Summary: Adam’s love is leaving him.

Rated: T   Word count:  599

The Wheelchair Series

The Wheelchair
She Left

Summary: Years later Adam’s wheelchair from “The Triangle” comes out of the attic.

Rated: K+  Word count: 667

The Wheelchair Series, links to stories within the series are included.

Summary:  When Adam brings his family back to the Ponderosa, his daughter Elizabeth’s first Christmas in Nevada is far from idyllic. But in 1903–in St. Louis!–Adam and the rest of her family make an upcoming Christmas truly special for her.  

Rated: K  WC  2600

Summary:  After a hotel fire in Sacramento, the survivors must come to terms with what is left to them. A story for all those who have learned from personal experience that even small miracles are sometimes miracle enough.  

Rated: T  WC  7200

Summary:  A tribute to Bonanza World:  much loved, gone too soon. Adam’s nightmare would indicate that all is lost. But Hoss has a different perspective…

Rated: K  WC  1900

Summary:  Joe goes to visit his Pa and brothers one summers day leaving his wife and child alone for the day. What will the Cartwright’s do when one of their own is injured and one is missing? Will Joe do whatever it takes to get his wife back or will he listen to Pa and have the sheriff help? What will they do when things start to go for the worse?  

Rated: K (11,190 words)

Summary: Adam and his wife, Melinda, are living in England, and getting ready to welcome their first child. After a fall on the stairs, Adam must face the fear of losing his wife and child, and he comes to terms with his own lingering grief over his mother’s death. We also see the family back on the Ponderosa waiting impatiently for the arrival of a new Cartwright. The story returns the young parents to the states where a number of surprises await – including a visit from some Nevadans, and one old foe who leaves them reeling.  

Rated: T  WC  45,000

One Step Closer Series, links to all the stories within the series included.

Summary: Following a harrowing experience in Boston, Adam and his new wife head west to the Ponderosa for a visit, hoping to relax where they feel safe. Unfortunately Little Joe is not happy with their presence. Hoss helps sort things out between his brothers, but when one problem is solved, the Cartwrights “welcome” two more unexpected visitors. A misguided act by one of these guests brings near tragedy. This is a story of new lessons learned while old feelings are dealt with. It ends with Melinda and Adam in London, still wondering whether they can ever escape the trouble that seems to shadow them.

Rated: T  WC 36,000

One Step Closer Series, links to all the stories within the series included.

Summary: Adam is back in Boston after a 12 year absence. His career has taken off in a prestigious engineering firm; he’s happily married to his college sweetheart, and he’ll be a featured performer at an upcoming choral production. But the life he’s made is destroyed in three weeks after a beautiful stranger hires him to build a wine cellar. He loses his job; his wife thinks he’s having an affair with the stranger, and he’s forced to participate in a federal crime, knowing that he won’t live through it, but hopes to stay alive long enough to protect the people he loves.

Rated: T  WC  28,000

One Step Closer Series, links to all the stories within the series included.

Summary:  Adam’s getting married! He’s moved to Boston to help his grandfather, and has begun to build a good life there, including an engagement to the girl he fell in love with during college. Their wedding is set to coincide with a unexpected visit from Ben Cartwright. All is well until Adam’s fiancee disappears and Ben and his son set out to find her. Adam battles a worsening illness along with the lies of those involved. He must rely on help from those more familiar with the city and at one point despairs as he asks his father why the women who love him…die. Will there be a wedding or will Adam sink further into loneliness and pain as another opportunity for love is torn away.

Rated: T  WC  82,700

One Step Closer Series, links to all the stories within the series included.

Summary:   I’ve always wondered how Adam’s life would turn out after he left the Ponderosa. This story takes a look at the later years of his life. He’s had a distinguished career as an educator, philanthropist and businessman, and is “comfortable” with where he is and not looking for more. That changes when he sees a woman fall on the sidewalk in front of him and finds out that 40 years ago, she was his student in Virginia City. While getting to know her again, he comes to realize many things about himself – in particular – that being in love again is wonderful…but never easy.

Rated: K  47,000 words

Summary:  Adam promised Laura that he’d be back for their engagement party. But he’s delayed and during that time, he unexpectedly meets his first love – a young woman he knew in Boston. After an evening spent talking, they realize that they still love each other, yet they know that it can’t make a difference. Life and time have sent them in opposite directions and they part again, while wondering what might have happened if they had taken one step closer.  This is a what happens during, and after the episode, Triangle.

Rated: K+ WC 10,000

One Step Closer Series, links to all the stories within the series included.

 When Adam arrives at the Nevada State Prison for a routine inspection, he is taken hostage by desperate inmates who are ready to change the prison’s abusive conditions by any means necessary, even murder.  Outside the prison walls, Joe and Candy work together to end the riot and save Adam.  While trapped, Adam meets Griff King, a young covict who enlightens Adam about the corruption found at the prison.

Rating T WC  15,000

Summary:  A new teacher is in for Ms. Jones and he is strict. Wanting to make a good impression Joe tries to think of what it may be like in school a hundred years from now.  

Rated: K+ (650)