JULY 11, 1861

"WHERE IS IT?" Jacy screamed. She had stripped the bed hunting for it and now she was about ready to empty all her drawers when Melissa walked in.

Melissa saw the mess and had to do her best from laughing. Although she couldn't help but have a quick smirk develop on her face. "Jacy, what's going on? Aren't you ready yet? It's almost time.

"I can't help it. I can't find it. Have you seen it?" She looked at her sibling expectantly.

"Seen what?" Melissa inquired, trying awful hard to keep a serious face.

"My veil, I can't find it. How can I finish getting ready without it?" Anyone who wasn't blind could see that she was very upset. Her face was red with anger. It looked like she would explode at any minute.

"You know I think I know where it is."                              

"You do? Where?"

"I saw it in Jewel's room." Melissa informed her.

"You did?" Melissa nodded her head. "Well, go and get it quick. I need it." Uh oh, Melissa thought now what I do, but before she could come up with a good excuse why Jacy should go and get it herself Jacy said, "Never mind, I'll get it myself." She stormed out of her bedroom practically knocking Melissa over as she went by. Though talking out loud to herself, Melissa heard her say, "Where is that sister of mine anyway? She should be helping me."  

As Jacy approached her sister's room she heard voices, so she stopped right outside the door to listen.

"No, I'm not going to go away. I'm staying right here, and I'm going to give my baby to Jimmy and that sister of yours to raise. I think a baby should have two parents, and he will be the baby's father." Lee said loudly.

"I don't think that is such a good idea. My sister doesn't want to have to raise your baby. Why can't you just go away and let them be happy together?" Her voice got louder with every word.

Lee shook her head furiously. "No, I'm not going to leave, not for you, your sister or even for Jimmy. I'm staying right here and I also want the baby to know that I'm her or his mother, not Jacy. I want to help raise the child, too. But I want the child to live in a house with two parents, so Jacy will have to take some responsibility for this child, too."

"How about if I give you some money, then would you leave and not tell anybody about the baby?"

"No, Jewel, I'm not going to be bribed into leaving Dreamville. I'm staying and there's nothing that you, Jacy or your big tycoon brother can do about it."

"But--"

"No, there's no buts. That's all. I'm leaving now, and I'm going to go and tell your sister."  

Jacy scurried away. Instead of going back to her room, she headed downstairs to join Jimmy to get married. She didn't have her veil, but she didn't care. She didn't want to get in an argument with Lee right now. She didn't want anything to spoil her wedding day.

Upstairs around the corner, Jack had heard everything. So he was right, he had the wrong girl at the newspaper office. It had been her twin sister. He peered around the corner and saw Jacy holding her gown running down the hall. Next Jewel and Lee came out of the bedroom, and he watched as they walked down the hallway and disappeared, too. He decided to wait in Jewel’s room and surprise her later, so he entered and began snooping around her bedroom.

Jimmy was surprised when Jacy joined him so quickly and without even waiting for the music to play. Melissa had been assigned that task. She had been at the piano earlier, but now she wasn't anywhere to be seen. Jimmy wondered what was going on?

"Reverend, please let's begin. We're ready to get married." Jacy stated as she took her place by Jimmy.

Sean was also surprised to see the bride here now. He too wondered what was going on? But he began the opening wedding ceremony. As he started he saw Lee, Jewel and Melissa enter the room.

As Jacy saw the reverend looking past her and Jimmy, she slightly turned to see her sister, Lee and Melissa. She saw Lee rub her belly and that's when Jacy started getting nervous.

A child. Oh my, I'm not ready for a child, especially not someone else's child. I want Jimmy's children but not yet. I wanted to wait five or ten years before I got saddled with children. I wanted to enjoy life with Jimmy first. This is just awful.

"Jacy do you take Jimmy to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Sean asked for the second time.

"Jacy?" Jimmy got her attention.

"Oh . . . uh . . ." She looked at Lee again. "I can't. I just can't do it."

"What? But I thought you wanted to get married?" Jimmy inquired.

"I did. I do but not now. I mean I just can't." Jacy started to walk away. She was very confused.

"Sister what's wrong?" Jewel stood up from her chair and stood in Jacy's path. She wasn't going to let her leave with an explanation.

"I can't marry Jimmy right now." Jacy said.

"Why? You love him. I thought you wanted to marry him." Jewel stated.

