oh, I have, have I? Well, I guess I'll just have to put that theory to the test," Gill smiled naughtily, "But after you've fed me!"
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"Timothy! Where the heck have you been!? Mum had a couple of jobs for you to do this morning!"
"And a good afternoon to you too, Alison!" Johnny said smilingly to his elder sister.
"Oh… yes, of course! And a good afternoon to you too… oh! And to you Julia!" Alison stuttered, thrown onto her back foot by Johnny's apparent lack of guilt.
"Where is Mum, and Zoe?" Johnny asked as he held a chair for Julia so she could sit at the kitchen table.
"Zoe's upstairs – supposed to be tidying her room, and Mum's just nipped out to the shops for a couple of things. I'm supposed to be making sandwiches for lunch…" she eyed the two latecomers severely, "And I suppose you two want feeding as well!"
"Yeah. Dead right!" Johnny retorted earning a swift reproving glance from Julia.
"Only if it's not too much trouble…" she said to Alison.
"No trouble at all," Alison said with a droll smile, "Just another eight slices of bread to butter, another four slices of ham to carve, another two plates and cups to wash up… No, no bother at all!"
"I could maybe give you a hand?" Julia said, starting to rise from her chair.
"You'll do no such thing!" Johnny told her. "I'd let you, if I thought for even one second that Alison was being serious, but as she's not… But, I will put the kettle on!"
Julia relaxed as she listened to the good-natured rambling between brother and sister, that was barely interrupted by the arrival of Zoe
Who smiled happily at the sight of the visitors, "Hi Timmy! Hey Julia!"
At the sound of the hated diminutive Johnny glared at his irrepressible sister, "Watch it!"" he said in a mock ferocious growl which had Julia dissolving into a fit of the giggles.
Zoe threw herself into one of the empty chair and looked quizzically at Julia. "What's so funny?"
"Oh… I was just thinking how well your mom, you and your sisters had gotten him socialised and then you go and set him growling like bear woken too early from hibernation!"
"Oh… that's nothing. That was no more real than the way old Master Tom used to growl if you upset him, but he didn't mean it either!"
"Hey, I am here!" Johnny protested in vain.
"Master Tom?" Julia asked.
"M'mm… Master Tom… Oh… thanks Johnny…" Zoe interrupted herself as Johnny placed a mug of tea on the table next to her hand. Doing the same for Julia brought him a flashing smile that, as used as he was to her smiles, nearly made him catch his breath.
Johnny brought two more mugs of tea to the table, and catching Alison's eye, nodded towards one of them before he retook his seat.
"Master Tom was a villainous looking, ragged eared and one-eyed ginger Tom that adopted Zoe when he was so small he could stand on my hand!"
"Nonsense! He was the most beautiful cat ever" Zoe defended her favourite.
"Well, no he wasn't," Alison contradicted Zoe, "Like Johnny said, he was a villainous looking old thing, but he was the softest, most loving cat we've ever known!"
"To us, he was," corroborated Johnny, "But he ruled every other cat in the parish with an iron paw! Mind you, a fair proportion of them could probably call him 'dad'."
"Who could call who 'dad'?" Johnny's mother asked from the doorway, "Make way there, shopping coming through!"
"Sit down, Mum, I'll put that stuff away!" Zoe exclaimed as she sprang to her feet.
"Yeah, sit down, I'll get you a cuppa!" Johnny, added, almost pushing his mum into an empty chair.
Mrs Walker laughingly let herself be bullied into sitting down and accepting a cup of tea from Johnny while Zoe busied herself with the shopping.
Alison waited until peace and quiet returned to the table before setting a plate of sandwiches before each and placing a jar of pickle and a jar of mustard on the table.
"Go on, help yourself," Alison invited her.
Julia nodded her thanks and reached for the mustard, only for Johnny's hand to gently grasp her wrist as she did so.
"Easy with that Julia, it's a lot hotter than American mustard."
