The moment in chapter one of ALBFS that Ennis said the magic word:
*QUOTE*
Again, Ennis hitched forward, moving even closer to Jack. He held Jack’s right hand with his left, and used his right index finger to push up Jack’s chin. “Lookit me, bud.” Their eyes fixed together. “Jack, if you died, I couldn’t live. And if you killed yerself because of me, well then, I’d hafta kill myself, because I could never live with that weight on my shoulders.” He paused. “And I realized that if we’re gonna start killin’ ourselves and endin’ up dead, we might as well try livin’ together before we do, because what’s the point of being dead if we haven’t done the thing that was gonna get us killed in the first place?”
Jack looked puzzled. “Ennis, what the fuck are ya sayin’?”
“I’m sayin’ yes, Jack. I’m sayin’ yes to the question you’ve asked me ev’ry time we’ve been together for the last nine years. I’m sayin’ yes to some sweet life, yes to a cow and calf operation, yes to whatever other crazy fuckin’ idea ya might have.”
“Oh, Ennis,” Jack breathed, “don’t be cruel.”
“I ain’t being cruel, Jack, I’m tellin’ ya the truth. You said last night, ‘I want you, I want all of you, all of the time. I want you in my life. I want you to be my life.’ Jack, that’s what I want, too.”
“Oh, God, Ennis.” Jack felt himself starting to tremble.
Ennis took Jack’s face in both of his hands. “I love you, Jack. It’s that simple.”
At that point, Jack truly lost it. He fell forward into Ennis’s arms, his breath rasping and chest heaving, thirteen years of bottled up emotion exiting his body. Giant sobs escaped from his mouth and tears poured down his cheeks. Jack almost felt as if he was going to piss himself. “Oh God, Ennis, oh, God….”
Ennis pulled him close, stroking his hair, “It’s okay cowboy, I’m here and I ain’t ever goin’ away.” With his other hand he made rhythmic circles on Jack’s back, “It’s okay, lil darlin’, it’s okay babe, I love you.”
Jack thought he would die at the sound of the words coming out of Ennis’s mouth. Ennis, usually hard pressed to tell someone the time of day, was now reciting endearments and I-love-yous as if they were a mantra. “Oh, Ennis, I love you.” *QUOTE:
Brings me out in goosebumps every time, and now, here they are after more than 30 years, still together and very much in love. *SIGH*