This story idea just wouldn't leave me alone until I put fingers to keyboard. Please don't get too technical with the details as I tried to stick as close to real life situations, regulations, and laws but some creative license was required to make the story line possible. Hope you enjoy the new story idea. I own nothing except this story idea.

March 2018

Beth

"Mama!" Aurora called through the baby monitor that had become a permanent item on my nightstand since my babies moved into Shawn's room over a year ago. Blinking my eyes open I groaned when I realized the sun wasn't even up yet. Tapping the screen of my tablet I saw that my precious baby girl was standing in her crib with her blanket clutched tightly in her hand while her brother slept peacefully in the other crib.

Rubbing a fist against my eyes I sat up swinging my legs over the edge of my bed. "I'm coming, early bird." I grumble as I slip my feet into my horseshoes while also slipping my robe over my tank top 2nd night shorts.

I couldn't help but smile as I silently cracked open the bedroom door to peek in at my red-haired green-eyed baby girl. Her face lit up with a bright smile when she saw me through the small gap in the door. The red hair and green eyes had to come from their father because everybody in my family had either blonde hair or brown hair and blue eyes or brown eyes. But it didn't matter to me because those eyes kept me going through my exhaustion and stress. "Mama!" She cheered loudly causing me to groan because I didn't want her brother waking up too. At twenty months old my spoiled babies slept through most of the night if not all night usually but at least once or twice a week one of them would wake up but go back down rather quickly.

Stepping fully into the room I smiled at my baby girl who began bouncing excitedly in her crib. "Aurora Nicole, what are you doing up this early?" I asked her as I scooped my baby precious little girl into my arms.

"Mama." She said as she laid a palm against my cheek. "Wet. Thirsty." She told me as I carried her to the changing table to take care of her problems so I could possibly get a few more hours of sleep before my day officially had to start.

After changing her diaper I pulled a small bottle from the mini fridge before settling us into the rocker glider that sat next to the only window in the room. I handed the bottle to my sweet sleepy child as I settled her into the crook of my arm as my feet started the soothing rocking motion my momma taught me when the babies first came home from the hospital. Humming one of the lullabies I remembered from my childhood it only took a few minutes for Aurora to start snoring softly in my arms. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head I gently laid her back in her crib, tugging her blanket back over her. "Goodnight sweet girl." I whispered as I crept across the room to check on her little brother. "Sleep tight sweet boy." I whispered pressing a hand to his back just for reassurance that he was okay.

Making my way back into my bedroom I groaned as I looked around the room that had been mine since I was a baby. There was a large basket full of clothes waiting to be folded and put away sitting in the chair beneath my window. Notebooks, school books, my laptop, and notecards were scattered all over my bed and the floor surrounding my bed where I had been studying for my midterms that were coming up this week. Aurora and Aiden's toys and shoes were scattered around the room from where they had been playing while I was attempting to study last night before bed. With a quick glance at my phone I saw that it wasn't even 5 o'clock in the morning so I crawled back beneath my blankets to get a little more sleep.

As I waited for sleep to reclaim me I thought about all the twists and turns my life had taken in the past several years. When I left for college at 18 I never dreamed that I would return home without a diploma in my hand but that is exactly what happened at the end of the fall semester of my junior year at University of Georgia. I had packed all of my belongings from my dorm room into my car and headed home with my pregnant stomach barely hidden beneath baggy hoodies and sweat pants. When I tucked tail and returned home to my parents house I was four months pregnant but had no idea that I was carrying twins. My parents cried when I revealed my pregnancy because they had high hopes of me graduating from college and taking over the family farm like I had always talked about doing. But they also welcomed me back home without complaint and quickly began preparing the home for me and my unborn child. When my babies turned a year old my parents encouraged me to enroll in college again to finish out my degree but I was hesitant because my life was already hectic enough with being a single mom to twins, working reception at my dad's veterinarian practice, and managing the ranch hands on the farm we lived on. But not finishing my degree that I had worked so hard for until that awful night in September that changed the course of my life forever kept niggling at me so with my parents encouragement I re-enrolled in college at 23 years old single mother of twin babies. With summer classes and 8-week classes I was set to graduate in a few months with my double bachelor's degrees in General Horticulture and Animal Science. I couldn't have done it without my family's help that was for certain but they all supported me in making my dreams come true. Well, financially, the settlement from the University and agreement to pay for the rest of my education helped me out tremendously because I didn't have to worry about paying for the little things the twins required. But that money in no way took away the painful memories or experience.

