A/N: The response and reviews for this one were overwhelmingl so thank you! This is really supposed to be a light and funny story so do enjoy the update.
Sophia
It wasn't the typical country wedding like the ones she'd seen on TV, she wasn't even the typical country bride decked out in a rustic, full lace white dress like she'd envisioned these western women would wear; she simply did not look the part of a blushing bride, not even a little bit.
She donned another suit, this time a blue to the brown she had on previously, packing a wedding dress she didn't even possess never crossed her mind. Not when she was meeting the incomparable Rick Grimes for the first time.
Her one and only encounter with anything country was for her college friend Lauren's wedding a few years ago. Lauren had turn her creative writing major into a career and ended up crossing paths with a popular TV actor who adored her karaoke obsession and asked her to marry him. It was Michonne's first time experiencing a true country wedding. It had all the expected trimmings including one special tradition of something old, something blue, something borrowed and something blue. Michonne thought it was a nice touch and although she was a city girl through and through she wanted to add the sentiment to her own wedding.
The wedding, she visualized would take place in a beautiful church and not a bland courthouse which surmised her present status. Rick was speaking to Gabriel Stokes, a legal official to preside over the ceremony at the Oakland Courthouse. Everything had already been handled, by the looks of it they would be husband and wife before sundown just as Rick desired citing there was no time to waste. His friends Maggie and Glenn Rhee who as he put it lived, up the roads were their witnesses. Maggie was a striking, green eyed brunette with a smile that could charm the socks off of anyone. Michonne pegged Glenn as a guy with a heart of gold, like he'd give a stranger the shirt off his back no hesitation. He was also the veterinarian in town, one of two because Oakland wasn't heavily populated. She had high hopes of seeing the Rhee's again, they had been nothing but friendly to her since their introduction.
She didn't want to commit to a life of solitude at the big ranch, it would be nice to have casual friends while she lived there. She knew Rick was a hard worker and although this move was a fresh start for her she was going to do her best to cheerfully contribute to his overall goals and to do that she wanted to make nice with his people.
"You're not getting cold feet are you?" The heavy cadence of Rick's drawl shook her out of her musings as he invaded her personal space yet again. The blue walls of the courthouse were no match for the cerulean blues of his eyes and they stole a breath or two from her every time she looked into them but she would never let him know that.
"You know I never understood the adage. Even if I were getting cold feet something tells me you'd hoist me over your shoulder and carry me down this altar kicking and screaming."
He leaned into her and whispered for her ears only, "Darlin' I told you only if you're into that kinda thang." His appeal lay in his confidence and her control had been slipping ever since he'd pulled her against him earlier on to introduce her to blondie as his fiance.
She was nervous on her wedding day, it was nothing like she imagined as a little girl. Her parents for one were dead and gone, her only sibling was also dead and her closest friend, Sasha lived thousands of miles away.
Today she was gaining a family she hadn't even met, marrying a man she barely even knew and she never felt more alone.
Who would have thought she of all people would've been a mail order bride in the twenty first century?
When you hit rock bottom the only place you can go is up, right?
"We're up next. We're gonna go over to my mama's when we're through and I'll introduce you to everyone. We normally eat dinner together on Fridays so I couldn't ask for a better time for everyone to meet my bride." She tried to ignore the pride in his throat and focused on the fact that dinner with Rick's family would be equivalent to a wedding reception. She didn't realize how the lack of the frill and thrill of planning her own wedding saddened her. She stiffened up, showing her fortitude was still intact despite the melancholy that lingered in her heart. She reminded herself it wasn't a classic wedding, it was a business arrangement between two people who decided living together for a year was worth the handsome monetary compensation. They then decided their arrangement wasn't confusing enough so they were going to claim the disfunction junction trophy by adding sex to the conundrum.
She didn't know when was a good time to tell Rick she was a virgin or why she was stalling on that front. She couldn't do it when they were in bed together, she shouldn't.
Rick's whole disposition was of a man who knew how to treat a woman in the sexual sense. He made her want to jump his bones but she lacked the experience to be that confident to know what a man needed or even wanted in bed.
Rick Grimes certainly gave life to the saying save a horse, ride a cowboy.
