Not Desperate

Chapter 16
They’re still heere

The next morning came too soon. I did not want to get out of bed. When the smell of bacon made its way to my room, I was able to find the strength to crawl out of bed. The kitchen was alive with activity. Helen was making breakfast and Michael was assisting, while Paul was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. “Good morning everyone. It smell so good in here.”
“Thank you honey. Good morning to you too. I thought I’d make some food since Michael was up. Hope you don’t mind.” Helen said.
“Not at all. Nice to know I don’t have to feed the pit this morning.” I said, looking at Michael.
“Not funny mom.” He replied.
Paul looked up from his paper and said, “Thought after we eat, we’d get ready to go. We can stop and buy flowers then head to the cemetery.”
“Sounds good,” I said. “On our way back we can stop and have lunch somewhere.”
Two hours later, everyone was fed, clean and dressed. After buying flowers at the shop in town, they headed to Woodlawn Cemetery. She hardly ever came here anymore. It was only for Michael’s benefit now; she was over it. As soon as the truck stopped, Helen began to cry. My first instinct was to tell her to grow up and get over it, but I knew better than that. I would lose my mind if I ever lost Michael. No one spoke as we walked toward David’s final resting place. I spent fifteen years married to this man. It had been wonderful in the beginning. He made me feel good about myself for the first time in my life. It didn’t take long, however, to realize that all his beautiful words were lies.
Helen and Paul stood on either side of Michael in front of the grave marker, while Yvonne stood behind them. They just stood there in silence for a while before Helen walked forward and placed the flowers in the vase at the head of the grave. Paul walked forward and put his arm around his wife, both of them weeping silently. Michael walked back to his mom and put his arm around her waist. To her surprise, her eyes began to fill with tears. It had been so long since she had cried over David, it had been long before he died. But today she was realizing where she was emotionally. She didn’t miss David anymore, she had stopped loving him a long time ago. She had fallen for his charm and his persuasive words. She had believed everything he told her because she thought it felt right. She had married him out of shear desperation. He was her only hope of not being alone for the rest of her life. She ended up feeling more alone than she thought was possible. She thought about Daryl and began to wonder if she was headed down that path again. The thought made her nauseous. She would never allow a man to trap her like that again, even if it was Daryl Dixon. She had lived with emotional pain and hurt her whole life. She would do whatever she had to do to keep that from happening again.
Helen and Paul remained quiet on the ride when they left the cemetery. Only Michael’s voice could be heard, trying to influence them to where they would be having lunch. Yvonne was as emotionally drained as her in-laws, but for a different reason. They were mourning their son, she was mourning the life she could have had without him. She couldn’t honestly say that she totally regretted her marriage, it had given her Michael, but she always wished it could have been a more satisfying relationship. That he could have loved her like she wanted to be loved, that he could have been in love with her. When they finally made it back home after lunch, Yvonne was just about to call Daryl when Helen approached her and asked if they could talk.
“You know how much David loved you Yvonne” Helen began.
“No. I honestly don’t. He said it to me every day, but I couldn’t believe it. Words mean nothing Helen. It’s easy to deceive with words. Proof lies in action. He. Had. None.
“He wouldn’t have stayed with you if he didn’t love you. You two were so different. Looking back now, I don’t understand why he was so attracted to you”
“I don’t know either to be honest. He would never tell me. He never told me anything. I didn’t know how he felt about me, I don’t know what he liked or didn’t like about me. I don’t know anything. He wouldn’t talk to me. Hell, he wouldn’t kiss me at all and he only touched me when he wanted to fuck me. It’s as if we became roommates instead of husband and wife. Did you know that we slept in separate beds for the last three years of our marriage? What I do know is that he never respected me, because I didn’t earn it. I was needy and clingy and always begging for attention. I was lazy and had no motivation or ambition. I wasn’t good enough for him, or you. He told me I needed to be more like him, but I wouldn’t damn myself like that. I am over him and I refuse to be treated like that anymore!” Yvonne stomped away to her bedroom and called Daryl.
