Caught Somewhere in Time

The morning after

His wife was already up the following morning when Sweeney awoke. The smell of breakfast filling his nostrils and her soft 'good morning' made him believe it'd all been a nightmare. But as he went over to her to place a soft kiss on her lips and she turned her face so the kiss ended up landing on her cheek, he realised it wasn't. Unlike Eleanor, who could go from being distant and/or spiteful after one of their many disagreements to fawning all over him as soon as he showed her some affection, he knew Lucy would not forgive him so easily. Perhaps because his spats with Eleanor as his frequent and explosive they were, were meaningless in comparison to the current rift between Lucy and himself. This one would be a lot harder to fix. And still, as they had breakfast in silence, avoiding each other's eyes, he wished she was a bit more like Eleanor, bold enough to give him a piece of her mind instead of the silent treatment. When he realised what he was doing, he vehemently scolded himself for comparing the two again. Because Lucy was better, wasn't she?

"You should go apologise to Mr. Lovett and also thank him for letting us stay" she told him as he readied himself to go to work. "That was so kind of him and we need to show gratefulness"

"What? The blighter insulted me and raised our rent, he should be the one apologising" Sweeney replied curtly.

"Ben! Don't call him a blighter! I don't agree with what he said or did but how would you react if another... man set his eyes on me?" she said, pain evident in her voice and he couldn't help but feel guilty. But that did not mean he wanted to apologise to their landlord. "You have to apologise. We need to get in his good books again"

"Why don't you do it?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly face him now" she said, her voice going higher to the point it was almost a shrill. "I was so humiliated yesterday, I can't face him, I can't. Please Ben, go apologise. Do it for me!"

And for her, he did. He went down the stairs, ready to lay the first stone in the rebuilding of their marriage even if that meant apologising to the fat bastard. He entered his butcher's shop and quickly spotted the man behind the counter, sweeping lightly at the accumulated dust as he hummed and whistled. It was clear he was in a great mood and that surprised Sweeney, since he fully expected Albert to be angrily bemoaning the money Arthur Haide stole from him. He clenched his fists, of course he'd be happy after having his way with Eleanor, not caring about how much he may have hurt her... Just like I did, he thought, before rationalising with himself that it wasn't the same. He was sure it was no physical pain what he caused Eleanor and if he accidentally did, it was because she asked for it, because she teased him and played with him, driving him to the point of no return, where he was no longer in control of his actions. As for the emotional hurt, well she'd hurt him worse.

"Good Morning, Mr. Lovett" he called and the larger man spun to face him, a smug smile on his face.

"Ah, Mr. Barker, good morning to you too. It truly is a wonderful morning, my first one as a married man. And let me tell you, between the two of us, being married to Nellie even better than I dreamed of" he winked. Sweeney wanted to roll his eyes.

"Congratulations" he grumbled and if his landlord noticed the hostility in his voice, he didn't say anything. He thanked him and went back to his task. Sweeney cleared his throat before speaking again. "I wanted to thank you, for letting us stay."

"Ah, yes. Well you should thank Nellie. In all honesty, I would have kicked you out even after she explained the misunderstanding with your wife. You were cutting her hair or something, were you not?" Sweeney nodded vehemently, partaking in Eleanor's lie with no questions. "You see, I don't like having a man under my roof who desires what is mine, but she told me there was nothing between the two of you and I believe her. After she gave herself over to me and swore to love me forever, how could I not? Sweet little thing" Sweeney fought not to snicker, Eleanor had succeeded in deceiving this one too, and seemingly much further than she had him. "But I didn't like what your wife said about my Nellie. Regardless of whether she was right or not, Nellie is now my wife and your landlady, you owe her respect. You owe her an apology"