Beth
"What about this one?" I asked, showing my tablet to Dallas. He was being less than cooperative in this house hunting process. I wanted to find a place as fast as possible and get moved in and have the nursery set up before the baby comes, but at the rate he's moving our child will be four by the time we find a house.
"Do you like it?" He asked, glancing at it. I sighed,
"Yes I like it, that's why I showed it to you." He scoffed and started to look through the pictures. I loved the house, it was in a nice looking community, not too far from the station where I'd be working and it even had a huge backyard with a pool. There were four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, with a fireplace in the master and in the living room. It had been recently updated but it was still towards the middle of our budget.
He sighed, "This is the only one you like so far?"
"Dallas this is the only one with everything on our list and there's still extra money that we can put towards our wedding." I saw him make a face and I shook my head. He looked at the address and the other information listed before he looked back at me,
"You knew there was an open house today didn't you?"
"I may have read that part… Please Dallas. I want that house. That's our home." He looked at the time before changing,
"Let's go." I grinned and changed into my clothes, looking at Dallas,
"Maybe you should see if Darry's wife could meet us there so we can have a real estate agent."
He nodded and once we got into the truck he called Charolette,
"Hi Dallas," She said cheerfully.
"Hey Charolette, Beth and I are on our way to look at a house and we were wondering if you'd help us out."
"Yeah of course! Just text me the address and I'll meet you there."
"Great, thanks." He hung up and I used his phone to send her the address, when we pulled up it was busy and I started to get worried. We'd been looking at homes in Tulsa for almost six months and none were as perfect as this one.
I looked at Dallas, "We need this house Dal… It's perfect for us."
"I know. Chill out," He said, taking my hand. When Charolette pulled up we got out and walked over to her,
"Hey you two! It looks busy out here, head in and have a look around, I'm just going to familiarize myself with the listing." We nodded and went in to look around. I knew that Dallas didn't like how the houses were so close together (they weren't that close, he was being over dramatic) but the house was perfect otherwise. The rooms were bigger than we expected, the master was huge with a walk in closet and a beautiful ensuite. The kitchen had been re-done a couple months prior and I looked at Dallas with pleading eyes. He sighed and Charolette came in to see us,
"Hey! What did you think?"
"We love it," I said, taking Dally's hand. She smiled and nodded,
"I could tell. It's a great home, it's very popular as you can tell so I'd suggest offering a little more than asking price… In order to let the seller's know that you're interested." We nodded and discussed a price before Charolette went to speak with the other agent. She came back over and she bit her lip,
"The seller is willing to accept your conditions but they're asking for a little more," She said, showing us the price. I swallowed hard and looked at Dallas, that was getting to the higher end of our budget. He looked at me and looked at Charolette,
"Fine. We'll accept that, expect we want the closing date pushed up as soon as you can get it Char." She smiled and nodded, going over to the other agent. I looked up at Dallas nervously, in the time we'd been looking for a house this is the only one that I've absolutely loved. He wrapped his arm around my waist and watched other people as they looked around.
When Charolette came back she was grinning, "Your closing date is in two weeks, they were looking to sell quickly! Congratulations!" She said grinning and I hugged her tightly and she grinned,
"Thank you for letting me help you with this guys, I'm so happy for you!"
"Thank you so much for helping us… Gosh I can't believe it's ours." I said, resting a hand against my stomach. She grinned and rubbed my arm,
"I know… It's an amazing feeling isn't it? I remember standing outside our house the day it was finished, DJ had been born the week before and my life had never felt so perfect and so complete." I nodded, rubbing my bump. Dallas didn't exactly want to know the gender but I was dying to know so at my last appointment I had the doctor tell me and I couldn't be happier (I guess I'm just biased that my baby is healthy). I tried to talk Dally into a gender reveal party but as he said, "those are stupid and a waste of money".
"Well, we'd better start looking into getting our shit packed," Dallas said and I nodded,
"Or I mean… Since we're here and we don't have much in the way of furniture maybe we could just pay a moving company to do it for us?"
"Why do you want to have everything done for you?"
"Uhm, maybe because we're already here and we'd need to get a moving truck anyways?"
"Yeah and what about your car? They're going to drive that too?" I was started to get frustrated with him, my feet were already starting to swell and I hadn't slept at all last night,
"Forget it. I'll fly back and pack up."
"Oh so now you're going to do it all yourself? What about the shit you can't lift?"
