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31_days2007-02-09 11:17 pm
rhye.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-02-09 11:17 pm
[February 9] [Brokeback Mountain] Once Upon a Time - 9
Title: Once Upon a Time - 9
Day/Theme: February 9th/The Wandering Wife
Series: Brokeback Mountain
Character/Pairing: Jack Twist/Ennis del Mar
Rating: R
Chapter 9
She'd seen him at the wedding. She'd known who he was as soon as she'd laid eyes on him, but it was Junior's day. Besides, she was too mad, too full of emotion, to know how to react. She remembered feeling her lips tremble, her face flush with anger. She'd gone to the ladies' room and tried not to cry in the relative privacy of that cell.
He'd given Junior a gift, and not just anything, a trip. It was something Alma could not have afforded in a million years, even with Monroe's salary. She wanted to snatch it away and rip it up. But it made Junior so happy.
She'd never told Monroe about Ennis, about Ennis's affair with a man. The truth was, sometimes she thought maybe she'd done something wrong, or that she was somehow caught up in the filthiness. After all, hadn't she lain with a man who was sleeping with another man? And she'd known about it. And Alma would never escape the feeling that maybe she'd done something wrong to cause Ennis to turn to a man in the first place.
She was a Christian woman, and it wasn't her secret to tell. She'd told Junior, but only because Junior should know, Junior was old enough to know. Junior was a married woman now. If Ennis was moving in with that man, it concerned Junior, too. But Junior hadn't been all that surprised. A little maybe, but not enough.
Junior'd told Francie. Alma'd figured that out soon enough when Francie went over her father's out of the blue, thinking no one knew where she went. But Junior knew, and there wasn't much Junior didn't tell Alma.
Yet Alma'd held her own. She hadn't cried, except that one time at the wedding, other than in the privacy of her own bedroom when no one was around except the baby boy. She tried so very hard not to hate. So very hard.
But in the end she'd failed.
Something was afoot. Junior was on her honeymoon still, down to Jenny Lake, but Francie'd gone to see Ennis a couple more times. Ennis, who she hadn't spoken to in nearly a year prior. Alma overheard Francie on the phone a couple times, talking at first with reticence, but with an increasing sense of excitement. Alma was unable to determine who Francie was talking too, hearing only "ma'am." When Alma asked straight out, Francie told her it was the cheer-leading coach. Alma'd never heard Francie address Mrs. Burr as "ma'am" in two years of practices.
But Junior's words, together with seeing that man at Junior's wedding, and then Francie stealing empty boxes from the basement, all pointed to one conclusion.
"So where's he movin' then?" Alma was standing behind Francie, distractedly burping the baby.
Francie looked down at the folded boxes she was hauling towards the door. "Oh. Um. Do you... you don't mind if I take them, do you Mom?"
"Yeah, I don't need 'em."
Francie nodded and turned back towards the door.
"Francine Mary del Mar, I asked you a question."
Francie swung back around, her long, dark-blond hair swinging with her head. "Up near the Montana border."
"He buy a ranch up there?"
Francie didn't ask who she meant. "No, um. Well, Mr. Twist's father passed on, so he's moving home to take care of his mother."
"Oh." For a moment Alma really thought that maybe Ennis wasn't going with the man, but Francie continued.
"Yeah. Dad's ranch is closing in about two weeks, so I guess they're going to move up then."
Alma felt her stomach clench. She felt bile rising, and tears not far behind. She managed a nod. Alma wasn't sure what prompted the next question: bitterness, fascination, disgust, spite. She'd never badmouthed Ennis to the girls. Never to anyone. "You like him then? You ok with this?"
Francie looked up, pinning Alma with pity. Alma felt her temper snap.
"Well you go on then! You go to your daddy and his... his man." She didn't cry, didn't yell, but something had changed.
"Mom..."
"You like him?" She still wanted to know. For many years now she'd secretly hoped Jack Twist was a dirty, nasty man, someone worthy of the hate she felt.
"Yeah, I like him." Francine sounded small. "He's nice. Real sweet. He even asked how you were doin'."
It was the worst thing Francie could have said. Twenty years of unrequited love for Ennis del Mar, putting up with his crap, bearing and raising his daughters, while he was off doing dirty things with a man in the woods-- the last hope Alma had for her soul was that her anger was warranted, deserved, that her hatred was righteous.