Jimmy joined them. "What's wrong Jacy? I want to marry you. Is it just cold feet?" He asked Jewel.

"I don't know. If that's it Jacy, don't worry. You'll get over it after you've been married." Jewel said.

"No, I can't do this. My conscience won't let me go through with it. I'm -- I'm not Jacy."

Pretending to be shocked, Jewel's mouth went wide open and then she finally asked. "What?"

"I'm not Jacy. I'm Jewel. You're Jacy. I was just pretending to be you because everybody thought I was you when I came to town when you left."

"I should have known." Cody butted in. He had arrived and stood outside the room watching the wedding take place. "I should have known that the real Jacy wouldn't want to marry you." He was undoubtedly referring to Jimmy.

"Well, thanks a lot Cody." Jimmy said teasingly because he was glad that he wasn't going to have the break the wedding off. He put his arm around Lee.

"I'm glad you came to your senses and finally confessed, sister." The real Jacy said. "Cody I would never leave you for Jimmy. I love you." She blushed.

"You knew. You don't have amnesia anymore, and you didn't tell me? The real Jewel screamed. "How could you do this to me?" She watched as Jacy and Lee exchanged glances and smiled. "And that upstairs, what was that? That wasn't true. You did that to get me to call off the wedding, didn't you?"

"Oh no, it's true. I'm pregnant, but you're the last person I'd let raise my baby." Lee hooked her arm around Jimmy's.

"Don't go blaming me, you took my identity and hurt Cody and Lee and lied to Jimmy. You're the one in the wrong here, not me." Jacy stated.

Her face red with anger, Jewel stormed out of the house. She tripped a couple of times because of her wedding dress, and soon her anger turned to hurt and tears ran down her face.

"Jacy! Jacy, it's good to have the real you back." Cody smiled at her. "I should have known. How could I have thought that she was you? I should have known."

"It's ok. It was very easy to be fooled. After all, I was fooled, and so was Jedidiah." Melissa said.

"She's right, Cody. She even fooled me into believing that I was her." Jacy was happy that Cody knew the truth now.

Jedidiah came running into the house. “What’s going on here? Who was that running away into the woods? Jacy or Jewel? And why was she in a wedding dress?”

“It was Jewel. All this time she had been pretending to be Jacy while Jacy had amnesia. She wanted to marry Jimmy, but then she didn’t when she found out that Lee is having Jimmy’s baby.” Melissa blurted. “She had us all fooled even me since the Halloween party.”

“I’m not sure what’s going on her. You’ll have to explain all this to me later. I better go and find Jewel and bring her back here before something happens to her.” Jedidiah explained as he turned to leave.

“Cody, could you go and help him, please?” Jacy asked. “I have to change. I can’t go wandering in the woods like this.”

Cody nodded. “For you I will.” Cody followed Jedidiah outside. Melissa wanted to tag along, but she wasn’t dressed for it either, so she ran upstairs to change.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to change and then help find my sister.” Jacy left and went to her room. When Jacy entered her bedroom and turned to shut her door, her mouth flew open, startled by the man that was in her room. Before she could scream, he grabbed her and put his hand around her mouth. She struggled but it wasn’t any use because he was much stronger. He grabbed her around the waist and threw her on the bed. Drawing his gun, he said, “If you scream out, I’ll shoot.” That stifled the scream in her throat. Jake went to the closet and grabbed a more appropriate dress for her. He tossed it at her. “Get that on. We’re leaving Jewel.”

Jacy was speechless. He thought that she was her sister. Where did he want to take her? She just starred at the garment. She wasn’t going to get undress in front of him. “I said put it on, or I’ll put it on for you.”

“But I’m not Jewel, I’m Jacy.” She hoped he would believe her and leave.

He bobbed his head up and down. “Oh sure you are. Don’t give me that. I’m no dummy. I won’t be taken for a fool again, Jewel. Now put it on.” He waved his gun around. The gun in his hand was scaring her. She wished she hadn’t sent Cody with Jedidiah now. She wished that he would come to her rescue.

Jake was getting very impatient. He wanted to get out of there before anybody came looking for her. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her off the bed. She slumped to the floor, and he pulled her up on her feet. He unzipped her dress and moved back. “Now take it off or I’ll do it.

“With you watching me?” She finally managed to say as she was shaking her head.

“Alright if you’re going to be so modest, I’ll turn around, but don’t try anything funny or you’ll be sorry.” Jake turned around and waited.

