AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Daryl looked up when he heard the bedroom door open after a quiet knocking there.
"I'm coming," Daryl assured Carol when she stepped into the bedroom wearing a deeply concerned look on her face that made it appear that her eyebrows might very well be at risk of meeting and knotting together. "I just need a minute."
"There's no hurry," Carol assured him. "I sent Melodye and Alice home with some cake."
Daryl's stomach clench and his throat tightened, even though it was already feeling scratchy and painful.
"I ruined your meal," Daryl said. "I ruined it for you an' Sophia."
"You didn't ruin anything for anyone," Carol said. "And there will be other meals for all of us."
"I ruined it by bein' born into the same damned family as that asshole," Daryl responded.
Carol crossed the room and stood in front of Daryl as he sat on the bed. She wrapped herself around him and pulled him to her in a hug.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Carol asked.
"Not really," Daryl said.
"I wish you would," Carol urged.
"Not too damn much to tell that you don't already know. Merle's an asshole and he can't even keep that shit under his hat long enough to eat one meal," Daryl said.
Carol sighed and sat down on the bed next to Daryl. She reached over and took his hand in hers. She ran her fingers along his, entertaining herself by simply touching her skin gently against his. She studied their hands for a moment before she bothered speaking.
"We've known Merle was an asshole for as long as—well, for as long as I can remember anything," Carol said. "I don't think there's been one happy moment of our lives together that Merle hasn't seemed to find some way to taint with his behavior. But it's never stopped us from enjoying things before. What happened this time to get to you so much?"
Daryl swallowed.
"I don't wanna say it," Daryl said.
"Why not?" Carol asked. "I thought we didn't hide things from one another."
"This is different," Daryl said. "It's one of the nastiest things he could say. There ain't no good that can come of sharin' it."
"Except that you get it off your chest," Carol said. "And we carry it together." She laughed to herself. "Everything is lighter if we carry it together. Isn't that the way it goes?"
"I don't even wanna hurt you with what the hell he says," Daryl said.
"Merle can't hurt me," Carol said. "Not really. And—if he hurts my feelings? They'll heal. Because, at the end of the day, Merle Dixon doesn't mean anything more to me than you want him to mean. He's not my husband. His opinion doesn't really matter to me. But you? What you're going through? Daryl—that matters to me very much. Talk to me?"
Daryl sighed.
"I want'cha to know that what I say is his words, you hear? They come from him. They ain't mine. Only reason they comin' outta my mouth is 'cause you asked me to repeat what he said," Daryl said. "You understand? I don't want you to take nothin' to heart or think these are my words."
"I understand," Carol said.
Daryl licked his lips.
"Asshole said that—it was suspicious that you turned up pregnant after all these years of trying," Daryl said. "We always knew you'd gotten pregnant before so we knew you had the potential to get pregnant again. Even the doctors, you know, said you could get pregnant again. There was no physical reason they could find that you weren't carryin' a baby."
"I remember," Carol said, a soft smile playing at her lips. "I was there when they said that I should be able to have a baby. But I never could."
"So we all kinda started to figure it was me," Daryl said. "Weren't no proof that I could have a kid. Ain't none of mine biological at least."
"I never believed that," Carol said. "I never thought it was you. I always believed it was me."
"Point is, Merle believed it was me," Daryl said. "An' he still does. Finds it suspicious that you turn up pregnant now after all these years. Basically says that if we were being together all this time with the potential to make a baby, we'd have made one before now. Says that you bein' pregnant means there's a good chance that somethin' else has come into the mix."
Carol looked at him with question on her face, but she showed relatively little other emotion. When he didn't immediately continue speaking, she shook her head at him.
"I don't know if I understand what you mean," Carol said.
"He thinks that if it's me that's caused it all this time, and if it's now that you're comin' up pregnant, then it just means that it had to be someone else to make the baby with you," Daryl said. "In short—Merle's sayin' that it looks like you been makin' a fool of me with someone else and that's how you ended up pregnant."
