Madison woke the next morning more refreshed than she had any right to be. With a little over five hours of sleep under her belt, more than she'd gotten in a single night since meeting Al nearly a week ago, she felt ready to take on the world.
After a quick shower, she slipped into a button up flannel shirt and some comfortable jeans, clothes fit for working outside and getting dirty in, and headed downstairs to find Keith already in the kitchen working on breakfast. The smell of which, she would describe as heavenly.
Keith served her coffee, bacon, and eggs, with a side of toast, and a rundown of the daily workings at the ranch. He said he started at the Lycan Barn, where he did everything from feeding to cleaning, afterward heading straight to the clinic to check the charts and pull in any animals that needed treatment.
Tom saw to the Servile Barn, while Nicole handled things in the Alpha Barn, and of course, Jack and GeeGee took care of the livestock. During their rounds, everyone had to fill out charts and make notes for Keith if any of the animals needed medical care, and while they all had their own assignments, if someone finished early, they usually helped each other out. After the animals were fed, and their containment areas cleaned, they began exercising and socializing the dogs. And at around 4:00 pm, the animals were fed again.
It seemed like a lot of work, a never-ending cycle. The same thing, every day, seven days a week. Madison wondered when they all got the opportunity to have lives, but she realized that since they loved what they did, it probably wasn't considered work to them.
And being this busy certainly didn't prevent Keith from going on dates, did it?
Remembering how she'd seen him come home after only a couple of hours, Madison blushed, her mind going back again to what he and his date might have done in that short span of time.
"So," Keith finished, thankfully unaware of the direction Madison's thoughts had taken. "You can either wander around the place on your own and figure out how best you can help, or you can tag along with me again. What do you say?"
Because she glossed over the last bit of what he'd said with her daydreaming, Madison found herself improvising. "How often do you guys ride the fence line?"
"Once a week, usually Saturday, we make a day of it."
"Oh, that sounds nice."
Keith chuckled, "It's a lot to take in, isn't it?"
Relieved, since she didn't want to admit that she'd been wondering about his personal life when she should have been listening to him, Madison nodded. "Yeah, a little bit."
"You can shadow me for a few days until you find your place, okay? How does that sound?"
"Perfect."
Finished with breakfast, Keith cleaned everything up, including Madison's dishes, something she could easily get used to, and tossed her a bottle of water, grabbing a black thermos out of the fridge as well and looping the strap sideways over his neck and shoulder.
Afterward, they headed outside and straight to the Lycan Barn. Madison, having forgotten all about the painting and wanting to talk to Keith about it, had fun working throughout the day, it seemed almost relaxing even. As if the night before had never happened, the tension and odd feelings between them gone as well. The fact that the painting wasn't on the counter where she'd left it, completely slipped her mind.
Keith put Madison through her paces, telling her how to do each individual task and allowing her the opportunity to try it out for herself, only stepping in if she needed help. A rather nice change of pace for him, and amusing as hell to watch her try to push a wheelbarrow full of meat into a den of wolves. While she hadn't shied away from touching the raw meat as she put in the wheelbarrow, she'd almost tipped it over twice, before finally getting it into the enclosure. Keith felt tempted to help her, but she made it much too entertaining for him to stand back and let her do it instead.
He also enjoyed watching her try to play with each and every wolf that got within her reach while she fed them. Some of the animals, like Darth, seemed more than willing to roll over and submit to a good belly scratch, while the more timid members of the pack, Luna and Venus, tripped over themselves in fear trying to grab a chunk of meat and scramble away.
Madison, despite her clumsiness, possessed a natural ability with the wolves and he knew she would gain the trust of even the most fearful animal in no time. Keith supposed it came with the territory of having worked with wild canines at the Zoo in San Diego, but moreover, he realized it probably had a lot to do with her heritage too.
Robert didn't have any formal training, but nor had he ever had a problem with any of the animals at the ranch, not even the aggressive ones. As if they'd been able to sense the wildness in Robert, no matter how diluted, and they respected and loved him for it.
By mid-afternoon, having watched Madison tend to Jewel and the pups, and help him patch up the paw of a dog that would have required a muzzle had Tom been in the room, Keith felt satisfied that Madison would fit in perfectly at the ranch. With her compassion for the animals, as well as her extensive knowledge of medical care, Keith hoped he'd finally be able to give Tom a break once Madison got the hang of things.
More than up there in years, Tom had talked about taking some time off to visit his daughter in Jersey more than once. He'd yet to follow through with it though, probably because almost everyone saw how tired Robert became in the years following his first set of mini-strokes. Robert didn't like to complain though. He worked himself to death instead. Literally.
Madison appeared to have a lot of her father in her, even if she'd never known him, Keith noticed the same stubborn streak in Madison that Robert often displayed. Which was one of the reasons he was determined to look out for her. She reminded him so much of Robert, and Robert had looked after Keith, trusted him, and loved him. How then, could he not keep his promise?
After last night though, he understood it wasn't going to be easy.
How long did he have before she started asking questions? Remembering the painting, and how he'd found it on the kitchen counter when he'd showed up to make breakfast, he realized he didn't have long at all.
Madison was smart, smarter than most people would probably have given her credit for and Keith wasn't going to underestimate her, not even for a second. After he'd taken the painting back to his place, wanting to study it a bit more, with the intent to ask his old friend Lucas about it, he'd gone up to Robert's office, only to find the contents of the safe stacked in piles around the front of the desk. Judging by how she'd arranged things, he supposed she'd already gotten through all of Robert's financials, which he'd put in the safe as a filler. A distraction to anyone who might have broken in and snooped around.
