Heartland

Chapter Seven.

Chapter Seven: Business Boom!

The next morning Amy woke up just in time to get up, get ready, and get to the bus. I had Maisie ready and in Ty's truck for preschool. Amy had already left on the bus before Maisie and I. The day was just normal, the bus route was going smoothly. Little did the bus driver know, a van, a truck and horse trailer, and a semi weren't paying attention to the vehicles around them. Amy sat in the same seat as Soraya, they were halfway down the isle on the bus. Through the front window every student could see the semi swerving to miss the mini van, and the truck and trailer swerving to avoid the collision. They watched as the semi jack knifed, the mini van hit the semi, and the truck and trailer tipping over with seven award winning horses in the trailer. Amy watched as the driver, the owner of the horses, and two other workers opened the trailer and five horses ran out. The bus driver slammed on the breaks seconds away from hitting a horse. Amy watched as the horses ran around terrified. The bus driver kept saying,
"Stay in your seats. No one gets off the bus!" Amy couldn't resist as a white horse galloped off the road and got tangled in barbed wire.

I had my music cranked up as I was driving Maisie to school, we sang along to our favorite song. The music suddenly stopped and a breaking news report stole my attention.
"A multiple vehicle accident, near the Heartland horse ranch, has stalled a school bus and has left multiple horses to be rounded up." Just as the report stopped I had to slam on the breaks of the truck before I rear ended a school bus. I saw Amy run off the bus.
"Stay here," I said to Maisie. She looked scared. "Amy," I yelled as she ran off the bus to a horse stuck in barbed wire. The horse laid on the ground screaming in pain. A crowd of people formed and news station had just rolled in. I ran after Amy and got to her side as she cupped her hands over the horses' eyes. We helped calm the horse down as the owner cut the wire off the horse. The gorgeous horse stood up fast as the wire left his body. With freedom on his mind, he reared, throwing Amy to the ground. I jumped in and grabbed his lead rope before he got away. I held a hand to Amy and helped her up. She calmed the horse down by rubbing her hands down his face. I handed the rope to the horse's owner.
"I don't know how you girls did that. Who are you?" the owner asked.
"We train horses, I'm Tara Cohan," I replied as I shook his free hand.
"I'm Amy Fleming, my grandpa is Jack Bartlett, he owns Heartland," Amy said as she shook his hand.

Ty and Jack parked Jack's truck behind Ty's as they got to the accident scene. Ty ran up to his truck and saw Maisie.
"Where's mommy?" he asked.
"Up there," she said as she pointed towards the accident.
"Oh god no!," Ty shouted as he expected the worst. Jack and Ty ran through the crowd and saw Amy and I talking to the owner of the horses. "Tara!" Ty yelled as he ran up to me and hugged me.
"Are you okay?" he asked frantically.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. He looked terrified. "I'm fine, I promise. Did you see Maisie? Is she okay?" I asked.
"She's fine, I'm fine, you just scared me is all," Ty replied.
"C'mon let's help with the other horses," Jack suggested. We all went with the owner and went to the horse trailer. They had caught five of the seven horses that had escaped. There was one horse trapped inside the trailer who had broken all of it's legs, he was put down.
"I think the missing horse ran off into the meadow," someone said. Almost at the perfect time, Caleb came riding through the crowd on Sky.
"Why are you riding my horse," I asked as he approached.
"Sorry, I left mine at home," he said joking like. I laughed as I pet her.
"Get off," I demanded. Caleb jumped off Sky.
"I'll go look for the horse. What's it's name?" I asked.
"Juno," the owner replied as he handed me a halter and lead rope.
"I'll be back. Watch Maisie," I said to Ty. Ty nodded. I kicked Sky and we galloped our way through the meadow.

Sky and I rode for twenty minutes when I found Juno grazing under some willow trees.
"Juno," I called sweetly. She perked her head up and her ears forward. I got off Sky and put the halter on Juno. I attached the lead rope and then mounted Sky again. I tied the lead to my saddle horn and galloped back to the accident site.

I rode back onto the rode with Juno being ponied behind me. I handed the lead rope to the owner of all the horses. People were filming and taking pictures of me. I was a little creeped out. Ty was holding Maisie.
"Mommy," she yelled as Ty put her down. I lifted her up and snuggled her.
"You okay baby?" I asked.
"I'm okay mommy," she replied.
"Let's get back home," Jack said worried like. "What's wrong?" I asked him privately.
"They're looking at us all weird," he replied. I looked at the crowd of people. They were all staring and taking pictures. We started walking past them, they all kind of split apart and let us through.

When we got back to Heartland everyone was kind of in shock. Caleb brought back Sky and was settling her back in, Amy ran off to her room, Ty took Maisie up to the loft for a nap, and Jack and I just sat in his truck.
"You did great today," he said.
"Thanks Jack," I replied as I hugged him and got out of the truck. I walked to the barn and saw Caleb brushing Sky. "Thanks Caleb," I said.
"It's no problem," he replied. I walked up to the loft and saw Ty putting Maisie in bed. We walked down to the stalls and saw Caleb had left. He was probably out getting hay.
"Spartan and Harley need exercised," Ty said as he looked at the chalkboard on the wall.
"I think Amy's mad at me. Let's let her exercise Spartan," I suggested.
"Okay, let's take Copper," he said.
"Okay," I replied, then went to grab my saddle and bridle.

Ty and I were riding for about an hour when we got to the river. I looked down at the place where we were taken.
"I don't think we should go down there," Ty suggested.
"I don't want to ether," I replied. I sighed. "I still wonder how they even got here. How'd they follow us this far without us seeing them?" I asked.
"I don't know Tara," he replied.
"I'm so stupid. I can't believe I didn't notice," I said.
"I didn't notice it either, it wasn't your fault." Ty sighed. "Let's go back," he suggested. I spun Copper around and kicked his sides hard.
"First one back gets to wake Maisie up," I called over my shoulder. He kicked Harley and was on my heels in no time. Ty was a perfect father figure for Maisie. I just hoped things wouldn't change and that things between Ty and Amy were done.

I beat Ty by a few feet. I flew right off Copper and Ty did the same to Harley. I ran into the barn and Ty chased after me. He caught up and grabbed me in his arms. I was laughing as we both fell to the ground laughing. We sat up as Amy was riding back on Spartan.
"Let's go wake Maisie up," I said to Ty just so we could get out of Amy's way. He followed me up the stairs and into the loft. She was still asleep.
"Let's not wake her she looks so perfect," Ty said. I agreed. Her face was so soft and frail.
"Okay," I agreed. I went down the loft stairs and Ty followed. He went into the office and started studying for his college exam I went outside and grabbed Copper and Harley, leading them to their stalls. I started to untack Harley.
"I'm sorry about today. I totally stole your thunder," I said to Amy as I removed Harley's saddle.
"It's okay. You're great with horses I loved having your help," she admitted.
"You're better though. Lou told me business was awesome after your mom passed because of how amazing you are with horses," I replied.
"I guess I am totally booked with client horses. The video of us with those horses went viral," she said.
"What?" I asked.
"Yeah, c'mon," she said as she led me to the office. Amy grabbed the laptop and opened it. The news report that came up was titled "Miracle Girls". It was a video of Amy and I settling the horse that was stuck in barbed wire. The video didn't show Amy being thrown down. It also showed me riding back with the horse that ran off.
"That's awesome!" I exclaimed.
"Lou said the phone hasn't stopped ringing. Everyone wants us to work with their horses," she said.
"That's great!" I cheered.
"Lou's working out a schedule for us to go by," she said.
"I can't wait," I replied.