A Friendly Demonstration
Chapter 57
Harm's eyebrows rose in mild surprise as he entered Mattie's room that evening, "No wheelchair, Squirt? Have they upgraded you to crutches already?"
"Nuh-huh," Mattie shook her head and Gill noticed that she made no attempt to look Harm in the eye.
"So where is it?" he asked. The wheelchair hadn't been cheap and while, when Mattie had finished with it, he was quite willing to donate it to a worthy cause, he didn't want to let it go until he was certain that Mattie was no longer in need of it.
"They've been confiscated, Mister Rabb," Virginia Woodman, Mattie's room-mate, said disconsolately.
"Confiscated?" Harm as ked in surprise, but with a ting of anger to his voice.
"Yeah… they seemed to think that Ginny and me were racing each other down the corridors, and… well… we've been grounded – temporarily," Mattie said with a guilty glance in Harm's direction.
"Racing in wheelchairs? Have you ever heard of such a thing, Gill?" Harm asked severely.
"Well… it's not been unknown," Gill replied, as she sat on the edge of Mattie's bed and then turned to the two teenagers, "And were you racing?"
"Well…" Ginny looked uneasily at Mattie, "We weren't really racing, not as such, we just had a little bet on, that whoever got back to the room first, got to choose what TV channel we watched."
Harm had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing, partly from amusement at Ginny's ingenuous answer, and partly from relief that Mattie hadn't done anything seriously wrong.
"But you weren't racing?" he asked.
His question was met with a matching pair of vigorous head-shakes and a chorused, "No, we weren't!" and although the denial was vocal and emphatic there was to Harm's ear something of a guilty tone to it.
"I see, and apart from when you were not racing down the hallway, what else have you been up to today?"
"Oh… more prodding and poking, and more damned machines this morning, then more physical therapy his afternoon. That wasn't so bad… the last session was hydrotherapy… exercises in a warm swimming pool. We were on our way back from that when we got the traffic stop."
"And what about the rest of the therapy? No more falls?" Gill asked.
"Not today," Mattie grinned, but I'm not promising anything for tomorrow!"
"Wise move!" Jen's voice came from the doorway.
"Jen!" Mattie almost bounced off the bed in her pleasure at seeing her best friend again, "And you've brought Victor!" Great!"
Victor was stood just behind Jen and drawing himself up slightly he inclined his head towards Gill, "Good evening, ma'am, good evening, sir," he added to Harm, and then his face split in a grin, "Hey trouble, how ya doin'?"
"I'm doing great!" Mattie beamed and then fell silent as Harm quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Good evening, First Sergeant, Legalman One, it's good of you to give up your time to come and visit with our juvenile delinquent, and her accomplice!" He turned as he said this so he could drop a wink at Ginny without Mattie seeing it.
"Oh, Mats, what have you been up to?" Jen half-sighed and half-laughed, "You can't have gotten into too much mischief in here, surely?"
"Just turning the hallways into the Indy five hundred circuit," Harm agreed.
"Racing?" Jen asked, her forehead creased in a frown, "But how do you go racing in a hosp… oh… wheelchairs?" she said as plumped down on the foot of Mattie's bed. "Mattie, what are we going to do with you?"
"Bust me out of this joint?" Mattie said hopefully.
"Forty eight hours, Squirt. You can stick for that little while longer!"
"Sure you can, Mats, and me and Victor will take you out for some fresh air over the weekend. Won't we?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, trouble," Victor assured Mattie and Jenny both.
Gill, who had been trying to catch Harm's eye for a few seconds finally succeeded, "And who is Victor?" she asked with that sometimes bluntness the British have.
"Oh… sorry, folks, my fault. Gill, I'd like you to meet First Sergeant Victor Galindez, US Marine Corps. First Sergeant, this is Captain Gillian Shephard, Royal Artillery."
Again Victor drew himself up into a not quite brace, "Ma'am," he acknowledged her gravely.
"A pleasure to meet you, First Sergeant," Gill smiled, "I've heard quite a bit about you."
"All of it lies, ma'am, honestly," Victor's face split in an uncharacteristic grin, and he held his hand over his heart in order to convey his sincerity, while Jen and Harm exchanged wondering glances. It seemed that Victor Galindez had taken an immediate liking to Captain Shephard, not something that the hard-bitten Marine and former police officer was prone to do.
