"Wait at the top for me Georgie." Lyndy called out as Phoenix pulled out ahead up the hill.
"I'll wait Lyndy, don't worry. Ease up Phoenix, Spackle's not as big as you are."
Spackle was Lyndy's new Quarter Horse Pony, black and white in equal measure he was by all accounts a beautiful paint, the foal of two barrel racing champions that Casey found and bought for her 5th birthday.
"Whew, good boy Spack" Lyndy said stopping alongside Georgie and reaching down for the water bottle that bounced on Spackle's saddle. "Here Georgie have some" she said after taking a sip.
"Getting used to riding him Lyndy ?"
"Oh yeah, Spack's great, Grandma Casey said he can do barrels and poles soon."
"She was very happy when she found him for you."
"I love Grandma Casey and Grandpa Tim."
"We all do sweetie, ready to go on ?"
"Let's go a little faster Georgie."
"Ok, ready to canter, no galloping yet Ok, I know he's a pony but much bigger than Monty."
"Ok Georgie and now TJ can ride Monty."
"TJ can ride Monty with help, he's still very young so you have to be careful when you help."
By all accounts Lyndy was an amazing rider who not only had a natural seat but showed remarkable intuition in handling, transferring command to her legs easily as if she'd done if for way longer than her age would account for. She was also fearless of them and had at even this early age an affinity, a gift or specialness with them.
"Poppa's teaching him, every day, I help sometimes."
"He loves being on a horse just like you."
"There's our new house Georgie, it's almost ready."
"Moving in a couple weeks, are you excited ?"
"Yup, Momma said we can just walk over to visit now, or ride my bike and soon Spack on my own."
"Not before your folks say it's Ok Lyndy."
"Oh sure I know that."
It had taken longer than they had thought to get the house done but it was. Everyone chipped in their time in helping the contractor get done. The interior was quickly being finished and as far as Georgie knew the appliances would be transferred from the loft to the house during the week to be hooked up. Almost there. Jack and Mitch had cut the road to join the house with the main entrance to Heartland. It wouldn't be that much of an extra chore this way to include the new house in snow clearing, a huge concern come Winter.
"Looks like GG and Grandma are walking over to help."
Jack and Lisa saw Georgie and Lyndy come over the rise and set out to meet them at the barn.
"She rides just like Amy did." Jack said watching the two make there way slowly towards the barn.
"She loves that horse, I still can't believe what Casey paid for him."
"Not all that much considering that horse's pedigree Lis, the foal of two national champions."
"Well I've never seen a more handsome paint Jack, that's for sure."
"And the perfect size for her."
"Hi Grandma, Hi GG" Lyndy called out waving.
The watched as Lyndy stopped Spackle and patted his neck. "Good boy Spackle, now stand Spackle" she said as she pulled her leg over and dropped smoothly to the ground. "What a good boy" she said reaching into her pocket for a treat.
"Can you help with my saddle GG ?"
"I sure can sweetheart."
"And I'll help you brush him out Lyndy."
"Thanks Grandma."
One of the things Amy and Ty had insisted on was that the tradition of calling Lisa by her first name was not going to happen with their kids. The family strove to make sure this came about. Rather than anything elaborate they decided that Grandma would be fine and both Lisa and Jack were more than fine with that. When TJ came along that tradition was continued. As a matter of fact around the homestead Casey was also Grandma and they sorted it out between them. Both Lisa and Casey were perfectly fine carrying the same name. Jack was still GG across the board.
"Where's Momma and Poppa and TJ ?" Lyndy asked helping Jack wipe down her saddle before moving on to Spackle.
"Poppa is with Grandma Casey and Grandpa at the rodeo grounds looking at horses and Momma is in town with TJ. They'll be here for dinner."
"Soon we'll be right over the hill GG and we can see each other all the time."
"We sure can sweetheart and we can go riding after school."
"When is school GG ?"
"Kindergarten starts in September sweetheart, a couple months away, we have all summer first."
"Is Poppa going away in the summer ?"
"I don't know if anything's settled yet Lyndy, we just have to wait but he won't be gone too long."
"I know, momma misses him when he goes."
"Not you ?"
"Me too."
"Well you both love your Poppa so that's understandable. It's Ok to be a little sad sometimes."
