When Love Takes You In
Chaper Nine
After the fishing trip, Jack and Ennis returned to life as they'd begun to know it.
Mr. Fergus, L.D.'s lawyer, and Jac made some concrete plans to meet on Thursday evening. Alma Junior had wanted Kurt and Ennis to meet, so Jack pushed Ennis into agreeing to have dinner with them on that Thursday.
"The sonofabitch better be good to my little girl," Ennis muttered Thursday as he licked his palms and patted down his hair. He was nervous but wouldn't admit it. He had on his cleanest jeans and his nicest shirt so he could look presentable to meet Kurt and Junior at the Knife and Fork.
"What time you s'pose you'll be back?" Jack asked as Ennis shrugged into his old brown jacket.
"I reckon that depends on how well me and this Kurt get on."
"Sure enough. Well, you better get on out then or you'll be late." Jack nudged Ennis toward the door.
"Now… you're sure this Fergus guy is safe to be alone with?" Ennis asked as he backed up to the door.
"Yes Ennis. I'll be fine. He's just a lawyer… now go." And Jack finally shoved Ennis through the door.
---------
Ennis gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles as he drove into town. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he didn't have high hopes. As far as he was concerned, no man was good enough for either of his girls. If he was lucky, maybe Francine would become a nun.
Fat chance of that happening, though. The way Junior spoke of her, Ennis was afraid that Francine might be one of the faster girls in school. He wished he could do something about that… a chastity belt maybe, but Francine barely talked to him anymore. She'd started avoiding his monthly visits around when she turned fifteen.
He pulled into the Knife and Fork and walked into the building. Junior was there and waved to him from a booth that she was in with a boy… Kurt. They both stood as he walked over.
"Daddy, this is Kurt. Kurt, this is my daddy." she made the introductions.
"Pleased to meet ya, Mr. Del Mar. Alma here sure does speak highly of ya." Kurt reached out and shook Ennis's hand while Ennis sized him up. He had a good, strong handshake. He was tall, almost as much as Ennis. He was built like a sports player, with a big upper body. He also had a worker's tan and scruffy hair matted to his head from wearing a hat all the time.
"Does she now?" Ennis asked with a smile that he failed to keep hidden. A daughter's kind words were enough to make any father's day. They all took their seats, Junior and Kurt across from Ennis.
"Well, uh… so how long have ya known each other?" Ennis asked.
"A long time, I guess. But we didn't start goin' together till last year." Kurt smiled and entwined his fingers in Junior's. She blushed and looked at the table.
"How did that come to happen?" He wanted to know. Junior and Kurt smiled at each other and she urged Kurt to tell the story.
"We were both at the same Fourth of July picnic, put on by mutual friends. I guess our group chose to set up a little too close to where the fireworks were goin' off because before you know it, embers started fallin' all around us. We all went scramblin' fer cover under blankets or whatever we could find. I looked over when I'd found a place and saw the sweetest girl under the blanket with me, in the most innocent of meanin' sir. We got to talkin' and found out that we sure did like each other. Next thing ya know, the yearbook next year had us pegged as the 'cutest couple'. And that's how we come to be here."
Ennis leaned back in the booth.
"Well, that is a mighty fine story. Almost like fate you'd say."
"Yeah, Daddy." Alma smiled sweetly. Ennis then remembered one question he'd asked her in the time since she announced her engagement.
"Does he make you happy?" He'd asked her over a cup of coffee while Jack was sleeping, an early morning before his cast had come off. Junior had taken her time and spoke deliberately.
"Yeah, Daddy. He makes me happy."
And now that Ennis saw them together, he could see she had been telling the truth.
"And ya got plans for after the wedding?" He asked, returning to the present.
"Well, that's another reason we wanted to talk to you, Daddy." Junior shifted in her seat, smile fading to a serious look. Ennis felt his stomach drop at the change. This couldn't be good.
"See… Kurt got offered this really nice job… pays well and he'd get more time off work too. And it's a lot safer than working' in the oil fields out here." Junior started off. All that sounded good so far… and so he waited for the other shoe to drop.
"So…" He encouraged her to continue.
"Well, it's far away. We'd be movin' quite a ways."
"How far is far away?" Ennis leaned forward, elbows on the table.
"Wisconsin." Kurt told him. Ennis froze. He wanted to yell, to scream at Kurt for taking his little girl away from him. But he didn't. He took a moment to pull himself together, head down to hide his face. When he looked up, Kurt and Junior were looking back at him, waiting for him to speak.
"So you'll be leavin' right after the weddin'?" He asked slowly.
"We have to move the wedding up sooner so that Kurt doesn't lose the job to someone who can move right away."
"When?" Ennis choked out. The more he heard, the harder it was getting to make his chest move and take air in.
"Two months from now. January… " Kurt told him. Ennis could see the boy was scared of him and he didn't blame him. He suspected he looked mighty scary right now and he'd been told he looked intimidating in the best of circumstances. Ennis ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Two months?" He asked, hoping he'd heard wrong. They both nodded.
"Two months…" He repeated now as a defeated sigh.
---------
It was late at night, after Mr. Fergus had left, that Jack heard the phone ring. He'd expected Ennis to be home hours ago and was surprised to find himself unable to fall asleep because of it.
He ran to the phone and picked up on the third ring.
"Hello?"
"J'ck?"
"Ennis? Where are you?" Jack asked.