Gill grinned back, "Yes, I've got one or two friends like that myself!" she shot a glance brimming over with laughter at Harm, who knowing full well that Gill referred to Sue Marshall, and remembering Sue's clear voice ringing out over the drill square, declaiming the presence of Gill's dishy American, blushed crimson red, the tips of his ears even turning a bright shade of red.
Mattie chortled with glee, "Oh, boy! There has got to be a story behind that! Gill, please?"
"No! That story is strictly need to know!" Harm interrupted, afraid that Gill might actually think the joke too good not to be shared.
"Oh… well, in that case, Mattie," Gill sighed, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you!"
Mattie pouted, "Darn it! I hate when people say that!" she complained.
"Yeah, well you know what they say about life," Jen teased her young friend.
Mattie glowered at her from underneath darkened brows, "Yeah, I know… and I also know what they say about payback!"
"Mattie, behave," Jen said primly, her eyes dancing with amusement.
"I am behaving," Mattie protested, "I always behave, just that sometimes I'm not…"
"Very well behaved," Jen laughed as she finished what was obviously an exchange that had almost liturgical significance to the two.
"Oh, I have so missed that – and you, of course!" Mattie chuckled as she dabbed the laughter tears from her eyes.
Ginny Woodman, slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of Mattie's visitors, but even so, greatly amused by their banter, sat at the head of her bed, a smile on her face as she shook her head in mild disbelief.
Gill caught the movement and with a reproving cough, drew everyone's attention to herself, "You colonials need to calm down just a little… take a chill pill, I believe is the colloquialism; you're disturbing the native wild life."
Mattie was instantly all contrition, "Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry, as well as being bad-mannered. Harm and Gill you met yesterday, but this is Jen – my BFF – and I know I've told you about her, and this is Victor, he's Jen's…" she looked at Jen, who at the mention of Victor's name had turned to look at him with an expression on her face, a tender smile, that Mattie had never seen before.
"Her boyfriend?" Ginny asked innocently.
Jen, instead of being embarrassed, as Harm, for one, thought she might be, just looked at the young English girl, smiled proudly, took Victor's hand in hers and said, "Damn straight!"
Victor, as if to lend support to Jen's declaration, slipped his arm around her waist and squeezed her gently.
"Ah… and that reminds me," Harm cleared his throat and looked at Jen and Victor, "could we have the room for a minute please?"
Jen shot a look at Harm and then at Mattie and then Gill, and a glimmer of understanding came to her. "Of course! Victor why don't we see if British hospital vending machine coffee is as bad as the stuff in American hospitals?"
"Of course it is!" Victor responded but allowed Jen to tug him gently out of the room.
"Do you want me to leave too?" Ginny asked, somewhat plaintively, "It's kind of awkward without my wheels…"
"No, I wouldn't dream of evicting you, even for a couple of minutes!" Harm smiled, "Besides, it would be pointless, even if you did leave, Mattie would only spill the beans the moment you got back!"
"Beans? What beans?" Mattie demanded suspiciously.
"Nothing to get all het up about, Squirt," Ham smiled as he reached out and tousled Mattie's hair – an act which he knew she pretended to hate, "It's just that last night, after we got home, I asked Gill, if she was ready to make it her home too."
"You did what?" the stunned teenager asked and then before waiting for an answer, she turned to Gill, "Harm asked you to move in with us, or what? I hate it when he goes all cryptic!"!
"Yes, Mattie. Harm asked me to move in, and I said yes. So, I start moving my stuff from St John's Wood to Northolt this evening. Fortunately it's only my clothes and books, no furniture, so we should all be settled in by Sunday."
"Oh, wow… that is… that is…" words failed the normally loquacious teenager and with a squeal of excitement she threw herself at Gill, and wrapped her in a tight hug.
To say that Harm was taken aback would be a gross understatement. Although she had become more accepting of physical contact during the years he had known her, Mattie had never been one for indulging in physical demonstrations of affection, except on special occasions. And this occasion, apparently, fell under that heading.
"So, I take the idea meets with your approval?" Harm teased Mattie.
"Damn straight!" she agreed nodding her head vigorously and then she fell silent.
She was quiet for so long that Gill asked, "Is there something wrong, Mattie?"
Mattie looked up, her eyes alight with mischief, "Wrong? No, there's nothing wrong. Just the opposite. But have you thought just how much fun we're going to have tag-teaming Harm?"
