Chapter 13

April 25, 2014

Dwight led Sherry towards the new area of Alexandria. Street lights marked their way in the darkness as the hustle from earlier in the day had dwindled down to silence with only crickets chirping in the background. The rain had stopped earlier but left everything to glisten in the moonlight. The scene was completely beautiful. Because Dwight made her promise not to step foot in the new part of their community, Sherry was taking in all the new scenery as all the newly refinished homes seemed to be rekindled with care. They were all quickly filled with new families as each house was now lit up as she could see people through the windows doing one thing or another. It was a peaceful sight to see.

Dwight appeared nervous as he would glance over his shoulder every so often but then turn away suddenly. Sherry could feel his hand getting sweaty with every step that they took and couldn't stop the smile that was forming on her face. Dwight wasn't the kind of person to be anxious about many things but whatever Dwight had planned was something she felt was special.

"You know how difficult my job was to assign people new homes when I wasn't allowed to be in this part of Alexandria before?" Sherry teased.

Dwight smiled. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience," he replied as he guided her down the street. Sherry noticed that they were running out of road before it was cut off by the newly put up wall and looked to him questioningly.

"What are we doing and where are we going?" She asked as she looked up to see him.

He couldn't wipe the smile off of his face as stopped and turned to gaze at her. "Sherry, I know our relationship is complicated," Dwight started. "Do you remember when I told you that I counted myself as being with you since the day we met?"

Sherry nodded as she tried to keep her breathing steady. She knew Dwight well enough to know that he had something big planned.

His heart nearly beat out of his chest as he took both her hands in a gentle manner. He took a moment to pause as he drew her in closer to him and then played with her fingers before intertwining them with his. "I have known you for four years, Sher," he began, "I know that it's complicated but I think we're ready for the next step. But if I'm wrong, then I will wait for when you're ready."

"Dwight…" Sherry whispered as she could already feel tears well up. That always happened when he started going above and beyond the call of duty as her boyfriend.

"Let me finish and then you give whatever answer you need to without any judgment from me," Dwight said and looked down at the gravel road beneath him as he took a deep breath. "You've been hurt before… I know that… But I can prove to you that I will be a better husband for you in every way possible."

Dwight then turned his attention to the house on Sherry's left. As if in her head, she had been counting the houses on the street and knew that all of them had been filled. The house that Dwight showed attention to wasn't on any of her maps that she received from anyone. No one gave her a clue that it was even there. Then she started piecing it all together. This was the reason that Dwight didn't want her around the new part of Alexandria. He did have something planned up his sleeve.

Sherry forced herself to look at the house that Dwight was staring at. He then glanced towards her while her bottom lip started to quiver with emotion and quickly covered her mouth. It wasn't the biggest house in the Alexandrian neighborhood but it fit Sherry's criteria for what she considered a perfect home. It was light blue with dark blue shutters on the front window and a small white pergola roof that stood above the small porch. Dwight put his hand on the white picket fence then opened the gate. Sherry saw the small detail in the form of a sign nailed on the front gate which read, "Orlich."

Sherry could barely look at him without her emotions taking over. However, she peered up to him anyways as he gestured for her to walk through the gate. She did so slowly as she absorbed every detail that she could. Not a single plant was overgrown or a brick out of place. "Dwight," Sherry stated in disbelief as she walked up towards the house that had already felt like a home more than anything did since she lived in Chicago.

He quickly walked past her to reach the front door before she did then stopped before he actually opened it then looked to her with longing. "I have several reasons why I think I would be a better husband for you. The first one is that I want to make you happy. Nothing has ever made me more content than when you are happy."

He turned the knob as the door opened slowly. Sherry didn't move at first but took cautious steps into the house. When she caught sight of everything, she covered her face in her hands while the scene took her breath away. Everything was perfect. She was beyond words as she started silently crying into her hands almost refusing to see anything else. Sherry couldn't handle being any more overjoyed than she already was.

Feeling hands gently touch her wrists, Dwight pulled her hands away from her face as she continued to quietly sob. She gazed at Dwight to see him admire her with his own eyes getting watery. "Reason two: the only tears that you cry from anything that I do will be tears like the ones you have now," Dwight said as he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Want to take a tour?" He asked almost jokingly as Sherry laughed slightly but nodded her head.

More tears fell but she followed him as he kept one of her hands in his and led her through the rest of the house. They started in the kitchen which had cream-colored cabinets and a large white farmhouse sink that was parallel to an island in the middle of the room. "This house is one of the smallest of the lot but it does have one of the biggest kitchens. I thought with your job welcoming everyone to Alexandria that having dinners at our house would be the best place," Dwight said but shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm jumping the gun. Dinners at your house would be the best."

Sherry stayed silent as she looked at the large dark stained table with about ten chairs around it. The dark, rustic wooden floors were a great contrast to the other colors and décor on the wall. "I won't take all of the credit for making this house look as good as it does," Dwight said quickly. "Christy… Barbara helped with the pretty parts of it. She said something about bringing the small town North Carolina style to it."