"Michonne I know we just met but Rick is like a brother to me and I'm finally happy he's settling down. To think he's been hiding you all this time." Maggie joined her in the foyer just as Rick and Glenn began to converse. "I don't know what you did to capture his heart but please take care of it." Maggie wore a navy blue floral wrap dress that made her green eyes flicker as she surveyed Michonne like she was a prized bull.
She felt unworthy of the faith Maggie Green was placing on her. Rick didn't want everyone to know he wasn't marrying for love, preferring to leave the family business as just that; family business. The last thing he wanted to hear around town was the Grimes' boys were in a neck and neck competition to marry to win money that should've been theirs without an ultimatum hanging over their heads. They decided to keep up the rouse of a happy in love couple who could no longer spend anytime away from each other, deciding it was time to get hitched. She prayed she wasn't going to hell for their masterly deception.
"I'll do my best." She said to Maggie but what she really meant was she'd do her best to not get attached to anything the year she was In Oakland, including Rick. She would pay her brother's debts with the money she received from Rick and pray it would be sufficient until she found a job to pay off the rest of it. She had no clue what the final owings of his gamblings were but he had racked up a bill high enough to kill for. She didn't know how Rick felt about a working wife but she had every intention of looking for a job sooner rather than later.
"I have something for you, now I know you're from the city but out here we're big on tradition and I thought I'd give you this. I used it at my wedding, I don't have any sisters and it's a little old but I want you to have it." Maggie placed a cream satchel in Michonne's hand, the beautiful soft material feeling like a feather in her hand.
"Maggie you didn't have to do this…." She already felt horrible for the deception of having to pretend she loved Rick when she knew it would all end in a year. The stamp of divorce for whatever grounds decided would mean something only on paper. During that time bonds could be formed with Rick's family and friends and then where would that leave her? She wouldn't want to say goodbye to people she cared about. She had to keep these people at a distant and remind herself she was a rolling stone. How could she? When people like Maggie treated her more like family in one day than her own family had treated her in her whole life.
"Thank you…..it means...a lot to me." Maggie pulled her in for a hug and Michonne felt her reticence slipping dangerously out of her control.
"Michonne." Rick called, sauntering back into the foyer on those two damn sexy legs of his. There was something about his intonation when he said her name, she couldn't describe it but it was like having her name sound like his mouth was created to say it. Her name found home between his lips and it scared her half to death. "Gabriel is ready for us." He said holding a possessive hand around her shoulder, whenever he did that her childhood claustrophobia returned and the smug grin that crawled onto his handsome face made her want to kick him in the ass for knowing fully well he flustered her with his touch.
"Gg...good." She began to walk through the large mahogany double doors, following Glenn and Maggie when she felt a tug on her hand.
"Rick?" She questioned looking back at her husband to be. He was burning her up from the inside with the way he was looking at her, she was grateful for the light blow of the air condition, she was certain there was a light sheen of sweat on her skin.
Rick scratched his brow, he wasn't much of a talker but he was looking for the right words to express to Michonne how much he appreciated her sacrifice. He knew she was getting payment for her services but it couldn't be easy giving up her life in the city and coming, behind God's back as she put it to live for a year with people she didn't know. It also was no easy feat to have to pretend in front of his family and friends and the townsfolk that she was in love with him. Especially when his hardened reputation preceded him. As far as he was concerned he was gaining more than she was but he'd do his best to be kind and faithful in the year they were going to be man and wife.
"Listen I know how hard this change must be for you. You comin' all the way out here and I..umm...wanted you to know how much I appreciate your efforts...I gotcha a little something." He dug into the pockets of his dress up jeans and pulled out a black velvet box to her reluctant delight.
She knew it wasn't a ring because they had gone to Destiny's Diamonds earlier on to get two simple wedding bands in anticipation of their ceremony. Still she was a bit taken aback by the present and what this gesture implied. "You didn't have to.." she said holding the box in her hand. She didn't think to get him a gift although her virginity was a gift enough, he would be blown away by it she was sure.
"I wanted to...think of it as a thank you."
She opened the velvet box and inside sat a silver necklace with a pendant in the form of an M in between the satin wrap of the jewelry box.
"Rick!" Her eyes glistened over, during one of their email conversations before they decided to get married she confided in him that her parents died in a car accident when she was twenty one and the last gift they ever gave her was a chain with an M pendant but she had lost it during her various moves searching for her brother. What she didn't tell him was she had pawned the jewelry to be able to pay bills. Tears threatened to burst her walls of impediment at his thoughtfulness, especially when she considered despite his Fred Flintstone approach he really listened to things she had said to him.
