Walker: Secrets

Chapter 63

A week passed by and before Maddie knew it, Bonham and Abeline's 40th wedding anniversary was upon them. With everything that the family had been going through they had unanimously (and they being Cordell, Liam and the three kids) decided that they were going to do something nice and throw them a party to celebrate. The week had passed by with a blur, Maddie helping Stella and August to prepare for the surprise as best she could and in doing so, had been able to forget for a little while everything else going on in her life. 

Her chemotherapy was to start soon, the doctors saying that if she kept progressing at the rate that she was they'd be able to begin treatment in a couple weeks. At her last appointment and scan she'd had at the beginning of the week the tumor still hadn't appeared to have regrown yet. They explained that just because they couldn't see it there didn't mean that all the cancer cells were gone, hence why she would be started on a course of chemo in the near future. With the side effects they said she could experience from it she really wasn't looking forward to her first cycle of treatment. The medication she already was on made her feel lousy enough. 

Things with Elizabeth and Diablo were going well too, a fact that helped to make her feel better. Progress had been made with him and that was encouraging. Nina, after seeing that they had started making some progress, had agreed to give them another couple of weeks before she made her final decision about what would happen with the stallion. With that in mind Maddie had been attempting to push things along just a little bit to show Nina that Diablo really was coming good.

Working with Elizabeth, the two of them had slowly begun to foster a friendship. Maddie felt sorry for Elizabeth, she really did. The girl didn't say much but she didn't have to. Maddie could just tell. For all the glitz and glamor that accompanied Elizabeth, the girl wasn't happy. She didn't say her observations out loud though, choosing instead to see if maybe she would open up to her one day. Underneath the facade that she had built around herself Maddie could see that Elizabeth was hurting.

Mika was doing well, her best friend having tagged along for a couple days after school while they went about organizing things for their grandparents' anniversary on the weekend. Friday Stella had to stay after school for an extra class and since neither her or Augie could drive, they'd roped Mika into a little trip back out to the ranch. Yes, it was considered trespassing since they didn't live there anymore but Maddie made certain that no one would be there. Colton was in the extra class with Stella and since his Mom and Grandmother were still away with Geri that only left Dan there. He was easy to work around though since he worked in town on Friday's and they'd ducked in and gone again without any trouble. 

With everything going on, Maddie hadn't had much time to spend with either Colton or Rose. She'd had a few short conversations with Colton but nothing serious and she wondered if it was worth trying to see if anything could come from their friendship again. She knew where she stood but at the same time, with all the bad blood between their families, would it work?

She just didn't know.

~~~~~

Saturday morning arrived, Maddie turning her alarm off with a tired yawn. 'Who thought it was a good idea to get up early to make breakfast for Gramps and Mawline?'

Stella chuckled as she pushed back the covers off herself and sat up in bed. 'You used to get up at like, four every morning.'

'I know.' She groaned. 'I must have been crazy. I just want to sleep...'

Stella looked over at her sympathetically. 'Not feeling too good this morning then?'

'No...' Maddie sighed. 'But I'll live.'

'Maybe we should cancel-'

'No, no. I'll be alright.' She interrupted her. 'We aren't going to cancel. Gramps and Mawline, they need this. We need this. After everything... We need something good to happen for a change.'