Jacy hadn’t been able to get over to the bank to see why Mr. Simmons had wanted to talk to her. The paper had been keeping her very busy. But not today, she finally had the paper done, and Melissa was out selling them, so she went over to see Mr. Simmons.

"Good afternoon, Ted." Jacy and Ted had become very good friends since they had bought the lumber and had Joshua make some school equipment. "I’m here to see Mr. Simmons. Is he available?"

"Yes, I am. Please do come on in, Jacy." Walter motioned for her to enter his office. He shut the door behind them. "Please sit down. I want to apologize again for not being able to keep our appointment a couple of weeks ago. I had a pressing matter to attend to. And lately our schedules have been . . . shall we say conflicting." For Walter knew she had been very busy with the newspaper.

"No problem Mr. Simmons. I’m sorry I couldn’t get over here sooner."

Walter held up his hand, "Say no more. I understand. We are both very busy people. Now the reason I called you over was to inform you that your grandpa left a sizeable amount of money in my bank. I have on file a statement which allows you to withdraw money from his account."

Stunned Jacy just sat there as she processed this new information. She would never have guessed that is why he had asked her here. Walter let her digest the information and waited patiently on her response. After a few minutes Jacy asked, "Does anybody else know this?"

"Well no, I only have that privileged information, and I don’t discuss my clients affairs with anyone, not even Ted."

"That’s good. Let’s just forget that we had this discussion. Shall we?" Jacy stood up intending on leaving.

"What?" Walter was the one who was stunned now.

"I won’t be needing my grandpa’s money. I have my own. When my grandpa comes back, he will find all his money still here in the bank waiting for him." Jacy was a very strong willed independent person, and she was determined to make it on her own. Before she turned to leave, she asked, "Do you know where my grandpa has gone?"

"I’m afraid not, Miss Hagan. If I knew I surely would tell you." Walter replied.

She thanked him and walked out. As Jacy walked across the street she realized that she had another reason for not wanting to take her grandpa’s money. If she did that then she would be thinking that he was dead and wasn’t coming back. She had already lost her pa and ma. She wasn’t ready to loose another member of her family so soon.

After Jacy left, Walter was mystified. She hadn’t even asked him how much her grandpa had. He had been so sure that she would take the money, sell the newspaper and move to a bigger and better city into a life of leisure once she had found out. Her independence intrigued him. But he wondered if the newspaper failed, if she would change her mind. Though he hoped that wouldn’t happen, and if he had anything to say or do about it, it wouldn’t.

Walter had an old friend in California, Mrs. Victoria Barkley. She’s very rich, but very nice to everybody, too. Her only daughter, Audra, helped out their local orphanage a lot. Since no one at the dance had bought the baby clothes, he had. While Cody and Jacy had been really busy at their tables, he had rolled up the baby clothes in a blanket and tied it to his horse. He had contributed twenty dollars to the school fund for the baby items.