Dear Diary,

I had no idea what AJ was going to say about that. He looked at me for a moment then commented on the fact that he couldn’t work with Marines for 30 years without becoming friends to some of them. A few minutes later, I caught AJ in the kitchen and we talked again about when we need to tell everyone about us. I knew that we needed to tell everyone but I wanted to wait until a different time. Tonight was Bud’s night and I didn’t want to take over the spotlight.

“Sarah, I had no idea she was going to do that,” AJ explained about Francesca’s comment.

“I know, AJ,” I said as I slipped into his arms. “I saw that evil little look in her eyes just before she asked that.”

“I told her outside that we still hadn’t told any one yet. Of course, she knows about us, just not all the recent developments,” he said with a smile.

“Shall we tell her tonight after everyone else leaves?” I suggested.

“Of course, we could always just tell everyone tonight.”

I didn’t really want to talk about this now so I thought that I would just change the subject. “Why did you call Admiral Regan, BDU?”

AJ smiled slightly at me, I knew he realized what I was doing. “He got that back in ‘Nam.”

“How?” I asked curious.

“From what I’ve heard, he had just gotten back from a mission, met a local woman, then I really should not be telling you this, Sarah. The man is now your boss.”

“Oh, come on, AJ,” I said with a smile.

“No, Sarah,” he said gruffly. “Let’s just say that BDU doesn’t always mean battle dress uniform. I’m not going to say anything more.”

“Alright. I guess I’ll just have to imagine what that means.”

“Now, back to the earlier conversation,” he said.

“AJ. No. Tonight is Bud’s night, I don’t want to spoil that,” I insisted.

“Sarah, we need to tell people eventually. We’ve been lucky that they haven’t noticed yet but I think that they can figure it out for themselves in a few months,” he said as he caressed my cheek.

“I know. I just… ” I said somewhat exasperated by his persistence and totally unsure how to express myself. I turned around to go back into the living room but I was stopped short, not by what I saw, but who.