Author: Anne Taul - annetaul@insightbb.com
Classification: Story, Romance (Harm/Mac)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Still trying to define their relationship,
Harm and Mac make a trip to visit a special relative
Disclaimer: JAG, the characters, the premise, all of
it, belong to Bellasarius, Paramount and CBS. This is a wholly recreational
endeavor. No profit is being sought or realized. No infringement of copyright
is intended. Believe me, if they were mine, TPTB wouldn’t like what I’d do with
them.
==============================================================
SHIPPING OUT
Harmon Rabb drifted slowly awake. He
reached drowsily to the other side of the bed to pull Mac close to him. When
his arm came up empty, his wakefulness came quicker. He didn’t panic, instead,
he let his sleepy eyes scan the room. She wasn’t there. A sly smile crept over
his features when he noticed the carelessly discarded pile of clothing in the
floor, attesting to the passion they had experienced only hours earlier. Still,
no Sarah. Where could she be?
With the sound of falling water from
behind the door across the room, he realized that she was in the shower. Could
it be time to get ready for work already? He hated for her to leave, especially
since he didn’t have to go anyplace. He was a week into his three week layover
before his next duty station aboard the USS Seahawk. This time together was
supposed to be so that they could figure out the direction of their year and a
half old relationship. Well, actually they’d been friends a lot longer than
that, but that’s how long they had been lovers. He knew, without question, that
Mac was the most important thing that had ever been in his life, but that
wasn’t enough to guarantee long-term success. The fact that they had had
several big disagreements and one near breakup proved that. His plan was for
them to discuss where the relationship was and where it was going. He thought
they needed some kind of plan – goals.
She had agreed to this, but
during the week he’d been here, they hadn’t really gotten to that. She worked
all day, then they just needed to be together without the pressure in the
evenings. No, they were going to have to get away from here, if they were going
to settle anything.
As he lay in the bed, contemplating these
things, she emerged from the bathroom wearing only a towel. That distracted
him! When she moved to begin dressing, he sat up on the end of the bed and
reached for her.
Mac easily sidestepped his grasp. Then
admonished him, “Not now, Harm. I have to get ready for work.”
“Couldn’t you just stay home
today?”
“That sounds nice, but one
of us has to be productive, Darling.”
“I’m productive!”
“Yeah. I know you are.
I shouldn’t have said that. All I do is miss you when you’re working, so I
should enjoy having you here during the little bit of time we have together.”
“That’s better! How about having
lunch with me today? A picnic maybe?”
“I can probably manage that. Call me
about an hour before lunch with the details. This will be the last chance for a
picnic this year. It’s already starting to get cold out there.”
******
She continued to dress with
only minor interruptions from him. But he watched, admiringly.
Harm drove her to work so that he could
keep her ‘vette for the day. They stopped for coffee along the way.
As was their normal practice, he
let her out at the side of the building where no one would be likely to see
them together. Then he lamented to her about how much he’d like to tell all
their friends -- and everybody – about them
being in love.
She smiled at him, then rewarded him with a passionate kiss.
“Don’t forget to call about lunch.” She reminded him, as she exited the car.
NOON
–SAME DAY
Mac met her lover at a public park in
Arlington for their picnic. The park was mostly deserted at this time of the
day, so she spotted him easily. He was the tall man sitting on a blanket beside
the fountain – the one with the gorgeous eyes! He stood when he saw her
approaching. “Hello, Beautiful.”
“Hi, yourself, Sailor.”
“How’s your day been?”
“Hectic and busy. How about
yours?”
“I’ve been lonely since you left home.
Here, sit down and let me help you release some of that tension.”
“What do you have
in mind? And, remember, this is a public place!” she warned him. All kinds of
possibilities for releasing tension were running through her mind.
Harm didn’t say a word, but
instead, he knelt behind her and placed his strong hands on her shoulders. As
he began to gently knead the muscles, she could feel herself begin to relax,
just a little.
They ate the food that he had picked up
and brought along, then she lounged against his chest. His arms were wrapped
tightly around her. Her hair smelled fresh and enticing against his face. They
could have stayed like this forever.
