***** SEASON TWO *****

Badge Without Honor

“When I heard that shot, I was terrified.  With what Mariette had told me, I feared that Eskith had hurt Jason or Adam but hoped it was neither.  I never could feel good about any man’s death, but I felt relief seeing Eskith mortally wounded.  He had tried to pull one too many tricks, but after being so smooth with his stories, with the epee, and with the shooting of Clevenger, Adam knew better.  Eskith couldn’t believe he had been outsmarted.  His overconfidence caused him to underestimate Adam because as Eskith said, he was too much in love with himself.”

By BettyHT

The Mill

“Dadburnit, Pa’s always taught us to know right from wrong.  Now he’s maybe taking up with a married woman.”

“Yeah, and Adam, there are still people who wonder if he had something to do with her husband being shot and crippled.”

“Ya, Adam, what do we say if Pa brings Joyce here?”

“What happened to Mr. Edwards was a terrible and unfortunate accident.  What he’s doing now is criminal.  He’s abusing a fine woman without cause, and allowing Ezekiel to terrorize her.  If Pa brings Joyce here, we wish the two of them well.  Both of them deserve some happiness.”

By BettyHT

The Hopefuls

“When he grabbed her hand and kissed her palm, I near cried myself.  He held them tears inside.  She done the same.  They really are a match being noble not going by what’s in their hearts. I wish I coulda grabbed her and shoved her into his arms and said get a preacher and work the rest out later.  Two who love each other that much ought to be together and what other people want from them shouldn’t matter.  But those two don’t see it that way.  He’s gonna be hurting something fierce for a long time over this one.”

By BettyHT

The Last Viking

How could you? I understand that Joseph is not your nephew, not in the truest sense of blood relations.

You changed. I don’t understand how you could have strayed so far from the man I thought I knew. I hoped your search would prove fruitful; discover your El Dorado, something to make you happy. But that doesn’t explain the things you’ve done.

Out of the blue you appeared on the Ponderosa. I can forgive your testing Hoss’ mettle, it’s something of your heritage. I would expect nothing less.

But this, he is the youngest brother of the son I bore.

By BluewindFarm

The Savage

Leaning back on the settee, his injured leg rested on the low table. Hours before, his family had retired for the night. He’d declined their offer of help up the stairs. Memories flickered like the dancing flames.

Ruth Halvorson. My family says she wasn’t real; a figment of my imagination caused by the blow to my head. So, I suffered a concussion, but she tended my leg. Hair like corn silk. Skin as soft as the coat of a day-old foal. Eyes as deep as Lake Tahoe. Her smile, her lips… She had to be real, she stole my heart.

By BluewindFarm

By SilverSven

Bank Run

My youngest brother can come up with some crazy schemes.  He can even make them sound reasonable.  However, if you think about them critically, which he rarely does, there are at least a dozen reasons not to do what he wants you to do.  Unfortunately my brother Hoss is a trusting and loving brother whose faith in Joe somehow can’t be shaken by elephants, flapjacks, or a boxer’s fists.  I never thought it would lead to the two of them being on a wanted poster though, and from Pa’s face, his shock is far greater than mine.  Robbing a bank?

By BettyHT

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

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Savin’ all those folks’ hard-earned deposits from those no-good bankin’ fellas. They aimed to do some fast talkin’ and some even faster runnin’ and well … the way Joe told it to me … we just couldn’t sit back and do nothin’!

It seemed like a good idea. So why do my feet hurt from all this walkin’ and why is it that Pa is so mad with us when it’s all his fault for puttin’ Joe in charge in the first place?

It’s all Pa’s fault!

I’m gonna kill Joe.

By Questfan

Vengeance

Gotta stop Joe!

Won’t nothin’ stop him but a fistful of reason.

Pa says vengeance is the Lord’s.  Eye for eye or brother for brother, it’s the same to Joe.

Gotta get up!

Plant my feet and lurch forward.  Wobble like a newborn foal tryin’ to find its legs.  Slide my feet ’til I make the stairs. No time to rest.

Gotta stop Joe!

Mary runs up to meet me, tripping on her dress, but that don’t slow her down.  She snakes her arm around my middle and pulls my arm across her neck.

“We gotta stop Joe!”

She’s breathin’ hard when we reach the door.

Twilight’s beggin’ for his life.  Joe’s shouts spur me on.

Gotta stop Joe!

Halfway there. Oh Lordy!  Adam gave Joe his blessin’.

I’m winded but can’t stop.

We make it!

I lean on Mary and let the tightness in my chest ease up a mite.  Vengeance will be the Lord’s after all.

by Patina

The Rescue

One little fight and all of a sudden, I’m too old to do something I’ve spent most all of my adult life doing – standing up for what I believe. I practically raised all three of them by myself, and this is the gratitude they show me?

I worried, as any father would, when they failed to return home. Little did I hazard the predicament they’d found when they encountered the rustlers, our neighbors.

Together they had watched out for each other; and I can’t wait to see them eat that humble pie, having their ‘old man’ come to their rescue.

By BluewindFarm

The Dark Gate

“Why you steal cookies? Why you not outside talking to brother?”

Hoss jumped and spun all at once. No one, besides Pa, could punch that much emotion into a few short words. “Awww, Hop Sing, what with Pa fussin’ over him all week I figure he needs a few minutes to himself. Besides, he ain’t said but ten words since we followed him back home!”

Both statements were true. Adam went down with a fever and Pa hardly left his side since Adam brought Ross back to be with Del a week earlier. That he’d finally been able to sneak out alone this afternoon gave Hoss hope that maybe he’d turned more than one corner on his way back to being… Adam.

“He need you. Go!”

“Hop Sing…”

“Go! Need to talk. Think too much!”

“But Pa-“

Hop Sing shook his head, “Need you! You friend. Now, go help brother!”

Hoss’ heart warmed at that idea. He and Adam had been best buds since before he even understood what that meant. They were easy together. They never had to pretend or be careful… they just were.

“Maybe I could just go sit with him for a bit.”

By Beej

The Gift

How do you like that?

There he goes, off on that flashy white horse, and here I stand.

We’ve been together long enough that I get it.  I guess.  Joe is downright obstinate when he sets his mind to something, and he’s determined his pa’s gonna get that horse (though what Buck’s going to think about that I don’t even want to know).

I’ll make my way home, of course—lots of practice—but really.  This is a bit much.

I wonder if I can find some company to come with.  There were three of them in The Incredible Journey…

By PSW

 ~ B ~ O ~ N ~ A ~ N ~ Z ~ A ~

“I am too ugly to even have a wife.”

It’s the same matter-of-fact tone my brother uses when he says stuff like “I can’t help bein’ ugly, now can I?”  Despite everything we got goin’ on, I feel the same indignation for Emiliano I always feel for Hoss.

Who gets to decide that?  Who convinced him he was so ugly no gal would have him?  He don’t look different to me than any other guy I’d see in any saloon round these parts.

Besides all of that, he’s a good friend.  A good man.  Why ain’t that enough for people?

By PSW

Elizabeth, My Love

Cradling the swaddled infant in his arms, he remembered their dreams of sons growing strong and tall like their father.  A vision of traveling west across the country to an untamed land was just the beginning.  Wide open spaces where no matter which direction one looked, the land touched the sky; and it would be theirs.

It wasn’t important that their name be known or that they would raise the finest beef or harvest the best timber; what matter most was that they would be together.

Together… a family. A family missing a member.  Crying, he turned from Elizabeth’s grave.

By BluewindFarm

To Season Three