Heartland: Ty's secret past

Chapter 7

By the time everyone got to the barn I had brought all of the boxes down from my loft and put them outside Harley's stall. As I bent down outside the stall to check the contents of one of the boxes, Harley reached over the stall door and nibbled on my shirt, clearly wanting attention.

"Where did that horse come from?" Amy asked as everyone entered the barn. "Lou," She said, turning to her sister. "Please tell me you haven't agreed to take on more clients without telling me."

"Amy, don't worry," I said, straightening up. "This isn't a clients horse. He's mine."

Everybody's eyebrows raised in confusion (Jack's moustache flew away).

"What are you talking about?" Lou asked.

"You don't have a horse!" Tim said.

"If you had your own horse, why did you have to take Copper for a ride?" Mallory asked.

"I haven't seen him in a couple of years," I said, stroking him affectionately. "I don't know where he's at with his training and I want to bond with him again first."

"Looks like you've bonded pretty well," Caleb, the blonde cowboy I had only met briefly, commented. "He's chewing on your shirt." I turned to look at Harley and he lifted his head as I did so, taking my top with him.

"Harley!" I scolded, yanking the fabric from between his teeth and smoothing it back down to cover my torso.

"Why do you have a horse?" Amy asked in confusion. "I thought you hadn't done any riding before you came here."

"That's what I need to show you," I said, gesturing to the boxes that none of them seemed to have noticed. Other than Mallory, who was about to pull one open. "Mallory!"

"Sorry!" She said, stepping back. "Geez, someone's cranky," she muttered.

I took her place beside the box and pulled it open before I could change my mind about revealing my past. Everyone crowded around, trying to look into the large box.

"A saddle?" Lou said. "Why do you have a saddle?"

"That's a show jumping saddle," Amy said as I lifted it out, along with the stand it had been with. "One of the best you can get. How come you have one?"

"That's what I'm getting to," I said. I opened the next box and pulled out a second saddle, setting that on it's own stand beside the first. I glanced around the barn, my eyes landing on the grey horse. "You guys wanna know why I recognised that guy over there?" I pointed at Storm. I turned back to the saddles, resting a hand on the first one that had come out of its box. "This was his saddle."

"Why do you have it?" Tim demanded. "Why wouldn't I have gotten it when I bought the damn horse?"

"Again, I'm getting to it," I said. I went on to one of the remaining boxes and opened it, pulling out a range of jodhpurs, show jackets and shirts, even a couple of pairs of riding boots. "These were mine." I could see the confusion still on everyone's faces. All except-

"You did show jumping?" Caleb asked, shocked. "You don't seem like that kind of guy..."

"I did," I said. "And I was pretty good at it too." I opened the next box and stepped back to let everyone else have a look.

"Oh My God!" Mallory exclaimed, pulling out one of the many prizes. "These are mainly firsts!"

"And champion," Amy said, lifting a trophy and examining the engraved front. She turned to me and said, "Why didn't you tell me about any of this?"

"It brought on a bad part of my life," I said, not looking at any of them. "I was never allowed to ride and when my step dad found out, he got mad, got drunk, and took it out on my mother. That was when I lost it. I couldn't let him hurt her like that, so I beat him up. That's how I ended up here."

"Are you planning to get back into it?" Jack asked. Before I could answer, Mallory butted in.

"I'm still confused," she said. "How do you know Storm?"

"I used to jump him since Harley was too young and untrained," I told her. "I knew his owners well, those were the people I was talking to at the fall Finale, Lou. They let me compete him as much as I could." I paused, remembering what she had brought up about the child. "That child you saw me holding, his name is Tyler. They named him after me. That's why you saw me crying."

"Ty..." Lou didn't know what to say.

"I don't believe a word of this," Tim interjected angrily. "Do you have any proof of anything you're telling us?"

"Amy," I said, turning to her. "Would you mind if I borrowed Storm for a ride?"

"Yeah, I want to see how good you are," she said, and I noticed the ghost of a smile on her lips.

Without another word, I reached into a box and pulled out the rest of Storm's riding gear.

"Can you meet me at the jumping ring I built for Amy?" I asked, looking around the faces before me. There were a few nods and murmurs of agreement before they all disappeared.

"Get in my truck," Jack said gruffly.

"We won't all fit," Lou protested.

"Of course you will," Jack said. "You and Tim with me in the front, the others in the back."

As they all piled in, Mallory loudly protesting about having to sit in the open back of Jack's truck, I started to get Storm ready.

"Mallory, just get in," I heard Amy saying in annoyance. After a moments more protesting, Mallory shrieked.

"Caleb, put me down!"

I peered out the barn door to see Caleb dumping Mallory in the back of the truck where Amy was already seated. Once he was in, the six of them drove off, leaving me to prepare Storm. I lead Storm outside and shut the barn door before mounting him. This was it.