chapters 18- 27

Chapter 18 - You won´t beileve..

Amy, Jack and Ty were already at home. They found Peter, Lou and Tim in the living room.

“Oh Amy, I missed you so much!” Lou said and hugged her sister.

“Honey, how are you? How is your head?” Tim hugged his daugther and kissed her cheek.

“I´m better, thank you.” They stayed in that position for a some seconds.

Lou carried her daughter tightly in her arms and walked next to Amy with Peter by her side. “I have some big news” She showed the baby. Peter looked at Amy to see her reaction. “May I introduce you to your aunt?” He asked softly.

“Oh my god! She is beautiful!”

Amy held the delicate and little baby in her arms. She was full of clothes and pink blankets with flower patterns wrapped around her. She was the lightest thing that Amy had ever seen. The baby girl had green eyes and a cute soft smile in her face. With her little hands, the little kid grabbed her finger. “What´s her name?”

“Jessica” Lou and Peter said at the same time.

“Hi Jess” Said Amy as she kissed her forehead.

Ty saw Amy fascinated wither sister´s child. He stood behind Amy, put his arms around her waist and left his head over his girlfriend´s shoulder. Suddenly he felt like a pain on his stomach. It was not like a stomach ache, it was a different kind of pain, like a positive pain. “In fact isn´t pain what I feel, because if it was, it would be negative. The pain is always negative.” “I don´t even understand what I am saying.” He thought.

Ty started thing about his life with Amy, if they ever married. “It´s time” said a voice in his mind. His heart beats were now faster and louder, Ty wished that Amy didn´t realize. “I think things to much” “I have to do it…NOW”.

He didn´t wanted to interrupt the moment, but luckily he wasn´t the one to break this beautiful scene. The girl fell asleep.

“Let´s take her to her room” Peter said while he looked at Lou.     

“Her parents need a rest too” Jack advised. He was right.

They decided to go to bed earlier, they were exhausted since they couldn´t sleep for some days. “Good night”

“Good night” the rest of the family answered.

“Night check?” Ty pointed the barn with his thumb.

Amy couldn´t believe that it was night again. It was a long way from the hospital to Heartland. The day had gone so fast!

“Let´s go”

Tim also left. Jack sat by the fire for a while while he waited for Amy and Ty to return for dinner.

In the barn, Amy was brushing Spartan and Ty was brushing Wonder the horse Amy was helping before she had the accident. Then Ty finished and went to the toilet in the loft. He looked at the mirror, smiled at himself and climbed down the stairs to were Amy was.

“Can I give you a hand?” He asked.

“Yeah” Amy gave him a brush.

“Time is rushing too fast” She said about to cry.

Ty nodded, left the brush over a stable door and hugged her tight. “But hopefully, everything will be in order now…right?” he whispered in her ear.

She stared at his calmed green eyes and tried to decipher what he meant with - Everything being in order –. Ty kissed her lower lip and tangled his fingers in her hair.

“Amy” Ty whispered. She wanted to listen to him, so she stayed still. Ty stuttered wihile his hand rushed to his pocket and took something. Amy didn´t see it, she waited for Ty to say something. Her boyfriend kneeled in front of her and mentioned the traditional and glorious four words. “Would… you marry me?” Amy´s heart went out of her chest as she heard Ty. She didn´t know what to say, Amy felt like if she was going to faint right in front of him. It was one of those decisive moments in life, well, it wasn´t decisive because she knew the answer though. Her cheeks turned red.

“Yes, Yes! Yes…” She jumped over him. “I love you!” She almost screamed.

“I love you too” He laughed.

Amy sat over Ty´s knees while he put the ring on her hand. The diamond was sparkling and unique for sure.

“Ty it´s perfect!” She kissed his cheek smiling.

“You don´t know the story behind this ring!”

“I want you to tell me everything” She laughed. Amy had never left so happy in her life.

Ty kissed her for last time and took her by the hand to the house. “I will” They walked hand in hand. Ty couldn´t stop laughing, neither Amy. He put his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek until they got to the door of the house.

Amy didn´t know how she would manage to tell her family. “Wait” She smiled. “What are we going to say?”

“Come on, it will be fine” He smiled again.

“No way!”

“If we tell them now we won’t have to suffer thinking of how we will tell them”

“Are you crazy?” She joked.

“Yes” He laughed.