Maggie had given her something old in the detailed bordered handkerchief and Rick had given her something new in the lovely necklace he was placing around her neck. She blushed knowing he had bought it just for her.
Maybe serendipity had finally swung her way after disaster had used and abused her repeatedly over the past few months. She was getting a little tradition on her wedding day after all. She just needed something borrowed and something blue, with only minutes to go for her wedding she wondered if she'd be granted the whole enchilada.
"Thank you Rick." She said and kissed his cheek when a thought struck her like a duck being struck by lightning. They were yet to kiss and soon enough this Mr. Stokes would pronounce them husband and wife and instruct Rick to kiss her as was custom.
It had been so long since she'd kiss a guy, she hoped it was like riding a bicycle after stopping for a long time. Some people said you never really forget how to ride. It was a rudimentary skill that lay dormant until your feet mounted one again. Only thing is she never mastered the art of riding a bike but she had perfected the art of falling off of one.
She felt more skittish than before, hesitation knocked her brain around and she now understood the whole cold feet concept because her feet felt like two blocks of ice in her wedged sandals as she walked through the double doors with Rick.
What if she couldn't please him in bed? Or worse, what if he didn't want to deflower a virgin? She knew he was a specialist in pleasing a woman, he had that cocky cowboy aura that may have well been a neon sign on a billboard somewhere saying, Best dick down in town.
Her heart was going for goal in her chest and her palms were beginning to feel sweaty. The wide grinned, bald headed man decked off in a black suit greeted her and gestured for her and Rick to face each other once they were inside the small office.
Maggie and Glenn stood at their sides. Rick looked certain about his decisions, of course he was; he had an end goal in mind and knew he was on a mission to make things better for Serenity and by extension the Triple S. She remained dubious of her decisions, hoping that one step forward would somehow free her of the things that still haunted her. She didn't want to give Rick any cause for concern from any apprehension on her face so she stole some confidence from her girlfriend Sasha who smiled in the face of danger and never let anyone see her sweat. To Sasha confidence was everything and so Michonne found her something borrowed.
Gabriel recited the marriage jargon he probably knew by heart with a smile that was a mile long. She caught a glimpse of Rick again, she couldn't help but look directly at him. His possessive stare making her feel she was looking at the sun but she didn't mind being consumed by him.
The windows to his soul were penetrating, giving her panicky feels that tricked her into believing she was his orbit. For her it didn't feel like an act because he had spun her world from inception. She heard Gabriel speak briefly about the rewards of remaining faithful and true and as she fixed her eyes on the azure depths of the man she was going to give herself to for the next twelve months she realized she had found her something blue.
Rick was in a celebratory mood; he was going to win the first part of the race his father set out for them and nothing or no one could take him down from his high. The money he would get in the preliminary rounds would be enough to at least get a start on the various goals he had marked down for himself. It would hasten his purchases by at least a month as the bred heifers they had put on the market were yet to be sold. He was one step ahead of Shane and a good five steps ahead of Dwight. Tonight when he and Michonne were alone he would inform her of the baby knock out round and share the sizeable fee they could win if they had a baby together. If she was on board with it, and he hoped she would be he wouldn't want to waste anytime in ensuring she got pregnant right away.
He didn't put too much thought into their wedding night, their thick chemistry and intense yet playful banter spoke about an explosive passion he wouldn't mind exploring in the bedroom.
Michonne was stunning in her beauty and had a figure that he wouldn't mind getting acquainted with. She walked with poise and confidence, he knew she knew her body was more than capable of pleasing a man and he grew excited thinking of the things he wanted to do to her and the things she was probably going to do to him. She was a woman of the world, he was sure she had many suitors and a whole truck load of experience. Who knew, maybe she could teach him a thing or two.
He used to be popular with the women of Oakland but there weren't a slew of girlfriends in his wake. He only shared himself with those he thought he had a deep connection with and still none of those women from his past had set his body on edge the way being in Michonne's close proximity did. If that was a glimpse of things to come he couldn't wait until dinner was over for them to discuss the semantics of their situation.
He knew his mother would be slightly upset at not being invited to his wedding but she understood the root motivations for his haste. His mother assumed he loved Michonne as they had been carrying on with a secret long distance affair for weeks.
