They made their way to the new buildings. The group dismounted and looked around. There were two new barns, a large corral, two smaller ones and a bunk house.

“They’re building a new ranch.” Sam said, looking around. “Right on our land.”

Eddy was in awe, “Yeah and they built all this within six months.”

The group started to look around. Adam and Ben made their way to the smaller of the two barns, while Sam and Hoss made their way to the bunk house. Eddy and Joe made their way, with Walker, to the largest of the two barns. As they were digging around, exploring the new buildings, they all heard a couple of gunshots go off.

As everyone made their way to the doors, they saw three men on horses. One was much older than the other two. “Alright, hold it right there.” He called out, dismounting off his horse. “Who are you people and what are you doin’ on my land.”

Sam stepped forward. “Your land?”

“Yes my land.” The older one barked. “Now who the devil are you people?”

“I’m Sheriff Jed Walker of Trinity.” Walker said, stepping forward. “This land belongs to the Parker’s. Not you fella’s.”

“Like hell it don’t!” The youngest shouted as he jumped off his horse holding his rifle.

Eddy stepped in front of Walker, “This land is mine and my sister’s. Not yours. We never sold it.”

The middle male jumped off his horse. “We shoot trespassers. Don’t we, Pa?”

“We’ve got that right, Seth.” The father of the two said. “Now Sheriff, if you don’t want to get shot, you better get these people off my land.”

“Now wait just a minute here.” Ben spoke up. “We’re not trespassing on anyone’s land.”

“Sheriff…” The father of the two boys spoke up. “You’re running out of time.”

“Hold on here.” Adam spoke. “You heard the girls, this is their land, not yours.”

“C’mon Pa,” The youngest spoke. “Let’s kill us some trespassers.”

The father smirked. “Okay, Matt. They just ran out of time.”

And with that the gunfire started and everyone took cover.
Hoss had his gun pulled and was firing back at the three men as he grabbed Sam and pulled her back into the new bunkhouse.

Joe had grabbed Eddy and he had his arm over her as he was firing. They made their way, along with Walker, back inside the large barn, taking cover.

Ben and Adam scrambled back inside the smaller barn, shooting back as well.

“What in the blazes do they think they’re doing?!” Walker cursed. He ducked as a bullet hit a piece of wood next to him. “I’m a Sheriff!”

“I don’t think they care about that right now.” Eddy said as she fired back.

Matt, Seth, and their father Owen, scattered. Seth took cover behind a water trough, while Matt took cover with his father behind a wagon. “Great, now what do we do, Pa?” Matt asked.

Owen sighed. “Keep on shooting.”

A shot bounced off the barn door, sending Ben ducking back behind it. As quickly as he had ducked behind the door, he reemerged just as quickly and returned fire. Sending a shot bouncing off the wagon, it ricocheted and nearly clipped Matt.

“Son of a…” he cursed as he checked his arm.

Seth looked over at him and then fired a few shots into the direction of Hoss and Sam. Bullets slammed into the sparse wood of the bunkhouse wall, causing them to crouch down further.

Joe took this opportunity to poke out from the barn and fire a few shots into the trough. Eddy followed suit, firing at the wagon.

At that, they heard a loud yelp of pain as the older man slumped over. “Pa!” Matt yelled. Eddy’s shot had hit the old man right in his mid-section

Seth fired in Joe and Eddy’s direction causing them to retreat back into the barn. Just then Sam popped out of the bunkhouse window and fired, causing Seth to duck back behind the trough.

“Is Pa okay, Matt?” Seth yelled to his younger brother.

“He’s been gutshot, Seth. It’s pretty bad.” he replied, terrified but holding a bandana to his Pa’s stomach.

Seth bolted from the trough over to the wagon, and next to his Pa as another shot bounced off the wagon. Seth poked his head up from the wagon and quick fired, spraying bullets in all directions.

Eddy looked at Joe, “I gotta get to Sam.”

“You’re not going out there.” Joe said, worried.

“Look, you two can cover me.” Eddy said and took a breath. She went to bolt but Joe grabbed her by the arm.

“No.”

Eddy shook her head and then her eyes went wide as she saw Sam making her way over to them. She made eye contact with her sister and nodded. With that she started firing off rounds making sure that those men stayed down. That was all her sister needed.

“What were you thinkin’?” Walker asked, hunkered down next to the door.

“Obviously the same thing I was.” Eddy mumbled.