"Oh, we can't do that," Gill protested, "No, we must honour and obey the paterfamilias," but then as Mattie's expression became a compound of confusion and disappointment, Gill added, "But we can tease him a little bit."
"Hey, I am in the room!" Harm protested, but the only effect his pronouncement had was to give birth to a triple burst of female amusement as even Ginny joined Gill and Mattie in their laughter.
Harm shook his head in mock disapproval and turned to the young English girl, "How come you've no visitors tonight?"
"Oh, it's Wednesday night, so mum's at the WI and dad's taking my kid sister to her dance lesson. Oh, it's alright, I know they can't make it on Wednesdays, and besides with my sister and all, I can't be their sole focus," she added quickly as she saw Harm begin to frown. "And anyway, I'm having much more fun with you lot than I do with mum and dad," she grinned.
"So everything's okay then?" he asked.
"Absolutely, couldn't be better," Ginny grinned.
Reassured on that point, Harm relaxed but just in time to field a question from Mattie who now had a frown of her own on her face, "Harm, how come you asked Jen and Victor to leave the room? Don't you want Jen to know about you and Gill?"
"No… not quite. It's one thing for Jen, my friend to know, but it would have been a little inappropriate for her Commanding Officer to share personal news like that with Legalman One Coates."
"But she's not at work, she's Jen, this evening!" Mattie protested.
"Yes, she is. But she was also with First Sergeant Victor Galindez. And while I've no problem with the First Sergeant knowing about my domestic arrangements, again it would be inappropriate for me to make an announcement of them to him."
Mattie looked even more confused and turned to Gill, "Is he making any sense to you?"
Gill smiled sympathetically; "Yes, he's making perfect sense. I know it sounds a bit stuffy, and old-fashioned but there is a line between officers and soldiers and although that line can get blurred, it shouldn't ever be crossed. I'll bet that Harm has no problem with you telling your best friend, Jennifer, but Captain Rabb can't tell Petty Officer Coates. Do you understand now?"
"I guess…" Mattie said reluctantly, "But how can I tell Jen, when you're all here, and Victor's here too!"
"Are you trying to tell me that you haven't called Jen at least once, since you've been in here?" Harm asked in open disbelief.
"No cell phones! Remember?" Mattie grumped.
"Oh… yeah… I was forgetting that," Harm admitted.
"So no, I haven't called Jen since I've been in here, and I think it was pretty mean of you to ask her to leave when she'd only just got here!"
"She hasn't gone far, Mattie," Gill said in gentle reproof, "and she'll be back within minutes, that is if hospital coffee is as bad as I remember!"
"If it's anything like the coffee, they gave us with lunch, it is!" Mattie said emphatically, "It was strange… it was weak and muddy, but it tasted really bitter…"
"That's 'cos it's the cheapest instant coffee they can find!" Ginny advised the three.
"That explains a lot!" Harm declared, "Instant coffee isn't really coffee!"
"The cheaper stuff isn't," agreed Gill, but there are one or two varieties that make a very passable imitation of real coffee!"
"Never happen!" Mattie declared dogmatically.
"I don't know," Ginny said slowly, "I mean… my dad loves coffee, but he doesn't have time in the morning to brew real coffee so he uses a certain brand of freeze dried instant coffee…" she named the brand and the variety and added to Gill, "Is that the sort of thing you meant?"
Gill nodded, "Yes, and despite what these poor benighted foreigners think, it's not a bad substitute for real coffee when you're in a hurry. Especially if you drink it strong!"
"That's what my dad says!" Ginny finished triumphantly as Harm and Mattie bestowed pitying looks on Gill and Ginny.
But before the argument could continue there came a tap on the door, closely followed by Jen's voice, "Is it safe to come in? Only we could hear the ruckus a hundred feet down the hall," she said, but with her tongue in cheek.
"Please, come in!" Mattie begged her, "and tell these ignorant people that the only good coffee is proper coffee, and that we do know how to make it! American coffee is the best in the world!" Mattie declared firmly with a challenging glare at Gill and Ginny.
Jen winced, it was time for a little honesty, "Uh… Mattie, you might like to rethink that last statement."
"Oh, why?"
"Just one word, "Starbucks."
Mattie looked at Jen in total surprise and then her face fell, "Yeah… I was forgetting about them!"
"And, you can't declare that American coffee is the best in the world when you've only ever been in the States or here in the UK," Victor said mildly, "For instance, Turkish coffee is far better than anything I've ever had in the USA!"
