It was supposed to be just a typical Monday morning. Amy woke up to her alarm like she always did and reached out to set it off, when she accidentally knocked off something from her night stand. A loud crash woke her up instantly.
"Wha–" she murmured as she sat up and rubbed her tired eyes. Looking on the floor, she noticed broken pieces of glass, a puddle of water and a rose lying in a one pile. It became clear to her the rose had been in a small vase and she had pushed it over the edge, therefore breaking the vase. "Oh, no…" She got up from the other side of the bed, so she wouldn't hurt her feet on the pieces, took her towel from the bed end and knelt down to stop the water from seeping into the floor panels. As the towel was covering the water, Amy took the rose and stared at it, wondering where it had appeared. Her gaze soon focused behind the rose, to her night stand, where she noticed a letter. The envelope read "AMY".
"Lou…" Amy walked out of her room, holding the letter and the rose. "What is this?"
"What is what?" her sister asked when she was adding salt to the porridge. She was busy making breakfast and looked over her shoulder quickly.
"It's… I think it's from… Ty", Amy said. Lou turned around and frowned from the mention of the name. "The rose and the letter. They were on my night stand when I woke up."
"What…?" Lou wondered. "But…"
"I know, it sounds crazy, but I recognize his handwriting", Amy said, swallowing dryly. Lou looked at her sister's face, noticing she was pale almost as she had seen a ghost.
"Well, does it say it's from him?" Lou asked.
"No, but… just something about it… I can't put my finger on it, it's just a feeling I get", Amy said and read the letter. "Good morning. You look so beautiful today, as usual. I wish I could wake you up with a kiss, but since I can't, here's a rose to make you feel special. This is the first day of the rest of your life. Just remember that. I love you. Always."
Lou walked to Amy and looked at the rose.
"That's so weird", she said.
"You didn't do this?" Amy made sure, holding back tears. Lou moved her eyes on her and shook her head.
"Of course not", Lou told her. "I didn't write this."
"And it's not from Peter either…?" Amy asked. "To you."
"I wish… But that's not Peter's handwriting. I can barely make out letters from anything he writes", Lou told her. Amy looked at the rose and felt a burn in her heart.
Amy went through the day, carrying the rose with her wherever she went and the thought of Ty wouldn't leave her alone. She kept the letter on her back pocket and checked it was still there every once in a while when she did mucking, riding and feeding. She wanted to pull it out and read it every hour, just to make sense of it all, but no matter how many times she did that, it still felt impossible.
The next morning, Amy woke up before the alarm and stared at the rose on her night stand. It was like it was mocking her, because she didn't know where it had come from. No one did. She had fallen asleep staring at it, trying to put the puzzle pieces together. It was on a vase so it wouldn't dry out even though it was not in the best condition anyway from all the dragging around. It was like she wanted to keep it alive just to keep Ty closer.
There was a knock on the door when Amy had not got up from the bed around her usual time.
"Amy…" Lou's voice said through the door. "You have a letter."
Amy jumped up and rushed to the door. She could feel her heart pacing fast on her chest, even if she didn't know what the letter was. But when she opened the door and met Lou's eyes, she knew.
"Is it…?" she asked as Lou handed it to her, without saying a word, almost like she didn't dare. This time it had stamp and her address on it. Amy took it and opened it with shaking hands. Same handwriting. She pulled the paper out from the envelope before she could even process it all. "I didn't know if you wanted it, but… it's up to you, not me."
"Morning. I hope it's a beautiful day when you get this", it read. "I wish I could be there to see and experience it with you. Maybe I can. I think Harley might be bored in his stall about now, so why don't you take him for a ride? Take him to the place you love the most. Oh, and if you didn't already guess, it's me, Ty. I love you. Always."
"What…? What does it say?" Lou asked when tears started streaming down on Amy's face. She worried about her sister.
"I-it says it's from him…" Amy tried to speak.
"What…? Are you sure–" the words died on her lips when she saw his name on the letter. Amy shook her head.
"What is this? Who's doing this to me?" Amy asked and tried to check the return address, but there was none. "This must be a cruel joke."
"Oh, Amy…" Lou said and hugged her tightly. Amy started crying even more and buried her face against her sister's shoulder.
Later that day, just before the sun was about to set on that February afternoon, Amy sat on top of a bale in the barn and stared blankly ahead, going through the words in the new letter. "If you didn't already guess, it's me, Ty." But how could it be?
She looked at Harley. The horse was eyeing her from his stall. He had not been the same since the last fall, not after Ty had went away. It didn't hurt so much to look at him anymore, but Amy preferred not to ride him since he was Ty's and somewhere deep inside she hoped Ty would come back and ride him again.
Amy wasn't sure what took over her, but she got up and got Harley's stack. She didn't care if the letters were from Ty because somehow it felt like they were, and she had not felt as close to him like this for months. Maybe it was a cruel joke but it made Amy miss him even more, and she knew she could stay closer to him just by doing what the letter had said.
It made sense, Ty would want her to do this.
So she decided to take Harley for a ride.
Amy rode him to Caleb's trailer, to one of her favorite places. A place with many good memories, shared laughs and kisses. She looked at it from the distance, knowing Ty was not going to come out, bundled up to his grey winter coat, his hair all messy and his stubble unshaven. But when the door opened, for a moment Amy thought it was him.
She urged Harley to move forward and rode up to the hill. When she reached the trailer, Caleb was closing the door and heading to his truck.
"Caleb", Amy said and Caleb turned around. He was almost startled.
"Amy… I didn't expect to see you here", he admitted and looked at her. She had not really left Heartland for months, not even to take long trail rides. Amy got down from the horse and that's when Caleb realized what she was doing. "You're riding Harley…?"
"Yeah…" Amy said, the word almost getting caught up her throat. "Listen… I have something to ask from you, Caleb."
"Okay. What is it?" he asked.
"You're not in a hurry, are you?" Amy wondered since he was next to his truck.
"No, I was just going to get some parts to the heating system from the town. It's broken - again. That damned thing. But it can wait. It's good to see you. How are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm fine", Amy lied. She reached inside of her winter coat and pulled out the letters. "Did you sent these?"
Caleb took the letters.
"It's okay if you did, I'm not mad at you, I just need to know", Amy asked. Caleb went through them and looked at her.
"Aren't these from… Ty?" he was confused.
"Well, so it seems, but… that one came yesterday and that one today, so…" Amy shrugged. Caleb stared at her. "I know, it sounds crazy."
"You're right. It does", Caleb nodded. "But I did not sent these", he handed them back. "I wouldn't do that to you."
Amy took them and nodded. She felt disappointed. Maybe it would have been hurtful to know it had been Caleb all along, but at least she would have known their origin. Now it was still a mystery.
"Is that why you…" Caleb gestured to Harley. Amy felt ashamed to be so easily tricked, but she nodded anyway. "I don't know, man. Just seems kind of cruel of them, if you ask me, whoever it is that did this to you. Just when things are starting to get back to normal… when you're getting back on your feet", he shook his head. "I'm really sorry, Amy."
"It's okay… I gotta go", she felt another wave of sadness washing over her, so she mounted Harley and turned him away, hiding her face behind her hair. "See ya."
"Yeah, see ya", Caleb said. He watched as she disappeared into the view.
Amy rode downhill, her view getting blurry from the tears. She let Harley lead her back to Heartland, wondering if she would get another letter tomorrow. Part of her didn't want to, but another part of her was curious.