The Baby Arrangement

Chapter 58: ?

Chapter 58: ?

"And where in all God's green Earth am I to put another child!" He yelled as she stood in the kitchen, crying and pleading him to understand. "Whore! Ungrateful, undeniable, harlot!"

"No! No, please understand."

"I can't attempt this blindside of deceit. It's not even mine!" He booms across the house and all is quiet. In the living room, his little girl plays with a doll, who's one eye won't open. She's heard this all before. She's heard the door slam and the house shake, when he storms off the plot and gets into his truck. The encore was soon to come, after the boom of curtain falling. "You can have that Bastard's child somewhere else! I'm taking the girl and you can live in yer garnished Hell you made!"

"Not Maggie! No! Don't take Maggie!"

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

Waking up in the moving truck, Beth looks around quickly, to make sure she's still in the right place. It's been three days since she found out it was a boy and over eight weeks since she found out she was pregnant. Laying back against the seat, she isn't ready to admit anything to Daryl. The thoughts of her mother and her father fighting over Shawn before all became civil, puts her neck hairs on end and a shiver up her spine. If they'd have stayed separated, she wouldn't be here.

Maggie is still able to eyesight the whole fight they had about her being pregnant and "deceiving him"- as if it wasn't easy to notice you're dating a woman who's four months into her pregnancy. But Beth still fears her and Daryl will wind up that way.

"Hey sleepy..." Daryl looks over at her as he drives through the Appalation road to the campsite. He asked Beth a week ago if she wanted to do some camp, just the two of them. After arranging Maggie to take Kensi, he had started packing the truck. And after leaving Ozzie with Hershel, she had finally got the food squared away. Something was off between them for sure, but only Daryl knew what is specifically was.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to fall asleep on you. How close are we?" Rubbing her eyes, she stretches, which brings her shirt up a bit, which Daryl checks out from his periferals.

"Close enough. Really tired, aren't ya?"

"Yeah, I think I need a new mattress. I keep tossing and turning... Or maybe it's because you've been sleeping somewhere else." He hadn't thought she'd notice. He'd lay down with her at night, but couldn't fall asleep there. His mind bogged down with the thought of that little boy growing inside her, might not be his. So he waits for her to fall asleep and then he leaves to either sleep on the couch or in his old bed. In the morning, he's usually up before her anyway, so he just figured, she would never notice if she woke up alone.

She looks at him with sad eyes and then leans back against the seat. How come he doesn't sleep with her any more? How come he's been so distant lately? Is he sneaking out to see another woman? It's possible. Pulling into his riverside camp, he kills the engine and opens the door, leaving her in the cab. He scopes the area for the tent and starts grabbing the supplies from the bed of the truck. When Beth gets out, she smiles at how beautiful it is. The rolling mountains, the thick wooded timber wood, the bustling river rapids.

"Can you grab the stakes out of the cab?" Daryl looks up from his already popped tent and she nods. Going to the cab, she's about to pick up the heavy box, when he comes over and pulls her by her arm away from the box and grabs it himself.

"I had it." She grumbles as he passes her with the box in his arms and begins to hammer the posts into the ground. As she begins the unpack the cooler, Daryl finishes with the tent and grabs the cooler off the back of the truck before she can fully carry it away. "Seriously?"