Seth ducked back behind the wagon and knelt down next to his brother who was still beside their Pa. “I ain’t got much time left, boys.” Owen said, pain obvious in his voice.

“Don’t say that, Pa.” Matt replied with tears running down his face. “He needs a doctor bad, Seth.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Seth snapped. “Ain’t gonna be so easy, what with being shot at and everything.”

When no more shots came from the wagon, Hoss took off from the bunkhouse at the same time as Ben and Adam ran from the smaller barn. They all entered the larger barn and everyone looked at each other.

“Why do you reckon they stopped shooting?” Hoss asked.

“I think I hit one of them.” Eddy replied, with a smirk. “That’ll teach them to try and take over our land.”

Just as Eddy said that, gunfire started to hit the barn again. Everyone took cover. “I thought it was over.” Sam said, kneeling next to Hoss.

“Obviously not.” Joe replied sarcastically.

Sam looked at the group. “I have an idea.” She said and then looked at Eddy. “I’m going to need your help.”

“Sure,” Eddy replied. “Wanna fill me in on what your idea is?”

More shots slammed into the wood, splintering it further. Hoss popped up and fired a few shots, followed by Joe and then Walker. They were rewarded with more shots hitting the wood.

“Become a Sheriff they said,” Walker said and fired his gun, “It’ll be fun they said.” Walker poked his head out and yelled at the wagon. “Give up! Make it easy on yourselves!”

“Ain’t gonna happen!” Seth called back and fired off more rounds.

Eddy looked at her sister. “If you got an idea, now would be the time to fill us in.” she said, as she fired more shots at the wagon.

Sam looked around at everyone. “If we can make it to where the old corral was, we can surround ’em. They’ll have to give up.” she said.

Eddy shrugged. “I don’t know…” She said as a bullet went through the wood just missing her shoulder by mere inches. “On second thought, I’ve had enough of this. Let’s do it.”

“Now wait a minute.” Ben said.

“What else are we gonna do?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, wait around until they run out of bullets?” Eddy asked.

Hoss nodded. “They got a point, Pa.”

Ben sighed, he knew they were right. If they tried to wait them out it could only end with someone getting hurt.

Sam looked at her sister. “Okay, Eddy, you go around the left side and I’ll flank around them on the right.” she said and then looked at Walker and the Cartwrights. “We’ll need you to draw their fire away from us.”

“Can do.” Joe said, willing and able.

“On my mark.” Sam said and signaled to Eddy. “NOW!”

Both girls made a run for it and as gunfire bounced off the ground around them, Walker and the Cartwrights started a barage of gunfire that drew the young men back behind the wagon.

Sam made it around the right side and ducked behind a bush off to the side of the wagon. As she poked her head through, she saw Eddy coming up on the left side and ducking behind the overturned, old watering trough.

They watched as the two young men popped up from behind the wagon and started firing again at the Cartwrights and Walker.

That’s when Sam took her chance. She slowly made her way out of the bushes and crept up behind the two men. “Alright, drop it!” she ordered them.

Both men dropped their guns and held their hands up. Owen, who was lying on the ground, held his gun up and pointed it at Eddy. Eddy saw this but not fast enough and the gun went off. She was hit, as the old man’s arm fell to the ground, and his gun fell away. He was dead.

“C’mon, let’s go.” Eddy said, holding her right arm but still able to point her gun at the young men.

The two men with their hands still up, started walking towards the large barn. Sam looked at Eddy walking beside her. “How bad is it?” She asked, worried.

“Doesn’t feel bad.” Eddy said, smiling. “I think I’ve been thrown from a jughead harder.”

They made it back to the barn and Joe ran right to Eddy’s side when he saw the blood. “What happened!?” he asked, worried.

“Ah, it ain’t too serious, Little Joe. I think it’s just a through and through” Eddy said as Joe ripped her sleeve to get a better assessment of the damage. She winced as he did this.

Joe noticed her wince. “Sorry.” he said, then turned his attention to the wound. He used the torn sleeve to cover the wound then tied it in place.  “Right through, slick and clean.” he said, looking at Eddy relieved.

Sheriff Walker took this moment to take control of the prisoners. “You boys are gonna have some explaining to do.”

———————————————–

It was later in the day now. Sam had gotten a change of clothes for her and Eddy and they had changed and cleaned up. Eddy had gotten stitches and was wearing a sling now. Everyone was standing in Walker’s office.

Walker looked up from Jake’s black note book. “Everything is in here.”

