Page 15 of SEAL Ever After

Would she and Ryan ever have children?

She’d never really wanted them in the past, although she hadn’t exactly pictured getting married either. Life had done a complete turn from what she’d expected in the past few months, and she couldn’t be happier with all the changes that had come right along with it.

“Ice,” Ryan said with a nod as Patrick walked up to them, hauling his own family’s bags and supplies.

“Sir,” Patrick replied, setting everything down on the sand. His gaze briefly swept the area around them as he stood back up, just as Ryan’s had when they’d first arrived. Those guys were attuned to their surroundings at all times. Sarah supposed it would be hard to ignore that instinct when it was literally drilled into them every day. She was admittedly oblivious much of the time, preferring to live in the moment, but she had to admit she felt a certain sense of security when she was around any of the men on the SEAL team.

“Aunt Sarah!” Logan shrieked, running up and throwing his arms around her. Abby grabbed onto her as well, and Sarah greeted Rebecca and their new baby girl as she walked up behind every else.

“Hi guys! We’ve got some big news to share before everyone else gets here,” Sarah said, glancing between her brother and Rebecca. Rebecca’s face instantly lit up, her eyes landing on Sarah’s ring finger, but Patrick raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

“Ryan and I are engaged!” Sarah yelled, the children still clinging to her.

“Engaged? You mean like before a wedding?” Abby asked, looking up at her.

Sarah looked down at the little girl. “Yes. We’re getting married!”

“Yay!” the kids shrieked, jumping up and down.

A broad smile stretched across Patrick’s face as he and Ryan shook hands, and Rebecca engulfed Sarah in a hug. “I knew it!” she whispered. “That man is infatuated with you. It’s about time he found someone to settle down with.”

“Thanks!” Sarah said, leaning over to kiss the top of the baby’s head before Rebecca pulled away. The kids ran around yelling excitedly as the women continued talking. “We’d thought about it of course, but I was shocked when he actually popped the question the other day.”

“How’d he do it?” Rebecca asked.

“One morning before breakfast,” Sarah said with a giggle. “No big fancy dinner or anything like that. He’d been on base a few days while the guys were gone on their last op, and after a great night, I guess he decided it was time.” Sarah shrugged, glancing over toward where the men stood talking.

“A very great night,” Rebecca said with a wink.

Sarah’s cheeks heated. “Understatement of the year,” she confided. “I definitely wasn’t expecting him to get down on one knee before breakfast the next morning.”

“When you know, you know,” Rebecca said.

“I’ll say. I never really thought much about marriage, to be honest, but then when I got together with Ryan it just all clicked.”

“So you’re moving here then! That’s fantastic.”

“Yep. It’ll be great not driving back and forth to Norfolk. I only had patients there one day a week, but I’m ready to be working full-time here. It was hard commuting back and forth, having some stuff at my old apartment and some things at Ryan’s house.”

“That’ll be amazing,” Rebecca agreed. “It’s so nice when you’re finally settled in one house together. And now you’ll be planning a wedding, too!”

“Yeah, it seems unreal,” Sarah said, watching as Patrick and Ryan began setting up things for the bonfire and the kids raced around in the sand. “I want a beach wedding of course—a loose, flowy dress, lots of flowers everywhere. I saw the most amazing naked wedding cakes in a bridal magazine.”

“Naked wedding cakes?” Ryan asked, raising his eyebrows.

“I’m not sure I want to know,” Patrick said with a chuckle.

“They’re natural looking,” Sarah explained. “There’s no frosting or frou-frou fondant on the sides or anything like that. You see the actual cake, and we’ll have fresh berries of course, maybe some edible flowers….”

She trailed off as both men stared at her. “Well, I’ll handle that part myself I guess.”

Ryan shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “Whatever you want,” he said in a low voice. “Just none of those vegan burgers Patrick grilled for you that one time.”

Sarah shuddered as Rebecca laughed beside her.

“What was wrong with the burgers?” Patrick asked, his cool blue eyes landing on her. “I bought those especially for you.”

“They tasted like cardboard,” Sarah finally admitted. “Sorry, bro.”

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