The conversation gradually
turned toward the subject that kept cropping up in both their minds.
“We really need to come to some kind of
understanding, Mac,” he said, “I’ve got less than two weeks before I have to
ship out.”
“Don’t talk about that.” She
warned him, “I like to pretend that you’re going to stay with me forever.”
“Well, just because I leave doesn’t mean
I’m not with you in my heart.”
“I know, but I want
all of you.”
He smiled and kissed her forehead.
“This time together is wonderful, but, Darling, we’re supposed to be defining
our relationship, figuring things out …… maybe even making plans. We’re not
doing that.”
“But we are having fun.”
“That we are.” He conceded, “but I think
that if we are going to examine what’s really between us, we’re going to have
to get away from here.”
“Do you still want to go visit
your grandmother? That’s what you had mentioned before.”
“Yeah. I’d like you to meet her, and I
know she’s going to love you. How about we plan a trip in a few days, maybe the
weekend?”
‘Okay, but I don’t want to intrude on
her.”
“Intrude? She’ll be happy to
have us.”
“Harm, what if she doesn’t like me?”
“Impossible.” He assured her.
TWO
DAYS LATER
ON THE WAY TO PENNSYLVANIA
“Harm, maybe you better slowdown a
little. It’s snowed more here than it has in Washington.”
“It’ll be fine, Honey.”
“I can’t believe how much the
temperature dropped all of a sudden.”
“Well, it’s winter now.”
She shivered, “Do you mind f I turn
up the heat?”
“Of course not, go ahead.
Grandma’s expecting us by six. If there’s much more of this icy roadway, we
might be late.”
“We could always stop and
call her.”
LATER
Mac sat up at full alert as the car
swerved, barely missing a road sign. “Harm, are you okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” He answered,
in a drowsy tone.
“Honey, if you’re getting sleepy, I
could drive for a while.”
“No, I’m fine.” He insisted.
After he nearly ran off a
shoulder, she was driving.
Soon, she began to yawn.
“Sarah, we haven’t been
getting enough rest. Honey, neither one of us is really safe to drive right
now. Let’s stop for the night.”
They checked into a small motel,
along the road.
“This looks like
someplace where a Norman Bates character might be.” She observed.
“There weren’t a lot of choices.
Besides, all we’re going to do is get a few hours sleep.”
Harm lay down on the bed, while she
disappeared into the bathroom carrying her suitcase.
He was almost asleep when she returned.
Mac
thought he was sleeping, so she carefully and quietly slipped under the covers
beside him. She moved up against his back, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
Harm rolled over, displacing
her. He, then, caught her up in his arms. “We should enjoy this night. When we
get to Grandma’s, I’m sure it will be separate rooms.”
She kissed him passionately, before
asking, “Do you want to make love, then?”
Harm pushed the stray hair
off her face and kissed her forehead. “No, not tonight. We’re both tired and we
really need to sleep.”
“Okay.” She replied. She lay her cheek
on his chest and circled her arms around his massive shoulders.
Both of them knew that it was
enough to just be together. They fell into a peaceful sleep.
NEXT
DAY
They arrived at Harm’s grandmother’s farm
by late morning. Sarah Rabb was busily preparing lunch. After making the
initial introductions, Harm, at his grandmother’s behest, took the luggage
upstairs to the rooms that he and Mac would be occupying.
Alone together in the kitchen, Mac
smiled at the older woman. “Can I help you with anything, Mrs. Rabb?”
“No, everything’s just about ready.
But, Dear, you mustn’t call me ‘Mrs. Rabb. I’ve heard my grandson talk about
you; you’re not just some girlfriend he’s brought home for the weekend. You are
his soulmate, the love of his life. Since we're apt to spend a lot of time
together from now on, you must call me, Grandma."
“Yes, Ma’am, thank you, Grandma. Did Harm
say those things about me?”
Sarah Rabb just nodded. “Sarah, may I call
you Sarah? The boy’s in love with you.”
“Well, Ma’am …..Grandma, I love
him.”
“I can tell that you do. It’s a rare thing,
love like that. Cherish it.”
Mac had taken the plates Grandma
had handed her and begun setting the table.