A light rain had started when they were in the barn and after stalling Spackle and Phoenix they walked over to the ranch house where they settled in the living room at a small fire Jack set to chase away the rainy chill. Georgie excused herself to work on college applications. She was applying for the same 7 year Vet Program that Ty and Cassandra had attended. It certainly wasn't a lock but with Scott and Cass's recommendation and her work with the nature preserve and the clinic along with her grades which had been good she was hopeful.
Lisa sat with Lyndy and read a book with her, Lyndy had been getting better and was making and sounding out more and more words. Jack sat reading the latest copy of Alberta Angler when they heard the familiar chirp of a truck passing the front gate. A new security feature they had installed since the ranch had been invaded a few years earlier.
Jack walked over and out onto the porch and welcomed Tim and Casey.
"I thought Caleb was with you, we need to talk about the appliances getting moved."
"We rented a reach fork truck, nice and easy Jack, I think Wednesday."
"The rest of the loft is empty ?"
"All empty except the built ins and the appliances which are all disconnected. We'll lower them down to the hay truck, drive both to the house and haul them in. Caleb's picking up Cass and the baby and they'll be here soon. The vet truck Cass uses is in the shop for shocks."
"Come on in, and warm up a little" Jack said holding the door for Tim and getting a hug from Casey.
Lyndy came over to hug Casey and Tim when they sat and soon Lisa was in the kitchen getting ready to start dinner and Casey was sitting and continuing with Lyndy's reading. When the book was done Lyndy sat with Lisa's iPad and watched her favorite show Equus, Story of the Horse that had come out a couple years earlier. She loved watching the horses and listening to the story of how they came to Canada and about all the different kinds of horses in the world.
As dinner came closer the gate alarm chirped again and Casey glanced up to see the large burgundy pickup pulling up to the house.
"Lyndy, momma and poppa are here." Casey called into the living room.
"GG save my place please" Lyndy asked and Jack took the iPad and shut everything down.
Lyndy wandered into the kitchen just as the door opened and Cass walked in carrying a weepy little boy.
"Oh what's wrong ?" Lisa sang gently.
"He's cutting a second molar, he's miserable, you have one of those big frozen teething rings on the freezer door Lisa ?"
"Sure do, a couple actually, here you go TJ" Lisa crooned offering the ring by placing it gently agains TJ's hand. He took it instantly and Lisa watched it go straight into his mouth.
"Let me take him Cass" Lisa said sitting down.
"Here TJ, go to Grandma and momma will get some medicine." Cass said after kissing his head gently and walking over to the corner cabinet to extract a bottle of liquid Tylenol.
"What's wrong with TJ momma ?"
"New tooth sweetheart, he'll be fine" Cass said measuring out a dose and handing it to Casey. She leaned over a second later and wrapped her arms around Lyndy lifting her onto her lap as she sat.
"Georgie took me riding."
"I'm so glad sweetheart, how's Spackle ?"
"Perfect."
"There's my favorite girl" Caleb said walking in.
Lyndy broke free and ran over to get scooped up by Caleb who peppered her with kisses making her giggle.
"I saw the house today Poppa."
"Did you see your room ?"
Lyndy nodded and smiled "did you buy horses ?"
"We did buy a few promising quarters."
"Oh boy, I love new horses."
"I know but you remember the rules ?"
"No going near the new horses until you say so."
"Good girl."
"What news of the move Caleb ?"
"Picking up the truck Friday at 5:00 Tim, we'll move Saturday, all hands on deck and move in. We'll move and install the appliances Wednesday."
"Outstanding, I can't believe that's finally ending." Lisa said.
"Me too, I want to live at Heartland in my new room." Lyndy said smiling.
"We've all been waiting for that sweetheart" Jack said coming in.
He leaned over and kissed TJ. Cassandra stood to hug him which always took him back and made him smile. She amazed him, her love for Lyndy was without bounds and she poured love on her children. Amy and Ty had chosen these two well. Caleb and Lyndy were also a loving couple and Lyndy though Caleb walked on water.
Wednesday morning Caleb rode up to the barn where he saw Jack, Tim and the transport waiting.
"Sorry, I had to drop Lyndy and TJ's still suffering with that tooth."
"It's fine Caleb, I was just going to go up and pull the French doors."
"Stay Tim, I'll do it, you two should stay."
"I'm fine Caleb."
"I can't see that Tim, sorry, I've got it, you help down here."
