***WARNING- STRONG RACIAL SLURS***
Merle was going to kill her…but if the town was on fire then people would need medical care…and Damnit, she was a nurse who could help. Beth quickly pulled on her clothes and grabbed the keys to her old truck to head to Alyssa's. People would know to go to her office if they needed treatment for injuries sustained in the fire.
As Beth neared Alyssa's house her heart stopped as she saw the flames glowing orange through the trees. She realized then that Alyssa's home was burning, much like the entire East Side of Holly Springs. If ever there were a truer picture of what hell looked like, it had to be on this night. Beth slid the truck to a stop and saw Daryl standing in the flames on the fully engulfed porch holding something…no, it was someone.
"Daryl?" Beth screamed when she realized it was Alyssa that Daryl was carrying.
"Help me Beth…she's hurt real bad." He pleaded as tears ran down his tormented face.
Beth ran to her truck and pulled out her medical kit and a quilt that she kept for emergencies.
"Lay her down right here." Beth said. She needed to get Alyssa's badly burned dress off of her and realized now was not the time to worry about modesty.
"Daryl, we need to get her dress off so I can see what her injuries are." Beth said in as calm of a voice as she could muster.
They both gently but quickly pulled off the tattered dress and Beth could see that Alyssa's entire right side was burned to the point of blistering. She also noted there were bruises forming on her face as well as a large cut that was bleeding on the right side of her head.
"Daryl, we got to get her to a hospital…this is bad." Beth said in a serious tone.
"Canton, we can be there in twenty minutes." Daryl said.
"Let's lay her in the back of the truck, you stay with her and keep her stable and I'll drive." Beth told him.
Beth laid the quilt down in the back of the truck and Daryl laid Alyssa down on her good side. Alyssa had yet to make a sound and that terrified Daryl. He couldn't lose her…not after knowing the last words they had spoken to each other had been in anger…at least on his part.
Beth drove like a bat out of hell and Daryl kept Alyssa's body cradled closely, trying hard not to jostle her injuries. He could see how badly her flesh was burned, and he hated worse than anything that he couldn't wrap her in the quilt to give her a sense of modesty, but Beth had told him they didn't need anything to touch her burns.
It only took Beth ten minutes to drive the six miles to Canton to the Cherokee County Hospital. Beth jumped out of the truck and dropped the tailgate while Daryl carefully carried Alyssa into the hospital. Beth ran off and returned with a doctor that she had met while still in nursing school. He was pushing a gurney and had a look of concern on his face immediately when he saw Alyssa laying limply in Daryl's arms. Daryl laid Alyssa down on the gurney as Dr. Mahmet went to search for her pulse. Two nurses and another doctor were running down the hall towards them and before Daryl could ask anything, they were rushing Alyssa away.
Daryl dropped to his knees and Beth dropped down beside him. That was when she noticed that his hands were covered in blisters as well. He must have burned himself getting Alyssa to safety.
"Daryl, Dr. Mahmet is one of the best doctors in the State of Georgia and he will do everything possible to take care of her." Beth told him in a calm voice, trying to give Daryl some sense of comfort. Beth knew that burns were painful, but survivable as long as infection didn't set in. What she didn't know was how severe Alyssa's head wound was.
"I can't lose her Beth." Daryl said in almost a whisper.
"You won't Daryl. She's in good hands, but she is going to need you. I'm not going to lie to you, she has serious burns and it's going to take time to heal. She won't be working for a while and she has nothing left…her home, her belongings, and her memories are lost to that fire. She doesn't have any family to rely on so it's up to us. We all consider her family anyhow and well…to be honest, Me and Merle got a bet going on when you will ask her to marry you. With that being said, all of us will stand strong for her, but you are the most important person. Do you understand Daryl?" Beth asked as she noticed Daryl looked like he was distracted.
"uh huh." Daryl said softly.
"We need to go and get your hands looked at Daryl. They are burned pretty badly." She told him.
Daryl looked at her in disbelief and then looked at his hands and realized he had small blisters forming on his palms and knuckles. "Oh…I didn't notice." He said in a strange voice.
"Don't check out on me Daryl. I've known you for a long time and I know you can draw yourself inward. You have been a different man since you met Alyssa and I'm not going to let you revert back to your old ways. Do you hear me?" Beth scolded.
Daryl nodded and Beth led him down the hallway to a waiting area and then asked for a nurse.