Julia gave him a quizzical look, trying to see if for some reason he was exercising his sense of humour at her expense, but decided that he was being sincere, and protective – again! A warm smile broke out on her face. "I'll be careful," she promised.
"So…" Mrs Walker took a sip of her tea, "Just who were you talking about when I came in?"
For a second the four members of the younger generation looked blankly at her as their minds raced and then Alison broke the silence, "Oh… that was just that dreadful old Master Tom!"
"He wasn't dreadful!" Zoe fired up again in defence of her favourite.
"No, dear, not dreadful… not exactly," Mrs Johnson replied soothingly, and then a gleam of amusement came to her eye, forcibly reminded Julia of Johnny when he was in a teasing mood, "But… he certainly was a randy old bugger!"
Yeah… he was pretty popular with the ladies," Zoe smiled softly in remembrance of her pet.
"Was?" Julia queried.
Zoe nodded, "Was, we… we lost him last year…"
"Oh… I'm sorry…"
"No! Don't be!" Zoe said defiantly, "He had a good long life, he was nearly sixteen when he went!"
Johnny nodded and solemnly raised his tea mug, "Here's to old Master Thomas O'Malley the toughest cat you ever saw!"
A general chorus of agreement came from the other members of the family and Julia saw a concerned glance shared between Johnny and his mum as they looked to see what effect the conversation might have had on Zoe, but if she had grieved for her cat in the past, it now looked like she could talk about him without becoming upset.
"Before Zoe side-tracked us with Master Tom, mum, I was giving Timothy a hard time about him being AWOL this morning!"
"Yeah, what was it you wanted me to do?"
"Well, I was expecting you this morning… It wasn't much, but there's a couple of tiles on the shed roof that are cracked and letting in the rain in, and then you could have spared me the trip in to the village for the shopping!"
"Well, I that was all, you could have called me at the Owl. It would have saved me coming out here and then having to go back into the village!" Johnny pointed out, "And I'll have a look at the shed roof this afternoon!"
"Thank you, dear," Mrs Walker smiled while Johnny grinned ruefully as he became aware he had just been subtly but efficiently conned into volunteering for replacing the roof tiles.
"So…" Zoe asked around a mouthful of ham and pickle sandwich, "Where were you this morning?"
Johnny and Julia exchanged a meaningful look and Johnny felt Julia's slim hand grasp his under the cover of the table. Taking a deep breath, for this was after all, the reason they had come to see his mum, Johnny said, "Ah… we were at the Vicarage."
"Oh? What did the Vicar want with you?" Alison asked as she poured refills for everyone. If there was any surprise in her voice it was that the Vicar wanted to speak with Johnny, in the normal way of things it would have been the Vicar's wife wanting to speak with Mrs Walker, who was a regular church-goer and one of the hapless 'volunteers' who took turns in procuring and arranging the flowers for Sundays.
"I… Um… it was the other way round," Johnny said, "It was us that wanted to see the Vicar… to make arrangements…"
"To make arrangements?" Mrs Walker began, "What arrangements?"
It was Zoe who was quickest on the uptake, "Oh my God!" she squealed. "Mum! Alison! They're getting married!"
"What?" chorused Mrs Walker and the elder Walker daughter.
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"Well… I thought the prices were a bit high…" Mattie puffed as she looked at the remnants of her 'sandwich' on the plate in front of her, "But… now I can see why! I'm stuffed! I couldn't eat another thing…" and then catching Jen's amused look, "Well not for a while, anyway!"
"What? No hungry teenager here?" Jen teased her young friend, and then turned to Victor, "Honestly, you should have seen her when we shared that loft apartment! Breakfast was an education in itself, anything that came within orbit of Mattie's plate disappeared like it was into a black hole! A complete clean sweep every morning. And her favourite defence was 'Hey, hungry teenager here'!"