"You can't believe that," Carol said quickly.
"Told you these was his words and not mine," Daryl said.
Carol nodded.
"You did," Carol said. "But now that he's said them, I have to ask you if you believe them."
Daryl shook his head.
"I can't believe you'd be with another man," Daryl said. "I can't believe you'd do that to me."
Carol laughed to herself.
"I wouldn't," Carol said. "The only men I even see regularly are you. Merle. Dr. James sometimes and Phil, the butcher." She laughed to herself. "Mr. Greene when he comes for Miss Josephine. Who would I be having an affair with, Daryl?"
"I would hope nobody," Daryl said. "But it weren't me that thought it up. I don't know who the hell Merle is sayin' could be creeping around my house while I'm at work."
Carol leaned and pressed her lips to Daryl's cheek while she squeezed his hand in her own. She ghosted her lips close to Daryl's ear and he shivered at the feeling of her breath and the gentle brush of her lips there. The shiver ran through his whole body and he was a little ashamed at the fact that he could feel that something so simple stirred up an interest in how they might spend the evening if Sophia weren't waiting for them in the other room.
"I have never been with another man since we've been married," Carol said quietly, her lips close to his ear. "I never will. I don't know why my prayers went unanswered for so long. I've asked myself that question a million times since we married. But what I do know is that my prayers finally got answered, Daryl. They got answered and—Daryl?"
Daryl swallowed. His throat was dry.
"Mmmm?" He hummed at Carol.
He heard her laugh quietly and she leaned against him, rubbing her face against the side of his face affectionately before she repositioned her lips at his ear once more.
"This is your baby. I'm expecting it and—it's your baby."
Daryl moved away from her so that he could look at her.
Her face was perfect. She'd been teasing him, hoping to stir him up, and in the process she'd somewhat embarrassed herself. Her cheeks wore the blush of her teasing. Her lips wore the smile, still frozen there, from realizing the effect that she was having on him. She was always pleased when she could have a strong effect on him.
She looked happy. No matter what his asshole brother had said and no matter how badly he'd ruined her dinner, she looked happy. And Daryl's chest tightened up at the thought of it. He wanted her to be happy. It was one thing that he always wanted.
He loved her. God, how he loved her. And it was absolutely his baby that she was carrying.
"I'm sorry about what the hell happened," Daryl said. "About the dinner. Sophia worked so hard on it and you were so lookin' forward to it. It was supposed to be your time to tell everybody an' just—roll around in your congratulations. I ruined the whole damn thing."
Carol laughed.
"If anybody ruined it," Carol said, "Merle did. But—I did get some congratulations. Andrea and Alice and Melodye congratulated me. All of them. And we've still got cake and coffee to enjoy with Sophia. We'll just warm the coffee up a touch and it'll be as good as new."
"Still—it weren't what you planned it to be," Daryl said.
"Very little in my life has been," Carol said. "But some of the best things in my life weren't planned—including this baby."
"You was so lookin' forward to tellin' everybody," Daryl said.
"I still am," Carol said. "We've still got the whole town to tell, Daryl. We can still go down to the store together and tell everyone we see. We can tell everyone at church. We'll come up with a reason to bring the baby up everywhere we go until there's nobody left in town that doesn't know how happy we are about it."
Daryl laughed to himself.
"If it'll make you happy? I'll walk from one end of this town to the other with you. We'll stop everybody we see. Tell 'em that you're havin' my baby and I'm proud enough to crow about it."
"When?" Carol asked, raising her eyebrows at him.
"Tomorrow," Daryl said. "We'll make a day of it. Take the kids."
Carol laughed.
"I wouldn't really want to do that," Carol said, "but I do want to start telling people. I want to—have the chance to finally casually mention it at church. Bring it up in the produce aisle when someone is droning on over their children. I want the chance to tell Pru all about our fourth little one to come."