Jacy quickly took off the dress and put the other one on. She was just finishing zipping it up when he turned around. Jake motioned for her to go out of the room. They went down the backstairs, through the kitchen and out the back door. After all he didn’t have to make his escape through the window like the way he had got in. They would just think that Jewel left by the back door. He grabbed her arm and ran into the woods pulling her with him. When they emerged on the other side of the woods, he tied her up and threw her in his wagon. Then he jumped aboard and started the wagon moving, west away from Dreamville.

*****

Cody and Jedidiah split up when they came to a fork in the woods. Cody took to the right while Jedidiah went left. Cody called out Jewel's name many times but received no response. When he arrived at a dead end, he decided to head back. Maybe Jedidiah had found her. As he arrived back at the house, he saw Melissa standing on the porch.

"Where's Jacy?" He asked as he came towards her.

"I don't know. I thought she was with you. I changed clothes and was going to go out and look for Jewel, but Jacy had already left, so I decided to stay here in case anybody came back." Melissa was concerned that Jacy wasn't with Cody.

"I didn't see her in the woods. Maybe she's with Jedidiah and Jewel." Cody ran his fingers through his hair thinking that he hoped that Jacy would come back soon. He didn't want her lost in the woods, especially at night. There was no telling what might happen to her.

"Look!" Melissa pointed. Cody turned around to see Jewel and Jedidiah heading their way.

Cody was very disappointed to not see Jacy with them. It was the first thing he asked when they arrived. "Where's Jacy?" Before they could answer, he also asked, "Didn't you see her? She went looking for Jewel."

"We didn't see her." Jedidiah answered as Jewel shook her head to confirm his reply.

"Alright Jewel, you stay here with Melissa, and Cody and I will go look for her. She couldn't have got far." Jedidiah stated. So Cody followed Jedidiah back into the woods. They searched and called, but they didn't find her. Finally, they gave up and went back to the house. Both were hoping that she had returned.

As they were about to mount the steps, Jewel and Melissa came out. "You didn't find her." It was more of a statement then a question for Melissa could see that Jacy wasn't with them.

Disappointed that she hadn't returned home on her own, Cody began to get angry. He had just found her and now he had lost her all in the same day. Was fate trying to tell him something? No, it didn't matter. He didn't care about fate. He just knew that him and Jacy would be together. He loved her. Jacy was his destiny. He would find her no matter what.

Noticing Cody's emotions, Jewel was afraid that he might attack her. Because after all it was her fault that Jacy was missing. "We checked the whole house and she wasn't anywhere."

"Did you check the barn?" Melissa and Jewel both shook their heads. They hadn't thought to check there. Jedidiah couldn't just stand around doing nothing. "Cody you check around outside, and I'll check the barn. Maybe we will find something." Cody nodded. Jedidiah headed towards the barn, and Cody took Trixsy's reins and led her around back. He might need her. He might go looking for Jacy in the woods again, but this time he would ride Trixsy. He could go faster and farther on her than by foot.

Not far from the back porch, Cody came upon some wagon tracks. He wondered who could have been here. Melissa and Jewel would have told them if someone else had been here. He couldn't figure out whom the wagon could have belonged to. But whoever it was, they might know something about Jacy. It was at least worth a shot.

Cody climbed aboard Trixsy and took off following the tracks. This lead might be a dead end, too, but it was better than stumbling around blind trying to locate her. An hour later Cody came upon the wagon. The driver was no other than Jake. Cody hadn't expected it to be Jake. He was the last person Cody wanted to see. Because he had hurt Melissa, Cody wanted to tear him apart.

As Cody came up alongside the driver, Jake stopped his team. Cody's temper subsided. He knew if he approached Jake with a chip on his shoulder, that he might not find out anything. "I'm looking for Jacy, have you seen her?"

Tied up and gagged in the back of the wagon, Jacy hears Cody's voice. She can't believe her ears. Is she dreaming? Jacy strained her ears to listen.

"I saw her a little while ago. She was going to go looking for her sister. Her sister ran off into the woods."

"I know, but now we can't find Jacy."

It was Cody. Jacy tried to shout, but it didn't work. The gag was preventing any sound. She tried to move. She wiggled around. With her feet tied, she couldn't stand up, and with her hands tied behind her back she couldn't even get to a sitting position.