My mom watched Aurora and Aiden while I was in class or doing homework, my dad let me bring them to the office with me when I worked in the clinic, and my big sister kept them while I worked on the farm alongside the ranch hands on the weekends. I couldn't do everything that I do without the support of my family since the father of my babies was unknown. While I couldn't imagine my life without them in it now their conception was not something I liked to think about or talk about. My babies were not a result of a college romance or a young woman going wild at her first taste of freedom or anything like that. They were the result of attending my first fraternity party with my roommate who begged me to let loose for a change. Growing up with Maggie and Shawn's experiences being told to me I knew to never sit my cup down or accept a drink from anybody but I never dreamed that someone would be able to slip something into my cup while I was holding it but that is exactly what happened. I woke up the next morning in my dorm room with no memory of how I got there. Then just a few days after Halloween I peed on my first every pregnancy test that confirmed my worst fears. I was pregnant and had no idea who the father was or how to find him. Not that I would want to anyways.

When my alarm sounded at six-thirty a quick tap of my tablet confirmed that my babies were still sleeping so I flipped the blankets off me and headed for the bathroom to get my shower out of the way. It was easier to shower when they were still asleep because even though we technically still lived at home with my parents they didn't interfere too much with me and the twins daily routine. My parents rarely came upstairs due to their age and bad knees so that was now deemed our spaces. The four bedrooms had been converted into a study/office for me, a living space for the three of us, and a bedroom for me and another for the babies. After I climbed from the shower I quickly dressed in my typical blue jeans, t-shirt, and boots before braiding my waist length hair over one shoulder and making my way into the nursery to wake up my sweet babies.

"Good morning, my little ones." I sang as I flipped on their overhead light causing them to pull their blankets over their heads and begin rolling around in their beds. "Rise and shine." I called to them as I dug through their dressers to gather their clothes for the day. My sister was a shopaholic when it came to my babies so they had so many cute 'twin' outfits it wasn't even funny. I pulled their 'peanut butter and jelly' shirts from their drawers along with a pair of jeans each.

Aiden was the first to sit up in his crib. "Mama." He said softly as he watched me move around their room.

Smiling at him I scooped him up out of the crib with a playful groan. "Come on my big boy." I teased him as I carried him to the changing table to get him ready for the day. "You are gonna eat mama out of house and home when you get to be a big boy." It told him as I stripped his pajamas off and began the process of changing his diaper and getting him dressed for the day while his sister got woke up. She was not a morning person at all which was weird because nine times out of ten she is the one that woke me up in the middle of the night. Aiden had slept through the night since a little before their first birthday whereas Aurora didn't most nights.

"Eat?" Aiden asked as I tugged his underwear up over his diaper.

Chuckling at him I bent down to blow a raspberry on his stomach causing his giggles to fill the room. "We're gonna eat in a little bit. I'm sure Nana has your eggs and bananas ready by now." I told him in a normal voice. Baby talk was the bane of my existence and the doctors had told me that talking in a normal voice in normal sentences would help my babies learn to speak correctly so that is what I done ever since they were born.

Aiden clapped his hands together in his excitement over seeing his Nana and getting food. The boy loved to eat that was for sure but I would rather have kids that loved to eat over ones that were picky eaters. Once I had him dressed in his peanut butter shirt and jeans I sat him on the rug in the middle of the floor with a few toys before pulling Aurora into my arms. "Good morning, my sunshine." I sang to her as I carried her to the changing table for her turn. Getting two babies ready every morning took time but it was our time and over the past almost two years it had just become part of my every day routine that started a little earlier than it used to.

Just as I was undoing the baby gate that blocked off the stairs my phone began ringing from my back pocket. "Phone!" Aurora said excitedly as she began dancing in place to the song that my phone emitted.

"Silly girl." I told her as I pulled my phone from my pocket to see who was calling me before eight in the morning. "Hello?" I said as I pulled the phone to my ear because it was a number that I didn't recognize or have any recollection of.

