Chapter 16

Please see Chapter 1 for warnings and disclaimers.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a bit unwieldy. I'm out of practice and had some trouble catching the flow of the story. Still, I figured an ungainly chapter was better than none at all.

M7***M7***M7***M7

Casey rapped on the door, entering when True's voice bid her to do so. Closing it tightly, the teen turned to size up the ten-year-old who sat at a desk doing her homework.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" True demanded rather testily, grumpy about the essay Lauren had assigned.

"It's been more'n a week, the shindy's died down so what're we gonna do to get even with the little toad?" Casey demanded. Her anger toward the newcomer had only grown as Naomi had begun to settle into the little Four Corners family. Given JD's close relationship with Buck, it was unsurprising that Naomi found many opportunities to spend extra time with JD. Casey wasn't jealous, knowing that JD saw Naomi as another little sister, but it frustrated her just the same, especially after the pranks the girl had pulled.

True grinned. "It's guppy and ya know Chris said he'd take his belt to us if we tried to do anythin' to get even?" Of course Chris's promise was hardly enough to completely dissuade the younger girl but it certainly had been enough to make her consider things pretty carefully.

"You have your name for her and I have mine. 'Sides Chris said that to you and Rhianna. Didn't say any such thing to me."

True laughed. "Don't reckon they'll save yer ass if we get caught."

"Then let's not get caught."

With a grin True rubbed her hands together. "Well, since ya brung it up an' all...I did have me an idea. Maybe she needs a taste of her own medicine."

"Ya mean get her blamed for something she didn't do?"

"Yup and with you willin' ta help this'll be easy as pie."

"Watcha got in mind?" Casey asked excitedly.

"Well, you an' JD are goin' ridin' Saturday right?"

"MmmHmm."

"We need to get her riled an' jealous about that. That part'll be easy. Maybe I let it slip that this is more'n just a simple ride. That JD's gonna ask ya somethin' important or give ya a present or sumthin'. I'm right good at teasin' an' gettin' under people's skin."

"I'd noticed that."

True's blue eyes twinkled with mischief at Casey's wry comment. "So then we just loosen the cinch on yer horse, or better yet go at it with a knife so it's obvious it's been tampered with. Yer a good enough rider ta put on a fine show but not get hurt. I'll even talk ta yer horse just ta make sure. There'll be hell ta pay!"

Casey grinned. "We need to make sure she's seen in or around the livery before we go - make sure she doesn't have an alibi."

"Oh that won't be no problem at all."

M7***M7***M7***M7

Naomi moved stealthily to the briar patch behind the church and then made her way to the livery. Though she knew she was playing with fire, she decided she didn't care. True had been unbearable this week. Nothing that would actually get her in trouble but enough needling to aggravate Naomi to no end. Then to have Casey act so condescending yesterday after school, speaking to her as if she were a toddler and in front of JD no less. On top of that to find out Casey and JD had this outing today and that the young Bostonian had a special surprise planned. It was just too much.

Sabotaging the sandwiches had been easy enough but what if JD's surprise came before they decided to break for lunch? She wanted to make Casey look as stupid and incompetent as possible. Naomi had grown sick and tired of hearing how terrific a rider Casey was and how JD admired that so much. Especially since she was uncomfortable around horses herself. Gently rolling the burr between her fingers, she sidled into the livery.

Her timing seemed to be good. Casey's horse was saddled and ready but JD and his sweetheart were visiting with Yosemite. All she needed to do was slip the burr under the saddle. Approaching the horse with trepidation, Naomi was frightened nearly out of her skin when a hand landed on her shoulder. Dropping the briar, Naomi spun around to face the earnest blue eyes of the preacher.

"Naomi, what are you doing here?" Josiah asked. "I thought you were still restricted to the boarding house."

"Oh, um, yeah I brought these cookies over for JD and Casey," the girl explained holding up the carefully folded kerchief. "Mrs. Whittaker just pulled them from the oven and asked me to bring them over for their picnic." Truth be told Naomi had volunteered to do so but nobody needed to know that.

"That was right nice of you, Naomi. Thanks," JD said walking up to take the cookies from the dark haired girl.

Casey looked like the cat that swallowed the canary as she added, "That was so sweet, honey, thank you."

Naomi glowered at the sugary tone that sounded as if the older girl were addressing a five-year-old, but quickly schooled her features. "Yeah, sure. I best be getting back."

