JUNE 22, 1860

Jacy was daydreaming about her ma and wishing that she knew what had happened to her. For that matter she wondered where her grandpa was. While her and Melissa had been traveling to Dreamville they had talked about living with their grandpa. She had never once thought that he might not be in Dreamville. Her and Melissa had both hoped that their grandpa would help them find their ma. It had really upset Jacy when she had realized that her grandpa had left town, and no one knew when he would be back. She masked her feelings because she had to be strong for Melissa.

Looking all around the room her eyes scanned the squares. Jacy did a double take when she saw Ivy in square four and square five. Oh NO! She began to get a queasy feeling. Ike had been right. There were two of them. She had been so busy with her square and thinking and watching Cody in his square that she hadn�t even noticed both of them. But now that she knew, she felt awful. She wanted to slink into a hole and hide. But she couldn�t leave her square, even though she felt embarrassed. She knew she would feel even more embarrassed if she walked out with everybody staring at her. What was she do? But before she could think of an answer, Caller Bob started calling. Jacy had to dance.

Jacy felt terrible about what she had done to poor Ivy. She was so upset that she was messing up, which in turn was getting some of the others confused, especially her partner, Jimmy. All through the tip and the singing call her square kept breaking down. Jacy just wanted it to be over, and as soon as it was, she quickly thank everybody in her square and then hurried off to the doorway. But before she could make it there, Cody stopped her. "Where�s the fire?"

Jacy stammered, "I . . . I can�t believe I did it." She ran out of the barn. Cody had a puzzled face. What could she mean? Seeing Jimmy not too far away he walked over and asked him what was wrong with Jacy.

"I�m not sure. She was messin� up a lot when we were dancin�." Jimmy replied.

"Did you get mad at her because of it?" Cody frowned.

"No, not at all. No one got mad at her. We all made mistakes." Jimmy said with a concern expression.

"I�m going to go and see what�s wrong with her. If we�re not back soon then would you dance with Charity for me?" Jimmy nodded and watched as Cody left.

Jacy couldn�t actually leave because then Melissa wouldn�t have a way home, so she stood over by Braids, and that�s where Cody found her. There was a full moon, so he could see the wet tears on her face even though she tried to shield her face from him.

Cody stepped closer to her and lifted her face upwards though she tried her hardest to bow her head, Cody�s hand was stronger and she reluctantly let him hold her head up, but she kept her eyes looking down. "It�s ok, everybody messes up now and then. No one�s mad at you."

"Really? But how do you know?" Jacy said barely louder than a whisper.

"Because Jimmy told me." Cody lifted her chin higher and Jacy raised her eyes to meet his. "Don�t cry." He took his hand and wiped her tears away.

"Jimmy?" Jacy was puzzled.

"Yeah, he said that you messed up, but no one in your square was really mad. I�m sure some of the others messed up to. We all messed up in our squares. But remember what you told me, when I signed up. Everybody messes up, but it�s all in fun. It�s about fun and friendship. That�s what you said." Cody smiled at her hoping that she would smile, too.

Jacy started shaking her head and crying more. "No! NO! NO!"

"It�s not about fun and friendship? Hmmm . . . let me think. It�s about fun and girlfriends. Cody lifted Jacy up and turned in a full circle a few times. Jacy couldn�t help but crack a smile at Cody�s antics. But as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared. "I knew you could smile." Cody grinned as he put her back down.

"I�m . . . it�s not about messin� up in the square." She couldn�t look Cody in the face, so she kept staring at the ground.

"Then what is it? Come on you can tell me. I�m sure it can�t be that bad. Whatever it is, I�ll help you." Cody knew whatever it was it couldn�t be as terrible as Jacy thought it was because she was the nicest sweetest gal he had ever known. He was so happy that she was his gal. Of course he hadn�t really had the chance to ask her to be his gal, but they were doing things together, so he thought of it as dating. And several times they had almost kissed, but someone always interrupted them before they had the chance to.