A masculine throat cleared on the other end of the line before the mystery man spoke. "Yes ma'am. My name is Daryl Dixon and I am trying to get in contact with the owner or manager of Greene Farms."

"I manage the farm along with my family, what can I do for you Mr. Dixon?" I asked as I guided my kids into the kitchen where my mom was filling their sippy cups with their morning juice. Once my mom had the attention of my babies I headed for the back porch to finish my phone call.

Another throat clear let me know this guy was nervous about this phone call. "I am opening an organic butcher shop in town and am contacting local farms to source the pork, beef, and poultry products. Greene Farm came highly recommended when I was asking about organically raised animals. I would like to discuss a joint business venture."

"We already sell our animals to the slaughterhouse for a decent profit, why not just buy the meat from them?" I asked as I sat on the steps to gaze out over the pastures and fields that surrounded the house I grew up in.

The man sighed heavily through the phone. "Because I prefer to slaughter my own animals to ensure I get everything that I need. Through my contacts not a single piece of the animal is wasted."

Resting my chin in my hand I looked out and saw that Otis and the boys were already busy with the day to day needs of the farm. Otis had worked on this farm since before I was born and despite my constant bugging about retiring Not only did we have cows, our farm also had pigs, chickens, turkeys, goats, horses, ducks, and rabbits. Growing up the only thing our farm produced was beef cattle but in the past three years I had taken some of my settlement money and expanded our farm in both land and products. "I prefer to talk business in person so why don't we set up a time to meet and discuss all of this?" I asked him as I heard Aurora start fussing in the kitchen.

"Okay. When would be a good time for you?" He asked softly.

With a heavy sigh I stood up from the steps. "I tend to ranch business on Tuesday through Friday after noon. You can come by Greene Veterinary Clinic any of those days and we can have a chat." I told him as I pulled open the back door to step onto the small screened in back porch that led to the kitchen.

"How will I know who to ask for?"

With a chuckle I shook my head. "Sorry. My name is Beth Greene and I run the reception desk for the clinic so I'll be the first person you see when you walk through the door of the clinic."

"I don't want to interrupt you during your work day. Is there any other time we can meet? This may take a while." He quickly said.

Shaking my head, even though he couldn't see me. "It's fine. Just come up there with the knowledge that the clinic closes at 5 and I leave no later than 5:30."

"Okay. It's been a pleasure Miss Beth. As I'm busy today I will see you tomorrow evening." He said before hanging up the phone.

I slid my phone back in my pocket before stepping through the door into the kitchen where Aurora was crying hysterically while Aiden ate his eggs, cheerios, and banana slices while my mom washed dishes at the sink. "Little girl, what is your problem?" I asked my daughter as I picked her sippy cup off the floor, putting it back on her high chair table.

"No juice." She stated firmly with a few sniffles.

Pointing to the cup I shook my head. "After your juice. You know that. Now stop the tantrum and eat your breakfast for Nana." I told her firmly.

She stood her ground for a few minutes before finally reaching for her juice cup and drinking it.

My mom simply smiled at me as I poured milk over my own bowl of cereal.

Daryl

The idea of owning a business much less one that was becoming obsolete in America never crossed my mind until I spent two years on an amazing farm in Kansas. Dale and Irma Horvath were an older couple that owned and operated not only a farm but also a country store and butcher shop. I worked alongside Dale for two years as his right hand man learning everything I could about running a business and butchering different animals properly. While I was in Kansas I began the process of opening a butcher shop in Southern Georgia. One of the first steps was to do an apprenticeship under a certified butcher, which Dale offered to do because I was already basically doing it anyways.

Hunting and butchering animals was something I had been doing since I was a kid when my father would be too drunk to remember to buy groceries for me. But under Dale's watchful eye I learned how to dissect a cow, pig, lamb, and poultry into the desired pieces people liked to buy. He also taught me how to make sausages, bratwurst, and meat patties as well as how to smoke and marinade certain sections of meats. When I had pulled Dale aside and told him that it was time for me to head back home and start making my dream a reality he surprised me by handing me a check for over a quarter thousand dollars as a parting gift. When I had tried to hand him back the check he simply shook his head and said consider him the first investor in making my dream come true.

