Pregnant & Alone
Chapter 25

Beth
I can't believe how quick five years has gone past and what a five years it's been. It's gone in the blink of an eye but I wouldn't change it for the world. Four months after Daryl and I got together he asked me to marry him and I said yes instantly, it was quick and I was young I know but it felt right. We got married on our 6 month anniversary in a small but beautiful ceremony at my family's farm. The only people there were; Maggie, Glenn, Shaun, my daddy and even my momma made an appearance which surprised both of us. For our honeymoon Maggie and Glenn had Willow for a week whilst Daryl and I went to Florida. We had an amazing time and when we came back I sat down with my mother to speak to her, woman to woman, we patched things up and now we were better then ever. The second thing we did when we got back from our honeymoon, Daryl and I went to see a lawyer, Daryl adopted Willow officially and her surname had been changed from Greene to Dixon. He was also on her birth certificate as her father.

My parents, including my mother are really close with Willow now. every time she goes to the farm she gets fed with sweets and plays and rides the horses. She loves it there. As well as her siblings. Just after Willow turned two Daryl and I welcomed twin boys into the family. Freddie Merle Dixon and Sonny Merle Dixon were welcomed on August 18th, born at 35 weeks and weighing just under 4pounds each. It was hard work taking care of Willow and the boys but somehow Daryl and I managed to make it work. At first Willow didn't like not being centre of attention anymore and she had to share the limelight with her brothers. She grew to love them and soon forgot about being centre of attention. She loved showing them off and we got on as a family together in a comfortable routine but then everything changed a year ago.

Daryl and I welcomed our fourth child. A beautiful baby girl who we named Eloise Marie Catherine Dixon. Out of my three pregnancies, Eloise's was the easiest. She was born on her due date at a healthy weight of 7pounds 3oz. There was no complications but because I had two c-sections before I had no choice but to deliver Eloise via c-section. Willow wasn't impressed with Eloise at first, she had enough problems with her brothers playing around and taking her toys… now she had another sibling to share them with. The boys adored Eloise and after a couple of months Willow warmed up to her as well. Willow loves showing off her younger siblings to everyone and the four of them together are crazy.

We still have Chance as well so he gets thrown into he mix with the children… well sometimes our house is more then crazy and it looks like a bomb has it hit it at times. It's hard clearing up after everyone but Daryl and I work together and everything has been working. Things were hectic after Eloise was born but now we've got our routine back and Daryl has agreed with me that we do not need anymore children. We have two of each and we have Chance to take care of as well. That's enough for us. Some people may say I'm crazy to make that decision at 21 years old but if they lived a day in my life… they would understand.

Things surprisingly worked out like we had planned. I got my GED and went part time to community college where I got my degree and I'm now a kindergarten teacher. I'm still on maternity leave but I go back very soon. My daddy and momma have retired and now they are our babysitters during the week for the boys and of course Eloise. Willow is going to kindergarten after the summer but not to the one I work at. Daryl and I decided it would be best for her to get used to me not being at school so she was going to a different kindergarten that was closer to Daryl's work place, in fact it was right around the corner.

Just after the boys were born Daryl made the bold decision to start his own garage business. The business took off and it's been doing really well and we got the bigger house like we wanted. The house we have now is a five bed house with a large basement that Daryl and I split. Half of it was turned into a den for Daryl to get some alone time and the other half I turned into an office of sorts. I use it to get stuff ready for work and to grade work and so on. We don't normally go down there together because it's our time out space. The house is so chaotic at times and we need some peace and quiet so we hideaway in the basement for a couple of hours.

How amazing is it that my baby Willow is five years old today? She is growing up way too fast for my liking and Daryl's liking as well. I was looking at pictures of her when she was a newborn last night and I can't believe how much she's grown. From being in that incubator with the tubes on to now running around, talking and about to start kindergarten, it scares me. She's not my little baby anymore and it's sad but amazing all at the same time. She's got such an amazing personality. She's a bit wild but she knows what she wants and she doesn't beat about the bush. If she's got something to say then she'll say it… which does get her into trouble at times. One thing I will say about her is that she is very intelligent and has got a bit of a head start on other kids her age but Daryl and I are slightly pushy when it comes to education.

Today for her fifth birthday we're having a BBQ party at our house and all of my family was coming and a few of Willow's friends she met in day care and the neighbours kids. All in all there will only be about 25-30 people there including children and parents. We let Willow chose the theme for her birthday party and she chose a zoo theme. The house and backyard are covered in animal banners and other zoo themed decorations. There are cupcakes with animal faces on and all the kids are doing fancy dress. Willow wanted to dress up as an elephant of all things so she got an elephant onsie with hood and everything. She loved it and she's been dying to wear it since we got it.

Freddie and Sonny want to go as dinosaurs. Daryl and I tried explaining to them that dinosaurs were not zoo animals but they didn't care, they wanted to go as dinosaurs so we got Freddie a blue dinosaur outfit and Sonny a green dinosaur outfit. Willow was not happy they were messing up her theme but Daryl managed to calm her down, if Willow is anything it's a daddy's girl. She has Daryl wrapped around her little finger and he does everything she asks of him. I keep telling him not to spoil her but he just wants to make her happy.

