As Lizzie and Adam walked towards the pond a rhythmic sound reached their ears, which they both recognized as a belt striking a backside. Lizzie reached out to take Adam's hand and she looked up at him with worried eyes.

"We'll make our presence known, Lizzie," Adam said as he squeezed her hand. They walked out of the trees to see Dan Hamilton tanning his son, Paul. They watched as two more blows fell on the sobbing boy. Dan stood and laced his belt back through the loops on his pants and said, "Chores first, Paul, fishing after they're finished."

"Yes, Pa," Paul sobbed.

"All right, let's go home," Dan put his hands on his hips and turned to see Lizzie and Adam. Paul rushed past them with out speaking and Lizzie watched with sympathy as he ran up the path, still in tears. Dan picked up the discarded fishing pole and the can of worms before he walked towards them.

"Adam, Lizzie," Dan said with a nod and followed his son up the path, handing Lizzie the worms as he passed her.

"Dan," Adam said nodding and pulling Lizzie closer to him as he saw the scowl on her face.

After they were both out of sight, Adam patted Lizzie's shoulder and said, "You don't like him much, do you?"

"No," Lizzie said vehemently.

"Well, that's all right, you don't have to like him, frankly I don't like him much either, but we do have to treat him with respect. He's our neighbor and he is your friend, Paul's, father. We're not going to like everyone we meet in this world, but we should always do our best to treat people with respect. So, when someone speaks to you, you need to answer them or at least nod, all right?"

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said, but continued to scowl.

"All right, let's see what we can catch," Adam said, rubbing her back. "At least we won't have to dig for worms."

"Nope," Lizzie said holding up the can and smiling. Adam cut them each a pole and Lizzie and he strung the lines, baited their hooks and threw them into the water. They sat back and got comfortable in the shade of the tree. Adam dug into the picnic basket and pulled out a leg of chicken for each of them. They sat quietly for a few minutes, eating and fishing, when Adam glanced over to see Lizzie picking at the grass next to her knee.

"What's wrong Lizzie?" He asked quietly. "Are you brooding about what happened in the tack room earlier? You know it's over and all is forgiven."

Lizzie shook her head and kept picking at the grass stems.

"Then what, honey, is it Paul?"

Lizzie glanced up at him quickly and then went back to pulling the grass.

"Getting in trouble with your parents happens to everybody. It happened to me, it happened to you this morning and you know Jenny sometimes gets in trouble with her Pa too. This afternoon was Paul's turn. You know, honey, if you had been out here fishing before finishing your chores first, the same thing would have happened to you."

"But out here?" Lizzie asked plucking at the grass blades furiously. "And with your belt?" She looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"Not Lizzie, not out here and not with my belt, but in Mr. Hamilton's defense, I think he thought they were alone and sometimes boys need a firmer hand than girls." Adam reached out to stroke Lizzie's hair. "All right?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Really all right?" Adam asked, bumping against her. "Done pulling up the grass all right?" He asked with a smile and Lizzie looked up at him and smiled.

"Good," Adam said returning his gaze to the pond, after a moment, he said, "Your eye is looking so much better, I think most of the bruising will be gone when you start back to school next week. Pull up your shirt and let me see your back."

"It's all right, Papa, it doesn't even hurt anymore," Lizzie said, keeping her back against the tree.

"Well, let me see," Adam encouraged, twirling his finger in front of her.

Lizzie sighed and leaning forward, she pulled up her shirt.

"It does look better, it's pretty and green back here, just like your eye. That means it's healing."

"How come it's green?" Lizzie asked, stuffing her shirt back in her pants, leaning back against the tree, and touching her eye.

"There are things in your blood that are colored. They're called pigments and pigments make bruises turn all sorts of pretty colors, like green."

"Do you think it'll be gone by Monday?"

"I expect so. Are you excited about going back to school? I was always excited about all the new things I could learn." Adam said smiling.

"I guess. I wish summer were longer. I didn't hardly get to ride horses at all this summer. Papa, do you think we can go riding?" Lizzie asked hopefully.

"I'm pretty much out of commission as far as horses go until my arms heal, Lizzie. I don't think I'll be riding for a while. You're going to have to ask your uncles about going with you."

Lizzie nodded sadly.

"But on the subject of horses, I have been thinking about you and I think that you are ready to have a horse of your own," Adam said casually as he looked thoughtfully at the water and tried not to smile.

"Really?" Lizzie cried, throwing herself and him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yes, I think you have more than proven that you know how to handle horses, if the way you drove that team when I was hurt was any indication."

