Hello all! Sorry for the wait on this chapter! Life! It just gets in the way….
Anyway please let me know what you think, the reviews you leave keep me going!
~~~Heartland~~~
Ty and Amy mulled over the decision for two weeks, and then informed Clint that they were indeed in. Two months later the Bordens found themselves sitting at the dining room table surrounded by papers. "So much paper. It's like we have our own dead forest on our dining room," Ty commented as he sat down.
"On the bright side, I have perfected my new last name's signature," Amy said grinning and showing Ty the flourished 'Borden' with a smile and a wink.
"It's not that new anymore is it?" Ty teased.
"Well, I only got around to legally changing it last month and so I haven't really signed anything with it." Amy smiled. "But I am a pro now! Here, you need to sign, too." She pushed one pile of papers toward him. "I can't believe we are doing this. We have got to be crazy."
Ty looked up; he knew his wife had some doubts and had been skittish of the idea. He had told her all about his experiences in different places and how much Heartland had helped him. And she agreed that it was an opportunity to do a lot of good. "We don't have to do this. We can still back out," he said.
Amy shook her head. "It will be almost two years before we are fully approved; we have to get this grant and get the barn built. There are like a hundred things we have to do. I have to find someone to help me. Now that Caleb is back out on the road we have to find a stable hand. Grandpa can't keep doing everything, especially now that he doesn't even live here."
"I'll start asking around. If we can get someone hired, they can help Jack. Tim and I put in the training pens for your clinics at the Dude Ranch."
Amy smiled and said: "Well then you best hop to it."
~~~Heartland~~~
Lisa smiled as she lay curled up against Jack's chest. He was reading a farming magazine and she was filling out paperwork on her laptop. Soraya had been helping her out while she was incapacitated but Lisa had liked working with her so much she was drawing up a contract to make Soraya a part of her business. It was going to be a while before Lisa was fully recovered; her doctors were even discussing another surgery. Lisa had liked what Soraya had to say about business and horses, plus with her relationship to the Prince, Soraya's Middle-Eastern contacts where in invaluable!
Jack was dozing off and only appeared to be reading. His glasses where sliding down nose and Lisa smiled at the sight, so happy in this moment, despite everything that had recently happened to the family. Her phone rang and the couple jumped. Lisa clicked a button and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
Jack smiled as Lisa's face lit up. "Lidia! How are you? Where are you? I haven't talked to you in over a year."
Lisa's sister was many years younger and was frequently in remote places for long periods of time. She was a doctor, but had been living in remote villages of Africa for the past ten years helping set up medical attention for people in need. She was a free spirit and Lisa did not see much of her in the past. Jack had never even met her.
"You are? When? Tomorrow! Ben too? Oh, you're still not speaking. Okay." Lisa made a face at Jack as her sister rambled. Then it dawned on her that her sister had absolutely no idea of any of the recent events that had taken place in the past year.
"See you at the airport tomorrow. Love you too."
Lisa hung up the phone and turned to Jack saying: "Lidia is coming in tomorrow." And suddenly her eyes got big and she looked at Jack, wide-eyed. "Oh my gosh, Lidia is coming! Jack, she has no idea about anything that has happened in my life! I sold our home! I got married! Oh my gosh, the spare room! Jack, she has no place to sleep. The spare room is full of boxes!" Lisa pulled off the covers and got up and turned to Jack who was still lying comfortably on the bed. "Jack! Come help me! Our house is a disaster!"
Lisa hobbled in to the hall, her walking boot clumping on the hardwood floor. Jack only chuckled before following her.
An hour later Lisa was puttering around the kitchen in frustration. She had been laid up for so long that her entire house, especially her kitchen, had become a complete disaster. Everyone and their brother had been in her kitchen, except for her. This had resulted in everything being out of place. Lisa couldn't find anything.
"Jack, where on earth did my dish towels go?" she called out after a fruitless search.
Jack had been given the job of sweeping the floor with the Swiffer. He looked up from his task and stopped to look at his wife. "Dish towels?"
Lisa put her hands on her hips. "Yes, dish towels. The little tan ones with the chickens on them."
Jack perused his lips. "Well, I suppose they are in the closet with the rest of the towels."
"The bathroom towels?" Lisa asked.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, I didn't really think they belonged in the kitchen."
Lisa chuckled. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter, but I had them in this bottom drawer over here." She pointed to a corner of the kitchen. "I'm just going to leave them where you put them for now. They'll probably end up back there again anyway if I have this surgery," Lisa mussed referring to the potential of yet another surgery to fix her leg.
Jack wrinkled his nose at the thought of yet another surgery for his wife. "Do you think you'll need another one?"
Lisa sighed. "I really don't know. The doctors said we will know for sure next month when I go through another round of tests. We'll just take it one day at a time." She walked over and wrapped her arms around Jack, grateful for his support. She knew that tomorrow was going to be a long day with her sister coming. But the prospect of yet another surgery loomed so close that there was very little else she could think of.
~~~Heartland~~~
Ty and Amy had just eaten and the two now sat at the table doing more paperwork.
"So we will start with four kids?" Amy asked, reading through the document once more.
"Yeah. Now the contractor dropped off plains for our new barn. Once the grant comes through we can get started, but we need to get the plans submitted so that we can get approval," Ty said, playfully tapping Amy on the head with the rolled up plans.
Amy swatted at her husband and looked down at her list. "Okay. We need to call the social work people and schedule a time to go to one of their classes," Amy said, holding up a checklist, "and you and I need to get certified in first aid."
Ty looked at Amy and nodded. "Do we know when the interview process will start?"
Amy shook her head. "Clint still isn't sure," she replied.
Ty smiled. "We must be crazy!"
"But this will be the best thing we ever do. For the kids and the horses." Amy smiled and planted a kiss on her husband's cheek.
~~~Heartland~~~
"Ty, thanks so much for taking the kids this afternoon!" Lou said as she wrapped her little sister's husband in a hug.
"What else would I want to do on my day off but take my two favorite nieces to a rodeo?" Ty said, scooping Katie up off the ground and tickling her. Katie laughed and managed to escape, yelling for Ty to hurry. Ty laughed and kissed Amy. "You two have a good day." He then ran to catch up with the two girls who were waiting to leave with their cowboy hats in hand.
"You guys be good!" Amy called before turning to Lou. "Let's get this show on the road!" She smiled a little as the two made their way to Amy's truck.
The two were sitting in a café in Calgary and Amy suddenly remembered what she had been dying to tell Lou since the night before. "You will never guess who called me last night!"
Lou looked up from her burger. "Who?"
"Mallory! She is coming back in to town next month. She and Jake are looking for jobs," Amy said excitedly. "Ty and I were talking about seeing if we could help them out for a little bit. We were saying we would let Jake live in the loft since our spare rooms at Heartland are being re done. And since I am re-doing them, it's going to be a while before they are done. But she said she has been taking classes online and is taking classes in Calgary next semester. Her parents are gone and she wanted me to talk to you about a spare room at your place. She is volunteering to be your live-in, part-time nanny in exchange for room and board. Then I was thinking about hiring her to help me out once we get closer to finalizing our foster program."
Lou nodded in agreement at the proposed plan. "We have a spare bedroom. And I suppose that being six months' pregnant means that in three months I am going to need some help with the twins." She was reluctant to admit that she would need help, but without Peter she knew she needed it. Mallory would be perfect.
Amy smiled happily. Mallory was the little sister she had never had and she was excited to have her come home.
~~~Heartland~~~
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