A/N Thank you all so much. I'm glad to know you're liking this little love story of Rick and Beth's. They continue to grow closer in this chapter as we pick up where we left off.
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He didn't plan to stay late Sunday, just long enough that they could enjoy a quiet dinner and a glass of wine together. The feeling between them had become familiar but not in a boring way. This familiarity was in the way it feels to be sharing something special. They knew they were moving toward the same thing and at a similar pace. There was a comfort in knowing they both hoped for the same end result, and they were both willing to be patient and do the work it would take to get there.
It had been on her mind and who better to talk it over with than him? "I've been thinking a lot about your children this weekend Rick. They're so sweet and well behaved, and did I mention adorable? I'm sure they have their moments when they can be a handful, but I can tell they're sweethearts."
He tilted his head a little to the side, smiled and nodded slightly, "Well I think there's one of them that might be a little in love with you."
Her eyebrows arched at the same time her mouth opened, "No! You're joking."
"Well it's not like he told his Dad or anything, but yeah, I'd say my son is a little smitten with a pretty baker he knows."
"Oh no you don't think that might cause problems if...you know we get to that point where we involve the kids in this?"
"I don't think it'll be a problem for you or for Carl, it's me. He might want me to butt out of your lives."
She was laughing but she was concerned, "Rick stop that. It's not funny, you know those crushes children get on adults can be serious business."
He was feeling playful and he teased her, "Just how would you know that Beth? Did you have a crush on some older man when you were young and impressionable?"
She squinted an eye at him, "As a matter of fact I did, it was a crush of monumental proportion. It was the biggest crush in all of history and caused me the biggest humiliation of my life."
She was speaking in a joking manner and yet he sensed it was something that still hurt. Something that had been very upsetting to her. He took her hand and held it softly, rubbing his thumb lightly over the back of it. "What Beth? What happened?"
She looked at him in a way that made him feel she was taking his full measure. He knew then she was deciding whether or not she could really trust him with something that obviously bothered her so much. He wondered how bad it could be, and he knew whatever it was he'd better be careful how he reacted.
"It seems so silly now I guess, in fact I'm sure most people would find it quite humorous. I don't think I'll ever be able to laugh about it. At 14 it was traumatic. He was my teacher for ninth grade algebra, his name was Mr. David Smith. He was younger than the other teachers, maybe 28 or 30, and I thought he was the most handsome man in the world. It was all I could do to pay attention in class and sometimes I wasn't very good at that. I just gazed at him while I tried to appear as if I was paying attention, but my mind was always wandering to the imaginary 'us.' I didn't hear a lot of what he said I just listened to the sound of his voice.
"I was so sure I was in love with him forever, and that all I had to do was figure out how to make him fall in love with me. I thought we could just run away somewhere together, some faraway place where we'd have a perfect life. I'm sure you know young people aren't always realistic, at least I wasn't."
"One day in class I was writing on a piece of notebook paper, it was just some of the typical stuff young girls with crushes write like, 'Mrs. David Jones' 'Beth + David' 'Beth loves David forever' all those sorts of things. Plus I had drawn more hearts and flowers and cupids arrows than you can imagine. I didn't realize he was walking toward my desk. I was supposed to have been doing some assignment of course, and he must have noticed I wasn't working. He grabbed the paper and said, 'Let's see what's so important.' I knew I turned crimson but I was frozen, I couldn't breathe and I couldn't move a muscle. He had such a serious looked as he stared at the paper but he didn't say anything, thank God he just walked to the front of the class and stuck it in his desk drawer."
"I couldn't wait to get out of there, I think I ran. When I got home I begged Mama to put me in a different school, any school, which is pretty silly since there was no other school. So I begged her to let me quit school altogether, of course I didn't tell her why and of course she just thought I was having the usual 'school is hard' meltdown."
