A/N: Merry Christmas! I'm sorry for the long wait, but 'tis the season for giving. And I give you the second chapter as a Christmas present. Thank you all who reviewed this story, it means so much to me that you like it.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Amy sat on Spartan just yards away from Ty's trailer, formerly Caleb's trailer, trying to work up the nerve to go in. Ty had come back from his classes only a few minutes ago and Amy nearly backed out at the sight of him. Harley must have spotted them from his corral because suddenly he let out an ear-splitting whinny at the sight of Spartan.

Now, she had to go in. Ty would have heard his horse, knowing Harley had seen someone. Amy cued Spartan forward and the gelding eagerly obliged, wanting to see his friend who was now pawing at the gate.

In that moment, the door to the trailer opened and Ty came out saying, "What's the matter, Harley?" He stopped when he saw Amy. Amy dismounted from Spartan, who was sniffing noses with Harley and tied him to the fence. "Hey," Ty said walking up to her.

"Hey," Amy replied after she finished loosening Spartan's cinch. "Harley looks good," she observed, watching Harley nuzzle Ty, trying to get his attention.

"Yeah," Ty said giving his horse a rub. There was another long, awkward silence, both wanted to break it, but not sure how.

"Okay, I don't know how to say this, but...ok, Soraya told me..." Amy trailed off, not sure how to say it. "Ty, do you have a sister?"

Ty's brow knitted in confusion as he studied her. "No, I don't," he answered. "What made you ask that? You know about my family."

"Well, Soraya said that this girl came to the diner and that she looked a lot like you," Amy explained walking over to the couch and sitting down. "She said her name was Rebecca Borden."

A small spark of recognition flashed in his eyes and he murmured, "Rebecca," He came and sat down next to Amy.

"Do you know her?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, she's my cousin," Ty answered, turning to look at Amy. "I haven't seen her since...my dad left. She three years younger than me, but but we were very close. Almost like siblings."

"How come you never mentioned her before?" Amy asked him.

Ty looked down and didn't speak for several minutes. "After my dad left, I didn't want anything to do with him. I mean, he left us, thinking of those memories of us and Rebecca's family wasn't going to bring him back."

"Ty, you were a little boy, you'd just lost your-"

"Amy, NO!" Ty snapped, standing abruptly and walking to the edge of the porch, resting his forearm on the support beam. He was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry."

Amy got up and came to stand next to him. "What about Rebecca?" she asked.

A small smile erupted on his face as he said, "It would be good to see her," He looked down at her as he took her hand in his own. Amy smiled up at him and rested her head on his shoulder. Ty kissed her hair, but Amy could feel that something wasn't right. There was something Ty wasn't telling her.

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"Who's getting so big?" Lou cooed to her six-month-old daughter as she lifted the baby up out of the crib. Holly made quiet noises and Lou laughed, "Are you trying to talk?" The baby just looked at her with big, brown eyes. Lou laid Holly carefully down on the changing table and began stripping off the baby's soiled pajamas.

Lou had just put on a clean diaper on Holly when the phone started ringing. "Mallory, can you get that!" Lou called to the sixteen-year-old, who she knew was in the kitchen doing homework, as she reached for a pink onesie. Holly took the opportunity to roll over and almost fall off the table. "Oh, no you don't," The phone was still ringing. "Mallory!"

The persistent ringing kept on.

With a sigh, Lou dropped the onesie, scooped up the diaper-clad baby and hurried out of the room. "Mallory, I asked you to get the phone," Lou said to the younger girl when she came into the kitchen. The girl didn't even look up. "Hello, Heartland Equestrian Connection," Lou answered the phone, while starting to bounce Holly, who had begun to whimper, on her hip. She tried to get Mallory's attention as she listened to the girl on the other end of the phone.

"Well, we don't usually rent out rooms to just—oh, your agent recommended us..." Lou started to go to to the oven after it beeped when Holly's whimpers turned into a full-blown cry. Losing her patience, Lou put the phone between her ear and shoulder and grabbed the first thing she could. A cap to one of Holly's bottles. And threw it at the oblivious blonde sitting at the table.

"Hey!" Mallory exclaimed, ripping out her earbuds and looking at Lou. Lou gestured for her to take Holly. Mallory did, glaringly, and took the baby to the nursery to dress her.

"I'm sorry, what did you-" Lou said turning her attention back to the girl on the phone. She grabbed a piece of paper and pen and started writing stuff down. "Yes, we do have an opening..."

"Absolutely, I'll see you then," Lou replied a few minutes later and hung up the phone. She looked up to see Mallory and a now-dressed Holly watching her. "We have a new guest coming to the dude ranch tomorrow. She's a new up-and-coming singer and songwriter. She's not sure how long she'd be staying, but I told her that wouldn't be a problem."

"Sounds good," Mallory said putting Holly in her bouncy seat and sitting back down at the table. "But did you have to write all over my geometry homework?" She held up the paper in question.

"Well, if I had some help, I wouldn't have had been too distracted to notice," Lou replied. "You're supposed to be my babysitter, but it seems like I'm doing twice as much work as I did before."

"I have to go anyways or I'm going to be late for dinner," Mallory said as she began to pack up her stuff.

"Wait, I thought you were eating here?" Lou asked.

Mallory gave her a pointed look and Lou turned toward the oven, where there was smoke coming through the door. Lou gasped and ran to get the dinner. While Mallory stuffed the last of her books into her bag. She took one last look at the geometry sheet. Her mouth formed an "o" when she read the name of the guest that was coming to the dude ranch tomorrow.

A/N: I'm sorry it's short, but I wasn't sure what I was going to put in this chapter. I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner this time. In the meantime, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays!

Oh, yeah, and please review.