After Carol and Daryl got married, time went on as time always does. They made it a point to get together with the entire "Dixon vacation" group every few months at the casino resort. This group now included Hershel (who was to Carol's shock married to her boss Jo Greene), his daughter Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog and Jacqui, Dale, Tara, Richard and Dixie, and suprisingly Shane and Abe.
Life was good. Sophia and Ella were thriving, and the family was in works with a designer to help build their dream home. This was the topic of discussion at the buffet table where all 21 of them were crowded around having a family dinner at the place where Carol & Daryl got married.
"Glad to know business is booming enough for such a large project Daryl, but why are you building a 9 bedroom 9 bathroom house for pity's sake" asked Dale.
"I know! I know!" shouted the slightly inebriated Tara.
"Tara . . . " Carol said warningly. "I swore you to secrecy.
"I don't think we need to keep it a secret any more sweetheart. Let's tell them."
She nodded, smiled, and gestured for Daryl to address the people whose curious gaze locked on them following Dale's revelation of just how big their home construction project was."
"Well, first of all – Carol's pregnant."
This lead to whoops, whistles, pats on backs and hugs. Until Merle in true Merle fashion barked out "Damn baby brother. I ain't never doubted your virility but you didn't go and put 5 or 6 kids in your woman now did ya?"
At those words, the women in the family all whipped their heads around to Carol and fixed her with looks of incredulity and imagined pain of birthing that many babies at once.
"Shut ya damn mouth Merle. I said 'first of all' meaning there's more. This next part invoves Tara and Shane too."
Shane was in the dark about this, but Tara knew. He put his hands up in a placating gesture and said "No way did I knock Tara up, I swear."
"Dude, I have a girlfriend. No offense buy you just don't do it for me."
Shane turned red and everybody laughed but then turned back to the couple for further explanation.
"Well, Ella and Sophia already know of this plan and they approve; so no preaching about it when ya hear it ok"
"Daryl, for Christ's sake. Just tell them" Carol said.
"Carol and I decided that our house will be used for some of Shane's clients."
Shane's eyes went wide and glanced nervously around. "Lower your voice Dixon. I don't need the whole of the restaurant to hear about what I do."
Everybody present knew what had happened to Ed and Will. They knew and accepted it. Some with glee, some with quiet concern, but all accepted it and understood how lucky they were that nobody had come looking for the two men. Marie had intentionally overdosed from Will's stash a few days after hearing about the wedding. The idea of Ella having another mom had just been too much. Ed's whore never reported him missing and had never come back to Georgia. Without a family, Ed was one person nobody was looking for. Will's family was sitting right here at the table and had not grieved the man. He had already lived off the grid, so nobody inquired on him either.
"See, the way we see things is that Shane's 'private investigation business' is in need of some further resources so's he can expand. We decided the best way to do that was with our house."
Daryl paused and looked to Carol for help in how to describe what they had both wanted so badly to do. She decided to take over the explanations from there.
"All of you know by now that Sophia and I were residents of a shelter for quite awhile after we left Ed. That's where we met Tara."
"You could have called us Carol – we would have helped."
"I know mom. Just hear us out. A lot of abused women and children (nodding that last word towards Daryl and Merle) either don't have a family or for whatever reason feel they shouldn't involve them in their situation. (nodding towards her parents and Dale) Most don't have the courage to contact the police (nodding to Rick). Daryl and I wanted to be able to help these women and kids. So while our house will look like just a very large home, it will in reality be two homes. One part – 3 bedrooms and 3 baths – will be ours. The 5 car garage will be a tuckunder variety, and will look like any other garage of a mechanic's dream. However, there will be two entrances from within. One to our home and one to the other which will have 6 bedrooms and six bathrooms to accommodate any women and their children that need a safe place to live in hiding for awhile. The home will be on 57 acres of property and off a county road. There will be high walls around the yard. This will allow these women and their children to have a safe place to live, be outside and still be hidden. Daryl's business is expanding and will have some of the women working from home for him doing paperwork such as accounting and purchasing. They will be paid over minimum wage, and he will provide them benefits. After they are legally free from the abuser, they will have a bit of savings built up to strike out on their own. Tara will assist them with relocation wherever they want to go. If they don't feel safe leaving even at that point, they will be allowed to stay on the property and Daryl will allow them to either build a small home or park a mobile home."
"I left my job at the Lexington Apartments" Tara continued for Carol. Carol is starting a side business while still being at the library. She will begin a Real Estate brokerage and have me run it. We will start purchasing more homes in other states to function the same way that her home will."
