Resolutions – Part 1

Chapter 1

Slipping into bed after dousing the light, Amy nuzzled up to Ty as was her habit. She loved the smell of him; the feel of him; the warmth of him as she settled in to her familiar position of her head nestled into the crook of his shoulder and her arm draped across his chest.

They had ridden Spartan and Harley to one of their favorite spots in the mountains, ate lunch on the bank of a lake, and talked about their future hopes and desires. She thought of the dreams they shared and discussed while lying on a blanket.

A house of their own

Children

Converging his vet work with her behavioral healing of horses

It doesn't get much better than this she thought. I'm so happy!

"Thank you for a wonderful day. The trail ride, the picnic; it was perfect," she whispered.

Ty only smiled, staring lovingly at his beautiful wife in response.

"I love you so much," Amy breathed after leaning in to kiss him.

"I love you too."

Ty continued to stare into Amy's eyes for what seemed like minutes.

"What?" inquired Amy softly.

"You don't know what you do to me."

"What do I do to you?" Amy teased.

"For one, you knock me over with your smile."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I love your smiles; especially the ones meant only for me. But even more than your smiles, I love your touch."

"My touch?"

"Yes, your touch and what it does to me. And it goes back to nearly the beginning."

"The beginning…what do you mean?"

"Do you remember shortly after I came to Heartland, Jack invited me on a roundup?"

"Sure, I remember."

"You gave me something right before Jack and I left."

Pausing, her brow furrowed in thought, Amy suddenly exclaimed, "the hat!"

"That's right, the cowboy hat. You took off the baseball hat I was wearing and put on the cowboy hat you had brought out. I asked you, What's that for?

And you said,

So you won't look like a total dork on the roundup.

"And then you did something for the first time. Do you remember what?"

Amy thought back to those early days with Ty 10 years ago but couldn't think of what she had done that so clearly had made its mark on Ty.

"I can't remember"

"I do; I'll never forget. And I remember every other time since then."

Amy mused further but couldn't grasp what Ty was referring that was so ingrained to his memory.

"Tell me," Amy said quizzically.

Ty looked intently at Amy a moment before responding.

"You reached out and touched my arm."

A smile began to form at the corners of Amy's mouth.

"And a warmth rushed through me and I knew for the first time, though I wasn't sure exactly yet how, you were someone special to me."

Amy's smile crept up a little further.

"Do you remember what happened after Jack and I got back?"

Amy pondered a moment…"We all had breakfast and Lisa, Soraya, Ben, everyone."

"After that."

Ty watched as Amy racked her brain trying to remember before he helped her with, "the colt…"

Recognition of the colt was evident on Amy's face but it shared space with uncertainty of what else Ty was referring to.

"After breakfast, I joined you out by the pen where the colt was with its mother. We talked about you seeing your dad and I was holding the scuffed up cowboy hat you had given me.

"What happened to Grandpa's hat you asked?"

"It's mine now, he gave it to me, I said as I put it on."

"You straightened it on my head, laughed and rested your hand on my arm before saying, looks good on you, while giving me one of your "my" smiles."

"I'll never forget that moment. Your touch was even more electric than the first one."

Amy's smile was now complete as she remembered back to that moment. Up to now, she had no idea it had impacted Ty so much.

Ty began to gaze at Amy even more intently.

"Then there were the touches after we became a couple."

"The first was after we returned from the fishing cabin when we said we loved each other. We were sitting on the couch, we kissed and you ran your fingers through my hair. You've done it other times over the years as well. I remember every one and how you made me feel."

"You've held my hand, rested your head on my shoulder, wrapped your arms around me…but there's something you do I love and remember above all others."

Pausing to see if Amy knew what he meant, Ty caressed her cheek.

Amy looked at Ty with all the love in her eyes she could garner but couldn't hide her lack of recognition.

"I have to tell you what this one is too?" Ty smiled while feigning annoyance.

"Ty, I'm sorry I can't remember but I love this. Please tell me."

As he caressed her cheek again, Ty said, "When you take my arm."

"Really?" said Amy with a surprised exclamation on her face.

"Yes, I love it when you take my arm. It's something that's just ours"

"The first time was when we were walking away from Brock and his dad's horse on our way to my trailer. You asked if I had any plans while taking my arm."

"You took my arm again while we were walking along the river the night I proposed."

"You took my arm the first time we looked at the ranch we thought of buying."

"You took my arm while walking me into the house to wash my jeans."

"When we walked the ranch again after you regained your eyesight."

"And again after checking on Caleb's poisoned horse on our way to the barn when Georgie went missing."

Tears began to form at the corners of Amy's eyes as she realized how Ty had remembered all these seemingly inconsequential events in their lives because they were important to him.

Because she had taken his arm.

"You see Amy, there are so many little things you do without thinking that makes me feel special and loved. That's one of the reasons I know we were meant to be together."

Tears now freely rolled down her cheeks as Amy tenderly took her husband's face in her hands to kiss him passionately. After enthusiastically returning her affection Ty wrapped his wife in his arms and held her with all the love he possessed. As they relaxed in the closeness of one another, they began to drift off into a brief slumber until a misplaced sound emanating from the barn below disturbed Amy's bliss.

"Ty, what was that?"