Dixon's Baby Girls

Part 31: The Card

*Hayley's POV*

Maddie, daddy, and I are sitting in our tent that daddy put farther away from everyone else's.

While daddy lays on the cot and pokes holes in the tent with his arrow, me and Maddie are drawing on notebook paper from a notebook Beth gifted to me. Well, I'm drawing, Maddie is scribbling. But who cares.

I was drawing a picture/card for Hershel, as a thank you present for helping me get better after being shot, and also for helping daddy.

I hear footsteps, and I look up. Andrea looks in the tent.

"Hi!" Maddie shouts from beside me and she waves. Daddy chuckles and Andrea smiles and waves back.

"Hey. This is not that great but..." she hands dad a book. He looks at it.

"What no pictures?" He jokes.

"I'm so sorry, I feel like shit." She apologizes.

"Yeah, you and me both." Daddy replies. I look down to start drawing again, but see Maddie scribbling all over it. I gasp making her look at me, Andrea, and dad.

"Maddie! Look what you did! Why would you do that?!" I yell, upset.

"Pretty." She points at the ruined card. And tries to scribble more. I take the crayon from her.

"No Maddie! Stop!" I demand and throw the crayon away from her. She starts to cry.

"Hayley Marie! That's enough." Daddy scolds. "Come here Maddie." He coos at her, she gets up and walks over to him. He picks her up and sets her in his lap, and tries to console her. That's not fair! She ruined my thing!

"But, no daddy! She ruined the card!" I yelled at him.

"Enough Hay, and don't yell at me, you want me to whoop your tail?" He gives me a stern look, and I shake my head and crumble the paper up into a ball, throw it, and hug my knees to my chest turning away from him and hiding my face feeling as if I'm going to cry.

Maddie has been whiny lately. Especially when me and her are arguing over things like her ruining my stuff. Cause she likes to bug me like that. And she whines and dad takes her side every time. He always says it's cause she's a baby.

But, she is a toddler now not a baby. Plus that don't make me feel any better about the situation.

"This is what I've got to look forward to." He says talking to Andrea.

"Yep, it's what sisters do. They fight a lot. I know from experience." She chuckles glad you think it's funny.

"Look, I don't expect you to forgive me, but if there's anything I can do?" Andrea says.

"You were trying to protect the group. We're good." Dad says, making Andrea sigh with relief and start to walk away, but he stops her. "But hey, shoot me again, and you'd best pray I'm dead."

I hear her walk away after that. I just sit how I was when she left. Mad at dad.

"Hayley. We gonna talk about what just happened?" I hear daddy ask after a second. I shake my head. "Hayley, turn around and look at me."