The mayor dropped Liz at her motel with a friendly wave and an invitation to come and visit soon…except she had no intention of leaving in the morning. She was already too invested in the story she'd happened upon tonight. Clearly, Jack was the key. He would have been willing to talk to her, but Ennis's reticence would be difficult to overcome.

Too distracted to sleep or work on the story she'd come here to write, she walked across the street to the Fishery, a favorite local restaurant she'd already spent a good deal of time in. Alice, a buxom fortyish waitress with bottle-red hair and a cheery disposition, greeted her like an old friend and seated her in a booth. The restaurant was almost empty.

"Alice, do you have time to chat with me for a minute?"

Alice shrugged. "Sure, honey." She sat down on the other side of the booth. "More questions about Hizzonor Bill?"

Liz smiled. "Not quite. I've come across a more interesting story."

"Oh. You must have met Ennis and Jack," Alice said, knowingly.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You got that look about you, like an antique dealer just found a Chippendale dining set at a country flea market."

"So, you know them, then?"

"Ayuh. Everybody knows Ennis and Jack. They come in a few times a month for dinner. They're good tippers. Polite Western boys, both of 'em. Always call me 'ma'am,' " she said, chuckling like this was a moment of high comedy.

"How would you characterize the town's attitude about their lifestyle?"

"Their lifestyle is no one's business but theirs, honey. That's the way they like it. They're never in anyone's face about it." Alice paused, thinking. "You know, I've only ever seen them touch each other once. It was at Augie Flaubert's funeral. He was a local boy, worked out at the ranch summers and weekends. Jack was real fond of him. Taught him to ride and rope. Then one weekend Augie was out riding with his girl and a car backfired and spooked his horse. It threw him and he broke his neck. Jack felt terrible guilty, 'cause he'd been the one taught the boy to ride. Gus Flaubert and Jack were friendly and Gus told Jack not to blame himself, but he was damn near inconsolable. The whole town turned up for the boy's funeral out at Woodside. I saw Jack and Ennis standing together, in their best suits, and as they lowered Augie's casket, I saw Jack crying, trying to hide it and not doing too good a job. Ennis just put one arm around his shoulders, real quiet-like, so Jack could lean on him." Alice smiled. "I gotta be honest with you. Before that, I thought they were nice fellas but I didn't understand how they lived. I was taught that it was an abomination, and against God's law. It weren't any of my business, but I judged them in my heart. Then I saw Ennis giving Jack comfort, and all at once, I got it."

"Got what?"

"That they feel what we feel. Ennis saw his man in pain, and he wanted to ease it for him, just like my Teddy would have wanted to do for me. And you know, some folks said that me marrying my Teddy was wrong, too, because he was Jewish. But I didn't let that stop me, because I loved him. Is it any different for them?"

"Do you still think it's against God's law?"

"Well, the Bible does speak out against it, can't get around that. But the Bible also says not to eat lobster, and most folks don't seem to pay that too much mind, do they? I figure, they ain't breaking any of the commandments. Best I can recollect, there ain't one that says men shalt not shack up with other men."

Liz grinned. "No, there sure isn't. You're a philosopher, you know that, Alice?"

"I just call it like I see it, honey. And I can tell you those fellas have stayed together longer'n some of the so-called proper married folks in this town." She sighed. "It's a damn shame, though. Since my Teddy died, I've been missing male company, and Ennis is one fine-looking man. I might have made my presence known if he cared for what I got to offer."

The phone woke Liz at eight o'clock. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she sat up, her head pounding. She'd spent far too long at the Fishery the night before, chatting with Alice and drinking more beers than she'd meant to do. "H'lo?" she muttered.

"Oh, gosh…I'm sorry to roust you," a man's voice said on the other end.

"No, that's okay," she said, clearing her throat. "Who's this?"

"It's Jack Twist, ma'am. I was just callin' t'apologize for last night, and ask if you were still interested in talking to me for your story."

Liz was now wide awake. "I'm very interested, Mr. Twist…but I didn't get the impression that Mr. Del Mar was too keen on the notion."

A brief pause. "Ennis don't own me, ma'am," Jack said, quietly. "I'll talk to you if I see fit to."

"Well, I'd certainly appreciate that."

"I'll come for you in an hour and bring you back here, and you can spend the day. I'll show you around the ranch, and you can ask me anything you like, s'long as I get to decide what I'm going to answer."

"I can live with that."

"I'll see you in an hour, then. Good morning to you." He hung up.