"I don't know if it was right or wrong on his part but Mr. David Smith never said a thing about it, and I certainly didn't. I ended up barely passing the class. I retook it in summer school with a female teacher and got an 'A'."
"I know I'm probably way overly sensitive about this stuff, but I would never want Carl to be embarrassed or humiliated for having a crush on me."
He'd known it, sensed it from the first time he'd seen her and this reinforced it. She amazed him with her thoughtfulness and selflessness. He was sure she would have preferred to never tell him or anyone else the story, but she had. He knew it was her concern for his son's feelings that had caused her to do it, it was her way of protecting Carl. None of that was lost on Rick.
It didn't seem possible for someone to be as pure of heart as Beth. He also knew that she'd shared something deeply personal with him, and he knew it was right that he should be just as willing to share with her. He knew being open to sharing, to telling one another your darkest secrets and your worst fears is all part of the trust that a successful relationship is built on. That's what he wanted so much and hoped to have with her, a solid foundation of trust to build their love on.
His hands caressed her face as he kissed her tenderly, pulling back for just a moment, "I'm sorry that happened to you Sweetheart. I'm sure you were mortified. I think we all have one of those adolescent horror stories we wish we could just forget, but no matter how old we get we just can't seem to. I've got one myself."
As much as he never wanted to share this particular story, as embarrassing and humiliating as it was, particularly the thought of telling her, he wasn't going to let her be the only one in this budding relationship to open themselves up.
"All the guys were suiting-up in the gym for what was a big day for our team, we were going to be playing our crosstown rivals. I was small and scrawny, and I definitely wasn't quite as physically mature as the other boys. Not even close. That was a source of constant embarrassment for me and I definitely went out of my way to 'hide-out' when we changed or showered. I'd done a pretty good job."
"But that day a bully named Joe yelled, "Whatcha hidin' Grimes?!' and pantsed me right in front of everyone. He was the size of my Dad, and one of those mean kids you know will grow up to be an even meaner adult. He made quite a few very disparaging remarks about my manhood. Nothing I can repeat in front of you, it was very crude locker room stuff. Anyway, you know how the gang mentality works and he was an expert at egging it on. Soon they were all in on it and everyone was enjoying a good laugh at my expense. What hurt more than anything was there were a couple of those guys I'd always thought were friends of mine, that day I found out the truth."
"After they were mostly done verbally abusing me, Joe the instigator drug me into the restroom area and gave me what they call a swirly. He held my head down in the toilet while he flushed it. It was Shane that saved the day for me. He was perpetually late getting to the gym and that day was no different. When he saw what Joe was doing he knocked him right across that room. Then he called out every guy there, he told them he'd better never hear anything around school or anywhere else about what had happened that day. He promised if he did, they'd all be swallowing their teeth. Shane was big and strong and capable to doing some damage, no one wanted to cross him."
"Still the humiliation of what I went through didn't leave me for years. To his credit Shane has never brought it up, not to this day, and I sure as hell never did. Part of what is so difficult for me now is Shane and I were always the best of pals. When he and Lori got together I didn't just lose my wife I also lost my best friend."
"What I want you to know Beth is how much I appreciate you worrying about Carl and his feelings. I'd hate to see my kids go through what you or I went through. Geez a pimple in high school is the end of the world, who needs all the other crap."
It was her turn to put her arms around him, as she held him tight she whispered, "Thank you for trusting me with something so personal. I'm so sorry you went through that and so sorry that you've lost so much."
Although the stories they'd shared were neither happy nor uplifting in any way, they did serve to build a bond between the couple. They'd now shared their most embarrassing moments and commiserated over those.
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Over the course of that month they got in a routine of working on the furniture in the evenings and all day Saturday, but they also made time for themselves. They went to dinner and sometimes a movie on Saturday evenings. Sundays they opted for outdoor activities, picnics, bike rides, hiking or fishing, they even tried tennis once, deciding it probably wasn't their game.
