The Santinis: Marco, Book 2 by Melissa Schroeder Page B

like. For a lot of spouses, men and women, it was a bit too much to take. So, to protect himself, he had kept it from her. And now, he realized she was right. He had been as bad as she.  
    “Alana.”
    “No, I don’t want to talk right now.”
    She still sounded mad, so he was completely undone when he stepped in front of her and found her face soaked with tears.  
    “Oh, baby, I’m sorry.”
    “I said, go away. I don’t want you to apologize because you feel sorry for me.”
    He stared at her. The woman had no idea what he saw in her. “Feel sorry for you?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I won’t have it.”
    “Why should I feel sorry for a woman who lives in a multimillion dollar home, fills her life with things that make her happy?”
    She looked away from him.  
    “Not gonna touch that, are you?”
    She still said nothing. He hated the silent treatment, especially when it was done on him. He had always been the master of the silent treatment growing up, but it was pretty shitty to have someone use it back on him.
    “So, you’re feeling sorry for yourself because we had a fight.”
    “You said I hid things.”
    “You do.” She gave him what she called her stink eye and he had to fight the urge to laugh. Her eyes were swollen, her face was smeared with tears and dammit she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him. “But, I know I do too. I’ll be honest with you.”
    “That would be nice.”
    “I’m not used to sharing things with other people. With a family like mine…I love them but there were times when they could be overbearing. Add in my job and I am just used to observing. But it’s who I am and I can’t change some aspects of it.”
    She must have picked up on what he had been talking about. “I would never ask you to give up your job, Marco. It’s who you are, and one of the reasons I love you.”
    Happiness exploded. “Yeah.”
    She smiled. “Yeah.”
    He stepped closer. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
    She shook her head.  
    “You’re gonna have to marry me, woman.”
    For a few long seconds she studied him. Then, she grinned. “Name the time and place, SEAL.”
    He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She opened her mouth willingly and pressed her body against his. For a moment, everything faded away and it was just the two of them.  
    They were interrupted by a cheer. When he pulled back, he noticed the crowd had watched the whole argument and his proposal. He glanced at Alana and found her blushing.  
    He leaned down, lifting her into his arms.
    “Marco.” She giggled and he realized that as long as he could make her laugh, everything was going to be okay.
    He turned toward their audience and said, “Next show’s in about five minutes, folks, but it’s just for private viewing.”
    Then, he turned to walk back to her house.  
    “I love you, Marco,” she said as she laid her head on his shoulder.
    “I love you too, Alana.”
    And he planned on making sure she knew that every day of their lives.

Epilogue
    Marco’s phone rang in the middle of the night with his mother’s ringtone. He shot up in bed and answered it immediately. If his mother was calling at this time during the night, there was trouble.  
    “Marco?” Alana asked.
    He looked at her, shaking his head and turning on his phone.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    Only one of them was deployed and that was Gee.
    “It’s your brother. He’s okay, so don’t freak out.”
    His mother’s voice was thin as if it had been a long night.
    “It doesn’t sound like it.”
    She sighed. “Gee is okay. They had to set down hard and so he has a concussion. Luckily, he only has two weeks left so they are sending him home. He’s coming here.”
    Oh, that didn’t sound good. Not that he doubted his mother’s recitation of the facts. That he believed. For a PJ, there were a lot worse injuries he could have sustained. They dropped into war zones to save lives. Some of them ended up fighting