14
TOSHIKO'S ROOM.
Ianto is in an unadorned pearl wedding Suit.
"monsieur" "Toshiko gives him a small bouquet. Ianto hugs her, very moved - as if he is leaving his childhood behind. he turns to go.
"Please, you must look" Sophie begs.
Ianto gazes stupefied at the stranger in the mirror.
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Jack is waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Ianto. Ianto slows when he sees him. he finds he cannot speak. Neither can Jack.
Alice is by the door. Ianto can't find words for her.
"Come." Jack grips his hand. They quit the house.
Jack, grimly resolute, is striding at a pace Ianto can hardly follow. His polished shoes are muddy. He is becoming breathless. A rook flies over their heads, cawing.
Jack is striding purposefully towards a small church of ancient design. Ianto stumbles. Jack is contrite. Ianto tries to collect himself. He looks up to the sky. The rook wheels around the spire. He takes Jack's hand.
At the altar, Ianto glances at Jack. He is looking straight ahead at the clergyman, Wood.
"I require and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of judgement when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, that if either of you know any impediment why ye may not be lawfully joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it."
There is not a sound. Jack still doesn't look at Ianto.
The clergyman prepares the rings. Jack Edward Harkness, do you take …"
A commotion at the back of the church. Two men rapidly enter. One of them Briggs, hurries up the aisle. "The marriage cannot go on. I declare the existence of an impediment."
Jack moves, shaken. "Proceed."
"The ceremony is quite broken off. An insuperable impediment to this marriage exists." Briggs insists.
"Proceed." Jack insists.
"Mr Jack has a wife now living." Briggs yells.
Wood is utterly dismayed.
"Where is your proof?" Jack roars with anger.
Briggs starts to read out a document. "I affirm and can prove that Jack Edward Harkness was fifteen years ago married to my sister, Bertha Antoinetta Hart at St James church, Spanish Town, Jamaica."
Ianto looks at Jack. Ianto forces him to look at him. He denies nothing; defies everything.
Brigs continues to read "The record of the marriage will be found in the register of that church - a copy of it is now in my possession. Signed, John Hart."
Jack turns to Briggs. "That does not prove that my wife is still living."
"She was living two months ago."
"How do you know?" Jack snorts.
"I have a witness to the fact." Briggs sneers back.
"Produce him or go to hell." Jack demands with a sweep of his arm.
The figure by the door steps out of the shadows. It is John Hart. Jack flies down the aisle, a groan of rage escapes him. He lifts his arm. John flinches back "Good God …"
"Sir, you are in a sacred place" Wood reminds him as Jack hesitates.
Hart flinches away. Jack swallows his rage. "What have you to say?"
"She is at Torchwood Hall." John says defiantly "I saw her there in April. I'm her brother."
A grim smile contorts Jack's lips. He turns towards Ianto. He remains where he was abandoned - at the altar - tiny, under the vaulted arch. The bouquet falls from his hand. Jack walks to him "This boy knew nothing. He thought all was fair and legal. He never dreamt he was going to be entrapped into a feigned union with a defrauded wretch."
A tiny breath is the only noise Ianto utters. Jack pulls him from the altar to his side. "Come, Ianto, come all of you and meet Mrs Poole's charming patient. Come and meet my wife."
The sun outside is blinding. Ianto closes his eyes.
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Jack enters the hallway pulling Ianto after him, his hand still in his iron grip. Wood, Hart and Briggs follow.
Alice, Toshiko, Sophie, Martha and Leah are waiting. Toshiko runs forward. Jack stops her in her tracks. "Get back! Do not come near! Go, all of you - keep your congratulations - they come fifteen years too late!"
Toshiko has crumpled into frightened tears. Alice has her hand over her mouth, pale with shock. Ianto meets her eye as Jack pulls him up the stairs. A revelation.
The tapestried room. Jack glances at Hart. He unlocks the inner door with one hand; the other won't let go of Ianto. Grace Poole sits by a strongly guarded fire, stirring something in a pot.
