Hello! Forgot to post yesterday so here you go. Thanks for reading!
Chapter Three
Carol woke up early that Saturday morning, rolling onto her back and listening to the silence that filled the house. She stared up at the exposed wooden beams in the vaulted ceiling and blinked. The room was still mostly in shadows, the sun barely illuminating the day outside. Thunder sounded in the distance and she was glad for it.
She blinked sleep out of her eyes and sat up. Avery would be there soon and she would likely complain that Carol hadn't managed to get all of her unpacking done in the weeks since the woman had flown to Europe. Her room was done and the kids rooms were all set up but the rest of the house was in serious need of being decorated and things rearranged. She shouldn't have bought such a big house but when she had seen it online she had fallen in love with it.
It was a rough log and river rock cabin with huge windows and a deep porch that sat in the middle of thirty acres. Her and the kids had spent the last four years in a tiny two bedroom house out in Desert Palms California and she had saved up a substantial amount of money. Between that and her investments, they were living comfortably.
The day after she had made it to Palm Springs she had crashed a fashion show. She was almost thrown out by security when she was saved by one of the models who had spotted her. Avery Beliveau had demanded security release her and to Carol's surprise, they did as she said. Avery had taken her to the back and she had been able to take many candid shots of the models as they got ready. Avery had been stunned when Carol had reluctantly showed her the photos.
After that, her life quickly spun out of control. That month she became Avery's shadow. She had flown all over the world and made more connections than she ever thought possible. If Avery hadn't taken her under her wing then she don't know what she would have done.
Two months later Carol became ill. She learned that she was pregnant. Avery offered to help her out financially until things got rolling for her but she had refused. Avery had done enough. So she presented Avery with the photos from the motel and after that... she didn't need much help financially. She had felt guilty. Those photos had been something special and she basically sold them.
But she hadn't had much choice. She was going to be a mother. She couldn't find Daryl but she had a piece of him growing inside of her and she would do what she could to insure that the child would be taken care of. Avery had become a sister to her, canceling shows any time Carol had a doctors appointment. She had been a beacon in some of the darkest days Carol had ever had.
She shoved the blankets away from her legs and stood up, ready to take a shower and get breakfast started before the kids woke up. She would get to see her best friend today and she would get her house in order and she would make this another good day.
~H~
Daryl was glad it was Monday. He hated weekends. There was too much time on his hands on the weekends. He drove out to the woods a lot but his mind was free to dwell on things out there too. He worked on his bike a lot but the thing was finished now and there wasn't a damn thing he could think of that he could do with it now short of taking it apart and putting it back together again.
He was pathetic and he knew it.
Their boss clapped him on the back as he adjusted his knee pads. Today he would be laying pavers, which wasn't nearly hard enough work to keep him occupied but it was better than having nothing to do.
"That brother of yours is fit to be tied today," the man said with a shake of his head.
Daryl and Merle had worked for the man for five years. Well, Daryl had been with him for five years. Merle had been with him off and on. Merle wasn't very reliable but he was damn good at his job so he managed to always get it back. "He's always pissed about something," Daryl muttered.
"Well, you know how he is. This is a big job back in Atlanta and I don't need him messing up the deal just cause he's pissed off about going. I'm gonna go ahead and send Walsh with him."
Daryl grunted, shaking his head. Merle didn't much like Walsh. He was twenty three, just like Daryl, but he was working on joining the police academy and becoming one the things in the world that Merle hated most. He didn't hide his animosity and Daryl was afraid that Merle would end up losing his job again and the boss had made it clear that this time, he wouldn't cut Merle any slack.
It was out of his hands though. He wasn't his brother's keeper and if Merle wasn't smart enough to keep his opinions to himself and his mouth closed then that was his problem. He'd just have to go get a job somewhere else.
Of course, that would also mean that the rent and the bills and anything else would be on Daryl's shoulders. It was a good thing they had grown broad over the years. He got to work, ignoring the stress that plagued him over his brother and ignoring the hollow feeling in his chest that he was cursed with all the time. He lost himself in the physical labor.
~H~
Merle had made it a point to ignore Shane the entire trip to Atlanta. He hadn't said a word, even when Shane had asked him direct questions. He couldn't stand the son of a bitch. He hadn't been able to stand him even back when the man had first landed the job and wasn't planning on becoming some fucking pig.
Even though he wanted to keep quiet he couldn't help but let out a low whistle when the house came into view. The place was pretty fucking incredible, even by his own standards, which were pretty high even though he lived in a two bedroom house in the middle of town himself.
"Nice," Shane muttered, more to himself than to Merle.
"No shit," Merle agreed.
Shane gathered up the paperwork and they exited the truck, Merle slamming the door harder than he needed to.
"Russel wants me to do the talkin'," Shane said as they walked up the steps.
Merle nodded. "Good. The son of a bitch shoulda just sent your ass here to do this. He just sent me cause he knew I didn't wanna go."
Shane nodded and ran a hand through his hair before ringing the doorbell. "Well, you did get in a fight last week on the job. You're good, Merle, but damn. You're treading water there, man."
"Fuck you, Walsh," Merle grumbled just as the door opened up. Instantly Merle's eyes went wide and Shane's mouth actually fell open.