Daryl then picked up the conversation again. "We were hoping – so consider this us asking- that Shane, Abe and the other people that work with Shane will live in these homes with their families in whatever state the employee lives. Make it look just as innocent as what our home will look like. All these purchases will be on land and remote just like ours. Same set up. Hopefully it will help more women like Carol. More kids like Soph."
After the long winded explanations were made, the table fell silent. Sniffles could be heard from Lori and Jacqui.
"Will somebody please say something" asked Carol worriedly. She hated the idea that these people so dear to her may think their plans too over the top or just plain crazy.
Andrew broke the silence first. "I am so proud of you two. Unless Dixie has objections, count us in. For those of you who don't know, we live on the Georgia/Alabama border. Extreme southwest corner of the state. Wouldn't even take us away from friends or jobs if we moved to Alabama and started a house shelter there."
"My sister just graduated college in Florida. She majored in Social Work. I could talk to her about starting a house there" Andrea said.
"If she majored in Social work, I will hire her to oversee all the houses and get the women in touch with any counseling or services they may need" Daryl responded.
" I live in DC and hate the city. Set up a house in Maryland and I'm in. Got a girl I am starting to see that lives up there. Sasha's a firefighter and I know her mama was abused. If it gets serious with us, she would have no problems with knowing about a similar arrangement."
"Rick and I can't move, but we do have two spare bedrooms and would be able to help with any temporary lodging for those in Atlanta until a room at your new house is ready for them. With Rick being a cop, he finds out about emergency placements all the time. He just won't bring them there – he can text me and I can do it so the department won't know."
"Maggie and I are both staying in this area, but anything you need, please let us know" Glenn offered.
"Me, T and Glenn can help putting security in place at all the homes" said Merle.
"And I can do some pro bono work for the women" added Andrea.
"Jo and I can help too. We already have a large house on over 100 acres. With our girls gone, we have plenty of room. Just add a wall and security, and you have another house. The women can help with the crops and canning. Some of the that and some butchered livestock would be a blessing for those families getting on their feet."
"I can provide local transportation for doctor appointments and such for those who had to leave ther vehicles behind" Jacqui offered.
"I have the RV, and have had the travel itch for awhile. I can bring these women and their children to any of the out of state homes if they wish to relocate" proffered Dale.
"I can help Dale by first making sure there wouldn't be any inter-state kidnapping allegations" Rick said helpfully.
The table conversation went back and forth for quite awhile. Carol and Daryl just sat back and enjoyed the feeling of being with all those they loved in the same room brought. Ella, Sophia and Carl were alternately listening to the conversation and playing with Rick and Lori's newborn daughter Judith.
Dale all of a sudden appeared beside Daryl and clapped his hand warmly on his shoulder. "I am really proud of you two. A couple like you two taking on something like this? It's just amazing."
Daryl smiled but shook his head at the same time. "Ain't any more amazing than what ya did for Merle and me" assured Dale.
Dale looked away teary eyed, but was stopped by Carol. "We wanted you to know about the baby first before we announced it, but the timeing was just right to say it today. I am sorry for that.
"No worries dear. Just continue to take care of my boy."
"With pleasure" she beamed. "Oh, and Dale? We wanted to let you know that if this baby is a boy, we plan on naming him after you Is that ok with you?"
The tears broke free then and rendered the man uncharacteristically speachless. He just nodded.
Daryl waited until the man left before whispering to Carol "Why did you say 'if the baby's a boy'? Doctor Siddiq's already done told us what's in there." Before she could reply, her attention was drawn to the other end of the table.
Lori spoke out loud now, drawing everybody's attention to her. "I would like to offer a toast. To the Dixons. Who in the past year have done more to surprise us, show us an example of truly breathtaking love, and bring as all together".
Carol smiled at Daryl and whispered something in his ear. He nodded. She then stood up and pulled Daryl up with her.
"Thank you – all of you. Daryl and I have an announcement to make. We just told Dale that if the baby was a boy, we were naming it after him. But we didn't tell the whole story. Ladies and gentlemen, in 6 short months we will be the proud parents of a little boy we are naming Dale Andrew."
The whoops and congratulations started up again until Carol interupted them. We are alo proud to announce that joining him into the world will be another little girl who we have named Lori Andrea."
The noise level amped up another couple of levels as the news of twins sunk in.
"Good God little brother. Ain't never met nobody like you two that love others the way ya do."
"It's what you do for family Merle. It's what you do for family that counts for everything in this world" Carol responded. Lifting her glass she offered her own toast. "To family."