…
Over the next few hours more and more people from Holly Springs were brought into the hospital. Many were burn victims from the East Holly Springs area and more than a few doctors and nurses looked less than enthusiastic to treat them. The hospital had different wards, and that included a ward for people of color. Like everything else in the area, the hospital was segregated. Daryl thought it was ridiculous that even a hospital that was meant to save lives saw the worth of those with darker skin to be less than those with white skin. In his opinion they were all the same, they all bled red.
Around three in the morning Rick arrived at the hospital to see if he could interview any of the victims of the fire. He was surprised to see Daryl and Beth in the waiting room. They both looked exhausted, and Daryl had a vacant look in his eyes. Beth noticed Rick immediately and waved him over to her.
"What happened Rick?" She asked.
"It's a mess. Wait, please tell me Alyssa is here. We found her home engulfed in flames, but we didn't find her. We assumed…" Rick said with a hopeful look on her face.
"She's here, they've been working on her for the past few hours. She made it out of the house just as Daryl arrived, but the porch collapsed onto her. She was burned badly on her right side and knocked unconscious. Daryl pulled her out just in time, but we don't know her condition yet." She told Rick. They both looked over at Daryl, who just stared at the floor, not even registering their conversation.
"We've lost a lot Beth. Dr. Bob was shot in the head, and Gabriel's church was burned to the ground. That was where the fire started and it spread. You've been down there…you've seen the condition of the buildings and houses, this was a disaster waiting to happen. Rosita, Shane, and Michonne are down there helping along with Jess Dixon. Hannah and Clarissa have Carl, Andre, and Judith with them until I can get this all sorted out. Gorman was on duty tonight, and said he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I do find it strange that this happened just a few days after Mike was murdered and Pastor Samuels and his family had their accident. There are definitely a lot of questions I'm going to be asking the man once this all settles." Rick said in a frustrated voice.
Daryl surprised them both when he spoke with anger in his voice "The Klan did it…probably my daddy. They were looking for Noah…I heard Mitch Dolgen mention something yesterday about something big going on tonight…they wanted to leave a message."
"We'll find him and if he is involved, Justice will be served Daryl." Rick told the solemn man.
"You better find him before me. If I find him first…he's a dead man." Daryl said leaving no questions about his seriousness in the matter. His Alyssa was injured, possibly fighting for her life because of the prick, and Daryl could not let it go.
"Daryl, you have to leave it to us. Alyssa is going to need you…she's lost everything and if you are locked up you can't be there for her. I'm calling in the state police tomorrow to get help with this situation. This is bigger than us." Rick admitted to both Daryl and Beth.
"I wanna help…I'll do whatever ya need once I know Alyssa is gonna be OK." Daryl said to Rick, looking him in the eyes for once.
"Good, I'm gonna need all the help I can get. There might be an opening on the force here shortly." Rick replied.
"Rick, when you go back to town can you stop by and let Merle know we are here. I'm not sure if he is back yet…he had a few things to take care of last night." Beth told him.
"Yeah, I figured…I'll find him and let him know. Keep me posted on Alyssa's condition…other than Rosita there isn't anyone medically trained in town. Blake refused to help anyone. Said he didn't want to get his hands dirty and he wanted to 'protect' his wife and daughter. He didn't seem one bit surprised when I told him what happened. The Baptist Seminary sent a temporary replacement for Pastor Samuels yesterday and he is doing his best to get to know people as well as helping out those that are homeless. There aren't a lot of folks willing to take people in so Michonne is trying to work on getting people settled with others down in the part of town that wasn't burned. They are in desperate need of food and supplies…and donations most likely won't be very forthcoming." Rick said, knowing there were very few white residents that would be willing to help out…especially now that they felt they were in danger. Alyssa's home wasn't the only one targeted with a burning cross…three others were as well. The Horvath's had been effected, as well as the Rhee's store, and the Morales's restaurant.
"Let us know what we can do to help." Beth said.
"I will. I've got to head back to town and see what daylight will bring. Daryl, I'm praying for Alyssa." Rick told them.
Daryl gave Rick a nod of thanks and then leaned his head back against the wall, still waiting to hear anything from the doc.
"Hang in there Daryl, I know you are worried…but these things take time. Burn's can be difficult to treat and it can take a lot of time to do a complete debridement of her wounds." Beth informed him.
"What the hell is that?" Daryl asked.
"They go in and remove any dead skin or material that is in the wound so that it will heal better and hopefully avoid infection. Infection is her biggest risk right now." Beth explained.
