Chapter 10

Pulling through the gate Ty was suitably impressed by the compound. He saw the barns, the garages, paddocks, horses, jumping arena and in the distance, the track. A moment later Cheryl flashed before his eyes. She was standing in front of his bike as she had before he left Erie.

"Don't you dare judge her by the trappings of her life Ty. She's obviously worked her ass off to accomplish what she has. Give her 24 hours before going sour on it all and when you can't stand it any more think of that sweet girl Emily and that poor little boy we saw yesterday and where they would be without her gift."

"I'll try Cheryl, I really will."

"You'll do more than try, promise me Ty."

"I promise 24 hours."

"Give me your phone."

Ty did as he was told and Cheryl punched in her cell number. "You are to text me that young woman's face so that I know that you're safe and that she has you."

"I promise."

"Now go, you know where to find me." She reached over then and hugged him. He felt her tears on his neck and then she kissed his forehead and was gone and through the doors.

They got off their bikes and pulled their helmets off together. Ty watched as Amy shook her hair out and turned to him, they both lay their helmets down on their bikes and took a step.

They looked at each other for half a minute and Amy stepped forward. She was staring at his face, almost examining it's every detail, every facet, every line and every mark. He stood still and watched her when she raised her hand to his face and ran her finger across his stubbled cheek. She cupped it and ran her thumb across the same space and down over his jawline. It was then she pulled back, her eyes opened a bit wide but she had a loving look on her face, she trailed her fingers across the somewhat graying salt and pepper hair over the tops of his ears. She had seen the lines of worry and the sadness in his eyes "Wow, would you look at that." She whispered running it through her fingers.

He smiled then, that smile that she had missed and that haunted her thoughts and dreams, and his face lost all it's lines of worry and the trouble they carried and that light reignited in his bright beautiful green eyes and she smiled back at him and the change in his appearance "There he is, welcome home Ty my love" and then reached across to kiss him. It was slow until she gripped his hair and pulled him down. She drew him in and he responded, the years disappearing as he tasted her and felt her respond in kind. He wrapped his arms around her and held her, their lips falling into to a wonderful familiarity. The porch was silent, watching, Lisa was crying, and then Amy lifted herself and wrapped her legs around him.

"Geez mom, get a room." Maddie exclaimed.

They broke apart almost immediately with Amy and everyone on the porch laughing "Sorry Ty, I um got carried away."

"Mom ?" He whispered shocked "Amy, mom ?"

"Come meet my children Ty." She said taking his hand.

"Children, how many children ?" He whispered again leaning over as he followed her up the steps his head bent over towards her. He straightened up and smiled at Lisa and Jack and then looked at the boy on Jack's lap who stared back at him.

"That's him right GG ?"

"That's him Jack."

"Jack ?" Ty repeated questioningly, then looking at her.

Amy smiled at his expression and whispered in his ear, "He's 6 Ty, get a grip," and then "Dr. Tyler James Borden I'd like you to meet my son Jackson Timothy Fleming."

JT got up and walked over. Ty, noticed the slight limp. "It's temporary" JT said with a smile and held out his hand. "Jack or JT will work Dr. Borden."

"Ty."

"Think I'll stick with Dr. Borden for now."

"I'm Charlotte, sometimes Charlie." She said standing and putting out her hand for Ty to shake.

"Madelyn, well Maddie" she said and then did the strangest thing, she raised her hand and ran her finger over his rough stubbled chin and then looked at her finger.

"I will never understand women, it's good to meet you Dr. Borden." Maddie too put out her hand to shake.

Everyone else laughed at the first part of her statement and Lisa and Jack got up to welcome and hug him and introduce him to Betty.

She looked him up and down and then stood up like she was examining a piece of meat.

"Be nice old woman." Amy chided with a smile.

"You make her cry young man I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

"Betty !" Amy exclaimed laughing again and joined by Jack and Lisa with giggling from the kids.

"Somebody should have said that to him 8 years ago". She said it low and nudged Jack with a grin. "You hungry Amy or has some miracle transpired."

"I'm starved, Ty ?" Amy asked taking his hand.

"Wait" he said taking out his phone. He leaned over with his arm around her "Smile Ames" and snapped a picture to send to Cheryl.

"Sorry, I promised, I'll explain later."

"Girls, see to the bikes please." Amy asked.

"That Norton sounds rough Mom, want us to ?" Maddie asked almost bouncing on her feet in anticipation.

"Go ahead, have fun."

"Wait what ?"

"It's fine Ty, they're 14, what harm could they do ?" She said it holding the screen door open for him while he walked through.

He stared at her and his mouth formed an o when he heard them kicked on.