What they found they enjoyed more than anything was to simply spend time in his lovely and peaceful yard. They were happy grilling something simple for dinner and enjoying it on the back porch with a glass of wine. Most of all they genuinely enjoyed each others company. It was quiet and relaxing and they liked not feeling pressured to "go out" in order to have a good time. They could have a good time right there. The benefit too was they had the quiet and the privacy to have conversations and to share, and to truly get to know one another outside of a "formal dating" situation. It was the everyday situations that suited them better. It was real life and that was what they hoped to have together, a real life.
They knew it was important they make time for themselves to grow their relationship, and they discovered the closer they became and the more time they spent together, the more their feelings for each other grew.
On those two weekends within that month he spent with his children and she spent with her folks, they found that what they missed the most were the simple things about time together. Just sitting quietly and talking at the end of the evening and sharing. The sharing of ideas, feelings, dreams, fears and concerns, all of it. There was an honesty between them that neither had ever experienced with another person.
She surprised him in such a pleasantly unexpected way when she began to seek his advice and opinion on her ideas for the shop. She treated him as if it was as much his endeavor as hers. He recognized that she was making him part of her dream and knowing that gave him an emotional high. He realized that she really did value his opinions and appreciated his ideas. He'd known he was becoming someone important to her, but now he also felt it.
It had started simply enough when she asked, "Rick I'd really like you to help me with color choices, please? You have such a wonderful natural eye for color and I just can't seem to come up with something I'm really happy with. I want to paint the tabletops and a few of the chairs we haven't stained yet, just to add a little brightness and contrast. I also need your help deciding on wall colors."
Hands on his hops, he looked at her as his smile slowly spread, "You really want my opinion? Sweetheart you're the artist."
"But you Sheriff are a natural artist. I want your opinion because I'd like the shop to look as bright and inviting as your yard."
"Thank you Beth." He remembered a time not so very long ago when he couldn't feel his own value, when he'd lost what had been his life it was like he'd also lost himself for a while. He'd done his healing and then she'd come into his life. Things begun to come together for him, and over the time he'd known her she managed to take him from feeling just okay about himself, to a point where he felt someone actually admired and respected him. She valued his ideas and ways of thinking and the way he lived his life. Beth had reinforced in him a sense of his own self-worth.
If possible his smile got even wider and he nodded, just a bit embarrassed, "Alright how about a trip to the paint store?"
"Yes let's go now." She was all smiles because the words she'd said to him were true, she didn't value his opinion. It was at that point the relationship shifted to a new level as they began to discuss even more of their ideas, and to go from making decisions independently to making them together.
Something she hadn't seen coming happened on the second Sunday he had his children that month. She was at the farm and her Mama said, "Daddy and I want you to ask Rick to come with you for Sunday dinner next weekend, would you Beth?"
Beth was hesitant at first, "Mama you know I think it's possible Rick is the man I want in my life forever, but it is still kind of early. We've only been dating five weeks."
"I don't care about that, I've seen the look in your eyes when you talk about him. To tell you the truth Beth, I'm dying to meet the man that makes my daughter's eyes sparkle at the mere mention of his name." Mama was smiling like she knew a secret and Beth couldn't stop the smile coming to her own face.
"Okay Mama, he's going to stop by my place later this evening and I'll ask him. And Mama, thank you." Beth knew her Mother had always been able to "read" her, why should now be any different.
She'd told him not to bring dinner because her Mother had sent leftovers home, but Rick never showed up empty handed. He'd arranged a beautiful bouquet of flowers from his garden, and she loved that he'd used a mason jar for the vase.
They were sitting at her small table enjoying their meal when he said, "This roast is delicious. Now I see where you got your cooking skills."
"How would you feel about having more of my Mama's cooking?"
His fork was halfway to his mouth as he paused, grinned and asked, "What?"
"Mama and Daddy want us to come to the farm next Sunday for dinner. Would you be willing to?"
