The Shotgun Wedding by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone [Johnstone, William W.; Johnsto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pinnacle Books
Published: 2020-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Scratch looked over at Bo and asked, “Are we gonna let them do this?”

“As long as there are no guns involved, I don’t see that we have a good excuse for stepping in and stopping it,” Bo replied with a shrug. “Fellas have a right to settle a grudge with their fists. That’s pretty much accepted out here.”

Cecilia hurried over to them with an anxious look on her face. She said, “You have to do something about this.”

“We were just talking about that,” Bo told her. “There’s nothing we can do as long as none of them break the law.”

“What about disturbing the peace?” Jean suggested. She, Luella, and Beth had come up behind Cecilia and looked almost as worried. “Surely having a brawl in the middle of the street qualifies!”

Scratch rubbed his chin and frowned. “Reckon you’ve got a point there. And I reckon we could lock up those fellas for what they’ve already done, namely, bustin’ in here and firin’ off a gun and threatenin’ folks.” He nodded emphatically. “That’s disturbin’ the peace if I ever seen it!”

Bo had to agree with him. But he also saw Roscoe’s side of it. The big man didn’t want that threat from the past hanging over him from now on. He wanted it settled, one way or the other. That wouldn’t happen if the strangers were locked up. A few days’ sentence—or even a month—wouldn’t change anything. They would still hate Roscoe.

But that would give him time to run, Bo mused. To hide from his enemies. The question was, Would he do that?

Bo had a hunch he wouldn’t. He had heard the weariness in the man’s voice, seen it in the dejected slump of his massive shoulders.

Roscoe just wanted his troubles over with.

Bo could understand that. Roscoe’s words about losing his wife and child had struck a painful chord in Bo. Although he didn’t know the details in Roscoe’s case, he’d heard enough to know that he had gone through a similar tragedy. During that awful time in his own life, Bo had questioned God and fate and anything else he could think of to rage against.

But he’d had his good friend Scratch to help him get through the ordeal, and he had come out the other side with his heart and soul and mind intact. The painful memories would always be there, but so would the good ones, and in time they came to be what he thought of first when his family came to mind.

From the sound of it, Roscoe hadn’t had anyone like that to stand by him. Even worse, he’d had his wife’s brothers blaming him for what had happened, and that had to have taken a toll on him, as well.

Those thoughts went through Bo’s mind as Scratch started toward the doors. Already, some of the crowd had followed Roscoe and the other men out of the town hall. A fight always drew plenty of spectators. Like a wedding or a social, it was something to break the monotony of frontier life.

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