“So it was the Bishops.” Sam said and then pointed to the cell that held Matt and Seth, “And they’re the Bishops.”

Walker nodded. “And with their Pa gone. Matt and Seth copped to everything.”

Adam looked at the Sheriff. “It still doesn’t explain everything.”

Walker closed the book. “Sam, how much did you read?”

She looked at Hoss and back to the Sheriff. “Not that much.”

The older man looked at the girls, “Have a seat.”

Ben and Adam stood up and let the girls sit down. Hoss and Joe took their spots behind the girls, while Ben sat on the corner of the desk and Adam stood by his father.

Eddy looked up at the older man. “What is it?” She asked nervously.

“Basically, Jake found out about everything. And from what I read he was getting ready to come to me, but was killed before he had the chance. From what I gathered from his notes, what the Bishop boys, and what Rooster and Billy have told me it was quite the operation. It turns out that Cal Dawson was running a cattle rustling buisness with the Bishops. And they needed your land to expand it. That’s why the Bishop’s bought that small ranch next to the T-Bolt. Cal figured he could get the Bishops to burn up the T-Bolt and kill Frank and Loretta. That way he could come in and marry you Sam and take the land.” Walker said, with sadness in his eyes.

Sam looked down at the floor. Hoss placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him, placing her hand over his.

Eddy had tears running down her cheeks. Joe took a step to the side of the chair and knelt down placing his arm around her shoulders.

“Apparently the Bishops waited until they had their chance and burnt everything. And took a lot of cattle with them. Things didn’t go the way they planned though, when you two took off. But they moved in on the land anyways.”

“They killed our folks for the land,” Sam said quietly. “And to steal more cattle.”

“And with your help,” Walker said, placing his hand on Sam’s knee, “We caught them. They ain’t getting off easy with this. I sent a wire to the circuit judge. He will be here in about three weeks. Until then, these fellas are gonna stay right there and you’re more than welcome to stay.”

Eddy looked at Sam, “I don’t wanna stay here.”

Sam shook her head, “Neither do I. Thank you, Sheriff.” she said, then stood up.

“Just drop me a note where you’ll be staying and I will send you a wire letting you know what happened.” He said, standing up himself.

“One more thing, Sheriff.” Sam said.

“Anything.” He replied.

“Did they tell you killed Jake?” she asked sadly.

“According to the Bishop boys, Cal killed Jake.” Walker replied. “Cal found out Jake was fixing to come see me and he killed him before he had the chance.”

“Cal’s lucky he’s already dead.” Eddy stated angrily.

“Thank you.” Ben said as everyone shook hands. He was relieved that everything wrapped up and no one was seriously hurt, save for Cal Dawson and Owen Bishop. That they had finally found out who did it and now the law was going to handle it.

——————————————————————

Once the Parker girls and the Cartwrights were outside, Sam looked at Eddy. “It’s finally all over now.”

“Not yet.” Eddy said looking at her older sister. “We have two things left.”

“What’s that?” Ben asked.

Eddy took a deep breath. She reached in her pocket and looked at Sam. “I found this and I think you should have it.” She said and handed the watch to her sister.

Sam looked at the watch with tears in her eye. She opened it up and a sad smile played across her lips. She sniffled and closed it. Taking her sister’s hand she placed the watch into it. “You keep it, little sister.”

Joe smiled and put his arm around Eddy. “What’s the other thing, honey?”

Eddy placed the watch in her pocket and then readjusted her sling. “The land.”

“What do you two wanna do with it?” Hoss asked, with his arm around Sam.

Sam looked at Eddy. “We could sell it.” she said.

“I was thinking that.” Eddy said, “But to who?”

“I’m still willing to buy it.” A voice said from behind them. Everyone turned and saw Mark Dawson standing there.

“Mr. Dawson…” Sam started.

He held up his hand and stopped her. Then he moved closer to Sam and took her hand. “Samantha, I was hoping to see you before you left town. I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry for everything my boy has done. To both you and Eddy. And you folks as well.” he said, looking at the Cartwrights. “If I had thought for one minute he had anything to do with this, I would have turned him in myself.”

Tears welled up in Sam’s eyes. A part of her felt guilty for ever thinking Mark Dawson could have been behind the fire. “I’m sorry we accused you…”

Dawson slightly smiled. “There’s no need for that, my dear. I could see how you would think that. Seeing as how I was continually asking your Pa to sell to me and then the fire happened. But if you girls want to sell, well, I’d still like to buy it.”

