I SURRENDER - EPILOGUE

KINGSGATE PRIMARY SCHOOL
KINGSGATE ROAD, LONDON NW6
26 AUGUST 2009
0750 ZULU

Three year old Evan Rabb (or ‘almost four’ as he would proudly tell you), held tightly to the hand of his father as they walked up the front path of Kingsgate Primary School. Held just as tightly in his other hand was a model F14 Tomcat – one of many that he had in his prized collection.

Mac leaned against the car watching the scene unfold in front of her. It made her smile – the image of her tall husband in his Navy blues, holding the small hand of his son who was dressed in a little school outfit – shorts, a little blazer and a small knapsack over his shoulders. Their arms seemed to be the exact perfect length to meet each other now – Harm no longer had to bend over and Evan no longer had to stand on his tippy-toes to reach his father’s hand. Something prickled at the back of her neck and a chill ran down her spine. She felt suddenly that she was experiencing a déja vu – ‘She’d seen this before, hadn’t she?’

Her experience was cut short as her son immediately turned and darted back down the path to where his mother stood.

Mac bent down to Evan’s level as he addressed her. “I forgot to say good-bye to baby Katie” he told his mother very matter-of-factly in a strong London accent.

“Well I guess we’d better remedy that, hadn’t we?” Mac opened the back door of their little Alpha Romeo.

Evan climbed up and kissed his baby sister on the cheek. “Good-bye baby Katie!” he said cheerfully.

“Ba-ba!” Katie chirped and squeezed her hand open and closed in uncoordinated attempt at a wave. It was the only other thing she knew how to say besides ‘mum-mum’, ‘da’ and something that sounded suspiciously like ‘ebby’.

“Mummy – do you think she knows it’s going to be her birthday in three weeks? She doesn’t seem very excited.”

“Of course she does, sweetie. It’s just that she doesn’t really know what that means exactly – she’s never had a birthday before.”

This seemed to placate his young mind and he nodded. He then reached his arms up for a hug. “Good-bye, Mummy!” He gave her a hug and a kiss, then turned and ran back to where his smiling father waited to take back his hand.

Harm walked his son to the steps of the school where a lone teacher stood watch in the doorway. He turned to his son, bent down to his height and held out his hand – palm up – with an expectant look on his face. Evan very slowly relinquished his toy plane into his father’s awaiting grasp. He then took one step up onto the step, turned around to face his father and put himself very smartly to attention. Harm immediately stood to attention as well, as Evan executed a perfect salute – only palm out – British style. Harm’s shoulders suddenly sunk in mock exasperation and he shook his head slowly. He smiled at his boy, took a step forward and adjusted the child’s hand so that his palm was facing downward. Satisfied, he took a step backwards and returned his son’s salute. Evan then executed a shaky about face and started up the steps to his school.

Out of nowhere, Mac’s feeling of déja-vu returned – ‘where had she seen this all before?’ Then it came to her – wasn’t this the exact scene her mind had conjured up all those years ago in Russia – when she had watched Harm sleep in the chair in their hotel room and realized for the first time that she was in love with him? Mac shook her head. She had imagined that scene then – it had been a daydream of her own making – hadn’t it?

She smiled – yes, a good old fashioned premonition wouldn’t entirely be out of the question for her based on her past experience with ESP, but if that’s what it had been, then…

A tear escaped her eye as she continued her thought. All these years they had thought time had been wasted due to bad decisions, bad timing, miscommunication… but if she had envisioned this scene *before* all those events had occurred, that could only mean one thing. Everything they went through had been destined to happen even then. Fate had lessons for them to learn before they could be together – they couldn’t have played it any other way…

Harm returned to the car to take up position by his wife’s side – a huge grin still on his face. He noticed the tear and chided her affectionately as he wiped it away with the back of his finger. “Hey Marine – it’s only his first day at Pre-School. What are you going to be like when we send him off to College?”

Mac laughed and sniffed at the same time. “It’s all your fault – you’ve turned me into a giant sap.”

Harm laced his fingers inconspicuously into hers and leaned over to whisper in her ear “Just the way I like you, sweetheart.”

Suddenly, he bumped playfully into Mac’s hip as his gaze returned proudly to their retreating son. “I guess we were both right.”

“We were?” Mac asked questioningly.

“My looks and your brains...” he turned to smile at her admiringly, “…he *is* perfect.”

Mac smiled as she turned to gaze after her son, “Sometimes I *wonder* if he has my brains…”

“Sure he does,” Harm countered defensively, “He’s as smart as a whip!”
Harm followed Mac’s gaze up to the steps of the school, where, as if on cue, Evan reached up under his school blazer and produced a previously concealed toy plane. He immediately began swooping and diving the plane, making sputtering airplane noises.

Mac raised an eyebrow at her suddenly blushing husband and then turned around to her olive-skinned, brown eyed daughter in the back seat. “Katie honey, you’re my only hope…”

‘…Well, maybe not my *only* hope’ she mused excitedly to herself as she brought a hand to her belly. Smiling, she felt the butterflies erupt as she thought of the fact that she’d be telling Harm tonight that he was going to be a father again. If she lived to be a hundred she would never forget the singular joy she experienced at telling him those words.

Although they hadn’t discussed having another child after Katie, she had once brought it up to him while she was pregnant with her. Seeing as having children didn’t seem to be nearly as much of a problem as they once thought it would be, she had ventured to ask him at what point he envisioned their family would be big enough. He had only given her one of his impish grins and replied “Do we have to stop?”

Harm smiled, leaned down and kissed his wife lovingly. “You OK, Marine? You look like you have something on your mind.”

“Yeah” she smiled sweetly and kissed him on the nose. “I’ll tell you about it later.” They shared a brief, silent exchange between their eyes, and turned to look back at their son who was just disappearing through the front doors. Before he was gone, he turned a complete 360 degree circle with his swooping aircraft, caught sight of his parents, and flashed them an eerily familiar, million megawatt smile with dancing sea-green eyes.

THE END