Mary Ann pressed her forehead to his jaw and stroked his chest. “Well, do you blame me for worrying?”
No, he didn’t. He’d spent many sleepless nights worrying about his youngest son. Hell, worrying about them all, but especially Matt.
Ron and his brother had both been pressured into following their father’s footsteps. So, they did.
It might not have been the worst decision: to enlist and then become police officers since it provided both his and Randall’s family a good life.
But he had refused to do the same with his own sons. He’d left it up to them to decide their life’s path and would’ve supported them even if they hadn’t taken the same road. Randall let Jet and Adam decide for themselves, too.
Even so, Ron would have shouldered the guilt if any of his sons hadn’t come home. While Matt did come home eventually, he didn’t come home whole.
So, yes, that particular guilt ate at him. Even years later. As it did Mary Ann, who thought Matt staying away was her fault.
Which was far from the truth.
Age and wisdom, plus a lot of therapy, showed their youngest son differently. And now Matt was creating his own family, just like Max and Marc did.
Ron couldn’t be prouder of his sons. They worked hard and loved even harder. He only hoped the next generation did the same.
“You got everything you’ve always wanted.” He turned his head, pressed a kiss to his wife’s soft cheek and slid his hand down her thigh to her knee, where he let his thumb sweep back and forth over the fabric of her housecoat.
“I got more than I’d ever wanted. I now have daughters. I have grandchildren. I have you. Even though it was nerve-wracking and still is, I couldn’t be any prouder that our boys followed in their father’s footsteps.”
“And my father’s,” he reminded her.
Mary Ann pressed a hand over his heart. The heart that would always beat for her. “It’s in the blood.”
“We’ll see what the boys do when they get older.”
She released a soft sigh. “To be honest, I won’t be upset if they don’t join the military.”
With the way things were in the world, Ron wouldn’t be upset, either.
“They could go to college, instead,” she suggested.
“Our boys did good, honey. They served their country and now serve their community. I’m extremely proud of them.”
“I know you are. But our grandbabies should follow their own dreams. If they want to serve and then wear a badge, that should be up to them. Not us. Not Marc, Matt or Max.”
Ron squeezed his wife’s knee, then ran his palm up the inside of her thigh until he found her heat and cupped it gently. “If they’re happy, I’ll be happy.”
Mary Ann wiggled in his lap. “Feels like someone else is getting happy. I think you’re about to make your wife happy, too.”
“You’re not too tired?” he teased, before brushing his tongue along the outer edge of her ear.
“It’s been a very long day and you know the kids will get us up early again.”
“Then I’ll get up with them and let my wife sleep.”
“Oh... Sounds like you’re in negotiations.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “Do I need to negotiate?”
She giggled, reminding him of when they first met, when they were barely nineteen and twenty years old and they shamelessly flirted with each other. It took him asking her a half dozen times until she agreed to go to the movies with him.
But then, he always liked a good chase.
Somehow with Mary Ann, he was the one who got caught.
Hook, line and sinker.
And once he was, he didn’t fight to get free. He only held on to the hook even tighter. He couldn’t imagine life without her by his side.
Now here they were, almost forty-six years later and still deeply in love. Not too many couples could say that and mean it.
They were lucky they also got to watch their sons fall into the same forever type of love. He only hoped they were around long enough to see the same happen for their grandchildren.
“I’d carry you upstairs but if I pull my back, I might not be able to take care of my woman’s demanding and insatiable needs.”
“If you carry me upstairs and lose your balance, we might both tumble back down and break a hip.”
He laughed. “That, too. So, how about if I just hold my wife’s hand and escort her up to my lair?”
“How about if I just invite my husband into mine?”
“Your husband is agreeable with that scenario,” he announced.
“I know he is. I can feel the evidence.”
“Then let’s not waste that opportunity.”
She climbed out of his lap. “Let’s go, old man.”
She squeaked as she turned to head toward the stairs and he smacked her ass. But before she could walk away, he grabbed her hand and stopped her, spinning her back toward him.
“Second thoughts?” she teased.
“Never with you,” he murmured and dropped his head until her breath whispered across his lips. “Like always, I have one more thing to say.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Thank you for all you’ve given me.”
“Ron...” she whispered, her eyes instantly turning shiny.
“I hope we have forty more Christmases together.”
Her fingers fisted his T-shirt. “Me, too.”
“I love you.”
She tipped her head toward the steps. “Let’s go upstairs and you can show me how much.”
“I doubt I’ll last long enough for that, but I’ll do my best.”
She closed the slight gap between them, giving him a quick kiss. “You always do, Marine.”
“Oorah,” he whispered and followed his wife upstairs.
But then, he’d follow her anywhere.
Even to the ends of the Earth.
Semper Fi ~ Always Faithful
* * *
I hope you enjoyed revisiting with the Brysons. This is not the last you’ll see of them. They occasionally appear in my newest series, Blood & Bones: Blood Fury MC, which is also based in a small Pennsylvania town named Manning Grove.
Turn the page to read the first chapter from Blood & Bones: Trip (Blood Fury MC, book
