AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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"There ain't no rush I guess," Daryl said. "I mean—I got everything that's goin' to Carol in them cells we're claiming. Maggie says she's more'n happy to help with it whenever we wanna do it. I just want Carol to have it long enough to—ya know—get it how she wants it. 'Fore we get the baby here, I mean."
They had only seen Glenn and Maggie out of the fences, about an hour before, in the truck that Daryl and T-Dog had brought back. Now that it had been emptied of everything that they'd gotten in their run, it was ready for Glenn and Maggie to fill it back up again. Daryl and Axel had seen to it that the truck was running smoothly, and they'd gassed it up so that they wouldn't have to be concerned with Glenn and Maggie getting stranded out there.
Daryl was pretty sure, though, that the young couple would find a way to stretch their run for a little longer than was absolutely necessary just to enjoy the time alone together.
Daryl and Carol had formally announced their engagement to the group. It had caused no big stir at all, since everyone had simply taken for granted their dedication to the relationship that they shared. They'd been congratulated, though, and a couple of people had promised that they would attend a wedding ceremony as soon as Daryl and Carol arranged for there to be one.
The discussion of the wedding ceremony had sent a nervous Glenn out to find Daryl while he'd tinkered on the truck with Axel and made sure that it was running as well as they could get it running. Glenn had a request. He and Maggie wanted to get married as well, and they really wanted their wedding to be special. For whatever reason, he felt that their wedding might not be as special to the group if it were to take place after Daryl and Carol's nuptials. Because Daryl and Carol were more established, and because they'd also have the baby to celebrate, Glenn was asking that Daryl simply put off the wedding until after Glenn and Maggie had tied the knot.
Daryl had spoken to Carol and she'd agreed that there wasn't any pressing need for them to have a ceremony. They were, honestly, as married as they could be. The ceremony would change nothing, really, except that it would give them that final bit of legitimacy that they lacked.
And then Daryl had gone to speak with Hershel since he'd only recently approached the old man about performing the wedding ceremony as soon as possible.
Daryl stood and spoke to him while Hershel lovingly tended to some of the crops that would soon be ready to harvest. They were small—and not much had made from planting them late—but they were something that would help sustain them through the winter. They were also the promise that there were bigger and better harvests to come with a little more preparation and careful planning. They'd made some mistakes this year that they wouldn't make in the future.
"Most people wait until the—well, until nearly the end of the pregnancy," Hershel said. "Baby showers usually take place in the last trimester."
"And which one of the trimesters is Carol doing right now?" Daryl asked.
"I would say that she's probably entering into her second," Hershel said. "She might be finishing her first. It's hard for me to tell, exactly. You've got plenty of time, son, for a baby shower. Though—were you able to find any maternity clothes for Carol?"
Daryl nodded and hummed.
"Cleaned out the place of what they had—clothes for babies an' mamas. I got what there was," Daryl said.
"You might want to go ahead and give those to Carol," Hershel said. "So she knows she has them whenever your little one starts to make itself visible to everyone. In my experience, I've learned it practically happens overnight and it's easier to avoid some of the negative emotions that surround it by making sure she's got something nice to wear."
"What negative emotions would she have?" Daryl asked.
Hershel laughed to himself. He struggled to get up and Daryl reached to help him. He offered him his cane. Even though they'd found a prosthetic leg for the old man, the loss of his real leg wasn't too distant a memory that Hershel could say he had learned to use the artificial limb as though it were truly an extension of his body. He got around well enough with the prosthetic, and he did better than he had with the crutches that he'd used while his stump had healed enough to support the prostatic limb, but he still wasn't back to what he'd been before he'd lost the leg. Daryl didn't know if, at his age, he ever would be.
He was a hell of an old man, though, and Daryl thought he did better than most of them would in his situation, especially given his age.
Hershel thanked Daryl for his assistance and hobbled along between the rows of his crops. Though they weren't perfect, they were his shining glory.
"Women can be very peculiar sometimes," Hershel said. "I thought you would have known that by now."
"Carol's not too peculiar," Daryl offered.
"Emotional," Hershel said.
"She gets emotional," Daryl agreed. "But there's always a reason for it. If I ask just right, she'll tell me—even if the reason is that she's got her period or something and she got sentimental thinking about some thing or another."
Hershel laughed to himself.
"Well those period emotions are about a hundred times stronger when it's a baby that's behind everything that's happening inside her," Hershel said. "And you may have to be patient. You may have to accept that sometimes she might not tell you what's got her upset because she might not know herself."
Daryl shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
"There's more times than not that Sophia's upset and I don't know what's got her stirred up," Daryl said. "It don't make her any less upset, and it don't make me any less set on figurin' out how to make her feel better."
Hershel laughed. He clapped Daryl on the shoulder and squeezed hard. He had a strong grip for a man his age.
