I'm so thankful for the reviews, follows, and favorites for this fic. You all have really made writing fun for me again. Zeejack, you're a hoot!

"Jackie!" Barbara breathed into her phone. "We're short five guest tables and the sweetheart table." The owner of the town's party rental supply shop placed the frantic woman on hold. She returned to the call, apologized profusely for the mix-up, and promised to deliver the remaining tables to The Rolling Green personally. "Thank you so much!" Barbara sighed.

Returning her attention to the clipboard in her hand, she didn't notice Hershel walk up behind her. He snaked his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, "I love it when you're bossin' folks around."

She tilted her head so he had better access to the area of her neck he deemed his play area. "You are too old to be acting like this," she giggled, leaning against his solid frame.

"You like it," he teased gently tugging on her earlobe with his teeth.

Barbara pushed him back away from her with her body. "Cut it out before folks start talking," she whispered, looking around at the workers to see if anyone had seen them.

Hershel's mood changed sobered. "When are we gonna tell the young'uns? I'm tired of all this sneaking around, Babs."

"I've been busy putting together this engagement party." She'd been afraid of her daughter's reaction to her relationship with Hershel because Michonne took her father's death so hard, and she didn't want to cause her any more pain.

He took that as another excuse and decided to call her on it. "Alrighty then. We'll tell 'em after the honeymoon." Without uttering another word, Hershel walked away. He understood her hesitation, but Michonne was an adult and they were long past the uncertainty of their relationship. Hiding was no longer an option for him.

"I hate it when he does that," Barbara huffed, watching him saunter away from her with the confidence of one hundred men.

IN TOWN

The Green boys strutted down Main Street as if they owned every inch of the sidewalk their feet touched. "Here comes trouble," Shane said, seeing Lori approaching them.

"Hey, guys!"

"Lori," they all greeted in unison with the same lackluster tone.

"Rick, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure. What's up?" he asked.

She looked at Shane and Daryl. "Alone."

The last thing Rick wanted was for anyone to see him standing in the middle of town talking to Lori alone. "Whatever it is, you can say it in front of my brothers," he said impatiently.

Lori wanted to see if she could convince him to change his mind about marrying Michonne, but there was no way she would undress her soul in front of the likes of Shane and Daryl Green. "I just wanted to congratulate you on your engagement," she lied.

"Yeah. Well, thanks. Take care."

The trio walked away leaving her standing all alone. "You buying that?" Daryl asked.

"Hello no. He's not buying that. Tell me you're not buying that," Shane answered and questioned.

Rick shook his head. "No. She wants something."

Daryl scoffed, "yeah…she wants you."

"She's good people. She didn't deserve what I did to her, but..."

"She ain't Chonne," Shane interrupted.

On the other side of the town square at the day spa, Michonne, Sasha, Andrea, and Maggie were treated to facials, massages, manicure, and pedicures. "Michonne, your mom is so sweet for arranging this spa day for us," Andrea stated, relishing in the head to toe pampering.

"She's a saint," Sasha moaned as the esthetician, Beth, applied an all-natural organic facial product to her face.

Michonne laughed at Sasha's obvious enjoyment. "I'll make sure I let her know how much you like it."

"Sasha, the way you're moaning over there makes me think you are long overdue for some thangs," Maggie teased.

"Don't you dare start in on me," Sasha laughed. "I know too much about you."

Maggie's faced turned bright red. "Sasha!" she gasped.

"Tell the truth and shame the devil," Sasha demanded, laughing.

"Yeah! We saw the glance you two exchanged the night of the welcome home dinner," Andrea added.

"We'll talk about it later," Michonne injected quickly, noticing the spa technicians were ear hustling their conversation. Sutter was too small to have a personal conversation in public.

Shane, Rick, and Daryl walked into the spa absorbing the space with their masculine frames, "Ladies," they said in unison, removing their cowboy hats.

"Oh gosh, I hate when ya'll do that," Maggie frowned at her brothers' flirtatiousness. The other ladies laughed at them. "Ya'll are too much," she added shaking her head at them.

Rick's eyes found Michonne sitting in the massage chair while one woman gave her a pedicure and another gave her a manicure. "Hey you," he greeted, going over to her and kissing her deeply.

Michonne smiled up at him, "Hey cowboy," she breathed after she pulled away from him. "We'll be ready in a little while."

Tara, the spa owner came out from her office in the back. "What can I do for you fellows?"

Daryl was standing over Sasha staring down at her "What's that smell?" He glared at the woman rubbing the nice smelling concoction on her face wondering if he could buy some for her because he liked the smell of it on her.

"Daryl"! Please ignore him," Sasha sighed.

In the few weeks, since they'd met, Shane and Andrea were inseparable. Every free moment they had they were together. "These three hags need all this sprucing up, but why are you doing all of this?" Shane joked.

"Shane you know what?" Michonne snapped, squinting at him and giving him her middle finger.