"She did something similar to my hand the first time I met her. It hurt like a bitch but it did heal up. Knew she was a good doc after that." Daryl said silently remembering the first time he met Alyssa. He had been surly towards her, but she never once seemed bothered by it. She had always treated him like he was someone who mattered when no one else in this world did. This is why he loved her, and why there was no way he could bear to lose her.
As dawn began to break the silence was finally broken. "Beth?" Daryl heard from across the room as Dr. Mahmet came into the waiting area.
"How is she?" Daryl quickly spouted.
"She's stable, but she still has not regained consciousness." Dr. Mahmet replied. Daryl felt like he had just been kicked in the gut.
Beth reached up and placed her tiny hand on Daryl's shoulder trying to keep him calm. "How bad are her injuries?" She asked.
"All things considered I would say Dr. Cambridge is very lucky you arrived when you did Mr. Dixon. She has a large second degree burn across her right rib cage and hip, but if we keep it treated and avoid infection it should heal. It is going to leave some pretty extensive scarring, but that is to be expected. It took us a long time to debride the wound, parts of her dress and garments had adhered to her body. We cleared the fibers and the necrotic flesh and we have applied a salve to aid in healing. She has a fractured clavicle that will heal on it's own, but she will need to take it easy for a few weeks. I have found keeping the arm in a sling will help. Right now my biggest concern is her concussion. She is going to be in a good amount of pain when she awakens and at that time we will administer some pain medication, but not until then. I don't want anything to hinder her waking up. The good news is she has no lung damage and that the burns weren't worse. You saved her life Mr. Dixon, she could have burned to death if you hadn't pulled those timbers off of her." Dr. Mahmet had told him and Beth.
"Can we see her?" Beth asked, knowing it was what Daryl wanted to know as well.
"Yes, since she was previously a doctor here on staff and still has admitting privileges we have her in a private room instead of an open ward. I'll make sure you both have special visiting access as well. I know that Alyssa no longer has any surviving family and I also know she has lost everything as a result of the fire. I'm going to trust you both will help her get back on her feet." Dr. Mahmet asked.
Daryl nodded and gave a grunt. Beth responded verbally "Of course…she's going to be my sister in law and we look out for family."
Dr. Mahmet led them to Alyssa's room and then quietly excused himself. Daryl went to enter and then stopped, taking a deep breath. Beth could tell he was nervous and took his hand into hers. "Come on Daryl, there isn't anything to be scared of. We can do this together."
"I ain't afraid of nothing." Daryl said in a terse tone.
"Yes you are…you are afraid of what you are going to see in there. It's Alyssa Daryl, the woman you love, and when she wakes up, you are going to be the first person she is going to want to see." Beth told him in a soft tone.
Daryl took a deep breath and opened the door and stepped into the room. He almost had to leave immediately when he saw Alyssa's condition. She was pale and bruised. A bandage was wrapped around her head and her arm was pinned to her body to prevent her from moving it. A small grimace on her face let him know that even though she was unconscious she must have been in pain. He could only imagine how much. Daryl couldn't help it when he saw her as he let out an audible moan. It hurt too much to see her in this way. His first response was to back out of the room and run away, but Beth stopped him.
"Go to her Daryl…hold her hand and be there for her. I've got to get in touch with Merle and let him know what is going on. He should be home by now and he is most likely worried to death. I'll be back." She told him as she gave him a little nudge.
Daryl rasped back "You're right Beth, but what do I say to her?"
"You'll figure it out Daryl. Be strong for her, she needs your strength." The younger woman advised. Daryl was amazed how Beth always knew the right thing to say. She was perfect for Merle and he could see why his brother had fell for the much younger woman.
Daryl slowly walked across the room and sat down in the chair that was next to Alyssa's bedside. Carefully he reached out and took her uninjured hand into his. Just feeling the slight warmth of her soft hands in his forced Daryl to let out a soft sob. He was wracked with guilt about what had happened. If he had not had the fight with her and left the way he did he might have been able to get her out of the house safely. Why did he have to be so damn hot headed instead of taking the time to let her explain herself. God help him, if it took the rest of his life he was going to make this up to her.
It seemed like Alyssa noticed his presence immediately. As soon as he had taken her hand he softly moved it to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. Alyssa's eyes began to flutter open and before Daryl could draw his next breath, Alyssa was fully awake.
"Daryl…" she said as she winced in pain.
