With a sigh Tim looked at the beautiful bracelet twinkling in the warm rays of the winter sun.

Lost in thought his gaze wandered towards the clear blue sky.

"Marion, our little girl is getting married tomorrow… To me it feels like yesterday when I gave you this bracelet on our wedding day… I just wish you could be here to see our Lou." His words were only a whisper but they came from the bottom of his heart leaving him with glistening eyes and a lump in his throat.

He gulped. Yes, Samantha Louise Fleming was about to marry the man of her dreams in less than twenty-four hours and Tim knew that she would give anything to have her mother by her side on this special day.

"I know you are watching after our girls, like you always have." Tim took a deep breath. Yes, Marion had been there after he had left his family to become a selfish, drug-addicted, useless loser. He still felt the sharp pain in his heart when he thought about that time. But he also knew he was not able to change that. These ten years were lost forever.

Absent-minded he touched the bracelet with his fingertips. The bracelet he was about to give Lou tonight hoping she would wear it tomorrow giving her the feeling her mom was with her while she was tying the knot.

Once again Tim’s thoughts drifted back. Back to the day Marion had returned the bracelet to him. Back to the day his marriage had been over. Back to the day he had lost his life’s greatest treasure.

The words of his deceased wife were still ringing in his ears.

"Take the damn bracelet along with all the promises you never kept. I do not need you in my life anymore and I do not need this to remind me of you and all you have done to ruin my life and the lives of our daughters."
Before Tim had been able to say anything she had put the bracelet on the table and had stormed out of the room.

He still winced when he remembered that day. He had never seen Marion so furious. And he had never seen her alive again after. Slowly a single tear rolled down his cheek.

"I am so sorry. Marion, I really am."

How many times during the last 13 years he had wished for getting one last chance to talk to Marion, one last chance to apologize for what he had done, one last chance to tell her how thankful he was that she had taken such good care of Amy and Lou?

With the back of his hand he wiped away the tears streaming down his face without a sound.

During the next minutes he tried to calm down, tried to think straight again.

He had to drive to Heartland soon to attend Peter’s and Lou’s party on the eve of their wedding. Everyone would be there, his younger daughter Amy, her boyfriend Ty and his ex-father-in-law Jack, Marion’s father. It had not been easy to overcome their differences since Tim had returned three years ago but they were trying, trying really hard.

With a light smile Tim realized that they had achieved a lot remembering that Jack had kicked him off the property the first time the two of them had met again. Now he was a regular guest in the Ranch house although he knew that sometimes Jack would love to kick his butt for acting stupid.

Deep down he knew that Jack had become like a father for his daughters while he had been away and how could he blame him for protecting the ones he loved more than his own life, the ones he himself had hurt badly in the past leaving Jack to pick up the pieces? They had been a long way from trust at this Open House three years ago.

But Tim had never given up. He had returned to his family and even more than that he had become a part of their lives again. Tomorrow he would walk his eldest daughter down the aisle. Only the thought was giving him goose bumps. And hopefully she would wear the bracelet he was holding in his hands right now. It was very special to him although the memories were not all good. But he knew that it had not been the bracelet but him who had destroyed the marriage and the life Marion and he had dreamed of on their wedding day.

He looked at the bracelet again still twinkling in the sun.

"Good luck, Lou. I love you… And I will miss you"

Yes he would miss her so much. Dubai was so far away and he did not know how often Lou would be able to come to Alberta to visit her family. But she was a grown-up woman now and she was making her own decisions.
Tim knew it would not be easy for him to accept this and to not blame Peter for stealing away his daughter. But why had it to be Dubai of all places? Why couldn’t they stay in Alberta or at least on the same continent?

It was hard for him to imagine Heartland without Lou. He had just got her back three years ago and now they had to say Goodbye again. Only this time it was not him who left the family. Now he was getting a clue of how much pain he had caused his family by leaving them thirteen years ago.
The thought of Lou’s departure tomorrow was making him feel miserable but he would try to pull himself together in front of his daughter.

He took a deep breath.

Then he climbed into his truck and drove off to Heartland to give his daughter a very special gift on the eve of her very special day.

The End

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