She sent me out to mail bills, pick up dry cleaning, and a couple other menial things. I also had to pick up dinner. I left the base with Sanderson seated under an oak tree with a BB-gun. I returned to see him under the tree with both Humera and Jamie yelling at him.

It was amusing to see a very round Humera smacking Sanderson while Jamie waved her hands around in the air. Both were quite vocal. But Eversman was still up in the tree.

Across the street from them a small crown of children had been watchin when I left, when I came home their fathers had joined them in watchin the show.

I was on my way down the street when I spotted McKnight's car, it was not in our driveway. He was out on the roof helping lay a new one, so I got to see his butt crack as I drove by. Another thing I'd rather not have seen. Or any of the other butt cracks from the seven other guys on the roof. All had a beer in hand so it was apparently going well.

I got home.

Took out all the dry cleaning, and three bags of Chinese food. I wasn't about to argue with the man. If he wanted to sell me three bags of food for twelve dollar I wasn't about to argue.

Only when I got outta the car did I notice one parked in front of my house.

A black Mercedes.

With black tinted windows, so black it looked like a damn mirror.

Someone walked out of my house, I looked from the car to the large man. He came on over and reached out to shake my hand, "Hey there, they sent me out to help with the food. I'm Raphael, Lily's husband."

Lily! Ah, the car suddenly made sense. I gave him two bags of food and shook his hand, "Hoot, Diana's fiancé."

He winked, "Lucky man. She was at our wedding, the maid of honor I think, she was just as twisted as my wife that day."

Raphael was about my height, some form of Mediterranean, his dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. But he was not the typical mob poster boy. While he looked like he stepped out of Italy, he had jeans on. A grey shirt with tattoos along both arms. A goatee.

However he also had a shoulder holster on with a 44. magnum.

"You staying on base?" I asked, leading Raphael up into the garage.

Raphael shook his head, "No. We rented a cabin, we actually just got here, she came over to say hi and go."

I had heard that before.

I looked over my shoulder at him and held open the front door, "Really? How long's it been?"

"An hour," he told me.

I laughed. Oh how I laughed, he then told me, "Oh don't laugh. You're marrying the woman who went through college with my wife. My wife once spent three hours picking out a red shirt to match a pair of black pants. Do you know how many shades of red there are?"

I closed the door behind me, "There are more'n one?"

He nodded, "From what she screeched at me, there are apparently fourteen."

Fourteen.

I stared at him, "You serious?"

He nodded, "I know. I got as far as three. Red. Dark red and light red."

I lead Raphael into the empty kitchen as he yelled for both Lily and Diana in Italian, I could only pick out those two words. I hung the dry cleaning on the coat rack while he unpacked the food.

Now that I thought about it I vaguely remembered Diana telling me about guests today, but she had told me in bed, and I wasn't really paying attention. So I asked, "What time did you leave this morning?"

"Oh God, we left Sicily about three, landed in South Georgia about noon, then got here in four hours. Give or take."

I turned and stared at him, "Sicily? Italy?"

He nodded, then smelled a white box and opened it, seeing beef lo'mein.

"How the hell'd you get through customs so quick?"

Raphael looked puzzled then caught on, "Oh! We didn't go through customs. I flew the jet."

He said it so calmly, as if everyone had a jet.

"You a pilot," I asked.

He shrugged, "Not of big planes. Just those Leer jets."

Lily and Diana came down the stairs, when they came in the kitchen both had huge smiles. It was the best thing in the world to see her smile again. Diana winked at me as her blonde friend came in the kitchen, goosed her husband, then went in out fridge as if it were her own and pulled out some beers and a Pepsi.

Diana took a seat at the counter, "Hoot, this is Lily's husband Raphael. It's his first trip to the states."

I looked over at Raphael.

Somehow I didn't believe that, but Lily handed Raphael and myself a beer, she then asked, "Where are you two honeymooning?"

I opened the beer and tossed the cap in the trash, "Darlin, where we honeymoonen?"

"Jamaica"

That was a pleasant surprise, I looked over at her with a grin, "Really?"

Diana was lying on the kitchen counter, digging through all the white take out boxes of food. I could see down her shirt. But she replied, "Uh-huh. A week, so I figure I'll get one day of Scuba Diving out of that?"

"A whole day? Ain't the ocean the same damn thing all over?" I asked.

Diana laughed and shook her head, "Sweetheart, while I go Scuba Diving you can go drinking."

Lily grabbed a box of food, a smile upon her face, "Don't feel bad Boo, we vacationed in Paris, I saw the Eiffel tower. On the way to and from the airport."

I looked to Raphael who grinned, I gave him a high five.

Later that evening…..

Lily and Raphael ate dinner with us, then we watched a movie. The fucking movie was in Italian so Diana translated it for me, from on my lap.

I didn't care. It was the first time in a couple days she had been on my lap. But I would have to start watching more movies from Europe, full frontal nudity. Those people were onto something.

Even McKnight thought so, he joined us a little later in the evening.

He had been to the wedding of Lily and Raphael. Apparently it had been some big shindig over in Sicily a few years back.

I was so out of the damn loop.

But Diana was in a far better mood.

Which was made evident when McKnight headed into his bathroom for a shower, I was innocently doing the dishes, she came up behind me. Wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me. I stopped scrubbing a plate and glanced over my shoulder at her, just to make sure she wasn't crying. Instead she had a big smile, she stood on her toes and kissed me.

"Whats that for?" I asked.

She kissed me again and asked, "You love me?"

Puzzled I replied, "Course I love you."

I turned the water off and grabbed a dishtowel. She leaned against the counter as I asked, "This got something to do with your ex at the hospital?"

Diana smiled, then asked, "Am I difficult when I have my period?"

I lied, "No."

She pursed her lips.

So I added, "You always difficult."

She then rolled her eyes and turned to walk out of the kitchen, but I grabbed her arm and gently tugged on it, she let me pull her back and towards me. I wrapped both my arms around her waist and pulled her against me. A few strands of brown hair had fallen out of her ponytail which caught my attention, "What's wrong, darlin?"

She made a face but began to trace her fingers over my shirt, over my chest.

Completely ignorant of what she was doing to me. Until she finally told me, "A couple days ago Wandle got in trouble at work. He's on suspension for a week. So the hospital had to find another Doctor with his qualifications and Randy was the closest."

I listened to her, not saying a single word.

So she continued, as she stared intently at my grey shirt, "He's just being his usual asshole self…..being mean and nasty like always, but it just really made me mad at myself."

That comment made me ask, "Why?"

She looked up at me with those eyes of hers, "Because at one point in my life I put up with his shit. For some unearthly reason I looked past his B.S. and actually was in love with him…..it just really made me mad."

The anger was evident in her eyes. And when Diana was pissed off she was a pain in the ass. Which combined with her womanly problem, would make her Mrs. Peace Love and Understanding.

I kissed her forehead.

"Why are you always horny?" she asked me.

I kissed her forehead again and looked down in her eyes, "Cause your'a beautiful woman."

"Well you're not getting any until the second day of our honeymoon." She informed me.

I groaned but didn't let go of her, so I teased her, "You might wanna be careful. The sharks'll eat you."

She narrowed her eyes, "You better watch it. I can cut you off entirely on our Honeymoon and take you sight seeing."

It was too horrible to think of.