"Let it go Tim, you don't have anything to prove." Jacks said softly.
"Go ahead Caleb, thanks."
Caleb nodded and headed upstairs. He took a deep breath before looking over, it had all been cleaned but he couldn't see it that way.
Jack's mind floated back to that day as he waited. They'd never really know what happened. They had an idea but no proof and no solid evidence of anything. After the loft had been ransacked apparently Ty became involved in something he never should have handled on his own.
Ty was found by Jim and his deputy, he was shot twice in the stomach and lay alongside his truck on an isolated road just past a cutoff bridge Lou had directed him to. He didn't last long enough for the ambulance to arrive and was pronounced DOA after 5 minutes. His last word, the only one he uttered was "Amy." Jim had no idea when Ty had been shot but it took him about thirty minutes to reach the spot from when the call came in.
Jack answered the house phone and listened to Jim before heading into the bedroom and grabbing his rifle.
He ran out onto the porch and saw Ty's truck that Amy had taken to the supermarket parked by the barn and ran towards it. Lisa ran out of the house then followed by Lou who held Lyndy.
"Stay with Lyndy Lou" Lisa called back following behind Jack. She stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Jack's cry of anguish and turned as Jim's Sheriff car sped down the road with sirens and lights flashing and pulling up to the barn. He asked Lisa to strand back and turned gun raised to the staircase up to the loft where he saw Jack sitting, both hands bloody.
Jim rushed past him and found what Jack had found. Amy lay next to the dining room table, her head in a pool of blood and lifeless. It looked as if she had been struck on the right side of her face and knocked down with her head smacking against the oak table on the way to the ground.
20 minutes later both scenes, by the bridge and the entire ranch was closed as a crime scene. Jim immediately called the RCMP as his department did not have the resources to handle a double murder. It took weeks to come close to any kind of spotty story line. They knew about the pouch from Mongolia and the flash drive. Both Ty and Amy's computers were gone as was their phones and the back up hard drive they had. Although the perpetrator had attempted to erase their cloud accounts the RCMP was able to get Ty's phone records and a copy of the file of names and numbers that they discovered.
The phone that the perpetrator apparently used was a throw away purchased for cash. They traced what names they could from the list and passed what they couldn't to several international agencies. As near as they could discover they knew who probably was responsible. The same poacher or gang of poachers Ty had dealt with in Mongolia. Unfortunately the Mongolian authorities proved useless. The suspect Daniel Schurer a German national who had been living in Mongolia for years was untouchable. He claimed he had never left Mongolia and there was no record of him doing it. Further, he had several witnesses who could swear to his being in the Gobi at the exact time the attacks were taking place in Canada. Everyone on the list claimed ignorance and had no idea why they were part of it. Although several names showed up as names to watch or some that were known to several international animal protection services as traders they could piece nothing solid together and there was no physical evidence. They had found two abandoned trucks just out of town a couple days after, they had been stolen in Vancouver and the plates from Calgary Int'l airport. Both vehicles were freshly washed and cleaned, there were no useable fingerprints.
Caleb and Cassandra had immediately stepped forward to care for Lyndy in the sad days that followed. The family was lost and bereft of spirit. Over time as all things do they moved on. Emptied the loft and did what they could to stand with Caleb and Cass. Scott stepped up and made Cass a partner, accruing to her the time Ty spent and that she spent filling in for him. It was the least he could do. It took over a year for the insurance companies to pay out the life insurance policies as they needed written guarantees from police authorities that Ty or Amy weren't privy to the crime. Ty and Amy's assets were written over in Lyndy's name and the insurance policy money directed to Cass and Caleb. They set up a college fund and when Jack informed them that he planned on Lyndy having the land originally promised to Amy and Ty, the O'dells decided that rather than buy a ranch over time they would build on the land and join Heartland.
Cass announced she was pregnant at Lyndy's third birthday party and when born they named their son Tyler Jackson, TJ in memory of their friend. Amy had always wanted to name a son Jackson.
Caleb and Jack started a stock company and began trading in horses to make up for the work Amy would do. Georgie did what she could to help but started at UC soon after.
They sat to a large family dinner in the new home on Sunday evening. Casey and Lisa had helped Cass prepare. As they all sat Caleb looked out over the family and begged for quiet. He then asked for a moment of silent reflection for friends and loved ones before grabbing the platter of chicken and passing it around.
The End