Epilogue


Five years later:

The little farmhouse had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. A laundry room tucked beside the kitchen and a small work shed out back. Beth had fallen in love with the moment she saw it, and he really couldn't tell her no.

It was perfect. It was in budget, and it was going to be the start of a new life for them. He put in a bid for the house the day they saw it. The next day their bid was accepted.

Moving took a while. He had a three-year-old and one-year-old vying for his attention, and their momma's, but somehow they managed it with a lot of help.

Their house was thirty minutes from Hershel's farm and settled back against some woods. It was everything he had ever dreamed of, but didn't think he'd end up getting because a family had never factored into his life before Beth.

Over the past summer, he had been honorably discharged from the United States Army, and now worked as a contractor for the county, mostly roadwork and bridge stuff. He liked it. It was a good job, and he was outside all day long.

Beth had her degree but decided to stay home with the kids until their youngest started school in a few years. After that, she'd start working as an elementary teacher.

Daryl didn't mind her staying home at all. He never had parents that cared about him or even noticed he was around, so the idea that Beth was there all the time made him feel like he was giving his kids something he had never had. Not that he thought working parents were bad or uncaring. Hell, he worked from eight until five every day. He just really liked knowing he could let her stay with them. That his retirement and his paycheck let her do something she had always hoped she would get to do.

Beth came up behind him after the kids were asleep and hugged his waist.

"Looks like we did it," she said then kissed his shoulder blade. "We survived your last few Army years and now get to retire to tha country just like everyone always dreams of."

"Hard to believe that I'm only forty and retired."

"You're still workin'." She pointed out and walked to stand in front of him.

"Still got you, too," He said with a bit of smirk.

It hadn't always been easy, and that first year back had been spent learning what it was like to live with another person and dealing with things they probably would have learned about had they dated longer and not spent a year apart.

In the end, they were stronger and happy. He still couldn't quiet believe what his life had turned out like.

He had a wife and family. A civilian job. His brother was finally on his own two feet and sober. He had gotten married, too, and was now a step-dad to a teenage girl who was driving him up the wall with this boy named Carl.

Things were absolutely perfect, and he knew that he had Beth to thank for that. He might have been the one to talk to her first, but she was the one who kept saying yes. Whatever she saw in him, he was beyond grateful for it, and he was looking forward to whatever came next.