Ellie Dixon

Coco

I was holding Coco. The baby was only three months old but the amount of times Eugene had checked every single detail about her was slightly worrying. I didn't mind though, it meant that she was healthy. Socorro Eliana Espinosa was apart of the only biological family I had left. Yes, Eliana was after me, and yes I did cry when I found out. "My two girls." Rosita smiled, entering the room and sitting next to me on the sofa.

"She's adorable." I smiled at the sleeping baby, looking up to Rosita. "You did an amazing job."

Rosita smiled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders while the other went to the front of her daughter to play with her tiny fingers. "Thank you, mi amor." Rosita kissed my temple.

I hummed and nodded. "What do you think she'll be like when she grows up?" I asked.

"If she's anything like you then she'll be perfect." Rosita hugged me tighter.

I laughed, letting the silence sit before I spoke. "Carlos and Megan keep bugging me. Asking me if I know when you're gonna let them meet her. You don't have too, ya know. She's your kid."

Rosita let out a breath. "I'm thinking I'll invite them over for dinner tonight. I want you, Carl and Daryl to be there. Everyone else family wise is in Oceanside so I'll take what protection I can get."

"Protection against what?" I questioned.

"Questions." Rosita laughed. "It'll be us three, Daryl, Carl, Carlos, Megan, Siddiq and Gabriel."

I nodded. "If anyone bothers you I'll cut their tongue off and stick it to their forehead." I said in a sweet voice while looking at Coco.

Rosita smiled. "I appreciate the violence."

I nodded. "Anytime."

"When you come round tonight can you bring your camera? I want to take a family photo." Rosita stated. "Well, two. One for me to keep and another to go in your famous scrapbook."

I laughed quietly. "I'm gonna need another scrapbook soon. I'm running outta room."

Rosita kissed my cheek. "Thank you."

"I better get going. I told Carl I'd bake cookies. I'll bring some round tonight." I said, gently moving so that Rosita could take Coco from me. "Goodbye, little baby." I smiled at the child before looking up to Rosita. "Goodbye, big baby."

She laughed at me, swatting my arm. "I'll see you tonight. Six sharp."

"Got it, sergeant." I gave a two fingered salute before leaving the house.

I headed home where I found Carl sitting on the sofa, looking at my scrapbook. "Hey." He said without looking up.

I sat next to him and saw that he was looking at a photo of him and his dad at the prison. "You okay?"

He nodded. "Just miss him extra today. I mean... We never found his body. I don't even know what really happened that day, that herd came outta nowhere."

I bit my bottom lip, shifting in my seat to face him more. Carl noticed my change and turned to face me. "Carl... There's something I need to tell you about that day."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What it is, Ellie?"

I let out a breath as he closed the scrapbook and turned his body to face me. I cleared my throat before speaking. "That herd didn't come outta nowhere. It was going towards my farm... I didn't know that the bridge was being rebuilt. Last I heard, it was destroyed. I knew about the fast currents and I thought I knew that there was nobody there." Tears formed in my eyes as I remembered how naive I was. The look on Carl's face turned to pure horror. "I redirected the herd... I led them straight to Mama Rick. I'm the reason he was forced to make the decision that he did. I'm the reason he died, Carl. I killed him."