Rod Casteel begins his book with a tribute to those who lost their
lives in Beirut. This book is about the trials one woman went through
before and after her marriage to a U.S. Marine sent to fight in Beirut.

Rose Ann Shawnassy is pregnant and in love with a U.S. Marine. Since he
is being ordered to Beirut, Lebanon they decide to make the baby legit by
getting married in front of the Justice Of The Peace. Rose couldn't be
happier. She's in love, married going to have a baby, all is well with the
world. Well it would be if her husband wasn't being shipped off to war. 
As if she didn't now have to eventually tell the man who along with his
wife took her in off the streets. How is she going to explain that she
ran off and got married without him giving her away? 

Right after her husband is swept off to war Rose thinks that is the only
problem she has to face. Little does she know it's nothing compared to
what will follow. For a short time after the issue of explaining to 
retired Gunny Sergeant Sylvester O'Toul that she was married without
him was over, life returned to normal. Well as normal as it can be.
Until one day Rose gets the news her husband died in a bombing. Life
from that day forward is changed. 

If things aren't complicated and painful enough, Mark Grady's brother
comes to town expecting to confront the gold digger that married his
brother for his money. Although he expects to find a gold-digger what
he finds is totally different. Dennis Grady finds a woman who was totally
in love with her husband and is nothing like what he had pictured. What
Dennis Grady also finds is a woman that he is drawn to like none other. 
Only this is his brother's widow and he can't give in to his feelings, can he?
It'd be a betrayal to his brother's memory, wouldn't it? 

Then if life hasn't becoming even harder the man that was the reason Rose
had lived on the streets shows up. Rose's father sees the news report 
about Rose and her husband's death and shows up in order to cash in on 
his daughter. First off he wants money and second he wants to continue
the abuse he had dealt out in the past. If not for Dennis that abuse may
have happened. Dennis not only stepped in but he appointed himself Rose's
protector. 

This doesn't deter Rose's father, it only adds fuel to the fire. More 
complications step in when the FBI and CIA show up looking for Rose's dad.
From there the action never stops. There are many issues that arise with
the FBI man that shows up. Like who is he really to Rose? What is the
secret that makes Rose's father so hateful towards her? What will he do
now that he his plan for money has been rebuffed? What does the FBI and
the CIA have to do with all of this? 

With all this combined it makes for a great book. I personally loved this
story. It had a bit of everything. Romance, intrigue and action, there is
something for everyone.