Amy didn't leave home often, especially these days, and most of the time when she did run errands, it was with Lyndy by her side. She didn't remember the last time she had been out of town without her daughter, but then again today she had a good reason for not having her with her as she sat in the family meeting room in a correctional facility, waiting to talk to Ty.
Thankfully she was in her ex-husband's authorized visitors' list, so booking the meeting had been quicker, especially given the circumstances. For the past couple of days Amy couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on with Ty. When riding with Georgie, she had spotted Ghost - the stallion she often saw whenever something was going on with Ty - wounded and even though they had tried to track the wild appaloosa with Remi, it was like the horse had disappeared into thin air.
Amy hoped everything was okay with Ghost, but also that Ty was fine. She had shared her worry with Jack, and the old man had suggested they would have probably called from the correctional facility if Ty was seriously hurt, and for a while that, along with her Grandpa's calm tone, those words had kept Amy calm, but the more she thought about it, the more Amy believed seeing Ghost was a sign of some kind and that was why she was here now, visiting Ty, to make sure if she was right about it.
The last time she had seen Ghost, before this instance, was when the horse had been pushed out of the herd by another stallion. Given that the spring was coming and the wild horses were looking into mating, Ghost had probably tried to get in contact with the mares in the herd, only to be attacked by the current alpha stallion. That was her theory anyway.
What it meant for Ty, however, Amy wasn't sure.
When Ty walked in with the guards and his handcuffs were taken off, Amy was almost taken aback by the way he looked. It wasn't just that his hair was longer, sort of like it had been when they had first met, and he had allowed his beard to grow, but there were also cuts and bruises on his face.
As much as some part of Amy was telling her she had been right to think something had been off with Ty, she had not really had wanted to be right.
When Ty sat down on the other side of the table, the two stared at each other and a strange awkwardness fell between them, one that Amy had never felt before.
"I almost thought you had brought Lyndy with you", Ty started the conversation when Amy was too shocked by his appearance to say anything. He wasn't really interested in seeing Amy, but if she had been there with Lyndy, he had figured it would have been worth the trouble.
"Did you really want her to see you like this...? In here?" Amy asked.
She knew it would be possible for Ty and Lyndy to meet here, but she had figured it was better if Lyndy thought Ty was just on one of his trips and not doing time. She didn't want Lyndy to remember Ty this way, as someone she didn't even recognize, but like the caring father he had been in the past.
"I guess not, but I cannot imagine not seeing her for months", Ty said. "I miss her, you know."
Amy held back her tongue, thinking how Ty should have thought about that before he had exploded, but figured it would not get them anywhere. Besides, it couldn't be changed now, so it wasn't worth the argument. The change concerning what could happen from now on, however, was up to Ty. He had to want the change, because only then it would come from an authentic place. Maybe wanting to be part of Lyndy's life freely would be the motivation he would need to re-evaluate his actions.
"Maybe we can figure something out at some point..." Amy just said, even though she didn't like the idea, but at the same time knew she couldn't just stand in Ty's way when it came to Lyndy; they had decided to share the custody, after all. "What happened...?" she then asked, nodding toward Ty's face.
Ty sighed, laying his hands on the table as if to lean in. "These guys jumped at me. It's not a big deal."
"Why?" Amy asked.
"Because they are bored?" Ty suggested, shrugging. "Because they want allies? Because there's cliques? Who the hell knows. When you put so many guys from different backgrounds in one place and there's not much to do, someone's bound to get hurt at some point. And seeing I'm somewhat new, I'm fair game. But I have no interest getting into someone's posse while I'm here. I just want to do my time, complete my correctional plan and get out. - I'm just glad it wasn't a tuna can."
Amy was confused. "Tuna can...?"
"Yeah. Some guys get frozen tuna cans from the freezers while they're at the kitchen, put them inside a sock and whip people with them. That'll do damage", Ty explained so casually it really made Amy wonder where she was and how come Ty was able to share this information like it wasn't stranger than explaining how to fold laundry.
Ty noticed the expression on Amy's face and it really made clear the contrast between them couldn't be bigger. It wasn't like Ty wasn't scared here, he was, but at the same time this wasn't his first time in an institution or dealing with bullies. But for Amy, this was a strange world.
"Did they catch them?" Amy asked. Ty raised his eyebrows. "The guys who did this to you. Did they get punished?"
Ty almost laughed. "As far as the correctional officers know, I "fell". I'm no snitch. If I would tell on them, I'd be even bigger trouble. I'm just gonna keep my head low and try to stay out of their way from now on, if I can", he explained. "Anyway... Why are you here?"
"I saw Ghost", Amy told him after she had somewhat recovered. "He was hurt, so I figured maybe you would be too. I needed to check if you're okay."
Ty leaned back a little, smirking. The contrast had just gotten even bigger. While he was here, dodging punches and tuna cans, Amy was out there, spotting wild horses and living in this fantasy world where she was keeping up with him through Ghost.
"Well, I guess that's one way to get status updates now that I have no access to social media", Ty joked dryly.
"I know it sounds insane", Amy said when she saw the look on Ty's face. "But it creeps me out how he always appears when you're in trouble. Like when you had your motorcycle accident or when you got sick in Mongolia. He was there, like a messenger."
"Well", Ty said, starting to get up, "you saw me. So I guess that's settled. You've gotten your peace of mind, you can move on now, and I can get back to my room."