"Then you do it," Daryl said. "Whenever you want and however you want. Ain't nobody gonna stop you now. It's your news to share as you want."
"What about Merle?" Carol asked.
"What about Merle?" Daryl asked. "I meant what I said today. He ain't welcome in my house. Not until he can straighten up. I'm expecting some sort of apology, too, 'fore he comes back around my family."
Carol nodded her head.
"And you should get your apology," Carol said. "It was wrong of him to say that to you. And it was wrong of him to say it at your home and at your dinner—our dinner—to announce our baby to the family. But the truth of the matter is that—what he said wasn't wrong, Daryl."
Daryl furrowed his brow at her.
"What do you mean he weren't wrong?" Daryl said.
"He was wrong about me having an affair," Carol said. "He was wrong about there being another man involved. But he wasn't wrong that it's taken us a very long time for this little miracle to come to be. And there are bound to be other people in town who think just like Merle thinks. There are bound to be other people that suspect there has to be something going on here. You know how people talk, Daryl. It's just a matter of time before we're hearing rumors flying about the fact that—that this baby belongs to any number of people and we're just covering it up by pretending that it's yours."
Daryl swallowed. He nodded his head. His stomach twisted a little at the thought.
"I already thought about that," Daryl said.
"We can't tell everyone to go away and leave us alone," Carol said. "So—how do we handle that?"
Daryl sighed.
"We handle it the same damn way we've handled everything else," Daryl said. "We don't pay them no attention. If anybody asks, we'll tell them the truth. We don't know why it was now that the baby was given to us, but that doesn't make it any less a blessing for us."
Carol smiled at him.
"I don't want you to be upset every time they say something," Carol offered.
Daryl laughed to himself. He reached his hand out and touched her face. She leaned her cheek into him.
"I could say the same for you," Daryl said. "I've seen you upset plenty over what people in this town have had to say. I don't wanna see you hurt no more."
"It's different now," Carol said.
"How so?" Daryl asked.
Carol shrugged her shoulders.
"I really don't know. I would have thought it would hurt my feelings but, now that I'm thinking about it? I'm not so sure that it will bother me at all. I have my family," she said. "I love my husband. I know—he at least seems pretty happy with me." She smiled at Daryl, not missing an opportunity to tease him a little more. "I have three children that I love more than life itself. Now I'm expecting the baby I've been praying for since—it feels like forever. I guess it just feels like I don't care anymore what they say. It's just not important. What is important is that I don't want anyone—not even Merle—saying things that will upset you."
Daryl laughed to himself. He leaned forward and kissed Carol. She smiled at him when he broke away from her and he couldn't help but "catch" the contagious expression.
"If it don't hurt you, then it won't hurt me," Daryl said. "We'll figure it out like we always do. What's important isn't what they say, it's what we know. And what I know is that—we're adding on to our family. We're havin' a baby."
"Maybe it'll look just like you," Carol said. "And remove anyone's doubt."
"I hope it looks just like you," Daryl said. "It deserves to be a good lookin' kid."
"Can we have that strawberry cake now?" Carol asked. "It won't be that much longer before the Greenes get here with the children."
"I got a better idea," Daryl said. "Let's go call 'em up. Save the cake an' share it with them. What do you say? I'm sure Miss Josephine would like the chance to formally congratulate you again without you feelin' like she had to just snatch it right back away from you."
"I'd like that," Carol said. "And I'd accept her congratulations again if she wanted to give it."
"I'll give 'em a call. I got a good feelin' they'll be happy for the chance," Daryl said.
"I'll go start the cleaning. That way there's less to do when we're done," Carol said.
Daryl kissed her again before he let her get up and leave the room. He followed just a few steps behind her to make the call.
Merle could say what he wanted. The whole damn town could say what they wanted. It didn't matter. At the end of the day, all that mattered was what Carol and Daryl knew to be true—and that was that their family was simply being blessed, even more than they already were, by their new and unexpected arrival.