Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Come With Me Part One-July 1921

A/N: TW: A canonical character death.

Richard unfolded the letter once more and began reading again. He could hear Clara in every word he read, like she was standing behind him, whispering in his ear. Clara's pain and anger were there in every word she had written, but so were her confusion and even her love for him. She still loved him.

Since he found the letter tucked in his door frame, he had read it a hundred times, and still didn't know what to do. The idea of Clara hurting made him feel like he couldn't breathe. However, nothing was different. In fact, things were worse. How could he approach her when things were so fragile?

Two days before was the only time Richard had allowed himself to be truly angry with Jimmy. Waxey Gordon had failed to kill the butcher. Jimmy had dispatched Mickey Doyle to finally, finally settle the debt he owed the Manny Horowitz, butcher. Richard had tried to explain to Jimmy that with men like the butcher, it was as much a debt of honor as it was a debt of money and that Jimmy needed to go in person to make amends with the man. Jimmy had blown Richard off, dismissing his concern.

Jimmy's behavior at the warehouse pushed Richard to the edge when Jimmy threw a tantrum as Jimmy realized that it was Nucky who was drowning Atlantic City in cheap, top-shelf Irish whiskey. Richard's hand worked furiously as he thought about the Irishman who had assisted Nucky in the ploy. He should have killed the man that day at the casino. It would have weakened Nucky, it would have prevented the Irish whiskey gambit, and it would have meant the man wouldn't have come to take Clara away that awful afternoon.

Jimmy's tantrum (Richard couldn't think of another word, although it made him feel like his mother to use it) over not being able to sell the liquor they had bought from George Remus had caused Richard to walk away. Jimmy had utterly lost it in front of Capone, Lansky, and Luciano.

The alcohol and the men that it was worth trying to kill Nucky over. The alcohol and men it was worth hurting Clara over.

In front of Luciano. Richard closed his eyes, trying to forget the image of Luciano's body pressing against Clara, Clara's lipstick smudged across the corner of Luciano's mouth, Clara asking Luciano to get her away from Jimmy and from him.

More than the kiss, it was the fact Clara trusted Luciano when she needed help that felt like a knife in his side.

Luciano's smirks and comments about Clara made Richard dream of planting a knife repeatedly into the man's body.

The ringing telephone made Richard jump. He reached for it hesitantly, still getting used to its intrusion into his life. Jimmy had wanted him to get one for months, but it was when Clara started staying with him that he acquiesced. He wanted to have a way to reach her, and it seemed safer for Clara to have a way to call for help if needed.

"Hello," he rasped out.

"You need to come to Jimmy's house immediately," a woman's voice said in his ear.

"Mrs. Darmody? Mmm. Why," Richard tried to respond.

"Now," she said, and he heard the click of the phone in his ear.

Richard's mouth was dryer than usual as he sped to Jimmy and Angela's, and his hands trembled so badly he had to purposefully try to steady them so the car would steer straight.

Mrs. Darmody stood smoking outside when he pulled up to the house. "It took you long enough. Angela and her friend are dead upstairs. Where is Jimmy?"

Richard stepped back. He felt like the air had just been punched out of his body.

"Mmm. Angel-"

"Is dead," Gillian snapped. "I know you aren't a whole man, but you need to pay attention. Where. Is. Jimmy?"