"I saw them in there." Jacy said.

"Saw who?" Cody asked.

"Them, Ivy and Clover. I know now that there is really two of them. CJ lied to me, and I believed him and Clover. They�ll never forgive me . . . Noah and Ivy." She turned around and buried her face into her saddle.

Cody digested this new information. Weeks ago he had decided not to talk Jacy about Clover and Ivy because Ike had told him that Jacy would only believe that there were two of them if she saw it with her own two eyes. And also because Noah had devised a plan that he was sure would work. Cody hadn�t been told about the plan, but if he had known what was going to happen, he would have forewarned Jacy, so that she wouldn�t have been taken by surprise tonight. He felt hurt and angry that Jacy was upset. She had made an honest mistake.

"Jacy, darlin�, it�s ok. I�m sure Noah and Ivy aren�t mad at you. I�m sure they understand that you made an honest mistake. Come on let�s go inside. Once we talk with them you�ll see that they�re not mad. Come on," Cody put his hands around her waist and pulled her back from her horse. He held her in his arms and comforted her until the tears subsided.

Jacy finally relaxed in his arms and wiped away her tears. She felt better after hearing Cody�s encouraging words. Finally they walked back into the barn. No one else had noticed that Cody and Jacy had left. But Charity realized it, when Caller Bob said square em� up.

Because Jimmy didn�t see Cody and Jacy when everybody was forming their squares, he asked Charity to dance telling her that Cody had to do something, so she agreed.

As Cody and Jacy returned they saw everybody squared up, except that Jacy�s square was minus a couple. "There�s the last couple. Please join the others. We�re ready to begin again." Caller Bob said as he saw them enter the barn.

Cody and Jacy walked over to the square. "We�ll talk with them after this." Cody whispered to his partner as they bowed to each other and began another round of square dancing. As they danced Cody realized if he hadn�t been lucky enough to coax Jacy back inside that these three couples in their square wouldn�t have been able to dance. He was glad that Jacy trusted and believed in him. He would fix everything and Jacy would be happy again. He was also happy that he was dancing with Jacy.

After two hours had flown by Caller Bob thank everybody for attending and wished them all a goodnight. Some people started talking for a few minutes and others filed out of the barn.

Noah was talking with Ivy and Clover. Clover was furious that they had tricked her. She had honestly believed that Ivy and Noah had broke up, but it had only been a ruse to get her to come here, so that Jacy would see both of them together.

Cody and Jacy came walking over to them. She could see that Clover was angry, but it didn�t look like Noah and Ivy were. Noah and Ivy turned around. Cody immediately did the talking, "Ivy, Noah, Jacy is really sorry about the whole incident."

Jacy nodded and said, "I�ll do a retraction on the article, and I do apologize. I�m very sorry." She glanced at Cody.

"You�re not mad at Jacy are you?" Cody asked.

"No, I�m not mad at you, Jacy." Ivy walked over to Jacy. "I�m mad at my sister. Now people believe that I wrote that article."

Coming to Jacy�s defense, "Not after Jacy prints in the paper that you didn�t write it. All your friends will believe it wasn�t you," Cody stated.

"Cody�s right, Ivy." Noah agreed. Ivy nodded, sort of agreeing. Hopefully they were right. It made Jacy feel better that Noah and Ivy weren�t mad.

Clover was angry that her little plan had failed, and that Noah had tricked her, so she stormed out fuming and mumbling. Noah and Ivy couldn�t help but crack a smile, and Cody grinned at Clover�s dramatics.

Cody turned to Jacy and asked her if he could escort her home, and she agreed. On the way back to town Cody and Jacy discussed the house that Tally and Joshua were building for her while Melissa just listened, with her head against Jacy�s back, and thought of a plan to get Jacy and Jimmy together.

Melissa knew she had to get them together for a long period of time, and then she just knew that they would really like each other. If she was older she would like Jimmy, but she wasn�t, so she wanted him for Jacy.