It was a beautiful day. The sky was a light blue with cottony clouds scattered about. There was a soft breeze and the weather wasn't that hot. These were the type of days that Jacy liked best. It was a lazy day. A day where she would much rather be sitting by the lake reading a good book or daydreaming. But instead she was on her way to her new home. Jimmy was minding the saloon while she went to move her new furniture into her place.

Joshua and Tally had finished her and Melissa's home a few days ago. It had taken longer than Jacy had anticipated because of Joshua riding for the Pony Express. Jacy hadn't mind though. She wanted the house to be perfect, and there wasn't a big rush on it, especially since she had switched jobs with Kimberly.

While riding along Jacy was twiddling one of her pony tails that she had braided this morning and thinking about Tally. He was a very attractive fella, but very withdrawn. Just yesterday she had went over to the bordello to see him. She hated that he worked there, but where he worked was none of her business. She wouldn�t set one foot through the doorway though. She just poked her head inside. Tally had seen her and he had came outside to talk with her. They discussed meeting out at her place the very next day. And that�s all they had discussed. He just wasn�t much on small talk. It was always say what you need to and that�s it. As she had watched him return to his station in the bordello, she was glad that the girl Elena wasn�t around.

Jacy pulled up in front of her big freshly done house. Joshua and Tally were already there with the wagons of furniture to help tote them in and place them wherever Jacy wanted them. "Howdy fellas," Jacy said as she swung down from Visions.

"Howdy Miss Jacy," Joshua replied.

"Hi." Tally was leaning against the banister of the porch.

Jacy wondered why ever time she saw Tally he was an aloft type of person. She had tried to make him feel at ease with her several times but had failed. She had never seen him have much feelings about anything at all.

"Where do you want to start?" Tally inquired.

"Why don't we start with the kitchen. If you bring the food and furniture in I can put it where I want it, and then you two can start putting the beds in their places." Jacy replied as she walked over to one of the wagons and picked up a box full of food.

Tally and Joshua started unloading the wagon, too. They worked hard until two o'clock and then Jacy fixed them all some lunch. After lunch they went back to work. Jacy wanted to get most of it done by the time school let out.

Melissa had been very depressed ever since Rose had left. She was beating herself up inside because she couldn't help her friend to stay in Dreamville. Jacy decided that even though all of the furniture she had either ordered from the mercantile or was having Justin make weren't done yet, she was going to move into her new home anyway. She was hoping that a change would cheer Melissa up. Little did Jacy know that her life was going to take a radical change and not for the better.

Samantha had the day off, and she intended to talk to Jacy. When she found out that Jacy wasn't at the saloon, she headed out to find her. As Samantha arrived, Jacy, Tally and Joshua were coming out of the house. They were ready to leave.

They greeted Samantha, and after Tally and Joshua left, Jacy invited Samantha inside to give her a tour of her new home. But Samantha didn't get any farther than the hallway. "Jacy we need to talk."

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" Jacy asked.

"Jacy do you really know anything about your pa?" Samantha crossed her arms and waited for a reply.

Puzzled Jacy frowned and wondered what Samantha was up to. "I'm not sure what you mean."

Samantha decided to cut to the chase. "Did your pa really die at sea?"

What should she say? What does Samantha know? Why is she asking me this? All these questions zoomed through her mind. Jacy knew that Melissa had probably told everybody in town about their pa. "Yeah, he died at sea." Jacy said nonchalantly and then continued, "Come on I'll show ya the kitchen first. I've got it all fixed up and -"

"Jacy, I know your pa isn't dead." Samantha unemotionally said.

Jacy stopped dead in her tracks. After a long pause Jacy asked, "What did you say?"

"I said I know your pa isn't dead. Your grandpa went looking for him, and your grandpa never told my brother that your pa was a sea captain. And my brother and your grandpa are very good friends. He never told my brother that he traveled by sea. He always mentioned some state that your pa was in. Justin knows that he traveled a lot by what your grandpa said but not by water by land." Samantha paused to wait for her reaction.

Jacy stood there and looked at Samantha. What should she say? Should she keep lying about her pa or should she come clean. Samantha was her friend. Maybe she would understand why she did it. "Alright, it's true. I made all the stories up. I . . . I got tired of the kids teasing me in school, and I just started making up tales about our pa. It's not Melissa's fault. She didn't know that I was lying." Jacy stopped to see what Samantha would say.

