Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Woman's Work Part 2- July, 1921

 A/N: There's just a lot of angst, here. 

Jimmy shoveled ham and eggs into his mouth while Richard drank his coffee through a straw. Richard stared down at the table. It was obvious Angela wasn't happy with either her husband or him at the moment. After setting down breakfast she'd gone back into the kitchen and then walked past them without saying a word to answer the ringing telephone. The attempt on Nucky Thompson's life was costing them all, although Richard noted that Jimmy's wife was still in the house with him.

"Oh my god, Clara, are you okay?" Angela asked, speaking into the telephone in the hall.

Jimmy and Richard looked up at each with alarm.

"That's horrible. What can I do?" Angela murmured into the phone for a bit longer, and then came back into the kitchen.

"What's wrong with Clara?" Jimmy asked, as he watched Richard systematically clutch and release the napkin in his hand. Please let Clara be okay, Jimmy thought, thinking of the last time he'd seen her, sobbing in Luciano's car.

"Emily Schroeder has polio," Angela said with anger and fear in her voice.

"Is. She. Okay?" Richard asked, each word an agony as he thought of Emily running after him calling him the Tin Man, and of Clara alone in the middle of a nightmare. Of several nightmares.

"Emily? She can't walk and Clara said the doctor's face makes her think there's little hope she'll walk again. Now she's just praying the paralysis doesn't climb up to Emily's lungs. Or Clara? Margaret has barely left the hospital, and do you know what has to be done when a child has polio? Clara's spent the last two days burning toys, mattresses, linens, clothing. She's had to boil and bleach the entire house, and although I've only been there once, it's quite a house.

"And Clara's had to do it alone because her father and Eddie are out of town, the staff of the Ritz is striking, and the staff at the house quit, except for one young girl Clara's locked in the kitchen with Teddy. And we," Angela gestured around the table, "the people she loves and trusts most in the world are off-limits because two of them betrayed her, and she doesn't want me to come over because she's terrified Tommy will get it. But it's okay, right, because feuds and coups and takeovers are far more important than family."

Jimmy felt their eyes on him. They blamed him. What was he supposed to have done, though?

"She's asked me to go to Blatts and Woolworth's to order toys for Teddy," Angela sighed and turned to Jimmy. "Can you watch Tommy?"

"Of course I can..."

"I mean you. Can you watch Tommy without dumping him off on your mother?" Angela stared directly into her husband's face.

"Sure," Jimmy said. "Richard can drive..."

"I'll walk," Angela answered.

After Angela left, Jimmy turned to Richard. "Can you watch him while I make some calls?"

Tommy stared up at Richard with big, serious eyes. "Did Clara like her present?"

Richard turned to look at the little boy.

"Did she like it?" Tommy asked again.

"I. Mmm," Richard looked down at his hands, which were still clutching his napkin. The ring lay under the quilt Clara brought in the dresser that she used in the room that now tormented him with the memories of what it was like not to be lonely, of having someone he loved love him back.

"Are you and Clara coming to my birthday tonight? Did you get me a present?"

"Clara. Can't. Come," Richard said haltingly.