“Jimmy,” Emma exclaimed as she saw him. She rose from her knees and wiped the dirt from her garden on her apron. Jimmy was in a complete state of disarray and he was walking his horse into the barn, “What happened?”

Jimmy glared at her. “What else? I was ambushed!”

Emma was instantly alarmed. “By who? Should we tell Sam?”

“By those blasted kids,” Jimmy bellowed.

Emma looked at him in surprise and then burst out laughing. “I’m sorry,” she giggled. But she could not stop smiling. “What did they do this time?” She stared at him. He was soaking wet and had some odd looking lumps on his face.

Jimmy had been tormented mercilessly for the past four weeks. First someone had put a burr under Jimmy’s saddle. His horse had bucked him right into a mud puddle. Next, when he was in the outhouse on Sunday morning, when the other riders were at church or on a run, someone had placed a wooden plank so that Jimmy could not get out. He had sat in there until Emma came home from church. Another time someone had replaced the water in the shower bucket with mud. Then just last week, Emma and Teaspoon had been sipping strawberry lemonade on the porch and Cody had given Jimmy a glass. A little while later, Jimmy had run screaming from the outhouse, yelling about bleeding to death. After calming him down, Emma learned that when he had made water, it was red. She offered to call the doctor, but she was pretty sure he would be fine in a few hours and thus they waited and Jimmy was fine.

After that incident Emma suspected that Cody was helping the Washington children in this matter. How else would they know when Jimmy was in the outhouse, when it was his turn to shower or even what horse he was going to ride? And the glass, Cody had to have laced it with something.

“I got snared,” Jimmy said sadly. “There was a big tree across the path so I got off my horse to walk over it and I stepped into a snare. I was hanging there upside down and then some bees came.” He stopped and looked at Emma so pitifully; she reached out and rubbed his hair. “I kicked and kicked and eventually the rope broke and I ran to the nearest watering hole,” he finished glumly.

He rubbed his wet head. “I deserve all this.”

“Priscilla must have been pretty hurt,” Emma replied quietly, her mirth vanishing.

Jimmy just looked at the ground glumly.

“Her siblings must hate to see her so sad and you know family sticks together.”

“Then why is Cody turning on me?” Jimmy burst out. “Don’t defend him. He has to be helping them.”

“I have to,” Cody said mournfully, walking from the bunkhouse, “Lorna sits on my lap, undoes one button on my shirt, and she puts her tongue in my ear.” He stopped and looked at Emma. “Sorry,” he stammered before continuing. “Then I become her puppet,” he told them sadly. “I admit my part. But Jimmy, you have to admit you started this.”

“I didn’t start nothing,” Jimmy shouted. “I did this to help Cill and this is what I get.”

“She was hurt bad by what you did, at least that’s what Lorna said. She said if you wanted a fling, you should have told her up front,” Cody declared.

“Cody,” Emma said sternly, “I don’t want you participating in this kind of foolery. Someone could get hurt, badly. If Priscilla wants to talk -”

“No,” Jimmy interjected. He shook his head vehemently. “I can’t talk to her.”

“Because he’d become Cilla’s puppet,” Cody grinned. “Those Washington women are like witches.”

Emma threw up her hands. “If you still care, then stop hiding from her. Michael Washington clearly cannot control his children.”

Jimmy hung his head and Cody said, “I think it’s over anyway. Cilla is leaving town. Visiting relatives out east or something.”

Jimmy frowned. “Why?”

“Because you are dirt bag?” Cody shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what Lorna said.”

“She said I was a dirt bag and that’s why Cill is leaving?” Jimmy repeated.

“I don’t know,” Cody said, yawning, clearly losing interest in this conversation. “All I know is that I had to take Cilla and Lorna to Blue Creek for some clothes so she’ll look presentable out east.” Cody rolled his eyes skyward. “Why can’t they shop here? Blue Creek doesn’t have anything better than Sweetwater has. So what if Cilla gained some weight? Why is that a secret?”

Emma and Jimmy exchanged worried glances.

“When is Priscilla catching the stage?” Emma asked, her voice filled with urgency.

“In about an hour,” Cody replied, looking at them in confusion. “Why? What’s wrong?”