'Bel, Dakota.' Maddie stood at the gate to their pasture, the two mustangs lifting their heads at her call. 'Come on. Breakfast time you two!'

As she closed the gate behind her both mustangs ambled over from where they'd been grazing to the shelter to wait for their feed. With a smile she gave them both a pat then headed into the feed room to gather their hay and pellets. Dakota had extra supplements for her coat added to her ration and once she'd finished filling up their buckets, she carried them out and both horses settled down to eat.

Maddie stifled a yawn as she un-rugged Dakota, the sun just starting to rise over the horizon. It was early, the usual time that she got up to do her chores but it just seemed to be getting harder and harder these days to rouse herself out of bed at this early an hour. She didn't really have much of a choice though. Her days had to start early in order for her to fit in everything she had to do.

With both horses un-rugged she gave them a thorough groom and replaced their light winter doonas with light cotton canvas rugs. Though the days were beginning to warm up the nights were still cold and with Dakota being a jet black the last thing she needed was for her to get bleached by the sun, hence her wearing a rug. And if Dakota was wearing a rug it was just as easy to leave one on Bel too.

By the time she was finished with her morning chores she knew breakfast would be waiting for her at the house. The thought of breakfast or just eating in general twisted her stomach in knots but with the numbers on the scales telling her she needed to get her weight back up, skipping meals wasn't any option anymore. Churning stomach or no churning stomach. She needed to eat. The last thing she wanted was a trip to the doctors.

Securing the gate behind her as she left the pasture, she lingered there watching Bel and Dakota eat for a moment. Their lives were so simple sometimes she found herself a little envious of them. Eat, graze, get pampered, sleep, play, repeat. They didn't have the worries or cares that she as a human had. Then again, they were at the mercy of whoever it was caring for them. Maybe I wouldn't want to be a horse after all. She let out a sad, soft chuckle when that realization came to her then she sighed. Might as well get on up to the house and see what's for breakfast…

The kitchen was a hive of activity as she walked in, Bonahm at the island bench making himself some coffee while Abeline was at the sink washing something up. Liam was making something else in a blender while Stella got breakfast organized for her and August. August was wrestling some books into his backpack but as she looked around, she didn't see Cordell anywhere around.

'Morning darlin.' Bonahm remarked as Maddie pulled up a seat at the island across from him.

'Hey Grampa.'

'Sleep well?'

'Can't complain. For once Bubbles wasn't trying to hog my pillow.' For the last few months her cat had resigned herself to sleeping as much as she could on her head, quite to her annoyance. 'Speaking of my cat, did someone already feed her this morning?'

'I did.' August replied, finally managing to fit the books into his bag. 'I uh… saw she was hungry when I came in so I topped up her bowl.'

'Thanks. Much appreciated.' She smiled at him. 'Hey, did Dad leave for work already?'

'Dad didn't come home last night.' Stella said as she joined her at the table, pouring herself a bowl of cereal.

'Oh…' Maddie raised an eyebrow.

'Hey Maddie-' Liam spoke up. 'You want a berry smoothie?'

'Sure. Thanks Uncle Liam.'

'How's Dakota looking?' Abeline questioned, placing some bread into the toaster.

'She's doing good.'

'Finals aren't too far away now.' Bonham remarked, sipping his coffee.

'I know.' She sighed. 'Don't remind me.'

'Also means someone's birthday is coming up too.' August added as he joined Stella at the table, helping himself to some cereal too. 'We going to do anything special for that or what? We can probably skip it, you know. Turning sixteen isn't really that big of a deal…'

Maddie elbowed him playfully in the ribs. 'I'll remember that for next year, little brother.'

'Hey-' Liam questioned as he stood at the fridge, holding up a carton of almond milk. 'how old is this milk?'

She shrugged. 'Should only be a couple days old.'

'How on earth you two can drink that stuff is beyond me.' Bonham remarked, returning his own carton of milk back on the shelf.

'It's not that bad Dad.' Liam replied, pouring the milk into the blender. 'I'm glad someone other then me in this family half attempts to eat healthy.'

'Cows milk is better than almond-'

'Alright, alright. Can we not get into a debate about that this early in the morning?' Abeline interjected, placing a plate of toast onto the bench. 'Maddie, you want strawberry jam?'