Chapter 19 - Score

Amy tried to pull his arm, but it didn´t work. Ty went inside the house and she followed him. Peter and Lou had decided to eat something before going to sleep, so when Ty and Amy went inside they found them in the dining table with Jack and Mallory.

“Something left for us?” Amy sat down. Lou handed her a bowl with salad and another with just cooked meat. Ty took some too.

“What´s up with that smile?” Jack looked at her younger granddaughter.

“Well… I have some news, we have some news” She looked at Ty.

Lou saw the ring on Amy´s hand and froze up. “Amy!” “You are…?”

Amy realized what her sister wanted to say, so she stood still looking at her.

“Oh my god! ...Amy you are going to get married!!!” She shouted. They both stood up and hugged. “I´m so happy for you!”

“What have I missed?” Jack stood up as he saw that all the rest were standing too. He didn´t doubt it. Jack hugged Ty. He was very happy for them. “That´s the way son”

“Son” Ty thought. He hugged Jack back. “I know”. He said.

“Congratulations!” Mallory hugged Amy. “This will be awesome”

Then Peter hugged Ty. “Congratulations”

“You don’t know how much time we were waiting for this” Jack said to Amy.

 “Grandpa, Are you ok?” This was the first time they had listened Jack mention those words.

“You don´t know the entire story behind” He added.

“I don´t know what is it but, all of you have to explain me everything that I don´t know”

“We have time before the wedding right?” Amy looked at Lou.

“Of course if you let me plan it” Lou smiled.

“Sure”

“This will be awesome” “You will have the best wedding ever!”

“So, I will have the best wedding planner!”

“You will” Lou added.

“Are you already planning the wedding?” Ty put his arms around Amy’s waist and also put his head over her left shoulder.

“Something like it” Said Amy.

Everyone was full of excitement. In special Lou, who was going to plan everything for her sister. And of course, Amy and Ty, thinking about their future. There was a soft melody playing beyond their voices, the song Here There And Everywhere by the Beatles, describing the beautiful environment around them.

Amy imagined herself in the wedding, wearing a white dress, and Ty in a elegant suit. Then, she thought about her life with Ty, and that was when she felt a soft warm tear escaped from her eyes and fell to her cheek. She tried to take it out before anyone realized, but it was worthless, her family saw her and of course Mallory said something.

“Awww! Your crying!” This made Amy laugh. She moved to her left and ran to Ty´s arms. He hugged her strongly like if it was the last time he would hug her.

Lou grabbed her cell phone and photographed them. “The first photo for the album” She showed them her hand with the phone. Amy turned her head to see the picture and stuck her cheek to Ty´s. With her wrist she cleaned the tears from her face. Lou took other photos and later passed it around for everyone to see.

After a while, Jack said “I don´t want to be a party pooper but tomorrow everyone´s got to work so I suggest you go to bed early.”

“Good night” Mallory said with a sleepy voice.

“Good night” Lou and Peter said.

“night” Amy added, and then Ty.

“We´re living too” Peter said.

“You coming with me?” Amy asked.

“Shore” Ty answered.

Chapter 20 - Living the life

It was almost eight in the morning. Wonder, the light brown horse was ready to start with his treatment, but also starving. He moved his head from right to left and then onwards. Fortunately, his owners were able to live Wonder for some more weeks, they had to be patient if they wanted their horse fixed since all the things Amy had gone through lately, not only bad things but also wonderful.

Wonder saw Jack closing the door of the barn and walking to him. A morning air filled the stable. He took a bag of food and threw some in to a bucket. He gave the bucket to Wonder so that he could eat. “Here you´ve got”

Amy was staring at the mirror of the bathroom of her room. Her arm and her head ware leaning in the bluish transparent tile of the toilet´s wall. In her white pajama’s tank shirt her eyes contrasted. Amy realized that she had been standing there for almost ten minutes. She dressed up like usual, a jean and a shirt. When she finished, Amy checked out if Ty had woken up.

Ty was still sleeping. The curtain was half open, letting the sunlight in and also to Ty´s face. Amy closed it and looked at him with a smile. Then she saw the clock - “It´s time” - She rushed to the kitchen.

Amy was seating in the kitchen eating some just baked bread. The morning sun shined and gave a warmer termperature to the atmosphere. She giggled. This day was going to be perfect, starting by an hour of working with Wonder, the most active horse she had ever treated. Although it was sometimes tiring to work with animals, Amy loved it and enjoyed it. Required the perfect balance of patience, faith and trust in the horse.