He wasn't marrying for love and the only person who might see through his deception might be the woman who gave birth to him. Olivia would be setting up a spread by the time they arrived. He was glad he had foresight to call ahead and give his mother a heads up about his impromptu nuptials. His mother was eager to meet his bride. He was eager to show Shane and Dwight he was still the boss around here.
The sun had finally set on an eventful Friday and dusk was still courting the sky into play. He watched the plain gold band on his ring finger and stole a glimpse of Michonne who was resting her eyes as she lay back in the front seat. He remembered their kiss; their first kiss as husband and wife, her mouth was warm, her lips soft like marshmallows, she was willing and accommodating as she let him divide her lips with his tongue. Her fingers had been eager for an anchor as they found way in his curls. He understood her urgency, that kiss had shaken him off his feet too.
He turned into the pitched road that lead to Sweethearts, it always filled him with pride how much expansion his family had done over the years and how hard they worked for the Triple S to be synonymous with super quality from since he was a child. He knew he could do more. Shane and Dwight's Ford trucks were already parked on the gravel driveway when he arrived. He gave his wife a gentle tap on her thigh pulling her out of her nap. He knew she had to be tired after the full day they had. He wouldn't be surprised if all talks went out the window tonight and they both knocked out early.
"We're here?" She asked brushing a hand over her face, she pulled down the visor in front of her and was happy to see the mirror that hid behind the fold came with a light. She hoped she still looked pleasant and the light nude makeup she had used earlier on that day for her wedding didn't melt in the tepid heat that lingered most of the day.
"You look beautiful." He said watching her fuss, he meant every word. She was adorable when she demanded a chai tea latte and a croissant after they were married. He told her a croissant wasn't a meal and chai tea could never be good as sweet tea. They had run a heated debate on tea superiority for a good ten minutes before he surrendered. He had a feeling she was going to school him on a lot of things.
After the hectic day they had she was still pretty and feminine and his attraction had heightened to a potent level when it finally dawned on him they now shared the same last name. He couldn't wait until they shared their bodies too.
"Thank you." She felt like that was all she had said to him all day, he had given her so much; both the tangible and intangible and she was grateful for it. She hoped he didn't think her vocabulary was limited just because she barely spoke. "I'm kinda nervous about meeting your whole family all at once." She stepped out of the vehicle and stretched her limbs. She was tired but mustered up the strength to put one foot in front of the other to get to the house. It was a beautiful brick color with a white rail wrap around porch, it was a close replica to Rick's place and she wondered if it was intentional.
Rick came up behind her and slipped his callused hand into hers and for once his touch didn't make her feel like she was drowning in sensation. Holding hands with him felt like the most natural thing in the world, almost like she knew in his hold she was safe and nothing or no one could take her from him.
She leaned her head on his shoulder for a second, relishing in the feel that level of comfort brought to her psyche, even if it was for a fleeting moment.
She had to talk to herself and remind herself that no one could trace her steps back to Oakland. She had made herself invisible weeks before she left the city.
He kissed the top of her hair and whispered, "Don't worry we can do this."
He opened the screen door and met his mother on the cusp of the grand living room. "You two are right on time." She greeted Rick with a pinch to his ears turning the whole lobe red under her touch.
"Ow mama! What was that for?" He bawled. "That's for telling me only two hours ago that I now have a daughter in law."
She turned to Michonne and gave her the sweetest smile south of the Mason Dixon. "Hello dear. You must be Michonne, such a beautiful name. Is it French? I had a cousin who lived in France once. Please come inside everyone is waiting in the dining room." She pulled Michonne in for a hug. Michonne was enveloped into Rick's mother's arms and it was warm and inviting and she told herself it was something she could get used to. Given the circumstances she wasn't expecting such a welcome but Georgia Grimes was the epitome of feminine gentility.
"Well well well if it isn't my big brother." Shane said seated at the end of the eight seat dining table with Andrea Harrison to his left. Rick felt uneasy at Andrea's presence; she always made sure she stayed out of Shane's hold but stuck close enough that he wouldn't lose interest. Dwight was next to her, sitting in silence as he poured his best friend Sherry a glass of lemonade.