Sam took a shaky breath and then looked back at Eddy and the Cartwrights. “I’d like to talk it over with my sister.”

Dawson let go of Sam’s hand and nodded. “Of course.”

Sam and Eddy walked away from the group and stopped a little ways down the boardwalk. “Well, what do you think Eddy? Should we sell to Dawson?”

Eddy glanced back in the direction of Dawson and the Cartwrights and then looked back at Sam. “I believe him when he said he didn’t know what Cal was up to.”

“Yeah, so do I. I feel kinda bad about accusing him…”

“I know, I feel the same way.” Eddy interrupted. “But I’m okay with selling to him, if you are.”

“Yeah, I’m okay with it.” Sam replied and started back to the group. “We’ve talked it over, Mr. Dawson. We’ll sell you the land but I have one stipulation.”

Eddy looked at her sister with a raised eyebrow. She was wondering what stipulation her sister could possibly have in mind.

Dawson looked at the girls. “Anything. Just name it.”

“Ma, Pa and Jake’s graves are not to be disturbed.” Sam replied.

Eddy smiled at hearing Sam’s stipulation. Her older sister would think of something like that. And in truth, she was glad that she had. She didn’t want their resting places to be disturbed either.

“My dear, I would never think of disturbing their resting places. You have my word that they’ll remain untouched.”

Sam held out her hand to Dawson. “Then we have a deal.”

Dawson shook Sam’s hand. “Wonderful.” he replied and then shook Eddy’s hand. “I’ll meet you down at the land office.” As he started to walk away, he turned and looked at Sam again. ” You know, I would have been proud to have had you as a daughter-in-law.”

Sam sighed as she looked at Dawson. “I appreciate that, sir, but I never loved Cal.”

“I know that. I’ve told Cal on numerous occasions to leave you alone but he was so darn pig headed…”

“Yeah, I know. He gets something into his head, he doesn’t give up until he has it.” Sam finished. “I’m sorry that things ended the way they did.”

Dawson gave a deep sigh. “So am I. But Cal brought all this on himself. I just didn’t want to believe he could ever do something so heinous.” he replied, shaking his head.

“We never want to think the worst of our children.” Ben replied.

“I tried to raise him right. But he started down a dark path and I just couldn’t bring him back to the light.” Dawson stated and sighed, shaking his head again. Then he looked at Sam and Eddy. “Well, when you’re ready, I’ll be at the land office.” Dawson then walked off down the boardwalk.

The group started to follow him, when Eddy stopped and looked at everyone. “Once we sell the land to Dawson, then what do we do?”

Sam smiled as she held Hoss’ arm. “I don’t know about you little sister, but I’m going back to the Ponderosa.”

“When was that decided?” Eddy asked, looking at her sister with a raised eyebrow

Sam chuckled. “I think it was decided the moment I accepted Hoss’ proposal.”

Ben and Adam stopped dead in their tracks. “What?” Both men said in unison.

“Wait a minute,” Adam said looking at Sam then to Hoss. “You’re getting married?”

“Hoss is this true?” Ben asked with a smile on his handsome face.

Hoss smiled. He looked from Sam to his family. “Yeah, Pa, it’s true. I asked Sam to be my wife.”

Adam looked at his younger brother with a bemused look on his face. “When did you have time to propose?”

“This mornin’.” he replied, still smiling. “When I found her at the Thunderbolt.”

“It was his way of asking me to stay.” Sam chuckled.

Eddy frowned at her sister. “Where the heck were you going?”

“After our fight I was planning on cutting out and heading out to Clinton to stay with Uncle Whit.” Sam replied.

“You were gonna run off? When were you planning on telling me this?” Eddy asked, somewhat shocked.

“What does it matter now? I’m not going anywhere. Except back to the Ponderosa.”

Joe took Eddy’s hand into his own. “We’re all going back to the Ponderosa.” he said, smiling at Eddy.

Ben’s face lit up. “This is great!” He smiled and pulled Sam away from Hoss and into a hug. “We’re going to have the biggest wedding Nevada has ever seen!”

When Ben let Sam go, Adam took his turn to hug her. “Welcome to the family.”

Eddy and Joe laughed, “Well, it looks like we’re gonna be going to the Ponderosa, big sister.” Eddy stated.

Sam looked from the happy group to Hoss’ own happy face and smiled at her handsome fiance. “There’s no place I’d rather be.” she stated.

The End… For Now!