"I'll get the doc Alyssa, we've been waiting for you to come too." He said.
"No, please don't leave me." She begged.
"You need pain meds, the doc said you were gonna be hurting." Daryl said in a heavily concerned voice.
"Shhh sweetie, let me apologize first." She said in an almost whisper. Daryl could see the pain on her face as well as the pain in her eyes.
"No baby, it was my fault. I over reacted. I was coming to tell you how sorry I was when I found you. Alyssa I want to beg you to forgive me." He said as tears began to stream down his cheek.
Alyssa tried to reach out to wipe them away, but she was too weak to make contact with him. Daryl didn't seem to care that she saw his outward expression of emotion. Instead he fully broke down sobbing and repeating "I'm sorry" over and over again. He held tightly to her hand and buried his face in the sheets beside her body on her good side. Alyssa managed to move her hand into his soft hair and began to run her fingers through it trying to soothe the emotional man that she loved.
Daryl finally caught his breath and pulled his head up so he could look into her eyes. "Marry me Alyssa. Ain't no need to wait. I'll tell ya anything you want about my past, but none of it will change how I feel about you. We can do it as soon as you get out of here or we can have any kind of wedding you want. I was a damn fool for even thinking about waiting."
Alyssa began to speak softly and slowly, as if each breath hurt "Yes Daryl. As soon as I am able to get out of here we can be married. I don't want a fancy wedding, all I want is to be your wife."
"I love ya Alyssa." Daryl told her with so much emotion it would have brought her to tears herself if it didn't hurt so bad. He could see her pain and it killed him inside.
"I love you too sweetie. Please don't be mad but I think I need those pain meds now." She told him. He could feel her hand trembling and knew she was fighting with everything she had to not let him know how bad she was hurting.
"I'll get the doc." Daryl told her and he stood up immediately and ran down the hall looking for anyone who could help. Luckily he met Dr. Mahmet as he was about to round the corner and he relayed the information to the doctor. Dr. Mahmet immediately grabbed a cart and summoned a nurse to check on Alyssa and asked Daryl to wait in the hall. Daryl did as he was told, but it wasn't easy. He wanted to be with her more than anything offering up any of the strength he could for her, but he knew the doctor knew best and decided it wasn't worth creating a fuss.
…
As it ended up after Alyssa was administered the pain meds and she insisted that Daryl head home and get rest. He reluctantly agreed to her request. She knew she was going to be asleep for a while and could tell he was exhausted. Between the long night before the fire, and then knowing he had been up all night with her, she could see he was completely worn out. She noticed the burns on his hands and knew his ribs and knee had to be killing him, but Daryl was somewhat of an anomaly and seemed to be able to push the pain aside when he needed too. He had undoubtedly saved her life, and now he had committed himself to her for their remaining time on earth together. Her last thoughts were of Daryl as she succumbed to the ample amount of pain medication that she had been given.
…
Beth and Daryl drove back to Holly Springs and were greeted by one angry Merle Dixon. Beth hadn't been able to get a hold of him via telephone and apparently Rick had not been able to find him either. Therefore, when Merle arrived home in the wee hours of the morning he went into full panic mode when Beth was not asleep in their bed. Had he have not been so tired he would have noticed her truck wasn't parked out front either as well as everyone else on the farm was gone. He immediately began to panic, especially because he had noticed that the entire valley was covered in a thick smoke that he had initially thought was fog, until he got a whiff of the air and realized something large had burned.
After arriving and finding everyone gone he headed towards Alyssa's house and found the Holly Springs fire department still putting out hot spots. Daryl and Alyssa's truck were both parked out front and when Merle asked the young fire fighter if anyone was inside he was told that they had not been able to go in and search for human remains. Merle felt his knees go weak with fear and panic. What if Beth had been with them and they had all been asleep when the fire broke out. It was then that he spotted the charred ruins of the burned cross and a rage began to fill his body. Not knowing what to do, Merle headed back towards the house and prayed that Beth, Alyssa, and his brother were not inside the burned out home.
He hadn't been there long when Daryl and Beth pulled up and his first reaction was to run to Beth and pull her into a passionate hug and kiss, and then he began to berate both her and Daryl for scaring the hell out of him.
"Beth, what in the hell were you thinking? You scared the holy fuck out of me." He screamed.
"Whoa Merle, take it easy on her, she didn't do nothing wrong. She saved Alyssa's life and mine too if I'm gonna be honest about it." Daryl shouted back.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Merle barked back.
