Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Unknowable Children-October 1920

"James, good, you are here. Two things before we get to work. I'm giving Harrow a bonus for protecting Clara," Nucky informed Jimmy, who nodded. Richard deserved it, but Jimmy knew Richard would be hesitant to take it. "Also, I want to give Clara a present. You apparently know how to buy jewelry now. Get her something." Nucky writes on the back of a card he picks up off his desk. "Put that with the gift."

Jimmy finds Richard coming back from the post office. "Nuck is going to give you money for saving Clara. Don't decide to be noble and refuse it. Clara won't think that money is why you saved her, but she will think you are an idiot if you don't take it. Nuck doesn't know how to...relate. He doesn't know how to thank you for saving his daughter. So that's what the money is for."

"Mmm."

"Also, he told me to buy a present for Clara. Any ideas?"

Richard nods. "Yes, she wants. A typewriter."

Jimmy stares at his friend before he starts laughing. "Hell yes, let's get her a typewriter."

They take typewriter buying very seriously. Finally, they decide on an Underwood 3-Bank Portable in green. They wait until Clara is having breakfast to sneak into her room and set it up.

She hobbles back into her room after breakfast. As she walks, she considers her secret. Unbeknownst to anyone, Richard mailed off a special project for her a few days ago. If her spec manuscript lands her the assignment, she will make enough money to support herself writing. She'll have choices, including making a life of her choosing.

On her desk, next to her notebooks and pens, is a brand new typewriter. Clara blinks in disbelief-if she gets the job, she planned on buying herself a typewriter. It's one of the new ones and in a particularly lovely shade of green. Her father's calling card is propped on the keys. She picks it up. On the back, he has written "Much Love, Your Father." She smiles.

"Eddie, who is in with my father?" She asks when she makes her way around the suite to the office.

"Misters Darmody and Harrow," Eddie responds and is about to tell her he'll announce her when Clara knocks on the office door.

"It's me; I'm coming in," Clara announces. The three men look up, surprised. Clara typically steers clear of the office.

Jimmy evaluates her when she comes in. She looks much, much better. Her left leg is still badly torn up, you can see the bandages and scrapes under her stocking, but she seems more or less okay. Maybe it didn't impact her to deeply, Jimmy thinks.

"I love it!" Clara says excitedly, smiling directly at her father. "I can't believe you knew to get it for me!"

Jimmy catches Richard's eye.

"Well, I wanted you to be happy," Nucky said, hedging his bets. What the hell had James bought her?

"It's just...I've been so lost since my job with the War Department ended. It wasn't the most important work, but it taught me what it was to work. I knew what was to be busy all day, for my days to be full, to really be tired, and feel like I deserved to be tired. My days had purpose. I had money that was mine because I earned it, not because it was given to me. I knew my job would go back to a man when the war ended, and I'm so happy it ended. I just...I didn't want my life to go back to dress fittings and paying social calls and attending luncheons with people who only want me there because I'm your daughter. But it was so easy to fall back into all of that. It was," Clara blinks hard, and her voice cracks, "it was easy to agree to marry a man I can't stand when you asked me to accept him."

Jimmy hands her a handkerchief from his waistcoat pocket. Finally, he thinks; finally, Clara is going to save herself from the entanglement Nucky twisted her into. He was beginning to be afraid that Clara might actually marry the bastard. Or that the bastard would threaten Clara again, and Richard would end him. Jimmy stands behind her right shoulder, ready to provide support.