lb_heartland | Fic: Inheritance of the Heart 2/18

Inheritance of the Heart
Chapter Two
Word Count: 3,473
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Lou/Scott, but mostly, eventually... Ty/Amy.
Warnings: Character death (in chapter one only)
Disclaimer: I'm never going to grow up. That means... I'm not legally responsible for anything, right?
Summary: She went away thinking it would always be there, always be the same. She was wrong.
Author's Note: I think this story is really about Amy realizing a few (maybe a lot) of things, and discovery is sometimes a slow process. Still, they should all get there in the end.

The Wrong Decision

"There has to be some kind of mistake," Amy said, shaking her head in complete disbelief. She could not have heard that right. The lawyer had made a mistake. Or this was some kind of prank. It was not real. It could not be real. She had to be in the middle of a nightmare, and sooner or later, she would have to wake up, right? "Grandpa wouldn't do that. He would not leave Heartland to... I mean, Ty's not family. I'm his granddaughter. He always insisted on keeping the land in the family, and—"

"Amy," Lou interrupted, and Amy looked at her. Had she known about this beforehand? Had Grandpa told her what he intended? How could Lou not have told her? How could Lou have known and not done anything about it? Why hadn't she stopped Grandpa from doing this?

"I can't deal with this right now," Ty muttered, his jaw tight. He looked upset, but Amy didn't know why he should be so bothered. He'd gotten everything. She was losing her home. He shook his head. "I have to get out to the barn. I'm running late, and we're short-staffed today."

"I have a few papers for you to sign, Mr. Baldwin," the lawyer began, but Ty was already out the door. Amy couldn't believe this. Since when did Ty treat Heartland just like.. like a business? His business? What was Grandpa thinking? This wasn't Ty's home. This was hers. How could Grandpa just give that away?

"I think you'd better give him some time," Lou began, and Amy looked at her. Was her sister really okay with this? Heartland was theirs. It belonged to their family. What about her children? Even if Lou didn't really want a part of Heartland for herself, why didn't she care about preserving it for Holly? For the baby? "He wasn't expecting this."

"It would seem it was an unexpected decision," the lawyer agreed. He dug through his files and took something out of it. "Ms. Fleming, this is for you."

Amy took the envelope that he held out to her, seeing her name in her grandfather's familiar handwriting. Her eyes blurred with tears. She was having a hard time with this. It was bad enough that Grandpa was gone, but she could not believe that he would give Heartland away. It wasn't him. He could not have meant to do it. She knew that Ty had seemed surprised, but he must have done something to make Grandpa act so... bizarrely. Something had to have changed, and she wished she knew what that was. She supposed all that time alone made them closer. Or maybe this was Grandpa's way of saying that Amy should never have broken up with him.

That was over, though. It had been over for so long. No, they all knew that wasn't going to work. Ty wasn't family, was not going to become family by marriage, and they had decided that years ago. Ty had even gotten married. Amy would not let that girl get any part of Heartland. For that reason alone, she had to fight this.

"What—" Amy had to clear her throat. She shouldn't have to do this, and she didn't know that she was strong enough to do this, but she had to try. "What if I want to... challenge the will?"

"Amy," Lou began again, but Amy shook her head, speaking quickly. She wasn't going to let her sister placate her. This was not something that was easily fixed or forgotten. This was Heartland! This was home! She could not just let this slide or pretend that it didn't matter, didn't hurt.

"No, Lou, I want to know. I want to know how Grandpa could do this, how he could give away everything that matters like that. I want to know what he was thinking. I want to know what was wrong with him. And I want to know how to fix it," she insisted, not about to back down. "This is my home, and it can't just be gone like this. I am not going to stand here and let it go."

"Amy, you need to read that letter," Lou said firmly. "Grandpa wasn't crazy. And even more than that, I think you owe Ty an apology."

"An apology? For what? For stealing my home?" Amy demanded. She shook her head. "No! I am not going to apologize to him! I didn't do anything wrong! I'd like to know what he did that was so wonderful that Grandpa had to give him everything."

"Read the letter," Lou said coldly. "And until you read that, I suggest you keep quiet before you say something else stupid because you don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, it's not like you need to worry about what I'm going to say. I have nothing to say to you. You knew about this, and you didn't tell me," Amy snapped as she turned to leave the room. She headed upstairs to her room—no, it wasn't her room any more. This house was Ty's. He could kick her out whenever he wanted.

Amy couldn't help it. She sank down on her bed and started to cry.

"Ty?"

He looked up from underneath Venture and forced a slight smile when he saw Lou. He knew this conversation was coming, but it was not one that he wanted to have, not now. Not ever, really. He did not know what Jack had been thinking when he decided to leave Ty Heartland. It still seemed like some kind of joke, only it couldn't be. Jack would never have joked about Heartland, and he would never have made that decision without a good reason. He loved this land, and he loved his family. He had wanted to see this land stay in his family for generations to come.