'Yes ma'am.'

'August?'

'Peanut butter would be fine.'

'Stella?'

'I'll be fine with just cereal,' Stella replied. 'thanks Mawline.'

Abeline brought the jam and peanut butter over, Maddie helping herself to a slice of toast as the rest of the family carried on usual conversation around the table. When Liam had finished making up the smoothie for her he brought it over before returning to make his own.

They had just finished breakfast and Stella and August were about to leave for school when Cordell finally walked in through the door. 'Hey!'

'Well-' Bonham remarked as Cordell came into the kitchen. 'good morning Cordell.'

'Morning.'

'What, you been to war?'

'Been to something.' Liam snickered, judging from Cordell's appearance.

'Mm-hmm.' Bonham agreed.

'No. I just, uh…'

'Hey Dad.' August said on his way past, giving his Dad a fist bump on the way through.

'Augie, hey. Butterbean.'

'Welcome home.' Stella replied, giving him the cold shoulder as she followed August out the back door.

'Thanks.' He turned to Maddie. 'Maddie girl.'

'You could have let me know you weren't gonna be home to tuck me in...' She remarked coldly, sipping away at the last of her smoothie before placing the mug back down. 'Could have told me you weren't gonna be home.'

'I uh… I got kind of sidetracked… Work stuff.'

'Mm.' She wasn't convinced but let it slide, turning her attention to the second piece of her toast. If she could just get that down then she could at least say she had a decent breakfast…

'Look, i-it's good that we're all here now.' Liam started. 'I need to show you something.'

'Of course.' Cordell nodded. 'What's up?'

'Maddie, would you mind moving across a little…' The teen shoved her plate along to the end of the bench and he placed the maps down to show them all. 'Okay, I'm not really sure what to believe at this point, but… when you compare the property lines, they don't match up, which could mean… we're living on the Davidson's land.'

'What?' Cordell questioned.

'Liam, if that's true,' Abeline started. 'we need to fix it. Before it gets out of hand. So, how do we square this up?'

'I imagine with something more current than an antique map or some land survey.'

'When is this from?' Cordell asked, looking the maps over.

'That's why I need us all on the same page. Dad? I'm gonna need your copy of the deed to the ranch or anything with a more current date of ownership to override the Davidson's.'

Abeline looked at Bonham. 'Well, we have papers, don't we, Bon?'

'Yeah, I-I think our-our youngest has a case of idle hands.' He replied, his temper beginning to flare a little. 'The Walkers have worked this land for generations.'

Maddie jumped a little when Bonham banged his hand down on the table, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as she finished off her toast.

'There's nothing more to ownership than that.'

'Liams just trying to help.' Abeline said to him.

'Right. Um…' Cordell started but was interrupted by his fathers reply.

'All right, fine. If it will put y'all at ease, I will call my lawyer-my lawyer- and sort this all out with him. At his hourly rate.'

'Wait…'

'Dad..?' Cordell questioned as Bonham walked out of the room.

'Dad!' Liam sighed. 'I really need Dad to cooperate with us.'

'Yeah Cordell,' Abeline looked at her son. 'would you please talk some sense into your father?'

'You heard Mom,' Liam prompted. 'go! If the Davidson's catch wind of this-'

Cordell threw his hands up in surrender. 'Okay, okay.'

As Cordell headed out of the room, the most overwhelming want to hurl washed over Maddie. Covering her mouth with her hand she hoped that the feeling would go away but if anything it was only getting worse…

'Maddie- you okay?' Abeline questioned. Before the teen could reply however she had quickly gotten up from her seat, almost knocking it over to the floor as she rushed past her to the sink.

She made it to the sink just in time, everything she'd eaten and drunk coming back up with surprising ferocity. As she kept vomiting she held onto the edge of the bench, vaguely aware of the fact that someone was rubbing her back. Tears started down her cheeks from the effort and she felt someone pull her hair back out of the way so it didn't get vomit through it.

'You're okay… You're okay…' Abeline said gently as Maddie kept retching, Bonham, Cordell and Liam all standing with a look of bewilderment on their faces. Finally the teen stopped vomiting and she kept rubbing her back as Maddie held onto the sink like her life depended on it. 'Upset stomach hey?'