"That's strange, but I can't help you, I have to be somewhere on business. Maybe she ran away, too, because she was hurt by her sister with that wedding plot."

Cody decides that he better head back to Jacy's house, hopefully she would be back there by now. He nods to Jake and then turns his horse around.

Oh no! The wagon had started moving again. Cody would be gone. What could she do? She scooted down to the rear of the wagon. Then she scrunched her legs up and then moved them forward very fast, hitting the wagon with her feet. Maybe Cody would hear her.

Cody had started back down the lane. His mind was racing trying to figure out what he should do if Jacy wasn't back home. Where else would he look? Then suddenly it hit him. How could Jake have known about the wedding? Obviously only a few had known about it because he hadn't even been told.

Jake must have been at the house when the wedding was taking place, but he wasn't around when Cody was there. Where had he been? And why? And why would he think that Jacy would run away, too. It didn't make any sense. So much that it didn't make any sense to him that he decided to turn around and go back and ask Jake some more questions. And as he was riding back towards the wagon, he heard a noise. It was a banging sound coming from the wagon.

Jake sees Cody coming back, so he swats the team into a run. Cody picks up speed. He comes alongside the wagon. He stands up in his saddle and then dives for Jake. Jake screams and the momentum tumbles both of them out of the wagon.

Cody rolls over and is instantly back on his feet. Still on the ground, Jake draws his gun, and Cody kicks it out of his hand before he can fire. Jake lunges at Cody, grabbing him by the legs and knocking Cody back to the ground. Jake then hurries to get his gun, but Cody is upon him by the time he is two feet from it.

Cody tackles Jake from behind, knocking him to the ground. Pulling him around to face him, Cody punches him, letting out all of his pent up fury. Jake tries reaching for his gun, but is just a bit shy of touching it. He bends his legs up and gets his knees under Cody, and then he pushes them up, pushing Cody back away from his face. Jake then slugs Cody in the face. Cody topples to the side and Jake pushes him off of him with his legs. He then rolls over and grabs his gun.

Cody's on his feet when Jake grabs his gun and turns around and aims for him. Cody dodges just in time as the bullet whizzes mere inches by his arm. Cody swings his legs out in front of him and trips Jake. Sprawling on the ground, Jake tries to take aim at Cody again. Cody grabs for the gun, and they struggle back and forth.

Not able to pull Cody away from the gun with his free hand, Jake picks up a big rock and hits Cody in the head with it. Stunned Cody almost losses his balance and topples over, but instead he muster's up one last burst of energy and wrestles for the gun.

A shot is fired.

Cody topples over off of Jake. He has blood dripping down from his forehead into his eyes. He lays still.

Meanwhile further down the trail the horses had finally come to a stop, so Jacy is trying to scoot to the rear of the wagon and get out.

After that long hard run the horses are thirsty and they smell water. As Jacy is about to sit up and try nudging the canvas open, the wagon starts moving again. The motion knocks Jacy back down.

The horses start walking towards the water, and they veer off the beaten path towards a ravine. The team stops at the edge of the ravine looking down at the river. They shake their heads a bit and look longingly at the water. Having been tossed all around the wagon, and bumped into trunks and other stuff, Jacy felt sore all over. She hopes that Cody is all right, and that he will come and get her very soon.

Moaning Cody gains his footing and stands up. Looking at Jake, he knows that he is dead, and he's glad of it. He looks down the road and doesn't see the wagon. It must not have stopped. Concerned Cody knew that he must hurry because something awful might happen to Jacy.

Though weary and hurt Cody mounts Trixsy and heads on down the trail to find Jacy. He hopes that the wagon has stopped and that it's not too far up the trail. Although he's dazed and the scenery is somewhat blurry, Cody fears for Jacy's safety, so he keeps going. The road might not be that smoothed up ahead, and if the trail is rugged and the horses going at a run, the wagon might tip over. Cody prays that it won't happen.

As he rounds the corner, he sees the wagon starting down a hill. In fear of Jacy being hurt he spurs Trixsy on, and as he passes the wagon, he grabs the horse's reins and pulls him back, yelling WHOA! The team stops!

Not completely thinking straight due to the aching of his head, Cody gets down off of Trixsy and heads to the back of the wagon to get Jacy. He opens up the canvas and sees her. He grins. Inwardly Jacy lets out a sigh of relief. She's been rescued, and she's happy that Cody is her rescuer. Jacy scoots over to the rear of the wagon, and Cody reaches in and pulls the handkerchief out of her mouth. She smiles, but then she wenches from the pain in her side. Noticing that Cody's head is bleeding, she asks, "What happened?"

