Six months later

Ron, Bobbi, Julian and Sam got off the plane in Las Vegas and headed towards baggage claim. Ron was anxious to introduce Bobbi and Julian to his friends, take them to a hockey game and, if things went according to plan, get Bobbi to elope with him while they were here. He was ready. The last six months had been amazing and he loved this woman more than life itself. She made him laugh, she loved Sam like she was her own, and the joy she brought to their blended little family was everything he’d wanted in a woman.

He spotted Erin right away and waved. She waved back, a big grin on her face.

“What’s on her arm?” Julian asked, frowning at her.

“Julian.” Bobbi glared down at him.

“It’s okay,” Ron said, smiling. “Erin isn’t embarrassed. She’s a Marine, like me, buddy, and she got hurt when a bomb went off. It left those scars on her leg and arm.”

“She’s a Marine?” Julian’s eyes rounded.

“Yup. We fought together in Afghanistan.”

“That is so cool!” The boy walked right up to Erin and said, “Hi, I’m Julian and Ron said you’re a Marine, and that is so cool! I didn’t know girls were Marines too. Were you Force Recon like Ron? Can I look at your scars?”

Erin laughed, a deep, throaty sound that sent relief washing through Ron, who saw the mortified look on Bobbi’s face. “I’m Erin. Yes, girls are Marines too and no, I wasn’t Force Recon. You can look at my scars when we get back to the house, but how about we don’t make a scene here at the airport?”

“Cool.” Julian seemed proud of himself.

“I’m so sorry!” Bobbi said, shaking her head and holding out her hand.

“Oh, it’s fine.” Erin took her hand but pulled her into a hug. “And it’s so nice to finally meet you in person. Ron talks about you endlessly.”

“You too.”

“Hey, Sam-Bam!” Erin scooped her out of Ron’s arms and nuzzled her belly, making Sam laugh.

They headed out to her waiting SUV and drove towards her house in Henderson.

“I’m sorry for intruding like this,” Bobbi was telling her. “Ron got a bug up his butt that we had to meet you and he got three days’ leave so we could come.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Erin said. “We have plenty of room and Drake’s excited for you guys to see the Sidewinders play.”

“Hockey’s cool,” Julian said. “We watch on TV and I wanna learn to skate but Ron and Mom don’t know how.”

“Ron knows how to skate!” Erin shot back, glaring at her friend in the rearview mirror.

“I can skate in a circle,” Ron protested. “I can’t go backwards and I can barely stop… How can I teach someone else when I’m constantly one step away from a wipeout?”

“Drake’ll teach him,” she said with a chuckle. “No worries.”

“Is Shay skating yet?” Bobbi asked, referring to Erin’s two-year-old son.

“Oh yes,” Erin snorted. “He got his first skates for his first birthday. I told Drake Mia has to be three, but he said, no, she’ll get skates on her first birthday too.”

They all laughed.

At the house, they got settled and had a quiet evening with Erin, Drake and the kids. Erin was wonderful and Bobbi could see why she and Ron had remained close. Drake was a big guy, strikingly handsome and completely in love with his wife. Bobbi already felt at home, but couldn’t help but wonder why Ron had insisted they come to Las Vegas over Thanksgiving. It was fun, but her intuition told her he was up to something. Deep down, she hoped he was going to propose, but why would he want to do it in front of his friends? It made no sense, so she’d stopped overthinking everything and just let herself enjoy it.

In the morning, she was alone in bed when she woke up and she hurriedly got dressed and went downstairs. To her surprise, the kitchen was bustling with activity as a group of men sat around the table by the window. Drake was laughing with them while Erin had Sam on her hip. Julian sat at the island eating pancakes and the busy, laughter-filled kitchen made her tear up. She’d never had anything like this during her marriage to Wade and she was momentarily overwhelmed with happiness.

“Good morning!” Erin called out. “Ron said to let you sleep, but now that you’re up…” She introduced her to Ron’s friends from their old unit—Mark, Louie and Eric.

“Where’s Ron?” Bobbi asked in confusion.

“He had an errand to run, but he’ll be back. I made pancakes for breakfast…”

Bobbi wondered what kind of errand Ron could be running but she was too caught up in conversation, breakfast and all the children to ponder it too hard.

Fifteen minutes later, Ron returned and Bobbi squealed with delight when she saw Jessyka and Benny. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, hugging them both.

“It’s Thanksgiving and we were invited,” Jessyka teasingly raised her eyebrow. “Don’t you want us here?”

“Where are the kids?”

“We left them with Wolf and Caroline,” Benny grinned. “I don’t get my wife all to myself very often.”

They wanted to be without kids on Thanksgiving? Bobbi was starting to get suspicious and she linked her arm through Ron’s, tugging him playfully off to the side. “What are you up to?” she whispered.

He smiled, his steely eyes meeting hers. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She made a face. “Ronnie.”

“Can you go with the flow, babe? Please? For me?”

A slight frown creased her face but she nodded. “You’re not going to embarrass me, are you?”

“Never.” He pressed his lips to hers, kissing her gently. “I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you, embarrass you, make you unhappy. You can take that to the bank.”

“Then what is this all about?”

He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. “I wanted you to meet my friends.”

“And you invited our closest friends from home?” She raised her eyebrows.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” He shook his head and tugged her up the stairs towards their bedroom.

“Ron?” She was even more confused now.

“You know how to ruin a good surprise,” he said once they’d shut the door to the guest room.

“I do?” She blinked.

“I was going to do this later, at a nice restaurant, but since I can see you’re stressing about this…” He dug in his pocket for something and dropped to one knee. “Roberta Santino, will you marry me?”

She stared at the diamond in his hand and big, fat tears splashed down her cheeks. She clasped her hand over her mouth, unsure what to say or do. She’d hoped he was going to propose, but she hadn’t been expecting it here at Erin’s house with all his closest friends a few feet away.

“Honey?” A flash of uncertainty crossed his face and she swiped at her tears, trying to buy enough time to formulate a coherent thought.

“Yes,” was all she managed to choke out. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you! I’ve been waiting my whole life to marry you.”

He slid the ring on her finger and pulled her close. “This weekend?”

“What?”

“We can get a license today and get married over the weekend.”

“That’s why you invited all our friends.”

“Not all our friends, but Jessyka’s your closest friend and Mark, Louie, Erin and Eric are mine…” His heart was in his eyes as he looked at her and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Oh, yes. I’ll marry you whenever you want. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Ron Marshall.”

“You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

She smiled as she thought of how he’d said the same thing the night she’d agreed they should move in together. “Actually, I think I do.” She closed her eyes as he leaned in for another kiss.