A Soldier's Girl

Chapter 57:

Chapter 57:

Daryl's View

It's been a four months since the huge blow out with Beth. I deserved all of it and more. She's still untrusting of me which hurts, but I can't blame her in the slightest. We sleep in separate rooms now and I can sometimes hear her at night crying. The pain is immense in both of us, but it won't stop growing. I fear someday soon will be out last few moments together before she forces me away.

Jackson is getting bigger and stronger. He's almost the size of a normal baby, but still tiny. I'm glad he won't remember this. Then again, when he grows up there will be some sort of reminder.

As I fix up the deck outside, for winter's berth, I can't think of anything but the cool air, crisp in my lungs and cold on my breath.

"Do you want help?" Beth asks from the doorway inside, as I stand on my ladder on the icy deck.

"Nah, I got it." I say with nails in my mouth. "Stay inside where it's warm."

"Alright...don't forget the front porch please."

"Got it." As she leaves, I continue my work and the winds are picking up. We've started to have really bad winters down here in Georgia. Ever since a really bad one in 2013, they've all turned bad.

Without warning, a huge wind teeters my ladder and takes me by surprise. As I fall over the railing, I hold onto the railing of the deck. Nails falling out of my mouth, I glance below at the shimmering shards of glassy snow and try to pull myself back up. The railing is slippery and I can't get a good enough grasp.

"BETH!!!" As I call, she opens the glass doors and comes running out in sweatpants a tank top, but no shoes. "Beth....."

"Hold on..." She grabs at my wrists, but I'm way too heavy for her to lift and I'll just pull her over with me.

"Go down stairs and lay a cushion beneath me....hurry." She leaves and I look at the fifteen foot drop below. "This is gonna suck...."

"Got it!" Beth yells below after placing two cushions.

"Step back!" She steps back right as I lose my grip and plummet to the ground. Hitting the cushions, they immediately slide on the glassy surface and it knocks Beth out at the knees, causing her to fall on top of me as we take a fast sled ride down the hill and far off to the center of the frozen pond. As the cushions drift apart, the ice breaks and we fall in the icy water.

The water is like needles on my skin and I don't surface right away. When I do, I can't find Beth. Going under, I open my eyes and find her trapped under some ice trying to get out. Taking her chill hand, I swim back to the opening and push her out of the water. As I try to get out the ice keep crumbling beneath my weight.

"G...ggggo..." I say through chattering teeth and breaking ice.

"I'm not leaving you...." She says through chills and I look in her eyes.

"I....kkknnnnnnow, Bbbbut you havvvve tooo. I'llll ggggget out. Annie ggggo." I say and she carefully slides back over the ice and looks back at me as I attempt to crawl out again. Turning back to the house she makes haste up the slippery hill and the only thing I can do is keep breaking the ice until I get to the thickest part where I climb out and lay on the froze firmament until I gain some strength. Getting up, I stumble to the house and make it into the basement, where Beth is starting another fire and pulling out all the blankets and towel we had that he must have put in the drier.

"Get undressed..." She starts stripping me on the tiled floor and she undresses too. When we get undressed my skin is bluish and my whole body starts to shake. Taking me over to in front of the fire, she covers us with blankets and towels; two cold bodies meshing under a pile of lava, but it is the cold that is burning our skin. "Dddaryl....sayyyy somethinng."

Laying on my chest, she looks at me worriedly and I can't help but close my eyes. I'm so tired at the moment, and feel my body is just shutting down in shock from the coldness.

"Daryl...please...please wake up...say something. Anything...." She continues her lament well into the night and I can't wake myself to reassure her. The coldness is too deep within my bones. "I love you...I don't care if you cheated or hurt me...I just want you to be okay and wake up...please. Oh God, please."

"Mhhmm..."

"Daryl! Come on...say something, please. Tell me how horrible I've been...Tell me you hate me or blame me...just please say something!" She pauses in her sorrowful call.

"Yer...beautiful....I love...you..." I say and she starts crying harder and presses her face to my naked chest.

"I'm sorry for how I've been acting....I trust you...just please don't leave me..." She kisses my cold lips and I finally am able to move a bit. Taking hand, I slowly wipe away her tears. "I love you...."

"I've always loved you...it's always been you Beth...always you..." I say with shortness of breath.

"Daryl, stay with me...please."

"I ain't letting go..."

"Anyone home?" Glenn calls from the top of the stairs and Beth calls to him. "Oh shit...I can drop Jackson off later..."

"We fell in the pond and he's really cold...I think he's going into shock! We need to get him to the hospital!"

"I'll get you some clothes." He races back upstairs and she looks back at me.

"Bugga Bear, it's gonna be okay...stay with me please. I love you so much." She kisses my cold lips again and soon Glenn come back with our clothes and my light goes out.

...........................

Beth's View

Sitting next to him, I watch his chest rise and fall and count every breath. It was so scary today, almost losing him. I may have been angry and hurt from him, but almost losing him made me realize that that was nothing. Almost losing him today was worse than him cheating on me.

"Hey..." His low scratchy Boise brings me back and I sit up and grab his hand.

"Daryl, thank God yer okay." Crashing my body into his, he pulls me up into bed and holds me close. "I love you and I'm sorry for how I've been acting..."

"I love you." He cuts me off by kissing me and pulling me closer to him. We haven't missed like this in almost a year. It feels like home and I've missed it. "I'm here..."

"I just couldn't lose you Daryl...I can't lose you. Promise me I won't ever lose you..."

"I ain't letting go. I got you."

"I love you more than anything." I kiss him and he holds me close and runs his hands up and down me. I never want to lose this man, ever.