Summary: Harm. & Mac begin their life together, while both deal with the reality of Harm's decision to resign his commission. Spoiler alert: Mac doesn't handle it very well. (Continuation of It Started in Russia, and Everything is Going to Be Okay)

Part Twenty-Four

"This is a disaster."

Harm looked up from the chicken pieces he was pulling from a marinade and frowned. "The chicken? I know you prefer dark meat, but you could at least try the white meat before writing it off as a disaster."

Mac narrowed her eyes slightly and gestured at the box. "Not the chicken," she said through clenched teeth. "This!" She waved wildly at the box and then pulled it open. She pulled out a piece of heavy cream paper with elegant calligraphy and waved it at her fiancé. "I stopped by the stationary shop on the way home to pick these up and they're are all wrong."

"Sweetheart, my hands are covered in chicken and oil. Tell me what's wrong with them?"

"Maid of honor. Madeline Lowery." Harm's brow furrowed and she sighed and slammed the piece of paper down. "She married Ben last week. It's now 'Matron of Honor'. And it's Madeline Lowery-Taylor. Thanks to their impromptu wedding I now have two hundred programs with the wrong name." She gestured to the smaller box and frowned. "And her place card is wrong now too, I suppose."

He moved to the sink and washed his hands and then moved to the box of paper. He glanced at one and then shrugged. "It's fine, Mac. No one is going to notice or care."

"Maddie will notice."

He rolled his eyes and placed the lid back on the box. "Mac, she unexpectantly got married a week ago. I'm pretty damned sure that she's going to understand." She didn't look convinced, and he picked up the smaller box of place cards and set them on top of the programs. "These cost 400. We're not getting them redone."

"I wasn't going to suggest that." She folded her arms around her middle and sighed. "It's just… It's frustrating."

Harm stepped closer and placed his hands on her hips. "It's just wedding stationery. Don't stress out about it." She didn't say anything and he lowered his lips to hers. "Everything is fine." She sighed softly, and he smiled and gave the hem of her top a gentle tug. "I'm going to go get the grill going. You should get out of that uniform and meet me on the deck.

For a second he thought she would argue, but then she reached up to kiss him and nodded. "Okay. I'll be right back."

He kissed her again. "I'll be here."

Mac grabbed the boxes and dropped them off in the office on her way upstairs. She knew he was right, but she didn't want to have to see them or think about them right now. She shut the bedroom door behind her and was struggling with her pantyhose when the doorbell rang. They weren't expecting anyone, and she frowned when the bell rang a second time. She grabbed a pair of jeans and shimmied into them, and then pulled on a long-sleeved black t-shirt and hurried back downstairs and pulled the front door open, and found Trish and Sarah standing on the front porch. Her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Surprise!" Trish exclaimed. She grabbed Mac and hugged her before stepping back and letting Sarah have her turn. "Harm told us that your maid – excuse me, matron of honor is on her honeymoon, and we figured you could use some extra help getting ready for the wedding."

Mac felt numb and just stared at the two of them in shock. "You're here for…" She swallowed and shook her head. "But the wedding isn't for two weeks."

"Thirteen days," Sarah said with a wide smile. "Can we come in? We're both dying to see the house."

Her eyes went wide and she stepped back. "Oh, sorry! Yes, of course. Please come in!" Both women and stepped inside and looked around the home.

"It's beautiful," Trish exclaimed. "Darling, you have fantastic taste."

"Thank you." She heard the back door open and close and swallowed. "Harm is cooking chicken. Did he know you were coming?"

"No, we wanted it to be a surprise!" Trish looped her arm through Mac and the three women walked through the living room into the large kitchen.

"Harm," Mac said, trying to make her voice sound normal, "look, we have guests."

"Mom! Grams!" He set the platter of chicken down and crossed the room to greet them both with a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Mac stepped bag while the two women explained to Harm that they came to stay until the wedding; Harm seemed thrilled, whereas Mac felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack. She loved his family, but she didn't know if she could handle two additional people in her house and her space and talking about this wedding for the next two weeks.

And then she started thinking that maybe they should have eloped after all.

Jjj

Their guests joined them for dinner, which turned out to be a nice reprieve from thinking about the wedding. Instead, they talked about Frank's recent travels, the gallery, and the farm. Sarah Rabb had them in hysterics with a story about a flock of sheep fleeing a neighboring farm, and the whole town turning into impromptu shepherds. After dinner, Harm found a box of ice cream sandwiches in the back of the freezer, and they had ice cream out on the deck.