"Can I help you?" The woman asked in a heavy foreign accent, looking from one face to the next. She was just standing there in a bikini top and a pair of shorts that showed off legs that didn't seem to want to end. Her dark hair was spilling over one creamy flawless shoulder. She had a face made for magazines and wet dreams and Merle was five seconds away from sparking wood right there in his pants. "Hello?" She asked, her heavily accented voice taking on the tone that clearly told them she was getting annoyed.
"Yeah... er... I'm Shane. Shane Walsh. We're here to go over plans and contracts for the pool and patio we're starting here this week."
The woman continued to stare.
"Avery, who is it?" Another woman said from somewhere in the house.
The woman glanced over her shoulder. "There are two men here that seem to be struck mental at the sight of me. Come look, it's rather flattering."
"Jesus, Avery!" The other woman groaned. She pulled the other woman back and smiled at both of them. "I'm so sorry. Can I help you with something?"
Merle took this girl in and though she wasn't six feet of sex standing in front him like the other one, she was still hot. Just a more wholesome kind of hot. Her lower half was completely covered up with a long hippie skirt but, just like her friend, her breasts were covered with nothing but a scrap of material that passed for a bathing suit top. She had more swell to her hips too, which Merle liked.
"Yeah, are you Mrs. Reynolds?" Shane asked, still looking like he'd never seen a woman in a bikini top before.
"No, I'm Miss Reynolds," she said with a smile
"We're here to go over the plans for the pool and patio so we have a few things you need to autograph for us," Shane said, smiling right back, going straight from numb nuts to suave.
Merle watched the girl's blue eyes turn a little colder at his wolfish grin but she kept the smile in place. "Right, come on in," she said, opening the door wide.
Merle and Shane stepped inside and glanced around, just as impressed with the inside as as they were with the outside. Everything was rustic and open, the ceilings vaulted with exposed log beams. Daryl was probably going to shit himself when they started on that pool. She led them to a kitchen. One whole wall was made of glass, showing off the long expanse of yard and the shitty landscaping beyond. There was a pool already and it would have been impressive too if the yard wasn't such a scraggly mess.
She was chattering away to Shane as they stepped out onto the back deck but he was barely paying attention. His eyes zoomed in on the woman in the pool. She was frolicking around with two kids in the water and instantly his interest in either of them shriveled up. He didn't fuck around with women with kids. It was a rule of his.
He wasn't paying attention to anything Shane and the woman were talking about. Instead he took in the yard, his mind spinning with ideas for the space. There was lot of ground to cover and the little bits of the conversation he'd caught between her and Shane made it sound like she wanted a lot done.
The dark haired woman lifted herself out of the pool. She'd lost the shorts, not that they did anything to cover up her goods anyway. She wrung out her hair, turned so her ass was facing them and bent over to pull the kids out of the water.
Merle's jaw clenched at the site and then the teasing bitch looked over her shoulder and flashed him a grin. Now he decided that if she kept this kind of shit up, he'd fuck her even if she did have a couple of rugrats, just for principal.
He watched as a little girl grabbed her hand and pulled her around to the other side of the pool but the other kid, a boy, glanced over towards the deck they were standing on. The kid did a double take when he realized they had company. He glanced back at the woman and girl and then back to the deck and then, with a heavy sigh that Merle could see all the way from here, he started stomping towards them. Merle had to hide a smile, for some reason feeling some sentimental shit that the little guy thought he had to be the man around here and check out what was going on.
Then the boy must have belonged to the girl talking to Shane and the kid had decided to come over and see what his mama was up to. He didn't look happy about it either. Merle watched the boy until he was about ten feet away and then his breath hitched in his throat and his heart stuttered slightly. He shook his head in disbelief.
The boy watched him wearily, his eyes narrowed in a familiar expression that Merle saw every goddamn day. Eyes the shade of warn denim, brows that arched just so, nostrils slightly flared, mouth turned down slightly and lips set in a disapproving line.
Merle swallowed thickly and then, to put the icing on the cake, the kid's thumb raised and he started chewing nervously at his nail as his suspicious gaze flitted from Merle to the woman that Shane was talking to.
Jesus Christ! Even the shape of the kids hands were familiar.
He was finally able to tear his gaze from the little boy to look up at the woman. She must have felt his eyes on her because she glanced over and then whatever she was saying died on her lips as a frown formed between her brows.
"Sir, are you okay? You look pale," she said in a worried voice.
He nodded and tried to clear his throat. "Yeah... yeah I'm good. Hey, you mind if I use your bathroom?" He asked, his voice sounding off as his eyes went back to the boy that was now studying Shane. Fuckin' Christ...
She nodded and motioned towards the door. "Of course. Take the hallway off the living room and it's the last door on the right at the end of the hall."
Merle nodded his thanks and slipped into the house. He headed down the hallway and then stopped in his tracks as a framed photo caught his eye. He had just tried to convince himself that there was no fucking way, no fucking goddamn way in hell that his brother had a goddamn kid. It was impossible. The only fucking woman he had been with was the one that Merle took him from five...
But there he was. It was a photograph taken at sunset, the sky lit up in so many fucking colors he couldn't count them. In the distance he could make out the side profile of a man sitting on a rock outcropping of some kind, his legs stretched out, leaning back on his arms as he gazed off at whatever scene was below him, his image darkened because of all the color that played as a backdrop. Darkened or not, he knew who he was looking at.
He'd somehow found his brother's girl. The one that had impacted him so much that losing her had fucked his head up permanently. She was here. It had to be her... and he had a son...