Chapter 25

Morning came, Cordell waking when the nurse came to check on Maddie. The teen didn't stir, obviously still exhausted from the night before. Wearily he ran a hand over his face, the chair hadn't been one of the most comfortable of places to spend the night.

Checking the time on his phone he realized it was almost time for him to be at work. He had missed messages too, a couple from Stella and August and a few from other people. Opening the one from his mom he read they were on their way in, bringing the kids up before they headed to school. Looking at the time the message was sent he realized they would almost be here by now. As he started to get up, Maddie's eyes flew open.

'You're leaving?'

He stopped, turning back to her. 'Just for a moment, I'll be right back.'

'Don't leave me-'

'It's just for a little while sweetheart, I'll be right outside. Mom and Dad are on their way with Stella and August. Do you feel up to seeing them?'

After a moment to think, she nodded. 'Are you going to tell them… what I told you?'

'Not Stella and August but there are people who will need to know.'

She sighed softly. 'I thought that would be the case… What happens now? I don't want to go back to a group or foster home…'

A message came through on his phone and he quickly checked it before replying. 'Ah, we'll talk about that later, okay? Mom just messaged, they're on their way up. I'll be back, five minutes, okay?'

Maddie nodded nervously, not wanting to be on her own for even five minutes but knew he had to go. 'I'll be okay.'

'I'll be right back, promise.'

'Dad-' Stella and August hurried to him, their father closing the door behind himself. 'How is Maddie? Is she alright?' Stella asked worriedly as she gave him a hug.

'Maddie's… doing better.' He replied, embracing her back then gave August a hug. 'She's awake, she's been wanting to see you both.'

'We got her some flowers, we thought they might help cheer her up.'

'That's a good idea Auggie.' He replied, having noticed the bunch of wildflowers in his hand. 'I'm sure she'll like them.'

'Can we go in?'

'Just, before you do…' Abeline and Bonham came up behind the children and he glanced at them for a moment before replying to Stella's question. 'Maddie's… been going through some things. She's having a really hard time, so, just, be careful. Okay? Try not to say anything that might upset her, just let her talk.' They both nodded then headed into her room and he turned back to his parents. 'Thank you… for looking after them and bringing them in.'

Abeline looked closely at her son, noticing how worn out he looked. 'How is she?'

'She's not good… Um…' He glanced back at the closed door for a moment. 'I think there's a lot more that's been going on we don't know about.'

'I feel dreadful for giving her that knife.' Bonham remarked quietly, Abeline slipping her arm around him.

'She has been cutting for a long time, it started when her mother died…' He replied. 'We um.. She spoke, a bit, last night, about things… Yesterday, when the doctor gave us the report, it stated that she had been beaten recently and she admitted that her dad… beat her… a lot. Drunk or sober, it didn't matter.'

Bonham was fuming when he heard that, his wife wearing an expression of surprise and horror on her face. 'Son of a bitch...' It made sense now why Maddie had been so frightened that time in the barn when he had told her he had wanted to speak with her. 'We should have seen something was wrong when they came to dinner that time, she hardly spoke a word the whole night.'

'That poor girl.' Abeline said, her voice breaking as she thought of what she must have gone through. 'And she was hiding it the whole time…'

'What will happen with her now?'

'James confirmed last night… she has no relatives.' Cordell replied to his father. 'There's a social worker heading to speak with him about her case this afternoon. With no relatives, she'll go into foster care.'

'What if we ask to take her?' Abeline questioned after a moment, looking up at her husband with hopeful eyes. 'I have a connection with Maddie, she trusts me. It'd be better for her then going back to foster care.'

'Abby-'

'Bon, I wouldn't ask if I didn't think we could do it.'

He ran his hand across her cheek. 'Are you sure that is what you would want?'

'Maddie deserves a real home, a family. I couldn't sleep at night knowing we could give her those things but chose not to. She deserves to be safe, to be loved.'

'I think it's something we would need to decide as a family.' Bonham looked over at his son. 'What do you think, Cordell?'