"Actually, I could use some help over at the church," Josiah said having noted the look Naomi gave Casey. Something was amiss here and he hoped some one-on-one time with the girl might provide some answers. He put his arm around Naomi's shoulders and steered her from the livery and towards the church after wishing JD and Casey a pleasant day.

"I'm making a few shingles. The Landry's roof was damaged in the last storm and Rob's still laid up with that broken leg."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"You can help sand the shingles."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes you do."

"Why?" Naomi's voice held an edge of defiance.

"One because I said so. Two because it does a body good to do things for other folks. Three because after all the trouble you caused, I think a little community service is fair."

"You got no say over me," she insisted belligerently.

"That's where you're wrong young lady. Now, we can go find Buck and clarify the issue, but I'll give you fair warning. If we do that, I'm going to be mentioning your disrespect."

Naomi bit her lip. She'd had her fill of lectures on disrespect. Unfortunately, Buck had also grown weary of delivering them because he'd threatened to adopt Chris's methods if she didn't improve. With a heavy sigh Naomi capitulated.

"No that's okay. I'll help."

Josiah smiled. "That's a girl."

"Ya sure you should be woodworking in a gospel mill? Ain't that sacrilegious or something?"

"I think the good Lord wants his house used in any way that can be a help to those in need," Josiah replied with a grin as he held open the door. Naomi shrugged and entered ahead of him. Josiah patiently showed her how to sand the shingles and then set to work on cutting more of them.

"So what do you think of living in Four Corners?" he asked after a few minutes of silence.

Naomi rolled her eyes. "There's too many rules and not enough fun," she answered bluntly.

"Well, you've been pretty limited because of being in trouble, but I think you'll find there's plenty of fun to be had once you've settled in and have fewer restrictions. Made any friends at school?"

"Not really," she answered with very little inflection. "I've been spending extra time helpin' Miss Willis and taking her tests. Done with that now, though."

"I'm sure with more free time, you'll begin to get better acquainted with the other children."

Naomi rolled her eyes but didn't comment. She didn't really want to get better acquainted with the kids from school since she was still set on getting out of this town.

"You and Buck seem to get on well," Josiah commented watching for the girl's reaction.

Naomi's look softened. Buck really was pretty great, especially since he'd had "fatherhood" foisted upon him as he had. Honestly, it was all she could do not to get attached to the good-hearted peacekeeper. "Yeah, he's okay."

"How are things between you and True? Or Rhianna?"

With a flip of her mahogany braid, the dark eyed girl scowled at Josiah. "You really want me to answer that? Thought you were against me cussin'."

"I see." Before Josiah could comment further the door burst open and JD entered looking as furious as the man had ever seen him.

Pointing an accusing finger at Naomi, he demanded, "Just what in the hell d'ya think you were doing? Casey coulda broke her neck!"

Naomi shook her head in confusion and her cheeks flushed red at having JD address her in such a manner. She hadn't even gotten the chance to put the burr under the saddle. "I, I…"

"You were there at the livery. You sayin' you didn't get it in yer head to start with the pranks again?"

"Well, I, ah, I didn't actually, ah I mean to say…"

"Buck already told ya that there were to be no more pranks didn't he?"

"Yeah," the girl stated her face growing even redder. She couldn't believe the friendly, easy going JD could sound this stern and angry.

"So ya wanna tell me how the cinch on Casey's saddle got cut?"

Naomi closed her eyes and dropped her head, realizing she'd been had. They had set her up and she'd walked right into it. There was no talking herself out of this.

"Is that what you were doing in the livery, child?" Josiah asked calmly.

"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt," she started to explain but when she looked up her voice caught in her throat. JD had picked up one of the rejected pieces of wood that had split off on one end, allowing for an easy grip on the nearly 16 X 5-inch board. It might be only a half-inch or less in thickness, but it was intimidating just the same.

Josiah sighed and shook his head deciding to give the two some privacy. He had known when he'd seen the girl that she was up to some mischief, though he hadn't been certain of exactly what kind. He had hoped he'd stopped her in time but apparently he had not.

As Josiah retreated, JD approached the wide-eyed girl, who just kept shaking her head, her eyes going from the makeshift paddle to JD's eyes.

"You, ya aren't actually, uh, that is…"

Reaching the girl, JD took her arm and looked down into her eyes. "Yeah, I am. Unless you can tell me that you weren't playin' pranks again."

Looking into his earnest brown eyes the words just wouldn't come. She had been playing pranks, but she hadn't cut the cinch. Somehow she seriously doubted he would believe that. Was putting a burr under the saddle any better, though? Of course she hadn't actually accomplished that. This was crazy! She should just lie and say she hadn't done or intended to do anything. With a shake of her head she prepared to do just that. Unfortunately, JD misinterpreted the headshake.

