They met on eHarmony. They had long romantic talks on Skype. He proposed on Facebook. They have dated a year but they have been together face-to-face for less than two weeks.

On Thursday he was coming home, and she waited there to meet him.

She's Nina Leavitt, 27, from Newton, a speech therapist getting her master's at Appalachian State. He's Kristopher Watkins, 25, from Monroe, a specialist in the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy. Kristopher just did an 11-month tour in Afghanistan. Now he's on leave for Christmas.

A bunch of family and friends came with Nina to the Charlotte airport. They knew the plan.

Nina didn't.

The flight was due at 3:30 p.m. Kristopher didn't show up right away, and Nina waited, and the family spent the time telling their story.

Kristopher fell for Nina the first time they talked on the phone, but he was too shy to meet her. He burned nearly all of a two-week leave before he called. They went to a Japanese place, and on the way home he called his mama. He never talked to his mama about a date before.

It moved fast after that. Her 8-year-old daughter, Kara, made Kristopher a picture for Father's Day. He got a tattoo on his ring finger that says FOREVER. (He does a lot of welding, and welders don't wear rings.)

She saw him in Italy last month when he was back on base for a week. She got him a ring anyway. It's a wide band, inset with camouflage.

At the airport some family members held up a big banner that said WELCOME HOME KRISTOPHER YOUR COUNTRY THANKS YOU. After a while the banner started to droop. Apparently there was a long line at customs. 4 p.m. passed, then 4:30. Some of the women did a chorus or two of "Chapel of Love."

Just after 5:15, Kara walked over to the corner where you could see the international passengers come in. All of a sudden she disappeared up the ramp. And then here came Kristopher with the little girl wrapped in his arms.

He put her down and went around hugging everybody. This is when the plan started.

When he hugged his grandmother, she was supposed to pass him a box. They didn't make the exchange the first time. So she had to come back for a second hug.

In the meantime the rest of the family folded the banner and started picking up their stuff, all nonchalant-like.

He came up next to Nina and everybody made a circle around them.

"If it wasn't for you, Nina, these last few months would've been hard," he said.

"I know we ain't been together a long time. I ain't perfect by no means. But I've been waiting to do this."

He opened the box, and took out the ring, and got down on one knee.

This was the plan. You can do just about anything on Facebook. But sometimes you have to make it official.

"Nina Marie Leavitt, will you marry me?" he said.

"Hmmm, let me think about it," she said. Then she laughed. "Yes. Oh, yes."

They kissed, right there in Zone E, a long, deep kiss as her daughter cheered and his mama cried and a couple of people just walking by stood and watched and smiled.

I know what you're thinking. I thought it, too. They've barely spent any time together, and now they're running off and getting married. They need to have a fight or two, or get bored with each other a little, or just put some weeks and months together so they can look at each other on a Sunday night and say Yep, I'm sure.

But you know what? Nothing is sure in this world. If you're going to be bold for anything, be bold for love.

All around us in the airport, people are hugging - fathers and sons, husbands and wives, groups of old friends. There's nothing like coming home to someone who loves you.

Nina slides her arm through the crook of Kristopher's elbow and sets her head on his shoulder. They're finally together, and they mean it for forever. That's the plan.

Tommy: 704-358-5227; ttomlinson@charlotteobserver.com; facebook.com/tommytomlinson; Twitter @tommytomlinson; blogging at http://ttomlinson.blogspot.com