'I think… we could do it.' He replied after a pause. 'It wouldn't be easy… But I agree with Mom. Last night with her… I can't stand by and willingly let her go into care with strangers… The foster system failed her once… We failed her, not realizing she needed help. Maybe we can help make those wrongs right. I will speak with James, let him know that we will have a family discussion about giving Maddie a home. Ultimately, it will be up to the courts what will happen to her.'

'So even if we say we can look after her-' Abilene said. 'They might decide otherwise?'

'They might decide foster care or a group home is in her best interest.'

'With what she's been through, I don't know how that could be.'

'All we can do is try, I guess.' Bonham said with a sigh. 'We'll talk with Liam, Stella and August should be able to have their say on the decision too. Family meeting tonight?'

Cordell nodded. 'I'll uh.. I'll have to see if Micki can spend an hour or two with Maddie. She really doesn't want to be left alone here and after what she told me last night, I can understand why. How long were you planning to stay with her today Mom?'

'As long as she needs me to.' Abeline replied. 'I'm not going anywhere when she needs us.'


'Hey Maddie.'

Maddie managed a weak smile as Stella and August came into her room. 'Hey.'

'How are you doing?' August questioned with concern. 'We bought these for you.'

'I've been better…' She laid the flowers he passed her down beside her. 'They're beautiful.' Her eyes lingered on them for a moment, touched that they had even thought to bring her flowers then patted the mattress beside her, inviting them to sit down. 'Look, I am so sorry… About yesterday morning…'

'You really had us worried.' Stella said with tears in her eyes as she sat down beside her, August pulling over the chair his dad had spent the night in. 'I mean, you've always been here for us when things have gotten rough, we should have done the same for you.'

'Hey, hey-' She interrupted, placing her hand on her leg and looked at the two siblings. 'I don't want either of you to go feeling bad about this, it's not your fault. Okay?'

They nodded and August spoke after a moment. 'Why? Why would you do something like that? Don't you know we would have missed you...'

'Hey, Buddy-' Her heart dropped as August began to cry. 'Come here.' She invited him for a hug, wrapping an arm around him. 'It's okay. I'm going to be alright.'

Stella watched them embrace, tears in her own eyes. 'If Mawline hadn't found you when she did…'

'I know.' Maddie was struggling to keep her own emotions in check but managed to wrestle them back under control. They had been through enough on her account already, they didn't need to see her break down again… Last night, in front of their Dad, had been emabessing enough. After a moment August returned to his chair and she laid back on her pillows, already feeling exhausted. 'I owe you both… an explanation.' She replied, one hand on Stella, the other holding August's hand. 'I know no amount of apology can erase what you both saw, it wasn't my intention for what happened to take place…'

'Did you do it because you really didn't want to live anymore?'

She shook her head at August's question. 'No Augie, I didn't try to commit sucide. Ending my life was never my intention when I walked into that barn.' Trying to get her thoughts into some sensible arrangement, she took a deep breath before she attempted an explanation. 'You both know I lost my Mom when I was eleven, right?' They nodded. 'When I lost my Mom, I didn't have the support you both had when you lost yours. I didn't have grandparents to take care of me, I had no one. After she died, I was placed into a group home with a bunch of other foster kids until they found a foster home for me. I went through three different homes in four months, until my Dad finally found me eight months after my mom had passed.'

'That must have been hard.' Stella said softly.

Maddie nodded. 'It was. When my Dad came to pick me up, I thought I would have a home and a family again. I was wrong. My Dad had to go away a lot, he didn't care for me like your Dad does for you. He left me for months at a time without telling me where he was going or when he would be back. After losing my Mom, I really needed someone to be there for me but there wasn't anyone. That is why I started to self harm. You've heard of that, right?'

'It's when someone deliberately wants to injure themselves, my counselor asked me once if I had thought of doing that.' August replied. 'I did, but I didn't want to do it and have someone see.'

'Please Auggie, promise me you won't start. It only took me cutting once and it turned into a habit.' She looked down at her bandaged arms, only able to imagine what they looked like after what she had done yesterday… 'Yesterday, I couldn't stop… I just kept cutting and cutting…'

Stella placed her hand on top of Maddie's. 'I wish you would have told someone, you could have gotten help before it got this bad.'

