Amy was reading through her mom's journals in the barn office when she heard a truck approaching the ranch from sound of gravel as it was pressed under the wheels of the vehicle. She closed the journal, placed it back to the shelf and walked out to welcome her client who was exactly on time. Amy was pleased to have the distraction, as she was still worried about Lou and Katie. With horses, she was able to turn off everything else and just focus on the task at hand.

The client parked his truck that had a horse trailer attached and then stepped out and came to shake hands with Amy. He was a middle aged Native man, wearing typical cowboy clothing and a disarming smile.

"You must be the famous Miracle Girl", the quiet man with the assuming smile said as he reached out his hand to her. Amy smiled back, always feeling a bit shy whenever anyone referred to her by that title. She didn't feel like she performed miracles, she just listened to the horses - simple as that. "I'm Jim Locklear."

"Amy Fleming. Nice to meet you", Amy said as she gave his hand a firm squeeze. "And this must be…" her glance drifted toward the trailer, trying to move the conversation to the horse.

"Merlin", the man said. "You wanna take a look?" he asked, already walking to the trailer. Amy followed him, recalling a foal named "Merlin" from her past.

"Yes, please", Amy said, following him. "So what's the problem with him again?" she asked, wanting to make sure that she had gotten everything they had talked about on the phone right.

"Well, he's very hostile when it comes to feeding. Whenever I try to give him hay or concentrates, he attacks me, kind of like a dog protects his food bowl. I think he's just trying to scare me off to protect his food. I tried to calm him down the other day and stayed close to him, and he bit me, hard enough to break the skin on my arm through my jacket. That's when I decided that I needed help, so I called you. I'd love to have my daughter feed him because they are inseparable otherwise, but I just don't feel comfortable putting her in danger like that", Jim explained. "I just don't get it. He's very gentle otherwise, but as soon as you approach his bucket, he loses it."

Amy nodded, understanding very well Jim's concerns. She then began to ask questions, taking in all the info she could get.

"So, do you know his history?" she asked as she began to map out a profile in her mind from his answers while Jim was unloading the horse. Amy wanted to know every possible detail that could help her understand why the horse was acting the way he was. She knew the first thing she would to do was try to form a bond with the animal so he would trust her to have his best interest in mind. Only after that she could try to figure out and break the pattern that was causing him so much anxiety.

"Well, not much actually", Jim said apologetically. "It's my understanding that he has had many owners. Maybe that should have been a sign to me that there was something wrong with him, because he is such a beautiful horse with a wonderful disposition. Who knows what's gone down in those places that might have brought this on in the first place. But my daughter saw him and fell in love with him and they hit it off right away. As I said, he is gentle in every way, except his eating habits. I don't want to be the next last owner. I pray that with your help he'll hopefully have a home with us where he can stay for the rest of his life. I don't wanna sell him because of this, but we need help."

Amy nodded, understanding what he was saying.

As soon as she saw the horse, Amy knew she had worked with this one before - only Merlin had been a foal back then.

"I know this guy", Amy noted, coming closer. She had worked with a lot of horses over the years, each and every one of them had left a hoof print in her heart and therefore she never forgot them, no matter how much time passed.

"You do?" a very surprised, but happy, Jim replied. This was not something he had expected to happen. He was also wondering why the horse had been treated by Amy before; had she not been successful hence the reason Merlin was still acting the way he was. Her reputation told him not to believe such thing, but Jim still wanted to know more about Merlin and Amy's past together before he assumed anything more.

"Yeah. It was years ago, though, he was just a foal back then. He was the cutest little rascal…"

She smiled, recalling how Merlin had been like a baby to her and Ty. When it had been his time to go, they had shed tearful goodbyes - or more like, Ty had.

"It's nice to see him again. Good to know he's found a loving home", she continued, then looking at Jim. "I will do everything I can to make sure he is able to stay there."

The horse looked healthy and he was as calm as Jim had said him to be. When Amy approached him, Merlin didn't seem to mind, as he was clearly sensing that he had known this person before.

"Imagine, of all the people…" Jim said, petting Merlin's neck, deciding that the horse's story was far too complex to place blame on anyone. What mattered right now was Amy being able to find what was causing Merlin's problem and fixing it. "Looks like he remembers you, Amy", he noticed, "maybe that'll help you when you work with him?"

"Let's hope so", Amy said, rubbing circles around his neck carefully. "That's a good boy…" she murmured softly to him.

They were just about to take Merlin inside the barn when Jack's truck pulled up in front of the the ranch house. Amy knew he had gone somewhere earlier and he had been in a hurry, but since they had not had a chance to talk before he left, Amy had no idea where Jack had gone.

Now she could see Georgie stepping out of the truck and slamming the door behind her. Amy realized something was not right since it was only midday and Georgie wasn't supposed to be out of school for hours. The fact that neither Grandpa nor Georgie had even glanced their way or said hi, as they always did, made her even more curious. Georgie would never pass up the opportunity to meet a new horse and Jack was always friendly to her clients. Amy knew there had to be more to this situation than met the eye, especially by the way Georgie had stormed inside and Jack had trailed her to the house like a hound.

Amy hoped that it was not more bad news, they had had more than enough of that the past few days.

But since she was with a client, she couldn't just go in the ranch house and ask what was going on. Amy decided she would make Merlin feel at home first and then go inside to talk to Grandpa more about what was happening. Maybe Georgie was sick and Jack had been kind enough to get her from school, but as she thought about Georgie's actions she was sure that was not the case.

Either way, she would have to get back to that in a bit as she had a customer she needed to take care of first. Amy returned her attention to Jim and the task at hand.

"Sorry about that", Amy apologized to Jim for the scene as she got back to him. "Let's get Merlin put up in the barn and then we can get the paperwork done."

"Alright", Jim agreed as they walked inside.