Liz stared at the phone for a moment, then bolted out of bed and headed for the shower.

Jack hung up the phone and crept back to the bedroom. Ennis was still asleep. One of the perks of being successful enough to have hired help was the luxury of sleeping past daybreak while the hands tended to the stock and the chores.

He got back into bed. Ennis was curled on his side, facing the window. Jack pressed himself up against his back and slid one arm around him. "Wake up, cowboy," Jack murmured. "Daylight's burnin'."

"Mmmph," Ennis grunted. "Timezit?"

"Just after eight."

"Lemmesleep."

Jack pressed his lips closer to Ennis's earlobe. "Roust yerself, lazybones," he whispered. He felt Ennis shiver a little as the puffs of his breath ghosted past his ear.

Ennis grasped Jack's hand where it lay on his stomach and drew it up to his face. He kissed the knuckles and burrowed back into the covers, now holding Jack's arm prisoner against his chest. "Gimme a reason to get up, and I'll consider it," he said.

Jack grinned. "Oh, I've got a reason." He kissed Ennis's neck. "A real good reason." Ennis was tipping his head back to give him better access, and Jack kissed him again, closer to the center. Ennis started to draw Jack's hand down his chest towards his groin. "How about that reporter who's gonna be here in an hour for a reason?"

Ennis froze, then rolled to his back, his eyes fully awake. "Now, why you wanna ruin a perfectly good morning fuck with news like that, Twist?"

"Don't necessarily need to ruin it. We got a good twenty minutes before I gotta go pick her up at her hotel."

Ennis sat up and swung his legs off the bed, facing away from Jack. "So you're really gonna talk to her, then?"

"I mean to, yes."

"I guess you don't set much store by my feelins on this." He sounded sad.

Jack scrambled to the edge of the bed and looked up at him. "I'm doing this for you, you thick-headed sumbitch. You still think that the whole world will come for us with pitchforks and torches if they find out, but it ain't like it was when we met, Ennis. I want you to start seein' that there's plenty 'o folks who wouldn't think no worse of us. I want us to meet some folks like us, who get what we been through, who aren't lookin' at us with visions of tar and feathers in their heads." Ennis looked down at him, sharply. "Ain't the folks here in town proof enough that not everybody's like your daddy?"

Ennis sighed. "This place is far from the world. You think 'cause we found nice folks here that the world's full 'of em. I don't want you finding out the hard way how wrong you are." He twisted at the waist and leaned over Jack, his expression turning suddenly tender. He raised one hand and brushed a stray hair from Jack's forehead. "You got this way 'o lookin' at the world like everything'll be okay. Sometimes you can even make me think so, too. I dunno if I could take it if that was beat outta you, and if that lady writes about us, there might be some folks cheerin' us but I'll bet there'd be a lot more cursin' us. That don't trouble me so much, it's what I expect. But I'd hate to see what that'd do to you, darlin'. You ain't built to take that kinda hate, not like I am."

Jack sighed and looked up into Ennis's eyes, once again thanking whatever God might be listenin' for the love he saw there, love for him, love that Ennis actually let him see. "I can take just 'bout anything s'long as you're still here to call me 'darlin,'" he said.

Jack pulled up in his truck at nine o'clock, right on schedule. Liz bounded over to the passenger door, more excited than she'd have thought possible to be spending a day on a ranch. "Morning, ma'am," Jack said, grinning and tipping his hat. "Don't you look all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

"I'm so glad you agreed to speak to me," she said.

Jack steered the truck back out to the highway and pointed its nose towards the ranch. "I reckon someone ought to. The way bad folks win is for good folks to do nothin'."

"Should I steer clear of Ennis?"

Jack chuckled. "You talk about him like he's some kind a troll waitin' under the bridge to gobble you up. He ain't mean-tempered, he's just cautious."

"What did he say when you told him you'd invited me out today?"

"Well now, what makes you think I didn't already have his go-ahead before I called you?" Liz just cocked an eyebrow at him. He laughed. "Okay, you got me there. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, my ex-wife used to say." Ex-wife, Liz thought, tucking that tidbit away for future follow-up along with Ennis's mention of having daughters back in Wyoming. "He won't make you feel unwelcome, but don't expect much of a contribution. Shouldn't make much difference, anyhow. Ain't much to know 'bout him that I can't tell you myself."

"I don't want to cause any domestic disputes."

