"What in God's name is the matter with you?!" Jack rounded on Ty as soon as he sent Amy back to the house – much to her visible relief. She was clearly shaking as she gave Ty a wide berth on her way out of the office, avoiding looking at either one of them as her hand touched the top of Lobo's head to get him to come with her. Even in her obviously upset state, she still sought out comfort in the damn dog Jack was so adamant about keeping outside.
Ty was shaking his head, ready to turn and go back up to the loft where he'd been sleeping until he heard Amy wandering around in the barn and came to investigate. "Seriously? I was this close," he emphasized with his thumb and index finger, "to getting some real answers."
"Not that way, you weren't." Jack was almost afraid to discover what would have happened between Ty and Amy had he walked in any later than he had. He saw the look of fear, borderline terror, in Amy's eyes when Ty had her pinned in the corner. Any confession Amy made would have come from that place of self-preservation and most likely left some scars behind in addition to the ones she already harbored from whatever traumatized her to begin with.
"What did you think you were doing, terrorizing her like that?" Honestly, Jack didn't even know his grandson to see him acting in such a predatory way toward a young woman. It was almost unsettling to think his conscience accepted it as okay.
"I thought I was doing what your bleeding heart is clearly rendering you incapable of doing."
Jack couldn't have been more appalled. "What you were doing was bullying her into giving you what you wanted. It was assault, Ty!" How did he not realize that?
Ty was getting so frustrated with Jack's passive attitude when it came to Amy. They didn't even know this girl and he was acting like a protective father; while Ty, his true blood, was being treated like a criminal. "You may not like my method, but I was getting some real answers and you might like to know that there is a very high possibility that there really is someone out there tracking her down."
That made Jack fumble. "She told you that?"
"She said she didn't know, but she feared the possibility; which means maybe I'm not such a monster after all." He knew from the very start there was something more sinister going on with Amy; Jack was just too soft-hearted to demand the truth that had obviously been covered up simply because she was a young girl in a delicate condition.
Ty was more than aware of Amy's condition, but after all the shit he went through a few years ago and the time he spent in jail, he had no patience for a game of secrets and lies. He'd been there, done that, and did hard time for it, learning too late what the truth could have saved him.
"You can't tell me you don't get the bad feeling that something else is going on here;" Ty continued in a calmer state, "something that goes beyond a child out of wedlock."
After taking a breath, Jack's posture relaxed slightly as his argument with Ty turned back down to a conversation. "Attacking her like that is not the way to find out," he reprimanded. "I know there is something more to the situation. I knew that the moment Tim Fleming phoned. I tried to get the truth out of him but he was as tight-lipped as his daughter, which means whatever happened for him to want to send her away is serious and delicate. We can't just go traipsing into business we know nothing about."
Ty shook his head. "It's too late for that. She's here now, which puts us right in the middle of whatever is happening." He tried not to sound accusatory, but it was hard to mask and the look on Jack's face said he picked up on it.
"Well, right now the only thing I see happening is you apologizing to Amy for being a Class-A jerk."
Ty frowned. "Why should I apologize when she's the one lying to everyone?"
Jack grunted. "Maybe you should think back a few years to your time in prison and reassess that statement; you might find some commonalities to help give you perspective. You found your way to the truth eventually. We need to give Amy that same chance."
Though he didn't want to concede, Ty realized that once again Jack was right. It took him a long time to readapt to life outside an orange jumpsuit and barbed wire fences before he could even begin his journey back to the delicate respect with his grandfather after rather violently opening up about his years away from Heartland and what ultimately brought him back home.
It was Ty's silence that gave Jack all the answer he needed. He could see the internal argument in Ty's eyes and left him alone to sort them. "Another early day. Get some sleep," he said in parting before turning to head back up to the house.
Ty remained rooted in the same spot he'd been since cornering Amy, watching his grandfather's shadow disappear before glancing back over his shoulder into the tight space previously occupied by a girl he presumed to be selfish and foolhardy, perhaps even naïve. But without the blind irritation and demand for answers, he could see her face more clearly. A ghost in the shadow of the pale lamplight on the desk and the genuine fear of him that still hung heavily in the air. Maybe not of him, exactly, but of what he showed her he was capable of representing – which seemed to be just as dark as he believed.
Amy sat on the wooden bench along the side of the wrap-around porch facing what she believed was once a vegetable garden. It didn't appear to have seen any care in quite a long time judging from the dehydrated dirt and dead stalks of brittle vegetation. Weeds sprouted from the chicken wire that made a weak perimeter, obviously burglarized by wildlife. She curled her legs to her body, folding her arms over her abdomen in a protective cushion, staring blankly into the night, listening to the chirp of tree frogs and soft wheezing of Lobo at her feet. She didn't want to go in the house just to go back to staring at the ceiling. Not to mention her adversity to getting reprimanded again by Jack for having Lobo in the house after the bone chilling confrontation she'd had with Ty. Her eyes began to sting while her memory involuntarily began reliving the moment. Amy dropped her head down to her knees, still feeling sick. Despite the heat, goosebumps rose on her arms, making her shudder and curl further into herself.
The sound of boots on wood made her glance around to see Jack stop just as he was about to open the door, noticing the subtle movement. Amy turned her face abruptly away from him, not caring that he saw the deliberate motion. She didn't want to talk to him even if he was going to try to comfort her, especially not if he was going to try to reason Ty's behavior again.
Her eyes closed, willing him to just let her be and go back to bed, but that didn't seem to be in Jack Bartlett's nature as his boots approached. He seemed to realize trying again to apologize for his grandson was a fool's errand.
"The dog can come inside. Just tonight," he emphasized, extending the only olive branch he thought she might accept. But to his surprise, she declined.
"That's okay. House rules." He couldn't tell if it was sarcasm, but her muffled voice hinted more at defeat. He could hear the exhaustion in tone and it was more than just a few nights of restless sleep.
"Suit yourself." Jack wouldn't press her for more. She'd been through enough and he could see she just wanted to be alone. Other times he didn't oblige, but this time Jack let her be, heading to the door. He paused after the creak of the storm hinges. "There's crackers above the fridge if your stomach is still sour," he added, paused again seemingly wanting to say more but ultimately decided to just leave things go and went to bed.
After hearing the click of the latch to ensure Jack was in the house, Amy breathed deeply through her nose, still reveling in the fresh scent of late spring. Wiping around her eyes that became itchy from drying tears, she slowly leaned over and stretched herself out on the bench, having to bend her knees slightly to fit. Using her arm as a pillow, she hung the other over the side to stroke Lobo's thick coarse fur.
She needed to tell them – to tell someone. They had every right to know who the girl was that was living in their house. Amy realized this. Right away she understood the new precariousness she brought to the balance of life at Heartland. The truth was – she was afraid. She was afraid of what people would think if they knew; what kind of new way should would be treated (not that things were particularly flattering now). Mostly, she was afraid of what would happen if she did tell the whole truth – to her, her father, even her unborn child. Even if she did want to tell, wasn't entirely sure she would be able to emotionally handle it. Just the small incident with Ty left her shaking and sick to her stomach and he didn't come within actual touching distance. Though her terrorized mind didn't comprehend it then, she was in no real danger in the barn. Ty had stopped advancing when he saw her begin to panic. He'd hesitated when he picked up on her true fear but instead of backing down, persisted to his goal. But, for however brief a moment, Ty had acknowledged the truth.