{"id":7735,"date":"2013-07-05T14:52:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T18:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=7735"},"modified":"2026-07-31T08:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:32:47","slug":"jewels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=7735","title":{"rendered":"Jewels (by DJK)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: <\/span>Jewels can be found many places; one just has to learn to appreciate them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rated: K+\u00a0\u00a0 Word count:\u00a0535<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jewels<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I was more like. . .\u201d he mumbled. Hoss Cartwright shrugged his shoulders and let the words hang in the air while the rest of his thought remained unspoken. \u201cNo matter. Wishing ain\u2019t gonna change nothing. Better just make the best of being good old Hoss.\u201d He picked up his beer, stared at the foam, sighed, and then lifted the glass to his lips.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sitting across the table, Opal leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand. She studied his eyes as he swigged half of his beer down in one swallow and then spoke softly. \u201cThere are plenty of men around here that would be glad to be Hoss Cartwright.\u201d She watched for the effect of her statement on the man across from her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cGuess there\u2019s folks who\u2019d be glad to be any Cartwright.\u201d He gave her a weak smile that never touched his eyes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI said Hoss Cartwright, and I should have said proud not glad.\u201d She sipped her own watered whiskey and waited for his response.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss sighed. \u201cMaybe, but there\u2019s a sight more who\u2019d pick being Adam or Little Joe.\u201d His gaze challenged her to deny it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead, she cocked her head to the side, gave him an appraising look, and asked, \u201cAre you one of them?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Am I?<\/em> Hoss stared into his remaining beer. After a few seconds, he answered himself more than Opal, \u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly sometimes?\u201d She laid the challenge on the table with her empty glass.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss pondered the question for perhaps a minute and then grinned, \u201cYep! Sometimes I\u2019m glad I\u2019m not either one of them brothers of mine.\u201d Opal smiled. \u201cYa know, Opal, there\u2019s good reason you don\u2019t never spend much time in here alone. Ya want another drink?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSam hears me turning one down, and I won\u2019t be working here much longer. Do you want another beer?\u201d Hoss nodded. \u201cI\u2019ll go get them,\u201d she said rising to walk across the crowded saloon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do wish I was as smart as Adam and had Joe\u2019s way with folks, \u2018specially female folk, and being as good-looking as either one of them instead of, well, looking like some big ox without the horns would sure be something, but. . .<\/em> Opal\u2019s return interrupted his reverie as she stood behind him and set the drinks on the table. Then she rested her hands on Hoss\u2019s shoulders and leaned down to speak softly in his ear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou might want to take notice of your little brother before your big brother does.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019s head swiveled, and his gaze found both his brothers at the same time. Three seconds was all it took for him to recognize the trouble brewing. He rose and downed his entire beer in one swig. \u201cRight ya are, gal! Excuse me, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She nodded and smiled. Her eyes followed the big cowboy as he strode toward his brothers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a few folks can see the pearl in the ugliest oyster! Isn\u2019t that what you use to say, Mama?<\/em> She sighed, sat down, and sipped her whiskey as she remembered that she had always preferred pearls to diamonds or emeralds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: Jewels can be found many places; one just has to learn to appreciate them.<\/p>\n

Rated: K+\u00a0\u00a0 Word count:\u00a0535<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":5941,"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":[23,1006,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-hoss-cartwright","category-short-stories","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-1006-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Hoss.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735","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\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}