"Ah… but you're a Marine!" Mattie said in defence of her argument.
"Meaning?" Jen challenged her young friend.
"Meaning that Marine coffee is practically undrinkable, and it's so strong, it's probably destroyed their taste buds!"
"Wrong," Victor said smilingly, "The effect of Marine grade coffee is to fine tune the taste buds!"
Jen, although his girlfriend so bound by a degree of loyalty was taken aback by his statement. She had, after all, sampled Victor's idea of coffee and fund it so strong as to be, for her undrinkable, "Oh, Victor, how can you say that!"
"Easy" he replied with a grin, "'Cause it's the truth, isn't that right, Captain?" he appealed to Harm.
Harm smiled, "He's right ladies, Marine grade coffee is the way to go… although, and I'm told that only Navy aviators can drink it that strong!"
"And former Seals, sir," Jen reminded him, "As those back in Falls Church are about to find out!"
"What does that mean, Jen?" Mattie asked, quickly to pick up an undertone in Jen's voice.
"Oh, that's right… we haven't told you yet," Harm said half apologetically.
"Told me what?" Mattie demanded.
"Well, General Cresswell has resigned, so he's no longer the JAG, and that means that the SecNav has to find someone else."
"Well, yeah," Mattie said and raised her eyes to heaven, and Harm wasn't the only one who heard the unspoken 'duh' as her last word.
"Well… I think I've explained to you before, how once the selection for the new JAG has been made, his name has to go forward to a Senate Committee for approval, and if they approve, the on to the President for the final say."
"Yeah, I think you've told me that," Mattie said seriously.
"So, that all takes time… When did Congress ever do anything quickly?" Jen interrupted and then "Oh, sorry, sir," as she caught Harm's expression.
"Oh, I don't care, Jennifer, but be careful about saying things like that. Contemptuous words, remember?"
"Yes, of course," Jen agreed momentarily abashed.
"Anyway, while the whole of JAG Corps, and probably the Navy and to a lesser degree the Marine Corps are waiting for the selection and approval process to be completed, JAG still needs a JAG pro tem. And no, I don't know how he did it, but the SecNav has persuaded the Admiral to come back to Falls Church and take up the reins again."
"The Admiral? As in Admiral A J? Wow, cool!" Mattie enthused.
"Yeah I thought you'd appreciate that," Harm smiled.
"Although I do detect a change in attitude," Jen teased Mattie, "What happened to the mean, old, bald guy?"
"Oh, he disappeared about the same time as Admiral A J took off his uniform. Oh, Jen, you should have been with us the day he won our appeal in court. He was fantastic! And he's much more human now. And I put that down to Sidney!"
"Sidney?" Jen asked.
"Yeah, Doctor Walden. The lady who was with him at the July Fourth picnic and softball game."
"Oh, yeah… of course. It's just that I don't think I ever heard her first name. Which reminds me, sir, the next time I see Major McBurney I'm going to have to thank him."
"Thank him?" Harm asked incredulously, remembering just how much Jen detested the Marine officer.
"Yeah, he got me so mad and psyched up that I pitched just about the best game of my life!" Jen crowed. "And the best bit was striking him out three innings in a row!"
Mattie chuckled, she knew all about the way Jen regarded the Marine, "You are bad!" she praised her friend.
"And you'd better believe it!"
"Oh… Gill jumped up off the bed as she saw more visitors arrive, "Mummy! Daddy and Granny… how wonderful! Mattie, your fan club has grown!"
Mattie instinctively hitched herself into a more upright position as she saw what she took to be a frown of disapproval in Granny Shephard's face, but that frown soon disappeared as she smiled, "Good evening, Mattie! Good evening Harm. And Gillian, are you behaving yourself?"
"I always behave myself!" Gill exclaimed as she stood to give her grandmother a welcoming hug, "It's just that sometimes, I'm not very well-behaved!" she finished with a wink of acknowledgement for the quip to Mattie over Granny Shephard's shoulder.
"There's no need for you to tell me that, girl!"" Granny Shepherd sniffed, but then stood back at arms' length to look at her granddaughter, "At least you're looking well, and happy. And that I take it…" she suddenly let go of Gill's shoulders and spun to face Harm, "is still your doing?"
"I hope so, ma'am." Harm replied.
"Huh! Another one full of smooth answers!" Granny snorted. But Harm merely smiled.
"You surely don't expect me to turn down a compliment from you, do you ma'am? After all, I get the feeling that you don't give them out very often!" Harm smiled.