It wouldn't be long before Madison found the records Robert kept pertaining to his family history and all the research he'd done on all things paranormal. Being as Madison hadn't said anything about it this morning though, Keith realized she might not have made it that far yet. It wouldn't take her much longer though, so he needed to start preparing himself for what he was going to tell her.
How did one go about telling someone that their father suspected they were born of some magical werewolf lineage though? Damned if he knew. Keith found it hard to believe himself, and he'd seen the proof. Madison would only get his word and the crazy ramblings of a self-professed madman.
That was one conversation Keith wasn't looking forward to.
The next couple of days saw Madison and Keith falling into a comfortable routine. Keith made breakfast, they ate lunch separately, and Madison took care of dinner. They spent their mornings together in the Lycan Barn, and then Madison would help Tom or Nicole in their respective enclosures while Keith made his way to the clinic to catch up on paperwork or see to the never-ending care of the animals.
Madison spent her nights and her lunch breaks in her father's office. She'd asked GeeGee to pick up a filing cabinet for her, and spent every free second of the past two days putting her father's financial paperwork in order, as well as looking through the remaining contents of the safe.
There were a lot of things she didn't understand, notebooks in a language she didn't recognize, pictures of people, places, and artifacts, articles on some of the craziest things she'd ever read. Some of them dating back to the sixteen hundreds! Her father spent a lot of time gathering information on what she considered fairy tales and folklore, and it honestly surprised her that he needed to store it in a safe.
What was more peculiar was his computer. While it wasn't a particularly new model, it looked like he hardly ever used it. Absolutely nothing was stored on it, and when she looked at the history, besides a few searches for directions and restaurant selections, it almost seemed like it was purely there for show.
Madison, being quite the capable snoop and techie, dug a little deeper into the computer's system, but she was surprised to find that there weren't any files to recover. Either the hard drive had been wiped clean, or her father simply didn't use that computer. When she put it all together, her father seemed a little eccentric if she did say so herself. Then again, the man spent the last twenty years or so in the company of animals and little else.
Or had he?
In the second to last stack of things she still needed to go through, Madison found her father's passport. He hadn't used it in over a decade, but in 2006, he'd traveled to both Germany and France, having stayed, according to the stamps, for a couple of months in France, and nearly six months in Germany as well as a brief visit to Tanzania in Africa.
Her father as a world traveler was quite an intriguing thought, but moreover, it helped make sense of other things. A lot of what she'd already looked at possessed roots steeped in Germany, and if one were researching such things, why not go straight to the source? It sounded like a pretty exciting adventure to her, she'd always wanted to get out and see the world.
During her first year with the zoo she'd taken a trip to Africa, where they'd picked up a pack of hyenas that the zoo agreed to care for after their habitat was destroyed, but other than that, the word travel hadn't really been a part of her vocabulary. Knowing she might possibly find living relatives in Germany though, Madison thought about how cool it would be to travel there like her father.
Did he meet them? Maybe he spent time with them on his travels? And what of the trips to Africa and France? She'd glanced at her father's files on their ancestry several times now, she didn't see anything that made her wonder if they were part, French. Perhaps his time there was strictly for pleasure. Or he simply wanted to visit Paris. She'd certainly visit Paris if she ever got the chance to travel to Europe.
Fantasizing about Paris and the Eiffel tower, or sipping some fancy coffee drink at a sidewalk cafe, Madison nearly missed the picture of the painting that sat ominously underneath the folder containing her father's passport. She was so busy getting into the daily routine of the place, she'd completely forgotten about the painting and all the strange things that encompassed it.
Picking up the picture, she studied it carefully. Without the whispers and the weird energy surrounding it, she was able to note the delicate brush strokes and the radiant colors. Whoever painted it was gifted, to say the least.
As for the woman in the portrait, gosh, she really did look a lot like Madison. The hair, black with hints of blue. The brows, expressive and dark, and the eyes, just a shade away from being violet, the nose was different, however, the woman's was a bit larger, whereas Madison had her mother's small pert nose. And the chin had a cleft; while Madison's was smooth and a tad stubborn. But whoever she was, she looked beautiful.
The man in the photo was equally attractive. He wore his blonde hair long, tied back at the nape of his neck and draped over his shoulder. His eyes were like ice, and his face regal, sophisticated. Had it not made her feel a bit foolish, she would have said he looked a little like Keith, only more masculine, where Keith's features were softer.
Turning the photo over, Madison noted a couple of names, as well as a date. 'Annalise and Gabriel, 1587.' Well, at least now she had a name to put to the face. After turning it back over and looking at it for a few more seconds, Madison found herself looking up at the wall where the painting once hung for a comparison, and it was only then, did she remember that she'd taken it down and put it in the kitchen.
But that was two days ago. And she didn't remember seeing it since, nor did she remember moving it. As she began to think about it a little more, things started to click into place. In the last two days, she couldn't pinpoint one instance where she'd felt strange or out of sorts. Or a time where she'd been uncomfortable around Keith, a little flustered from time to time, sure, but nothing to the degree of that first night.
Madison stood up, looking at the clock on her father's desk, she saw that it was just after 2:00. Keith scheduled an appointment at 3:00 with a potential adopter. Assuming he'd probably be in his office, giving the would-be-adoptee a check-up, or a bath, she headed in that direction.