*****
When Harm reappeared, he suggested
that he and Mac take a walk down through the woods to see the farm..
She agreed that she would love to see the
farm, but Grandma objected, “Children, it’s too cold to go off walking out there
right now. It’s supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow. Wait until then.
It was decided. Instead, they enjoyed a
lovely lunch, then went to sit in front of a roaring fire. Mac curled up close
to Harm, placing herself directly between the warmth of the blaze and that of
his body.
Not minding a bit, Harm wrapped his
arms tightly around her. He pulled a blanket off the cedar chest and wrapped it
around them both. They snuggled close, and ended up lying drowsily in each
other’s arms.
Just before he was about to go to sleep,
Mac looked up into Harm’s eyes. “Do you want to talk now?”
“Now?” he asked, not believing her
timing.
“Well, that’s what we’re here
for, right?”
“Okay, talk. I love
you. I want to stay like this forever and ever. Enough talk.” As he said that,
he lowered his head to kiss her. The kiss was gentle at first, but quickly
turned passionate and demanding.
She raked her fingers through his
hair, while he softly kneaded her shoulder muscles.
Eventually, they came up for air,
and she breathlessly whispered, “I love you.” In response to that, he kissed
her forehead.
Sarah Rabb stood in the doorway from
the kitchen, watching. She was so happy that her grandson had finally found
this wonderful young woman.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The foray on the couch did,
eventually turn into a nap. When they arose, Harm took Mac’s hand and continued
showing her around the farmhouse. There were memories and stories associated
with almost everything there. “Mac, I want to show you this whole farm. It’s
such a special place for me.”
“I’d love to see it,” she answered, “but
it’s a little cold to be out walking over everything.”
“But warmer tomorrow.” He said,
hopefully.
“Then, it’s a date.” She assured
him.
That afternoon, Harm went
into town to pick up supplies for Grandma Sarah. Mac declined his invitation to
come along, instead wanting to spend the time getting to know Harm’s
grandmother.
The two women sat in the kitchen and
drank coffee while they visited. Sarah Rabb fascinated Sarah MacKenzie. During
her long lifetime, she had done so many things. She had raised a family and
helped with the farm. After her Naval aviator husband was killed in 1942, she
ran the farm all by herself. The loss of her son (Harm’s dad) had been a blow
from which she’d never fully recover. It had been extremely difficult for her
when her only grandson had chosen to pursue the profession that had killed both
his father and grandfather. She, for one, was glad when he gave it up to be a
lawyer. His law degree and legal prowess made her very proud. Now that he was
back flying, she worried about him a great deal.
“I wonder if, now that he has you,
he’ll come to his senses and stay on the ground?”
Mac considered this for a
moment. “Grandma, we want to be together, but I couldn’t ask him to give up
what he loves.”
“I know that, Dear. That’s the
same reason I never asked his grandfather to quit flying.”
The conversation turned to other
topics. Both Sarahs thoroughly enjoyed this time to get to know each other. Mac
was amazed at how much the older woman already knew about her.
The only explanation Mrs. Rabb offered was, “Harm and
I are very close. We talk pretty often.”
So, Harm had been talking about her?
Hmmm.
After a while, the women began fixing
supper. They hoped to have it ready by the time Harm returned.
When Harm did get back, he had time to
carry in firewood before supper. As he deposited a load in the tinder box there
was a knock on the kitchen door. He moved to answer it, finding himself face to
face with a tall, thin young man with ruddy cheeks.
“Where’s Miss Sarah?” the
stranger inquired.
Harm didn’t have a chance to answer or
question the guest before Grandma moved toward the door. “This is Dewayne
Hays.” She said, “He’s the local handyman. He helps me around the place with a
lot of the farm work.” Then addressing the man in the doorway, “Dewayne, this
is my grandson, Harm and his girlfriend, Sarah. They’re visiting for the
weekend.”
It still felt a little odd to Mac
to be called Harm’s girlfriend out loud, but she liked the way it sounded.
“How d’ya do?” Dewayne greeted them,
extending his hand toward Harm.
Harm shook hands with the handyman.
