***** SEASON ONE *****

A Rose for Lotta

“How do you expect to do it with that New Orleans monkey pick you got handed down to you from your French Quarter mother?”

It was a low blow. Adam was stunned that he had stooped to it. It wasn’t like him. Taunts and insults were traded between them on a regular basis, but this particular slur had a knife-sharp edge. He hadn’t intended those words to come out. He was instantly sorry they had.

Joe snapped his head around to glare at him, and Adam wanted to wince at the pain and fury in the kid’s face.

There was so much of Marie in him, good and bad. Pa worried about it. He’d never admit it, but Adam knew. Marie had possessed a good heart, but she’d had a wildness in her that had led her into some terrible, dark places. That same wildness ran in Joe’s veins; Adam wanted nothing so much as he wanted to extinguish it, to stomp it out before it had a chance to do the same sort of damage to Joe that it had done to his mother.

But he couldn’t.

He prayed the smirk he plastered on his face hid his fear.

By southplains

~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

Cain’t believe my little brother at times. He knows how Pa feels about him comin’ to town all by hisself. Guess that’s where he thought he could get away with it; he weren’t all by hisself; he had Miss Lotta Crabtree with him.

Shucks. Here we were, searchin’ and worryin’ about him all night. And him havin’ hisself a grand ole time with Miss Crabtree, well… I’m sure Pa’s gonna do worse than call him a rapscallion once we get home. It’s been a while since Joe’s had his britches properly warmed. Hope little brother thinks tonight was worth it.

By BluewindFarm

~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

“Where’s the kid?”

I nearly broke her arm. I might have if she’d lied to me about Joe.  It was a game to her, but my brother’s life demanded the truth.

“Let go of me!”

“Next time, Miss Crabtree, pick on a man, not a boy,” I warned her.

She was breathing hard. The heavy-lidded disdain in her eyes was gone, replaced by wide-eyed defiance that faded into fear. At least I’d made my point. But the sullen, sultry pout remained, and the man in me took notice before I let her go.

Some things would just have to wait.

by JC

Death on Sun Mountain

Gee! I got basted like hell, nearly hung by those miners. It’s sure good to be home now. Except for that nerve-racking fussing over me by my family. I mean, I understand Pa, but even to have big brother Adam acting like that makes me feel more uneasy than my swollen face in the first place.

Okay, family! I would like to have supper now, I’m hungry. Afterwards I could agree with some shut eye to ease my headaches, maybe an extra dessert. Family? Hey! Where are you running? What’s about my care? Pa? Adam? Hoss? I’m hurt! Will you listen?

by Silver Sven

The Newcomers

“She called me ‘ugly’ but she’s as pretty as a daffodil in spring with that blonde hair and that ivory skin.  I remembered seeing a china doll in the general store in Sacramento last time I was there.  Little girl was begging her mama for it.  Now I got one living and breathing right there in front of me.  She’s all sweetness and light on the inside too.  She come to know me and she touched my heart.  I musta touched hers too, but she’s such a dainty little thing.  She’s my real china doll, my broken china doll.” Sob.

By BettyHT

The Paiute War

Chasing a wounded deer and using that new knife my father had given him to open the neck to drain the blood quickly ending its life and providing food for his family.  Those were the kinds of memories flashing through my mind as Young Wolf held that blade to my neck and promised to drain my blood as mercilessly as he would a deer. Somewhere in all the depredations of the white man on the pinyon trees, the fish and the game, and sadly on the young women, his affection for me as a friend had turned to fierce hatred.

By BettyHT

The Julia Bulette Story

Ben rested his face in his hands. In the bed beside his chair, Joe slept the all-consuming sleep of the drugged. His soft snores were a comfort; they meant he was still here.

The relationship with Julia Bulette had done its damage in more ways than one. Joe had changed before their very eyes as he’d fallen under the influence of a woman whose experience far outranked his own.

Ben could forgive Julia for that. But he didn’t think he could forgive her for dying and leaving his son so bereft, so disconsolate that he’d tried to end his life.

By southplains

~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

Little Joe …!“ that name, could I still use it for him? That disapproving glance he gave me before he left. He had made up his mind about that woman and I had made up mine. Was he right about the scar he mentioned? I was looking for it, wasn’t I? My little boy had grown to a man. The way he thought about certain things and made up his mind, you sure could see my fingerprints on it.  But I hated the moments when we settled our perceptions on opposite sides. The slam of the door sealed our fate.