Jack leads Ianto and the other men into the room. There is no window, no furniture except for Grace's chair; only a mattress on the floor.
Grace pleads "Sir, you can't be bringing folk in here. It's madness."
Bertha Antoinetta Hart stands, amazed at the sight of her visitors. She wears a white shift. There are black rook feathers twined in her hair; her only ornament.
"This clothed hyena is my wife."
Bertha's pose is dignified, her expression grows triumphant. She approaches Jack - her eyes locked with Ianto's. Ianto gazes: fear, disgust, compassion.
"I was duped into marriage with this lunatic fifteen years ago." Jack explains.
Briggs and Wood are deeply repelled. Wood spits "Let us go. We have seen enough."
Bertha puts her arm through Jack's; lays her head on his shoulder; smiles at Ianto, magnanimous in her victory.
"My own demon, Bertha." Jack sighs.
With shocking speed and strength Bertha lays her nails into Jack's cheek. He struggles with her.
Grace assists Jack. They do not hit; they subdue. Bertha's attack is effectively contained. They have her on Her knees, her arms behind her.
Bertha lifts her head and screams. If a scream could express the agony of a whole soul then this would. Ianto turns on his heels. He stumbles, finds the door, exits.
Ianto is coming down the stairs. Briggs is at his side. "You, sir, are clearly not to blame. Your uncle will be glad to hear it."
Ianto looks at Briggs, only dimly comprehending him.
"You wrote to your uncle, did you not? To inform him you were going to marry Mr Jack? Mr Hart was staying with him when your letter came." Briggs gets only a blank look of puzzlement from Ianto. "Mr John Jones has been the Madeira correspondent of the Hart trading house for some years. You can imagine his distress when Hart revealed the real state of matters."
Ianto starts walking towards the sanctuary of his room.
Briggs continues to speak as he follows "He would have come himself but I'm sad to tell you that his health is in mortal decline. He implored Mr Hart to prevent this false marriage and referred him to me for assistance. I only hope that he survives long enough to hear that you are safe."
Ianto opens his door. He turns to Briggs.
"Thank you."
He shuts the door on Briggs and on the world.
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Ianto sits on his bed. He mechanically starts taking off the blond square he has worn as a veil.
Ianto, standing in stillness with the pearl suit crumpled around his feet.
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Ianto has taken a black stuffy suit off its hangar. He slowly puts his arms around it, as if it is his old self.
He holds it, his eyes staring at nothing.
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Ianto in his underclothes, sitting down on the bed. He closes his eyes.
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..
Ianto lies curled up on a rock at the bottom of a dried-up river bed. All of nature is suspended in stillness.
Far away, we hear the sound of a flood loosened in the remote mountains. We hear the sound of the torrent approach.
Ianto doesn't move. He has no will to flee. The sound of rushing water pounds in his ears. He lies, waiting to be dashed away. We see the flood approach and hit.
A dazzling whiteness of water and foam.
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Ianto's room is entirely unchanged except for the fact that it is full of river water from floor to ceiling. His bedding, furniture and belongings all sit in the room as normal - underwater.
The light shines murkily in through the window to reveal Ianto floating, suspended. His garments trail out. He is alive. But he is drowned.
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The moon has risen. Ianto is lying in an exhausted doze on the bed. He wakes; sits up. He is faint. He recovers himself. He knows what he must do.
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Ianto, dressed in black in the silver light, putting his brush, comb and pocket watch in a bag. He looks in his purse. He has some coins.
Ianto unbolts his door, takes a step out of his room, and stumbles into Jack's arms. He has been keeping guard.
"Ianto…" His cheek has been cut by Bertha's nails. "Five minutes more of that death-like hush and I'd have forced the lock."
He examines Ianto's face. He is desperate. "No tears. Your heart has been weeping blood. Forgive me."
Jack buries his head in Ianto's arms. he automatically comforts him asn Jack continues to sob "How could I? I am a worthless sinner. Don't spare me. Rain your tears up on me."
"I cannot." Ianto whispers.
"My heart is as dry as stone."