Walker: Secrets

Chapter 33

Here we are folks 😊
Season 2, Episode 11
Hold onto your hats cause things are gonna get rough from here on out.

Enjoy!

~~~~~

'Bel, Dakota.' Maddie stood at the gate to their pasture, the two mustangs lifting their heads at her call. 'Come on. Breakfast time you two!' 

As she closed the gate behind her both mustangs ambled over from where they'd been grazing to the shelter to wait for their feed. With a smile she gave them both a pat then headed into the feed room to gather their hay and pellets. Dakota had extra supplements for her coat added to her ration and once she'd finished filling up their buckets, she carried them out and both horses settled down to eat.

Maddie stifled a yawn as she un-rugged Dakota, the sun just starting to rise over the horizon. It was early, the usual time that she got up to do her chores but it just seemed to be getting harder and harder these days to rouse herself out of bed at this early an hour. She didn't really have much of a choice though. Her days had to start early in order for her to fit in everything she had to do.

With both horses un-rugged she gave them a thorough groom and replaced their light winter doonas with light cotton canvas rugs. Though the days were beginning to warm up the nights were still cold and with Dakota being a jet black the last thing she needed was for her to get bleached by the sun, hence her wearing a rug. And if Dakota was wearing a rug it was just as easy to leave one on Bel too. 

By the time she was finished with her morning chores she knew breakfast would be waiting for her at the house. The thought of breakfast or just eating in general twisted her stomach in knots but with the numbers on the scales telling her she needed to get her weight back up, skipping meals wasn't any option anymore. Churning stomach or no churning stomach. She needed to eat. The last thing she wanted was a trip to the doctors. 

Securing the gate behind her as she left the pasture, she lingered there watching Bel and Dakota eat for a moment. Their lives were so simple sometimes she found herself a little envious of them. Eat, graze, get pampered, sleep, play, repeat. They didn't have the worries or cares that she as a human had. Then again, they were at the mercy of whoever it was caring for them. Maybe I wouldn't want to be a horse after all. She let out a sad, soft chuckle when that realization came to her then she sighed. Might as well get on up to the house and see what's for breakfast...

The kitchen was a hive of activity as she walked in, Bonahm at the island bench making himself some coffee while Abeline was at the sink washing something up. Liam was making something else in a blender while Stella got breakfast organized for her and August. August was wrestling some books into his backpack but as she looked around, she didn't see Cordell anywhere around.

'Morning darlin.' Bonahm remarked as Maddie pulled up a seat at the island across from him.

'Hey Grampa.'

'Sleep well?'

'Can't complain. For once Bubbles wasn't trying to hog my pillow.' For the last few months her cat had resigned herself to sleeping as much as she could on her head, quite to her annoyance. 'Speaking of my cat, did someone already feed her this morning?'

'I did.' August replied, finally managing to fit the books into his bag. 'I uh... saw she was hungry when I came in so I topped up her bowl.'

'Thanks. Much appreciated.' She smiled at him. 'Hey, did Dad leave for work already?'

'Dad didn't come home last night.' Stella said as she joined her at the table, pouring herself a bowl of cereal. 

'Oh...' Maddie raised an eyebrow.