"Well, she is a growing girl," Victor said mildly, coming to the now red-faced Mattie's defence and earning a grateful look from the beleaguered teen in return, who nevertheless managed to poke fun at herself.
"Yeah and I'll be growing outwards if I keep this up!" Mattie grinned. "I mean, how big a meal can a roast beef sandwich and chips be? I was expecting something like a Roy Rogers beef sandwich not half a cow! And who the he… uh… heck calls steak fries 'chips'?"
Victor grinned and said, "Well it seems the Brits do! And I wonder…"
"Wonder what?" Jen prompted as Victor fell silent.
"Well I was wondering if the server realised we were American and deliberately didn't advise us of the difference between their chips and our chips…"
"I don't reckon so, she most likely didn't even think about it, or if she did, she probably thought we knew the difference" Jen mused, "But then again you and have been in the UK long enough to have picked up on that difference between the UK and the US. So… you can blame that on us, Mats!"
"H'mph! Are there any other foreign language lessons I need?" Mattie snorted.
"Well… since you're going to school in London… the metro is the 'tube' or the 'underground'. The sidewalk is the 'pavement' and the pavement is the 'road'… chips are 'crisps', French fries are 'chips'. Lemonade is a soda like Seven Up or Sprite… and as far as I know they don't do lemonade like us. The nearest thing they have is Lemon Squash which is a concentrate you have to dilute with water or lemonade…"
Mattie spluttered, "That's weird! To make lemonade, you have to dilute a concentrate with lemonade?"
That's just about the size of it!" Jen laughed leaving both Mattie and Victor shaking their heads.
"So… where did you learn all this?" Mattie asked.
"Oh… some from Julia Martinez, the Yeoman I work with. She's been over here about six months longer than I have and she's dating a Brit soldier. And some I learned from my driving instructor."
"Driving instructor? Why do you need a driving instructor? You can already drive!" Mattie queried.
"Oh, I don't need one now… Harm – the Captain, I mean –"she shot a guilty glance at Victor, "sent me on a one week driving course so I could get a British licence, and yeah it was worth it. Apart from everything being on a different side than it is in the USA, most British cars are shift stick, and their driving rules are bit different. For instance, there is never a turn on red! And running the lights can get you a sixty pounds fine and three disciplinary points added to your licence. If you reach twelve disciplinary points they ban you from driving for a year. And if you're caught driving during that ban it's likely you'll end up in prison! So just knowing that sort of thing is useful!"
"M'mm… I can see where it could be!" Mattie said and then with a loud slurp sucked the last of her Pepsi up through a straw. "All done!" she said brightly.
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"Married?" Mrs Walker repeated blankly.
"Yes, Mum, married. Thanks Zoe!" he ended.
"Sorry, Johnny… It just kinda slipped out… I didn't mean to steal your thunder…"
"No… it's not that, it's just that I was trying to break the news gently.
"Married?" Mrs Walker repeated again, as if she was having trouble grasping the concept. And at what she perceived to be dismay in her voice, Julia gripped Johnny's hand more tightly.
Some of Julia's fear must have shown in her face as Mrs Walker turned to her and managing a half-smile, "Oh… Julia, dear… Nothing against you, you are a lovely girl, and you've been very good to Timothy and for him… but it's just a little bit sudden and…. a little bit of a surprise too! But Timothy, I have to ask what brought this on? It's very soon; after all, you've only just started dating a couple of months back…"
"Well, Mum, I decided some time ago that I wanted to marry Julia, but I was going to leave asking her until we got back from our tour; but something she said made me change my mind – and no, she didn't know what I was thinking – so when I asked her at breakfast this morning, she was just as surprised as you… but…" he smiled at Julia, who was beginning to recover her composure, "I talked her into saying yes, so we went along to the Vicarage, and had a chat with the Reverend Shephard, and he's going to announce the first bans tomorrow at Communion. Then we've got two more weeks of the bans after that, and then we're getting married the Saturday after the last bans are called."