"Evenin' everyone " Rick said pulling out a chair for his mother and his wife to sit. The nerves had crawled back and Michonne was pleased when Georgia poured them both a glass of wine that rested on the table in a bucket. There was a wide spread of what Michonne assumed could only be country food before her; loaded mac n' cheese, fried okra pies and biscuits she saw first and a few other dishes she didn't know the names of. She wondered if they ate this lavishly every day?
"Well aren't ya gonna introduce us to your friend Rick?" Shane asked leaning in so Rick could see the seriousness on his face.
Rick focused on Michonne and held her hand close to his chest as he spoke in a proud tone. "Everyone, this is Michonne Grimes, my wife."
"Wife!?" Dwight exclaimed, loss in his tone and defeat on his face.
"Yeah Michonne and I met a few weeks ago and we fell hard for each other." it wasn't a total fabrication.
As he said the word hard her mind went to the gutter and pictured Rick's hardened manhood throbbing at her centre. She crossed her leg and took a generous sip of her wine, she was about to kiss her sobriety goodbye for the night.
"With Daddy's will and all we speed up our courtship." He hoped his lie was convincing enough, looking at the golden flecks in the deep browns of her eyes it wasn't hard to believe he had fallen for her.
"This is exciting isn't it?" Georgia clasped her hands in excitement, the money was the furthest thing from her mind. Her baby boy had settled down with a very beautiful woman. She hoped despite their different motives, their marriage would last well into their old age.
"Yeah mama it is. I guess that would put you at first place in the race wouldn't it Rick?" There was a hint of dry sarcasm in Shane's cadence that set Rick on edge.
"I guess it does." he shrugged.
"Cept' that me and Andrea got married at the courthouse this morning so you lose Rick."
Shane had blindsided him with his own secrecy. Georgia gasped when Andrea and Shane showed off their matching wedding bands.
"You sneaky son of a….."
"I'm the sneaky one? You hide Michonne from your whole family after all this time." Shane shook his head and stood up, throwing his napkin on the table in dramatic fashion.
Rick felt spurts of anger shooting under his skin, he had made every accommodation he could think about to win, there was no contingency plan in place. As soon as Michonne agreed to marry him he made sure he didn't waste any time. They were married before the evening came but he was too slow for Quick Draw Mcgraw Shane who had not only one upped him but had also won a shit load of money from the unjust competition set out by his father
"Looks like congratulations are in order then?" Rick said standing up to shake Shane's hand and to kiss Andrea on her cheek. "Welcome to the family." He said and made way for his mother who was still a bit shock but still smiling.
Michonne saw the dejection Rick wore under his now cool facade and her heart dipped. He hastened their wedding to be on top of the game but his brother had leverage over him with his own marriage. Andrea was blonde and beautiful and looked like a southern belle and not like the opportunist Rick said she was. Shane had been trying to gain her affection for years and Andrea never took the bait but as she'd learnt recently money made people do strange things.
"All isn't lost Rick you can still win the baby race." Shane bellowed from the other end of the table causing Michonne to gulp too much of her wine resulting in Rick having to pat her back from her coughing fit.
"I'm sorry, baby race?" She asked dong her best not to look her husband in the eye. "Rick didn't tell you?" Dwight asked, Rick's cousin was a man of a few words but was excellent with his hands. She didn't get any malicious intent from him like how she perceived it from Shane. She got the feeling he wasn't in this race for any sibling rivalry. Rick and Shane held too much testosterone and a lot of machismo between them because of the precedence set by this competition.
As if their meaningless union wasn't enough she was now hearing word of a baby race she knew nothing about.
"No my husband didn't tell me about any baby race." She all but grinded the words out, the wine had set in giving her a light buzz which was needed for the heavy vibe that introduced itself at the table out of the blue.
She was never a girl who could hold her liquor, she was no good after her second glass of wine and she was already pouring her third. It was going to be a long evening.
"My daddy said anyone of us who produced a son within the first year of our marriage gets a hundred thousand dollars." Shane advised flashing a premature winning smile.
"One. Hundred. Thousand Dollars?" she said the words slowly. It was five times the original amount of the wedding prize. Why hadn't Rick mention this to her.
"Thank you Shane. I was going to tell her myself but yet again you beat me to the punch."
"Sorry brother. Doesn't make sense keepin' things from your wife." He touched Andrea's hand that was on the table.
"You're a marriage expert and you've been married what? All of six hours?" He let out a breath and tilted his head.
