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Need You Now

Chapter 71

Previously in the Past: Daryl and Sam got married!



The past: Wednesday, December, 15th, 1999

It had been two months and eight days since they'd gotten married, sixty-nine days total, and Sam's pregnancy was progressing well; especially since the dreaded all hours of the day "morning" sickness had passed. She had gained a whole whopping five pounds in spite of all the foods she consumed daily, and all of that seemed to be located directly in the tiny bump on her belly. Sadly, and to Sam's annoyance, none of the weight had made it to her breasts as of yet, but she was holding out hope.

That afternoon they had to be in Macon for a checkup, a very special one as today they were going to attempt to tell the sex of their baby. At four months pregnant, the first real signs of change in Sam's body were now fully evident, the reality of the situation had been realized in Daryl's mind and there was rarely a moment of the day when he wasn't agonizing over their finances, although he tried his best to keep that reality from Sam.

Since they'd gotten married, she was no longer on her father's insurance and thus, they had none at the moment. Daryl was trying his best to keep up with the bills, paying them out of pocket the moment they came in to keep the stress off of Sam, but the honest truth was that he wasn't going to be able to afford to be that diligent soon. Despite his begging for more work, Swain had actually cut back his hours, so that he was only working four days a week now. Although Daryl couldn't prove it, he suspected his father-in-law played a hand in his sudden downfall at work, as the man seemed determined to do anything he could to cause discord in their marriage; mostly being snide remarks and thinly veiled threats made on the handful of times they’d been in the same room together, but Daryl wouldn't be surprised if he would resort to causing financial troubles to cause extra stress.

Daryl was leaning over the kitchen counter, anxiously balancing the checkbook, when Sam returned home from work. While she wasn't privy to their current dismal financial state, she had insisted on getting a part time job to help out around the house; adamantly refusing to be a stay at home wife. However, her twenty hours a week answering phones and organizing paperwork at her brother's law practice didn't exactly pay out in boatloads of cash. At the sound of her keys in the door, Daryl straightened and shoved the checkbook in his back pocket. He grabbed one of the sale fliers off the stack on the counter and pretended to be engrossed in it when Sam entered the house. Peeking over the top, he said, "Home already? Thought you was staying until after lunch?"

"Slow day. Josh sent me home early." Sam tossed her keys on to the counter, followed by her purse, and rounded the row of cabinets so that she could wrap her arms around Daryl. "Thought maybe we could leave early and go grab something to eat."

"Let me guess, tacos?" Daryl cocked a knowing smile down at Sam, her craving of all things Mexican and slathered in hot sauce was ever present. Her thin arms circled his neck as she leaned in to him, the small bump of her belly pressed against his abdomen and brightened his smile. His hands traveled down her sides and found their way to the swell of her belly, his thumbs caressed her gently through the silky material of her blouse. "How's my peanut today?"

"Peanut's behaving." Sam chuckled and glanced down at her baby bump, to where Daryl's hands were openly loving on the gentle swell of her stomach. "Can't believe it's already time to find out if our little Peanut is a boy or a girl. It's went by so fast! Not too much longer until we reach actual baby reality."

Daryl avoided Sam's happy gaze, his heart wanted to be as excited as she was, but his mind was far too distracted with their mounting financial issues. He had no clue how he was going to pay the steep price of birth, plus all the necessities that came with having a baby. He prayed that Sam’s mother put together a shower so that they could get at least a few months’ worth of baby items stocked before Peanut arrived. Lost in his thoughts, Daryl missed what Sam was saying and looked up from her belly. "What'd you say?"

"I said I'm going to take a shower before we go...and asked if you wanted to join me?" Sam repeated with a coy smile, her hands covered his on top of her belly and clasped around them to tug him towards the bathroom.

"Ain't no way we're getting to Macon on time if I get in there with you." Daryl tried to put a smile on his face. While he wanted to join Sam in the shower, because let's face it...he always wanted to be with her, especially if she was wet and naked, there was something else he needed to do first. He needed to call his brother and that was a conversation that Sam didn't need to be privy to. "Raincheck though...tonight?"

"Sure. Yeah, of course." Sam pushed away her disappointment and smiled through it. She could tell that something was bothering Daryl and whatever was on his mind had been there for a while. He was trying his best not to let it show, but an actor he was not. Slipping her hands from his, she eased on to her tip toes long enough to brush a kiss across his lips before turning and retreating in to the bathroom.

Daryl waited until he heard the sound of water running in the bathroom before picking up the cordless phone and punching in Merle's number. The sound of ringing filled his ear and did so for so long that he was about to hang up, figuring that Merle had either disappeared once more or was asleep, when the line picked up and heard the gravelly voice of his brother. Neither one of them favored small talk too much, so Daryl get straight to the point after exchanging a few very brief pleasantries. "Look, the reason I'm calling is I...we, uh need some money. Was wondering if you got word on any runs coming up?" Daryl tucked away his pride and let Merle chastise him for getting in to the position he was in, knowing full well his brother meant married and pregnant instead of broke, because he needed his help to get out of the situation he'd gotten himself in. When Merle finished his long winded speech and string of put downs, he finally got to the point of the phone call and agreed to let Daryl come along that weekend for a run up to Atlanta and back. "Yeah, aight...Saturday, I'll be there."