"You just let me worry about that, hear?" He glanced over at her. "What'd you tell your bosses back in the big city? Surely they was expectin' you back today."

"I just told them I'd found a better story, and I wanted to follow up on it."

"They didn't ask no questions?"

"My editor trusts me. He better, he's my husband."

"Hooey!" Jack whistled. "Sleepin' with the bossman! That's got to be a few nights on the couch just waitin' to happen!"

"We've only been married a few months. So far, the work hasn't interfered. You're right, though, it's probably inevitable."

Jack was pulling into the gravel drive and heading toward the house. He parked the truck in the garage and led Liz into the house. "You can put your things anywhere," he said. "We'll saddle up and I'll take you around the property." He looked at her. "Can you ride a horse?"

"I grew up in Kentucky, Jack," she said. "Which means I grew up on a horse."

"Fair enough." She glanced around as they walked through the house to the back entrance. Jack saw her furtive looks and chuckled. "He ain't here. He went out to the stockyard before I left to fetch you." In spite of herself, Liz felt herself relax now that the prospect of a confrontation with the formidable Ennis was no longer looming over her head.

The stables were a long clapboard building over the ridge from the house. Like the rest of the ranch, they were neatly tended. She saw a few men – hired hands, no doubt – walking about with purposeful strides, and a younger man who seemed to be a groom sweeping up the center aisle of the stable. "How many employees do you have?" she asked.

Jack turned to the groom for a moment. "Billy, could you saddle up Clairie for Ms. Roberts here?"

The young man nodded. "Sure thing, Mr. Twist." He ran off.

Jack faced her again. "How many? It varies. We have a permanent stock manager and a foreman, and anywhere from ten to fifteen ranch hands dependin' on the season. Billy the groom you just met, and we got a housekeeper." He grinned. "Neither me nor Ennis can cook worth shit and we ain't no good at cleanin', neither."

Billy brought two horses up. Liz mounted hers without assistance, noting Jack's raised eyebrow and hoping it was a favorable assessment of her horsemanship.

They walked their horses slowly around the compound. Jack pointed out its features and buildings, his pride in what he'd accomplished evident in his voice. Liz found it interesting, but had trouble focusing given the existence of a far more interesting topic of conversation that wasn't yet being broached.

Jack seemed to sense her impatience, and led them to a meadow by a wide spot in the river. There was a large grill and some tables and chairs set up here. They dismounted, tied the horses to a hitching post, and sat down. "All right, you've been more'n patient," Jack said. "I can't string you along no longer. Go ahead and ask me whatever you've a mind to."

Liz tried not to look too excited. She drew her notebook out of her jacket pocket. "I guess I should start at the beginning," she said. "When did you meet Ennis?"

"1963."

"And had you ever…uh, had a relationship with a man before?"

"No. Neither had he. Although I'd be a liar if I said I hadn't had a few odd-seemin' thoughts flit through my head. I had an inklin' that I might lean that direction. Not that I really knew what it meant, or what it was called." He paused, and seemed to be gathering his thoughts. "We met when we was both working for a right bastard called Aguirre, tending his sheep out at a place called Brokeback Mountain."

The significance of the name was not lost on Liz, given the name of the ranch. She listened raptly, barely taking notes, as Jack told her a story. It wasn't the story she'd expected. It was full of frustration and passion and fear. She was shocked to learn that Jack and Ennis had been separated, without writing or speaking, for four years after the summer they met. She heard Jack's long-ago anxiety as he drove to Wyoming to see Ennis for the first time, and saw on his face the still-palpable exhilaration of Ennis's welcome. "It shocked the hell outta me," he said. "Still does, when I think on it, which I do often. I thought we'd shake hands and catch up and maybe, maybe later on we'd get a mite physical behind closed doors where it was safe. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that he'd grab me like he couldn't help himself and kiss me like that, right out in the open, where anybody could see us if'n they looked the right way." He glanced at her. "Ennis ain't a man to speak what he feels, as I'm sure you'd gather. Hell, we'd lived here two years before he ever said…well, you know…to me. Man like that, you gotta read his actions. What he does, that's what's important. And when he done that, it told me he'd been missin' me just's much as I'd been missin' him. It let me know how he felt clearer'n he ever coulda done himself. There was a lotta hard years with us, but I kept that in my head all the time and held onto it."

He stopped. Liz cast about in her mind for another question. "Do you have second thoughts about having left your wife and son?"