One of the most frightening things was about to come: Telling dad about the big scoop. - Amy´s head rested in her hand while she thought.- And last but not least, today she was going to tell Soraya, Ashley and Caleb. - She smiled.-

Hopefully, at the end of the day, she would have a time for Ty, maybe to talk about their future, the wedding and further more. Amy looked at her hand with the golden ring and then looked at the clock, ten minutes passed.

Mallory was in the barn mucking Cooper stall, first thing in the morning. She was 

wearing a white tank shirt and a red hoodie. She smiled at she remembered about last night. Mallory wasn’t thinking about the newlyweds, apart from that, last night happened something more. Yesterday, when she was about to fell asleep, her cell phone rang, it wasn’t one of her parents calls, neither from her high school friends, it was Badger’s. They talked about half an hour, And when she was about to hang up, he told her the most amazing thing he had ever said: he was returning home, and soon. Mallory’s heart dropped she started daydreaming about his homecoming.

Chapter 21

Ty was heading outside. He saw Amy in the open arena and waved then smiled. Amy laughed and waved back. Ty ran to his classic blue truck. “I´m late” he yelled to her.

“Have a nice day” she yelled back.

“You too” he giggled as he got inside the truck.

“He´s back to normal” she thought. He was going to university again, it was relieving.

Wonder ran in circles full of energy. “Does he fly?” Amy asked to herself. She couldn´t understand why this horse was afraid of running in races, he could run perfectly well there. “He must be in a lot of pressure when he competes, many horses are.” Amy made him stop and touched his nose gently. Wonder took a deep breath, the miracle girl felt it in her hand. “Good boy” she whispered.

It was time to try something different, Amy thought. She made the horse follow her to the barn. There, she saddled her loving horse Spartan, and took both horses to the open field. Wonder often looked at Spartan who sended him a warning sight. As result, he answered bad. Amy realized the negative attitude from both horses and said “Hey! You two stop it!” She decided not to pay much attention and continued her way to the open green field.  The grass had grown these past few months. The last time Amy had been there with someone else, was once she went with Ty, before he left mysteriously to see his father. Since then, she had been there alone to see the peaceful atmosphere.

She remembered the exact same scene that had happened four maybe three years ago. It was very clear, like it had taken place yesterday. It was one of those winter snowy and wintry days. They had pulled out to the place in Ty´s blue truck, and they were walking in the floor which was covered with a white blanket of snow. “If I only knew we would be together” she thought. A smile appeared in her light-colored face. Amy´s hair blew and covered her eyes; she pulled it back behind her ear. It was time to return back.

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Jessica, Lou and Peter´s baby, was happily eating her breakfast. It was the most amazing thing that had happened to them after getting married. There was just some details that Peter had to live with, he had to apply for a job the soonest possible. The previous week, he had looked for jobs in the internet, he found some that were applicable for his carrier of company runner. There was not much time, he couldn´t live jobless any longer. Peter grabbed his jacket then said  “Honey I have to go somewhere I´ll be back soon”

“Everything Ok?” Lou asked.

“I´ll tell you when I come back, I just want to see how things work out”

“Peter” Lou warned.

He couldn´t resist her wife´s worried look so he spilled out everything he had to say.

Tim was galloping in the Alberta mountains near the wide river that flowed by. He went through a wide path in the woods. Tim hurried up a bit and grabbed his cowboy hat before it flew from his head. His horse nudged and followed his order of quicking up. He heard something coming from the trees, he moved his back backwards and pulled the rains. Tim saw a dark black horse and then, was obvious who was. Amy, Spartan and Wonder. Her daughter smiled when he saw her dad. “Taking a shortcut uh?”

“Hi dad!” Amy got down of the horse and hugged him. 

Chapter 22 

“Honey” “How are things?” Tim asked.

Amy repeated the question in her head. It was almost like her father already knew what she was going to say. She looked into his eyes questioning what he had just said. Then turned her head to the left and looked for the right words in her mind. Her heart beat quickened, Amy stepped back, trying not to be so close to him, he didn´t need to know she was nervous about his so promising question. “He´s just my father”, she thought. “Why am I acting like this?” -What Amy was afraid of her father´s reaction- She was going to get married at the age of eighteen, almost nineteen, there was a big chance of her father over reacting, also, he´s mood was quite unpredictable.

