JULY 20, 1861

Jacy brought Cody up his supper. Cody smiled as she walked in. He was smitten with her and glad that it had been Jewel who had been pretending to be his sweetheart cause now him and Jacy were back together. Although he would be enjoying this time with her even more if he wasn't laid up in bed.

"Guess what?" Jacy asked as she sat the tray down in front of him.

"Hmmm . . . if I eat all my supper, I get a special dessert." Cody mischievously grinned.

"Well, not quite. Care to take another guess?" Jacy loved teasing Cody because it always made him smile. She loved his boyish grin.

"Hmmm . . . as soon as I can walk, we're going to start over with a first date." Cody had been thinking about taking Jacy on a picnic as soon as he could get out of this bed.

"Nope, you'll never guess. So I'll tell you. Jedidiah sent away for a wheelchair, and it should be here tomorrow." Jacy watched Cody's expression. He didn't seem very thrilled. "Cody don't you like the news? Once you get that wheelchair you'll be zooming all through the house. I probably won't even be able to keep up with you. I'll have to jump into your lap just to get your attention." That last statement made Cody smile, and Jacy smiled back. "Now come on, eat up. You'll need your strength to take me a ride in that wheelchair." Jacy cut a piece of the chicken breast and circled it around until she zoomed it into his mouth.

Cody could feed himself, but he liked it when Jacy did it. And Jacy liked feeding him because it gave her something to do while he was eating. She didn't just want to sit there and watch him eat. She would have brought her own meal up, but since Cody seemed to enjoy her feeding him, she continued to do so. Besides she hadn't been eating much lately. She just hadn't felt in the mood to eat lately. She was worried about Melissa getting caught up with her schoolwork. She didn't like it much that Melissa was living with Jedidiah. It wasn't that she didn't trust her brother. It just was that she missed her little sister. And another thing was that she didn't trust her sister, Jewel, so that made her more worried and nervous. It was hard to take care of Cody and to keep an eye on Jewel at the same time.

Jacy was managing the paper, writing the articles and overseeing the other articles that were submitted to the newspaper for publication, but she had put Jewel in charge of printing the newspaper and selling it because she didn't want to leave Cody alone at the house. Even though Cody assured Jacy that he would be ok if she wanted to go to town for a while, she still didn't concede to his prompting.

After Cody ate all of his supper, Jacy took his plate away. "I'll return with your dessert." She backed out of the room smiling.

Cody was going to say something, but changed his mind. "I can't wait to see what it is." The last few nights it had been peach pie, but earlier today, Jacy had told him that he would get a different dessert tonight.

Jacy returned with a 'Happy Belated Birthday' cake. She sat it down in front of him. "I missed your birthday. I know it was at the beginning of the year, but I wasn’t here then. I wish we could have celebrated it." She had found out Cody's birth date when Rachel had come over for a visit yesterday.

Just yesterday they had discussed Jacy’s leaving Dreamville, and Jacy had promised Cody that if she ever got into trouble again, or if Cody had ever got mad at her again that she just wouldn’t take off that they would cool off and discuss the matter. Cody had been angry then about the lies about her father, but after cooling down, he had come to realize why she had done it. Afterwards he had felt terrible that he had driven her away. But that was all behind them now, and they were living for their future.

"Thank you, you know I don't even know when your birthday is."

"It's June the fourth."

"We missed your birthday, too. So this cake can be for both of our belated birthdays. I just wished I had something to give you, a present." Cody said.

"Speaking of presents, I have one for you." Jacy took a package out of her dress pocket and handed it to him.

"What is it?" He took the package and shook it like a little kid would.

"Well, open it and find out!" Cody untied the string and pulled off the wrapping to find a wooden heart shaped box. Jacy had bought it at the general store in Wyoming, and she had painted it red. Cody smiled and then gently raised the box lid. He couldn’t imagine what she would have inside it. He put the lid down on the bed and opened up some paper inside. Jacy could see the puzzlement on his face.

He took out the tiny little object and looked at Jacy. "What's this?"

"It's a key to the house. Since you're living here, I thought it only practical that you have a key to the house." Jacy smiled, hoping that Cody liked the present.

"Thank you. I really like it. I wish I had a chain. I'd wear it around my neck." Cody picked up Jacy's hand and kissed it. He knew that it would be a while before he could use it, but it was the thought that counted.

"I'll see what I can do about finding you a chain for it. Now what about some cake?" She asked to hide the blush that was beginning to take root since he kissed her hand and was still holding it. He nodded, and she pulled her hand away. "Oh, I forgot the plates. Here you start cutting while I run down and get us some plates." She handed him the knife and then gently left the bed so the cake wouldn't fall over.

Jacy quickly hurried out and returned with a couple of plates for their cake. Cody had finished cutting a big piece of cake when she returned. He placed it on a plate and began to cut another piece. "I'm glad to see you haven't lost your appetite. Hey, not so big." She was referring to the next piece of cake he was cutting for her.

Teasingly Cody said, "I was cutting this one for me."

Jacy's eyes got wide. "You're going to eat two big pieces, boy you haven't lost your appetite!"

"Well, I'm going to need a lot of strength to wheel both of us around." He grinned at her. Cody put the big piece of cake on the other plate and handed it to her.

"I thought this was yours, too."

"No, you need it. You're getting so thin that just a little breeze could blow you away. Now no protesting. Eat!" Cody picked up his fork and proceeded to eat his own piece of cake. She smiled at him and then dug into her cake. It was good. It was yellow cake with chocolate icing, her favorite. She wasn't quite sure what type of cake was Cody's favorite, even Rachel hadn't known that, so instead of asking him and spoiling his surprise, she had just fixed her favorite type of cake.

After three big pieces of cake for Cody, and only one for Jacy, she took the cake away even though Cody protested. "Now Cody, you have to save some for tomorrow cause I won't have time to bake another one tomorrow since you're going to be wheeling me around on that brand new wheelchair of yours." She winked at him and then left with a fourth of the cake in tow.

As she walked down the back stairs to the kitchen, she thought, boy Cody sure can eat. Thank goodness she loved to cook. For all that he eats though, he sure has a great physique. If she ate as much as him, she wouldn't have a very good figure. She looked down at her body. Cody was right. She was getting a little too thin. She would have to try and eat more than she was. She didn't want her body getting unattractive. She sat the cake on the counter. For Cody's sake she didn't want to get unattractive. She didn't want to be without him again. This time she wanted their relationship to last forever.