Using that money I purchased a plot of land on the edge of the of the town of Senoia, Georgia as well as a house that needed extensive work done on the inside. On the 2 acres of commercial property I began building a small abattoir, butcher shop, and small storefront. While I waited for the construction to be completed I began searching for farms to partner with me and applying for all the license and certificates I needed before opening the doors. I had hired a full-time crew to turn the undeveloped commercial property into the vision I had come up with for Dixon Meats and Butcher Shop while I worked on contacting the local farms for the product I wanted to use in my shop.

The first three farms I had visited hadn't met the expectations I had for the product I wanted to sell under my name. The animals were skinny and kept in almost horrible conditions at the first farm. At the second farm the chickens seemed almost too big for their age, like they had been injected or fed steroids to speed up their growth and amp up their size. The third farm had been some greedy asses wanting sixty percent of the profit I made from butchering and selling their meats at my store. I had quickly nixed all of those farms off my list. My contractor that was working on the warehouse, Abraham Ford, recommended I check out Greene Farms.

The house I had purchased was bought for only $34,000 due to the fact that it had been gutted on the inside because of a fire several years ago. The house was more home than I would ever probably need, 1,800 square feet, but I absolutely loved the location and price so I had bought it without hesitation. The old brick frame sat about an acre into the woods from the road and about a half an acre in front of a creek that wound through the property. I could see myself fishing in the wide section of the creek and hunting in the woods in my spare time. Once I had made the purchase I had snapped pictures of them and sent them to Dale and Irma who both called to congratulate me on making my dreams come true and for finally putting down some permanent roots.

Once I had the meeting set for Greene Farms I drove out to the commercial sight to check on the progress of the building. Making the building and property meet city and state codes as well as the department of agriculture was a tedious and expensive process but one that was absolutely necessary to ensure the quality of my meets and the ability to keep my doors open. Dale had told me that the slaughterhouse/butcher shop that they had built had cost them almost half a million dollars but the operation they had was on a much larger scale than what I wanted to be. My plan was to have a small slaughter and butcher space at the back of the property where I could quickly and efficiently humanely kill the animals before butchering the carcasses into useable sections that would find a place on the shelves of the store. Then at the front of the property would be the actual kitchen and storefront along with a small sitting area for the deli section of the storefront. Dale and Irma made a killing selling sandwiches made from fresh bread, meats, and cheese so I was taking some of that knowledge and putting it into my own storefront. Irma was begging to come down once I got closer to my opening day to help me interview employees and see that my opening day went smoothly. Little did she know though, Dale and I had already talked about it and planned for them both to come down for a month when it close to opening time. We were keeping it a secret for now since we were still months away from actually opening the doors.

When I pulled up to the property I spotted my construction foreman and only friend in this town so far, Abraham Ford, standing next to the concrete forms that were waiting to be filled with the precious concrete. "Hey man." I said as I stepped up next to him to look over the outline of what was essentially my future and dream.

"Tyrese just called and said the concrete trucks are going to be about an hour late which means I now have to call and push everything else back an hour." Abraham said as he shook his head. "There's nothing we can do now but wait on them now." He grumbled as his phone rang. "It's Sasha, give me a few minutes." He said with a smile as he answered his phone to talk to his wife who was just days away from giving birth to their first baby.

As Abraham walked away from the concrete forms I stood there taking it all in. Just three months ago this space was nothing but tall weeds and trees and now it was slowly starting to take shape into what I had been picturing in my head for the last year. "This is all because of you big brother." I whispered to the forms that were literally the foundation of my future.

Nine years ago when my big brother got sentenced to five years in prison for manufacturing and distributing drugs he begged me to get out of Georgia and make something of myself. I sold everything that I owned except for my motorcycle, crossbow, and my clothes the day after Merle's sentence. I stayed in town long enough to visit him in prison one time then left the state with no idea when I would be back. Through letters and postcards I kept Merle updated on my whereabouts an in return he kept me up to date on his prison sentence. Just nine months into his term he got into a fight and turned the shank that was intended for his gut into the other guys earning him some more time to be served. He was due to get out in seven months so that was my time limit to get my house livable and my business doors open. When I drove back into Georgia three months ago my first stop was the prison to visit Merle to let him know I was back in town with a firm plan in mind.