He didn't respond for a few seconds, but she could see his jaw working. "They're better off without me," he said, quietly. "There was…well, some talk about me in town before I left. It wasn't good for neither of 'em. Me gone, talk dies down eventually. I hear Lureen's got married again, and that eases my mind some." He glanced at her. "I ain't proud that I married her when I didn't love her," he said. "It was just what you did back then, and she made it clear she was amenable, and I knew it'd be the end of my starvin' days." He looked down at his hands. "Lookin' back it wasn't no good, but I was just tryin' t'find a way to fill up that big hole I had in the middle 'o me 'cause I couldn't be with Ennis. So when his divorce come through, I confess I never looked back. I was just so damn happy he finally wanted t'be with me." He met her eyes. "You wanna hear 'bout regrets 'o that kind, you'll have to talk to Ennis."

As if uttering the man's name had summoned him, Ennis came riding through the trees towards them. He dismounted and approached, feigning nonchalance. "Howdy," he said.

"Hello, Ennis," Liz said, determined to be friendly and open despite the fact that he terrified her for reasons she couldn't really discern.

He stood before them, thumbs hooked into his belt and the brim of his hat shading his eyes. "You fixin' to stay for supper, ma'am?" he asked.

Liz swallowed. "That'd be nice."

Ennis nodded. "The lady what helps us around the house is visitin' her mamma over'n Rochester this week. Thought I'd make up a pot 'o chili. It's about the only thing I c'n make that won't choke a horse." He looked at Jack. "Jack, you mind runnin' into town for the fixin's?"

Jack was nodding like this was no surprise to him. He stood up. "You know, if you wanna get rid 'o me so's you c'n have a word with Liz in private, you could just say so."

Ennis cocked his head, and Liz saw a twinkle lurking around the corners of his eyes as he looked at Jack. "Didn't wanna hurt your feelins none, bud. I know how sensitive you are'n all," he said. Liz could pick up the teasing tone, and sensed a private joke.

Jack shook his head and started off towards his horse, giving Ennis a shove as he passed and muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "Fuck you."

Ennis sat down in the chair Jack had just vacated. Liz waited for him to speak; she had no idea how to even begin questioning this man. Finally, once the sound of Jack's hoofbeats had died off, he spoke. "Jack c'n say what he likes," he said. "He can spill the whole damn story and I'll not stop him. But if you still mean to write about us, I can't allow it."

"What is it that you're afraid of, Ennis? You don't strike me as a man who'd let himself be ruled by fear."

"Oh, I ain't no coward. I ain't afraid of nothin' s'long as I'm the only one at risk." He sighed. "It's just that I know my bill's comin' due."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"How much's he told you?"

"All of it."

He snorted. "Goddamn, that man's tongue wags faster than a bloodhound's tail when he's on the scent. Yeah, I bet he told you all of it." He fell silent. Liz waited, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought. He slunk down lower in his chair, his chin tipping further into his chest so that his hat shaded most of his face. "I tried to do right," he finally said. "I kep my word and did what I was s'posed to do. I married Alma and did my best to make her happy. I pushed him outta my head and swore I'd be a good husband and father. Thought it'd be all right, 'cause I was doing what was right. But you know what? It was for shit. I hurt Alma, and I never wanted that. She knew I was spoken for, even more'n I did. It wasn't her fault I wasn't man enough to back out of it in the first place." He paused again, and though she couldn't see his face, Liz sensed Ennis composing himself. "Then once me'n Jack struck up again, you don' wanna know how bad I wanted to just chuck it all, but I didn't. I was still tryin' to do right by my women, to be a stand-up man. And it was even more for shit than before. Finally I did what was wrong. I left the ones I'd swore I'd be true to and took up with the one I wasn't even s'posed to be thinkin' about." He met her eyes, and she could see his fear. "So you tell me, if'n you're so wise in the ways of the world. How is it that I could be so miserable doin' what's right, but so goddamned happy doin' what's wrong?"

Suddenly, Liz understood everything. "You're waiting to be punished, aren't you?"

"It's comin'. Ain't no getting around it. I dunno how I got away with it this long, but it surely can't last. You got no idea what it's like to wake up everday and wonder if today's the day that it all gets taken." He harrumphed. "When I heard what you was proposin', I thought mayhap that day'd come." He shook his head. "Goddamn, listen to me chatter. Jack'd fall over dead if'n he knew I was talkin' to you like this."

"What is it that you think will happen?" Liz asked, honestly puzzled. Ennis seemed a practical man. Surely he didn't think a bolt of lightning would come down and strike them all dead, or a Biblical flood would wash it all away.