"Absolutely, I'd love that and I'm pretty relieved they asked. I know they must worry about their daughter getting involved with a man who's divorced and has two children. That's a big pill to swallow. So yeah, of course, I'll look forward to it." He covered her hand in his as he continued, "I think we both feel the day rapidly approaching when I'm going to be talking to my kids about you, if you agree that's what you want. It would probably be good for me to meet your folks as a one on one before we ever take the kids to meet them."
She turned her hand palm up to clasp his hand, "Alright, that all sounds good to me. We'll leave about ten if that works for you. Dress casually because I know my Daddy. He's going to want to show you his favorite fishing hole, the apple orchard and probably take you for a scary ride on his four wheeler to see the place."
They sat on the sofa after dinner with some classic Miles Davis playing in the background. Their talking had turned to kissing and they both felt that need, the desire to take things further physically. When his hand moved up and inside her blouse she gave no indication she wanted him to stop. Instead she unsnapped the shirt he was wearing and let her hands gently play along the skin of his chest, before slowly moving them to his back where she stroked and massaged the soft but tightly muscled skin.
Her advances spurred his own as he quickly but carefully removed her blouse. They looked in each others eyes, both softly smiling and he whispered, "Okay?" And as soon as she replied "Yes," he nimbly had her bra unhooked and off of her, while she slid her hands up to his shoulders and slipped his shirt off.
Seeing one another's bodies and feeling the touch of skin on skin enhanced their mutual desire, and the sounds they made told of the pleasure they were feeling. They explored with lips, tongues, hands and fingers, but they didn't take it to its natural conclusion. It wasn't that it wasn't something they both wanted, they wanted that very much, but they agreed they didn't want that to be the driving force of their relationship. They would try and give it another month or so, if they could hold out for that long. If they couldn't they'd just accept and enjoy it.
The following Sunday he was at her house just before ten and as usual he didn't come empty-handed, "I thought an iced latte might go just right with this drive."
"Oh yum, and you made it yourself! I recognize this tumbler. Thank you Rick, that makes it extra special." The way he looked didn't hurt her feelings either. There was something very sexy about her sheriff and his bowlegs in a pair of Levis, combined with the cowboy boots and the tight plaid shirt it made a package she didn't mind being presented with at all.
"I like doing little things for you Beth and I made it extra sweet. You'd hate the one I made myself." They both laughed a little but he was mostly preoccupied taking in the sight of her. She was the image of the beautiful and sexy farmer's daughter in her bibbed shorts and striped t-shirt. He'd never known anyone to wear their cowboy boots with shorts, but on her he found the look very sexy. It wasn't going to be easy keeping his mind on the farm.
They were both in good spirits on the drive when she asked him, "Are you nervous?"
He shot her a side-eyed glance and broke into a smile laughing softly as he replied, "Hell yes I'm nervous. Any man who claims he isn't uneasy at the prospect of meeting a woman's parents is full of it." He took a hand off the wheel for just a moment taking her hand as he stated, "And Beth you're the most important woman in the world to me."
"I can't tell you how happy I am to know that Rick, because it's definitely beginning to feel like you own my heart." She felt his grip on her hand tighten and she answered with her own tender squeeze.
They got to the farm just as her parents were arriving home from church. He took a deep breath, looked over at her one more time and said, "Here goes nothing." He was quickly on her side of the vehicle, opening the door and extending his hand.
When she was out of the car he reached into the back seat and grabbed the things he'd brought her parents. "Mama, Daddy this is Rick Grimes, Rick these are my parents Hershel and Annette Greene."
He handed the gift he'd gotten her Dad to Beth to hold, so he was free to lightly take her Mother's hand, "It's so nice to meet you Mrs. Greene, Beth talks about you all the time and everything I hear is good. I'm also looking forward to dinner. I was lucky enough to enjoy some of your delicious cooking last Sunday and I'm anxious for more."
