Walker: Surrender

Chapter 16

'I-I went and spent some time with Dakota yesterday.' Maddie said to Liam as they waited for Chelsea to arrive the next morning.

'Oh that's great.' Liam replied with a smile. 'You've really taken yesterday onboard then.'

She nodded, looking out across the landscape. Off in the distance, Rocky and his two companions grazed in their pasture with a couple wild hares for extra company. 'Yeah... What you were sayin to Chelsea about Dad, about him having an emotional block to riding again... It got me thinking about me and my girls, mainly Dakota. Looking at Dakota just brought back memories of me trying to find Dad the night he was taken and other stuff I don't want to remember but it's not fair on her me keeping away. So... I'm gonna try to start doing chores again. I might need help though, if you'd be willing to give me a hand. It's gonna be hard trying to do feeds and stuff from a wheelchair.'

'Yeah, I imagine it would be.' He chuckled softly. 'Maddie, I am really really glad you've come to that conclusion. I know how much you love your horses and riding. You shouldn't have to give that up just because of memories.'

She sighed, looking down at her hands. 'I know. It's just... I know it's gonna take time but I really want to feel better. I want to get better. I don't want to flinch when something or someone touches me. I don't want to jump and go into a panic attack every time I hear something loud or remotely like a gunshot. I want to be able to sleep again. You...' She looked back up at him. 'You'd get that because I've seen you struggling with the same things.'

Swallowing, Liam nodded. 'Yeah. I-I can't remember the last time I had a good sleep.'

'Me either.'

'And I just wish I could talk to Cordi about all this instead of a horse.'

Maddie let out a little laugh at that. 'Then what am I? A three legged unicorn?'

Realizing how that had come out he shook his head in amusement. 'You know what I mean Maddie.'

She sobered. 'I do.' Silence fell and after a time, Maddie turned to her uncle again. 'And I get what you mean about wanting to talk to Dad. I wish he was here for me. For you. I know he's trying to deal with it all in his own way but I'm worried about him. He's not fine even if he says he is and when he finally comes crashing down...'

'We'll be here to pick him up.' Liam added after a pause. 'Even if he hasn't been here for us, we have to be here for him.'

'I know. I just... I wish I knew how to help him. How to make him feel better.' She looked back at her uncle. 'And how to help you too.'

He smiled a little at that and went to rest his hand on her knee, waiting for a moment until she had nodded permission and he did so. 'You have a good heart Maddie but there's not much you can do for me right now except be here with me. You and Ben... You both have really been the only people who have been here for me. Everyone else has been so worried about Cordi it feels like they've forgotten that you and I went through almost the same thing. That we were both in there with him too.'

She sighed softly in agreement to that. 'Yeah... I-I think they've just been trying not to rock the apple cart cause they're just as worried about Dad as we are.'

Liam nodded in agreement but didn't reply to her and instead looked down the driveway as they waited for Chelsea to arrive.

'Oh, I forgot to mention...' Maddie spoke up after a moment, something important she needed to tell Liam coming to mind. 'Angie down the road posted this morning that two of her horses have gone missing from their pasture. If you happen to see a chestnut with a blaze and sock on the near side foreleg and a black with three white stockings around, they're her missing horses.'