By the time he answered the phone, she was hysterical. She couldn’t breathe, much less make a coherent sentence. Daryl just told her he would bring the car and be there as soon as he possibly could. She was scaring him to death. He called Rick and asked if he could get an official escort to Woodbury. Twenty-four minutes later, Yvonne’s Sonata came barreling into her driveway followed by a Senoia sheriff’s squad car with lights and sirens blaring. The sound drove Helen, Paul and Michael out of the house. Michael ran to Daryl and jumped into his arms.
How’s your momma, kid? Where is she?” Daryl asked, very impatient and agitated.
“She’s in her room. She and grandma had a fight.”
Helen demanded to know what was going on and who the hell Daryl was. He paid her no mind as he carried Michael through the front door. Rick attempted to calm the older woman, but she was too worked up. He couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
“Ma’am, if you would just calm down, I would be happy to explain the situation to you and your husband. The gentleman I escorted here is Daryl Dixon, he is a friend of your daughter-in-law, as am I. He was returning her car to her and requested an official sheriff’s escort when he receive a very disturbing phone call from Ms. Bradley and he was afraid that she was hurt or in danger. Now, unless there has been an incident involving violence, there is nothing to worry about. We’ll just let Daryl check on Yvonne and make sure she is okay and give him time to calm down and we’ll be out of your hair.” Rick said in his calming, police officer voice.
“Why would she be upset?” Paul asked. “Nothing’s happened today. We went to the cemetery and had lunch, then came home. We haven’t even been back a full hour yet. What the hell could have happened? Helen, do you know?” She just stood there looking at the ground. No one saw her face. She mumbled a “no” at the question and moved to sit on the porch steps.
Daryl had burst through the front door with Michael in his arms, but quickly put him down and asked here Yvonne’s room was. He lightly knocked on her bedroom door when he found it and could hear her still crying on the other side. She didn’t acknowledge the knock, so he slowly opened the door and announced himself. When he crossed the threshold of her bedroom, she was sitting on her bed, Indian style, with her head in her hands. She did not look up at him as he moved across the room and sat in front of her on the bed. “Yvonne, baby, please stop crying. Tell me what she did. Rick’s here with me. He brought his badge and the squad car and I’ve got my bow in the backseat of your car if I need it. Just, please, baby, don’t cry.” He leaned forward and put his arms around her and rubbed his hands up and down her back. Her head, still in her hands, rested upon his chest. She was sobbing uncontrollably and began to hiccup loudly. “Let me go get you a glass of water. I’ll be right back.”
“No! Please don’t leave. Let Michael get it.” He yelled for the kid to bring water and he did. Before he left the room, Michael put his arms around his mother’s neck and said,” I love you mom. I don’t know why she says those things to you, but I’m gonna tell her to stop.” Then he climbed off Yvonne and closed the door behind him. Daryl held Yvonne for a few more minutes until the sobbing stopped. He let go of her and she looked up at him. Her face and eyes were red, wet and swollen from her tears. She was still beautiful though, even now. He was so angry, but seeing her cry like this only brought his love to the forefront of his mind.
“I can’t stand seeing you like this baby. Please tell me what happened.” He begged her.
“I exploded all over her.” Yvonne said quietly, trying not to let the tears come again. “She just kept saying these horrible things to me about how David felt about me and giving her opinion of our marriage. It’s such a long story, there’s so much to tell. I don’t think I could go through it again, not now. I promise you Daryl, I will tell you all about it. But I can’t when she’s still here. I can’t fight with her again, not today; I don’t have the strength. I will tell you this, I was married to her son, David for fifteen years; he’s Michael’s father. David was full of hate and arrogance. He had little patience for people he felt were beneath him. He got that from his mother.” When Yvonne stopped talking, Daryl put his fingers on her chin and pulled her face up to meet his. He leaned forward and kissed her gently. “I’m not gonna let you get hurt again. You mean too much to me and I’ll never let you be around her without me ever again. I care about you so much and I’m gonna protect you.” They just looked at each other and Yvonne could see the emotion and honesty in his eyes. He would be crying too if he wasn’t such a strong man, she thought. Daryl saw the gratefulness in her eyes, almost as if she had never heard those words from a man before. From what he had just learned, she probably hadn’t.