By Silver Sven

The Saga of Annie O’Toole

A woman in a mining camp – whoever heard of such?

Annie showed up at the Diggings with only a cook stove, a skillet, and a deed to her credit, and the body of her father, “Himself” Kevin O’Toole, in the back of her wagon. The fresh air killed him, she said.

Naturally I offered her my assistance. If I’d had any idea what I was getting myself into, I’d have sent her packing right then – no ifs, ands, or buts.

I’m glad I didn’t, or I would’ve missed out on a delightful friendship and the best mulligan I’ve ever tasted.

By JC

The Philip Diedesheimer Story

The whistle – three short, one long. People who live around or work the mines dread the sound and its implications; the groaning and creaking within the earth’s man-made bowels pales in comparison to that noise. Anyone within hearing distance rushes to lend a hand in an effort to reach the unfortunate or offer a shoulder for the recently widowed to cry on.

There should be a better way to ensure a worker returns home. Men’s lives shouldn’t be expendable just because they’re desperate to support their families on a miner’s pay.

Damn it! The bottom line shouldn’t come before safety!

By BluewindFarm

The Magnificent Adah

Angry. Enraged. Horrified. Appalled. Disturbed. Those were but a few of the emotions going through our minds as Hoss carried the youngest member of our family into the lobby of the hotel. Beaten and bloodied, almost as limp as a ragdoll.

It was as if we had lost leave of our senses; did things we never would have done had it not been so shocking. How else do you explain the fact that Pa left Little Joe alone with only the doctor to look after him? How else do you explain that I held our father back from John Regan?

By BluewindFarm

The Truckee Strip

“It was supposed to be me!” Joe hollered, his eyes wide with rage. Then his brows fell and his shoulders sagged. He took a quick, choking breath, expelling it in a wave of words so soft Adam barely heard them at all. “It should have … should have been me.” One shaking step backward had him leaning against the wall of the barn.

Adam felt sick and grateful and angry, all at once. “No,” he said with quiet intensity. Finally, he moved close enough to grip his brother’s shoulder. “It shouldn’t have been anyone.” He didn’t realize his grip was tightening until he felt Joe squirming away. In that moment, both his anger and his nausea melted away. All that remained was his gratitude. He pulled his brother close and hugged him as he hadn’t done for many years. “But I thank God it wasn’t you!”

By Freyakendra

~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

The air was fresh and cold. A sense of victory coursed through his veins. Pete Jessup was back on the ranch. Everything had gone as planned. All you needed was the drive, will, and lack of compromise. She sat alone in the kitchen when he came in. He delivered the message to the young woman in front of him and felt triumph surge between his legs. But she wouldn’t listen! His triumph exchanged into anger and he moved to take what he wanted by force. That ancient need was calling upon him. Her terror was the most satisfying of all…

By ForeverFree

The Hanging Posse

‘They’re home.’  Relief finally etched Ben’s face, believing Little Joe too young to experience the rigors of a posse; and fearing the worst, a lynching. Knowing Adam would do anything to protect his youngest brother had brought him little comfort.

From the porch he saw movement in the barn; heard Adam asking a hand to see to the horses. ‘I was right. Why didn’t Adam send Joe home before things got out of hand?’ Walking through the doorway, his sons came into sight. ‘Who’s supporting who?’

“What happened?”

Proudly, Adam spoke, “Joe stood up to the posse to rescue me.”

By BluewindFarm

Vendetta

He lied to me. My son lied… to protect me in a physical and emotional way. He wouldn’t betray my so-called friends to me even if it meant he had to step out against the Morgan brothers all alone. That’s how Hoss is and always was. He couldn’t lay a finger on somebody, neither animal nor human except when threatening the weaker, or our family. I wish Adam and Joe would be here to stand on our side. As united family we can face everything. However, now it’s just Hoss and that half of me. But we’ll try our best.

By Silver Sven

A House Divided

My little brother, damn him. Why can’t he see the truth of Frederick Kyle? I know that for Joe, the sun sets and rises on the memory of his mother. And because someone knew Marie, he places them on a pedestal and with the sun in his eyes, they can do no wrong.