"Ty, they'll be fine, I promise, come eat and we'll get you settled."

She walked over to the large double fridge and pulled out what was left of the lunch the others had eaten and a beer for Ty.

She settled with a cup of tea while they served themselves sandwiches when JT, and the three more mature members of the porch crew came in and began to sit.

"I thought you were all ready to go fishing with JT. No swimming JT."

"Come on mom !"

Amy reached over and pulled him into her lap. "Jackson, enough, you heard Dr. Sherman and Phyllis, please sweetheart we're almost there. You can't overdo especially on PT days." Her arms were wrapped around him, her face buried in his neck and he was giggling.

"Please don't cry mom."

"Then behave yourself and get to fishing."

"I've got stuff to do."

Amy stared at her and she stared back, "I'm warning you Betty." Amy implored her with her eyes and a nod.

"Fine, JT, get the gear and a pair of my waders for Lisa. We'll saddle and meet you by the porch. I guess the girls are busy ?"

"They've got a project, you won't tear them away. I'll just borrow some of Maddie's dragonflies too, you know just in case." He said and shot off.

Ty sat and watched her and the family she had adopted respond to her love. For a second he wondered if she really needed or really wanted him to come at all. Cheryl's voice slammed into his head again "Take the time to listen to her before coming down on yourself."

When they were gone having hugged and kissed their way out Ty chewed thoughtfully and watched her eat.

"What ?" she asked with her mouth half stuffed with food.

"Well, that hasn't changed." He chuckled. "You want to explain the kids ?"

Amy smiled and retold the Grainger's tragic story as he listened, he had put his sandwich down and stopped eating when she described the girls' injuries. "So the girls are Ok ?"

"As you saw, all around kids."

"And that temporary limp ?"

She then went through a quick synopsis of the extent of Jack's injury, the surgeries and the years of recovery.

"Wow, so one more huh ?"

"One more" she whispered her eyes glazed for a second. She was startled to the present by the knock.

"Sorry to disturb you Amy, I heard you had company."

"It's fine John, come on in, you two should meet anyway. Ty, John Hamilton here is one of our vets, John this is Dr. Ty Borden, he's a Vet in Alberta."

"Pleased to meet you Dr. Borden, John will do."

"Ty, good to meet you."

"The swelling's down Amy, the x-rays look good." He said handing her the iPad and the hard large X-ray films. She looked at the iPad, passed it to Ty and took out the film and held it up to the light. "Is he still favoring the leg John ?"

"Hard to tell in Medical Amy."

"Will he stand still for a 3D and density image ?"

"He may, we can give him some Valerian, it's a pretty defined spot so it'll be over fast."

Ty looked at the x-rays as well. "See anything Ty ?"

"Nope, what's the issue with him out for a test ?"

"The issue is him reinjuring himself, I'll explain after, better safe than sorry, check with Bert but I think we should get the image. Ask one of the girls to keep him calm for you."

"Sure thing Amy, good to meet you Ty."

"Special horse ?"

"They're all special but that one is Crooked Prince who they are hoping will follow Cloister. We're inclined to believe that it was just a hamstring injury that became super inflamed. The 3-D and density check will definitely tell us if there's a chip or deep bruise to the bone or just something we're not seeing."

"You can do that here ?"

"In his stall actually."

"Amy ?"

"Ty ?"

"It's really good to see you."

"Come on my love, let's get you settled."

It was kind of unnerving to Ty that she was like this. He thought at least she'd be pissed a little or in fact, that he would, but it wouldn't stick in his head. He'd had dreams of seeing her again, holding her again and here she was, kids and all. Wow, was all that went through his brain, all he could process for now, that, and he was here with her.

His feeling of confusion was quickly turned into disbelief at another matter when they came down the porch stairs and Maddie walked out of a door of what appeared to be a large garage. She had her hair pulled back and was wearing dark blue coveralls with a Pegasus logo and her name "Maddie" above the pocket.

"What's up Mad ?"

"This, is junk !" she said it holding a carburetor up and then surreptitiously bending her fingers and dumping it to the ground on the word junk.

"Hey, what the hell ?" Ty called out and started towards the garage.

"Ty, Ty !" Amy called out following behind and laughing.

He was upset and stopped to pick up the carb and began to dust it off. He was shocked when he walked through the door and saw his mostly disassembled Norton neatly arranged on a mat and his frame in a motorcycle lift.

"What the hell are you doing to my bike whichever one you are."

"I'm Maddie and lighten up Doc, we've got you covered. Charlie ?"

"There are two that look good, one in Surrey outside of London and one in Albuquerque but he wants more. Pick A or B ?"