Jack Shephard gave a little crow of laughter, "He got you there, Mother. Smote you hip and thigh!"
"That's quite enough from you, my lad!" Granny rebuked her impertinent, and impervious son, who continued to grin as Granny sat on the bed in the spot recently vacated by Gill. "And how are you faring, Mattie?"
"Physically pretty good," Mattie smiled, "But me and Ginny got busted for… well… we got pulled over for a traffic violation in the hallway, and we've been grounded…"
"Racing in your wheelchairs were you?" Granny smiled.
Mattie's jaw dropped open, "How… how…did you…"
"It wasn't a guess, young lady! It's knowing you! Besides, wheelchair patients have been racing each other ever since the cussed things were invented! I understand that they even race marathons in them!"
Jen was becoming uneasy with the crowd now crammed into the room, so taking advantage of Mattie's momentary surprise, she said, "Excuse me for butting in, but this is becoming a real family gathering, and the room is kinda crowded, so Victor and I… well… I think we'd best be on our way…"
"Oh, Jen! Do you have to go?"
"I think so, Mats, but you can always call me and we can have a proper girls' talk, which is kinda difficult with all these guys around!"!
"Can't call," Mattie complained. "No cell phones allowed! So, you'll have to wait until Friday evening!"
Jen pulled a face, "Friday evening it is then!"
"Yeah, but until then, you'll have to make do with a hug."
"I think I'll survive until the weekend then," Jen smiled as she edged around the bed so that she could get close enough to Mattie to fold her in her arms. For a few moments the two heads, brunette and red-gold were side by side until Jen gave a slight gasp, and straightened, her eyes flying from Harm to Gill and back again.
Harm saw the look and the expression on Mattie's face and knew that Mattie had taken the opportunity of the hug for a hasty whispered update to Jen on his and Gill's relationship, and catching Jen's eye he nodded and gave her a glimpse of his famous, or infamous, flyboy smile, to let her know that he wasn't upset that his friend was now privy to one more bit of his private life.
However, Harm wasn't about to let Jen and Victor escape scot free, "Jack, Alice and ma'am, before she pulls her Cinderella oh-it's-midnight act, I'd like you to meet my Legalman, Jennifer Coates, who is also a very good friend to both Mattie and myself, and her boyfriend, Victor Galindez…"
"Ah… so you're the BFF!" Granny Shephard said with satisfaction, "We've heard a lot about you young lady! And just for a change, considering the source, it's all been good," she finished with a triumphant glance at Mattie whose cheeks suddenly flamed red.
Jen look curiously at Mattie, "It was all good? Really?"
"Yes, according to Mattie you can do no wrong, and we had it corroborated in great part from another source. We understand that you were a great help to Mattie in the immediate aftermath of her accident."
It was Jen's turn now to blush, and she cast a pleading glance at Harm, who gallantly stepped in to rescue her from a Granny Shephard grilling, "Jennifer is also a friend of Julia Martinez, the young girl who is getting married to Johnny Walker, Bombardier Walker that is."
"Yes, of course!" Jack Shephard smiled. "I'm pretty sure your name has come up in conversation, Jennifer!"
"In fact, we've heard so much about you, that you feel like a friend of the family!" Alice Shephard contributed.
"Uh… thank you, ma'am," Jen stuttered and cast one more appeal for help in Harm's direction, but found to her chagrin that he now appeared to be taking immense enjoyment from her predicament, "But," she gulped, "Victor and I really must go now, we have a lot to do at home… We're having Julia and Johnny over for dinner on Friday night, and I want to make sure that everything is top of the line without having to panic at the last minute," she explained, unwittingly giving away more about her relationship with Victor than she had intended, or knew.
"Very well, Jennifer," Harm smiled, letting her off the hook, "I'll see you in the office tomorrow."
"Aye, aye, sir!" Jen replied smartly and then tugging Victor behind her she fled the room.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Victor hadn't been a sheriff's deputy for years, but his instincts were still sharp. However he waited until he had driven out of the hospital complex and the car was on the open road, pointed back towards London, before he started his gentle interrogation.
"So what was that Mattie whispered to you, that set of all the alarms?" he asked with a smile.
Jen twisted sideways so she could see his face, although little could be read of his expression in the dim glow of the instrument panel and the occasional flash of headlights from an oncoming vehicle.