Dwight continued as walked to the other side of the entrance hallway. "For the past couple of months I have been salvaging pieces of furniture to fix up this house so it was perfect when you first saw it," Dwight explained as Sherry saw their living room space. "I did splurge on the T.V. though."

Sherry looked at the flat screen mounted and surrounded by a built-in entertainment center that was already covered with various books and movies. "I picked up several other things too. If you don't decide to marry me, I'll just hang out here all the time. My all-time favorites are on that wall."

She smiled as she tried to absorb everything. There were two matching couches on the sides of the room with a rug and coffee table in between.

"Reason three," he continued, "we would have fun together hosting and entertaining the people of Alexandria." He guided her down the hallway in between the kitchen and living room. He stopped at one of the three closed doors and looked to her. "Reason four. I will respect my wife. If you ever feel uncomfortable, I will stop what I am doing and try and make you feel better. I will never purposefully take you out of your comfort zone."

With that he opened the door. Sherry walked in and saw a king size bed with white comforters, sheets and pillows. "This is your bedroom," Dwight offered. Sherry looked to him curiously as he leaned against the threshold not taking another step into the room. "We'll share a bedroom when you're ready to."

She looked around the room and saw a lounging chair in the corner next to the window. "That's your own reading nook."

Sherry eyed the master bathroom connected to the bedroom and saw some fairly new work done to the bathtub. Dwight followed her eyes and assumed what she was looking at. "I had help with that one. I remembered you told me that you like the deep bathtubs most so I replaced the one that was in here with one that you would prefer," Dwight explained, "It actually meant I almost had to reconstruct the entire bathroom but I think it turned out alright."

Sherry couldn't believe every effort he went through to make their house the way she always imagined her dream house being. She never even had to tell him most of the details that would go into making the perfect home. He already knew what most of her preferences were without her saying anything.

"The other two doors in this hallway are a bathroom and another bedroom. That's where I'll sleep," Dwight conveyed, "The bathroom is also a laundry room."

Sherry walked out of the room and saw Dwight start walking up the stairs that were next to the hallway leading to the bedrooms. More happy tears fell as she descended up the stairs. Once she made it, she saw it was only one small loft area that was completely empty except for Dwight who beamed at her.

"You can do whatever you want with this room," Dwight invited as he stood in the middle of the room. "It's yours too. Well, every room is yours but this is your space."

Sherry walked closer to Dwight as he took a deep breath and smiled. "Alright. I'm coming to the end of my whole novel so I will wrap it up so you can finally give me an answer," He teased and then got down on one knee. He took her hand in his as he looked up to her as she gazed at him with wide eyes.

"Reason five. I will always put you before myself. I know that you have good reason to not want to have another husband but just know it's not because I want to take ownership of you. It's because you deserve a life that is good and I will try my best to give you that life. And it isn't about owning you but Sher, I have been yours for four years now and that's never going to change. I love you. I just want to be with you for the rest of my life and into forever." He reached into his back pocket and held out a golden ring with three square cut diamonds that was enclosed around large prongs that held it in place. The one in the middle was larger than the two sitting next to it but they each sparkled brightly against the light. His hand shook as he looked up to her with hopeful eyes. "Sherilyn Anne Ciccone. Will you please be my wife?"

Sherry couldn't help but cry out loud as she never felt more cared for or loved than she did in that moment. She nodded before she uttered a reply. "I will," she said quietly with a small smile.

"Yes?" Dwight said almost in disbelief.

"Are you joking? How could I say no?" Sherry asked as she wiped at the tears on her cheeks with a grin on her face.

Dwight immediately stood up and wrapped his arms around her middle. "I love you, I love you, I love you," Dwight repeated as he picked her up and kissed her on the lips.

"I love you too," She said quietly in his ear as she let him sway her side to side.

He broke apart from her and reached for her left hand. He held her fingers up as he put the wedding ring on her finger. She looked at it as if she were in a dream. Sherry hugged him again as they both absorbed their new step in both of their lives.

"So does that mean we're married now?" Sherry asked. "Ceremonies aren't really the norm anymore."

She didn't know what kind of preference Dwight had. Carson and Ashlyn got married as well as Yolanda and Kevin but many others opted to go without a ceremony and instead just proclaimed their marriage when they saw fit. She almost predicted Dwight wouldn't want anything to showy and just prepared herself for not having a wedding at all.

Another smile crept on Dwight's face. "You said your parents were Catholic, right?"

She nodded wondering where their conversation was going.

"I'm sure if I had the opportunity to ask for their permission, they would add the stipulation of getting married in a church," he speculated.

"It's like you already knew them," Sherry said with a smile.

"We could either just give ourselves the title or have it be the real deal…" Dwight thought out loud, leaving the rest of his sentence for Sherry to ponder as he kept his arms around her waist.

Sherry thought as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "We do have a church. And a Father. As much as I don't want to make a big deal out of it, my mom would have wanted me to have a real wedding."

"You got anything going on tomorrow?" Dwight asked her feigning to be nonchalant.

"That soon?" Sherry asked.