He spared her a glance, shifting in his chair. "It don't matter."

"It's okay, you can tell me," she said. "It'll stay between us," she added, softly.

He nodded. "I ain't never told nobody this afore, you know."

"Take your time."

He sighed, deep and weary. "I get this dream. S'always the same." His voice got quiet, like he was afraid if he spoke the words too loud, they'd come true. "In the dream I see Jack walking down the road, then I see a gang 'o men with tire irons followin' him. I try to warn him but I can't talk, and I can't move. All I c'n do is watch. I see him on the ground, and I see those tire irons goin' up 'n down, and I hear them yellin' and growlin' like animals. Then they're gone, and I run up and he's layin' there. His face is all broken 'n bloody…" Ennis trailed off for a moment, then cleared his throat and went on. "He's dead, and there ain't nothin' I c'n do about it. My Jack, dead by the side 'o the road, beaten to death 'cause 'o me…and I just let it happen." Liz was speechless. She watched the tidal shifts going on underneath the skin of Ennis's face, what she could see of it. He drew himself up a bit and glanced at her. "I can't never shake the feelin' that this was s'posed to happen, that someday it might. So you'll have t'forgive me if'n I ain't willin' to do nothin' that might let the boys with the tire irons know where we are, and how we live. Those boys is everywhere, even if we ain't never met none so far here in Farmingdale. Them tire irons is the only thing that scares me, Liz. And I mean to hang on to what I got even if'n it makes me hide here like a rabbit with the hunters about."

It took Liz a few moments to find her voice. "Ennis, I owe you an apology," she croaked through her swollen throat.

"How's that, ma'am?"

"I thought you were just being stubborn, or prideful, or just plain reclusive."

"And now?" He met her eyes.

Liz blinked a few times, quickly. "It's just because you love him."

Ennis said nothing. He looked out across the river again, his eyes squinted against the afternoon sunlight. His lips pressed and flattened a few times, and when he finally answered, she had to lean closer to hear him. "Ma'am, I love him somethin' fierce," he said, the words fighting their way past those thin lips.

Liz nodded and watched his face, thinking. "Okay. Hear me out, will you?" He nodded. "I think you and Jack are remarkable men. I think you're strong and courageous, and I think the world needs to know you. And I think you agree with me." He looked at her. "What Jack said last night? About helping other men like you? I think you want to, but you're too afraid of the attention and the publicity." His silence felt like agreement. "Ennis, I'm just dying to write about you. But I can do it and keep you safe at the same time. I can change your names, I can change what state you live in. I could say you live in upstate New York. I could change the Brokeback here to a dairy farm, or a soybean farm, or whatever you like. I could make it so no one would know it was you, or who you were, or where you were."

Ennis seemed to be considering this. "That so?"

"It's done all the time. Names and places are changed to protect people's privacy, or their security, or their anonymity. I don't have a problem with that. So if anyone with a tire iron gets it in their head to make trouble, they'll be looking around upstate New York for a couple of gay dairy farmers that don't exist."

Ennis raised an eyebrow. "Well, the folks who actually live in upstate New York will know you made it up, now won't they?"

"It doesn't matter. The article will say that your names and location have been changed. It just won't say how."

He grunted. "Somebody could still find us if'n they had a mind to."

"They'd have to be really dedicated," Liz said. "Hate crimes are impulse crimes, opportunistic attacks. No one's going to spend weeks searching all of New England to find you on account of one article in the paper." She matched his arched eyebrow. "Now you're just being difficult."

He narrowed his eyes, then chuckled a bit. "Damn, listen a you. One morning with Jack and you already sound like him." He sighed, then seemed to come to a decision. "All right, then. If'n you c'n promise me that nothin' you write could bring us no unwanted attention, I'll go along."

Liz could hardly believe it. She beamed and grabbed his hand, shaking it vigorously. "Ennis, thank you! I'm so grateful…you won't be sorry, I promise that…"

"Hush, now," he said. "I got a few conditions 'o my own. If'n you're gonna write about us, then it ain't gonna be no half-assed little interview. You're gonna learn what life's like here on the ranch."

She frowned. "Well, I suppose that's…"

"So after supper, I'll drive you into town to pick up your things. You're gonna be our guest right here." One corner of his mouth curled up into what she could have sworn was a smirk. "You wanna write about our life? You're damn well gonna live it with us for a spell."