“Everything´s…alright” “Are you coming for lunch? Who knows maybe I have to cook, Lou will sure forget about it, she´s too busy planning the future of her baby and for the dude ranch” She whispered when she said “too busy”

He half-smiled after listening to his daughter´s comment and thought for a second. “Yeah, sure, I´ll be there for lunch” He changed of topic “Oh! Amy I almost forgot to tell you, yesterday one of my people found some wild mustangs, seems that two of them where shot, they have serious injuries” “Do you think you can ask that vet of yours..?”

“Oh” She worried. “Scott?” “Sure, I´ll talk to him” Then she remembered “I´m afraid he went to Calgary for the week, but anyways, Ty can..” She couldn’t finish her sentence, because Tim interrupted.

“Know what? It’s alright, I’ll find someone else”“Wha..?” She stuttered. “Ty is in his studies but he has been working with Scott, he may not be a definite vet but maybe he can help”“No, no that isn´t the problem..”

“Oh come on, what´s the deal with him?”

“I´m late” he added. “See you at lunch” He kissed her forehead. He rushed to his horse and blinked at her. Tim left her daughter standing there waiting for an answer.“What was that?” She yelled “At least tell me where do you have them?” Amy shouted louder. “What the heck´s going on” She thought. One of the things Amy didn´t like was being left with no answers. She looked at her horse and sat on it´s saddle. Wonder accompanied them. When she was going back home, she thought about her father and about Ty, if there´s was anything to worry about._________________________________________

It was almost one o´clock, Mallory was helping Amy to set the table for lunch. Amy passed some clean plates to put on the table, she stared at her. Something was not right, Mallory hadn´t even said a word since they started cooking lunch, Amy asked her some questions but Mallory jus answered with Yes or No. “What´s going on?” She asked and crossed her arms like a detective about to find out what the mistery is about.

“What are you talking about?” she raised an eyebrow.“That was the longest sentence you said in an about an hour” “Whatever it is…you can tell me” Those last words were difficult to pronounce for Amy, she wasn´t used to be the one to give advice usually people gave guidance and recommended her about choises in life, like Jack, Lou, Ty, Tim, Soraya and Ashley,- but she never did to others.

Mallory took a deep breath and looked at Amy “Badger” “Last night, we talked on the phone, he said he was coming back”Amy nooded. “That´s great!” “You miss him, don´t you?”“I do…and a lot,..although” she stopped.Amy tried to understand her. It was not as easy as she did with horses. “Although…”“It´s strange, but I think I don´t want him to come” She said with a sad face.

When she said that she saw something they both had in common that she didn´t know from before. “I know how you feel, I´ve been through that” “Remember when Ty left me some years ago, to visit his father” “I was confused too” “I didn´t know what to do about him or what to feel, I had many feelings for him, but I was furious when he left without telling anything. I let the anger trespass the love. So I moved on, I started getting rid of those memories about us that made me cry. It felt right at that moment, but when he returned, everything got messy. He found other girl and I was in the middle” “It took me that long to figure out I loved him” “Mallory, it´s your time to choose now. If you wait as much as I did, if not it might hurt Badger”

Mallory hugged her. “Thank you, thank you” “Why does it have to be so complicated?”

Amy smiled “ Yes, tell that to me and Ty” “No, not anymore”

Chapter 23

The sky was dark, full of twinkling stars. It was the best night in the whole summer, it was not too hot and not to cold. Perfect. Amy and Ty were lying on the grass, surrounded by bushes and trees. They were looking hypnotized at the magnificent sky. They had had a picnic before, some sandwiches with marmalade and some others with cheese and jam. Ty´s bike was lying in one of the trees, it seemed like it had disappeared in the dark night.Amy´s head was over Ty´s shoulder, wrapped in his arm. Between them, everything was happiness and new beginnings.Ty turned his head and looked at Amy. She smiled and waited for him to talk. “What do you have in mind.. about all this thing?”“This thing?”“You know this stuff” He scratched his chin.“How is it called?” She joked. “Say it!” She laughed.He giggled and said “Our weeedding”She laughed when she saw how nervously Ty spilled his words. “Oh come on!” “With more confidence?” She whispered as she puched him softly in his ribs.“It just sounds strange” “Can´t believe this is happening” He said looking to the South. He´s green eyes lightened up when he looked at Amy’s smile. He had not seen it for a long time.

