Hours before an Iraqi bomb killed Staff Sgt. Eric Ross, the platoon leader confided to his wife, 19-year-old Allison Ross of Lisbon, that he was scared.

“He always told me, ‘Don’t worry about me. Worry about my guys. I’ll be fine,'” Allison Ross said Tuesday.

However, this mission in the city of Baqubah, just outside the notorious Sunni Triangle, was poorly planned, Eric told his wife.

“He was scared about it,” the widow said.

The Feb. 9 explosion killed Ross, a 26-year-old native of Kenduskeag, and two other men.

Allison Ross worried that something had happened to her husband when he didn’t appear on the Internet at around 3 a.m., their usual time to message each other.

“I was waiting for him to sign on,” said Allison, who is about six months’ pregnant. Hours later, a government car appeared outside their home and the knock came on her door.

“I knew,” she said. “We’re taught that no one will come to your door unless your husband has been killed.”

The days since have been a blur of grief.

Besides Allison and their unborn child, Eric left behind a daughter, Megan, 4, and a son, Trever, 7, both from a previous relationship.

Amid the planning for a funeral, Allison packed up their home in Copperas Cove, Texas, near the Fort Hood Army post where Eric had been stationed.

“My family is all here,” she said. Her father and stepmother live in Lisbon. Her mother lives in Greene.

Allison had planned to spend time with her grandmother, 71-year-old Louise Mockley, but she died on Saturday.

“Her first husband died in a war,” Allison said. “I wanted to talk with her about how she got by.”

Her grandmother’s funeral is planned for Thursday. Eric’s service is scheduled for today at Orono High School, where he earned his diploma.

“I’m doing OK,” Allison said.

Family helps. So do her memories. She met Eric about a year ago, while visiting friends in Fort Hood.

“When we met, he flirted with me about how we were both from Maine,” she said. Soon, they were inseparable.

They married on Sept. 28 of last year. Eric shipped out six days later.

He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. It was his second tour of duty in Iraq.

“He was very confident in what he did,” she said.

Her last memories of him will be the Internet messages they shared – he in Iraq, she in Texas – often for hours on end.

“We talked about everything,” she said. His work and family were the big topics.

When doctors determined that Allison was carrying a boy, they decided to name him Gabriel Bradley. Bradley is the name of a friend injured during Eric’s first tour in Iraq.

Their faith gave them Gabriel, Allison said. “It means ‘Messenger of God.'”

Though not a churchgoer, she said her beliefs deepened since Eric left.

“If there was ever a time to pray, this was it,” she said.

Her immediate plans include taking care of their baby and Megan. Trever will live with his mother, Allison said.

She plans to enroll in college.

“He would have liked that,” she said.