NESSA and IOLLAN are having dinner at the pub. The couple’s conversation has escalated again because of their eternally unresolved issue: the couple live in sin, but IOLLAN is desperate for NESSA’s husband, DALLAN, to agree to a divorce.
IOLLAN
Things were supposed to be different. Things are supposed to be different, that’s how they are. They’re out of order.
NESSA
What do you know about the order of things?
IOLLAN
We are supposed to be married, married so we can spend forever together with God. That’s the order. That’s supposed to be us.
NESSA
Well it’s not.
IOLLAN
It’s supposed to be.
NESSA
It’s not the answer you’re looking for.
IOLLAN
It is the answer.
NESSA
That man, that boy, they’re our past.
IOLLAN
The Lord brought him back into our life for a reason.
NESSA
They’re not our future. Not my future. You can try to pretend you know what God’s doing, but I know what this is. This is another of your little games, where you won’t rest until you’ve won. You can’t stop playing games!
IOLLAN
It’s not a game -– it’s our eternity.
NESSA
He and I will never be divorced, no matter what you do. It can’t be done.
IOLLAN
In his mind, it can be.
NESSA
His mind? Now I’ve heard everything. Iollan, we have to move on from this place. What does it matter? What does it matter if we’re married or not?
IOLLAN
It matters! It matters.
NESSA
It can’t matter anymore.
IOLLAN
It matters because I love you. Because that’s the way it supposed to be.
NESSA
My marriage is a piece of paper, Iollan. A piece of paper! A piece of paper that no one will ever see –- that will crumble like every other piece of paper in history, like every other symbol that’s come and gone. Symbolism is for the material world –- not for eternity. Money — it’s just a paper until someone says it’s worth something, then people go crazy for it. All the pieces of paper in the world don’t stand for a thing unless you believe in what’s written on them. A divorce is only valuable if you believe in that marriage paper, which I don’t.
IOLLAN
But he believes in your marriage. As long as he believes in that paper, it’s still valid.
NESSA
Stop being ridiculous.
IOLLAN
If he would stop believing, it would break these chains and let me love you completely.
NESSA (pause)
So you’re chained, are you?
IOLLAN (pause)
Aye, I’m chained.
NESSA
So, all these years, you’ve decided you can only love me, what, about half as much as you really want to?
IOLLAN
That’s nonsense. I’ve loved you as much as I can –
NESSA
How do you measure love? By how many kisses you receive? By how many times you’re told you’re loved? By a piece of paper?
IOLLAN
There’s something inside that’s holding me back from giving all of myself to you. I’m loving a married man’s wife, and that’s not what a man does.
NESSA
What a man does.
IOLLAN
What a man does.
NESSA
Let me tell you what a woman does: She tries to find a way to survive in a world of men. A world full of useless pride. Do you honestly expect me to believe that if you get him to stop believing in that marriage that you’ll love me even more?
IOLLAN
God wants me to get that divorce.