Though Lou disagreed, Amy's words were true. No matter how much it stung or how much it might have felt differently in the past, no matter how much he tried to fool himself, Ty was not family. He never would be. Jack had been a great man, and Ty had been closer to him than his own father for a long time. His relationship with Brad was better now, had improved since the incident with the trailer full of horses, but it was still not like what he'd shared with Jack. Still, he had always known, and Jack knew, too, that he was not blood.

Heartland belonged to the family. It should have gone to Amy and Lou, together, and if not Amy, then Lou and her children. Not to him, not Ty.

"I'm just finishing up here, Lou," Ty told her. "Of course, after that, I've got another five horses that I need to work with, and I think I'm going to have to fire Chris because this is his third no-show."

"I realize this was a shock for you, Ty, but you can relax a little."

He laughed shortly, almost bitterly. "Oh, yeah? And how did Amy take this?"

"Don't worry about Amy right now," Lou said, and he wondered how he was supposed to do that. Amy had been on his mind for a while now, but he didn't know what to say to her even before this whole inheritance thing. She was going to be angry, he knew that much. This was home, and while he had nothing to do with taking it away from her, it was now his. She would not forgive this easily. "I have something for you."

She held out a letter. He took it from her, frowning at it. "Lou, I'm not sure you should just accept the will. Jack was a great guy, and I'm honored, but this isn't right."

Lou reached out to gently stroke Venture's head, unconsciously moving into T-touch circles. "I used to insist that Heartland was not my home. And then it really became my home, became a part of me, and I was not willing to leave it, not even for Scott. Now, though, Scott and I have made our own home, with our children, and I was able to let go."

"I know," he agreed, having watched Lou become attached to Heartland and later move on from it. He had always known that Lou was not staying. It was not that she did not care. She did. She loved the land and the horses, but she had always made her own way. She would continue to do so. Amy had always been the one with a problem with change. "It's not you I'm worried about, Lou."

"Amy will come around."

Ty raised an eyebrow, amused. Had Lou forgotten what her sister was like or how stubborn she could be? "I think you're being rather optimistic about this."

"Ty, you have been making the decisions for Heartland for several years now. You're not just the lead stable hand anymore, not that that title ever really fit what you did for us here or for the horses. You're so much more than that, and you always have been. You, Ty, are the heart of Heartland," Lou told him, and he started to shake his head. She didn't know what she saying, not really. Marion had been the heart of this place, and after Marion, it was Amy. It wasn't him. "This place is a part of you."

That part, certainly, was true. He could never leave Heartland. "That doesn't mean that it belongs to me."

"I think it would help if you read that letter," Lou said. She looked back towards the house. "You're going to need a lot of support in the next few days."

"Which, naturally, is why you're leaving," he said, only half-teasing.

She shook her head. "We have things that we have to get back to, and the only way this is really going to work is if you and Amy work it out together."

He saw Venture jerk his head, spooking Lou a little, and he had to apologize. Venture was a very sensitive horse, and he had quickly and deeply bonded with Ty after he came to Heartland. "I'm sorry. He's picking up on my tension. I don't know how to talk to Amy anymore. She's changed. I've changed. And even if Jack meant well, he did the worst possible thing for us."

"I'm not saying it will be easy. But you've always managed before."

"I always wanted to before," he admitted quietly. "Now... Now, I don't."

Amy left the house as dusk settled over the farm. She'd waited until she figured everyone had gone. She didn't want to see anyone. She just wanted to find herself some place of peace. It was almost unbearable, being in the house and knowing it wasn't her home anymore. She still couldn't believe that her grandfather had given it all to Ty. It wasn't that she thought Ty was a bad person, not the Ty she'd known, but he still wasn't family. And this was her home, not his. Ty always went home at the end of the day. She was the one that stayed overnight.

She looked at the barn and decided against going in. Even if some of the horses she had known were in there, she couldn't face them. The horses weren't hers, either. Some were Lou's or Holly's or the baby's—Would Amy ever manage to stop calling her nephew the baby? She didn't know. She just knew that she couldn't be around any of Heartland's horses. She couldn't afford to get attached.

She tried to ignore the voice in the back of her head, wondering about Venture, the horse that Ty had mentioned earlier. And what of Benedict? Was that horse really in good hands with Ty's brother? She was not going in the barn.

She was halfway down the stalls before she realized what she was doing. A few of the horses looked up from their feed, but most of them paid no attention to her. She stopped at the end stall, thinking of all the horses that had come and gone, and when she went to move on, she walked right into someone.

Blinking, she found herself face-to-face with the last person she wanted to see right now. The new owner of Heartland. She knew it wasn't his fault. It was Grandpa's, but she couldn't argue with a dead man. She couldn't ask him why he'd done it. Maybe she should have read the letter. She'd just been trying to delay it. If only none of this was real...

But it was real. Ty was standing right in front of her, and he didn't look all that happy to see her. Maybe that was just because he was filthy and tired. It must have been a long day for him. A long day stealing your home, you mean. She cleared her throat. "Ty. You're here late."

