CHAPTER 49

Seldom did anything keep Amy Fleming sitting still for more than a few minutes at a time. The need to be on the move was a personal attribute that had helped to make her successful in many endeavors over the years, but had become one of the things that she had targeted to try and take better control of in her life. Bar Bilson had been guiding her, pointing out the reasons her wellbeing had suffered because of never learning to experience contentment when things were in a good place, teaching her patient how to enjoy the moment.

Hyperactive by her very nature, something, anything, needed to be found to keep her busy enough to avert inactivity lest she might go stir crazy. Attempting to force a calm upon herself was failing miserably and she knew there would be none for her tonight. Memories of the times that had been good and the people she had shared them with haunted her, raising the question if she honestly believed she would be lucky enough to have another chance at someday finding happiness, contentment…, or love.

A cart full of leftovers from the evening rounds of meals rattled down the hallway on its way back to the kitchen, distracting the weary keeper of the otherwise empty emergency room from a magazine article challenging the ethics of cloning thoroughbreds she had almost finished. The annoyance soon became absorbed in the bustle of footsteps, voices, and beeping from countless electronic devices that are a part of waiting room duty in any hospital. She could not help thinking how much of a coincidence it was, having been through the emergency room routine more than her fair share of times and having almost always been unconscious during those situations, being reminded how unpleasant it was to be on this side of a trauma for a change with all the noise and antiseptic smells permeating every square inch of the place, but but the waiting, that is what she hated most.

"Amy? There you are!" Charlie's voice called out from the doorway, out of breath from being in a hurry to discover her fiancé's status. "Lou told us that you were here with Ty. Do you know how bad he's hurt?"

Clint grasped his granddaughter's elbow for support as she took the few steps necessary to approach her friend, clearly upset and spent from exceeding her reserve for physical exertion, and Amy stood for a supportive hug before assisting the older man in lowering his granddaughter into a chair, noticing a perceptible downturn in her condition since she had last seen her.

Charlie searched into Amy's eyes for the answers she needed, apprehensively bracing herself for another setback to the necessarily critical schedule she was trying her best to keep, her hands clutching onto her friend's stable forearm for support.

"He is going to be OK, Charlie," Amy reassured her, and then scoffed, "At least I would think as much being his first reaction to waking up in the back of an ambulance strapped to a gurney was to ask about his truck."

"He was conscious, then?" The older man asked, relieved at the first sign of good news.

"Yes. Ty woke up about half way to the hospital. The nurse told me that his vitals were looking as good as could be expected. The doctor gave him a quick check over as soon as we got here and winked at me and said, "Don't worry, we got this!" just before they wheeled him to the back of the ER, like he didn't think Ty's condition was serious. They are doing a more thorough check now, of course, but if there isn't any internal bleeding or other surprises that come up the nurse told me to expect that the doctor would have Ty stay the night for observation just to be sure and monitor his progress, and if we are lucky, he could be released as early as tomorrow morning."

Clint let out a sigh, "That's good news, Amy! Good news!"

Nodding in agreement, willing command of a potentially explosive meltdown, Charlie offered a heartening smile, "Yes, it is. Now I just need the doctor to come out and tell me that he's going to be OK for sure." Changing the course of the conversation, "Lou told me all she knew about what had happened at the time she called. She mentioned something about your seeing tail lights on the road above the accident when you happened upon it?"

Having given careful thought as to how she might explain why they were all sitting in a hospital waiting room on the eve of the bride's biggest day, Amy took a breath before calmly recounting her discovery of the accident scene and spent all the time needed to cover details up to the time Ty was taken to the examination room.

"Thank you for finding him, Amy, and making sure he is safe. God knows what could have happened to him if you hadn't come along when you did. He could have been there all night before someone found him if you hadn't been there," her mind racing with horrible scenarios, "or if you had been a minute later, you may have driven right past him without even knowing he was down in that ravine."

Amy could tell the worried fiancée needed to hear calming words right then and did her best to help comfort her fears, "Well, thankfully, the timing was right and I found him. That's all that matters."

Clint listened to Amy's account and realized a few pieces of the puzzle were still missing, "But, do you know what really happened? Why he ran off the road? Why would someone see the accident and just leave like that?"

"Okay, I think I should tell you that I do have concerns about the reason for the accident." Drained from hiding what she had previously feared might be considered by others as nothing more than silly suspicions, Amy heeded the advice of her friend in Edmonton and clarified her reasoning, especially now that Liz's prediction that others could be in danger as well had turned out to be not such a far-fetched idea anymore, "You see, I have had the feeling that someone has been following me for a while now. I didn't know for sure until the other day when I was on my way home from Canmore after picking up a client's skitzy horse and noticed someone staying back farther than I would have expected on the range road near home. I was going slow because the horse had been in a trailering accident and would get riled up quickly if he got jostled around. Usually, a car will catch up to me and pass on by, but this time they just stayed back. I got a weird feeling about it, so I stopped just to see what they would do, not far from where Ty went off the road tonight, in fact. When they stopped too, staying a ways behind me, and waited until I started moving again, I knew something was off about it. The next thing I knew, they just disappeared. There have been other times I had that feeling, but I never could find a reason to believe that it wasn't just my imagination playing tricks on me. The feeling is getting stronger lately. It's hard to explain, but that is why I have started carrying a gun or always having it close by now, just in case I wasn't imagining it and something should happen."