"I'll sell it, and I'll put it towards a wedding." I said, crossing my arms.
"If you keep pulling this shit about the wedding then I'm calling it off. I told you I don't want a huge wedding." I swallowed hard. Having a wedding called off was one of my biggest fears. My last ex-Wesley-had ditched at the alter. Just before he said I do, well, he didn't. He walked out and by the time I made it back to my place all of his things were gone. It took me a while to trust Dallas; he was the complete opposite type of guy that I usually went for. I knew Dallas had a rough past and I knew that he'd never had a serious girlfriend and that always worried me.
"Fine then. Call it off and save your precious money." I said, walking out of the house and to the truck. He didn't come out for almost ten minutes and I cursed my wacky hormones for making me get this emotional. He came back our and waved to Charolette before getting in to his seat, driving to a bakery. He got out and went in, coming back out with a box. He got in and placed the box on my lap before he started to drive.
One thing about Dallas that would never change (there were many) is that he never said sorry. It never came out of his mouth, but he would show me in different ways that he was- this being one of them.
"Thank you," I said softly, opening the lid and helping myself to a pastry.
"Look, we have our closing date in two weeks. We've got family shit planned for the next week, so once we're done that… Maybe you could fly back home with your Mom and Dad and start packing everything… I'll bring the truck back so we can rent a smaller moving truck." I nodded,
"Okay.. Thank you." I kissed him softly before he started driving again,
"You hungry?" I nodded and he made a left hand turn. Where we lived, in Riverdale, had been the perfect location. It was roughly a fifteen minute drive to work (we mainly covered the Bronx) and close enough to night life. Though as Dallas and I progressed into our relationship we stopped seeking the night life and started doing other things we found fun (most of those activities being sexual, thanks to Dallas).
I was hoping that our apartment would get good money- it was a nice neighbourhood and fairly local. He pulled into a parking lot and I looked up to see a cute retro looking family diner.
"This is cute," I said, putting the box of pastries on the dash. He nodded and got out,
"This is Two-bit's," I got out with him and took his hand. When we walked in I felt him grip my hand a little tighter before I noticed a platinum blonde eyeing Dallas.
"Sylvia." He said, and she raised her eyebrow before nodding,
"Dallas. This must be your fiancée. I'm Sylvia." She said, looking towards me.
I nodded, "Beth, it's nice to meet you."
She smirked, "Well then you mustn't have heard about me."
I glanced up at Dallas before I sighed, "I'm not playing these games. I'm going to the washroom." I walked towards the bathroom and glanced over my shoulder to see Dallas grinning at her. I had a feeling today was going to be one of those days.
When I got back out Dallas was sitting at a table (I hated sitting at tables, I preferred booths) and still chatting with Sylvia. I sat in front of him and he looked at me, "What do you want to eat?"
"A hamburger with fries, and a water." Sylvia nodded and wrote it down before running her hand down Dallas's arm. I grit my teeth, "Make that to go please." She rolled her eyes before she walked away. I looked at Dallas and he was looking around, avoiding my eyes. I shook my head,
"So she must have been your bunny while you were here?"
He shrugged, "Yeah."
"What's going on with the two of you? I don't like this touching and you undressing her with your eyes."
"Nothing is going on, don't be so paranoid."
"Paranoid? How am I being paranoid if I'm all that's stopping you from having a physical trip down memory lane?"
He rolled his eyes, "I'm getting tired of you not trusting me Elizabeth."
"I'm getting tired of you checking other women in front of me! It's rude and disrespectful to me!"
He shook his head and I sat back crossing my arms. Sylvia brought a bag back and Dallas went over to pay. I reached into the bag and opened the container helping myself to a couple of fries. Sylvia looked at me,
"If he loves you don't let him go. He never looked at me the way he looks at you. He only wanted me for sex."
I looked up at her and I could tell she was genuine. I nodded and Dallas came back,
"Let's go," And he didn't wait for me to even get up- he just kept walking. I sighed and picked the bag up, walking out to his truck. We went back to the motel and I sat on the bed and started eating my food. Dallas went into the bathroom to shower and then came back out,
"I will try and stop looking at other women. You don't need to worry about Sylvia, I'm not into girl's like her anymore."
I shook my head, "Just stop talking okay? Please, before you dig yourself an even bigger hole."
"Why? What the fuck did I do wrong now?"
