CHAPTER 9

Her phone rang at 8:00am and Lou punched the accept button to answer Amy's call.

"Did you find him?" the younger sister asked.

"He was right where Cassandra said he would be." She replied.

Still confused, Amy wondered, "Well, what is the story, what does he think he is doing?"

"Listen sis….and HEY, what time is it over there? It must be 3:00am!"

"It is. I just couldn't sleep." She admitted.

"I got some answers, but I'm not sure you are going to want to hear them." Lou said. She was trying to think of the words that would best set up the conversation she had planned for her troubled sister.

"It's over, isn't it?" Amy said dejectedly.

"No, it isn't, not yet." Lou reassured her.

"Do you remember the arguments Peter and I had when we were living in Dubai?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, that was because I was being forced to live in a place I didn't want to be. With me following him so far away from home I felt that I was all alone, even with him there. Peter was so busy that he couldn't spend much time with me. Then, when I decided to come home and get the Dude Ranch going again, the arguments got worse and happened more often because I missed him so much, and I didn't think he felt the same about me, like….he could do without me just fine. What I am trying to say is that even if you love someone, like crazy love them, both of you have to be in the relationship or one of you is going to get hurt."

Amy listened quietly, tears running down her cheeks onto her hands holding on to the phone. She did not like where this conversation seemed to be going.

"What are you saying, Lou, that I'm hurting him?"

"No, it's not like that, Amy, exactly. It's just that when I was talking to Ty today, I saw a little of myself in him, like what I had experienced with Peter. You see, I never really talked about this to you, or anyone, but I was the one who felt I was going to be left behind, and I began to prepare for the big letdown, when everything came crashing down. I had almost given up and felt completely defeated. It was one of the most awful things I have had to go through." She confided.

"But you made it, didn't you?" Amy reminded her.

"Yes, we did, but it could have gone either way, honestly. Peter loved me and finally started to show me that he was committed to US, to me and him. If I hadn't believed he felt that way, it would have been over. I wouldn't have Katie, or Georgie, or any part of the life I have now. Everything would be completely different. Who knows what my life would be like?"

"OK, I get what you are saying, that Ty is feeling left behind and is having a rough time dealing with me being so far away, but do you really think that he believes I don't love him anymore? Do you believe I don't love him anymore?" Amy asked.

"I am sure that you do love him, but I am not the one you have to convince."

"Amy, what do you know about what the press is printing about you? Not just you, but you and Ahmed?" Lou continued.

"Everything I have seen has been great, Lou. The interviews have gone well, I think."

"You haven't seen all of the stories about 'The Next Royal Couple' have you?" Lou asked. "The stories are bad enough, but Ty has been keeping up with you and he handed me a stack of pictures showing you and Ahmed apparently having a hot new romance."

"W-what the hell do they say?"

"You need to watch yourself. There are people over there who are making a good living by promoting you as getting ready for the next Royal wedding."

Amy stammered as she tried to breathe.

"This is ridiculous, Lou. Ahmed and I get along fine, most of the time, but there is NOTHING going on as far as a romance is concerned." She fumed.

"You know what hurt Ty the most? Some of these are pictures of you without your engagement ring."

"I NEVER take this ring off! If there are pictures of me without it, they're fake."

Amy's mind was spinning in anger and fear at the same time.

"I could just wring somebody's neck over this, except I don't even know who these people are!" Amy told her sister, incensed. "And Ty, I can only imagine what is going through his head right now. He has these images that HE thinks is proof that I've abandoned him, like he doesn't even matter to me!"

They both sat silently listening into the phone, waiting to see if either of them had a plan to repair the damage.

"Amy, how do YOU feel about you and Ty? Are you having any doubts about what you really want? Do you think that life on some little farm, being a veterinarian's wife and working with horses like you did before will be enough now that you see what is out there for you, if that's what you choose to do? I can tell you that these are the questions Ty has been wondering about, and he is preparing himself to accept….if the answer is no."