Jacy set up the stakes about fifteen feet apart. She had four pairs of horseshoes, two each for a player. Her and Ted teamed up against Samantha and Justin. Jacy explained the game to them. "You get one point for hitting the iron post, two points if you hit the post and it stays touching the post, and three points if the horseshoe drops down around the post."

Jacy and Ted weren�t very good at the game. Neither one of them had any muscles whereas Justin had a very muscular built due to him being a blacksmith and pounding iron a lot. Justin was also great with his aim. He was very good at hitting anything that he aimed at being it with a bow and arrow, a knife, or a gun, and now he was just as good with horseshoes thought he had never played the game before. Samantha was also well toned but still had a striking figure that proved that she was all woman and not a man. And she did almost as well as Justin when she threw her horseshoes.

Justin and Samantha undoubtedly won. Jacy and Ted would need lots more practice if they were to ever beat them in a game of horseshoes. Though Jacy was a little miffed at loosing, she tried not to show it. But Justin could see the disappointment all over her face. He told her to cheer up and if it would make her feel any better that she could hit him in the foot with a horseshoe. She broke down and grinned at his comment. They handed over their horseshoes to the next players which were Caly and Buck, and Meg and Luke.

Justin, Jacy, Ted and Samantha decided to go to the lunch tables to find something delicious to satisfy their appetites. Of course Ted and Justin put a little of each of the desserts on their plates to appease Jacy and Samantha for slaving over their hot stoves.

After lunch the four of them discussed wedding presents for Meg and Luke. Drucilla and Joshua happened by when Justin was stating that he would make them a table and some chairs for their kitchen. Drucilla offered to give him the lumber for the project.

Jacy said, "I�ll give them some cups, plates, forks and spoons for their kitchen."

"Now what will I get them?" Samantha asked.

"How about some pots and pans. They will need them, too." Jacy suggested, and Samantha agreed.

"Do you have any suggestions for me?" Ted asked. Nobody said anything.

"Hmmm . . . let me think about it for a while. I�m sure I�ll think of something." Jacy replied.

After talking for a while, they all decided to split up to do different things.

************

"Gunplay won�t solve anything, Cody!" Lee shouted trying to get her point across.

"He stole my poem, and Jacy thinks it�s to her from him." Cody shouted back. "He�s a low down sneaky conniving snake. He knew I had my hea . . . he knew I liked her, and he stole her just like my poem."

"Look Cody, I didn�t steal your poem or your girl. I don�t know how she got the poem, but it wasn�t from me. I have no idea why she thought it was my poem."

Cody was angrier than a bear that hadn�t eaten for weeks, and so he headed towards Jimmy intending to take a swing at him. But a little girl stepped in his path. Startled he stopped and backed up a step. If the girl had been anybody other than Melissa, he would have barreled his way through to his target, but he had a soft spot for Jacy�s little sister.

Melissa stepped in front of Cody waving a rope in front of his face. "I have a great idea. Let�s see which one of you is the strongest." She went right up to Cody and placed the rope in his hand. "Come on!" She grabbed his arm and started pulling.

"What . . . What are you talking about?" Exasperated Cody asked.

"Come on Jimmy follow us. This is gonna be a test of your strength." Melissa stopped Cody on one side of a mud hole, and then she ran over and pulled Jimmy to the other side of the mud hole. She handed Jimmy the other end of the rope. "It�s called �Tug of War�, and the looser gets the mud." Emphasizing the word mud as she pointed to it.

"Oh, you�ve got to be kidding." Cody said.

"What�s the matter, Cody? Jimmy stronger than you?" Melissa taunted him.

"Never!" Cody shouted as he tightened the rope around his hand and wrapped it around his body.

Jimmy looked around. They had gathered a big crowd. He couldn�t seem like he was a coward so he repeated Cody�s actions.

Melissa smiled. This was gonna be fun! Once Jacy saw how strong Jimmy was then she would definitely like him.

Meanwhile Jacy was having an argument with CJ. He wouldn�t take the bracelet back. With his charm and wit he kept batting down every explanation Jacy had for returning it. Jacy didn�t want to come right out and say her heart belonged to another man to turn him off because for one thing she didn�t want anyone to know that she was in love, and for another thing she was still mad at him.

Jacy was about to throw out another reason why she didn�t want the bracelet when Clover came running up to them. "CJ you�re missing the action. Jimmy and Cody are really going at it. Come on!" Clover took off back towards the rear of the schoolhouse with CJ in tow. Jacy thought it was very rude of Ivy to just interrupt them like that. But she quickly dismissed that thought when Ivy mentioned Cody�s name.

