A/N: Ok, folks, this is for those that have been painstakingly putting the pieces together. I've taken ideas I've gotten from reading other stories and pieced them together to come up with this one. Enjoy.
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Finally, pulling himself together as best he could, he decided to open the box. When he looked inside the only sound you could hear was the sound a soul makes when it shatters.
Riverton, WY., 1976
Inside the box, neatly folded with care, was a blue denim shirt. Pulling it out, Ennis looked at it with tears in his eyes. Running his fingers over it he stopped at a stain on the left sleeve. It looked like rust, but, he knew it was the blood from the broken nose he'd had 13 years ago. Looking closer, he noticed what appeared to be another shirt tucked inside. Pulling it out a bit, he was shocked to see that it was the one he'd thought lost on the mountain. Suddenly, another object in the box caught his attention. Pulling out another note he couldn't believe what was written on it.
Cowboy,
If you've ever really loved me as much as I've loved you
Then bring these shirts back to me and I'll know we have a chance.
If not then ya might as well burn them and any bridges connecting us.
Hope to see ya soon.
Love,
Rodeo
Suddenly, he had another Jack Fuckin Twist mission.
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Lightning Flat, WY. 1976
Sitting at the table sipping on his coffee, Jack seemed lost in his own world. Finally, he looked at his momma.
"Ya think it worked, Ma?"
"Don't rightly know, Son. But, if this fella is anything like what ya described, we should know something soon."
Suddenly, there was the sound of a truck pulling in the drive awfully fast. After looking out the window, Jack moved into the living room while his momma answered the door.
"Can I help ya, Sir?"
"I'm looking for Jack Twist, Ma'am. Is he here?"
"And you are?"
"Ennis, Ma'am. Ennis Del Mar."
"Well, Mr. Del Mar, won't ya come in and sit a spell? Jack should be back soon."
"Thank ya, Ma'am."
"Can I get ya some coffee? Some cherry cake?"
"Coffee would be fine, Ma'am, but, I can't eat no cake right now."
Setting a cup down in front of him, she sat and looked at the man her son was in love with. She had to admit he was a right handsome man. Her first words almost made him spit his first sip out.
"So, do ya love him?"
"What?"
"Ya heard me, Mr. Del Mar," she said giving him a stern look. "I know what's been done, and, I know what needs to be done. Either ya love him or ya don't. Which is it?"
"I ain't no queer, Ma'am."
"Mr. Del Mar, for as long as I've lived ain't no one said that love had anything to do with whether or not ya were queer. If love has to have qualifications it would never survive in this world. And, as far as I know, last time I checked, God doesn't make mistakes. Love is not a sin, Son."
After pondering her words for a bit, Ennis swallowed a few times trying to find his voice. "Well, Ma'am, I guess I'd have to say that I do love your son, but, it ain't right. Two men aren't supposed to love each other. And two fellas livin together, well, that's just askin for trouble. My daddy done showed me what happens to those kinda fellas."
"Well, Mr. Del Mar, I can't rightly disagree with ya, Bible says it ain't right, but, I also like to think that the good Lord gave us all brains for a reason. And, like I said, He doesn't make mistakes. Ya can't choose who ya fall in love with, Son. Jack told me what happened to ya as a boy, and I gotta say, and I hope I don't offend ya any, but, yer daddy don't sound like any kinda man to be showin' ya things like that. I would laid into Jack's daddy if he'd done something like that to my boy. But, look at it this way, it just means ya'd have to be more careful than those fellas apparently were."
"Yes, Ma'am, I realize that, but, try as I might I can't think of any way of doin it that wouldn't bring trouble eventually. And I gotta tell ya that if Jack ever got hurt because of it, I don't know as ho I would be able to go on. I love him something fierce, but, I don't know as how I'd be able to protect him from all those people that would want to hurt us just for who we love."
"Answer me this, Son. If ya were to live together, say thirty years or so, and then that was to happen, would be able to say that it was worth it? Would ya be able to say that the love ya two have for each other would be worth any price ya'd have to pay?"
"Well, Ma'am, I can tell ya that just being with Jack is about the only time I'm ever happy, was never that happy with my own wife, but, being apart from him, well, that's the times I wanna just curl up and die cause it hurts so bad. So, I guess I can say truthfully that, yes, I guess it would be worth it."
At that precise moment, Ennis looked up to see a smiling and tearful Jack standing in the doorway to the living room. Staring at each other for a second, they finally met half-way in a bone crushing embrace.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Rodeo. I never meant to hurt ya."
"It's alright, Cowboy, it's alright, I know ya didn't."
Meanwhile, Ma Twist had gone outside and sat in her rocking chair giving the boys some privacy. She knew it would be alright from now on.
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P.S. I'm writing this under protest. Lol
