Forever Yours

Bonanza Fan Fiction

I do not own any copyrights to the show Bonanza

It's official; I'm a Bonanza fan fiction addict... especially when it comes to that silver haired rancher. Though I promise, I am still working on my own project.

Gifts

Opening Scene

Ben had been working in the heat all day and was now coming home for lunch. There was nothing he wanted more to do than to sit down at the table, eat a hearty meal and drink a cold drink of ice water. He urged Buck around the corner of the barn only to pull the horse up short. "Joyce! You changed your mind; you came back!" The rancher was shocked when the woman looked as if she'd been shot and then ran.

"Joyce!" Ben yelled again, but got no response...even when he chased her as she vanished out of sight.

Scene 1

My friend has got it into her head to buy land next to a dude ranch, and has talked me into moving onto the land with her. The truth is I know little of the survival skills men and women of the past eras found common. What I see in front of me reminds me of that.

My eyes see a wooden home with ghostly remains hanging around; reminding us of days that no longer exist. A dusty buggy sits near the barn, a hitching post stands forlorn and I doubt it has been used in ages. The pump around back? I doubt we could lift the handle if we tried. I find myself growing strangely restless, and uneasy.

"Come on, let's go in the house." Kate rushes me in, and I see old dusty furniture which I doubt has been used since its original owners moved out. There is nothing in the upstairs room, only one lovely, though simple, blue dress and a small golden bracelet. My friend says they are not to her taste and lets me have the items.

The items are put away and I got to my classes at a nearby community college. The history professor takes us up to a dude ranch, but not for any vacation I guarantee you that. It was only later that I went back, as I'd left my notebook behind without meaning to. The woman running the dude ranch slash museum was more than happy to return the items, but looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"Where did you get those?" She points to the bracelet I am holding in my hand and the dress I am wearing. I don't see what the big deal is and I tell her.

"Oh, that house used to belong to one Mr. and Mrs. Tom Edwards, back in the eighteen hundreds. No one's lived there sense. It's shocking the place still stands. You look an awful lot like her." She leaves off the subject and I decide to buy a few souvenirs while I am there. It was when I was standing outside the house and had slipped it on that I found myself by the same house, but with no modern day cars. I heard male voices inside the house and, then, a man yell Joyce. Even though I knew no one by that name I'd turned my head and got the living daylights scared out of me when the man started towards me as if he knew me.

He may have thought he knew me, but I sure in the blazes didn't recognize him so I ran.

I know running was a dumb idea; he was on a horse and I wasn't. However stupid the idea was, I kept moving. A rock tripped me and the clasp on the bracelet came loose, causing the bracelet to dangle from my wrist with by one tiny chain. I do not notice it, nor do I realize the top button of the dress has come loose, at least not at first.

"Jolene! What on earth are you running from?" I look up to see Margaret, a classmate rushing to my side. She'd also returned intending to buy trinkets."I …I thought I saw….never mind." How could I tell her what had happened? She'd lock me up for sure. Seeing the bracelet hanging loose I took it off and shoved it in my pocket. "Let's get to your parents home." The gal does not argue.