'Yeah… Would appear so.' Maddie said softly as she managed to catch her breath. Abeline turned the faucet on to clear the sink then handed her a cup of water so she could rinse her mouth out.

'You alright now?'

'I-I think so.' She nodded. 'I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw up in the sink. I wouldn't have gotten to the bathroom in time.'

'It's okay. Don't worry about it.' Abeline assured her. 'Come on, come sit down.'

Bonham, seeing that Abeline had the situation in hand, headed on out of the house to mull over the discussion that they'd just had around the table.

'Y-you okay baby girl?' Cordell pulled a chair out for her, worry written on his face as his mother helped her sit down.

'I'm fine Dad. Honest.' Well, apart from the throbbing migraine she'd woken up with. 'Think the milk you used in my smoothie might have been bad Uncle Liam.'

'Maddie, I'm so sorry.' Liam apologized sincerely. 'I thought it was alright…'

'W-would you like some water?' Cordell questioned.

Maddie nodded and he left to go get a cup. 'I'm so sorry.'

'It's not your fault honey.' Abeline assured her gently. 'It's not the first time I've had to clean up after someone's been sick and it probably won't be the last.'

Cordell returned with a small glass of water and handed it to her. 'I-I'm gonna have to go-'

'It's okay Dad. Go to work.' She assured him then took a small sip. 'Cassie will get mad if you're late.'

'Alright, alright. Going.' He gave her a kiss on the head. 'Hope you feel better soon. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

'I better get moving as well…' Liam remarked after Cordell had headed out the back door. 'Maddie, I'm really sorry about this.'

'Hey, look on the bright side. Least you got the milk from the new carton.' She joked with a forced smile. 'Forget it.'

Liam left too and finally it was only her and Abeline left in the kitchen. 'God that was embarrassing…' She remarked out loud.

'Yeah, I know the feeling all too well.' Abeline agreed with her, tucking a lock of the girl's hair back behind her ear. 'When I was pregnant with Liam he gave me the worst morning sickness. Cordell used to hear me throwing up and would come in so I had an audience of both Bon and Cordi. Even just the smell of coffee alone would have me running to the bathroom. It was not a fun time at all.'

'Well I'm sure glad this should be a one time only thing then.' Maddie remarked as she finished off the last of the water. 'I think I might go take a lie down for a little bit though, I'm a bit tired.'

'Alright honey. I'll bring you in some toast later.'

'Thanks.' She offered her a smile as she handed her back the empty glass then headed to her bedroom. Closing the door behind her she pulled her boots off and dumped them beside the door, crawling back onto her bed. Bubbles had been curled up on her dressing gown on her chair but came over to her as she laid down.

'Hey…' Maddie said softly as her kitten began to nudge her with her nose. 'Yeah. Hello…'

Bubbles settled down beside her and purring loudly, was soon off to sleep once more. Maddie, though tired, couldn't seem to drift off to sleep. Too many thoughts were whirring around her head. She knew the milk wasn't bad, she'd only opened that carton yesterday. If that reason satisfied everyone though that was what she was going to go with.

They had enough of their own problems to be concerned with without her adding to them.

She'd be fine.

She hoped.

By the time lunchtime came about, Maddie was feeling better and was up and around once more. Her stomach seemed to have settled down after its earlier episode, much to her relief. She sure didn't fancy having that happen again.

After four painkillers the migraine she had finally went away too and so when she headed out to work Bel and Dakota for the evening, she actually felt half human again. Abeline though had been fussing over her like a mother hen and while she was grateful that Abeline cared for her, it was just slightly annoying too. She'd only thrown up her breakfast, it wasn't like she was dying or something.

When she finally finished up for the day and headed back inside, everyone was already seated at the table waiting to begin supper. 'I'll just wash up, so sorry I'm late.' She apologized as she hurried through to the laundry. 'Lost track of time.'

'Don't take all night-' Bonham called after her. 'Food is getting cold.'

'Yes yes.' She yelled back, quickly washing her hands in the sink. As she dried them on a towel she took a moment to take a deep breath then headed back into the dining room. 'Sorry I'm late.' She apologized as she took her seat between Abeline and August. 'Dakota lost a buckle off her rug and I just spent half an hour looking for it.'

'Did you find it?' Abeline questioned as she handed Maddie a plate.