“Neither I” “But I love it” Amy added to his comment.“I love it more” He faced her.Amy giggled “So, say it” She said breaking the silence.“But this time together” He warned.So, they both repeated “Our wedding” like the chorus of a famous song.“Sounds so good” Amy added and kissed his upper lip.“Couldn´t agree more” He kissed her forehead for some seconds.____________

Lou´s baby, Jessica, cried loudly, wrapped in Peter´s arms. He swang her left to right to calm her. “shh…You´re going to be ok” he whispered. Jess moved her hands and legs, she was exhausted but couldn´t fell asleep.Lou also tryied to calm her, she gave her the pacifier and started singing a lullaby that her mother used to sing to her when she was young. Two minutes later the baby girl was sleeping happily and peacefully in her small pink bed. It was a relief. Hopefully, she wouldn´t wake up in some more hours, time to rest.“That worked out pretty well” Peter commented to Lou.“Yeah” “It worked last time too” She looked sweetly at Peter. “This was a song my mum used to sing to me when I was only some years old. It surely has some kind of magic” She remembered.Peter passed his arms around her waist. “Good night honey” He kissed her cheek softly.__________

Jack finished reading his book. He closed it and took his glasses off. He realized everyone was peacefully sleeping, so he quietly turned off the lights and walked to his room. Jack opened the door of Amy´s room and said goodnight to both of them, Ty and Amy. Then, did the same with her other granddaughter. Jack didn´t forget Mallory, he said “Good Night” too.

Jack Bartlett sat in his bed with a smile on his face – he felt like he had done a good job at raising up those children-.________________________________

Ty was leaving University with a huge pile of books, now heading home in his blue truck. He saw the light of the sun in the blue summer sky. He smiled and drove carefully to Heartland.

The highway was full of emptiness. Suddenly, he heard something coming from the opposite side of the road. Ty kept on driving; he felt the noise closer and closer.

There was a red mini van parked in one side of the road. Next to it there were two guys grabbing violently a girl from her shoulders and arms. The girl was tall and had a long blond hair. One of the guys was forcing her to get into the van, while the other, -bold guy with an piercing on the left ear and  other on his lip- spoke rudely in her ear to hurry up.

Ty´s heart dropped. It couldn´t be true. He was unsure of whom that girl was, he couldn´t see her face, but she looked just like one person he knew and loved. Automatically, he stopped the car and ran to where the guys were.

He punched the tall guy in the face. The guy turned around and saw Ty´s face. His eyes filled with anger glanced at his partner, the pierced one. He also turned around, and when he did this movement, the girl turned too.

Ty´s eyes opened bigger, and he stared at the girl with a questioned look. She wasn´t Amy, instead, she had different eyes and also different face. He didn´t predict a punch in the eye by one of the guys. On the floor, a little confused looking at the ugly face that had just hit him in the face Ty rejected from interrupting them. He glanced at the girl, who was confused and shocked. Then realized that she was not that blond, she had light brown hair and her eyes were green, like he´s. She was slim and tall, almost eighteen years old. Dressed in a pair of dusty jeans, black shirt and red zipped sweater which left her right shoulder naked as a consequence of the bad treatment she had received.

She was terrified and dirty; it was difficult not to realize that she had been in those conditions for days. Some tears fell from her eyes and decorated her bloody cheeks.

Ty stood up and punched the guys more than once. He also received some, they were professionals in this. He had nothing to lose, it was his time to help someone who really needed him.

One of the men fell unconscious next to one of the doors of the van. He bit the other one after receiving an aggressive smash in the stomach. He checked inside the van in case there was someone else waiting for him. There was only a gun left on the driver´s seat. He took it and run outside.

Devastated, Ty looked at the girl and said “Come on, let’s go”

Amy had finished working with Wonder, he was now returning home with his owners. The following day, a new horse would come to receive her help. She was waiting for Ty in the front porch, Amy couldn´t wait to see him.

She saw Ty´s truck coming and stood up.

Ty got out of the truck all bloody and physically hurt, with a hand of his stomach. He was about to say something, but his mouth couldn´t move.

Amy spoke “Ty! What happened?” She ran to him.

Ty almost fell into Amy´s arms. She wanted to cry when he saw Ty like that.

“I´m ok” He barely could speak. “Sh…She needs help” He stuttered when he realized all the problems this could bring to him.

Amy looked at the car, then walked and opened the door of the truck. She saw a girl crying, all bloody and full of scars. Amy didn´t know what to say or think about this. To calm her, Amy said “Just..Just wait we´ll get you help”. She felt a pain in her neck, without knowing if it was because of Ty, the girl or maybe Ty and the girl. Her head exploded with questions, the most difficult was “What should I do?” She turned and saw Mallory who was watching everything. “Call grandpa! Now!”