"Well… she told me that Captain Shephard was moving in with the Captain," she replied, not at all sure that Victor needed to know that, but Jennifer had given up lying for good after the Christmas she had met Harm, and besides it might not be a bad thing if Victor did know.
Victor wasn't so sure, "Should she have been telling you stuff like that about the Captain's private life?"
"Maybe not," Jen allowed, "But you've got sisters; when they were teenagers do you think any of them would have been able not to tell their friends something like that?"
"I'd hope they wouldn't!" Victor said grimly, "Our parents were married for years, and the news that dad was going to have a girlfriend move in with him would have sent mom on the war path!"
"Oh, Victor!" Jen replied, torn between exasperation and amusement, "You know perfectly well what I meant!"
"Yeah, I did, but I couldn't help tweaking your tail, just a bit. No, you're right, none of them, especially Valerie, could ever keep secret anything! They'd be on their phone to their 'bestie' the second they found out. Makes me wonder how women ever get security clearance in the service!"
"Oh! You are so going to pay for that, Victor Galindez!"
"Bring it on!" Victor grinned.
Jen just fumed silently, or so it seemed to Victor, but her mind was working furiously, silently trying out argument after argument to achieve a goal that suddenly didn't seem as far-fetched as it had when she first conceived of it.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Harm and Gill, together with the rest of Shephards stayed until the end of visiting hours with Mattie, and Ginny, when the duty staff nurse made her rounds of the patients' rooms gently but firmly reminding the visitors that it was time they left.
Harm made his farewell with a casual ruffling of Mattie's hair, which earned him another glower, and then took advantage of the round of hugs that Mattie was forced to endure from the three Shephard women to snatch a quick word with the nurse.
"Um… this grounding… how long?"
"What for our two budding racing drivers? Although I understand Miss Rabb wants to be a fighter pilot? Well good for her!" the nurse smiled at Harm's nod, and then continued, "Oh, they'll get their chairs back in the morning. They didn't actually do themselves or anybody else any harm, and I know being stuck in here can't be much fun for teenagers, but really, even though the corridors are long and straight, they are not really the place for the Monte Carlo Rally!"
"So, they're not in any serious trouble?"
"Good heavens, no!" the staff nurse smiled, "It was just teenage high spirits, and quite frankly we'd far rather see that sort of behaviour than the ones who sulk and wallow in self-pity. No, your daughter and Miss Woodman, despite this little contretemps are two of our better patients, psychologically speaking, and now they have had their wrists slapped, as far as we're concerned, there's an end to it!"
Harm smiled, a specimen of a smile that made the staff nurse suddenly wonder if her legs would support her, "Thank you, nurse. But if Mattie gives you any more trouble, then she will definitely be hearing from me!"
Harm and Gill headed out to the car park, as Harm was beginning to learn to call the parking lot, where they diverged their path, each heading to their own car, but not before they shared a hug, and a swift kiss, concealed from prying eyes, for the most part by the bulk of Harm's Subaru.
"So… give me two hours," Gill said, her breath steaming in the chill evening air, "and I should be back at Northolt with the first load of my clothes and books. If everything goes according to plan, I should be fully moved in by the weekend."
Harm folded her in his arms and breathed deeply of the scent of her hair, "Have you told your mom and dad?" he asked, slightly unnerved by the prospect of having to face an irate Jack Shephard, let alone Granny Anne.
"No, not yet," Gill shook her head, "I thought we'd leave it a few days and then present them with a fait accompli."
"What will they say, do you think?"
"Well, you're in luck. Daddy likes you, and so does Mummy, but the clincher is Granny. She practically worships the ground you walk on. Daddy will grumble; I'll always be his little girl. But Mummy has known I haven't been that little or innocent any time over the past ten years. I don't say they'll like the idea overmuch, but they won't kick up a stink about it!" 'I hope', she added silently.
"Well… if it's any indication, Mattie took the news well, I thought, so maybe that's a good omen. But, she wasted no time in telling Jen Coates!"
Gill laughed and then stretched up to kiss Harm gently on the lips, "Did you really expect her to do anything else?"
"No, of course not!" Harm replied with a smile as he regretfully let Gill go free of his clasp.
"So… see you in a couple of hours," she smiled over her shoulder.
"I'll have dinner waiting for you!" Harm assured her as she slipped behind the wheel of her Focus.
Harm stood and watched, a hand raised in farewell, as the tail lights of the Focus were lost to sight as Gill made the turn from the car park's exit.