Today was Melissa’s birthday, but Jacy sent her to school anyway. None of the other children or the teacher knew it was her birthday. Melissa didn’t want to tell them. She was mad at Jesse and Michael and being upset with them made her unhappy and quieter than usual in class. She was however fidgety and preoccupied all day, and several times Kathleen had to call her back to the present.

Melissa couldn’t wait for school to be out. On breaks she didn’t even feel like playing anything. She just sat under the tree wondering what birthday gifts Jacy would have for her. Several times the girls asked her to play jump rope, swing or jump on a see-saw with them, but she flatly refused.

Finally the day ended and Melissa shot out the door, mounted Braids and didn’t stop until she got to the livery. As she had passed Cody on the trail he had hollered where’s the fire?

All out of breath Melissa flew through the door. Once she caught her breath, she asked, "Jacy, where is it?"

"Where’s what?"

"My birthday presents."

"Is it your birthday today? I must have forgot." Seeing Jacy trying not to smile, Melissa realized she was just teasing.

"Come on Jacy, don’t keep me in suspense any longer." She said with her hands on her hips.

"Ok! OK! You could have at least said hello first. Why don’t you go to our bedroom, change clothes and then meet me in the kitchen. Melissa was about to protest, but she saw Jacy’s look, like I’m not taking no for an answer. So the sooner she changed the sooner she would receive her gifts. She walked quickly to their bedroom. She knew better than to run for Jacy might chastise her for it.

Their bedroom door was usually kept shut and today was no different. Melissa turned the knob and flung the door open. She grabbed some knock around clothes out of her closet. After undressing she started pulling on her pants, and something grabbed a hold of her brown trousers. As her head turned around to see what it was, she gasped and fell to the floor.

The little puppy stopped chewing on her pants and crawled up on her belly and started licking her face. Melissa squealed with delight. She grabbed the puppy and held him tight. She raced to the kitchen forgetting the rule about running. Still holding the puppy she hugged Jacy. "Thank you! Thank you!" Jacy was pleased that Melissa was happy. Lately Melissa had been very down because of the incident with Michael, Jesse and Javier. So hopefully this little puppy would bring her out of the slump she was in.

After Melissa calmed down they ate dinner, and then Jacy showed Melissa her birthday cake. She lit the candles and Melissa blew them out. Before Jacy could cut the cake, Melissa threw her arms around her sister again, "Thank you very much, sis."

There was a knock on the door, and Melissa volunteered to get it while Jacy cuts the cake. Opening the door Melissa found CJ there. He said, "Happy Birthday, Melissa."

Surprised Melissa asked, "How did you know?"

"I read minds!" He quipped. Then he produced a package from behind his back.

"For me?"

"For you." He handed her the package and bowed before her. Glancing past her to hopefully catch a glimpse of Jacy.

"Would you like to come in and have a piece of birthday cake?"

"Well, I’d love to." He followed her to the kitchen.

They all had a piece of cake and talked. Then Melissa opened her gift from CJ. It was a bottle of perfume. "Wow, thanks CJ!"

"Well, every gal should smell real nice." He smiled at Jacy as he spoke.

Well, CJ excused himself, and Jacy followed him to the door, and said, "Thank you for giving Melissa a birthday present, but why?"

"Because I like her. I like you, too." He quickly kissed her on the lips and then left.

The kiss shook Jacy up that she couldn’t even speak. She watched him as he walked down to the hotel. She fingered the bracelet in her pocket that he had given her. She had wanted to give it back, but she hadn’t had a chance to.

CJ knew she was watching him. He also knew that little by little she was falling for him.