DISCLAIMER: I don't own most of the characters in this fan fiction, they are Louis L'Amour's from Guns of The Timberland


Rush Jackson rode his horse up the trail and stopped a little distance away from the group of people sitting in chairs that had been brought out for the wedding. Clay hadn't wasted time, only waiting long enough to get better from his fight with Jud Devitt so that he wasn't all swollen and bruised for his wedding.

A tall man was playing a piano off to the side. Clay and Colleen were standing up front, and Pastor Robert Webster was already talking.

Clay was wearing a nicely fitted and tailored suit Rush had never seen before, and Colleen was wearing a beautiful white wedding dress that trailed a little on the ground, and the both of them looked like the happiest people alive.

Rush saw Bill Coffin sitting in the back row with Randy Travis, a pretty blonde girl who had recently come to town. He looked around for Shorty Jones and Montana Brown, but they were nowhere in sight. They had said there was no way they would miss it.

Hank Rooney was sitting closer to the front. That left just Mahafee at the ranch, because the others were still in Colorado trying to make buy Clay some more cows.

Rush dismounted from his horse. After only a moment of hesitation, he took his gun belt off and slung it across his saddle. Then, turning, he walked up behind Coffin's seat.

"Seen Shorty or Montana?" he asked quietly so that only Bill would hear.

"Naw, haven't seen a sign nor hair of them. They said they were coming; it's not like them to not show up. They're probably just running late. Maybe they stopped to shoot a squirrel out of a tree."

Almost at once Rush thought he heard a shot, but he dismissed it as his imagination, and turned his attention to Webster who was just saying, "If anyone has any objections to this marriage speak now or forever hold your peace."

Surprisingly, the pastor was interrupted by a loud voice.

"I object!"

All heads turned toward the sound of the voice, a ripple of confused chatter passing through the crowd. The man who had spoken was standing at the beginning of the isle, and he was holding a Colt pistol in his left hand, and he wasn't anyone from town.

"What does he think he'd doing?" Coffin said angrily, starting to stand up, "Who is he?"

Webster looked rather startled. No one had ever objected to a wedding that he'd pastored before, and he wasn't sure what to do about it.

Clay asked the question everyone was wondering, "Excuse me? Uh, why are you objecting?" he asked calmly, though Rush had a feeling Clay was irritated, "Who even are you, mister?"

"I object because I don't think this lovely girl should marry someone who's about to die. I'm sure no one would want to see her widowed."

Colleen stepped closer to Clay, "What do you mean by that, Wes? Why did you come here?"

"You know him?" Clay asked, rather confused.

"I mean, I'm about to shoot him," Wes replied.

It suddenly got very quiet. Coffin had risen entirely out of his seat now, and he and Rush exchanged a glance, sharing the same thought. Clay hadn't worn his gun belt to the wedding, and neither had anyone else.

Clay calmly stepped away from Colleen so that she wouldn't get hurt and said, "I'm not wearing a gun, Wes."

Wes smiled slowly. "I know," he said, and pulled the trigger.