"That's what I thought," he said grimly pulling her over to a pew where he took a seat and pulled the girl over his lap.

"No! You can't! That's not what I meant."

JD had never spanked anyone, other than offering a few swats to True, but he figured if anyone deserved it Naomi did. If Casey wasn't such a terrific rider, she could have really been hurt and besides that he had come to care for Naomi in the past couple of weeks. Frankly, he expected better from her. Steeling himself he brought the one-time shingle down on the girl's trouser covered backside with a resounding, "THWACK," that echoed in the empty church.

"Yeah, I can. Don't really wanna, but ya gotta learn that dangerous pranks ain't funny." He brought the makeshift paddled down again, but didn't offer any more words because it was all he could do to keep the kicking, squirming girl on his lap.

For her part, Naomi ceased trying to offer an explanation and put all of her energy into trying to get away from the punishing smacks, which really stung like the dickens! Not to mention being as embarrassing as all get out. Here was the guy she'd been carrying a torch for setting her bottom on fire. It didn't take long for the combination of pain and humiliation to bring tears and then sobs.

JD dropped the piece of wood and lifted the girl from over his lap, pulling her against his chest and feeling terrible for having hurt her. He was sure it was the right thing to have done – any of the others would have done the same - but he still felt awful hearing her sobs. Patting her back he whispered, "It's over. Yer gonna be okay. Hush, now. It's all over." Naomi cuddled into JD's chest accepting the comfort he offered.

Once the girl had calmed and there were no more sniffles, JD gave one more pat before pushing her gently away to meet her eyes. "No more pranks, okay? I don't wanna do this again."

"No more pranks," she agreed, biting her lip and averting her eyes, still embarrassed.

"Hey now, we're all good. I just want ya to learn from this okay? Buck's like my big brother, which makes you like my niece. Casey's my girl and she's special to me but you are too so I want the two of you to get along. That ain't gonna happen if you keep pullin' pranks like that."

"Okay."

The door to the church opened and Buck entered. With one last hug for Naomi, JD turned to his best friend. "I uh, took care of it, Buck," JD stated, looking into the other man's eyes to see if he was upset by that fact.

Buck took a deep breath. "I can see that JD," he said, giving the younger man's shoulder a squeeze. "Why don't you give us a minute, huh?"

"Sure Buck."

Once JD was gone Buck looked at the girl whose eyes were firmly planted on her boots. He cleared the distance between them and tipped her chin up so that her tear-stained gaze met him in the eye.

"Don't feel too good to get whupped for somethin' ya didn't do, does it?"

Her eyes grew wide. "How'd you know?"

"I was riding into town when Casey had her bout of trouble. She's a good rider but she ain't that good so I figure she knew it was coming."

"How come ya didn't stop JD then?" she demanded incredulously.

"Well, I was busy gettin' answers and I didn't realize what he was up to. Of course I had me a talk with Josiah before coming in here so the way I figure it, you kinda got what you had coming."

"What d'ya mean?"

"Oh, I think you know what I mean. First off, you didn't have permission to leave the boarding house – cookies or no. Secondly, can you honestly tell me that your trek over to the briar patch wasn't so that you could pluck a burr off the bush to plant under the saddle of Casey's horse?"

"I didn't get the chance to do it, though."

"But you meant to didn't ya? And if I don't miss my guess you did play another prank, huh?"

"It wasn't harmful. Just messed with the sandwiches a little."

"Well, I think what you got was pretty fair then and you best count yourself lucky that you didn't get the chance to put the burr under that saddle and that you didn't really cut the cinch because if you had you'd of earned a lot worse than what you just got." Watching her he could tell the spanking hadn't been that bad. Not a surprise, given the fact that the one giving it had been JD. Now how about you check your pockets 'cause I'm guessing there'll be something incriminatin' in one of 'em."

Sure enough there was a pocketknife in one, which Buck was quick to appropriate not missing the flash of anger in the young girl's dark eyes.

"So what happens to Casey and True?"

"They'll be dealt with but that's none of your concern. I suggest you leave this be, Rascal, or yer just gonna find yourself in a heap of trouble." He stepped forward to pull her into a hug, which she grudgingly returned. "How about we go to the café and see what kinda pie their servin'?"

"Can I have extra sweet cream with mine?"

"Shore ya can, darlin'," Buck said with a smile, dropping a kiss on her tousled head.

TBC...