A Time and Place for Us

The Elysia

"Here, take this" Sweeney said as he handed her a piece of bread and half a rotting apple. It wasn't much but it was all he'd been able to procure. Bristol was an expensive city and the inn's owner refused to give him anything else unless he paid for it. She didn't care it was for his pregnant "wife".

Said pregnant woman devoured it in no time. But she hadn't eaten anything since she had a meagre bowl of soup for lunch the day before, so the bread and the apple weren't nearly enough to quench her appetite, much greater now that she was to be a mum. "Is that all?" she asked, a bit miffed. He knew from her last pregnancy that she tended get cranky in two occasions: when she hadn't slept or when she was hungry. He'd taken care of the first cause but hadn't properly prepared to avert the second.

"Yes. We don't have money for anything else" he replied sheepishly. He was ashamed of himself for how he'd managed their finances, but he'd wanted to pamper Nellie for once. Thus, he'd booked them a room with unrestricted views to the sea in an inn that was ten feet away from the beach instead of those rundown guest houses downtown. And he'd gone all out for the wedding, buying her a ruby ring that had taken up most of their budget and finding a dress he thought she'd like. It wasn't black, red or purple like she'd asked once, but it was real silk and was in good condition despite it being second hand. Besides, she mentioned wearing white when she told him about her seaside fantasy. But those unnecessary luxuries had caused him to not be able to feed his "wife" and child... "There will be more when we board the ship. Meals are included with our tickets."

She scoffed. "Yeah, stale bread and soggy porridge and if we're lucky we might get some left over moulding cold cuts from those above to keep us puking our guts out until we arrive. If we arrive... Honestly, Sweeney, I don't understand. We left bloody London with 50 damn pounds, but you just blew it all! You are so irresponsible; you never had to manage the household and it shows. Why would you? Stupid Nellie did it all for you. We'll be living in the streets when we get to New York unless we manage to rob a rich guy blind and throw his body to the sharks!" He smirked at that, for it didn't sound like a bad idea. Nellie frowned, why was he not taking her seriously? "I can't believe I trusted you to make good monetary decisions. I'm hungry now, your child is hungry! But why would you care?" she went on and Sweeney was growing angry, he didn't like to be told off.

"Dammit, Eleanor, of course I do! But if you are so good with money, then why didn't you take care of it? The only thing you've done since we got to Bristol is sleep, take walks along the beach and gone to pubs with your bleeding friends" he spat.

"I can't just take a bloody break, can I? You want your little slave round the clock cooking and cleaning and running errands, making sure we don't spend money we don't have! That's the only thing I'm good for in your eyes!"

"Of course, not" he exclaimed. "You're much..."

"There they are!" A high-pitched female voice shrieked from the other side of the pier, interrupting their conversation. They didn't even have to turn around to see who it was, Marjorie Denton. Sweeney clenched his teeth; he couldn't stand the woman, he considered her an ugly bumpkin version of Nellie. It was no wonder the two had become friends, those churchbells. He looked around, trying to find a place to hide so he didn't have to deal with her or her boorish husband who could only talk about hunting and growing lettuces. But there was nothing he could do, they'd already spotted them and were waving pathetically as they approached them. "Mr. and Mrs. Payne!"

Payne was the surname they'd chosen to start over. It'd been Nellie's idea. "Pain is what brings us together, dear", she'd said rather morosely when they discussed it shortly after arriving to Bristol. And he had to agree, because they wouldn't be where they were now without all the painful experiences they each had endured throughout their lives. And even though they both wished they'd been spared such pain, at the end of the day they overcame those tribulations and they made them stronger. In his eyes, and she knew in hers as well, that was something to be proud of.