"Um… 'm at… 'm at Joe's."
"Joe's? Joe's Tavern? Ennis…. Christ, Ennis… how bad shape are you in?" Jack asked with a frustrated moan. He wasn't prepared for the watery voice on the other end when Ennis spoke again.
"Jack, he's takin' my baby. My lil' girl… takin' her away."
"Ennis calm down. Junior is just getting married. All little girls grow up and get married."
"But… but he's takin' her far away. I'll never see her."
Jack knew that he wouldn't be able to get Ennis to expand past that in his current state and he needed to figure out what to do about this situation. Right about now he wished he'd gone down to Texas to get the truck.
"Ennis… just… stop drinkin' whatever it is you're drinkin' and stay put. I'll figure out what to do." Jack hung up the phone without waiting for an answer and tried to think.
They lived too far out of town for Jack to walk there and drive them back and it was too late to call anyone Ennis might be friends with. He found a phonebook and hoped there would be a taxicab service. He was in luck and called the number. He was able to get a cab to pick him up and drop him off at Joe's for a pretty penny.
He walked into the bar, ready to go searching for Ennis and was caught by surprise when the man practically fell into him, spilling beer from a bottle.
"Jack, you came." He slurred. He brought the beer up for a drink, leaning heavily on Jack.
"Ennis, I told you to stop drinking and wait for me." Jack grunted under Ennis's added weight. He put an arm around Ennis to keep him upright and pried the beer from his hand.
"Nooo… you said to stop drinkin' what I was drinkin' an' I did." Ennis stated. He brought his hand up for a drink and was confused when he found his hand empty.
"Well, what were you drinkin' before?" Jack asked as he discretely tried to search Ennis's pockets for the truck keys.
"Whiskey, jus' like we drink up at the mountains. I love the mountains, Jack. Mmm.. I love you, Jack." Ennis murmured. He took Jack's hand out of his pocket and placed it on his crotch like Jack had done so long ago.
"Shit! Ennis, we're out in the open." Jack hissed, pulling his hand away as fast as lightning. He'd gotten the keys that last time and was relieved he wouldn't have to search more while they were in the crowd.
"Didja forget what you came to forget?" Jack asked.
"What'd I forget?" Ennis was confused.
"Never mind. C'mon, Ennis. We're goin' home." Jack told him and dragged the man outside. He felt like Ennis was getting heavier with each step they took and he looked over and saw Ennis's eyes starting to drop. He was getting heavier.
"Hey! Stay awake there, boy." Jack growled out, snapping Ennis's attention.
"'m awake. Wanna go home, J'ck."
"That's where we're goin'. See, we're at the truck now. I'm gonna need your help here. I'll give ya a shove and ya gotta get in the seat." Jack said as if her were talking to his song when he was younger. Ennis got himself situated and frowned over at Jack.
"'m not a baby." He said, leaning over and almost falling out of the truck. Jack pushed him back in without a word and slammed the door shut.
By the time he made it to the other side and hopped into the front seat, Ennis was already slumped with his head against the window, unconscious. Jack reached over and strapped him in to make sure he didn't fall out of the seat.
The ride home was quiet, save for Jack muttering "unbelievable" every once in a while.
When they arrived home, Jack went over, opened Ennis's door and un strapped him, stumbling under the sudden weight of Ennis falling out of the truck.
"J'ck" He heard Ennis softly mumble.
"That's right, Cowboy. It's yer old buddy, Jack." He said loudly, hoping to rouse the heavy man just a bit. It worked a little bit as Ennis started moving his feet a bit and supporting a fraction of his weight.
"Ya gotta help me, Ennis. Yer a heavy man." Jack pleaded. Ennis complied the best he could and Jack half dragged, half carried him into the house and deposited him on the bed. He pulled off Ennis's boots and socks and then undressed him to underwear and tee.
"I'm getting' too old for this…" He muttered as he got himself ready for bed.
He was out before his head hit the pillow, but was awakened only hours later by loud retching noises. He stumbled out of bed and followed the noises to their small bathroom. He found Ennis on his knees, puking up an amber colored liquid. He cringed, imagining how the whiskey must burn on it's way up.
He felt sympathy for the man before him and knelt down. He rubbed soothing circles in Ennis's bad, remembering how his mother used to take care of him. He did this for what seemed like ages before Ennis had nothing else for his stomach to give up. He slumped to the side, leaning against Jack with no more energy left for sitting up. He started to tear up as Jack held him.
"I don't want to lose my baby girl… Jack I can't lose anymore. I can't…"
"It's alright, Ennis. It'll be alright." Jack murmured.
"Never alright… never again. Everybody leaves, even you." Ennis buried his face into Jack's chest.
"I'll never leave." Jack wrapped his arms around Ennis and pulled him onto his feet.
"C'mon now… back to bed. We'll get this all figured out in the morning."
Ennis obediently walked with Jack, not letting go for fear he'd lose him like he almost had to those three goons in Texas.
Jack put him to bed and tucked him in like a child, kissing his forehead for good dreams and humming until Ennis's breathing evened out, signaling that he'd fallen asleep.
End chapter
Author's Notes: So what do ya'll think? I promise the next couple chapters will be a little happier. And we'll see the return (kinda) of Nurse Holly!
And now for a quote that I said at work while writing this chapter… "I thought this chapter would be harder to write… but once I got Ennis drunk, it was a lot easier!"
