The moment is finally here! Hope you enjoy the ficlet and please do leave a review to let me know what you think. There will be one more ficlet this weekend to bring the story to a close just in time for Christmas. Thanks for reading!
Love
What are you proposing? And that's not a Freudian slip.
I'm proposing…let's get married.
Mac couldn't say that it had been the most traditional proposal, but it had been the one she had been waiting for all along. No other man had ever held her heart the way Harm did. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, smoothing the white lace of her wedding dress and looking back at a woman who finally saw something of value in her life. She was a Marine and a lawyer – and now she was going to be a wife.
"Colonel?"
Mac looked up to find Admiral Chegwidden standing in the doorway.
"I'm ready, sir," she said confidently.
A.J. offered his arm with a smile, and the two of them made their way out to the patio where the small group of guests fell silent at the regal sight of a Navy admiral in dress whites and a bride in a long, white satin gown.
Trish was already teary-eyed, and Frank squeezed her hand in comfort. Sarah Rabb stood beside them, wearing a calm expression filled with pride. Chloe, Mattie, and Jen were all smiles, keeping watch over a stroller with the twins and holding the hands of A.J. and Jimmy as the boys bounced excitedly, looking very grown up in their little suits and bow ties. Bud and Harriet stood near the minister, both of them beaming, Harriet holding a bouquet of white roses and Bud clutching a black velvet box tightly in his hand.
And waiting for Mac at the end of the aisle, standing beneath a rose-covered wedding arch, was a handsome Navy captain in dress whites and gold wings.
~*~o~*~
Their wedding ceremony was short but heartfelt, surrounded by their closest friends and family under unusually bright December sunshine with ocean waves lapping at the shore.
When Bud handed the rings to the groom, Harm reached for Mac to place a gold band on her left hand, and the look in his eyes was unlike anything she had ever seen. It was a look reserved only for her, filled with the intensity of a fighter pilot, the eloquence of a lawyer, and the love of a man.
"I, Harmon Rabb, Junior, take you, Sarah MacKenzie, as my wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to carry on gold wings wherever we may go, in the air, on land, and to the depths of the sea, in sickness and in health, my partner, my best friend, my love, for all of eternity."
Mac could barely breathe as she listened to Harm's wedding vows. A lump formed in her throat as her eyes grew moist, and a few happy tears escaped her lashes, only to be brushed away by Harm's gentle fingers as he had done so many times before.
"I, Sarah MacKenzie," she began in a whisper, "take you, Harmon Rabb, Junior, as my husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to stand by your side wherever we may go, to the ends of the earth and to the edge of the heavens, in sickness and in health, my partner, my best friend, my love, for all of eternity."
The minister smiled warmly at both of them. "I now pronounce you husband and wife."