Walker: Secrets

Chapter 49

*TW for cancer talk, first section only*

PSA for a very long chapter, just under 10k words long. I was going to split this chapter and the next into four chapters but decided against it, hence there being 2 very long chapters.

Enjoy these two though for after this, things become very hard for Maddie and the Walker family.

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The weekend passed by and with it, Equitana, where Maddie was to compete in the finals of the Mustang Makeover approached. Every spare moment and all her energy were put into making sure that Dakota would be prepared as best she could be for the event. She was confident with her training, there wasn't anything else she needed to really be worried about in that department. Dakota was quiet and reliable and well, she'd gotten her to the point where she didn't even need to ride her with a neck rope any more. She was nervous about competing but knew that they were ready. The only thing she wanted was that they did their best.

Though she was occupied with preparation for the competition she didn't neglect other matters that needed to be attended to. The competition committee had been notified of her health problems as well as her posting an announcement about her diagnosis on her Facebook page. Putting that post on there had been one of the hardest updates that she had to make, offering an explanation for her absence the last two weeks prior and what the future was looking like for her. She hadn't posted it looking for any attention but the comments had been flooded with people wishing her well and hoping for a good outcome for her. 

Everyone knew by now of course about her tumor, except Rose. That was not a conversation she was looking forward to but it was going to need to be had before she went into surgery. She'd decided that could wait however until after the competition. There was no need for the child to know too much of what was going on. 

Determined to make sure that everything would be taken care of in case something happened, Maddie had been spending most of her time at home in her room making lists and plans. It wasn't something she wanted to think of, like where she wanted to be buried, but it had to be done and so she forced herself to get things sorted. Though the doctors and herself expected things with her surgery to go smoothly there was always that little chance that things could go wrong. Besides, once it was all sorted out she could forget about it and move on with her life. 

Letters had been written for each of her family members, tucked away in a little box that she listed in her will. She'd composed up announcements too for her social media pages and login details for things of that nature when the time came. She was determined that she didn't miss the smallest detail, even going so far as to write a list of what songs she wanted played at her funeral. In having everything sorted she hoped it would help her family since they wouldn't be left to deal with it all after her passing. 

She hadn't spoken to Liam again about things yet but google had been a great help in figuring out what she needed to have sorted out. Her favorite belongings had been listed down in her draft will to be distributed amongst her family and friends. For the care of both Bel and Dakota however, she'd thought long and hard. While Mika had a strong bond with both of them she knew she couldn't ask her to take them both on. It was too much of a financial burden and so, knowing that the only way she could guarantee that they would be safe, had requested that they both be surrendered to Jane's mustang rescue to live out their days in the wild herd. 

That just left Bubbles and she'd written down that she wished for the family to keep her cat. If they couldn't, she nominated both Mika and Rose's family to care for her. On the chance that they couldn't, she was to go to Jane to live out at the rescue.