Michonne knew it meant his wheels were turning and he was getting annoyed. She needed clarification on this whole baby mess and maybe Rick needed to get away from the table.
"Excuse us." She placed the wine colored napkin on the table and whispered in Rick's ear to meet her outside.
"What you should've requested from Carol was a surrogate, not a wife! What the hell Rick! This changes everything!" She was pacing the porch contemplating what she he'd learnt seconds ago. The light breeze that blew across the porch did wonders for the headache that had begun to throb at her temples.
"I was gonna tell you. I promise."
"When Rick? When you got me pregnant on the first night?"
"That's your attempt at a joke right?"
"What else are you keeping from me? We can't keep secrets from each other if we expect this to work."
"I was gonna tell you tonight! Dammit woman you aren't giving me a chance!"
"A chance!? I'm not giving you a chance? You make me marry you the first day we met and then blindsided me with this whole baby thing! That wasn't part of our deal." She continued to pace the wooden porch with a grumbling soliloquy.
He made out the words jackass and caveman and something about a God forsaken town.
Michonne was angry and he wasn't surprised there was a little devil in her angelic like aura.
Her sandals were the only sound heard as her feet hit the ground.
"You're gonna give me an aneurysm with all that pacing. Stay still a bit." He too was beginning to get a headache. He wasn't sure how he missed his new wife was also a parrot.
"Good! Then you'd be dead and I'd be a widow and I could forget this whole thing!"
"You'd want that don't you? For me to be dead? How about we talk about the baby thing?" If looks could kill, the side eye she was throwing his way would've surely granted her wish.
He stepped forward and she stepped back, she wasn't going to let his sexiness over take her senses, again.
"What do you want from me Rick? You want me to have your baby too? That's how you like your women? Barefoot and pregnant and inside the house?"
"Like anybody could keep you inside the house." He was referring to her stubborn way of life.
"The hell does that mean?" Even if she was entertaining the thought there was no way she could have a child with this man, between his bull headedness and her opinionated nature they would make an angry panda baby.
She needed a clear head and the three glasses of wine she had wasn't helping. She always talked too much when she was tipsy.
"You know you may be handsome and charming but….but you're a jerk!"
It pleased him immensely that she thought he was handsome and charming, she was quite the loose lips when she was knockered up.
"Listen." He took her by her arms to steady them both into a serious conversation. "The baby thing is big I agree but I was hoping to win this first part of it to at least give us a head start on our plans. Sorry for not telling you. And you're right we shouldn't keep secrets from each other. I want this to work too."
"What are we gonna do? We lost the money to Shane. Are we gonna have a baby?" In a moment of lucidity she thought about her dream of being a mother and with the way her life had turned out she wondered if this might be her one chance at having a child of her own. There were so many questions plaguing her fried brain.
Why did the image of her rounded with Rick's baby excite her so much?
"I'm not opposed to it. A hundred grand is a lot of money." Especially now that he was back at zero denero.
With that kind of money she could start over somewhere. She could move across the country, pay off all Bob's debts and her loans, she could get a whole new identity.
She was being ridiculous, there wasn't any way she could bring a child into the world to exist in a temporary union.
"I can't….we can't. You said this was for one year. What would we do with a kid?"
"I haven't thought so far ahead yet. I'd take care of you both even after we get a divorce. You could stay at the ranch. Hell I'd build you a house if I had to."
He was being outlandish and ridiculous to even entertain the idea of her having his child. Money was making him delirious.
Was it money or the love of it was the root of all evil? He couldn't remember.
He was also now preoccupied with the very adult activities that husbands and wives engaged in to make a baby. He watches her mouth prepare to spit out some long winded spiel about how they shouldn't further complicate their relationship but all her could think about was how sassy her mouth was, he bet those soft lips of hers would feel good wrapped around his…
"Mama! This ain't a game anymore! Why didn't you say this before?" The dinner party had migrated to the porch with Shane leading the way. His voice was loud with a tinge of anger in his undertone as their mother stood with her arms folded.
"Your father was the one who conducted this whole thing. I just heard about this addendum from Phillip when I called him to let him know you both got married today." Georgia's brown hair was blowing in the wind and she looked younger than her sixty years.
"Am I missing something here?" Rick asked his own arms crossing, tension filling the open air around them.
"Well Rick looks like we both win today. Old dad said the money is gonna be split in two if any two of his boys get married on the same day. And the baby money has been upped."