Clint had difficulty in following the idea of someone intentionally threatening people that he cared about, "My God, Amy! Who would want to hurt you? You're the Miracle Girl, for God's sakes! And Ty? Why would they want to hurt him, if that's where you are going with this?"

This part of the speculation made Amy extremely uneasy with sharing, fearful of giving anyone she let in on her theory the idea that she had gone completely paranoid, but something was evidently going on to support her growing suspicions and she thought it was high time to make sure everyone who could be affected by Ahmed or his loyal security staff would be prepared to take precautions, just in case it turned out to be a reality.

Before she had the chance to finish with her explanation, Sergeant Quesnay appeared through the door, "Miss Fleming? Have you received any news? It sounds like Mr. Borden's injuries were not as serious as they could have been, so you shouldn't have to worry too much."

"Thank you for asking, but, yes, I think Ty is going to be OK. Oh, Sergeant Quesnay, this is Clint and Charlene McCrary. Charlene is Ty's fiancée. They are supposed to be getting married tomorrow."

"I am sorry that something like this has happened at such a time, Ma'am."

"Thank you Sergeant. Do you know any more about the accident and what caused it?"

"That is why I am here, to follow up with Miss Fleming about what she saw at the scene." Gesturing toward the far end of the otherwise empty waiting room, 'Why don't we go right over here so we can talk about what you saw in more detail, please?"

"Sure." Amy agreed, and nodded to the other two that she would be back soon.

It took longer than the witness expected. Diligent investigating by the Sergeant as he jotted down notes, leading to more questions, had taken up another thirty minutes because of the typical cut and dried highway accident report suddenly becoming more complicated. Ty's doctor stepped into the waiting room and cut the interview short, "I have good news, Miss Fleming…,"

Amy stopped him by holding up a hand, "Wait, Dr.," wanting to fill the busy man in with the patient's family details so he would include the other anxious visitors into the conversation after making the proper introductions.

The doctor continued, "Let's see…, Ty has a nasty bump on the upper right side of his forehead, likely from impacting the windshield, and another two right about here, and here, from being tossed around inside the vehicle," pointing to his own scalp as a reference. "We gave him some medication to help with the pain tonight. I wrote a prescription for you to pick up at the pharmacy to keep the pain under control for the remainder of the week should he need it, and we have applied some cold compresses to help with swelling. I am going to keep Ty overnight for observation, just to be sure he remains stable, but if he holds up like I think he will, he should be out of here in the morning, as soon as I have had a chance to check him over one more time to insure we caught everything before turning him over to your care. I recommend that you all don't work him too hard right away. He should rest as much as possible for at least a couple more days."

"Of course, Dr., I will see to that myself," Clint said, specifically addressing his impatient granddaughter with a raised eyebrow.

"Grandpa!" The bride in waiting looked irritated that her grandfather would think she would push Ty too far because of the wedding, "We are all going to take care of Ty, Doctor, no matter what this old man may lead you to believe."

"Good! Listen, everyone, it's a bit past visiting hours, but I have told the night nurse to give you a few minutes. She won't throw you out if you want to go see him now."

"Thank you, Doc," Clint spoke for all those present, "We won't be too long."

Charlie looked sympathetically to Amy who had stepped away to return to the interview with the Sergeant, "You should come too. That's the least we could offer after all you have done for us tonight."

"Oh, I would love to, but I still have to finish here first, then I am headed to bed as fast as I can get to it. It's been a long week away from home and I am struggling to stay awake."

The Sergeant replied, "That's OK, Miss Fleming. I think I have all I need except a number that I can reach you if anything else comes up."

After writing down the required information, the officer excused himself and walked out the door.

"Didn't you come here in the ambulance?" Clint reminded the worn-out cowgirl.

"Aw, crap! I forgot all about that!"

"We can drop you off on our way home," he smiled and put his hand at her back. "C'mon, let's go see how Ty is holding up."

"Are you sure? I mean, I should wait until you have had a chance to see him first, don't you think?"

Charlie released one of her hands from her grandfather's arm and curled it inside her friend's elbow. "Nonsense, Amy! You deserve to be here with us. I want you to know that is the way we feel about it." Then, pinching her lips, the ailing woman asked, "I hope you don't mind lending me a hand, Amy. I seem to need a steady shoulder to lean on tonight. I'm really glad you are here with us."

The gesture was simple enough, but Amy felt the implication sinking in. The acceptance from someone who could just as well have been a mortal enemy offering another reminder that things should be civil between them had a humbling effect, and she knew there was more than this awkward circumstance at stake for all of them.