"Oops, Correct that, it'll be much cheaper getting here from New Mexico and probably a lot better actually, England's so damp we'll be scraping rust off the chambers for days. One second, and…. and there. Thursday afternoon. Use one of ours if you want to ride, just not the Scout or mom will have your head."

"She's already had his head Charlie, almost chewed it off."

"Enough Maddie." Amy exclaimed laughing.

Ty smiled at her and Amy blushed and grinned.

"So that's it, he smiles and you turn to mush ?"

"Pretty much Charlotte, always been that way."

"How long is that ?"

"16 years and 4 months."

Ty smiled at her and then realized that he hadn't actually explored the space he was in. There were 4 workstations set up, all with full sized rolling snap-on tool cases that must have cost a fortune. There were analyzers of all shapes and sizes. Over each bench was a name "Amy, Charlotte, Madelyn and Jackson" there was a small set of steps parked by Jack's station and four jack stands in the center of the room. On the wall a large sign that said Marauders Motorcycle Club, Members approved.

"This is some shop, all for your one Amy ?"

Maddie hit a switch on the back wall and a garage door rolled up to reveal a small row of vintage bikes. He saw Amy's and walked over. It was parked next to a Norton, identical to his but powder coated matte black.

"That one's to spec Doc, purrs like a tiger. Nice bike, wish they were faster." Maddie said walking over.

"Wow" was all that came out as he walked around. "Is this a '59 ?" he asked

"That's mine '58 Panhead," Charlotte said matter of factly walking back to his bike and starting on the front wheel. "Mad's the black one with the black cherry flake."

"You have twin bikes ?"

"And twin jumpers." Maddie answered.

"And liberty horses." Charlotte offered.

"Come on Ty, you can marvel at the bikes and my awesome daughters later, we need to catch up."

"Catch up ?"

"Use your imagination Ty." Amy whispered and then laughed when she grabbed his saddlebags off the tool shelf and ran out and up the path towards the cottage giggling. He caught up and reached for her waist, pulled her against him and turned her around.

"Amy, what's going on ?"

"Sex Ty, can we make love before all the bullshit, I can hardly breathe anymore you took so long to get here."

He stared at her for a second and she looked at him. Her bright eyes caught him and then she said it in almost a whisper "please Ty."

He couldn't bear it any more and reached out to pull her in tighter. A second later he had his hands underneath and lifted her. Her legs wrapped around him, she found his neck with her lips and nibbled as he walked up to the door, She reached down giggling and opened it and when they went though she kicked it closed and his lips found hers.

"Which way ?" he whispered between breaths making her laugh and point before grabbing his hair and pulling him close again. She dropped her jacket as they moved through the door, and somehow managed to start unsnapping her boots. he didn't even notice the house as he dropped her to her feet and she pulled her blouse over her head. His mouth immediately attacked her neck and ran down over her chest. She was pulling at his belt and pulling down his zipper and then reached to pull off his T shirt. She stopped and examined him, she ran her hands over his chest and across his still youthful abs, different, but yet the same and she didn't care either way. "That's what I'm talking about" she mumbled as she kissed his chest and then nibbled at his neck, while she kept running her hands over him around to his back. God she loved his body.

Their love making was intense to start with but slowed as the afternoon wore on. Amy had absolutely no idea how many pleasurable moments they gave each other. Laying across his side, her leg draped over his and her hair across his chest she felt as at home as she could, his fingers gently running up and down her side.

"This is some room." He said looking around.

"Yeah, it's for the upper muckity mucks."

"So I'm an upper what did you call them ?"

"Uber rich folk."

"Like you ?"

"Are we starting now Ty ?"

"Ames, what is all this ?"

"This is whatever you want it to be sweetheart."

He reached down and gently fingered the rings that were now laying on his chest.

"All this time ?"

"Next to my heart."

"Why didn't you ever ?"

"What my love ?"

"Nothing I guess. What's motherhood like ?"

"Pretty amazing actually."

"They seem to be nice kids."

"They are."

"Maddie, what was up with the face thing ?"

Amy laughed "Maddie's a lesbian Ty, our attraction to men forever a mystery to her, she tends to soft, your face doesn't."

"How old are they ?"

"Oh, the twins are 14, 15 in September and Jackson is 6, 7 in September."

"And she knows she's."

"Always has, even early on, she just didn't get it. Absolutely no attraction to men. She was fine once we told her we just figured that anyway."

"Hmmmm, does she ?"

"Yes Ty, she has a girlfriend and Charlotte has a boyfriend both of whom you'll meet this weekend in Saratoga."

"Am I going to Saratoga ?"

"I hope you'll be going a lot of places with us Ty but I need you to make me a promise first."