"What if I told you that I had help planning a wedding? Actually, they did everything while I fixed a house. All you had to do was show up to the church tomorrow. What would you say to that?" Dwight said as he took her right hand and started slow dancing with her. It was in the excitement that Sherry began to notice there was music playing in the background the whole time.

"I would tell you that I'd be there," Sherry said, "And that it better be good."

"Oh I'm sure it won't disappoint," Dwight said, "Besides, if you don't like it, I can't take all the blame. Your bridesmaids were the ones who planned most of it."

Sherry laughed lightly. "I have bridesmaids?"

"Barbara, Megan, Ashlyn and Amber," he clarified.

"Ah," Sherry breathed as all the new information started to settle in.

Dwight saw the look of nervousness in her eyes and spoke up. "We don't have to do anything if you don't want to. If you feel pressured to do this, you wouldn't hurt my feelings if you wanted to wait a little bit longer."

"No," Sherry said hastily and then smiled. "This feels good. It feels great! Besides, I don't want you to go through all of this effort of rebuilding a house and sleep on Daryl's couch another night."

"Well, tonight I am actually going to sleep on his couch once more," he clarified as Sherry scrunched her eyebrows together in question. "You have visitors coming soon and I don't want to be in the way of that."

They walked downstairs hand in hand as the front door opened with Christy, Megan, Ashlyn and Amber strolling inside with boxes and suitcases galore. They all laughed with excitement as they saw Sherry and Dwight. Megan and Ashlyn moved their things into the living room as Christy and Amber embraced Sherry.

"I didn't know you were all in town tonight!" Sherry exclaimed happily.

"Like old times!" Amber laughed and took Sherry's hand to inspect her wedding ring, "It's so beautiful!"

Megan came back in the room and started pushing Dwight out the door. "We're doing everything by the book and are including superstitions. You can't see her until she walks down the aisle," she instructed as Ashlyn and Christy tried to help her. He hardly budged at their combined effort.

Dwight looked to Sherry and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow. Everyone was kind of clued in to the events tomorrow except you. So everything should run smoothly. Love you." With that, he left their house.

Christy grabbed Sherry by the hand as they walked into the kitchen and all sat at the table.

"Barb, did you ever find a date for tomorrow?" Megan asked her.

"Uh, yeah," Christy said nervously. "Rick kind of asked me the other day."

The girls all smiled as Sherry grinned to herself. She couldn't take her eyes off what would be her wedding ring for the rest of her life. Not only that but she could hardly get her mind off of who would be her husband for the rest of forever. Lost in her own world, she just beamed while trying to listen to her friends babble about their happenings in life.

It had been two months since she saw Amber and was glad to hear Mark was recuperating well. He spent many hours doing what they instructed in physical therapy and was nearly back to his old self from all the hard work.

Christy had been low-key dating Rick for almost a month. Not wanting to make it too public for the sake of Carl, they had only told a handful of people within Alexandria save for Maggie who was in Hilltop. After the many nights that Sherry shared a room with Christy in Sanctuary, she heard all the cries for her late husband Brad to come back from the dead and save her only for nothing to happen. Rick helped her move on and fill that void. Sherry was forever grateful.

Ashlyn and Carson seemed to be happy as usual. Noelle was still their pride and joy while agreed that she was the best baby in the world. Time was going by too fast as it seemed hard to believe she was already four months old.

Megan was staying mum on a certain mystery man that she had been seeing. They all tried to pry and guess but she remained silent and enjoyed their efforts to try and crack the case. Surprisingly, Megan revealed that each of their attempted guesses were all wrong.

As Amber had mentioned before, it was like old times. Except for a big detail that Sherry couldn't help but notice. They all seemed happy. It wasn't a hopeful feeling like it had been before where they would crack a joke and all sigh while praying the life they had in Sanctuary would end sooner rather than later.

Sherry had been speaking with Kevin about moving on. It was like she rolled in a bed of thorns and had hundreds of spikes on her body. It took time and effort to remove each thorn but with every thorn removed came the sense of relief that there were only so few left to tend to. Sherry was at that point where she was walking around with no pain.

Except…

There was a feeling that she had missed one thorn. Not knowing where it was and how to shake it off, it still pierced without letting up in any way. Unsure of how to proceed, she thought she could talk to Kevin hoping that he would have an answer. As her friends continued to chat amongst themselves, she knew that he would say something on the lines that he couldn't help her unless she tried to dig down and find the source herself.

Marrying Dwight felt right. Moving on in that sense was perfect. But for some reason, she couldn't help but feel the thorn was connected to her moving on in such a big way. Unable to put her thumb on it, she decided to focus on it later and take the time to enjoy life. It was the eve of her surprise wedding, after all.

AUTHOR'S NOTES, TRIVIA, & FACTS –

#1 – I don't know why, but it's a pattern of mine to have some of my books chapters be written out well before they are published. For Nothing Else Matters, chapters 13-16 were well thought out before as I spent a lot of time thinking about those terrible scenes and bringing them to life. Chapters 13-16 of Heal were also written out probably a year in advance before I actually published them on FanFiction. Good things are coming in the next chapters, just you wait!