Ethan tore after Amelia as fast as his horse would take him. She'd gotten a head start on him but that didn't matter. It'd only taken him a couple seconds to realize where she'd be heading. His horse sped down the road, its breath coming harder and still Ethan spurred him on towards where this dirt road intersected with two others. One heading towards town, the other away from it.

That was the one he wanted. If he followed it, it'd take him to her. So many questions ran through his mind as he rode. Bella had told him that something had happened to her, but he'd already figured as much. Something that neither wanted to talk about which frustrated him. Bella refused to tell him what she knew other than pieces of it believing it not to be her place and Amelia; she just shied away from the topic anytime it arose.

Else she walked away, but not this time. This time she ran as fast as she could taking off on her horse at high speed. Something awful had happened when she'd been in San Francisco and it tied into the murder of Warrick. How well had she known him and how much had she seen? She had disappeared after that until…something to do with Clara finding her. Clara had been living on the streets back then and so was that where Amelia had turned up? His chest burned not just from the exertion of pushing a horse to its limits. But he had to keep going until he reached the spot where he knew he'd find her.

As long as he'd known her, Amelia hadn't shared much about herself to anyone. Maybe she'd learned not to after Pierce abandoned her. But she'd listened patiently as he let go of some of his own painful secrets from his life and had never, ever judged him for them or what he'd done. She'd struggled so much with accepting his lifestyle and had even walked away from it but she'd never held it against him. He knew now he should have been more understanding, he should have realized that loving someone enough to share a life with them meant compromise and sacrifice too. She'd done that for him more than once, taking care of the children on moment's notice and doing what it took to protect him including from himself even if she paid the price.

He came to the fork in the road and took the road away from town without hesitation through a glen of trees towards the lake. The one where he'd gone fishing or sought out John Taylor for advice on women troubles…and to watch her swimming near the waterfall.

Hoping he knew her as well as he thought he did.

Amelia sat alone not far away from the lake…near the place where she had ridden out to visit Ethan while he'd been building their new house. It never got completed of course. Some people bent on getting revenge against Ethan had set it ablaze burning it to the ground. It'd hurt her to the quick to see that her dreams turned to ashes not long after their house. Since the fire, she'd avoided it except several times after she'd broken off her engagement to Ethan. No one knew she came here which made it the perfect spot to just get away from everything and everyone for a while.

She just wanted to be alone so she could be herself.

Tears didn't come easily to her. She'd only shed them when she'd lost the people she loved in her life or had to leave them behind probably forever. After all, her father had raised her to be tough and she spent most of her time with him.

Her mother had other children to look after and from the time she could walk, Amelia had been riding the valley with her father. First sitting in front of him on his horse and then soon enough on her own, on a horse that had been given to her to ride. She'd been bucked off when her horse tried to avoid a snake and had broken her wrist. It'd been set by an indigenous medicine man and she'd been back on horseback working the next day. Her father expected nothing less from her and her grandfather who owned a big spread of cattle and horses didn't show any leeway either.

It'd broken her heart to leave them but her parents wanted her to go, knowing that their homeland didn't hold much for their daughter. So she'd been sponsored by some family outside of Colorado Springs who'd put her to work on their own ranch. She'd gotten some schooling when she had time and proved to be a quick study. Fortunately a spinster who ran a book store in town had taken her under her wing and introduced her to education.

Not long after that she met the black sheep of the family in Pierce who had been studying back east at one of the fancy colleges for the rich. He'd been taken with her and she with him...as he was older than her and seemed to know a little about everything.

She'd fallen in love with Pierce hard and fast totally unfamiliar with the feelings that raced through her when she spent time with him and she'd married him much too quickly. Ethan had been much different; she'd taken her time admitting she felt anything for him whatsoever. They'd been friends first brought together with him raising the children but when they both knew it was more than that, she struggled a lot with putting herself in that position again where a man could just leave her and never come back. Pierce's abandonment had left her vulnerable and Ethan wasn't like that but death could take her from him just as quickly at any time.

She'd grown used to saying goodbye to those she loved or having that taken away from her. But she'd come back home because she learned that there was one man she could never walk away from without losing a part of herself. Ironic because she had run away from him because she felt lost in her love for him.

But so much had happened while she'd been away. Things she couldn't share with anybody because of how people would look at her, how she'd be treated. Then Ernie showed up to do a story on Bella's past and had hit her with those questions. She'd seen the look on Ethan's face and she knew he wanted to take Ernie down a few pegs. She hoped he wouldn't…it'd just make it worse. Ernie wanted to make a name for himself, that's all…it wasn't personal.

She looked out at the burned remnants of her dream house, the one that she and Ethan had planned even if they hadn't agreed on everything. They'd been so happy back then before their dreams turned to dust and they wound up apart. She knew he wanted to start it up again but there was no going back to the person she'd once been. Not when so much had been taken away from you and you surrendered your present just to have a future, any future.

She heard the hoof beats even before she saw them and she knew who had come looking for her. Now she had to steel herself to face off with the man who she wanted more than anything.

"Amelia…"

She looked up from where she sat as he approached her.

Ethan knew she'd be here even before he saw her sitting next to what had been left of their house. He knew that because she'd come here before to sit for a while after they'd broken off their engagement. Sometimes when he rode by, he'd see here there alone but he never approached. He didn't know how to do that, to bridge the huge gap that separated them. When she'd taken off on the stagecoach, he'd come here sometimes to do some thinking himself like he visited her empty house to sit on the swing for a while. What was a man to do when he felt like a part of what made him human had been ripped out of him?

She didn't turn as he approached but he knew she was aware of him. Amelia had never been one to leave herself unguarded for reasons that probably traced back to before he really knew her. He slid off his horse and tied the reins loosely to a tree approaching her.

"Amelia…"

She turned around to look at him and he saw the wariness straight off. She didn't want him here at all but she wasn't getting what she wanted…not this time. He had too much to say and even more to listen.

"Ethan…what are you doing here?"

"What do you think?"

She seemed at a loss for words, her hair loose around her face undone from its braid. But she looked so damn beautiful to him as always.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, "I just want to be alone for a while."

He took a step closer.

"I think you've been alone with it for far too long."

She just looked at him for a long moment and he knew her mind worked so quick…to try to find a way to rebut his words.

"Ethan…it's just not the way he said it."

"I know that Amelia because I know you…"

She didn't walk away from him now and he took that as a good sign. But she didn't welcome him either.

"You know whenever I've needed to say something; you've always listened to me…always even when you were mad first."

She smiled slightly remembering those times.

"This is so different Ethan…"

He stepped closer.

"How so? You think I care a damn about what some reporter says? All he cares about is building his own reputation no matter who it hurts."

She listened to him but the truth wasn't any prettier than the fiction.

"I think I made it clear what I want."

"Yes you have…and I think it's wonderful…I wish so much that I could be that woman that you want but I'm not her."

She seemed so adamant about for a reason he didn't understand.

"I've changed to Amelia," he said, "I did a lot of thinking while you were gone."

She smiled at him but her eyes…they just darkened.

"Me too…I thought I had it all figured out…I made up my mind to come home," she said, "I ran away, I admit it…but I couldn't run away far enough and then I found out I didn't want to anymore."

"Then I don't know what the problem is," he said, "We're in the same place again and we've both learned a lot."

"I thought we were then everything changed," she said, "Ernie's going to write his story and it's not going to be what really happened…"

She looked very sad to him, even though she tried not to show it. His instinct told him to go to her but she would just push him away. So he felt torn and not happy about that at all.

But if she wouldn't tell him then what would he do?