"I'm not into girls like her anymore." I said, crossing my arms.
"I don't sound like that."
"Don't change the subject! What the hell do you mean girls like her? Girls that are hot or sexy? Girls that have curves?"
"Girls that only want in my pants."
"I'm pretty sure she wanted more than just into your pants Dallas."
"While you were in the washroom she was making advances, claiming we could go back to old times. Babe old times with her were great- no strings attached. But I've put in too much time and effort trying to get to you trust me and believe me. I wouldn't throw that all away."
I sighed, sometimes this man truly amazed me. I looked at the time and stood up to kiss him softly,
"I'm sorry."
He kissed me back and grinned playfully, "I know." I shook my head smiling and got changed into a nicer pair of jeans and a maternity top. I also grabbed one of Dally's sweatshirts to take with me to Charolette's house. I couldn't wait to get to know the girls more.
He changed into his usual jeans and a teeshirt, pulling on the leather jacket that I got him for his birthday when we first started dating.
He kissed me again, resting a hand against my baby bump. God I loved it when he did, he hardly ever paid any attention to my bump.
"Can we have another talk?" He asked, gently rubbing his hand across my bmp. I bit my lip and nodded,
"Okay… About what?"
"Well… If I take the job for Darry's company… I'll be making upwards of double what I make now."
I knew immediately where this was going, "I want you to be a stay at home Mom with our little one. You being a cop… I know that it's your dream career but I can't risk losing you again. I'd never been so scared in my entire life more than when you were laying in that hospital bed fighting death. I know it ain't New York anymore but believe me Tulsa can be just as dangerous. I can't risk you getting hurt again… You or our baby. I'm going to take the job for Darry… And we'll be in a good spot here."
I bit my lip, "Well… I guess that depends… Are we having more than one baby?"
He cocked his eyebrow and I bit my lip, "I… I want a big family Dallas. You know I have a big family and… No offence but it's kind of pointless to be a stay at home Mom for one child."
"Fine… We can talk about having another baby."
"Well… If we agree on having another baby… And getting a dog, then I'll retire from the force."
He kissed me and I knew it was a huge relief to him. I know that this job causes a lot of stress, especially for myself and him when he hears of a cop getting shot and he can't get a hold of me.
"Let's go." I took his hand and followed him out to the truck, smiling when we pulled up to Darry's house.
"Are you going to be drinking?"
He cocked his eyebrow and I sighed, does a bear shit in the woods?
"Please don't get drunk, you know I can't stand it when you're drunk."
"Okay babe. I won't get drunk." I kissed him and we went inside where mostly everyone was, but I could tell they were still waiting for Steve (I think) and the families from Sodapop's farm.
Steve and Tessa came in about two minutes later than us,
"Hey, sorry we're late. Julian threw a fit." Steve said, taking Tessa's coat off for her. Tessa rolled her eyes,
"Steve promised him that they'd go out to the movies tonight."
"The kid needs to start learning what disappointment is."
"He's three years old Steve. There was no need to break his heart." He muttered a response before we heard two cars pull up so the guys kissed their wives and Dallas kissed me, whispering in my ear,
"I love you."
"I love you, please be careful." He scoffed and made some stupid ass remark about always being safe and they left.
"Is everything okay Tessa?" Charolette asked, getting everyone something to drink before bringing us to the living room where she had a fire going.
She sighed and sat on the couch, rubbing her bump, "With all of the sudden expenses coming with the baby… Steve's been working a lot of over time and Julian just misses him so much."
"Oh hun I'm so sorry.." Presley said, taking her hand. She sniffled and tried to smile,
"Things will get better now that we have a new place… Thank you so much." Tessa hugged Presley and I smiled.
"So Beth, tell us about you!" Audrey said excitedly, and I gave them a nervous smile,
"Well.. I was born and raised in Guymon… My parents got divorced when I was sixteen and my father moved to New York to take on some big position in the NYPD there… Mom married her best friend and he's my dad now. I've been a cop since I was old enough." I said, playing with the ends of my shirt nervously.
Elena took my hand smiling and Tessa grinned,
"How did you and Dallas meet?"
I smiled, remembering back to that night, "Well… The first time I met him my partner, Aaron, talked me into going to this cop bar with him after shift, his boyfriend was working late at the hospital and my fiancé was working late at the office. It was after a big bust so I agreed… Aaron said there was a really cute bartender that worked there and he wanted me to see him… Aaron knew that Wesley was an asshole and he saw it before I did. So we went that night and we took the other bartender, but Dallas is the most handsome and sexy man I've ever seen.