He frowned at her and took his cell phone off the clip on his belt, checking the time. It was so weird to see him use it like that, so routine and unthinking. He used to keep the phone mostly for emergencies, for his mother or something. Maybe it was his wife. Maybe he kept the phone around and checked it for her. Amy tried to remember what she was like, but she'd barely met her. She'd been out of the country when Ty got married, so she missed it. She had sent a gift, though. Ty's wife had sent a thank you note.

Ty's voice brought her back to the here and now, all of which was something she'd rather forget. "It's not that late. Besides, I'm usually the last to leave."

"But... It's not like you need to stay overnight or anything, even if Grandpa's gone, and don't you have a home—a wife to get back to?" Amy asked, wishing he was gone or that he would just go. Couldn't she have one night alone at Heartland before he took over?

Ty's jaw tightened. He looked away for a moment before he spoke, but when he did, his voice was still cold. Angry. So unlike the Ty she'd known. "Around here, the horses come first, or have you forgotten?"

"I can finish whatever's left. Really. You must have things to do. People to see. I mean, wouldn't it be a nice surprise for your wife if you were home early?" Amy tried not to get upset by his words. She was trying to be pleasant. Helpful. If he wanted to make sure everything got done, then she could help him. It would get him out of here faster. Or he could just let her do it all. She didn't really care.

Ty shook his head. "If you want me to leave, Amy, just say so. Don't pretend that you care. You might still wear that ring on your finger, but you have no idea what it means."

"What?" she demanded angrily, but he was already walking away, and she was not about to chase after him. Let him go. That was what she had really wanted, anyway.

She ignored the slight stab of guilt and decided to see what was left to be done around her. She could make herself useful around here. It wasn't like they didn't need her. Ty had said they were short-handed. If Ty had just stayed long enough to tell her what to do... Never mind. She didn't need Ty Baldwin. The last few years were proof enough of that.

Coming back in to the empty farmhouse, Amy had a chill. She was still angry with Ty, even after working some of that out in the yard. She was so frustrated with him. She'd actually been trying to be nice, and he'd thrown it back in her face, after he had inherited her home! He could have been a little more understanding, more patient, more like the Ty she used to know, but he wasn't.

Nothing was the same around here. Maybe it would be good to leave.

When she went back up to her bedroom, the envelope was still there. She sat down and opened it up, wanting to know what her grandfather had to say, if he explained why he'd done this to her.

Amy,

When you read this, I expect you'll be surprised. I'm sorry. I know this will come as a shock. So many things have changed in the past ten years, and even though none of us much like change, we eventually accept it and move on. It's what we have to do. Your mother knew this better than anyone.

We lost your mother, and that was the start of a lot of changes in our lives, in your life. Lou came home. We hired Ben Stillman. Your father came back into your life, and he brought with him another family. You met Huten and Carey, and they changed your life. You became friends with Daniel. You tried to manage both Heartland and a jumping career, but you learned that you had to choose. The storm came that destroyed that barn and nearly took Ty from us. Nancy came back into my life...and into all of yours. Lou got engaged. Ben left. We hired Joni. Huten died, and Carey left Ten Beeches.

Then there are all the horses, so many horses that have come and gone over the years. You know them better than anyone.

Or you did.

Things have changed around here. It started when you left for college, but more so especially in the last two years. Despite Ben being gone, with Joni and Ty, Heartland was in good hands. You were free to leave. As much as we might not have wanted you to go, it was something that you had to do.

As time went on, though, it became clear that your heart was no longer here at Heartland. You were busy with your classes and the horses you were treating in other places, other countries. Even when you could come home—this wasn't your place anymore.

It will always be open to you, Amy. I hope you realize that. Still, I had to think, long and hard, about what was best for Heartland.

Years ago, I think we all might have entertained the idea—the hope—that you and Ty might end up sharing this land, this dream together. You both seemed a part of it, and it was a part of your souls. Now I know that your spirit belongs far beyond the borders of this land.

His, however, does not. His has always been here, it seems. He's not going to leave. In fact, you would be surprised at just how much he does around here these days. You'd be impressed by what he does and what he has done. He got his GED, and he slowly took over more and more of the business side from Lou in addition to the treatment work he does. He's always busy, but he never complains, and he does good work. He's helped Heartland expand, and your mother would be proud of what he's done with her dream.

Things haven't been easy for him, as you might know. He's really thrown himself into the work, and he's more dedicated to this place than ever. It means everything to him. I don't want him to lose this.

I've spoken to Lou, and though she was surprised as well, she agreed it's for the best. You can be as free as you like. Ty will always have a place for you here, if you want it—he still believes this is your home. When I suggested it might not be, he told me I was crazy. He doesn't know what I'm about to do, so don't hold it against him. This decision is mine, and mine alone.

The truth is, none of us saw this coming. None of us saw how leaving Heartland would affect you. How it affected all of us.

I hope you can understand, then, why I made this choice, and I hope someday you know it's for the best. You would never really be free as long as you felt you had to come back here, and now you don't have to feel that way. Heartland is in the best of hands.

Live your life, Amy. Live the life you want to live, not the one anyone is expecting you to live.

Love,

Grandpa