'Yeah…' Her cheeks went slightly red. 'It was still attached to the inside ring. She'd only snapped the leg strap and so I was out there for half an hour looking for something that was hiding in plain sight the whole time.' She only just noticed Geri sitting at the other end of the table as she reached for the potatoes. 'Geri. Didn't see you there when I came in.'

'Think you might have been in a little bit of a hurry.' Geri replied with an amused smile.

'Shall we say the blessing now?' Bonham spoke up.

Maddie placed down the serving utensils and everyone bowed their heads as Bonham said the blessing over the food. Conversation was had around the table as they ate, Maddie replying when she was addressed but for the most part stayed quiet and just focused on her meal. She'd chosen to have a bit of steak and vegetables, skipping a couple other things that had been served up. Surprisingly, she felt okay after eating and when she'd finished off what was on her plate she helped herself to another serving of mashed potato.

When dinner had been eaten everyone rose to take their plate into the kitchen, Stella offering to take Geri's for her. 'Oh, I'll take yours.'

'Thanks Stell.' Geri smiled

'No problem.'

'So…' Maddie said softly to Stella as they headed into the kitchen. 'You reckon Dad and Geri have something going on?'

'There's something going on over there for sure.' She replied with a motion to where Cordell and Geri were talking. 'If there is though, I guess I don't mind? I mean… Dad deserves to be happy-'

Maddie and Stella's quiet conversation was interrupted by the rising voices of Liam and Abeline's discussion over at the kitchen sink.

'I mean, this is…'

'Your brother's gonna figure it out.' Abeline replied.

'The deed is a problem.'

'Told you to leave it alone, Liam!' Bonham exclaimed loudly.

Liam turned to his father. 'How is the deed on file from the nineteenth century? Okay? We have to update it and clear up the language.'

'You are just aggravating the hell out of me, son-'

Maddie glanced between them, slowly retreating to the other side of the room.

'Walkers have lived on this stretch of land for generations.'

'All the more reason that we should re-litigate it, clear up the vague stipulations. A deed should explicitly grant us ownership. I'm not sure why it doesn't.'

'Hey, hey,' Cordell started as he and Geri came back into the kitchen. 'why don't we, uh… table this talk for another time? Uh, we wanted to-to say something. Uh, we, you know, we can get into crossing lines at a different time-'

'Yeah, well,' Bonham turned to his eldest son. 'speaking of crossing lines, your son went to the Davidson's barn and you didn't tell me. Need I remind you what happened the last time that a Walker trespassed on Davidson grounds?'

'It was harmless, Daddy.'

'Yeah, well, harmless then may not be so harmless now. You son put us in…'

Cordell's phone rang with a message and he pulled it out of his pocket to check what it was. 'Denise Davidson. The Davison's want to meet ASAP. Neutral ground.'

'Oh that's just swell.'

My thoughts exactly… Maddie remarked mentally in her mind then stepped back over to Stella. 'I-I'm just gonna go check on Bel and Dakota.'

Seeing an opportunity to get out of the very awkward situation, Stella decided to go with her. 'I'll come with you.'

'I'll give you a hand as well.' August offered.

The three of them slipped out the back door, the siblings exchanging a look between the three of them. 'What-what was that all about?' August wondered out loud.

Maddie sighed heavily. 'Uncle Liam's been comparing the map that was found in the wall to the land survey. He's come to the conclusion that we might be living on the Davidson's land.'

'Oh… That's not good.' Stella said with concern. 'Really not good.'

'No…' She agreed. 'No, it sure isn't.'

Bonham, Abeline, Cordell, Liam and Geri left not long after to go meet with the Davidson's, the kids left to wash up after dinner. Once they'd finished up with the cleaning, August disappeared to go do something at the piano and Stella headed off to have a video call with Todd to do their homework together.

The silence was bliss after what had happened earlier. Even though it hadn't been a full blown argument, any kind of conflict at all made her anxious. It brought back too many memories… As she wiped up the last of the dishes to place into the cupboard she heard someone's phone ping with a message and glanced over to see that August had left his phone on the table.

Heading over to see if it was important she frowned. It was from Colton.

Hey Augie. I'm stuck at home babysitting my dad. Still got that lantern?

'August?' She picked the phone up, heading into the living room. 'Colton just messaged you.'

