Back in the Day
Somewhere in Oklahoma, 1888
Daryl Dixon took a swipe at his dusty forehead with an equally dusty hand. He settled his wide brimmed hat on his messy dirty blond hair and gazed out at the Dixon ranch. He and his brother Merle were on their way back from delivering cattle to a railroad market. This was their first roundup as ranch owners and they had money in their pockets. Money that would pay off most of their loan on the ranch. Money that would see them through the winter. Money that he could use to buy a ring and armed with that ring and a ranch house Daryl Dixon was going to the dance tonight. Carol Everdene would surely be there and Daryl was going to ask her if she would consider making him the happiest man in all of Oklahoma, the United States, and the Planet Earth. In short, this boy barely out of his teens was going to ask Carol to be his wife.
He had no assurance that she would agree. They had never "courted". He had never accompanied to any social event. In fact, her agreeing to such a scheme would seem somewhat delusional, but Daryl was a boy-man in love and he hoped that by actually speaking to her about marriage would be planting a seed in Miss Everdene's heart. She would not be able to unhear it. She might reject at first hand but she would be flattered by his proposal. He knew her well enough to know that she was too kind hearted to be callous in her rejection. Daryl was planning on a long slow struggle to win her love and her hand in marriage.
"Get your ass moving, there is cold beer and loose women in my plans for this evening." Merle Dixon spurred his horse to pick up the pace.
Daryl rolled his eyes but urged his own horse go faster. He would settle for warm lemonade and looking into Carol Everdene's bright blue eyes. Merle would be hitting the local saloons and spending money to have his way with the local whores. Merle always demanded instant gratification. What he wanted? He wanted it now. Daryl was different. He would delay gratification if what he wanted was important to him. He had been in love with Carol Everdene since he met her that first day of school.
Merle had taken him away from his father when he was twelve. They had boarded a train in Georgia and got off it in Oklahoma. Merle had talked himself into a job at a ranch and the kind owners had agreed to let them both stay at the bunkhouse. They had insisted that Daryl go to school. So at twelve he was sent to school.
He did know how to read and write. His mother had taught him before she he in a house fire. Merle had taught him how to could money and he could add and subtract. The school house had two classrooms for grades 1-8. The teachers wanted to place him in the fourth grade where the smaller children were. Merle had already left and Daryl wanted to bolt out the door. A dark-haired girl with bright blue eyes sidled up to the teachers and said politely, "I'll help him. He won't get behind."
Carol Everdene kept her word. They sat side by side in those wooden desks for four more years. He studied his lessons with diligence because he never wanted to get bumped out of his place beside Carol.
He left school at fourteen to go to work as a ranch hand. Carol's aunt and uncle had taken her as their daughter after her parents had been killed in a tornado when she was an infant. They loved her enough to let her go live with an aunt in a larger town thirty miles away. There she could go to high school. Later, she could attend a women's college in that town.
She spent her summers here though and she was still enough of a tomboy to go on rides with Daryl occasionally. She attended church regularly and Daryl made sure not to miss when she was at home. Her aunt took ill during Carol's last year of high school and after graduation Carol decided to stay there to nurse her aunt. Her aunt's illness dragged on for two years and Carol had stayed at her side. Finally, the aunt passed away and Carol was back. She had confided in Daryl that she was hoping to start college in the fall.
Daryl had been busy for those six years as well. He and Merle continued to work as ranch hands but they also kept their eye out for a ranch of their own. Last fall they could buy a ranch that had been let go so long that the price was low enough for them to afford. They worked day and night to fix the place up and now they had money in their pockets and hope in their hearts.t
The two brothers were soon home heating water for their baths. They scraped the trail grime off and shaved their faces. Daryl had a clean pair of jeans, a blue shirt and pair of new cowboy boots that he had bought in the railroad town. Merle was drinking whiskey and yelling for Daryl to hurry up. The dance was in town and so were the saloons so they would ride in together.
They let the trail horses rest and took fresh horses to town. Merle had insisted that Daryl drink a glass of whiskey with him. They clicked their glasses together and toasted to "Double D Ranch." Their brand was two D's entwined with one another. Daryl would remember that ride for the rest of his life. They were so damn happy, whooping and hollering when they met people on the road. Life was on the upturn for the Dixons.
They had supper at a restaurant in town and then parted their ways. Daryl didn't expect Merle to back it back to the ranch tonight but he intended on going home after the dance. He got there early and spent some time talking with other ranchers and hands about their cattle drives. Beef prices were up and the mood was optimistic.
He waited outside until Carol arrived with her aunt. Her uncle had died a year ago, and the aunt looked frail to Daryl. The dance was being held at a building that had begun its life as a barn. It had been renovated to be a place for large groups to meet. The musicians were warming up and the square dancing would begin.
