Chapter 9

Amy sat in the pasture in the early morning sun, waiting for Spartan to walk up to her.

"Hey boy," she greeted softly.

Spartan nickered in response, bending his front legs and laying down next to Amy, resting his head in her lap.

"It's been three years since I got you, you know that?" She asked him. "It's unbelievable that so much time has passed already. I mean, I'm seventeen today. Can you believe that? I can't," she murmured.

Amy started massaging Spartan's neck with slow circular movement of her fingers; t-touch. Moments passed and they both relaxed completely, and eventually Spartan began to doze off.

Amy was in her own world until she felt her vibrate beside her. Almost jumping out of her skin, and startling Spartan, when she came back to reality.

"Hey, it's alright, everything's fine, shh," she calmed Spartan.

She unlocked her phone to see that she had a number of text messages; her eyes widened when she saw what time it was. The most recent text was from Lou: 'Hey where are you? It's nearly noon! Everyone will start coming over around 1!' it read. Amy read through all her messages until she reached one that she received at 6:30 that morning. It was from Ty. 'Hey Mia :* Happy birthday! I can't wait to see you today :) I love you :*' Amy's face broke into a grin. She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling deep inside that she felt whenever she either was with Ty or when she thought about him. Love.

She lightly moved Spartan's head on got up. Spartan gave her a confused look and stood up too.

"I know boy, I wish I could stay out here too," she laughed. "C'mon!" She started running toward the barn. Spartan followed. They both glided to a stop at the gate and Amy let out a laugh. "I'll be back later," she promised, stroking Spartan's face with her fingertips.

Ty and his family were the first to arrive; on Ty's demand that they had to be there earlier than everyone else. Ty happily walked into the house while his parents and Lee stayed outside with Jack and Marion. Lou was in the kitchen and pointed at the stairs when she saw Ty come in. Ty smiled gratefully and walked to Amy's room with a bounce in his step. He knocked on the door before coming in. He looked at Amy adoringly when he saw here come out of the bathroom. Ty pulled Amy into his arms and kissed her hair.

"You look beautiful," he whispered into her ear.

"Thank you," Amy blushed, looking at the ground.

She was wearing a dress with an off-white bodice and dull, light blue floral skirt accented with a brown belt and a pair of light brown faux-leather combat ankle boots. Amy had her hair curled in loose curls and her make-up consisted of mascara only.

"You're welcome," Ty smiled, placing a finger under her chin to lift her head. "Happy birthday, Mia," he murmured, kissing her.

Amy returned the kiss, and they didn't break apart until Remi barked. Both Amy and Ty looked at her, only the see her wagging her tail like mad.

"Okay! Okay, we're coming!" Amy laughed. She grabbed Ty's hand, their fingers intertwining, and led him down the stairs.

As soon as Lou spotted them, she exclaimed, "Wait! I need a photo!"

Amy and Ty groaned, and Scott laughed.

"Hey guys," he chuckled in greeting.

"Hey Scott," Amy and Ty said in response. Amy glared at Lou.

Lou made Amy and Ty pose for photos in front of the fireplace, and as soon as she was done, Amy dragged Ty out of the house.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Ty asked as he and Amy sat on a bench.

"I just.. I just don't get why Lou is making a big deal out is this. She knows I hate it when people make a fuss..." Amy trailed off.

"It's just for today," Ty said calmly, rubbing circles at the back of her hand with his thumb. "How are things with the girls?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Really good, actually," Amy replied happily. "I talked to them and told them how I felt and things are back to normal. Soraya and Ash both apologized for making me feel like there was something going on and that was the end of the weirdness."

"That's good," Ty smiled. "Hey! You didn't answer my text this morning!" He realized.

Amy laughed. "Sorry, I didn't see it until like, noon," she admitted. "Thank you for texting me though," she grinned, then kissed his cheek.

"You're welcome, anything for my girl," Ty smiled, burying his face in Amy's hair.

They stayed like that until they heard the shrill screeches from Ashley and Soraya.

"There she is!" Soraya exclaimed excitedly. "Happy birthday, chica!" She hugged her.

"Happy birthday, you're getting old!" Ashley teased, also giving Amy a hug.

Amy, Soraya and Ty burst out laughing.

As they all mingled with the other guests, Amy went to her Dad.

"Hey dad, hey Miranda," she greeted.

"Hey honey," Tim smiled, pulling Amy in for a hug. "Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks Dad," Amy laughed.

"Hey Amy," Miranda smiled, giving her step-daughter a hug. "So, how does it feel to be seventeen?" She teased.

"Oh, don't remind me," Amy groaned. "I'm still trying to figure out why Lou is making such a big fuss about today. To be honest, I'd much prefer to have you guys, the girls, and Ty and his family over for dinner than all this," she sighed.

"I see you're just the way you always were with parties," Tim laughed. He knew just as well as most people that Amy wasn't a big person on parties, and more importantly, attention.

"Yeah, well," Amy chuckled. "Hey, where's Shane?" Amy had noticed that her younger half-brother wasn't in sight.

"Oh him and Lee are gone off playing tag," Miranda informed her.

