From Chapter 62....interesting to read this in tandem with "A Small Circle of Friends"
“Ennis,” Edna said, her voice soft, and he turned, hand on the doorknob.
“Whassat ma’am?”
She smiled. “You know you can call me Edna.”
“Sure.”
“Are you ashamed ta be livin with a man that you don’t want ta tell anyone?”
His face turned bright red. “Not… not ashamed exactly. Just – it ain’t any a his business.”
“Wes an I know that you and Ellery are living together as partners, Ennis. Does it upset you that we know?”
“I dunno.” He struggled to look up to meet her eyes.
“I want you to know it doesn’t trouble us a bit. Wes and I love Ellery very much, an we are both pleased ta death that he has found a good man and isn’t a lonely ghost like he was for such a long time. Do you want to know what Ellery was like before you showed up?”
Ennis’s blush faded slightly, and he moved away from the door, lured toward her gentle comments, her obvious caring for Ellery – and for him. “Yeah I guess I do.”
“Sit down here Ennis.” She patted the surface of the table and sat, setting a large casserole dish next to her with a little click. “Ellery is a very serious detective, Ennis. Wes used to have some really bad fights with him about workin too late at the office an doin too many cases and not having a life of his own. This was after things went all awry with Bill.”
“You knew about Bill too?”
She nodded quietly, her face a firm line. “Neither Wes nor I was happy about Bill from the get go. Call it a feelin, but we had him come by for dinner an all that and took one look at him and knew that he was not good for Ellery.”
“You talk like you an Wes are his momma and daddy, Edna…” Ennis said softly.
“That’s how we look at it, Ennis. An since you are the man in his life it makes you family too, above an beyond yer workin here at the ranch. Yer a good man with a good heart, an Ellery is doin a whole lot better, despite all of this foolishness with Bill. Let me ask you, did Ellery ever mention his mother to you?”
He shook his head. That had crossed his mind more than once, but though Ellery had mentioned his father, he never once said anything about his mother. “Can’t say as he ever has.”
“Not surprised. Ellery was only a little kid then, livin on the Cantrell ranch back before his daddy sold it. His momma got sick when he was a little boy, one a those years when the flu was really bad."
“Maybe 51, I remember that one.”
“That mighta been it. So many people sick they didn’t have hospital beds for all of em. She was pregnant, and she got sick, then his daddy got sick, but she got complications, lost the baby and then died a week later. He has always been sort of a loner, and when his daddy died before he even got ta college, it just made it that much worse.”
“Jesus, didn’t know all a that. He never says nothin about it. I lost both my parents when I was 12, they was in a car accident.”
“That is what you two have in common,” she said, nodding sadly. “Yer both lackin a good bit a motherin I think. We want you an Ellery ta feel comfortable in our home Ennis. We ain’t like those stuck up people you see don’t believe men can love each other like a man an a woman can… I think that’s just silly. We’re all human beings.”
“I think so too Edna, an I appreciate it.”
“Don’t be ashamed about lovin em, Ennis. It’s just as beautiful as any other love relationship.”
“Yes ma’am.” His face was flushed with unexpressed emotions.
L
Topic: Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll (Read 3169998 times)