After ice cream, and more stories, Sarah Rabb discretely looked at her watch, and then at Trish. "I know you're still on California time, but I'm beat. I think we should call it a night."

"Oh, sorry!" Mac exclaimed, and hopped up. "Just give us a few minutes to get the guest room ready."

Trish cocked her head to the side. "Oh, you don't need to do that. We checked into a hotel nearby. The Marriott by Tyson's Corner is very nice."

Harm frowned and looked from his mother to his grandmother. "That's crazy; we have plenty of space. Stay here."

Trish shook her head again and then smiled at Mac. "Sweetheart, you both have enough going on right now without worrying about hosting us." She stood and the others joined her. She reached over and took his hands in hers. "We're here to ease your burden, not add to it."

"You're not burdens," Mac said quietly, immensely relieved that her future mother-in-law was so intuitive, but also feeling a little guilty that they were checking into a hotel when the house was more than big enough for them. "You're welcome to stay."

Trish shook her head again. "We're just fine at the Marriott. And maybe tomorrow we can have dinner, and you can give us some wedding tasks." Mac opened her mouth to insist there wasn't anything she needed help with, but Trish silenced her with a look. "I've planned two weddings, darling. And hundreds of events at the gallery. I know there are plenty of things to do. Especially since you still have to work. When are you both done with work, by the way?"

Mac groaned and shook her head. "Not till next Wednesday. We're short-staffed, so…" she trailed off and shrugged.

Harm ran his hand over her back and then turned his attention back to his mother. "Friday, for me. I'll still be available if anything extraordinary happens, but I'm not planning on going back until after we get back from Maui."

Trish nodded. "Well, you'll have to put us to work then."

He leaned in and hugged his mother. "Thanks, mom."

"It was really nice of mom and grams to come this early to help."

"Mm-hmm."

He tossed a few of the throw pillows aside and pulled back the duvet. He slid in between the sheets and watched as she stepped out of the bathroom and turned off the light. "Are you okay?"

"What?"

"You've been quiet all night. Are you okay?"

She went into the closet and dumped her clothes in her laundry basket and then came to bed. "Did you know they were coming?"

He frowned and shook his head. "No. Why? Do you have a problem with them being here?"

She could practically feel his hackles raising and adjusted the duvet over her legs. "Harm, you know I don't have a problem with them being here. I love your family." He didn't look convinced and she sighed. "Do they think I can't handle this? Handle the wedding plans, I mean? Because I can, you know." She threw off the covers and stood up and began to pace. "I may not have a mother, a grandmother, or even my best friend at this exact moment, but I have everything under control."

"Do you?"

She stopped moving and spun around to look at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged, and she continued to stare at him. Finally, he relented and threw his hands up. "You're so convinced that you have to do everything yourself, that you're not having any fun."

"I am not," she said.

"You are, though." He sat up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Take the cloth napkins, for example."

"Oh god, not this again."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, this. The caterer could have included napkins. But instead, you bought them yourself. And now you have to iron all of them and fold them into perfect rectangles yourself."

"I saved 300 on napkins by doing it this way." He sighed and she frowned. "Napkins don't matter to me, but that freed up money to go towards something that actually does matter to me."

"Like hand-lettered place cards."

"Yes," she shot back, "like hand-lettered place cards. And an exquisite cake. And a killer photographer. And doing a few things myself to save money helps me justify splurging on the things that do matter to me."

He moved toward the foot of the bed and reached for her, but she shrugged off his hand. "The money doesn't have to be an issue," he said softly. "We have plenty of money."

Her eyes narrowed slightly and she shook her head. "You've always had money," she said softly. "You wouldn't understand. Besides, this is my responsibility."

"If you start on with that antiquated 'the bride's family pays for the entire wedding' nonsense again, I'm going to scream. That tradition is ridiculous." He stood up and walked closer to her. "It would be one thing if we were in our early twenties and had no money. But we're older, established, and both make a good living."

"Harm, I-"

But before she could finish her thought, her cell phone started ringing and she frowned. A phone call this late could never mean anything good. She walked over to the dresser and picked up her phone. "Hello?"

Harm watched as the color drained from her face, and she moved back to the bed and sank.

"Okay," Mac said. "Thank you for calling. Yes, I'll call the office tomorrow to process the refund. Thank you." She closed the phone and dropped it next to her.

Harm knelt before her and placed his hands on her thighs. "What's the matter?"

She swallowed hard and he knew she was fighting back tears. "That was the venue for the reception." Her voice broke and she began to cry. "Their roof collapsed today."

His eyes widened. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, before pulling her close.

End Part 24