"But I drove you through the trees," Lizzie said sadly, leaning back and looking at the still healing stripes across Adam's face.

"Yes you did, but that doesn't matter, because you got us on the road and headed back to the Ponderosa all by yourself and you handled that team like a pro, so I've decided you are ready to have your own horse."

"Oh, Papa, thank you!" Lizzie said as she leaned in to hug him again. "Which horse is going to be mine?"

"Well, I have been thinking a lot about that," Adam said, leaning back against the tree and getting a serious look on his face, "and I thought maybe Samson."

Lizzie looked shocked for a minute, then she shoved his shoulder when she saw his grin and said, "Papa, don't tease me like that."

Adam laughed loudly and then sobered, "Now, what exactly do you have against Sampson? He is a fine horse and just right for you." He grinned broadly and winked at her.

"Papa," Lizzie said in a scolding voice and pushing at his chest, she giggled.

"All right, which horse did you have in mind?" Adam asked seriously, sitting back and crossing his arms.

"The palomino," Lizzie said with a huge smile.

"I think that palomino is a bit more horse than you are quite ready for, but I suspect you'll be up and riding him one day in the not too distant future," Adam said with a smile.

"What about Blaze?" He asked seriously.

"Really? Blaze?" Lizzie asked earnestly. "Do you think I'm ready to ride him all the time?"

"I do," Adam said, nodding his head. "You and he seem to have a connection. I think he is just the horse for you."

"Thank you, Papa," Lizzie said, throwing her arms around his neck again.

"You're welcome, honey," Adam said hugging her back.

"Can I ride him to school?" Lizzie asked, sitting back so she could see his face.

"I don't see why not, Lizzie, he'll be yours. You'll still need to have someone with you. It's too dangerous to be out by yourself and if you ever go riding alone, you and I will have a serious problem. You'll be responsible for his care too. I know I can trust you to do that," Adam said with a smile. "And I meant what I said about not riding alone, can you promise me that?"

"Yes, Papa, I promise" Lizzie said, throwing her arms around his neck again.

"Good girl, I'll hold you to that, now settle down here next to me and let's fish," Adam said as he settled back against the tree with a smile on his face.

He couldn't help glancing over to her every now and then and his smile would widen as he saw the grin on her face and the far away look in her eyes. They fished quietly for a long time, only getting up to take a fish they had caught off the line and put it on the stringer. As time went on, Lizzie began to get restless. She finally set her pole aside and sighed. She lay back and stared up into the branches.

" Papa, do you think I could jump off that branch into the water?" She asked, pointing.

"You'd scare the fish away," Adam said absently.

"I know, but don't we have enough fish?"

"I suppose we do…" Adam said, slowly, sitting up. "All right, you'll need to take off your boots. You never want to jump into water with your boots on."

Lizzie sat up quickly and scrambled to get her boots off. She jumped up to grab the lowest branch and finally managed to scramble up and onto it.

"Now stay near the trunk until you've gone as high as you want to," Adam said, moving out from under the tree and watching her climb. He held his breath for a moment when one of her feet slipped out from under her and she grabbed on to a branch.

"You all right?" He called.

"Yes, Papa, I don't think I want to go any higher," Lizzie called.

"All right, I think you're high enough, look down. Can you see the bottom of the pond?"

"Yes," Lizzie called.

"Is there anywhere that you can't see the bottom?"

"Yes…" Lizzie called.

"Then that's the spot you want to jump into: the spot where you can't see the bottom. That means it's deep enough," Adam called. "You're going to need to get out farther on the branch so you can jump clear of the other branches."

Lizzie clung to the trunk for a while looking out at the water.

"What's wrong, honey?" Adam finally asked.

"I think I'm scared," Lizzie said softly.

"Then come down a couple of branches, so that you won't have as far to jump," Adam said encouragingly.

Lizzie climbed down until she was only about 8 feet above the water.

"I think that's a good place to jump from Lizzie, you've picked a good branch. Now all you have to do is edge out on the branch a little farther and jump in feet first."

"What if I've changed my mind?" She asked quietly as she hugged the trunk of the tree.

"Then you can come down," Adam said, "but you'll miss out on the fun of it. Sometimes scary things can be fun too, especially when you do something in spite of being scared."

Lizzie stood up abruptly and launched herself off of the branch into the deepest part of the pond. Adam felt his heart skip a beat and he rushed to the side of the pond, getting ready to go in after her if he needed to, but she came up laughing.

"Was that fun?" Adam asked with a smile.

