DECEMBER 21, 1861

Thaddeus sat at the desk reading Jess' diary. He knew he should stop, but it made him feel closer to her even though she wasn't there. He'd read an entry and then picture the scene in his mind. He could almost remember everything that Jess had wrote about. He even remembers her thirteenth birthday when she walked home by herself. Of course he hadn't known anything about the wishing pond. He wondered what Heyes was going to wish for?

Thud! Thud

Thaddeus was brought out of his thoughts as Joshua pounded on the desk to get his attention. Once he had it, he asked, "What's this?" He picked up Jess' diary. "You still reading her diary. I thought you were done with it. I thought you weren't going to pry into her private thoughts any more?"

Jed was caught as though he had his hands in the cookie jar, so he blurted out the first thing he could think of, "I wasn't prying intentionally. I just thought I might be able to find out something more that might help us."

"And did you?"

Frowning he answered, "Well no."

Heyes grabbed the book and stuck it in his inside jacket pocket. "I think I'll just keep it."

"Oh come on Heyes, give it back. I won't read it any more. But better I read it than you."

"I'm not going to read it. I'm just going to keep it from your prying eyes. Do you think you can get away from that desk long enough to have supper with me?" Joshua looked in the dining room. There wasn't but a couple of people in there.

"Go ahead and get ya something to eat." Ted said to Thaddeus. "I can watch the desk. They don't need me in the kitchen. There's already too many cooks in the kitchen."

So Ted took Thaddeus' place, and Thaddeus and Joshua sat at a table. "So how was your first day at the bank, Heyes?"

"It was good. Not very busy, but I helped a couple of people. You know that girl Jacy? She came in today? She deposited some money. It's so uncanny her and Jess looks a lot a like.

"Yeah but she's not Jess, Heyes."

"I know that Kid. I'm eager to get trailing again though. I know this next year is going to be our lucky year. We're going to find her."

"Heyes don't get your hopes to high. It's been about two years now and we haven't found her." Kid said and then put a spoonful of potatoes into his mouth.

"I have this feeling Kid. We are going to find her soon. We found her diary, so I know we can find her, too." Heyes didn't wait for a response. He ducked his head and began to eat. A little bit later his partner asked, "So what were you going to wish for at the wishing pond, Heyes?"

"Huh," he glanced up and saw the twinkle in Kid's eyes. "How did you-? I told you, you weren't suppose to read anymore of her diary."

"I think that was really nice of you to make her wish come true." He watched Heyes smile. "So what was your wish Heyes? Come on you can tell me."

"Well, actually, my wish was going to be that I wished that Jess would dance with me that night. But I didn't have to make a wish after I heard what hers was."

"So you saved yourself a penny,"

"I'd didn't care about a penny Kid. I would have threw it in the pond and made that wish anyway if I'd had to."

Kid knew his partner was telling the truth. After supper he went back to the front desk, and Heyes went over to the saloon to see if he could increase his search for Jess funds.