Daryl got a glimpse of curly dark hair off to the side. Carol was laughing at something George Fisher was telling her and Daryl narrowed his eyes and wished all matter of ill on George even though the other man was engaged to be married to one of Carol's friends.
The music began and Carol danced with another young man. Daryl hated him too. He sulked for a while but Carol had smiled at him as she danced past and gradually he got his nerve up to ask her to dance. Merle had taught him how to dance so he was always a little leery of doing something wrong. But Carol was standing there all flushed from the dancing and she was wearing a blue dress that matched her eyes.
Daryl smiled at her, "Miss Everdene, would you like to dance with me?"
She smiled at him, "I would like to dance with you, Mr. Dixon."
They whirled around the room and it was all magic to Daryl. He wasn't sure his feet were even touching the floor. Carol was a popular girl and she danced with other men but Daryl noticed that she danced with him every other dance.
Other girls asked him to dance and when Carol was out on the dance floor with another man he danced with them. These other girls were very friendly and dimly Daryl realized that they were flirting with them. One girl even told him that he looked very handsome tonight. He hoped that was true. He needed all the help he could get to win Carol.
Later after he and Carol had finished a particularly vigorous dance he invited her to step outside and get some fresh air. She hesitated only a little as it was well known that only courting couples went outside. Carol took his arm and they walked out of that building together like they did that sort of thing every day.
It was cooler outside and they walked along the street letting the always present wind fan their faces. He found an empty bench and they sat down. Daryl looked around. No one was close to them and this might be his last chance to talk to Carol before she went off to college.
He shifted in his seat. "We've just come back from taking our cattle to market for a good price. I can provide for a wife and family and the truth of it is that I love you and always will."
Carol seemed a little stunned that their conversation had shifted from talking about the weather to his declarations of eternal love. Her face softened as she looked at him. "You are just starting out. You don't need the burden of a penniless wife and a passel of children to rear. You should concentrate on your ranch."
She wasn't dismissive. She never out right said that she didn't love him. Only that it was the wrong time for him to marry. Daryl was too honest a man to overlook the truth in what she had said. "I am just starting out and it would be a great help to me to marry a woman with money."
Daryl was unprepared for Carol hissing at him, "So why are you wasting your time with me? I have no money of my own."
Daryl was taken aback, "I only agreed with you to be agreeable. I do love you, Carol Ann Everdene and I want to marry you."
She settled down then. He had taken her hand and she did not pull away. "Daryl, I want to go to college. I've worked toward that goal for years. I do care for you but I've spent the last few years taking care of my aunt. I'm not ready to settle down and have baby after baby."
Daryl felt his heart plummet. Carol did not want to marry him. She wanted college and all that that implies. She wanted to live in a fine house with a rich husband and have two children who and were raised by nannies. Carol probably still thought of him as that white trash boy he had been and never could quite leave behind. He stood up abruptly, "I won't take any more of your time. You have made your wishes clear."
Carol stood up and faced him, "Daryl, you aren't listening to me. This isn't the right time for either of us." He did not speak until they were back to the barn door. "I will trouble you no more."
He rode home in the moonlight in tears and drank too much of Merle's whiskey. The next morning Merle came home looking like death warmed over. Daryl was out in the paddock fixing a weak spot on the fence and doing a terrible job of it. Merle put his horse into the barn and then came out to stand beside "I am so damn sorry."
For a moment, Daryl thought that Merle was sorry because Carol hadn't accepted his proposal. Then he realized that there was no way that Merle could know that, "What have you done?"
Merle's confession burst out of him. "I went to a saloon. Drank way too much. Got into a poker game. Big stakes and I was winning. Couldn't lose. Down to me and James Sawyers."
Daryl's heart sunk at hearing that Merle was playing with James Sawyers. That man had a reputation for lending money to farmers and ranchers and then demanding immediate payment forcing families off their property.
Merle went on, "I had a straight flush. Couldn't lose so when he upped the stakes I went with him. I bet it all, Daryl. Money and the ranch on the table. I couldn't lose."
Daryl had played enough poker at the bunkhouse to know that Merle should have won with that hand but his white-faced brother didn't look like a winner. "What happened?"
"James Sawyer put down a royal flush. Only hand that could have beaten me. He is today to get our deed. Time we pay off the mortgage there won't be much left."
Daryl reeled away from his brother. Everything they had both slaved for years lost in one night. The Double D Ranch was gone. His only coherent thought was that it was a good thing Carol wasn't married to him. "We're ruined but at least Carol is safe from our downfall."
"Let's go the bank. We're clearing our debts and leaving town. No one in this town can ever say that we cheated anyone." Daryl wanted to be remembered as an honest man.