'Wonder what he wants…' August remarked as he was handed his phone.

'What's that about?'

'I mentioned to him about finding a lantern with our family brand on it a while back.' He frowned after reading the message. 'I'd hoped he'd forgotten about it.'

Maddie raised an eyebrow. 'Well, it looks like he didn't.'

'No…' He replied while returning the phone to his pocket without replying to Colton. 'I already got roasted by Grampa about it when he found it in my room.'

'What's so important about this lantern though?' It didn't make any sense to her at all. 'It's just an old lantern.'

'I don't know.' August shrugged. 'There's just too many secrets around here.'

The stars were out, twinkling brightly in the sky above as Maddie lay on the ground watching them later that night. Bel and Dakota grazed close by, their presence calming her a little. Apart from the sounds of crickets and other nightlife, everything was quiet. Silent.

When their Dad and Grandparents had returned home from their meeting with the Davidson's the news they had brought with them was anything but good. The Davidson's had found out about Liam looking into the property lines and had confronted them about it then somehow, the dispute was going to be settled by a horse race.

A horse race.

Maddie honestly couldn't believe it but it wasn't her place to say anything. Her opinion didn't matter, she was only a kid. The feud between their family and the Davidson's had definitely escalated from blind to ridiculous and she couldn't believe that Bonham had been the one to bring up solving it with a horse race.

It was absurd.

Utterly ridiculous.

The winning family would get to have all the land; both the Walker and the Davidson's property while the losing family would have to leave.

For the first time since the Walkers had taken her in, her life was filled with uncertainty again.

It had been nice to be able to have a place to call home.

And in a few days, she could lose it all again.

A lone tear slipped out her eye and rolled down her cheek. Colton hadn't messaged her except for a little message the day before but now, with all this… It was good that they'd decided to keep things to themselves. No one knew that they had thought about progressing from just casual friends to something more serious.

Why had he messaged August about the lantern?

What was so important about it?

She wiped the tear away, staring back up at the twinkling stars above. Earlier during the day she'd made the decision that she'd speak to Cordell about taking her in to the doctor but now, how could she add extra worry and concern onto everyone's plate? In a couple days they could lose their home. They didn't need to be worried about her headaches and losing a few pounds. It would just have to wait.

She would just have to wait until this crisis had resolved itself.

The one question played over and over in her mind.

Why?

What could the Davidson's have against them that they wanted to hurt them so badly? It didn't make any sense. Her mind had been working overtime trying to piece together what had happened to try and make sense of everything that was going now. Google had helped, a quick search revealing a news article in the internet archives back from when the barn had burnt. Gale, on camera, blaming Cordell for her husband's death.

Her dad had only been a kid. It hadn't been his fault. It had been an accident.

And yet, here they were, years later, about to use a horse race to settle a land dispute.

None of it made any sense.

Yes, she could understand that they were angry and hurt even these years later about losing Marv but how could they be so bitter and horrible towards them? Ever since they had come back to Austin, Cordell had done nothing but try to make it up to them and play peacemaker between the two families and yet, here they were.

Lying there, listening to the crickets and the chomping of the horses grazing, she wondered what Colton thought of what was happening.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't right.

She heard grass rustling as if someone were walking through the pasture and a moment later, Bel snorted softly. She raised up onto her elbows and in the moonlight could make out her grandfather giving her mustang a pat.

He must have heard her for he looked over in her direction. 'You're lucky I didn't trip over you.'

She chuckled softly as he walked over, crouching down beside her in the grass. 'I'd have heard you coming long before that happened.'

'What are you doing out here this late?'

'Just thinkin. Guess you're doing the same.'

'Yeah…' He looked back down at his granddaughter. 'It's late Maddie. Best you head on up to the house and get some sleep.'

'Alright Grampa.' She got to her feet, giving Bonham a hug. 'See you in the morning.'

'Night darlin. Sweet dreams.'

Maddie headed back to the gate, looking across the pasture to where she'd left her grandfather as she unlatched it to let herself out. He was still standing there with Bel and Dakota and seeing him standing there, her heart went out to him. He thought he was doing what was right, what was best to protect his family but at the same time, god he was taking such a chance.

In that moment Maddie was glad she didn't have that weight on her shoulders.