Daddy and Beth just looked at each other, both of them were thinking the Sheriff knew just what to say to Mama. To top it off, he handed her a bouquet similar to the one he'd made for Beth, "A little something from my yard, I hope you enjoy them."
"Thank you so much Rick, they're just lovely. Beth has told me just how beautiful your yard is and I hope I'll get to see it sometime soon. And please, call me Annette."
He extended a hand to her father then, "Very nice to meet you Mr. Greene. I brought you a little something my son Carl and I made. Beth tells me you enjoy fishing so I hope these will bring you good luck." Beth handed Rick the small metal box and he gave it to her Dad.
"Very nice to meet you Rick, Beth speaks highly of you. I hope this is what I think it is." He opened the little box and smiled at the contents, "Just what I'd hope for, you and your son tied these flies?"
"Yes it's a hobby of ours, when my daughter will allow us the time."
Hershel smiled and nodded, "I've got two of those daughters and I know they can be very demanding of a man's time."
"Daddy you stop that now, you know Maggie and I are the best daughters in the world."
"I won't argue Bethie." That made Rick smile, he'd never heard her called Bethie, it sounded so sweet and endearing.
Hershel insisted Rick had to see that secret fishing hole right away, "We can make it fast on the four wheeler, we'll be back in twenty minutes Annette."
"Alright you two don't keep dinner waiting, I'm starving."
She went to the kitchen to help her Mama while Rick went with Hershel. As soon as they were out of earshot Mama's arm was around Beth's shoulders, "Well daughter you weren't making that up, he's very handsome and my what a charmer. Does he talk that way to all the ladies?"
"As far as I know it's just you and me Mama." They were smiling and chatting as they set the table and took dinner from the oven and refrigerator.
Daddy didn't grill Rick too much, in fact he never asked about his "intentions" or that type of thing at all. Mostly he seemed interested to know about Rick's work and how dangerous he considered his job to be. Then her father shocked him when he shared something personal, "I understand how life can throw you a curve ball son. Things don't always work out how we plan them. I don't know if Beth has shared with you that I'm divorced from my first wife. The only reason I'm mentioning it to you is, I want you to know I'm not in any way holding the fact that you were married before against you. Beth's sister Maggie is my daughter from that marriage, her brother Shawn is my wife's son from her first marriage. So your divorce doesn't affect my opinion of you. What will affect my opinion of you will be you."
Rick again extended his hand to the man, "Thank you for that Hershel, it means a lot. I hope I can show you that I'm an honest man, hardworking and dependable and I'm very grateful that Beth Greene is in my life."
As they drove home they discussed the day and how well it had all seemed to go. "That was a huge bridge we crossed today Beth. Your Mom and Dad are both such kind and genuine people. I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the day was. To be honest I thought I might be counting the minutes until I could get out of there. The reality is I hated to leave."
She was smiling ear to ear at his words, "I don't think it could have gone any better. It was perfect. I'm so happy you like them because I know they like you."
It was when they got back to her place that he stunned her. They were sitting on the sofa enjoying a glass of wine before he went home, he put his arm around her shoulder and said, "Sweetheart we took a big step today, a step I was proud to take. I was happy your folks wanted to meet me and I couldn't be happier it all went so well."
"I'd like us to plan for our next big step. I have my kids next weekend and I'd like to prepare them, let them know you and I have been seeing each other and that we've grown close. Then when I have them two weeks later I'd like you to meet them formally, we could have a casual dinner at my place. If that's what you'd want too."
She could feel the emotion welling up in her and she knew her eyes were moist, "I'd be honored Rick."
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A/N We had lots of forward movement in Rick and Beth's relationship this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and as always, I'd appreciate you leaving a comment / review. Thank you! x gneebee
The chapter photo is posted to my tumbler blog, bethylmethbrick please check it out. Have a wonderful week ahead, and I hope to see you back her next Monday for more of The Party Favor. Until then, remember I love ya large! xo gneebee
