Evermore, Nevermore Forget Me Not

42 years earlier

*its a bit blurry, but it's the best I could do in finding a pic of both George Sr. & Mary Cooper together*

Setting: Cooper house, Galveston Texas 1975...

"Not that I mind living with your mother and sister," Mary starts as she sits on the couch next to her newly married husband while rubbing her swollen stomach, "But we can't keep imposing on them George; not with this baby due any in a month. There won't be enough room, we've gotta find a place of our own."

"And we will," George assures her as he downs some beer

"When?" She asks now looking from the television to him

"As soon as my next paycheck comes in," he tells her with a heavy sigh, "We'll go look at houses,sound good?"

"Alright," she tells him with a smile, "what do you think of Annabelle?"

"I thought we said George Jacob Jr," he says as he look away from the television again

"I mean if it a girl George," she tells him in and 'obviously' kinda tone, "it could still be a girl."

"Annabelle Cooper sounds fine," he says as he stretches, scratches the back of his neck and turns again back to the football game on the tv

"YOU UNGRATEFUL GIRL!" Comes an elder woman's scream

"IF YOU CAN'T STAND IT HERE THAT MUCH THEN JUST LEAVE!" A man shouts back, "WE DON'T NEED YOU OR THE STRESS YOU CAUSE!"

"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" A young woman screams, crying

"YOU'RE BOTH UNGRATEFUL-" the elder woman starts screaming again

"NO ONE'S FORCING YOU TO STAY ELLIE MAE!" The man shouts, cutting the elder woman off

"ARE YOU JUST GONNA STAND THERE LOOKING STUPID GIRL, AND LET HIM TALK TO YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT?!" The elder woman screeches

"Anna never did have the backbone-" George mutters quietly

"George," Marry snaps at him as the screaming continues and the sound of the younger woman crying gets louder

"We'll start looking first thing the morning," he tells her with a grunt as he repositions himself on the couch

"Don't you think it might be time to put Ellie in a home?" Mary whisper quietly to him

"Probably," he agrees, " it she's as stubborn as my father was-part of the reason they always fought-she won't go."

"FINE THEN!" The man shouts and the sound of a door slamming shut is heard

"CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT YOU STUPID GIRL!" The elder woman hollers

"I-I'm s-Sorry Mama," the young woman's stutter voice comes as her crying gets louder

"Mary," George starts as she stands from the couch, "Don't get involved in it; just stay out of it."

"What about Anna?" She looking back at him

"She'll just scream at ya if you try to help," he warns her as he drinks another sip of his beer, "I know, I've tried."

"Lawrence," the young woman's sniffling voice comes at the sound of a door opening, closing and footsteps rushing down the only set of stairs in the house, "Lawrence wait!" She calls hurrying after him, "Lawrence Where're you going?!"

"Out," is all the man says in reply

"Out, Out where?" She asks sniffling

"Anywhere your mother ain't Anna," he tells her as he goes slamming the front door on his way out

"Good Riddance," the elder woman says from the top of the stairs, "who needs him anyways-piece of shit."

"MAMA!" The young woman snaps at her, still in tears

"There're better men out their Anna Marie," the elder woman says as she moseys her way into the kitchen

"LIKE WHO?!" Anna screams back, "LIKE PAPA?!"

"Don't you be bad mouthing your father!" Ellie snaps sternly

"WHY THE HELL NOT?!" Anna screams, "YOU DO IT ALL THE TIME!"

"That's different y'all see," Ellie tells her as she pulls out a cigarette, "I can do that because was his wife."

"GET THE HELL OUTTA MY HOUSE MAMA!" Anna yells at her, "GET OUT NOW AND DON'T Y'ALL NEVER COME BACK AROUND HERE!"

"Why don't y'all shut up and go ta bed," Ellie says as she lights her cigarette, "Stupid girl, this ain't your house yet. This ain't your house till I'm good and dead."

     Like that, Ellie Mae Cooper makes her way out onto the front porch of the house and Anna Marie runs off up the stairs crying her eyes out like she had all her life. Mary takes a seat on the couch again, passing her new husband another beer as the left over tension dissipates at a painfully slow rate. They both remain quiet for a bit, before Anna's footsteps are geared coming slowly back down the stairs...

"Where're you goin?" George asks her, not looking away from the game

"To find my husband," Anna replies in a huff as she heads for the door

"Mom's still out there," he warns her

"So?" She huff again

"And you don't know where he's gotten to," he adds

"What's she got against Lawrence anyways," Anna huffs as she takes the chair next to the couch, "he's a good man and he don't deserve her bullshit."

"Aw she's just mad you picked a fella that's incapable of given 'er grandkids," George tells her

"George," Mary snaps, light smacking his arm

"So what if we can't have kids," Anna snaps, "at least I married for love, which more than I can say for any other marriages in this family-"

"Hey!" Mary says offendedly

"You married her for the same reason Papa married Mama," Anna continues, "cause just like Papa, you knocked her up and her daddy came after you with his shotgun."

"Weren't you gonna go find Lawrence?" George asks, now glaring at his sister

"Fine," she huffs getting up, "I see how it is; yous just like 'im Georgie, gonna wind up just like 'im too," she says as she walks away, "she'll resent you like Mama does Papa," she exclaims pointing at Mary, "you'll sleep with some floozy just like he did," she says point back to him, "and wind up dead as a door nail just as he did, at the early age of fifty."

"..."  things are silent between the two newly weds as Anna storms off, slamming the front door on her way out

"G-George..." Mary starts in a shaky voice

"..." he looks over to her worried face, "Don't listen to her Mary," he sighs out, "she don't know what she's talkin about. She's just said that out of anger, she ain't mean nothin by it-"

"My water just broke," Mary tells him