Mallory ran to the house and two seconds after,  all the people at home including Caleb who was working, were helping them.

Amy´s eyes filled with tears as she heard the girl asking for Ty´s name, insecure because she didn´t knew where she was or who those people were. Amy saw Ty and tried to clean all the blood from his face. “You´re going to be fine” She cried as she saw Ty´s painful eyes. 

Chapter 25

Ty slowly opened his eyes. He couldn´t remember where he was, he was somewhere quiet dark, with not even a single light on. Ty sat down quickly and felt the cloth of a blanket with his left hand. Trying to clear his eyes with the other hand, he found out that he was on Amy´s room. He tried to mobilize his tired body, but most of it hurt, so he found out that it was not such a successful mission trying to stand up.

Ty opened the door and closed it behind him. He lifted his body over the wall with his hand.

In the living room, Amy, and Jack were sitting together, Amy´s head over his shoulder and Jack´s arm sweetly laid around her. The flames from the fireplace gave the room a familiar environment.

Ty felt guilty about interrupting them, so he waited a while before speaking. “Hey” He said.

“Ty” Amy whispered. “Had a nice sleep?”

“Hm..yes” Ty said confused scratching his head.

Amy giggled when she saw his sleepy face.

“What?”

“Nothing” She laughed.

“Do you know how much time you´ve been sleeping?”

“No” He answered fastly.

“Almost ten hours” She laughed.

“Oh..” “I don´t even remember when I went to sleep”

“It´s a long story” Jack added who was seating next to Amy.

“A long story?”

“Yeah” “A long story, I imagine is the one you have to tell me” Amy remembered. “The girl..” She tried to remember him.

Ty took a few seconds to think “Yes, sorry I forgot..” He sat down in the sofa next to them. “I was driving here, as usual, after leaving University when I found two guys threatening a girl, - who at that moment, don´t know why looked just like you,- and..”

“Just like me?” Amy questioned.

“Yes.. I was stupid enough to get on their way.” “I decided to finish what I had started” He made a stop in between.  “Then I got here with the girl and after that, I don´t remember anything else”

Jack listened carefully at Ty while he thought. “So what are you planning to do with this girl?” He asked.

“Certainly, I don´t know” Ty answered.

Amy bit her lip, she didn´t know what to do.

“Wait a second. Where is the girl now?” Ty asked.

“A doctor came to see her some hours ago, said she was fine. She had some scars, some cuts, but anything that serious” Amy added. “We gave her a cabin of the dude ranch”

Ty looked at the clock. It was almost five o´clock in the morning.“I should talk to her when she wakes up” He decided.

“Do you know her name is Lucy?” Amy looked at him smiling.

“And she is really scared; she only wants to see the famous Ty who saved her” Jack warned.

Ty nudged. Then looked at Amy, who was staring at her engagement ring. He waited until she looked back at him. Ty smiled, then she smiled back.

Chapter 26

It was Saturday morning. Amy, after sleeping some hours, was working in the round open with Stinky, a new horse. He had just arrived to Heartland. This guy had black legs and brown body, his long mane was light-brown, mixed with black locks of horse hair. Stinky was homeless and wasn´t yet prepared to be ridden.

Amy watched him run in the ring, and thought to herself what a beautiful horse Stinky was. He was hundred percent wild, but also good with people. “If he hadn´t been a horse, I would probably date him” She laughed.

Stink’s mane moved wildly in the air. He rose up his head, stepped back and lifted up his two front legs, the horse prepared to do something breathtaking, completely not-normal.  He saw one of the fences in the round open and with impulse jumped it. Full of excitement, from the other side of the wooden fence, Stinky stared at Amy.

Amy was extremely shocked by the recent movement of the horse. She looked into his deep dark eyes which were lightening up, waiting for her answer. Amy wasn´t certain about what to do, so she climbed the door of the open arena and stayed standing up next to the gorgeous animal. With her hands, she touched his forehead while he stood still. Amy giggled softly and Stinky replied in a nod. “Good boy” She whispered.