Sam could sense a change in him by the time she returned to the kitchen. Daryl was leaning against the counter, pensively staring out the window with his arms crossed against his chest, and the cordless phone clutched in his hand. She stood in the doorway and watched him for a moment, drinking in the sight of his beauty, while nervously worrying about the stormy mood that he was clearly in the throes of. While chewing on her bottom lip, Sam crossed the small space between them, leaned a hip against the counter beside him and wrapped her arms around him. Pressing a gentle kiss to his shoulder, she glanced up at Daryl and asked lightly, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Was his immediate answer, not wanting to pull her in to the dark recesses of his mind, but a glance down in to her eyes made him realize he needed to offer at least something in response to her inquiry. Sighing, he felt his shoulders drop as he looked away from Sam and lied, “Merle called. Needs me to help him out with work this weekend.”

“Oh.” Sam’s reply was nearly silent as she released her hold on Daryl. She could tell he was holding something back, but wasn’t quite sure what it was and why he felt the need to hide it from her. Daryl had barely seen Merle in months and those few times were by accident when they’d run in to him in town, or so she thought. Was it possible he’d been spending more time with his brother than he’d let on because he knew she didn’t like Merle? If that was true, she felt bad for putting a wall between her husband and the only blood family he had. Smiling up at him reassuringly, Sam said, “You haven’t spent much time with him lately, I’m glad he called you.”

“Yeah, um…he wants me to run up to Atlanta with him for the day.” Daryl slid past Sam and headed towards the living room to return the phone to its cradle. “Probably take most of Saturday.”

“That’s cool. Cassie’s coming in to town this weekend. We haven’t had a girl’s day in a while.” The dark cloud that had hung over his head for the past few days seemed to have intensified in a matter of seconds, but Sam refused to be the type of wife that badgered her husband constantly. She hoped that he would eventually share his feelings, but she didn’t plan on holding her breath for that since Daryl was more of the strong silent type. So, instead of interrogating him, Sam said a silent prayer instead and slipped the strap of her purse over her shoulder while motioning towards the door. “Ready to go?”

Several hours later, after an agonizingly tense car ride, they were once again in the tiny pastel room waiting to see the doctor. This time was different from other visits though, instead of canoodling with one another and being embarrassingly affectionate, the distance between them was as alarming as the silence that filled the room. Daryl was parked in one of the highly uncomfortable plastic chairs near the door staring at the linoleum floor, while Sam was perched up on the table wearing the paper robe and trying to at least appear calm; her hormones causing a war inside her mind, wanting to know what was causing Daryl’s unhappiness, but not wanting to find out that his mood was a reflection of his feelings towards her. She knew it was illogical, that Daryl had suddenly stopped loving her, but her insecurity wasn’t letting her mind be reasonable at the moment. Thankfully, just as she was about to question him, the doctor swept in to the room with a warm smile.

“So, how’s mommy doing today?” Dr. Summers asked after greeting them both with a shake of the hand. When Sam replied that everything was going well, she glanced down at the folder in her hands, looked over the notes made by the nurse when Sam had been brought back for her appointment, and smiled. “Well, everything looks good here. BP’s a little high, but nothing to worry about right now. Let’s get you ready for the ultrasound. Y’all still want to know the sex, right?”

“Yes ma’am.” Sam replied brightly as she laid back down on the table. “I don’t know how anyone doesn’t want to find out. Pretty sure the suspense would drive me bananas.”

“Right there with you on that one. I found out with all three of mine.” Elaine noticed the tension in the room, definitely hadn’t missed the lack of pre-appointment affection that they usually displayed, and wondered what was amiss. Chalking it up to the stress of getting married young and the realities that pregnancy brought forth, she brushed her concerns aside for now and focused on squirting the clear jelly on to the curve of Sam’s slightly pregnant belly. Waving the wand over it, she smiled when Daryl finally got out of the chair and crossed the room to stand next to Sam; reaching out to take her hand in his while they watched the images of their child project on to the screen. After a few seconds of inspection, she turned her attention back to the couple and smiled, “Looks like y’all are having a girl.”

“A girl?” Sam murmured the words with a watery smile plastered on her face and glanced up at her husband. Noticing that Daryl, too, had tears shimmering in his eyes and a smile on his face, she told herself that everything was going to be okay and that everyone was allowed to have days where they were in a bad mood. Bringing Daryl’s hand to her lips, she brushed a kiss across the back of it, and stared at the image of their baby girl on the screen. “We’re having a baby girl.”

Notes

Comments

@aphishinthec


Wow! Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it again. :)

Serenity Serenity
12/1/16

I binge read this too over thanksgiving weekend and literally could not put it down. I was a constant reader when the updates were regular, but sadly am the worst at remembering to review. Excellent story to binge read!!

aphishinthec aphishinthec
12/1/16

@Tripper


Squee! Glad you liked it just as much the second time around. :)

Serenity Serenity
11/28/16

So, I may have just gorged myself on this story and read it all over again in a few days. This is one of my very favourite stories of all time. So freakin' good. Thanks again for this wicked story!

Tripper Tripper
11/25/16

@Lunabelle4


Thank you so much!

Serenity Serenity
11/14/16