Beth stamped her foot "Just shut up and listen Merle. Last night was hell for all of us. I wasn't going to sit here and watch our town go up in flames."
"Is anyone going to let me know what happened? I'm getting a bit impatient here. Woman don't you realize you are carrying my baby?" Merle said in a bit less of an angry voice.
Beth managed to get Merle calmed down enough so that she and Daryl could explain what happened and how they had found Alyssa. They told him about the fire in the Eastern district of town, Rick's concerns about Gorman, and the loss of Dr. Bob and others. By the time they were done all of them were sitting in shock over the realization of what had happened.
"Look Doc is gonna need all of us when she gets out of the hospital. She can stay with Beth and me until we can find her something permanent. She's family." Merle stated emphatically.
Daryl stammered a little bit and then finally spoke "I asked her to marry me this morning…and she said yes. As soon as she's out of the hospital we are gonna go down to the court house and get hitched. She don't want any big affair on account of not having any family, so we decided to just get it done with."
Beth and Merle looked at each other in shock. Beth was about to say something when Merle cut her off. "If you ain't gonna give her a wedding, then you need to take her on a honeymoon she will never forget."
"She ain't gonna be up to anything too strenuous for a while Merle. She's gotta heal up and then we will plan something. All I know is I want her to know how much I love her and that I want to spend the rest of my life with her." Daryl explained to both Beth and Merle. He knew it may be a while before they could consummate the marriage, but that didn't mean he couldn't hold her in his arms at night, and feel the comfort of her body against his. He would wait a thousand years if he had too. All that mattered was that they were together.
"Well then you better buy her a damn nice ring. Hell she deserves a crown for agreeing to marrying a grump like you." Merle joked.
"Um…" Daryl said, he hadn't thought about picking out a ring for her. They would need wedding bands and he didn't have a clue on where to start.
"I'll help you with that Daryl." Beth said, and Daryl could feel the weight of the world being lifted off his shoulders.
"Thanks Beth, I ain't real sure what I would have done without out you over the past night." He told her, meaning every word of it.
"We're family Daryl, I was just there to support my brother in law. We will need to pick up some personal items for Alyssa, she doesn't have anything left. I'll make a list and we can pick them up before we go back to Canton." Beth assured him.
"And don't be cheap baby brother. I know you got an ass load of money tucked away. You buy that woman anything she needs." Merle taunted and Daryl replied to his brother by giving him the finger. Beth just let out an exasperated sigh.
"Let's all get some sleep. Daryl you can stay in the guest room and break it in. Alyssa will be asleep the most part of the day and once we get some rest we can go get her some things she will need." Beth told them.
Daryl nodded and stood up, headed towards the guest room to get some sleep. He was so tired he didn't even bother to pull back the covers. He just face planted and fell into a fitful sleep.
…
It was sometime around noon when banging on Merle and Beth's door woke them all up. Merle stumbled to the door in his boxer shorts and opened it up, squinting when the sunlight hit his eyes. It was Clarissa and Carl.
"Daddy said he needs you and Daryl up at the house right now. Your father is there and is raising a fuss." Clarissa spit out.
Merle yelled out for Daryl and told him to get dressed in a hurry. Both brothers were out of the house and up at Jess's in a matter of minutes. They arrived and found Will and Jesse in a heated discussion.
"I know God Damn well you had something to do with what happened last night. You and your cohorts took out some good people in your little act of cowardice and damn near killed Alyssa." Jess screamed.
"You don't know shit. I got an alibi for last night. I was making sweet love to my woman and she can vouch for me." Will spit back.
"You are calling that red-headed whore your woman now?" Jess spouted back.
"She ain't no whore…not like the others and you will give her the damn respect she deserves. She's different and we are together, so get used to it." Will barked back, pressing his finger into Jess's chest. Jess looked like he could kill the man at any moment and Merle took the chance to get in between the men and break them apart.
"Ain't no need to get violent here. What's going on?" Merle said in a mostly calm voice.
"I just wanted to run some business by y'all." Will said attempting to sound civil.
"What is it? The quicker you say it the quicker you can get the hell out of here." Daryl spouted out in a frustrated voice. He knew his father couldn't be trusted, and knowing he most likely had something to do with Alyssa's condition just angered him beyond anything he had ever felt for the man.
"I'm offering y'all a chance to be rid of me." Will said.