Jack was standing in the front porch of his house. He was dressed in a bottomed shirt and typical blue jeans.  Today, Lisa was returning to Heartland after some weeks in France, managing her business with horses. She had phoned him some days ago, and according to Jack, Lisa was supposed to come back by today. With his coffee in one hand, he waited for some minutes, watching his family ranch and also admiring himself in how good he had managed to keep it the way it had always been.

Suddenly the phone rang inside the house, so he walked into it to pick it up.

Lou, who was in the kitchen, was talking in the phone. Jack saw her, and immediately realized whom she was talking to when he heard her say “dad”.

“How are things around there?” Tim asked remembering the talk he had had with Amy few days before.

“Good” Lou replied.

“I thought you would be home for lunch yesterday.’’ Lou added.

“Oh, sorry honey, I couldn’t make it” “Hum..and how´s Amy doing?”

“She´s fine, pretty excited about her wedding plans, also horses, you know”

“Wedding plans?” He asked confusingly.

“Yes, Her and Ty...You knew it right?”

Tim was upset enough for not to talk “It´s getting late, I have to hung up, I´ve got some things to do..”

“Oh Ok” Lou said, also confused.

Ty was walking to the dude ranch, with his hands in his pockets, after having a good rest and a good bath. For some reason he decided to walk instead of going by car, perhaps to have more time to reflect about last night, or to think how to talk to Lucy. In some minutes, he was standing in the door step of her cabin, in his black jacket. Ty knocked the door more than once, until she opened it.

Lucy seemed to be better than last night, now she was cleaner; her brown hair looked flossy and quite wavy. She had put a jean mini skirt and a blue tank shirt that contrasted her green eyes. She also had a piercing in her navel which was barely visible. That completely changed her look of ‘good girl’.

Ty was the one to start speaking.

Chapter 27 – Tell me why

Lucy glanced at Ty and closed the door of the cabin behind her. She didn´t know him, but felt that he felt the same way she did. It was challenging to talk, but they found the way to start.

“Should we go for a walk?” Ty required. It was good for her to hear his voice again since the moment they arrived to Heartland.

“That would be good” Lucy agreed. She couldn’t think of a better way to begin.

They walked some meters and left behind them the small wooden cabins of the dude ranch. Lucy had her arms crossed over her chest due to the cold breeze from the morning air that hit them. Meanwhile, Ty walked slowly and silently with his hands on his pockets. The rhythm of their footsteps broke the beautiful silence of the country side.

Out of the blew, Ty broke the ice, and said “I don´t do this all the time”

“What?” She questioned.

“I´m not used to saving people..I’m not a type of Superman, or anything alike”

“I was lucky” Lucy giggled.

Ty smiled. “Right”

“Thank you” She added. “You don´t know how much!…Thank you…Thank you for saving me”

“You´re welcome” “Lucy, right?” He pointed at her.

“Yes” “And you´re Ty” She pointed at him.

“That´s right” He smiled while he swayed.

They had a moment of silence. Then Lucy spoke “You must have a lot of experience in fighting and punching..” “I saw you kick those guy´s ass”

“Maybe a little” He laughed at her comment.

“Are you kidding me?”

“ok…ok” He laughed “Maybe I´m good at that” He admitted.

“I was watching” “At first, the fight wasn´t that equal” “They were going to kill you” She giggled.

“Thanks.. a lot for that” He doubted.

They laughed at each other and almost couldn´t stop. Lucy gave him a soft punch in the arm in a friendly way.

Amy was riding Spartan through the small forest next to the river. She stopped when she heard a laughter coming from somewhere really close. Amy rode him through some bushes, and then, some meters down saw Ty and the girl, Lucy, joking, laughing happily together.

Spartan nudged and laid his head downwards. Amy softened the reigns and contemplated the scene. Suddenly, a pain filled her chest and then reached her neck, making her shiver. She tried to calm down, breathe in and out a couple of times. The pain also reached her heart which started to beat fast. Amy inhaled and exhaled air once more, she tried to keep her composure. Each word they laughed about hurt her.  She gulped, she felt really sensible, like if any single word would hurt her.

A cold crystalline tear dropped from her eye. She drove Spartan backwards, and tried to clean it. As fastest as possible, Amy left the place, and galloped back home with that rock in her neck that informed her that she was about to break in tears.

Amy felt a symphony in her head. Her conscience played the song -The Only Exception-. The lyrics filled her head and the sound of the instruments echoed in her brain.

It was a feeling of disappointment, and sadness that made her tears fall and also made her heart hurt like a stone.

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Author´s note: Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think about it! I love reading your comments!

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