Tara walked over to Shane and looked at his face closely. "You know, I have the perfect thing for those wrinkles coming in around your eyes." She was joking with him but her face remained serious.

Shane dropped his Stetson hat ran over to the nearest mirror and studied his face. "If you weren't a female," he started.

"I'd have nutts," Tara said cutting him off and everyone laughed.

At the Party

Most of Sutter was either attending the engagement party or working it. Michonne and Rick received their guests as they arrived and graciously thanked them for joining their families in celebrating their engagement. Neither wanted the fanfare their parents were putting on for them, but they wouldn't rob them of the experience.

Hershel and Barbara held each other on the dance floor swaying to the song There You Are by Martina McBride gazing into each other's eyes. Guests were nodding in their direction and even their children took note. "Are ya'll seeing this?" Shane asked, joining Michonne and Rick who were standing near the veranda.

"What's going on there?" Michonne scowled. The last man she saw her mother look at like that was her father. Her stomach dropped at the thought of her momma moving on. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, fighting the sadness that was threatening to take her over.

Rick pulled her into his arms turning her away from the dance floor. "It's nothing," he said hoping he wasn't lying to her.

Moments later Hershel's voice replaced the music. "We're going to make this quick so you good folks can get back to the festivities. Babs and I want to personally thank you all for coming out and wishing these lovebirds well in this next chapter of their lives. Rick, Michonne, we love you and as soon as you say I do we want grandbabies. A lot of 'em."

Barbara took the microphone when Hershel offered it to her. "Correction, we can wait on making me a grandmother." Everyone laughed. She held up the Champaign flute in her hand. "We honor Rick and Michonne with our love and unwavering support. What the two of you have is patient. It is not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. It is sacrificial, easygoing, supportive, honest and true. Your love has gone through a lot, but you believed and hoped in it. May your love continue to endure and never end."

"HERE HERE!" resonated through the air.

Shane choked back tears and pulled his brother and his future sister into his arms. "I love ya'll!" Before they knew anything, Daryl, Sasha, Maggie, and Andrea were all somehow showering the couple with hugs. "Get the hell off me." Shane's snapped.

A few weeks later

Carol sat quietly and sipped her tea after dialing Michonne's number. "Hello."

"Michonne, how are you love?" Carol greeted.

Immediately recognizing the super syrupy voice that held not even a hint of sincerity, Michonne cringed. She was not about to play any silly cat and mouse games with the woman. "Carol. How can I help you?"

"Our friend has put together a proposal. A very lucrative proposal."

"Look, my life has taken an unexpected turn and I'm home to stay."

"If you'd just look at the proposal… I'm sure you'll find it will accommodate every concession you can possibly think of asking for. Do you have a fax number?" Michonne didn't attempt to hide her annoyance as she sighed before providing her their fax number. "Great. I'll send this right over to you, and I'm sure I'll be hearing from you shortly." Carol disconnected the call.

Rick studied Michonne during her phone call and became concerned at how her demeanor had changed. "Is everything alright?" he inquired taking a sip of his beer. They'd spent most of the morning working on their guest list for their wedding and had decided to go into town for lunch at the Buena Loco Mexican restaurant because Michonne had missed their table-side homemade guacamole while she was away.

Michonne bit down on her bottom lip struggling with whether she should mention anything to Rick when she didn't know what was going on herself. She decided it was best to let him know because she didn't want to start their life together with any secrets. "That was my former employer… well, his assistant. Apparently, they want me to return to work and is faxing over an offer."

A scowl instantly covered Rick's face. "Why didn't you just tell them you were getting married and ain't interested?" A thought occurred to him, and he sat back in his chair and glared at her. "Are you changing your mind? You wanna go back to Europe?"

"Rick! No! I'm where I want to be. You don't know Carol. Had I tried to decline over the phone, we'd still be talking. I gave her the fax number to get her off the phone. I'm going to look at the offer, but if I can't work from here, it's an automatic no."

Although it was a rare occurrence, he knew when Michonne was lying, but he didn't see a shred of deceit in her eyes. "Okay then." Unbeknownst to him she released the breath she'd been holding. "You know you never told me exactly what you did over there."

It was Michonne's turn to sit back in her seat. She sipped her water. "Rick, I told you. I managed a private art collection."

"What do you think this offer is about?" he questioned.

Michonne shook her head, "I honestly have no idea. My former employer is a bit eccentric with virtually unlimited means. I wouldn't be surprised if the offer would allow me to work from here."

"If it does, you should take it."

She liked how supportive Rick could be when he wasn't feeling threatened. When threatened he was a different man, but still the man she loved no matter what. "Thank you, my king," Michonne quipped.

"Chonne, that's your highness."

Squinting her eyes at him, Michonne balled up her cloth napkin and tossed it at him. "Ass hole."

"I'm your ass hole," he laughed.

At another table in the restaurant, a man sat alone discreetly watching the couple. He sat so that he could take pictures of them with his smartphone. He sent every photo to the person who hired him to find out as much as he could about Rick Green.