"So… it's going to be as traditional Church wedding?" Mrs Walker made a valiant effort to put behind her all feelings of surprise and all her doubts and questions, of which she had many. But now was not the time to air the doubts ore ask the questions. Johnny and Julia were still a little euphoric from the proposal and acceptance and any nay-sayings would be best kept for later when the emotional temperature had cooled down a bit.
"Well, just about… I figure I'd be in Blues, along with my best man, probably Tug Wilson… in fact, come to think of it, both Tug and I have got Mess Dress… so Blues for the ceremony and then Mess Dress for the reception!"
"What about you, love?" Mrs Walker turned to Julia, "Uniform for you too?"
"Mum! No!" a horrified Zoe interjected, "She's going to wear a dress, aren't you? A proper wedding dress!"
"Of course she is!" Alison agreed.
"Uh… I hadn't really thought that far ahead," Julia confessed with a blush.
"Well, you'd best start thinking, my girl, and pretty quick too!" Mrs Walker said with a smile, but there was an underlying steely quality to her words that had Julia replying on auto-pilot.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Her military response was enough to set everyone – including Julia – laughing, and under the cover of shared amusement Johnny leaned forward and gave his mother a soft kiss on the cheek, "Thanks, Mum," he whispered.
"For what?" she demanded, and then smiled, "Have you two got nothing better to do than clutter up my kitchen all day! Julia, can't you get him out from under my feet, please? I've got a dinner to prepare!"
"I don't know about Julia getting me out of here! But I'm getting Julia out of here! We have some shopping to do in Aylesbury!"
"We do?" Julia asked in surprise.
"Of course we do! For one thing, you need a ring and we need to choose our wedding rings too! So…" Johnny climbed to his feet and holding out a hand to Julia he grinned at the rest of his family. "See you at dinner time!"
"Half-past six Timothy Walker, so don't you be late!"
"I won't Mum. And I promise, I'll have a go at the shed roof tomorrow after Church!"
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Harm hadn't even started looking at the clock when at just short of sixteen fifty hour a ring at the doorbell announced the return of Jen, Victor and Mattie.
"Here she is, sir, all safe and sound!" Jen said cheerfully as she stood back from the door to allow Mattie to take a rolling run up the ramp and into the hall – a performance that brought a frown to Harm's forehead as he realised that there was a major design problem with the ramp, but he hastily shoved that to the back of his mind as he turned to Jen.
"Thanks for looking after her, Jen. Did she behave herself?"
"Like an Angel, sir!" Jen affirmed her eyes dancing with laughter.
"Like an Angel?" Harm asked incredulously then with a mock scowl he turned to Mattie, "Okay. Who are you? And what have you done with Mattie?"
"Har, har! Very funny!" Mattie responded with an equally ferocious expression on her face.
Harm laughed and reached out to tousle her hair, "Hey Squirt, so it is you! Have a good time?"
"You bet!" Mattie said enthusiastically. "We went to a riverside pub for lunch, but it was a bit too cold to sit outside for long, so we had soda and sandwiches inside!"
"I thought you were going for coffee?" Harm said as he watched Jen climb back into Victor's car. Mattie followed his line of sight and then said abruptly, "I like Victor. I think he's good for Jen, and like you said, it's about time she got a life…" Harm pricked up his ears at the slightly wistful note in Mattie's voice as she finished her sentence and with quick concern he closed the door and dropped to one knee beside her.
"Hey, Squirt, something wrong?"
"Wrong? No not really… it's just that Jen and I were so used to sharing almost everything, that it feels kind strange around here without her…"
Harm nodded understandingly, "Yeah I guess it does, and it will for a while, but you'll soon adjust, and you wouldn't want Jen not to have a life of her own would you?"
"No, of course not," Mattie agreed.
