Tyler Jeffries has loved Lauren Lilly since he met her four months ago.

“At first I was completely shocked,” Jeffries said over the phone from his home in North Carolina. “It was the first time I’ve seen her so I didn’t really know how beautiful she was.”

He knew then that eventually they would be together forever.

Jeffries wanted to propose, but wasn’t sure where. He was going to pop the question over dinner during their trip to Maine, but his host had other plans.

“They told me you need to get her here in the next five minutes,” he said.

‘They’ meaning the Bush family of political fame – more specifically, 41st President George H.W. Bush, 43rd President George W. Bush and their wives.

Jeffries and 10 other soldiers, with their families, were invited to the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine for a celebration. 41st President Bush wrote a forward to the book “Unbreakable Bonds: The Mighty Moms and Wounded Warriors of Walter Reed,” and wanted to meet the soldiers profiled in the book – including Jeffries.

Jeffries called his girlfriend back to the compound, and with the help of two friends, got down on one knee. A cell phone camera captured it all.

“I ended up popping the question, then and there,” he said.

“And I was like, 'oh my goodness.' This is about to happen,” Lauren Lilly said.

Jeffries could barely finish “Will you marry me?” before Lilly said yes. The crowd cheered. 41st President Bush even tweeted a picture of the newly engaged couple, with a few words of encouragement.

Jeffries said one of the most important things about Lauren is her acceptance. Jeffries lost both his legs to an explosion while serving in the Army in Afghanistan. He learned to walk again at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“She never looked at me for my injuries, she never saw me any different or thought any less of me,” he said. “She always loved me for me.”

“He’s amazing,” Lilly said. “He’s very patient with himself and accepting and giving and caring.”

When asked what they look forward to in the future, Tyler said, “waking up every day next to her.”

“I was going to say the same thing,” she said.