Mac extended her hand to shake,
but Dewayne Hays kissed it instead. “Why, Ma’am, it’s just a pure pleasure to
make your acquaintance.” He commented, in a country drawl.
She couldn’t help but notice that Harm
seemed uncomfortable with this man and his actions.
The ,meal was tasty and satisfying. After
dinner, Mac helped Grandma clean up, until Harm led her out onto the front
porch. They sat down in the old wooden porch swing.
“Harm, it’s cold out here.” She
complained.
“I know.” He agreed, “but
I love this old swing. It has so many good memories. I just wanted to share it
with you.
She moved closer to him, glad when his
arms went round her to draw her near. He excused himself briefly and reached
into the house for the quilt on back of the chair. They cuddled close, safe
from the chill of the night air.
“I want us to always be like this.”
She told him.
“What …..cold?” he teased.
“No, together.” She
corrected.
“Oh! Well, how do you want us to be
together, Sweetie?”
“I don’t know how we could ever
manage it. We work thousands of miles apart. Harm, I’m afraid that we might
lose “us,” if we’re not careful.”
“Mac, you are the most
important thing in my life ….. the most important thing that has ever happened
to me. I want us to be together, too. Should I try to come back to JAG and give
up on being an aviator?”
“No.” she stated
emphatically. “I don’t want to see your dream die. It’s too important to you,
Harm.”
“But I do want us to get married, have a family, all the stuff
we should be doing.”
“Then, we’ll just find a way.
Does this mean that we are engaged now?”
“No.” he replied. “I don’t want to make
those plans, give you a ring and all that goes with that until I figure out how
to make this work.”
They shared a deep passionate
kiss.
Finally going back inside, they
were met by Grandma carrying two mugs of hot cocoa.
They took the cups and sat down
on the couch to drink them.
Harm said, “Let’s both
get a good night’s sleep, then in the morning, I’ll take you out to see the
farm.”
“I’d like that.” She answered, “but I
don’t think I’ll really be able to sleep much without you.”
Sarah Rabb entered the room from
her position at the kitchen doorway, “Kids, I didn’t know that you were more
comfortable staying together. If you want to share a room, it’s okay. I
certainly understand.”
Harm and Mac looked at each
other, surprised and horrified that Grandma had heard their conversation.
An hour later when they went
upstairs to go to bed, Harm told her, “I don’t want you to ever think that our
relationship is based on the physical stuff. We’ll just stay in our own rooms
for now, okay?”
“Okay.” She responded.
************************
*****************************
******************************************
The next morning not only failed to
bring the expected warming, but it also found 6 inches of fresh snow blanketing
the landscape.
Grandma had prepared a huge breakfast of
pancakes and fresh tapped maple syrup. Mac protested that if they remained here
long, they would both get fat. Through her protests, though, she managed to eat
two large platefuls.
After breakfast, she and Harm were once
again on the couch in front of the fire. It was him who brought up the
unpleasantness that they were both trying to ignore. “Sarah, we only have a
little more than a week left before I ship out to the Seahawk……”
“Harm, don’t.” she pleaded with him,
“I just don’t want to even think about it.”
“It’s a fact of life. I just want to make
sure that we try to spend every second together before then.”
“I like that idea.” She
agreed.
“When we’re always together, the
minutes won’t have to be so precious, but now, we need to treasure them.”
“You’re right. So, promise me that we’ll
try to find a way to be together soon.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
There was a knock on the front door,
interrupting them. It was Dewayne Hays.
Dewayne was concerned about
some of Mrs. Rabb’s cattle. They had been trapped by the snow up in a high
meadow. Since there would be no food for them, his task was to get them moved
back down closer to the barn. He wondered if Harm might be willing to give him
a hand.
Harm agreed, and they
prepared to leave. Dewayne asked Mac if she wouldn’t like to come along. “Harm
and I will have to lift up the fence gate and move it to keep the calves from
roaming into the woods, then herd some of the strays back down this way, but
you’re welcome to ride along.”
Mac accepted his
invitation. When his eyes questioned her decision, Mac whispered in Harm’s ear,
“We were going to spend every second together, remember?