That was the first time my brother actually didn't have a smartass comment to make. He simply looked at me with watery eyes and nodded before pulling me into a tight hug and whispering "I knew you could do it, baby brother." into my shoulder before the guard interrupted us saying touching was not permitted during visitations. Growing up a Dixon was a hard thing and came with an automatic judgement that we were all rowdy drunks who weren't good for anything other than causing trouble. My sperm donor beat around on all of us until my mother just couldn't take it anymore and killed herself in a house fire. After that my father really turned his attention to me and Merle until Merle turned 16 and left, leaving just me for my father's sole focus. I spent more days in the trees behind our house hiding from the man that was supposed to protect me because he was drunk and walking around the house with his belt hanging from his hand hunting for me. When I was 13 Merle came back and left with me in the middle of the night. Life with Merle was not easy by no means but at least I wasn't beat around on. Merle was usually high on drugs, drunk, or in jail leaving me basically to fend for myself. I got my first job sweeping out an old general store when I was just 14 years old and never looked back. No matter where Merle took us, I always found some kind of job to make sure we had a place to sleep, something to eat, and bail money for Merle. Whether it was my abusive drunk of a father or drunk drug addict of a brother I was never truly allowed to escape the reputation they created until I left town on my own at the age of twenty-three.

Now, at 32 years old I had returned to my home state to prove that just because I was born a Dixon didn't meant that I was a drunk or trash.

"Daryl, where you go man?" Abraham asked as he nudged me in the shoulder.

Shaking my head, I smirked at him. "Just thinking about what this place really means to me."

"Ah, Sasha's been having those moments lately too. It's really sinking in that her career as a firefighter is going to come second to her love of our child." He said with a small smile on his face. "I've told her that I would always support her if she wanted to go back to firefighting once Little Bean is a few months old but she says she's not sure about being gone for 24 hours at a time."

I nodded. "That must be a hard decision to make."

"It is, but we'll figure it out after Little Bean is here with us." He said before pointing to the concrete forms in front of us. "Once the first layer of concrete is poured progress will move along fairly quickly with the insulation foam, reflective foil, and top layer of self-levelling concrete. The foam and foil layers are scheduled for four days from now. Then the concrete trucks are coming back the following day. Then it will be a month long wait before we can start our framing." He rattled off as he moved his finger down his clipboard slowly.

"Okay, sounds good to me. I still have several contacts to meet with starting with Miss Beth Greene tomorrow evening in an attempt to secure my meat contact." I told him with a shake of my head.

Abraham chuckled. "Those Greene girls are a force to be reckoned with even though Maggie has chilled out some since getting married last year. Beth's not so bad but she is headstrong and stubborn so good luck."

"Thanks, I think." I said with a slightly nervous chuckle. I had heard people whispering about the Greene girls around town but was never one to pay much attention to gossip because I had been the topic of small-town gossip before. "It'll be okay. I've got a good business plan detailed out and everything so it's not like I'm a complete amateur at business dealings." I told him with a slightly nervous chuckle. "In the mean time I've got a meeting with Raleigh Farms to discuss selling their produce in the store."

Abraham nodded. "I've heard good things about their farm. Sasha buys vegetables and stuff from them at the farmers market. They make a mean baked potato salad too."

"I'll have to talk to them about maybe selling it in the store once it gets up and running." I said just as we heard the grumble of the cement trucks turn onto our street. "Guess they are trying to stay in our good graces after all." I told Abraham with a slap on the shoulder. "I gotta run. Have fun today." I called to him as I headed for my truck so I could drive to the next town over where the Henderson Farm was located.

That evening when I walked into my shell of a house I felt like the day had been a productive one. The first layer of concrete had been successfully poured and the curing process started. I had a signed contract with Raleigh Farms to sell their fruits and vegetables in the store along with a few of their packaged foods. Eric and Aaron Raleigh, along with their daughter Gracie, had begged me to stay for dinner and I couldn't say no after they had agreed to the terms of the contract I had drawn up to cover our business arrangement. When we had homemade salted honey ice cream served over fresh sliced strawberries with an extra drizzle of honey over the whole bowl I was begging for the name of the person who made the ice cream. I left their place with a name, phone number, and encouragement to call the next morning to discuss another business arrangement. Things were coming together really nicely for the shop. Now, if I could just get my house livable we would all be doing fantastic.