Late that evening:

"Alma, you need anything?" Ennis had noticed throughout the meal that his ex-wife was really quiet although she made pleasant conversation.

"No, thank you for helping," she smiled briefly at him.

"I'm going to head out," he picked up his hat.

Always the good hostess she quickly walked towards him and he let her see him out.

"Alma, you'd tell me if there was something I needed to know right?" His eyes so saddened by the past fifteen years still mustered up some emotion.

"Of course," she brushed him off gently, "get some sleep."

"Yeah," he walked with a hunched over form to his truck.

Jenny had been sitting in her room observing her father leave. She was always more outgoing than Alma Jr. but she still noticed things. Her mother hadn't ever really explained to her children why she and Ennis had divorced. Jenny suspected, but she knew her sister would be able to confirm it.

"Come in," she entered Alma's room.

"Tell me about dad," she requested.

Alma stared at her sister, "what do you want to know?"
"I want to know why he and mom divorced," she responded.

"Did you ask mom?" Alma Jr. prayed she wouldn't have to explain this.

Alma stopped mid-step in the hallway as she heard her daughters talking.

"No, she would lie to me; she would say it was something easy."

Alma bristled hearing that but realized her daughter was right.

"Jenny," Alma hesitated.

"What?"

"Dad didn't love her, he was in love with someone else," Alma finally said.

"That blonde waitress," her sister asked.

"No, the man he went to Brokeback with."

Alma held her breath.

"Jack Twist?" Jenny whispered.

"Yeah," Alma Jr. studied her baby sister, "he loved him."

"Isn't that wrong?" Jenny finally responded.

Alma waited for Jr.'s reaction.

"No," she said finally softly.

"It's not!" Jenny's voice rose and Alma flinched hearing it.

"No," Jr.'s voice had more conviction this time.

"Why?"

"He loved Jack."

"Jack was a guy," Alma smiled at Jenny's obvious remark.

"I know," her eldest daughter said softly, "but he was human and Dad found something in him to love."
"What about mom?" Jenny's voice questioned.

Alma Jr. went quite.

Flashback

"Mommy," she remembered how sad her mother was looking.

Alma looked at her older daughter, "sweetie, can you change Jenny's diaper?"
Ennis walked through the door and put his hat on the rack, "sorry I'm late," he said finally.

"Daddy," even at that age she knew there was tension between her parents.

"Hi pumpkin," he picked her up holding her close.

"Dinner is ready," Alma put Jenny in her hi-chair and went back into the kitchen. Ennis set Alma Jr. down and followed Alma into the kitchen. Alma Jr. walked quietly to the doorway and listened.

"Why are you so late?"

"I'm sorry Alma, work just got busy," her father sounded tired.

"Ennis, I feel like I'm losing you," her mother said softly.

"Gosh dang it Alma, I slave to make sure you got a house and our girls have clothes and food, now you're gonna nag me!" Her father sounded so impassioned.

"I'm sorry Ennis, it's just I feel like we never have anything to say to each other," she responded.

"Maybe we don't," Ennis turned away.

End flashback

"I don't think mom really had a life with dad," Alma Jr. said thoughtfully.

"What?" Jenny sounded confused.

"I mean honestly, dad and mom never talked like they do now. The marriage wasn't a warm one."

Alma cleared her throat stepping into the doorway.

"Mom," Jenny looked nervous.

"You girls finish your work?" She eyed them.

"Yes, I was just saying goodnight," Jenny hastened out.

"Night Jr." She kissed her older daughter and followed Jenny into her room.

"You okay sweetie?" she didn't want to press anything.

"Uh huh, good night," Alma smiled at her, "good night sleep tight," she gently tucked the covers in around Jenny and quietly closed the door.

Alma poured herself another glass of wine and sat quietly thinking about what Jr. had said. Her marriage with Ennis wasn't that close, he was the quiet cowboy, she was the dutiful wife. That was the life they had created for one another and it was never enough for either. She longed for what love he could give her, and he gave her little. She envied Jack Twist for the love Ennis gave him, but knew that the two men loved one another in a way she would never understand. She didn't love Monroe, and she had loved Ennis. She didn't miss the constant struggle life had been with Ennis, but she missed him. Alma sipped the wine allowing her mind to imagine what life would have been like without Jack Twist, but stopped when she realized she couldn't imagine Ennis without Jack. Jenny wouldn't understand the love they had, Alma Jr. did, but Jenny would judge her father. Alma knew this without question; yet she hoped someday that Ennis could help Jenny understand as she did, maybe by going to Brokeback. Alma secretly wished she could visit the special place, but she admitted she had no right going there. She may have been the wronged wife, but she had never been the love of her husband's life. Alma almost laughed at that particular thought, but stopped herself remembering her husband's smile as he walked in the door after each of those damn fishing trips. She knew they had fucked, kissed, and held each other and there was nothing she could do to change that. The worst part though had always known he would return happier than when he left, and it was never because he was coming home to her. That had hurt her the most, time after time. He would slowly become the sullen Ennis in the days and weeks that followed until the next time he would pack up the fishing box and return grinning with no fish days later.

She remembered what it was like in the early days before that summer. Ennis had been quiet, but he was loving, even open and warm. Jack had stolen that from her and Ennis had returned a changed man. Certainly he married her, they were engaged and he had some honor. The night after the vows, he made love to her, but it was quiet, respectful and quick. Alma remembered crying just days later as he left her to go to work. She was pregnant with Alma Jr. just weeks after the wedding. Life moved quickly forward and soon she was pregnant with number two. Ennis was always delighted with the idea of children and good with the girls, but he wasn't an involved father and left Alma to raise them. In those awful years he distanced himself from her and then back came Jack Twist. The two men started an affair that had gone on until just weeks before Jack's tragic death. She knew it was an affair, maybe not the standard situation, but an affair none the less. Town folk saw Ennis walking around with the cute waitress and tongues stopped wagging briefly. Alma knew he never had slept with her though, he would never touch another woman and if he did sleep with another man it would tear at his guilt until he would try to die.

Alma worried about him, she knew he was depressed, but her life wasn't easy either. She hoped a divorce would rid of her of this conflict, but she knew that was naïve. Her daughters were Ennis's too and there would always be that tie between them.

She finished her wine and rinsed the glass. She looked out the window and jumped, Ennis was parked in the driveway.

"Ennis?" she approached his truck.

"Alma," he couldn't finish.

"The couch is yours," she offered.

"I have to go," he studied her.

"Ennis please," she begged.

He drove off throwing up stones as he pulled out of the driveway.

Alma sighed worriedly and then went to bed.

The ringing of the phone pulled her out of a sound sleep, "yes?"

"Ma'am are you Ennis Del Mar's ex-wife Alma?"

"Yes what's wrong."
"This is Officer Mark Duram, Mr. Del Mar has been in a serious accident."