Jacy hitched up her skirt and followed them as quickly as she could. They joined the crowd, and Jacy worked herself up front, but there was a tall dark-haired man, a blond-haired man, she remembered him from somewhere, and Ike in front of her, and she couldn�t see a thing. She tried jumping up to at least get a glimpse of what was going on but had no luck. Ike noticed Jacy and stepped sideways to let her slip through to see the show.

It was a very warm day and Cody and Jimmy were perspiring a lot. They were both evenly matched for their muscles had been toned very well from their laborious chores. They were tugging, pulling and yanking on that rope. Jacy was relieved to see that they weren�t really fighting.

She hadn�t heard that there was going to be a �Tug of War� game. Without realizing it Jacy said out loud, "What�s going on?"

Jesse heard Jacy and said, "Cody thinks Jimmy stole his poem to give to you, and he was ready to go up against Jimmy in gunplay, but Melissa threw him a rope."

"Why were they going to shoot each other?"

"Cody thinks that Jimmy stole his poem. The one you printed in the paper."

"Whose poem was it?"

"It was Cody�s. He wrote it for you, but I decided to play a trick on him and leave it on your desk, so that you would publish it, but not under Jimmy�s name, without a name. But Jimmy walked in, and I dropped it. He picked it up, and you published it under Jimmy�s name."

While Jacy and Jesse were talking, Cody was pulling harder and harder on the rope for he had seen Jacy watching him. Jimmy was getting closer and closer to the mud hole.

"Oh NO!" Jacy smacked her head. What had she done!

CJ had followed Jacy up front and had overheard her conversation with Jesse, and he started laughing. Jacy heard him and spun on him. With eyes of fire she punched him in the belly which knocked some sails out of his winds as he doubled over. "It�s not funny." She turned back around just in time to see him go flying into the mud.

But what Jacy didn�t see, but everybody else did, was that Cody had almost got Jimmy in the mud. But Cody was more interested in Jacy and CJ then with the �Tug of War� game. And when he saw Jacy punch CJ he was very curious as to why.

When Jimmy saw that Cody was paying more attention to Jacy and CJ, he jerked hard on the rope, and Cody went flying into the mud. Jimmy grinned as he thought, Cody deserved it.

Jacy was very tempted to run up to Cody and apologize for causing the whole incident. But should she? Jesse did say that Cody had wrote the poem for her. Cody�s anger flared up and Jacy saw it written all over his face.

Cody stood up and started for Jimmy. Jacy made up her mind. She ran up to Cody, putting herself in between the adversaries. "Damn!" Cody swore. This was the second time that Cody had been stopped from charging into Jimmy. It finally registered in his mind that it was Jacy standing before him, and he started to cool down some. His anger abated, and Jacy moved closer to him.

"Did you . . . Was it you . . . Is it true?" Seeing the confusion all over his face along with the mud, Jacy finally spit out, "Did you write that poem for me." Cody nodded cause he couldn�t form the words. Jacy gave him a big smile. "I�m so sorry, Cody. I shouldn�t have assumed that Jimmy had wrote it. Can you forgive me?" Cody nodded again, and then he started brushing off his clothes. Jacy walked closer to Cody. She would have like to have helped him, but she really couldn�t do anything for him. "Cody I think you need to change clothes especially if you�re going you know where." She whispered.

"I guess I�ll go back to the waystation and change." He slowly started to walk but kept his eyes on Jacy.

"Uh . . . Um . . . Cody . . . I�ll walk with you to your horse."

He smiled, "I�d like that."

Standing in front of his horse, Jacy was the first one to break the silence. "Nice horse."

"Thanks!"

"Have you had him long?"

"Yeah for two years. I picked him and my other horse out of a bunch of wild mustangs, caught him and Trixsy, broke them, and they are very fine horses. Prankster won�t let anyone ride him but me, but Trixsy will. Prankster can be very stubborn. He�s . . ." Cody realized he was prattling on too much about his horses and stopped in mid sentence.

"He sure is a beaut!" I need to get me another horse, but I�ve been so busy that I haven�t had the chance to look for one. Well, I don�t want to keep you. You better get going and change your clothes."

Cody mounted Prankster, "I�ll see you at the party."

"I hope so." Jacy waved to him as he departed. She stood there watching him disappear out of sight.

"Jacy! Jacy!" Melissa pulled on her sleeve and waved a hand in front of her face. "What�s the matter with you?"

Jacy suddenly realized that Melissa was there. "I�m in love."

"With Cody? You�ve got to be kidding. Jimmy�s a lot better than him."

"No, he�s not. Cody�s perfect." Jacy sighed. She was totally in love, and her and Cody were friends again, maybe even more than that soon.

Melissa didn�t like this one bit. Jimmy was the perfect man for Jacy, not Cody. She would just have to work harder to get them together. She would have to think of some new plans.

There was another amongst them who didn�t like the idea of Jacy and Cody being together either. And they wouldn�t be for long if he had anything to say about it.