Chapter 21: The Everyday Life

Over the next weeks, Mitch and Amy fell into a comfortable routine of helping each other both at Heartland and at Saddle Road. And Amy was grateful that Mitch's suggestion had helped her get past the difficult memory she'd had the first time they'd worked together. Amy and Lyndy got to meet Zeke and Charlie who also fell in love with the girls. Mitch had been really pleased with the trusted and hard workers his hands had been since hiring them. Summer began to turn to Fall, and it was time for Lyndy to return to school. Lyndy was looking forward to school now that she had two years under her belt and had made some friends. But she did request that both Amy and Mitch take her the first day. Once again, this precious little girl burrowed her way even deeper into Mitch's heart. Amy had Mitch added to the list of people who could respond to any of Lyndy's needs or pick her up. Taking her to school together was among many such memories lately that Mitch and Amy both tucked away in their hearts for safe keeping to be relived in their thoughts whenever they had to be apart.

They managed to get in a number of rides together, often just the two of them and sometimes with Lyndy as well. They were pleased that Sapphire and Maverick got along well with Spartan, Shadow and Harley anytime they were together. Both of them being experienced with and on horses made these times even more enjoyable. Mitch loved the times they'd run the horses, and he could watch Amy's golden hair glisten in the sun as it blew in the breeze. She was such a skilled horsewoman. He knew that already but seeing her in action at these times when she was just free to enjoy herself and wasn't trying to fix some problem with the horse warmed his heart. And Amy would never let it pass her by again how perfect Mitch looked on a horse and in a cowboy hat, a natural! Amy recalled the focus group's description of Mitch when they'd compared him, her dad and Grandpa for the ad for Heartland Beef – "…a model dressed as a cowboy that should be on the cover of a romance novel."* That brought a big smile to her face anytime she thought of it! They enjoyed riding to the full whether racing each other, trotting, or just enjoying a leisurely trail ride. And Lyndy was becoming quite a skilled rider as well. She showed Mitch how she'd learned to barrel race. He was amazed and proud!

There were more family dinners at Heartland as well as grilling times together on Mitch's patio. When on the patio, sometimes it was just the three of them, or on occasion they'd have Caleb, Cass and Carson over, and once, they grilled for the whole Heartland family. Lyndy got introduced to the backyard swing, and having Mitch push her was one of their favorite things!

A couple of times, Amy watched Mitch in his workshop as he continued his craftmanship on the projects he had going. As she watched, she loved the things he was teaching her as he worked his craft.

Since they'd been together openly for a while now, Mitch had been seen picking Lyndy up from school on occasion, and there had been a few times Mitch and Amy had met for coffee or lunch at Maggie's, so those few that kept the gossip chain active were in full force (though the majority of the people of Hudson that knew Mitch and Amy were glad to see them both happy). Lou, of course, because of her frequency in Maggie's got wind of it first. And naturally, Val Stanton was one of those helping to spread the gossip. Mitch and Amy also learned of it pretty quickly, but they chose to ignore it. Admittedly, it was a rather unusual family situation, but one day when Val made an insinuating remark to Lou, Lou had had enough! She responded to Val and told her that she, Amy, Mitch and Peter had all worked through the situation with each other, and the entire family was supportive of Mitch and Amy's relationship, and it was none of Val's business anyway, so she should just butt out. That shut Val up, and within a few days, things had died down.

As Ty's birthday** grew closer, Amy once again found her mind taking her back to special memories with him. One special one was when she gave him his leather chair as an early present and the joy the gift had brought him. But her mind also took her back to that most special gift early on in their relationship, the one when Ty built her and Spartan the jumping course.*** Even though Mitch had been to the course with Amy when he helped Georgie rebuild it for her and Flame, she never shared with him why it was there and found herself wanting to share the specialness of it with Mitch. Perhaps it was because rebuilding it a second time was one of the major steps she'd taken during those months of saying goodbye to Ty, and because as she and Mitch grew closer and closer, that she now felt sharing it with him might be a step in being able to let Ty go in order to embrace fully their relationship. She knew she still had a way to go, but in her heart, this felt like the next step to take. Thus, one day when with Mitch in the workshop, she asked him if they could go somewhere special tomorrow.

"Sure, where did you have in mind?"

"Just let me take you there, and then I'll tell you. Just meet me at Heartland tomorrow morning at nine, and I'll drive."

"Ok, you have my curiosity up now, but I'll be there."

A/N: *Focus group result is from Heartland, Season 13, Episode 2.

**I couldn't determine from re-watching episodes of Heartland exactly when Ty's birthday was, so I may have taken liberties in my writing with that timeline.

*** Jumping Course shows up in several Heartland episodes, but for this and the next chapter, the important ones are Season 11, Episode 9 and Season 14, Episode 10.