Summary: Ben’s guilt-ridden slump during the Prime of Life unearths painful memories for his oldest son. Despite this, the boys try their hardest to meet the contract deadline on their own. In the end, it’s up to Hoss to make sure his older brother gets back on the right track again. A WHIB/WHN for The Prime of Life.
Rating: G Word Count: 7,380

Summary:  There are three stories that can stand alone but are related. –Trapper John — Hoss meets a man in the mountains whose life intersects with the Cartwrights a number of times. –Suspicion — Adam’s relationship with Delphine leads to a disastrous turn of events and to Adam leaving, but he meets someone important in France, and on his return, he meets Trapper John. –Belladonna — Murder and what to do about the murderer are at the center of the story. A threat to Adam’s family brings the situation to a crisis.  
Rating: T   Word count: 60,428

Summary: A bullet, a question, and the unconditional love of a brother.

Rating: K+

Word Count: 978

Summary: “Pa’d once told us boys that a person shouldn’t go into marriage thinking that they could change their spouse; they’d only tear each other apart in the end. It was a piece of advice that I’d nearly forgotten.” A missing scene from the episode The Courtship.

Rating: K+

Word Count: 625

Summary: After the first grueling days of the Battle of the Wilderness, Joe comes across someone he hadn’t expected to meet during the war. Two brothers caught on opposite sides of the Civil War come face-to-face one night in an intense battle of words, forcing Joe to reconsider exactly where his allegiance lies.

Summary:  I didn’t think I would have a Christmas story this year, but I found two old story prompts in a folder and used them.  The first two paragraphs of this story are those prompts with a few alterations, and the rest of the story is mine.  A snowstorm leads to some changes for two families.
Rating: PG  Word count: 5409

Summary:  In the last of the series, the story is all about Adam, Hoss, and Joe.  There’s a hunting trip with their dogs, a hero who emerges after a case of mistaken identity, and then the plot for their sweet revenge.  Some of this material was originally in the previous story, but when I edited it out, I saved it to create this story.  You may notice how it overlaps part of what happened in that story.
Rating:  T   Word Count:  10,703

Summary:  Joe makes a serious mistake and Adam agrees to help him fix things only to find that he puts himself into a greater problem as others make too many mistakes as well.  Adam needs more help than Joe did, but that help is slow in arriving. 
Rating: T   Word count:  35,315

Summary: The final story of the trilogy of stories:  Trial of Jessica Hardy, Buried Alive, and now, The Empty Casket.  The first two stories told of Adam’s disappearance after being taken as a hostage by a woman bank robber, and then his return after months spent drugged in a mental hospital. When Buried Alive ended, Adam had left Carson City following a frosty reunion with his family that had left him feeling that for everyone’s sake, he should have died as Jessica Hardy, AKA Leslie Richter, meant for him to do.  This story picks up in San Francisco, where he has gone, hoping to find something about himself that is worth saving.  He meets someone who just might understand what he’s feeling, and recognize what he’s planning to do. Can this other “man in black” save Adam from himself? 

Rating: K+

Word Count: 28,000