When the truck they were riding in
reached the high pasture, Dewayne parked it near the woods. A loud noise
pierced the air and the ground shook. It startled Mac and she jumped. Harm,
instinctively reached to place an arm around her and stabilize her. He didn’t
have to think twice about his first reaction being to protect her. It seemed
natural.
“What was that?” Mac queried in a
soft voice.
“An explosion.”
Dewayne answered, matter-of- factly. The county’s building a new irrigation
system from the reservoir. It’s really going to benefit a lot of farmers around
here. They’ve been blasting like that for a week now, but that sounds like it’s
getting a lot closer. I don’t think I could ever get used to it. I’m afraid it
might shake lose some of the rocks on these cliffs to cause a rockslide or
something.”
“Doesn’t it scare the cows?” Mac asked.
“You’d think so.” Dewayne agreed, “but they seem to be taking it
in stride. You’ll have to ask them about that , Ma’am,”
Harm had put on a scarf and
gloves. “Where do we start?” he inquired.
“Up on the other side of that field.”
Then to Mac, “If you want, you can stay here in the truck and stay warm. I’ll
go out to check the gate is still where it needs to be then give you a signal,
Harm. After you get up there to help me, it’ll only take a few minutes to get
this done.”
Dewayne got out and began hiking across the
field. Mac grasp Harm’s hand, interlacing her fingers with his. “Why do you
suppose our relationship works so well?” she asked.
“Because we’re such good
friends.” He answered without hesitation.
“That’s not all.” She
reminded him.
“But it’s the most
important thing.” He replied.
“Really?” she doubted.
“Absolutely.” He assured her.
“I’m madly in love with you, but that wouldn’t mean anything if you weren’t my
very best friend. That’s really what I treasure.”
“I still outrank you.” She
observed. “Is that going to cause us any problems?”
“That’s one of the reasons we have
to keep this secret.” He informed her.
At that point, he saw Dewayne wave to
him, so with a quick kiss, he was gone.
Mac looked up at the snow
covered cliff above her. It was very pretty with the white blanket over it.
Then another explosion went off and
everything went black.
When Harm and Dewayne returned to the truck,
it wasn’t there anymore. In its place was a huge mountain of snow.
Harm looked at Dewayne for some kind of
reassurance. In response to his
questioning eyes, all Dewayne could say was, “One of those blasts must have
collapsed the cliff and caused all the snow to avalanche down.”
Harmon Rabb felt his stomach
tighten and his head spin. He literally dove into the mountain of snow,
screaming, “Sarah! Sarah!”
His hands dug furiously, trying to bore
a pathway through the mound. After a few minutes, he felt a hand on his
shoulder. Dewayne Hays’ voice told him, “If she’s still in there, she couldn’t
have survived. That’s no use, Buddy.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Harm stood up and slugged the
other man with his left fist. Then,
backing away, “”Don’t say that. I will not accept that.” He challenged. Then he
pleaded, “Won’t you even help me dig the truck out of there?”
“We can call Casey Winburn. He’s got a
backhoe that will clear that snow away quickly.”
“Then do it, and hurry.” Harm
ordered.
Within 20 minutes, Winburn had
arrived and had dug his way through the snow to uncover the truck. Harm ran to
it, almost literally ripping the door from the frame. But it was empty. There
was no sign of Mac inside.
“We’ve got to find
her!” he yelled.
“And quickly, “ Dewayne agreed, “the
temperature has already started to drop. If we don’t find her soon, she’ll
freeze.”
“Shut up!” Harm barked.
Eventually, Larry Combs, Casey Winburn’s
neighbor, found a set of footprints in the snow. They were too small to belong
to a man. They had to belong either to a child or a woman. Since Mac was what
they were looking for, they opted for the latter.
Harm and Dewayne followed the tracks
into the nearby woods, until they stopped abruptly.
“Now what?” Harm wondered
aloud.
“We better hope she didn’t wander
too far into the woods.” Dewayne informed him, “because a body could get lost
and never be seen again in there.”
“No.” Harm stated
emphatically, “I’ll find her.
They continued looking for over an
hour. Harm was tireless. He was frightened, so was running on pure adrenaline.