Everything about the burgeoning war between the States is wrong. I’m not saying slavery is right, what I’m saying is that it should never set brother against brother, nor son against father. Not in this country, and not in our house. That’s why I have to leave.

By BluewindFarm

~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

That was far too close for comfort. I still can’t believe that one of my sons felt he could no longer live under this roof, all because of trouble brewing so far from here.

How did the feud come between my sons so quickly and so deeply? I know Joe is young and idealistic. He holds the South close to his heart alongside his mother’s memory.

Adam is older, but no less idealistic. His mother is tucked away there in his loyalty to the North. But it’s more than that.

God help us all if this thing doesn’t destroy us.

by Questfan

The Gunmen

I cain’t believe the people of Kiowa Flats; and those two families, the McFaddens and the Hadfields. All that feudin’ and then hirin’ on known killers the likes of the Slade brothers. I understand all about protectin’ what’s yours, but that durn town was just down right strange. Maybe Adam coulda made heads or tails out of their non-sense. I’m just thankful that we got outa there in one piece.

Then there was them two other fellas we passed on the road; they looked familiar, but strangely out of place. I sure don’t envy them if they decide to stop.

By BluewindFarm

The Spanish Grant

With a swish of her skirts, she walked out of that courtroom and down that street with a regal bearing and a proud tilt to her head. Was she Isabella Maria Ynez Y Castra De La Cuesta?  I like to think that she was, and she could have been.  Her decision to walk away from a potential fortune was a noble deed and marked her as deserving of that title even if she wasn’t born to it.  But she was also Rosita Morales for I had felt the fire burning within her when I kissed her, the passion barely banked.

By BettyHT

Escape to Ponderosa

I’ll squeeze the life out of you with my bare hands. Your flesh will soak between my fingers like bread dough through our cook’s hands when Hop Sing is preparing for baking. Your lifeblood will run down my wrists the way water does when big brother Adam cleans his face after shaving. Your eyes will pop out of your head as I squeeze and your spirit will dissipate into nothing, like the smoke of our Pa’s pipe when he whiffs it after dinner. I’ll pummel you, be sure of that. You better not point that gun on my little brother.

by Silver Sven

Blood on the Land

“He said he wasn’t ‘worth it’.  How could he say such a thing?  My sons are worth more than any land.  Doesn’t he know that?  It’s worked out.  Jeb paid the price for his crimes. Billy will make a good neighbor now that he sees what’s most important.  I know I should have trusted the law, but for a short time there, I tried to be more than I should have been.  I almost paid a price I couldn’t afford to pay.  Now I need to make sure that all my sons know I’ll never risk that price ever again.”

By BettyHT

The Avenger

They say this territory is unforgiving; too bad it’s the people who are the real problem. Pa’s standing there, watching out the window. I know who he’s looking for. It can’t be easy for him; one son scheduled to hang alongside and two others out there on their own.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been Pa’s right-hand man. But now I wonder, should I have shouldered the burdens as I did? Should I have given more to my brothers to prepare them to manage the Ponderosa without us?

I don’t envy Hoss dealing with Little Joe.

By BluewindFarm

~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

Ben prayed quietly–no surprise. Adam didn’t–also no surprise. He was too young, too clever, and much too angry to find prayer comforting, though that only showed when he shook off the deputy’s hand at the scaffold steps. As they adjusted his noose he faced the void with steady eyes and dared it to make him blink.

If you’d glanced away, you wouldn’t know how that drained him. You’d have missed his stumble coming down, his apologetic glance at the deputy. But he never showed any pleasure in the death of a man who’d almost contrived two Cartwright executions.

By sklamb

Death at Dawn

Adam gasped as he sat straight up in bed and fumbled for the lantern. Moving to sit on the edge he knew there would be no more sleep for him that night. Mrs. Cameron’s soft question still haunted him, “Adam, I know what it’s like to lose someone, do you? And know that you’re the cause of it?” Her question had been about his father, but thankfully Ben Cartwright slept safely just down the hallway. His eyes strayed to the small portrait of his mother that he kept by his bed.

Yes, Mrs. Cameron, I do know…

By Beej

To Season Two