"Jake's dead." Cody replied. Although that wasn't what Jacy meant. She nodded her head. Then she fell backward as the wagon started moving again. The look of sheer terror on Jacy's face brought the realization of what Cody had done. He had left the team unattended and now they were on the move again.

The wagon was picking up momentum as it was going down the hill. Cody ran to keep up and then he went around to the right side of the wagon. He would have to get into the wagon, grab the reins and stop the horses before it was too late. As Cody got up alongside the wagon and was making his way closer towards the seating area, the left front wagon wheel suddenly hit a big boulder which tilted the wagon upward and when the back left wagon wheel hit it, too, the wagon fell over.

Before he knew what had hit him, Cody was sprawled underneath the wagon. He was pinned to the ground, and he couldn't move.

Jacy went tumbling over and over and was lying on the side of the wagon now instead of its bottom. She hollered for Cody, but there wasn't an answer. Her head hurt from being banged into the wagon. If she got out of this alive, she vowed to never leave Cody's side again. She stopped moving around because she heard Cody calling to her. "Yes, Cody, I'm here. Where are you?"

"I'm underneath the wagon. I can't move. Are you all right?"

Jacy smiled. He's pinned under the wagon, and he's asking me if I'm all right. What a man! "I'm fine. I'll try to get to you." Jacy scooted to the back of the wagon. Because of the fall the wagon's tail end had flopped opened. Jacy scooted out of the wagon and scooted over towards Cody. The rocks hurt her, but she kept going. When she finally got to Cody's side, she was horrified to see her beloved trapped.

With his free hands, Cody undid Jacy's ropes. She winched as she stood up, but she tried not to let Cody see that she was hurting. She went closer to the wagon and tried to push it up in order for Cody to get out from under it. She let out a sigh. "I'm just not strong enough, Cody. What'll I do?"

Cody thought for a few minutes. His brain not as good as it usually is because of the pain he feels. "Maybe if you take the things out of the wagon, it will help."

Jacy looked towards the back of the wagon. "It's going to be pitch black soon, Cody." She shivered as she heard the wolves in the distance.

Cody changed his mind and said, "You're right. Get Trixsy and go for help." Jacy looked at him. No, she couldn't leave him. She started towards the back of the wagon. She would unload it, and then she would lift the wagon. "Jacy, what are you doing?"

"I'm emptying the wagon."

"NO, go for help."

"No, I won't leave you. I won't." She firmly replied and started dragging things out of the wagon. As she crawled back into the wagon for the second time it started to move. She got back out and went to the front of the wagon. The horses were trying to move, but they weren't getting anywhere. Afraid that the horses’ movement might hurt Cody even more. Jacy grabbed the canteen from Trixsy's saddle horn, and gave the team some water. After that the horses weren't as fidgety.

Jacy took the canteen and went over to Cody. She had him sip some water. Noticing that Cody was shivering, she left the canteen with him and went inside the wagon and pulled out a blanket. She covered him and then went back to her labor. After she pulled everything out that she could, she tried to lift the wagon again, but it only budged a half an inch, and that wasn't enough. Sun had set about an hour and a half ago. It wasn't cold because of it being summer, but Jacy noticed that Cody was still cold, so she deserted trying to lift the wagon, in order to build a fire to try and get Cody warm. Before building the fire though, she decided to release the horses from the wagon. She should have done it to begin with, but the notion hadn't struck her earlier.

After building a fire, she brought Trixsy from the far side of the wagon to be near them. She freed Cody's rifle from the scabbard and sat down to guard him. Cody had passed out hours ago, and he hadn't come to yet. Jacy was worried about him. Head injuries were unpredictable. She should know since she had just had one and amnesia had been the result.

Torn and ragged in places from the tumbling in the wagon anyway, Jacy ripped a piece of her dress off. She poured water on it and wiped off Cody's forehead. It had stopped bleeding. She was glad about that. She then tore off another piece of her dress and wrapped it around his head.

All through the night, Jacy guarded Cody. Of course she couldn't help but doze off several times through the night, but the howling of the wolves always aroused her, so that she didn't get much sleep. She watched over Cody and prayed that he would wake in the morning.