{"id":2948,"date":"2013-02-21T17:08:07","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T22:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2948"},"modified":"2026-07-22T13:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:17:13","slug":"fools-rush-in-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2948","title":{"rendered":"Fools Rush In (by frasrgrl)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"label\">Summary:\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>This is a what happened instead for a scene in The Lady from Baltimore and a what happened next after the Bannings left story.<\/p>\n<p>February 2013 Chaps and Spur and Pinecone Trifecta.<\/p>\n<p>Word Count: 1,023\u00a0\u00a0<span class=\"label\">Rated:<\/span> K<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Fools Rush In<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Story Notes:<\/p>\n<p>February 2013 Chaps and Spur and Pinecone Trifecta.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Violet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Honey<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Drew<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Cast<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fortune<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>WHI\/WHN\u00a0 The Lady from Baltimore<\/p>\n<p>The title was taken from an Elvis Presley song of the same name.<\/p>\n<p>It was a beautiful summer evening; the sun had set leaving the sky a breathtaking shade of <strong>violet<\/strong>. A soft breeze, infused with the sweet scent of roses, floated around the couple, creating the perfect atmosphere for romance.<\/p>\n<p>Joe leaned against the tree next to Melinda Banning and <strong>cast <\/strong>eyes full of awe at the fascinating woman next to him. He couldn\u2019t believe his good <strong>fortune<\/strong> when Melinda showed an interest in him, a simple rancher\u2019s son who knew nothing about the sanctity of the upper echelon. That was his brother Adam, not him. Joe\u2019s only dealing with society were the dances held in town, parties given at the Ponderosa, or other homes, and church socials. The idea of servants waiting on him, the expensive china and crystal that was used for everyday dinning were above him. The stories that Melinda\u2019s mother, Deborah Banning, told of lavish parties that the governor and other dignitaries attended were beyond the young man\u2019s comprehension. Yet this sophisticated woman looked at him, singled him out as the object of her attention. Joe was in love, head over heels in love. He was already thinking marriage, even though they barely knew each other. Joe was positive this was a match made in Heaven.<\/p>\n<p>Reaching out Joe slid his arm around Melinda\u2019s waist and <strong>drew<\/strong> her close. Tentatively, he lowered his head to hers until his lips softly touched hers. When she responded Joe deepened the kiss.<\/p>\n<p>Breathless, he pulled away from her, ending the kiss.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<strong>Honey<\/strong>,\u201d he sighed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d Melinda whispered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHoney. You taste as sweet as honey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smiling at the young man in front of her, Melinda leaned back against a tree with a serene look on her face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s beautiful here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt sure is,\u201d Joe whispered his eyes on the woman next to him. \u201cMelinda, could you ever see yourself living here?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Melinda looked across the yard that was bathed in the silvery glow from the moon overhead. \u201cIt would be a change, but I could adjust; especially if I was with the man I love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A small smile graced Joe\u2019s lips. \u201cIf I were to ask you a certain question, what would your answer be?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Melinda considered the question for a minute before her mouth curved into a soft smile. \u201cMy answer would be yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joe released the breath that he didn\u2019t realize he had been holding. He was afraid to believe that this beautiful creature before him would give up the excitement, the balls, and the servants to live here in the West, where life was rough and unpredictable, for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, Joe, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He came around in front of her and lowered his lips to hers. What started off as a tender meeting of their lips soon took on a life of its own when Joe\u2019s tongue requested entrance to her mouth as the kiss deepened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love you,\u201d he murmured against her mouth before devouring it again. Breaking away, Joe\u2019s lips trailed across her cheek to her earlobe where he used his tongue to circle the sensitive parts before blazing a path down to Melinda\u2019s neck. Pulling her closer Joe alternated between nipping and sucking at the delicate skin, to kissing and soothing the area with his tongue.<\/p>\n<p>Melinda moaned and pushed herself closer, fitting her body to his. Reluctantly, Joe pulled away from her. Slipping his knuckles down her cheek, he caressed it before tracing the outline of her lips with his finger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo lovely,\u201d he whispered. Forcing himself to release her, he took a step back and grabbed hold of her hand. \u201cWe better go back inside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After closing the door behind them, Joe cleared his throat to gain the attention of the occupants in room. Once he had everyone\u2019s attention, he looked down at Melinda, his love for her shining in his eyes for all to see.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelinda and I have an announcement,\u201d he said, his brilliant smile lighting up the room. \u201cI asked Melinda to marry me and she said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stunned silence settled over the Cartwrights, whereas Deborah Banning rushed to the happy couple.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, Melinda, how wonderful.\u201d She took her daughter into her arms and hugged her close. \u201cWell done, my dear,\u201d Deborah whispered into Melinda\u2019s ear.<\/p>\n<p>Ben and Hoss were the first to recover from the shocking announcement, and rushed over to the couple to offer their congratulations. All the while Adam remained sitting in his blue chair, a dark frown marring his face.<\/p>\n<p>Noticing that Adam hadn\u2019t moved, Joe\u2019s brow wrinkled in consternation. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter, Older Brother, you\u2019re not going to congratulate me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSorry, Joe, I guess I was a bit shocked,\u201d he said, offering his youngest brother a smile, forced as it may be, and went over to share in the happiness of the couple.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>~~~~~~<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA fool, that\u2019s what I was, just a fool who rushed in and believed I was in love with a woman I had just met,\u201d Joe berated himself.<\/p>\n<p>He sat by the doors of the hayloft overlooking the yard. The Bannings had departed for San Francisco after Melinda admitted she wasn\u2019t in love with him, and pretending so was only the means to an end. Joe had smiled and said all the right words, but at the time he felt his world was falling apart. It wasn\u2019t until that night that he had a chance to examine his true feelings. Joe now saw what he didn\u2019t want to see. Melinda never loved him, if anything she was drawn to Adam, the only one of the three brothers that could understand the life that people led back east, even if it wasn\u2019t the life she had.<\/p>\n<p>With a sigh he looked to the house. The soft, golden glow from the windows invited him into its warm comforting interior; into his father\u2019s understanding, compassionate arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s it, Joe Cartwright, you\u2019re a blind fool and you have no one else to blame but yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Closing his eyes, Joe took a deep breath and slowly released it before pushing himself to his feet and making his way to his warm, welcoming home and his waiting father.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary:\u00a0 \u00a0This is a what happened instead for a scene in The Lady from Baltimore and a what happened next after the Bannings left story.<\/p>\n<p>Word Count: 1,023\u00a0\u00a0Rated: K<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":11261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[39,23,13,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chaps-spurs","category-drama","category-whn","category-challenges","wpcat-39-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-13-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/LfB.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}