It was easy when the kids were Eloise's age because they just dress up in whatever you put them in and they can't argue because they don't know if they like the outfit or not. After much debate Daryl and I decided that Eloise was going to go to the party as a bear after I saw the cutest bear onsie. It had a little tail and ears… it was so cute and I had to buy it. It was perfect.

The party was due to start in half an hour and whilst I've been getting the kids ready Daryl's been hanging up all the decorations and setting up the table for all the drinks, sweets, cakes and everything else. He's been working hard all morning bless him, it just seems we haven't stopped. He'll have to start the BBQ soon and get it warm for the food when everyone starts arriving. The party starts at 12:30pm so it's lunchtime. Everyone is going to be hungry so we've had to make sure we got enough burgers, hotdogs and everything for everyone. I think we should have enough… God I hope we do. How embarrassing will it be if we run out?

"Beth?!" Daryl called from downstairs.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Your folks are here!" He stated.

"We'll be down in a minute!"

Two minutes later I went downstairs with the kids all dressed up in their outfits. They all looked amazing. I wanted to get a couple of pictures of them before they get covered in mud and cake and other crap. We went into the backyard where I saw my parents talking to Daryl.

"Grandpa!" Willow called and ran towards them.

"Nana!" Freddie called and started running towards them with Sonny in tow.

I walked over to them with Eloise in my arms and greeted them with a kiss each.

"How is my big girl doing?" My mom asked Eloise who just put her arms out to her for a cuddle.

"I know the party doesn't start for an hour but we thought you might need some help" My dad commented.

"I think we're just about done" Daryl answered.

"Daryl, can you get the camera? I wanna get some pictures of them whilst they still look good" I told him and he went inside to get it.

Daryl
Willow's party was in full swing. There were kids here running around and Beth was making the rounds with all the parents and making polite conversation. I don't do well in big crowds so I stuck to doing the food on the BBQ with Glenn's help, apparently he's not good in big crowds either. I gotta admit over the years I've got to know Glenn and the two of us have struck up a friendship. He's a decent guy and he treats the kids as if they were blood. Him and Maggie got married a few months ago and they have mentioned wanting to have kids but they want to enjoy their time as newly weds for a little while before they have any. Maggie and Glenn will be great parents to any children they have.

"Daddy?" I looked down and saw Willow looking up at me with sad eyes.

"What's the matter?" I asked as I knelt down to her level.

"Sonny and Freddie are being mean to me" She stated.

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"They keep trying to pull the tail off my costume. They're going to ruin my party if they break my costume" She told me with tears in her eyes.

It amazes me what upsets kids.

"Ok I'll talk to them" I promised and she kissed my cheek before running off to play with some of her friends. "Can you watch the food?" I asked Glenn and he nodded and I went off to find the boys. I found them on the bouncy castle, when they saw me they looked like deer caught in headlights, they knew what they done wrong. I beckoned them to come to me, they put their heads down and go off the bouncy castle. I knelt down to their level and gave them a stern look "Leave Willow's costume alone, you can't break it" I told them.

"Freddie start-"

"Sonny start-"

"Stop it" I stated and they stayed silent "You can play with Willow and the other kids but you can be pulling at their costumes or be naughty or you'll have to go in time out and you don't want to miss the party" I told them and they both nodded.

"Sorry daddy" They said in together.

"Ok, now go play" I said and they did just that. I went back to Glenn and saw the food was just about ready to be taken off "Kids" I commented "They drive you insane" I told him and he chuckled lightly.

"They are pretty awesome though" He replied.

What a tiring and long day. The children are now all asleep in bed and Chance was also out for the count, snoring like an old man as he does. He had a very exciting and playful day. He was showered with attention and he loved every minute of it. Beth and I had finished cleaning up everything only about an hour ago, right now I was sitting on the sofa with my beautiful wife. She was cuddled into me and I had my arm wrapped around her. I could tell she was tired and I don't blame her. Whilst I was cooking on the BBQ and dishing out food, Beth was making the rounds being social able and doing all the hard work.

"We should go to bed soon" I commented.

"Mmm" She replied.

I looked down and saw that she had her eyes closed already, I chuckled a little and shifted. Her eyes snapped open but as I got up from the sofa, I picked her up bridal style which made her laugh "Time for bed I think" I said and made my way towards the stairs.

Once we got to our bedroom I put her down on the bed and I laid down next to her. She instantly curled into my side and I placed a kiss on the top of her head and I heard her sigh in content.

"I love you Mr Dixon"

"I love you too Mrs Dixon"

And that folks, is sadly the end of this story.

Thank you to everyone for reading, following, reviewing and of course favourting this story.
It really means a lot to me and the support has been HUGE! I couldn't have asked for anything better.

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I have got so many Fanfiction ideas coming out of my brain lately!
It's really sad because I'm writing all these different stories and getting all these different ideas and I probably can't publish some of them for a year.
There is so much in store for you guys and I cannot wait for you to read it!

Just a quick note to let everyone know something;
I have just started university this past week to get my teaching degree.
I will still be updating weekly but when it comes to new stories and so on there may be a delay.
I need at least 20 hours a week to study and get all my work done.
Thank you for being understanding!