"Talk." Merle replied.
"I'm willing to sell my part of the farm if y'all are willing to give me what I want." Will told them in almost too joyful of a voice.
"How much?" Jess asked, losing his patience with his brother.
"Twenty thousand dollars and two-grand a year for the next five years. You agree to that and I'm gone. It's obvious my ungrateful boys are more than just a little eager to be rid of me." Will taunted.
"Fifteen thousand and not a penny more. We'll pay the two grand for the next five years, but that's it. When you are broke you can't come back." Jess stated. "Can you boys swing that?"
"I can pull it out of savings." Merle said. Daryl knew that of the three of them, Merle would have the toughest struggle coming up with the funds, and with a baby on the way he didn't want this to be a financial burden on his older brother. Daryl had plenty of money in savings. He hadn't hardly spent any of the proceeds from the harvests of the past ten years, and he had lucked out and put them in a bank that had remained solvent during the American Financial collapse. To be honest, if Daryl didn't want too work he could live off that money for the rest of his years. Merle wasn't lying when he said that Daryl had an ass load of money tucked away. He did and if he could use it to rid himself of his father, then he would be willing to do it.
"I tell you what, if you and Jess can come up with twenty five hundred a piece, I will come up with the other ten on my own. One condition though, I want Granddaddy's house." Daryl told them. He wasn't sure if Alyssa would agree to it or not, but he was thinking about the future, and a family. With some hard work they could restore that old house back to the pristine condition it deserved. He'd let Alyssa do whatever she wanted to with the home and it would be theirs.
Jess and Merle looked at each other, and then Merle finally spoke up "Oh yeah, forgot to tell you, baby brother is planning on getting hitched as soon as Alyssa is out of the hospital. I think that old house would be a great place to raise all them babies you plan on having." Merle laughed.
Will looked less than amused to find out that Daryl was going to marry that Nigger-loving doctor. "So you finally found someone dumb enough to marry your pussy ass?"
Jess cut his eyes at Will and Will shut up. Daryl was suddenly filled with the over whelming feeling of self-doubt. Merle sensed it immediately.
"Best shut your mouth Old Man. You do realize that Daryl just plopped ten grand down on the table without blinking an eye. I'd say that makes him a whole lot smarter than your sorry ass. Are you gonna take the deal or not? If you ain't then get the fuck out of here." Merle threatened.
Will's mouth watered at the idea of fifteen grand sitting in his pocket, and a small income for the next five years. He knew he couldn't turn it down, and he knew Jess wouldn't budge on the offer. Paula and him could take the money he had and the funds she had saved and get the hell out of Holly Springs. It was going to be just a matter of time before someone slipped up and let Sheriff Grimes know that Will was behind the fires from the previous night. He didn't give a shit about what had happened in the eastern district, the only good Nigger was a dead Nigger, but he didn't mean to almost kill the doctor. He chalked it up to casualties of war, but now finding out that she was going to be his daughter in law it made him feel the slightest bit guilty. Maybe not remorseful, but a bit guilty. She had been kind enough to treat him when Daryl had beat the hell out of him, and she had made him realize his drinking was killing him. He'd been pretty much sober since that night even though his sorry ass sons hadn't noticed. It was a shame he couldn't sway his boys to his way of thinking, but he reckoned Jess had too much of an influence on them. That was OK, Jess's time would come when he least expected it.
"Fine, noon tomorrow I'll meet you at the Lawyers office and we can sign papers. Jess, since you're so damn good with all the legal shit I'll trust you to get the paper work in order." Will replied.
"Consider it done. Wish I could say I was sorry to see you go, but I don't like to lie." Jess told his brother in a menacing voice. Daryl and Merle looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders. It looked like they were finally going to be done with Will, and both had to fight the urge to celebrate.
So I want to offer up a heart felt thanks for all the reviews I received last chapter. It's good to know someone is still reading this story. This chapter was intended to be a bit longer, but this seemed like a good stopping place. I want to offer out a special shout out to the following for their kind reviews:
JeanF
Lillyloup
Nerissamae
ArcheryLefty
Smilejul
Hmatlock
VictoireAgathon
Avaleigh1
MissOctober13
And my Guest reviewer
Y'all really gave me hope that this was something worth reading. You may be getting some shorter chapters but more frequent updates. Is that OK? Also, let me know if there are any particular story lines you want me to encompass into this story. I'm flexible.
Thanks for your support-
Missy
XXOO