"I want to do it again," Lizzie said excitedly as he helped her out of the pond. "It was scary, but fun!"

"I'm proud of you, Lizzie," Adam said. "You don't ever want to miss out on something because you're too scared to try it."

Lizzie giggled and then jumped five or six more times until the novelty began to wear off.

"That was fun, but I'm tired" she said after the last jump. She smiled and collapsed on her back under the tree.

Adam sat down with his back propped against the tree and began picking at the grass.

"Lizzie, honey, now school starts on Monday…and…I've been thinking about Sally," he said slowly.

"And you want me to be nice to her," Lizzie said, sitting up.

"Yes, Lizzie, but more than that. It's hard to be the new person. I was the new boy a lot as we moved across the country and it can be hard to fit in. I hope you'll introduce her to people and include her in your games," Adam took a breath, looking her in the eye. "How are you feeling about her? The truth now."

"Promise you won't get mad?" Lizzie asked, looking up at him through her eyelashes and beginning to pick at the grass blades herself.

"I promise," Adam said, looking at her hopefully.

"She's not as much of a brat as she was when she got here," Lizzie said carefully. "She's still kind of a priss though."

"I suppose," Adam said, "I think she's learning to be less of a priss and less of a brat too. I think she has it in her to be a really nice person, look at how much she's changed in the two weeks she's been here.," Adam paused, before saying, "I'm going to tell you a secret, do you think you can keep it a secret?"

"Yes, Papa, you can trust me," Lizzie said seriously leaning in.

"Most people, Sally included, want to fit in, but they have to learn how to do that. Some people figure it out really quickly and for others it takes time, but eventually they do find a group to fit in with and they start to act like everyone else in the group. It's one of the reasons I want you to be careful about the people you're friends with, because you'll end up acting just like them," he reached out and tickled her. "So, I want you to stay away from the future bank robbers and scoff laws, we Cartwrights don't want any scoff laws in the family." He winked at her when she giggled.

"What's a scoff law?"

"Someone who ignores the law and just does as he pleases. It's like they are saying, 'I don't care what the laws are just watch me break them.' I don't think you'd ever do that, would you?" He asked, touching her nose. "And I know you'd never be friends with those who do."

"No... probably not," Lizzie giggled, when Adam raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm hoping that you'll try to include Sally in your group of friends, because you and Jenny and your other friends are not prissy or bratty and I hope you can help Sally fit in so she can learn not to be prissy or bratty. I think she might be the kind that will take some time to figure things out and you'll need to be patient with her until she does. I'll bet Mr. Mason is telling Jenny the same thing."

"Yes, Papa," Lizzie said quietly, looking at the ground and starting to pick at the grass again.

"Lizzie, honey," Adam said, putting his arm around her shoulders, "I'm not asking you to do anything you don't want to. I'm certainly not asking you to include Sally in everything you and your friends do, I'm just hoping that you'll keep what I said in mind and maybe help her fit in a bit…huh? You're going to be the only one she knows besides Jenny…."

"I know, Papa," Lizzie sighed.

"You're my sweet girl, Lizzie, I know you'll do what you think's best. I promise I won't bring it up again, what you do is up to you. All right?"

Lizzie nodded, still pulling at the grass.

"Dig around in that picnic basket," Adam said, nodding his head towards it, "see what else Hop Sing packed for us."

Lizzie looked up at him and he flashed her a brilliant smile, "Well, go on, we need to make the most of the summer, right? I think there may be cake." He leaned forward, trying to peer in the basket.

Lizzie giggled and hunched over the basket hiding the contents from him. She slipped the cake out of the basket and turned back to him.

"Sorry, Papa, there's no cake in the basket," she giggled.

"What?" He said, "no cake?" He snatched the basket from her and began to root around in it. "I was sure there was cake in the basket. Someone must have snuck in and taken it."

Adam grabbed her and began to tickle her.

"You wouldn't know anything about the missing cake would you?"

"No, Papa, I wouldn't," she laughed and tried to twist away. Adam allowed her to slip out of his grasp and stand up.

"Oh, look," he said, seeing the cake on the ground where she had placed it "cake." He leaned back against the tree and began eating.

Lizzie giggled again, sat down next to him and took the piece of cake he held out to her.

"Papa," she sighed, "wouldn't it be nice if we could just stay here forever?"

"Yes, it would, Lizzie," Adam said, "but probably what makes it so special is that it isn't like this all the time. If it was, we'd probably get bored of it."

"I wouldn't" Lizzie giggled.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the day, Lizzie," Adam said, nudging her with his shoulder, "I did too."