"My brother has been wanting to confront you with this for the longest time, but he didn't want to hurt you. Why did you have to tell all those lies to your friends here in Dreamville? We would have understood." Samantha said.

Before Jacy could reply Cody walked in. Jacy hadn't shut the front door. She hadn't felt the need to do so, but now she wished she had because she could tell by Cody's face that he had heard every word they had said or at least the best parts. Seeing Cody, Jacy was too stunned to say anything.

"You lied to me. Why, Jacy. WHY?" Cody was hurt and upset that Jacy had lied to him. "I can't believe you lied to me, even after you told me that you would never lie to me. After we told each other that we could always trust one another." He glared at Jacy willing her to explain.

"I . . . we . . . I . . . I didn't mean to hurt you." Jacy stammered. She wasn't sure what she could say to explain her actions that would make Cody not mad at her.

"Is that all you can say. Nothing else?" Cody couldn't believe that was all she was going to say.

Tears began to well up in her eyes and she didn't want to cry in front of anyone. She tried to swipe them away, and she tried to say something but her throat was so dry, and her heart ached with every breath she took. She couldn't think. She couldn't talk. Jacy couldn't take Cody and Samantha looking at her like that. Cody was furious with her.

She ran past Cody, climbed aboard Visions, spurred him into a gallop, and rode off. Jacy's perfect world was falling to pieces and she didn't know how to salvage it.

Meanwhile back in town Kid and Joshua had just rode into town with a herd of horses that had once belonged to Gavin. They stopped in front of the sheriff�s office and told them where they had found them. Teaspoon was surprised. There had to be some logical explanation.

Sheriff Teaspoon, Kid and Joshua watched as Jacy rode into town and ran into her home slamming the door behind her. Teaspoon shook his head and then walked across the road. He knocked on the PEG, but no one answered. "Jacy. Jacy! It�s me, Teaspoon. I need to talk to you."

Jacy heard the voice. If it had been anybody else, she would have ignored it, but it was the sheriff. She couldn�t ignore him. "I�ll be there in a minute." She shouted at him. She ran into the kitchen and splashed some water on her face from the water bowl. She quickly wiped her face with a towel and returned to the front of the building. Before opening the door she realized where she was. She should have ran into the saloon and up to her room, but instead she had come here. Home.

Jacy opened the door a crack, "Hello."

"Good evening, Jacy." Teaspoon said. "May I have a word with you?"

Jacy nodded as she opened the door wider. As Teaspoon was about to step inside, Melissa joined them. She had just gotten home from school. She saw Jacy�s face and immediately knew that Jacy had been crying. "What�s wrong? What�s going on?"

"Haven�t ya heard, your sister�s a thief." Charity smugly retorted.

"What? You�re crazy. My sister wouldn�t steal a thing. What�s she talking about?" Melissa turned away from Charity and starred at Teaspoon.

"Yeah, I want to know the same thing." Walter said as he joined the little group in front of the PEG.

Teaspoon scratched his head. He didn�t want this to get out of hand and have rumors flying all over the place, but unfortunately since Charity knew it there wasn�t much reason to keep it quiet now after all.

Charity saw Elena across the road and decided to join her and tell her the news.

Teaspoon ushered Jacy and Melissa inside, and Walter followed. Teaspoon told them that Joshua and Kid had found Gavin�s horses tied up on Jacy�s land. Jacy denied knowing anything about them and so did Melissa.

Teaspoon said, "I�ll look into the matter, and I�ll be back later."

Walter told Jacy and Melissa not to worry. "I�ll help Teaspoon get to the bottom of this. Everyone knows you wouldn�t do something like this."

After they left Jacy and Melissa withdrew into themselves without speaking a word. Jacy finally went to their bedroom. She wrote a note and took some money out of her reticule. She left it on the dresser. Melissa always brushed her hair at night before going to bed, so she would see it. Jacy quickly filled a bag with some clothes and her journal. She sneaked out the back door, and by going around the buildings and making sure that no one saw her, she left her bag behind the bank and entered. Next she took out a couple of hundred dollars. Ted didn�t think nothing of it. He just thought she was going to buy something for their new home.

After retrieving some money, Jacy then sneaked out of town. She ran and ran, making sure she stayed off the main roads. She didn�t want to run into anybody that would know her and then have to explain why and where she was going. By nightfall she was so exhausted that she just collapsed by a tree. Tomorrow she hoped that she would find someone traveling in her direction, and that she would be able to hitch a ride.