"What? No, Ty, wait", Amy asked, stopping him. She leaned her hand over to touch his hand, but then got a dirty look from a guard close-by.
"No touching", the guard reminded, so Amy pulled her hand back while Ty sat down, sighing.
"I want to know how you're doing", Amy asked. She had not come here just to prove herself right. This was the first time she had not been regularly in contact with him ever since he had decided they had needed a break when the whole Ahmed thing had come out. Even if they were now divorced, there would always be a part in her that would care for him and want him to get better, for himself. "How's... life here?"
"Sucks?" Ty offered, but when Amy gave him a stern look, he figured she probably wanted to hear more. "I don't know... I play cards. I work. Nothing special."
"You work?" Amy asked. "What do you do?"
"Sow pillows to different prisons and army", Ty explained. "Not very fulfilling, but gives me something to do during the days."
"Oh..." Amy said, somewhat surprised about that too. She knew the jobs in these sort of of facilities weren't anything great, but somehow it made her realize even more how far Ty had fallen down from being a vet and even saving Gobi bears.
"I get paid 25 dollars every two weeks. It's not much, but I can buy myself some things at least", Ty explained. "And outside of that, I go to the library. Read a lot. I'm thinking about maybe studying to be something new after I get out."
"What about your vet licence?" Amy asked, confused. Had Ty changed his mind? That was surprising, especially given how excited he had been about this Vet Without Borders thing, so much so that he had pretty much moved his life to Vancouver.
"Amy, I lost my licence and got a 6,000 dollar fine", Ty shared his side of the reality. He couldn't believe Amy had not realized that. "I did harm to a person. If it was just this, "one-time mistake", maybe the Veterinary Medical Board would determine my crime to not be related to my duties as a vet, but I have a record from before, so... it's not just a little bump on the road. I have to start all over. Again."
Amy felt stupid for not realizing that, but at the same time Ty had become a vet despite being juvenile delinquent and had been able to keep his licence before, even if he had had run-ins with the law, so naturally she had assumed that this case was no exception. But this time, the justice seemed to caught up with him. No more second chances. Or third. Or fourth.
"So... what are you thinking about doing...? After you get out", Amy asked, trying to overcome the embarrassment of her naivety.
"I don't know yet. I've been focusing on training at the gym as well, to keep myself in shape, so... maybe something to do with that. But, I don't know. I have to see what my options are", Ty explained.
"That could be good", Amy tried to encourage him, even though it was probably hard to come in terms throwing away all those years of studying and money to get the veterinary licence to now losing all that, on top of paying a big fine.
"Yeah... We'll see", Ty shrugged.
Even though Amy knew that Ty was responsible for his own actions and choices, she couldn't feel a little sorry for him and maybe even feel a little guilty about not being able to support him a little bit better from getting better at controlling his temper. Things had looked pretty promising, but then it was as if he had fallen back again, and Amy wasn't sure why.
One thing was for sure, though; this whole thing with being locked up would probably force Ty to face whatever inner turmoil he was dealing with. Amy hoped he was able to do that and live a life with a lot less drama.
Later that day, when Amy was laying on her bed, looking at the ceiling without really looking at it in the darkness, her mind was still circling around the whole Ty issue. She sighed, turning on her side and thinking what her mother would have done.
Reaching out her hand, Amy flicked on her night lamp and looked at the picture of Marion on her night stand. She knew it was just a picture, but it was the best she could do to form a connection with her now. Her mother's gentle blue eyes looked back at her and made her feel a little better.
She thought back to this idea Marion had had about healing horses and healing hearts at Heartland, and Amy had tried her best to follow that legacy, but she knew she had big shoes to fill and she had not always done great job.
Somehow, even though she felt like she had maybe not always been the best wife to Ty, at the same time she felt like letting her mother down with helping Ty as well. Marion had seen something in Ty, something that had made her bring him here, because she had wanted him to turn his life around, just like Scott Cardinal had once been able to do.
But now Ty was back to square one. It was like he was the same troublemaker, looking a way out, he had been when she had first met him. Amy hoped he would never have to return to that same point again, but maybe life returned everyone back to square one till they had learned whatever life was trying to them.
That's how Amy felt about herself, at least.
"What would you do...?" Amy whispered to the picture, as if she expected an answer, but obviously nothing happened. Marion kept smiling back at her, frozen in time.
Amy sighed and was about to turn off the light when her eyes fixed on the other picture on the night table. It was one of her and Lyndy. She was holding the little girl and had her arm around her as they both smiled at the camera. Amy could recall that day like it was yesterday; it had been a hot, sunny day and you could tell that also from the way they both squinted their eyes when the sun hit their faces. As Amy studied the picture, wondering why it had even suddenly caught the attention of her subconscious, she noticed her left hand around Lyndy and the way the sun hit her engagement ring, making it shine.
That's it, Amy realized.
She got up from the bed, checked on Lyndy quickly, but since the girl was asleep and everything seemed fine with her, she walked over to the dresser and opened the little jewelry box on top of it. Right there, between her mother's old school ring and the promise ring Ty had given her were her engagement ring and wedding band she had stopped wearing months ago.
She had not known what to do with them ever since the separation and now they were just collecting dust in the box since she and Ty had divorced. Amy didn't know what they were worth, but it was probably still better than 25 dollars. It almost felt like the rings were Ty's property now anyway since he had been the one who had wanted the divorce and broken his vows.
Maybe it would get him started a little bit, at least, with whatever direction he decided to take. If not for himself, then at least for Lyndy.