Chapter 18: Working together

Meanwhile, inside the house, Amy and Lyndy looked up as Mitch came through the entryway. Lyndy slid off her chair and ran to jump in his arms. 'I could never grow tired of this!' Mitch thought. Amy walked over to get a good morning kiss, but she could tell Mitch was not himself. "You ok?"

"Yeah, we can talk about it later. Anything I can help with?"

"You can help Lyndy finish up her breakfast and get her boots on while I finish getting ready."

"Done," and he kissed her on the top of her head, then sat down at the kitchen table with Lyndy. Amy headed back to finish up getting ready.

Lou came up to Mitch and motioned him toward the sink, "Dad and I had a good talk. I think he's ready to make amends. I'm so sorry he attacked you like that."

"Lou, thank you. That means a lot."

Shortly, Amy came back out, and she, Mitch and Lyndy headed to the barn to get the horse ready for Amy to work with. Tim happened to be looking out the window and saw them. Mitch and Amy were doing "123 Swing" with Lyndy again, and on the third swing, Mitch picked Lyndy up and twirled her around several times much to her delight. Before he put her down, she once again took his face in her hands, and they Eskimo-kissed noses as she giggled uncontrollably. Tim took this all in with new eyes and suddenly recognized the genuine rapport shared between Lyndy and Mitch. It was so obvious they'd hit it off. In fact, when he thought back, Mitch had always been a hit with the kids. A minute or two later, Jessica heard them downstairs, so she came down and invited the two of them to dinner the next night. Amy noticed that Mitch winced a bit when she did, but nodded his approval, so she graciously accepted Jessica's invitation.

After Jessica left, Amy looked at Mitch and said, "You ok? What's going on? I noticed you weren't yourself when you came in the house this morning."

Mitch hesitated, not wanting to hurt Amy, but if they were having dinner with them, he knew she needed to know what happened. "Lyndy, how about you go outside and play with Remi for a little while til we get the horse ready?" Lyndy did as Mitch asked her. When they were alone, he said, "This morning, before I came in, your dad caught me and laid an accusation against me. I don't know where it was coming from or why, but he thinks I'm using you to get a foothold in Heartland wanting to get a piece of it."

"What?! Oh, my dad! Mitch, I knew he wasn't crazy about you toward the end with Lou, but I'd have never expected anything like this!"

"Well, Lou told me she talked to him, and evidently defended me, and us, and said he was ready to make amends. I assume that's what this dinner is about. So I guess we weren't as 'in the clear' as we thought with all the family. But I'm glad to know he's making a move to try to make it right. At least we can hope for the best."

As they led the horse to the corral, Mitch called Lyndy over to join him on the fence. She loved watching her mama work with the horses, and Mitch was enjoying watching her enthusiasm. As Amy started working to get the horse to join up, she caught a glimpse of Mitch and Lyndy out of the corner of her eye, and she suddenly had a flashback to Ty's last day with them when he and Lyndy were watching her from the fence as she joined up with Shadow and Spartan. She stopped in her tracks. Mitch noticed quickly that something was wrong. Amy dropped to her knees in an empty stare. Mitch told Lyndy to stay right where she was and hurried to get to Amy. He approached slowly so as not to startle her and gently touched her shoulder. "Amy, are you ok?" His touch and words brought her back as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Amy, what's wrong?"

She slowly got her bearings and answered him, "I…I…I'm ok. Please take care of Lyndy. I think I need to try this another day."

Mitch was really puzzled, but he went to Lyndy and suggested that she go back in the house. She looked at Mitch and said, "Is Mama ok?"

He responded, "I'm sure she will be. I'll take care of her. You head on back to the house and see if you can find Lisa or Lou to hang with for just a bit. Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

She said, "Ok." Mitch helped her down from the fence, and she headed back toward the house.

By that time, Amy had already moved the horse back into its stall, and Mitch found her sitting on some hay bales just staring into space with tears in her eyes. He came over and sat down by her and held her close until she was ready to say something. His embrace was comforting to her and gradually brought her back to reality. She drew back from him and looked him in the eyes and said, "Mitch, I'm so sorry. You don't know, but the day Ty collapsed, we had been doing something very similar to today. He was watching me from the fence with Lyndy, and when I looked over and saw the two of you there, it just brought everything back."* Tears began to roll down Amy's face.

Mitch took her by the shoulders and looked directly in her eyes and said, "Amy, you have nothing to be sorry for. Do you understand me? Nothing. Please know that I understand flashbacks. And even though it's been over three years now, you just never know when a wave like that may hit you." He took her face in his hands and wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumbs, then he drew her head close to rest on his heart. As Amy heard its steady beating, it soothed her. She reached her arms around Mitch and held on tight. He didn't move until she was ready to.

'Ty is gone, but Mitch is right here with me, right now, in the present.' Amy looked up at him with adoration in her eyes saying, "Mitch, thank you…for understanding…for no judgement."

The look he gave her penetrated deep into her heart as he replied, "Amy, we all have to heal at our own pace. There's no timeline. And we may think we are completely past something, but then it shows up again. You will never be 'over' losing Ty. But I know you will continue to get stronger every day, every year, and you will come to a point that your heart can truly move on yet cherish him for all you had together. Until then, I'm here for as long as that takes. I love you so much!" And she knew that to be completely true from the depth of Mitch's heart. She once again realized how very blessed she was to have him in her life.

"Tell you what, maybe the next time we work together with horses, let's try it just you and me without Lyndy there at first until our working relationship can be more established and become more familiar to you. I know there will still be similarities to you and Ty working together, but there will also be differences. We'll get through this." Amy continued to witness just how much wisdom and sensitivity resided in this wonderful man's heart, and she agreed to give that a try.

In the meantime, Tim had gotten ready and left to go to the rodeo grounds for the day.

A/N: *Ty's last day is the end of Heartland, Season 13, Episode 10 and the beginning of Season 14, Episode 1.