Fourteen years later-Miami, Florida
"Horatio, I need a couple days off."
"Of course, Eric. Your date must really be something." He joked.
He laughed. "No, uh… You know Calleigh's dad, Duke? He died yesterday. Liver disease. The funeral is in a few days."
"Really? Send my sympathies." Horatio never sounded that calloused. Calleigh had been a sore subject with Horatio for a long time. She had taken time off and never come back. Eric had been the one to find her apartment gutted of everything personal, with a note that simply said 'I'm so sorry'.
"Horatio, I want you to come with me. This is getting really old. You two need to resolve this."
"We are best friends, but this is no concern of yours."
"She was my best friend too! I know what happened between you! The only thing I don't understand is why she left. So why don't you tell that part, H?" Eric practically yelled at the older man. He had aged well; his red hair was now peppered with silver. He never lost the silent command he had always held over those around him.
"She told you what happened?"
"She told me that the two of you screwed after she found you drunk. Yes!"
"Did she tell you anything else?"
"Like what?"
"I also told her I regretted it. If I had it all to do again, I would have sent her home from the bar alone."
"You did what? I've never been this shocked by your honesty."
"What do you mean?"
"You know that doctor appointment that she had? Yeah, she was seeing if se was pregnant! She didn't say anything?"
"That's what she wanted to talk about." Horatio finally understood. "The timeline…How could I not have connected it? I have a child?"
"You might. I never found out. Even if she did, who says she kept it? Either way, you need to talk to her."
"Oh my god. I never went after her."
"I have two tickets to Louisiana, leaving tomorrow. Be there."
Horatio just nodded, still in shock.
Meanwhile… about 1170 miles away… Calleigh was preparing for her father's funeral. Eric and her mother would be staying in her home, while her brothers and other family would be in the hotel in town. Her daughters dealt with the loss of their grandfather by fighting.
"Kelsey, you are such baby!" Elle screamed at her sister.
"Elle, please don't call your sister names, and for the love of God, please stop yelling." Calleigh said in her calm voice. She was cleaning the kitchen for the many people who would be in and out of the house that week. It was hard to stay cool and collected. Tension had been at an all time high with the death of her father, and the girls had been fighting all day.
"God, mom, I guess I know who your favorite child is! You always take her side!" Elle said angrily, her southern accent thicker than her mother's.
"Oh, Come on Elle! You're just being a bitch because you're not getting your way!" Kelsey had to add that.
"Language!" Calleigh warned. "And I don't take sides. I'm just trying to do what's best for everyone."
"Really? You bought Piccasso for me to train for her. Because she wanted a pretty little show horse! I spent a year on that horse and handed him over. That made the next horse mine. I chose the perfect horse, for me. Rata is wild and free and wonderful and he is going to take more than a year to train the way I want it done. Now, Piccasso is lame, because she was stupid with him and you want me to hand my baby over to her. I won't rush his progress just so she can hurt him too. She will just have to miss this show season."
"That's not fair! You don't even show, you just ride!" Kelsey whined.
"You both make good points. What if Kelsey rode Step?" Calleigh just wanted peace.
"NO!" Elle shouted.
"YES!" Kelsey countered.
"Why not?" Calleigh was getting upset by now.
"Because he is much older than Piccasso and Rata and she rides too hard, to soon. Did I not make that clear! When she decides to be a big girl and warm up properly, then she can ride my horses."
"Now you're just being dramatic!" Kelsey said smartly.
"You want dramatic!" Elle lunged for her sister and hit the table as Kelsey hid behind Calleigh, "Touch my horses, I'll beat you like a runaway slave!" With that, she took off to the barn.
"Mom?" Kelsey looked wide eyed at her mother.
"Honey, we're all on edge. We are fighting with each other because we are angry and sad and hurt over the loss of Grandpa. She'll cool down. She was closer to him than you were. You loved him and he loved you, but she never expressed the desire to meet her daddy like you did. The way she saw it, he was her dad. The end. But you, you always had a missing piece where you wanted your dad to be."
"I miss Pop too, you know."
"I know baby girl. I'm not saying you don't. You just miss him differently than she does. And that's okay. She's lost right now. She'll figure it out soon." Calleigh brushed her daughter's strawberry hair away from her face.
"I hope you're right. I want my sister back."
"I am right. Can you run and make sure the guest bathrooms are stocked? The one connecting to your room is for a friend of mine from Miami and the one joining mine is for grandma.
"Is Elle going to help?" Kelsey asked, outside she saw Elle riding through the trees at fast paced walk.
"Yeah, I'll go to tack up Kujo to get her and bring her home. Be good."
"Yes ma'am." Kelsey sighed. Although, she knew what she was going to do once alone. She would ride Rata, and be off before anyone was the wiser. Elle was just a worry-wart. Nothing would happen.