Longmire: Second Chances

Chapter 7: Face-To-Face

Two Weeks Later

Cady woke up in Jacob's bed with the usual smile on her face. They were acting like teenagers, so often were they having sex, but Cady felt alive and she felt good about herself. After all the pain after shooting a man dead in her Legal Aid office, and after her father practically disowning her, she hadn't felt much of anything. Now, she felt alive in a way that she couldn't ever remember.

Jacob had already gone to the Casino this Sunday morning to check up on any business he might have missed during the week. Cady made herself some coffee, and had decided to go visit her father that morning.

Walt, like Cady, was seemingly a new person. His counseling had been a wonderful success, and he was more the man she had known when her mother was alive-charming, funny, decisive, and full of self-confidence. He was the man that she had grown up idolizing. Some of the hurt still remained from when they were so estranged, but both now had new outlooks on life, and it made her feel even better.

She still hadn't told him about she and Jacob. Despite his improvement, she had hesitated on more than a few occasions to do so, not wanting to see him regress in the improvements he had made. Yet now that their relationship was finally, and she hoped, permanently mended, she wanted to tell him when she visited.

Cady dialed Walt's home phone number-the man would not get a cell phone, and she had given up on that quest long ago-and to her surprise, he didn't pick up. It was past 8 am, and he was an early riser. She decided to wait a few minutes. Maybe he was in the bathroom, taking a shower or even out attending to his horse.

Twenty minutes later, she tried she had no luck. She didn't panic or get upset, but thought it was unusual that he hadn't answered. She decided to get dressed and head over to his place.

Another half hour later, she was at the beautiful wood structure that looked out on the grassy plains, with the Rockies as the backdrop. She always instinctively smile when seeing the sight. It was breathtaking. It let her know that there was indeed beauty in a often not-so-beautiful world.

As she approached, she noticed that her dad's truck wasn't out front, which was very unusual for a Sunday morning. Still not feeling anything unusual, she used her key to enter her father's home.

"Dad?", she called, even with his truck not being present out front, "Dad, are you here?" No response reached her ears. She went into the bedroom and the bathroom and it was similarly empty. She eyed the kitchen and then his work desk...

She saw a piece of paper folded on top of her father's home computer keyboard. Again, not feeling anything unusual, she picked it up and opened it.

"Oh my God!" Cady practically yelled in a panic. She picked up her phone and immediately dialed a number, "Henry? It's Cady."

Twenty minutes later, Henry drove up to Walt's home, Cady sitting on the new granite steps her father had built, worry etched all over her face. She hadn't told Henry what was going on, and she told him she thought her father was fine as far as he knew, but that she needed to see him.

Henry exited the vehicle, his face a study in concern, and sat down next to Cady, "Good morning, my beautiful Goddaughter", he looked over at her with a smile, "I trust that you have something of interest to impart to me on an early Sunday morning."

Cady held the piece of paper in her hands, and looked up at Henry. She didn't say a word when she handed him the paper.

Henry looked at what was printed on there, and he sighed, half in frustration, but also with a relief that Walt was finally doing what Henry suggested he do two years ago. Henry knew now that had Walt done this two years ago, he would have simply fallen apart anymore. Now he simply wondered how it would play out.