But in the end, maybe it was the better man that won.
Day/Theme: February 9th/The Wandering Wife
Series: Brokeback Mountain
Character/Pairing: Jack Twist/Ennis del Mar
Rating: R
Chapter 9
She'd seen him at the wedding. She'd known who he was as soon as she'd laid eyes on him, but it was Junior's day. Besides, she was too mad, too full of emotion, to know how to react. She remembered feeling her lips tremble, her face flush with anger. She'd gone to the ladies' room and tried not to cry in the relative privacy of that cell.
He'd given Junior a gift, and not just anything, a trip. It was something Alma could not have afforded in a million years, even with Monroe's salary. She wanted to snatch it away and rip it up. But it made Junior so happy.
She'd never told Monroe about Ennis, about Ennis's affair with a man. The truth was, sometimes she thought maybe she'd done something wrong, or that she was somehow caught up in the filthiness. After all, hadn't she lain with a man who was sleeping with another man? And she'd known about it. And Alma would never escape the feeling that maybe she'd done something wrong to cause Ennis to turn to a man in the first place.
She was a Christian woman, and it wasn't her secret to tell. She'd told Junior, but only because Junior should know, Junior was old enough to know. Junior was a married woman now. If Ennis was moving in with that man, it concerned Junior, too. But Junior hadn't been all that surprised. A little maybe, but not enough.
Junior'd told Francie. Alma'd figured that out soon enough when Francie went over her father's out of the blue, thinking no one knew where she went. But Junior knew, and there wasn't much Junior didn't tell Alma.
Yet Alma'd held her own. She hadn't cried, except that one time at the wedding, other than in the privacy of her own bedroom when no one was around except the baby boy. She tried so very hard not to hate. So very hard.
But in the end she'd failed.
Something was afoot. Junior was on her honeymoon still, down to Jenny Lake, but Francie'd gone to see Ennis a couple more times. Ennis, who she hadn't spoken to in nearly a year prior. Alma overheard Francie on the phone a couple times, talking at first with reticence, but with an increasing sense of excitement. Alma was unable to determine who Francie was talking too, hearing only "ma'am." When Alma asked straight out, Francie told her it was the cheer-leading coach. Alma'd never heard Francie address Mrs. Burr as "ma'am" in two years of practices.
But Junior's words, together with seeing that man at Junior's wedding, and then Francie stealing empty boxes from the basement, all pointed to one conclusion.
"So where's he movin' then?" Alma was standing behind Francie, distractedly burping the baby.
Francie looked down at the folded boxes she was hauling towards the door. "Oh. Um. Do you... you don't mind if I take them, do you Mom?"
"Yeah, I don't need 'em."
Francie nodded and turned back towards the door.
"Francine Mary del Mar, I asked you a question."
Francie swung back around, her long, dark-blond hair swinging with her head. "Up near the Montana border."
"He buy a ranch up there?"
Francie didn't ask who she meant. "No, um. Well, Mr. Twist's father passed on, so he's moving home to take care of his mother."
"Oh." For a moment Alma really thought that maybe Ennis wasn't going with the man, but Francie continued.
"Yeah. Dad's ranch is closing in about two weeks, so I guess they're going to move up then."
Alma felt her stomach clench. She felt bile rising, and tears not far behind. She managed a nod. Alma wasn't sure what prompted the next question: bitterness, fascination, disgust, spite. She'd never badmouthed Ennis to the girls. Never to anyone. "You like him then? You ok with this?"
Francie looked up, pinning Alma with pity. Alma felt her temper snap.
"Well you go on then! You go to your daddy and his... his man." She didn't cry, didn't yell, but something had changed.
"Mom..."
"You like him?" She still wanted to know. For many years now she'd secretly hoped Jack Twist was a dirty, nasty man, someone worthy of the hate she felt.
"Yeah, I like him." Francine sounded small. "He's nice. Real sweet. He even asked how you were doin'."
It was the worst thing Francie could have said. Twenty years of unrequited love for Ennis del Mar, putting up with his crap, bearing and raising his daughters, while he was off doing dirty things with a man in the woods-- the last hope Alma had for her soul was that her anger was warranted, deserved, that her hatred was righteous.
But in the end, maybe it was the better man that won.