She shook her head. 'I couldn't. I didn't know who I could trust.'

'Why didn't you tell your Dad?' August questioned. 'He could have helped you.'

'August, believe me when I tell you, you have a good father. My Dad didn't care about me and if I did tell him, he wouldn't have taken me to get help.'

'You trust us though, right? You could have asked Dad or Mawline-' Stella was interrupted by Maddie's reply.

'I didn't want anyone to find out, especially not your family. You guys are the only friends I have ever had… I didn't want to tell you. It's not that I don't trust you… I was scared and I couldn't.'

'Just please, promise us this won't happen again.' August begged. 'We don't want to lose you.'

'I'm not going anywhere, and that is a promise to both of you.'

'Is there anything we can do?' Stella inquired. 'You've helped us when we needed it, now we want to help you.'

Maddie smiled sadly, a genuine smile this time. 'Just being a friend, that's all I could ask for. Though, if you both really want to do something for me…'

'What?'

'Think you can smuggle Bubbles in next time you come to see me?'

The siblings exchanged a grin at the challenge. 'We'll do our best.' Stella agreed.

'Good. I hope won't be too much trouble-'

The door opened again, this time Abeline, Bonham and Cordell coming into the room. 'I hate to break it to you, but school starts in fifteen minutes.' Bonham said, looking at his grandchildren then at Maddie. 'Morning Maddie.'

'Good morning Sir.'

'Hope you're feeling better.'

'A little.'

'Glad to hear it.'

'We better go, don't want to be late for school.' Stella said with a sigh as she stood. 'We'll come see you this afternoon if that's okay.'

She smiled. 'I'd like that. I really appreciate the flowers too, they are beautiful. Thank you.'

Bonham left with his grandchildren, Cordell turning back to Maddie after they had gone. 'I'm going to have to leave too, Maddie, but Mom will stay with you.'

Maddie looked at Abeline. 'Thank you.'

'You're welcome sweetheart.' She picked up the bouquet of flowers from off the bed. 'Would you like me to put these in some water?'

She nodded.

'Maddie-' Cordell said softly as his mother went across the room to the cupboards to find a vase. 'You asked earlier… about what will happen now…The answer is, I'm not completely sure. I can't give you an answer, just yet. I don't want you to think about that though, I want you to focus on getting better, okay?'

'I understand sir.'

'You get some rest, you hear.'

'I will. Walker-' Cordell had started to the door but stopped and turned back to her. 'Thank you, for last night. What you said… it helped.'

He smiled at her. 'I'm glad Maddie girl, I meant every word of it.'

The Ranger left, Abeline placing the vase she had found on the bedside table then opened the curtains before she sat down beside the teens bed. 'Maddie…' The girl turned to her. 'I am so sorry-'

'I should be the one apologizing.' Maddie interrupted gently. 'Walker told me it was you who found me in the barn. You have to believe it was never my intention for things to get out of control, I never intended it… I just couldn't stop though, I'm sorry… I didn't want you all to find out, especially like this.'

'Maddie, it's okay sweetheart.' She tucked a lock of the girl's hair back behind her ear, smoothing back her hair. 'But I'm here now, you don't have to go through things alone anymore. I want to help you. Will you let me?'

'I can't ask you to do that-'

'Your not asking, I'm offering.'

After a moment she gave in with a slight nod. 'I will. I do like you, Abeline. You've been very good to me…'

Abeline smiled. 'I like you too Maddie, I've enjoyed your company these last few months. We all have.'

'Even though that Maddie was a fake and this is the real me?'

'Maddie, honey, don't think of yourself like that. You were trying to protect yourself, no one can blame you for that.'

'You mean… you still like me, problems and all?'

'Of course sweetheart.' She replied sincerely. 'Honey, we all have our own problems and demons to fight.'

'Some have more than others.' Maddie replied sadly, looking back up at her. 'But at least I won't have to deal with them on my own anymore.'

