Page 15 of The Gold Rush Bride

No. He’s my husband in name only. Just for my protection.

Your marriage doesn’t have to be in name only.

Yes, it does. Now be quiet.

She stopped talking to herself and concentrated on watching Barnaby.

He turned around and looked at the area they’d stopped. “This’ll do.”

She followed his gaze and could see the camp and watch for claim jumpers, but they weren’t so close she might shoot anything if she got turned around.

He reached into the backpack he was carrying and pulled out five empty cans. “These will work for your targets.” He walked about thirty feet in front of them to a downed log and set the cans on top. Then he walked back to her.

Barnaby held out his hand. “May I have your Colt, please?”

She unholstered the weapon and extended it, barrel first.

He side stepped and placed two fingers on the side of the barrel and pushed it away from him. “Never point a gun at someone unless you mean to shoot them. Pointing it at the ground is the best thing to do.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Always stay alert when you’re handling a gun. I want you to watch me.” He took the gun and checked the load, spinning the cylinder to make sure every slot held a bullet. Then he snapped the cylinder back in place and leveled the gun, pointed at the cans, pulled back the hammer and fired.

One can fell back over the log.

“Now, I want you to do exactly what I did. Can you do that?”

Sadie nodded. “I think so.”

He handed her the gun, butt first.

She pointed the gun at the ground, then she opened the chamber and spun it. Then she looked up at Barnaby. “I can’t tell where the spent bullet is.”

He smiled. “That’s right. Unless you look at the front of the open cylinder, you can’t really tell. But I don’t want you to do that. I’ll reload for you.” He pulled the hammer back part way and opened the loading gate. Then he took the extractor rod and pressed is against each bullet until the spent one came out. Then he reloaded the gun.

Then she aimed the Colt at the cans and fired. The kick of the gun pushed her arm up in the air and almost knocked her over. She hadn’t expected the recoil to be so great even though she was used to the one of the shotgun which was even more.

“Holy cow. Why didn’t it do that when you shot it?”

“I have stronger arms than you do, and I was expecting it. You weren’t. Now that you know what it will do, use two hands and see if you can keep it level. Try it again.”

Taking her time, she gripped the pistol with both hands, aimed and fired. Her arms lifted a little, but they stayed mostly level.

The can, however, didn’t move.

She looked up at Barnaby and pouted. “I missed.”

He smiled. “Yes, but you definitely scared it.”

Sadie looked at him, wide-eyed, and then burst into laughter. “You’re hilarious. I like it. If we can laugh every day, we’ll be okay.”

Chuckling, he pointed toward the gun. “Okay, try it again. From the top.”

She followed all the steps he had but still couldn’t hit the cans. Frustrated, she stamped a foot. “I’ll never get it. Maybe I should just stick to the shotgun.”

“Sadie. It will take longer to teach you than just a couple of tries. Now, do it again. You’re doing well. You are actually getting close to the cans, and I hadn’t expected that at this point. Reload and try again.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. Then she expended the spent cartridges and reloaded all the chambers of the cylinder. Holding the pistol with both hands, she aimed and fired. A can fell over. She holstered the gun and then shouted. “I did it! I hit one.” She threw her arms around Barnaby’s neck and kissed him.