"After the night that I first saw him Wesley started acting sweeter- we were closing in on our wedding date so I stopped going to the bar. Then at my wedding… He um… Well I guess he couldn't bring himself to say "I do" so he left me at the alter. I ended up going to the bar that night, I kind of wanted to be alone and Dallas came over and we just started chatting. I um… I still had my honeymoon booked and I took a huge risk and… I asked him to join me and… Here we are." I finished with a grin. Those two weeks had been the best two weeks of my life by far.
"Oh that's so cute! I'm sorry you were left at the aisle but Dallas is so much better for you," Tessa said grinning.
"How did he propose?" Audrey asked excitedly and I smiled,
"Well… We'd been talking about wedding plans before he asked me- Mom mentioned that she wanted me to have another big wedding for the family… My family is big enough there's at least one wedding a year… And he's really against that. But while we were arguing he said that if I wanted a big wedding I'd have to pay for it myself… So I started working a lot of over time to try and increase my savings. One of the shifts I was working we were extremely close to solving a huge homicide and drug case that we'd been working on for months. At the time I was with a different detective, Aaron hadn't opted for the same amount of over time. While we were searching a warehouse we heard a noise from the other room and Carl signalled for me to check.
"It was a routine sweep, we were looking for any signs of life and then… I just remember hearing three really loud bangs and I was on the floor. I… I can remember feeling around my chest- I had a vest on so I felt fine… I forgot these guys were using bullets that could penetrate our vests. The next thing I remember was Carl screaming my name during a shoot out before I passed out."
"Dallas called Darry to go and be with him, you were unconscious for almost a week…" Charolette said quietly, and I nodded,
"When I woke up… Dallas was beside me, just staring at me and to be honest that really freaked me out. I'd never seen him look so… Out of it. I had to get his attention and when I did he moved to quickly sit beside me, gently taking both of my hands. Then he just said 'Marry me'. It took me a second to process what he said and I found myself saying yes, and I didn't know until that moment that I had almost… well.. lost him."
I swallowed hard. Why had I been so hard on Dallas to have a perfect wedding? All that mattered was that the two of us were there and that we loved each other. Nothing else mattered except for that.
"So how did he pick your ring?" Presley asked curiously and I grinned,
"He didn't… He told me the amount he'd spend on a ring and the rest was up to me. So… After a lot of looking and a lot of research I found one online and had it sent to the jewellery store by our apartment and it was perfect… And on sale."
They grinned and looked at Elena, "You know you never told us how Johnny proposed to you!"
Elena giggled and cleared her throat, "Well… It was the night after our fifth anniversary and I convinced my parents to let Johnny and I skip the Gala so we could have a romantic night to ourselves for once. Thankfully they agreed and Johnny and I were allowed to take the boat to our cabin on Bar Island. We had a romantic night on the boat… We watched the stars and we were cuddling under a blanket… I had some wine and he only had some pop because he was the captain," She giggled,
"So basically we talked about our future and we just cuddled, it was all really sweet. And then once we made it to the cabin the room was full of flower petals, different types of roses, and candles, and he sat me on the bed and gave me a speech before he asked me to marry him. He got my parents blessing and had gotten them to help plan it- our whole relationship he's been surprising me like that. After we… Well we were officially engaged we didn't leave the cabin for almost two days."
"Oh that's so romantic," Charolette said.
"How did Darry propose?" I asked, really curious. Besides Johnny and Elena Darry was the person I knew next and he didn't strike me as the romantic type.
"Well it was a really relaxing night… Between work and family we'd hardly seen each other that week and it was hard on the both of us. So on a Friday night we ordered Chinese and had a favourite movie marathon with some wine and one of our favourite movies had a really romantic scene where the boyfriend proposed and Darry got up and walked away. I knew the thought of proposing made him really uncomfortable so I was extremely surprised when he called me onto the back porch and he was waiting there on one knee."
"That's adorable," Tessa said grinning.
The rest of the girls shared their stories on their wedding proposals and then we changed topics to the first time with their men.
My first time with Dallas was a week after we started talking. It had been awkward asking him if he wanted to join me on the vacation, I mean I'd barely known him for a week but I was so glad I did ask him. We spent the two weeks getting to know each other- physically and emotionally.