Amy stayed close to the doorway just inside the room in case things got too uncomfortable and watched Charlie lean in to hunt for a safe place to kiss the bruised patient on his cheek, noticing her nearly buckle at the knees from distress, or weakness, she wasn't sure which. As Charlie's grandfather caught her and helped position the emotional wedding eve bride upon the bed at Ty's side, Amy realized how far the outgoing, energetic, beautiful mother of a precious little girl had declined in health, and now had a fuller understanding about the pressure she must be under to try and make them all a family as soon as possible.

Feeling groggy and trying to focus on the woman beside him, Ty hadn't noticed the other woman lingering at his door, "Hey, I'm going to be OK. We are going to be OK," he said as he tenderly brushed his fingers along her cheek.

Sometimes the simplest things sneak up on you and hit you the hardest, and seeing the man she had learned to love and trust offering comfort to someone else when he was the one everyone should be worried about caused Amy's heart to ache again, thinking of all the times he had been the one to comfort her when he was the one who had been in pain or fighting back against heartbreaking news, another regret to carry in knowing she had given him reason to lose hope for her, and for them.

"Do you know what they did with my truck?"

A silent split second became a confusing guffaw from the shaky fiancée and her grandfather. He wasn't sure if he should be laughing with them or pissed, his face in perplexed conflict at being the cause of amusement of everyone in the room, including the third person he had just noticed at the door attempting to choke down a guilty chuckle from the inside joke evidently shared between the three visitors.

After explaining about her grandpa taking the truck back to Heartland, again, "Why don't you just concentrate on getting better for a change. You have a wedding to get to tomorrow."

Clint jumped in as the voice of reason, "Oh, I don't think…,"

"Just hear me out," Amy resisted, "If Ty is well enough to be released tomorrow morning, maybe it isn't so much of a stretch to think about going through with the wedding, even if we have to push it back an hour or two to get everybody ready."

"But you heard what the Doc said…," Clint persisted.

"Yes, I did, but it isn't like he has to do anything strenuous. Let's see how it goes tomorrow morning and if the doctor releases him, he can rest until it's time to get ready."

"I don't know about this, girls," the older man spoke up. "Poor Ty, here, has had one hell of a night. I think we might be pushing things a little bit too fast to try to pull off a wedding tomorrow. He's going to look like hell, you know, with all the bruises and bumps…. And you are going to be looking for anything on your body that don't hurt. Trust me, I know," giving Ty a warning about his body's reaction to being tossed around like a load of laundry in spin cycle.

"Just be thinking about the possibility," Amy defended her idea. "I happen to know that the groom is pretty tough, for a city guy, and when he wants something badly enough, he has a way of finding a way to make it work."

"Ty, what do you have to say about all of this?" Clint asked. "Don't think we wouldn't understand if you want to wait."

"Amy's right." The groom weighed in, "Let's at least wait on postponing the wedding to see if I can move tomorrow, and then, if we can find a way to keep me from looking like a bad Halloween stunt, I would like to go ahead and do this." Ty reached up to brush a tear away from his fiancée's cheek, looked to Clint to show that he really did want to try, and then looked to see Amy, still beside the door, relying on the time tested silent communication to tell her 'thank you,' and feeling the warmth of an old connection that he once thought might have been gone forever.

"All right, ladies, he ain't gonna get any rest with all of this squawking going on in his room. Get some shut eye, Ty, and we can talk about this tomorrow morning," Clint agreed, still thinking they had not seen the end of the aftereffects of the young man's crash and how it might alter his enthusiasm when they caught up with him.


Amy sat in the back seat of the ample sized 8S Ranch dually and listened to the driver and front seat passenger go back and forth about how to pull off such an unlikely event. Staying quiet, being the outsider, she could see both sides of the argument, but when Charlie turned around to ask, "What made you think of going ahead with the wedding, Amy? I know you must have something on your mind to speak up like that."

Having thought a lot about the things her riding partner had told her after the camping trip with the girls, Amy felt compelled to be honest since she believed it would be the way she would want to be treated if their positions were reversed, owing her stricken friend more respect than lying to her, and decided that it served no purpose to sugar coat the reasoning behind her suggestion, "How are you feeling, Charlie? I can see how hard it is for you to be here like this."

Clint's alert glance in the rearview mirror did not go unnoticed and the outsider braced herself for what most likely would be a sharp rebuttal from the protective grandfather.

"I'm not well, Amy," Charlie interrupted the pivotal silence, grasping a loving hand firmly onto the tearing up older man's forearm as he flexed a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. "My doctor told me Tuesday that, because of the way my disease has progressed, I would be lucky to make it long enough to see another Christmas. My only hope now is to get my family together and spend one Christmas…," her show of courage starting to waiver, "one damned Christmas…, is that too much to ask?" before finally breaking down, scared and disappointed by the harsh reality of her fate.

"No, it isn't." Amy leaned forward, her chin at the back of Charlie's seat, and took hold of the sobbing woman's shoulder. "You are going to have that Christmas, I just know it, and if I know Ty, you can count on him being there for you tomorrow. Don't worry, because whatever comes up, you can count on all of us being there too. You'll see."

To be continued