Red River Blue
Chapter 32
Daryl smiled on his way down the stairs, knowing the loud excited voices coming from his kitchen could only mean one thing. His daughter was home. Once he hit the kitchen doorway, he saw Mika and Sam clustered around the big butcher block table with Lydia and Henry, both of them talking a mile a minute. He could never figure out how either of them could hear or understand anything the other one was saying. But the method of communication seemed to work for them. Since both Sam and Mika were blonde and light complected, it was easy to imagine that they were actual biological siblings. When new people encountered Daryl and his family, they were always quick to assume that theirs were one of the lucky families that made it through the outbreak intact. Instead of what they really were, people that lost almost everything before they found each other.
Mika noticed Daryl's presence in the kitchen first, leaping up from her seat to throw her arms around him. She always smelled like horses and sunshine. And this was no exception. Though there was also a lingering odor of pot smoke in her hair. It made Daryl chuckle a little under his breath. He guessed there'd be more smoking before the day was done. With everyone home except Wren and Carl, Harley would eventually gather all the musically inclined people together in her garage for a jam session. Which usually meant a lot of pot smoking and probably some beer or cider drinking. Daryl found himself looking forward to it. And for the small bit of normalcy that he hoped the rest of the day would bring. Mika gave him one more rough hug before she asked the question he was sure to be asked by his children any time he dared to show his face around the house without his better half.
"Where's mom?"
"I think she's upstairs cleaning up," Daryl said with another laugh as he headed for the fridge. He swung the door open and began rooting around, pulling out some sandwich fixings. "Hey," he griped. "Who ate all the leftover turkey meat?" Daryl popped his head up, casting an irritated glance at his son. If a large portion of food suddenly disappeared, it was usually a given that Sam was to blame. The boy started eating them out of house and home when he turned thirteen and he'd been doing it ever since.
"Sorry," Lydia said, her voice barely above a whisper. Daryl's face immediately softened. He let the refrigerator door swing shut as he crossed the small space, setting his hand gently on her bony shoulder.
"That's alright," he assured her. "You go on ahead and have anythin' ya want." Lydia favored him with a small smile before she stared back down at her hands. Her smiles were still nervous and forced, unless she was looking at Sam. But Daryl figured she would warm up to the rest of them eventually. "Gonna run over to Merle's and see if there's any fish left," Daryl said, heading for the backdoor and letting the screen slap shut behind him.
Daryl weaved his way through the few backyards that separated his house from his brother's. The area behind the houses used to be grass. But now they were filled with raised garden beds and small chicken coops. Daryl stopped behind Rick's house, grabbing a large beefsteak tomato off the vine before he continued on his way. When he entered Merle's house, he was glad he snuck in through the kitchen door. Because he could hear Merle and Harley arguing in the living room. And he didn't want any part of whatever was going on between them.
"This is my house! I'm in charge!," Merle thundered. Daryl heard Harley laugh and guessed she was doing it directly into Merle's face.
"Anyone that has to announce that they're in charge probably ain't in charge at all," Harley countered. "Besides," she chirped, "...I'm going to stay at Rick's house anyway. So fuck off."
Daryl heard his brother snort before he gave his opinion on this new development between Rick Grimes and his oldest daughter.
"Good-fuckin'-riddance!," Merle spat.
Daryl could hear some movement in the living room so he cut his eavesdropping short. On the top shelf of the fridge he spotted what he came for, a large glass dish full of already scaled and prepared fish filets. Grabbing the dish, Daryl hurried back the way he came. When he ducked back into his own kitchen, Carol had emerged from upstairs. Daryl set the fish down and pulled her into his arms, pressing a kiss into her hair.
"Are you gonna fry that fish?," Sam asked. Without waiting for an answer, he added, "Will you make me a fried fish sandwich?" Carol grabbed the dish, checking to see how many filets they had. There was enough for everyone to have one.
"If I make fried fish now, then everyone is on their own for dinner," Carol clarified as she agreed to her son's request.
With everyone home, Carol knew they were probably going to end up having some sort of impromptu barbecue party later anyway. It would end up being a disorganized mess without Wren around. Carol could only imagine how excited Ezekiel and Michonne were when Carl arrived early for the fair with his party planner wife in tow. Carol had no idea how she did it. Wren just had a way of getting people to work together. It was like magic. And she had such a sweet disposition, people just naturally gravitated towards her. Carol tried on many occasions to talk the girl into taking on a more formal leadership role in Alexandria. But Wren was decidedly not interested. She and Carl liked their freedom too much to be tied down to a council seat.
"Mom. Dad. Now that we're all together, I have something to tell you!," Mika said, her face lighting up in excitement. Carol smiled, praying silently in her mind that after what Daryl found out earlier about her extra curricular activities, that Mika wasn't about to announce a pregnancy. Mika smiled at Henry, grabbing his hand in hers before she held up her other hand for everyone's viewing pleasure. There was a large flashy diamond ring on her finger that Carol was quite certain had not been there when she came downstairs from the bedroom. Mika must have had it stashed in her pocket and slipped it on under the table.
"I'm engaged!," Mika exclaimed. She turned her pretty smile towards Henry again, before looking back at her parents. "Henry asked me to marry him." Sam was the first to break the shocked silence.
"What do ya wanna marry her for?," he teased, bursting into laughter when his sister leaped from the table and started whacking at him with her open palm. "I was just kidding!," Sam insisted, warding off her blows with his forearm as he rose from his seat and tugged Mika into his arms. When he was done hugging the life out of her, Sam reached for Henry. The two of them hugged briefly before Sam tossed his arm around the shorter young man and asked him what he felt was the most important question of all. "Can I be your best man?"
Daryl leaned against the counter, attempting to recover from his shock as he watched Carol fawn all over their daughter. They were hugging and crying and already talking about dresses and flowers and cake. Upon hearing the news, Daryl's first impulse was that Mika was way too young to get married. But Wren and Carl crossed that bridge years ago, getting married when he was fifteen and she was sixteen. And Mika was seventeen, close to eighteen. In the new world order, that seemed a reasonable age to choose a partner. Daryl assessed the skinny young man that had laid claim to his daughter. Trained by Morgan and raised by Michonne, Henry was a more accomplished fighter than he appeared to be at first glance. There was a possibility that he would want to take Mika home to the Kingdom to live. Daryl didn't like that idea. But in all, he figured he could do a lot worse in the son in law department than the Kingdom's prince. Henry was certainly preferable to Negan, who was still overdue for another ass beating after what he did.
"Congratulations," Daryl finally grumbled, moving forward and extending his hand to the boy. The relief on Henry's face was palpable. And Daryl had a hard time keeping a straight face as the boy pumped his hand up and down with unnecessary enthusiasm.
"See Henry," Mika chirped, "...I told you he wouldn't kill you!"