Somehow the play didn't surprise Rick much. His father was an avid chess player and it looked like he was still playing the game from the grave.
So he didn't lose after all, he was still getting piece of the pie. Michonne heard the news but what she witnessed was the erratic look in Shane's eyes when he discovered he wasn't the sole winner of the game tonight.
"The money went up? By how much?" He didn't even know why he was torturing himself.
"To two hundred thousand dollars." Georgia said, a slight crack in her voice.
Michonne and Rick froze in disbelief.
"So you're saying if Rick and I have a baby first we get two hundred thousand dollars?" Michonne couldn't take her eyes off the Grimes matriarch.
"That's exactly what I'm saying Michonne" Georgia said, her persuasive eyes almost like an added instigator to commit to the craziness.
Rick still hadn't said a word. Dwight and Sherry were looking at each other still obviously in a state of shock. Shane and Andrea too.
Michonne turned to Georgia, looked her in the face and thought to herself that what she was about to say would either give Rick that aneurysm she promised or give herself one.
She squared her chest and said . "Count us in."
It was the last time he would ever allow Michonne to drink so much, had he known she couldn't hold her liquor he would've stopped her at glass number one. She had over committed herself out on the porch with the whole baby debacle and she was drowning out her bad decisions with a liquid antidote that usually wore off in a few hours.
She would have a hangover in the morning. Everyone squared off with a toast of whiskey over the baby race, there was with a low subtext of a dare in between and he didn't think his wife knew what she had gotten herself into. Sherry and Andrea could hold their corner but his city girl of a wife couldn't, damn he'd be lying if he said she wasn't a cute drunk.
By the time they had parked his truck in his driveway at Serenity she was asleep, lightly snoring with a tiny opening of her mouth. He lifted her out of the car and still she hadn't budged, poor thing she had had a long day, she must've been exhausted. She was light as a feather, he unlocked his front door and maneuvered inside, he grew concerned at her weight; he'd have to get his mother to make some real country food and bring it over. He took the steps two at a time as he ferried her to his room, he decided there was no time like the present for them to get comfortable with each other by sharing the same space. He pulled his bedroom door open and Codger and Bailey his two prized German Shepherds came racing through the room.
"Hey fellas, I brought you a new mama. You'll love 'er she's from the city and got a real mouth on her." His two companions sat on the floor and observed as he tried but did not succeed to place her gently on the bed.
He didn't want to be out of place and pull off her pants but she must've been sweating under that two piece suit she had on. God how he hated the thing. First thing first on Monday morning he would take her into town and provide some money for some denims and shirts. She was his wife she needed to look the part. He gently pried the jacket off her and tried not to drool at the site of her firm round breasts encased in her white camisole. Was it wrong that he was lusting after his wife? That he wanted to lose his face in her cleavage? It was his wedding night after all.
Next he slid the platform sandals of her feet and admired the polish that dotted her toes, even the arch of her feet tantalised him.
"Rick?" She sat up, slightly dazed just as he took off his shirt and stood before her bare chested.
"Hey...you awake?"
"Are we gonna have sex now?" So she talked in her sleep too?
Too tired for anything that involved movement he slid under the covers next to her and felt a jolt of current run through his body when his thighs touched her leg.
His dick hardened on contact, it was going to be the longest night of his life.
"No." He groaned out, frustration kicking him in the balls. He scooted an inch away from her on his queen size bed that was beginning to feel two sizes too small with the addition of one sexy wife. "We're just going to sleep tonight. You should get some rest.
"You sure?" Her speech was still a little slurred, he wasn't quite certain if she was awake or half asleep.
"Yeah trust me darlin' I need you wide and awake and ready for me when we have sex." He punched the pillow beneath his head, finally achieving a comfortable spot to leave his worries on as he began to drift into dreamland.
His eyes opened at the feel of her snuggled up behind him, he let out another pensive breath. He inched more to the edge of the bed, an inch more of his skin touching a millimeter of hers and he would combust into a thousand pieces.
"I don't think I'd ever be ready for you Rick." She mumbled and then hiccupped.
"Yeah? Why not?" Maybe he had moved too far away from her, he was almost to the extreme edge of the bed.
"Because." Another hiccup, "I'm a virgin."
Jolted by her revelation he tumbled out of the bed and ended up face down on the floor.