"Should have thought," Amy laughed. "Those two really get along don't they?"

"They do," Tim agreed.

(x)

"Bye Dad, I'll see you soon," Amy said, giving Tim a hug.

"Bye honey," Tim smiled, kissing her head. He still couldn't believe his little girl was seventeen already.

Amy had already parted ways with Miranda and Shane a few minutes beforehand.

Amy walked to the barn and leaned against the gate that led to the back pasture where Spartan, Paint, Copper, Pegasus and Marty were all grazing. Spartan lifted his head and spotted her, so he happily trotted over to the gate and nickered a 'hello'.

"Hey you," Amy chuckled. "You want some mints, don't you?"

Spartan nodded his head, causing Amy to laugh.

"Okay, okay! I'll go see what we have in the barn."

She went to the barn to see a pack of mints on top of one of the feed-bins. She quickly opened it and took a few out. As she walked back to the gate, Spartan neighed at her knowingly.

"Yes, I have some," Amy laughed. "But are you sure you deserve one?" Amy climbed through the fence. "You know the drill," she lifted her right leg up, leaving it bent at the knee. "C'mon, lift! Good boy Spartan! And know the other one," she instructed, putting her right food back to the ground and lifting her left instead. "Good boy!" she praised, giving him a mint.

"I thought I would find you out here!" Ty teased as he came up to the fence. "Hey Spartan, how you doin'?"

Amy climbed over the fence and walked over to Ty, wrapping her arms around his waist. Ty wrapped one arm around Amy's waist and reached into his jean pocket with his other one.

"I have something for you," he murmured.

Amy lifted her head, "Ty-"

He cut her off, grinning. "Happy Birthday, Mia, I love you," he said, handing her the long and narrow, wrapped box.

"Ty," Amy murmured, ripping the paper off. Ty took the ripped paper form her and shoved it into his pocket. He couldn't wait to see what she thought of her gift. Amy opened the box and gasped, lifting her hand to her mouth as she took in the beauty of the necklace in the box. It was silver, with a horse-shoe charm and a diamond-covered heart charm dangling from the chain.

"It's beautiful," she managed to get out.

"So you like it?" Ty asked.

"Ty, I love it! Thank you!" Amy exclaimed, grabbing his shirt with her free hand and smashing her lips to his.

"You're welcome," Ty laughed when they broke apart. "you might want to check the back of the heart."

With curiosity, Amy turned the heart charm over and grinned when she saw the date, July 15th2015, engraved on the back. She carefully took the necklace out of the box, and handed it to Ty. "Will you put it on for me, please?"

"Of course," Ty replied, bringing his hands over Amy's shoulders and putting the charms of the necklace just beneath the point where her two collarbones met as her waited for her to lift her hair. When that was done, he carefully brought the two ends of the necklaces together and the back of her neck and drew the clasp closed. He took Amy's hair into his hands form her own and gently lay it across her left shoulder.

Amy slowly turned around, smiling.

"Thank you so much," she said again, throwing her arms around him.

"You're welcome," Ty laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Amy lay her head on his chest and listened to the steady thump of Ty's beating heart. She felt so content, so safe, loved, happy.

After some time, they left the barn and started walking toward the house. Amy kept bringing her hand up the necklace, touching it constantly, life she was making sure it was actually there.

"It's three years since I got Spartan today," she told Ty suddenly. "I can't believe I was fourteen when I got him."

"It seems like so long ago, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does," Amy agreed. "Ugh, I wish we didn't have school on Monday," she groaned.

"Same here. You still up for seeing a movie tonight?" Ty asked.

"Of course!" Amy grinned.

Ty kissed her head, and opened the door for her once they reached it.

(x)

Amy leaned against Ty as the lights in the movie theater dimmed; the movie was beginning. Ty wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her hair before leaning back into his seat.

Throughout the movie they snacked on popcorn, drank Coca-Cola and laughed along to the movie with the other people in the theater.

"That was a really good movie," Amy stated as they walked back to the truck.

"You don't say, Dr Obvious," Ty said sarcastically, "but you are right, it was a real good film."

When Amy and Ty got back to the ranch, they sat in the living room with Lou and Scott.

"Hey guys, we were thinking that we could go on a trip somewhere, just the four of us, when you guys go on spring-break. What do you think?" Lou asked.

Amy and Ty looked at each other.

"That would be so much fun!" Amy exclaimed.

Ty nodded in agreement. "That would be great," he grinned.

"Good, good," Lou laughed. "Now we just need to pass it buy Mom, Dad, Lily and Brad, and maybe Grandpa," she chuckled.

After a few hours, the group of four were yawning.

"Right, we're off to bed you two. Goodnight," Amy said, standing up.

"G'night," Ty said, also standing up.

"Night you two, we'll see you in the morning," Scott chuckled.

A/N: Okay so this isn't proofread as I'm leaving for the airport in like 5 minutes. I'm not going to have my laptop on me for the next 4 days but if you spot a mistake, please PM me or direct message me on Instagram ( heartland_and_beyond). Please review! They're always appreciated! Until next time, Heartlanders!