His mind raced. It told him over and over again that he could not lose Mac. She
was his whole life. He had to find her.
When Dewayne suggested that they get some rest and a meal, Harm
just brushed him off. He was determined not to stop looking until he was
holding his Sarah in his arms again.
Finally, convinced that he had to
stop this madman’s tirade, Dewayne said, “You know, you’re not helping her,
Buddy. You may actually be hurting her.”
“You just don’t understand,” Harm
concluded.
“I know that if you don’t
get some rest, that you’re not going to be any good to her at all. It’s not
going to matter whether we find her, because you’re going to be so worn out,
that you won’t be able to take her home.”
Harm, though he didn’t like it, did
hear this, he came to sit on a boulder beside the other man.
“You ever been in love, Dewayne?”
“I guess so. Yeah, I
have. I’ve been in love with the same woman for most of my life. We will have
been married for 13 years come Spring.”
“Congratulations.” Harm offered. “That’s
what Sarah and I are going to do.”
“Well, don’t waste any time.
Make sure she knows how much you love her.”
“I will, just as soon as I find her.”
“Harm, I still think we should go back to
the house and get some rest. You know, we can call the sheriff. He’ll get a
whole posse of men out here looking. They’ll find her.”
Harm assented, and they
went back to Grandma Sarah’s house.
While they were waiting for the
sheriff, Sarah Rabb fed them a nice hot meal. She was obviously as distressed
as her grandson.
Harm and Dewayne sacked out on the two
couches in the living room to get some much needed rest. Soon they were both
asleep. Harm’s rest was troubled. What if he didn’t find her? How could he ever
live without her? Was there anything to live for? He knew deep in his being
what he felt about their relationship and where it was going. He HAD to find
her!
Sheriff Plout woke them to ask
questions about the mishap. After he had gathered all the pertinent
information, he asked Harm if he had a photo of “the victim” that they could
show around to see if anyone had spotted her. Reaching into his wallet, he
quickly produced a picture of the two of them together, then one of her by
herself. They had had these taken in San Francisco last year. They had no idea
that they would be useful in this way. He was sure glad he had them now!
The sheriff decided that his men could continue to cover the woods. He
suggested that Harm and Dewayne go to the houses in the area to ask if anyone
had seen her. His reasoning was that, “A beautiful woman like that people would
notice and remember.”
None of the neighbors lived closeby, but
there were several other farms along the same road. Harm went East an Dewayne
went West, each with a picture in hand.
It was, by this time, so cold
outside that Harm was truly worried about the only woman he would ever love.
She was so cold natured anyway, that this must be terribly uncomfortable to
her. He prayed that she had found some kind of shelter. The sheriff had asked
him if she was intelligent enough to seek out a cave or some type of shelter.
Harm almost laughed when he declared that she was the single most intelligent
person he knew. “After all, she’s a United States marine.”
People at the first two houses where
Harm knocked on the door were friendly. They had invited him in out of the
cold, but nobody had seen Mac. There were no more family dwellings on his part
of the route, so he was about to turn back. Then he remembered the sheriff
saying that there was a hunter’s cabin back off the road farther down.
He hiked up a primitive
path until he spotted smoke from a chimney in this location.
He knocked on the door, then held his breath in a silent prayer as
he knocked on the door again.
A large, grizzly looking man appeared on
the other side. Harm greeted him, then held out the picture asking if he had
seen this woman.
The man took the picture, looking at
it intently. He called over his shoulder, “C’mere, Phil.”
A second man, equally as large soon filled
the doorway. They whispered as they studied the photograph.
“Who is she?” the second man asked Harm.
Not wanting to give away too much to the strangers, Harm
answered, “a friend of mine. She’s missing. “
Harm had about decided that this was
another fruitless inquiry, when both men stepped back away from the door and
opened it wider.
Looking past them, Harm identified the figure of
a person sitting on the couch in front of the fire.
Before he could say or do
anything, Mac had moved from her seat, across the room and into his waiting
arms. She called out his name and sobbed quietly.
Both of the large, burly men smiled.