Sometimes, though Daryl had never told him, Daryl imagined that having Hershel around was just like having the kind of old man that he'd wanted to have—that everyone ought to have. It was easy to pretend, sometimes, that he might see Hershel as his own old man, despite the fact that they shared no blood at all, just the same as Sophia saw him as her Daddy despite her biological ties to Ed.
Daryl had never mentioned such a thought to Hershel, though, for fear that the old man might not reciprocate his feelings. He'd rather silently live with what he could imagine than lose it completely were it to be shattered.
"That's probably the healthiest approach to women there is, son," Hershel said. "It wouldn't hurt if you were to spread that around to Glenn before he marries Maggie. Maybe even Rick would benefit from that approach."
"I don't hand out advice unless it's sought," Daryl said. "But I still hope that Carol wouldn't have any negative feelings towards our baby."
"I didn't mean that she would," Hershel said. "Only that—women sometimes get upset that their bodies are changing. It's important, as her husband, to let her know that you're fine with it. You're comfortable with the changes that have to take place for her to give life to your child."
"Of course I am," Daryl said. "She knows that."
"Even if she does, she might need to be reminded—often."
Daryl accepted Hershel's advice without argument. If Carol needed to be reminded that he liked her body, then he'd remind her of it. It certainly wouldn't be the first time she'd needed a little reassurance. Daryl understood, too. It was nice to have Carol validate his concerns, even if he'd asked her to validate them a few hundred times before. He liked, as well, when she remained patient and sweetly told him what he needed to hear. He tried to offer the same to her, and he certainly didn't see that changing because she was carrying their child. If anything, Daryl imagined he'd want to be even more reassuring and gentle with her than he normally was. After all, there wasn't a woman in the world who had ever been willing to bring his child into being—and there wasn't another woman that he would ever want to take on that role.
"You think the clothes'll remind her?" Daryl asked.
"They'll show your support," Hershel said. "Just remind her of how beautiful she is. Though I'm sure you already do that."
Daryl felt his cheeks run warm and he cleared his throat.
"I try to," he offered.
"She seems happy," Hershel said. "And Sophia is certainly happy. I'd say you're doing a fine job as a father and a husband."
"But I'm not a husband yet," Daryl said.
"You're a husband," Hershel said. "Whether or not we've performed a ceremony. Still, I do appreciate your need to make it official. I also appreciate your willingness to let Maggie and Glenn marry first. The wedding, itself, doesn't really matter to Carol. She would be happy without it. Perhaps she's seen a bit more in this life and she understands that the ceremony means nothing. Even the vows mean nothing if there's no sincerity behind the words. But Maggie is still young. She still wants the ceremony. She wants the—pomp and circumstance. She wants that feeling of being the most important woman in the room for at least a day. Glenn asked because she would never want to ask you and Carol to wait, but she feels that she wouldn't get that if their wedding followed closely on the heels of yours."
"Carol wants to help decorate for Maggie's wedding," Daryl said. "She says we're settled enough for that kinda luxury."
"We are," Hershel agreed.
"Is it wrong if I tell you that I want Carol to be the most important person in the room for at least a day?" Daryl asked. "Even if she don't want it—that's what I want for her. Are you sayin' that she don't get that now?"
"I think that Carol will always be the most important woman in the room to you," Hershel offered.
"But if I want more'n that?" Daryl asked.
"Then we'll do our best," Hershel assured him. "I'm sure that everyone could be persuaded to see things reasonably. Besides—you want her to have her baby shower as well. And Maggie and Beth will help to make that a special occasion for her. She'll be the most important woman that day for sure."
Daryl smiled to himself.
"I guess that'll do," he said. "If you're sure that you'll still do the wedding even though we gotta wait for a while."
Hershel laughed.
"I would still marry the two of you if you told me you wanted to wait a few years," Hershel said.
"But it ain't customary," Daryl said. "Not ideal."
"Nothing about this is ideal," Hershel said. "And typically I would say it's customary to marry someone before you have reason to be discussing their baby shower and maternity clothes, but things have changed. That kind of thing doesn't matter as much now. Maybe it never really mattered before—we only believed it did. Still, I couldn't imagine not marrying the two of you. I will consider it an honor."
Daryl smiled to himself.
"I was nervous about marryin' Carol before," Daryl admitted. "That's why I never asked before. Figured—things was good an' the marryin' might mess it up. Now that we're gonnna marry, though, I kinda want it to be official. Wish I hadn't waited so long."
Hershel smiled.
"People might mess up their marriages," Hershel said, "but the marriage is never at fault. It's simply a union between people. If entered into for the right reasons, it's a blessing. That's what you're feeling right now, Daryl—the assuredness that you're entering into it for the right reasons. It will be a blessing for both of you. And for your children."
"Speakin' of," Daryl said, "Carol's got clothes washin' to do today. I promised I'd relieve her a bit of Sophia so she an' Beth could make double time on it. I better go do that."
"I'll walk with you," Hershel told him. "Because I promised Sophia that I'd take her down to play with the rabbits—and I make it a point never to break a promise to Sophia."