"Good, so let's get that jacket off you and then you can come into the lounge and tell Gill and I all about your day… what you thought of the little bit of England that you've seen…"
Mattie heard, understood and appreciated that Harm was making an effort to prevent her from brooding, and forcing a weaker version of her usual cheerful grin she said "You bet! Oh, and one thing, one important thing that happened today…"
"And what was that?" Harm asked as he hung Mattie's padded jacket on one of the hooks next to the front door.
"First Sergeant Galindez told me to call him Victor!" Mattie finished triumphantly.
Harm joined in her laughter and followed the chair as Mattie wheeled it into the lounge.
"Hey, Gill! How was your day?" Mattie called out.
Harm and Gill were totally incapable of preventing their eyes from locking across the room and then to Mattie's surprise –and a little to Harm's as well – Gill's cheeks flamed crimson.
Mattie gawped for a moment and then asked, "Gill, what's the matt… Oh!"
"Ah… yes… well… Mattie, tell us about this pub you went to…" Harm frantically tried to deflect the topic of conversation.
Mattie was more than willing to let him do so. There were some things a teenaged girl definitely did not need or want to know about her father.
So with a fair attempt at composure Mattie regaled Gill and Harm with an account of the lunch, finishing with, "And would you believe that sandwich a so supersized I couldn't finish it or the fries that came with it…"
"You mean you were full? So you won't want any dinner?" Harm asked in surprise that was not totally assumed.
"Oh no! I definitely want dinner! Lunch was at least four hours ago! Remember…"
"Yeah, I know… 'Hungry teenager here'!" Harm smilingly finished for her and in response to Gill's look of inquiry added for her benefit, "Mattie's war-cry whenever someone suggests a delay in eating!"
"Well lunch tomorrow should be to her satisfaction!" Gill smiled, "I spoke to Mummy mid-week and they're all excited at the thought of meeting you!" she said to Mattie, "and Mummy has promised a full scale English Sunday Roast dinner. So you'll definitely need to bring your appetite with you!"
"H'mm… I think I can manage that," Mattie agreed, although she found it slightly odd for a woman of Gill's age to use 'mummy' and wondered what exactly a full scale Sunday Roast Dinner involved, and what about Harm? But these thoughts she kept to herself, reminding herself that these strangers whom she had never met had already committed themselves to regular visits to her while she was on hospital.
"What time are we supposed to get there?" Harm asked. "Is your dad expecting us to attend morning worship?"
"He'd like it if you did," Gill acknowledged, "But he's not expecting us to turn up for the service."
Harm nodded, "But it would be the polite thing to do, right?"
"Well… yes… but Daddy isn't the kind of Vicar who relishes people who go to church out of some sort of perception that they should be there, or as a matter of courtesy to the vicar…"
"Okay… well… If you're sure he won't be offended, then I confess I'd rather not."
"That's fine," Gill agreed, "And it will give you time for your Sunday morning half marathon!"
"Okay… now that you've finished amusing yourself at my expense, I'm going to make a start on dinner!"
Harm refused any help in the kitchen in preparing dinner, "Gill and I had a late lunch too, so just something light to see us through until morning. How does pasta with three mushroom sauce sound?"
Mattie's eyes lit up. Although she would never dream of giving up meat, Harm's three mushroom sauce was one of the best sauces she had ever had on pasta. "Sounds like a plan!" she agreed happily.
"That's settled then. So, while I'm getting that ready, how about you and Gill go and lay out some clothes for the morning. We won't have time to pick and choose then… How about that green pants suit you wore for the court hearing?"
"It might be a bit crumpled…" Mattie said doubtfully.
"Not a problem, I can sponge it down and steam it this evening – if you and Gill go and get it out for me so I can start straight after dinner!"
Too relieved that Harm hadn't made good on his threat to make her wear a dress Mattie happily agreed to his suggestion with one proviso. "As long as she doesn't try to braid my hair! I think my eyes are still watering from when Harriet did it!"
"Well… we'll see how it looks in the morning," Harm temporised, "But… but… I'm not making any promises!"