'And that's a promise.' Abeline said, taking the girl's hand in hers. 'You have people who will help you, you can put all this behind you. You can get through this, I know you can.'


'Do you know what Grampa called this family meeting for?' Stella questioned August as the two of them checked on Skylar after dinner.

August shook his head. 'I've got no idea.' He gave Skylar a pat over the stall door, the mare still a little nervous and skittish but was a lot calmer then she had been the day before. 'You haven't done something stupid, have you?'

'Why do you automatically think it's me that's done something?' She protested with slight teasing.

'Maybe because normally, you've done something.'

'That's not fair-'

Bonham cleared his throat, the two kids turning to him as he walked into the barn. 'How's she doing?'

'Looks like she's starting to settle down.' August replied. 'She's eaten most of her dinner.'

'I've refilled her water buckets.' Stella added. 'We'll give her a good brush and a bit of a wash tomorrow-' The mare still had Maddie's blood dried through her coat. 'Now that she's a bit calmer.'

'She got pretty spooked, didn't you girl?' Skylar was nudging him for more pats and he rubbed her cheek then turned back to Bonham. 'What's this family meeting about?'

'Why don't we head inside and you'll find out.'

'We haven't done something wrong have we?' Stella questioned as they started out of the barn.

He shook his head. 'There's something that's come up that requires a family decision and your Dad, Mawline and I agree that you two should be part of that decision.'

'Okay…' August remarked, wondering what this decision could be. 'Sounds interesting.'

They came into the house and headed into the living room, taking a seat on the couch across from their father. Abeline and Liam joined them a moment later and they waited for Bonham to come take a seat.

'How would you two feel…' Cordell started, looking at his two children. 'about Maddie coming to live with us?'

'You mean, actually live with us? Like, permanently?' Stella questioned.

He nodded. 'We, Gramps, Mawline and Uncle Liam and I have all spoken about it but we wanted to know what you two thought about it.'

'Well, I'd be okay with it.' August said without hesitation.

'What about you Stella Blue?'

'I don't mind. I mean, she's been here so much already it wouldn't be any different.' She replied. 'But who will she be staying with? Will it be us or will she be here with Gramps and Mawline?'

He turned to his father. 'Dad?'

'We've spoken about that.' Bonham turned to his granddaughter. 'Since Abeline and I have decided that we will be the ones going for her guardianship, she will be staying in the house here as she was when their house was being repaired.'

August thought for a moment then turned to his sister. 'That's it, that's what we can do for Maddie. Paint up her room and make it really nice.'

'Hey, that's a good idea-'

Cordell smiled. 'So I take it you two are on board with the decision then?'

They both nodded. 'Hey Grampa, can we repaint the room for her?' Stella questioned. 'Maybe we could get some new curtains and a bed spread too Mawline.'

Bonham chuckled. 'I'm sure there's some old paint out in the shed. We'll have a look tomorrow and see what we can find.'

'If it's going to be Maddie's room though-' Abeline added. 'Perhaps we can let her choose what colour curtains she would like.'

'I thought it would be nice if we could do it as a surprise for her.' August interjected. 'Like, with everything that's happened, it would be nice to give her a good surprise.'

'Well, I'm sure we can do some of it as a surprise.' She continued. 'How does a girls day shopping sound though Stella, once she's up to it?'

'Sounds like fun. You can come along too Dad-'

'Uh, shopping for curtains and bedspreads… ain't really my thing.'

'Will you be getting guardianship though, or will you adopt her Grampa?' August questioned after thinking it over for a moment.

'It would be guardianship for now.' Bonham said.

'But maybe adoption later on down the track.' Abeline added. 'Depending on how it goes and what Maddie wants. If they find she has relatives, she might prefer to be with them. Why do you ask?'

'I don't know how I would feel having someone a year older than me as an Aunt.'

Everyone began to chuckle, even August. 'Yeah, that would be interesting.' Liam agreed. 'But that wouldn't change your mind, would it?'

'No, of course not.' He replied. 'So, when do we get to tell her?'