Harm just enfolded her
in his embrace, then moved her back to sit on the couch.
The story unfolded to him from
accounts coming from all three of the cabin’s inhabitants.
Mac had been in the truck waiting
for Dewayne and Harm when large clumps of snow began to fall from above her.
Fearing the worst, she had gotten out of the vehicle and tried to get as far
away as possible. She had thought that she was far enough away, but anoother
clast had brought down a significant chunk of the snow covered cliff, trapping
her. She must have been unconscious because the next thing she could remember
was digging her way up out of the snow. It had all been so strange. She was
disoriented, not really sure what had happened, and terribly chilled, so she
started walking. She ended up in the
woods, but had been sure that she could follow her own footprints in the snow
to get back. Soon, though, she noticed that the snow had covered her tracks. It
wasn’t long (22 minutes and 11 seconds) before she realized that she was
wandering around in circles-- lost. She had gotten colder and colder, and begun
to despair when these two weekend hunters, Pete and Phil Layton had come to her
rescue. They brought her back to their cabin here, let her warm up, fed her and
tried to figure a way to help her.
Phil Layton added that Mac had asked over and over to use the phone, but that
thee was no phone in this cabin. They would have taken her back to where she
wanted to go or to a phone, but they had no transportation. They had wanted to hunt this weekend with
out interruption from the outside world, so a buddy had dropped them off and
wouldn’t be back to pick them up until tomorrow night. So, they were isolated
and regretted that they really couldn’t do much to help the young lady. They
had been terribly worried though, since she was obviously so cold. Pete had
planned to walk the nearly three miles out to the road and flag down a car for
her tomorrow, so he was especially glad to see Harm come for her.
The hunters really had been good to
Mac, so Harm offered to pay them, but they wouldn’t accept money. He left them
with his most earnest and heartfelt thanks and rushed to get Mac home.
When they were outside, Mac
looked around and asked how he had gotten there, since she didn’t see a car. He
lead her down the path and into a grove of trees to reveal the snowmobile that
Dewayne had insisted he would need to make it to the houses on this part of the
route.. ‘Can you ride one of these?” he asked her.
“It’s been a while, but
…..yeah, I can. Do you want me to drive?”
“Sure. Right now, I’d just like
to sit behind you and keep my arms wrapped around you.”
So, that was precisely the position in
which they arrived back at Grandma’s house.
Sarah Rabb was beside herself with joy
to see Mac. The sheriff, who soon returned, with Dewayne, also expressed
satisfaction at the turn of events.
Everyone wanted to hear the
story. After it had been told five times, Harm and Mac left the others and
curled up beneath a blanket on the couch in front of the fire.
Grandma soon joined them in the living
room with mugs of hot soup. The three of them talked for a while, but it seemed
to get late rather quickly. When Mac’s yawns got to be frequent, Harm suggested
that he would tuck her into bed.
They went upstairs
together.
Harm turned down the bed and left a
rose on the pillow while Mac changed into her bed clothes in the adjacent
bathroom.
When she got into the bed, he pulled the
covers tight against her chin, in an effort to keep her warm. He gently kissed
her cheek and turned to leave. When he
reached the light switch at the door, a soft voice said, “Stay with me,
please.”
Harm crossed the room in two
strides, kicking off his shoes. He slid easily into the bed beside her,
wrapping his arms around her.
Mac snuggled close against his massive chest,
“Thank you for finding me.” She breathed into his skin.
“I’d never leave my best
friend.” He answered.
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The next day’s trip home was
uneventful. They continued to talk about their relationship, what it was based
on and where it was taking them. Once back in Washington, they kept their
promise to spend every moment they possibly could together. Mac worked during
the day and Harm planned special things for them to do together in the
evenings. They were keenly aware that they didn’t have much time left.
Only a very few days later, she took him
to the airport to catch a flight which would take him to San Diego to join the
crew of the USS Seahawk for a 6 month deployment to the Persian Gulf and
Mediterranean Sea. Neither of them had any idea when they might see each other
again. They were both determined, though, to continue to nurture their
friendship which had brought them such a special relationship.
Hopefully, someday the would never have
to say goodbye like this again.