~The Meeting~

The book was steady in her hands as she walked down the street, her nose buried in it. Passers-by saw the title and shook their heads in disgust: The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. A rather disapproved-of novel. But Lute didn't care for what the population thought; she wanted a real story, not some cheap dime-novel tale. Something she could learn from. Something that would help her teach herself to write prose.

She was so engrossed in Edna and Robert's romance that she didn't notice the boy following her, the boy who threw constant glances at the white purse at her hip, his fingers outstretched.

She stopped walking for a moment to turn the page, and it was during this brief interlude in fantasy that she got the feeling of someone watching her. A finger to hold her place, she turned, the skirts of her new blue dress flying outwards.

The boy stared at her, then withdrew his hand. "Buy a pape, miss?" He asked curiously, blinking down at her.

"I have no more money," she told him.

"Just a penny a pape, miss."

"I have no more money, I told you," she licked her lips. "Now, if you please, I'd like to-"

"Please, miss?" His face turned pleading. "Me best friend, he got a cough, a real bad cough, and he ain't got enough money to pay for a doctor. I gotta sell all me papes today so we's can get him a doctor, so he can be well again. I'm givin' up dinner to help him. I really want him to get better. Please, miss?" He held the paper out to her. "Buy me pape?"

Lute licked her lips again, aware that she was caught between a rock and a hard place. She wanted to go back to her book, and it appeared she wouldn't be able to unless she paid for the poor boy's paper.

"I'd like to help you. Honest, I would. But I have no more money!" She grabbed her purse, opened it, and held it upside-down. "See? I have nothing to give you."

He looked away softly, and Lute felt guilty. She hated feeling guilty more than anything else. "Um… I'm sorry I can't help you."

The boy shrugged.

"If… If you want, I could take you to my place and my daddy could give you some money?" As Lute was only sixteen and fairly sheltered (save for stories from her brother-in-law, Tom, and her friends Casey and Corey), she was unaware of the possibilities she created in making this offer.

But, seeing as the boy was Snitch Riccio, who slept with his thumb in his mouth and his baby blanket in his fist, the possibilities flew over his head as well. He saw only the prospect of extra money ahead, and gladly followed her to her home, chatting friendly-like with her as he walked.

The walks in the park were best.

At least, Snitch always thought so. He was never quite sure on Lute's opinion of them; a rare occasion, as Lute usually liked to make her opinions known to the world.

But Snitch liked the walks. Evening time, the crickets chirping, the streetlights just starting to be lit, stopping at every park bench for a 'rest', and ending up with their arms wrapped about each other, their mouths locked.

He liked walking her to school too. The teachers hated when he kissed her good-bye, but Lute told him not to worry. "I'm eighteen now," she would say, "and I won't be here for much longer. What are they going to do about it?"

He loved the afternoons in her father's bar, where he had been given a job clearing tables and sweeping the floor. Lute worked those afternoons as well, after school got out, and they often amused Mr. McDonaghey by sneaking into the back room together and not coming back out until he yelled at them, teasing and joking.

There was a room above the bar where Snitch lived, now that he was eighteen and had a job of his own. He liked taking Lute up there to talk, even if they had to leave the door open.

He liked going to the McDonaghey house for dinner. Lute's mother was a fantastic cook, and Lute's interactions with her sisters always made for amusement. Snitch liked to talk to Lute's brother-in-law, Tom, and he liked playing with Tom's son, Max.

He liked knowing that not every family consisted of an abusive father, a half-dead mother, and siblings who could care less what happened to the world. It comforted him to see, through Ben McDonaghey and Tom McAllister, that he would not have to be the abusive man his own father was.

He liked that the entirety of the McDonaghey family preferred calling him Danny or Daniel instead of Snitch.

He liked knowing that, even though he was much too skinny, he was much too tall, and his teeth were much too big, Lute thought he was perfect.

But, most of all, he liked the walks in the park.

Ben McDonaghey put his head in his hands. They grow up so fast. Too fast. It seemed to him that it had been just yesterday that his middle daughter, Lute, had been learning to walk, and now… now, sitting across from him in his well-furnished living room was a boy asking permission to marry her.

"Danny… I don't know…"

"Please, suh!" Snitch insisted, his street accent shining through. "I got money put away, and I got that job at the clothes shop, so I'll be gettin' more money soon. I could take care of her."

"Where would you live?"

"I got me an apartment that'll hold two."

"And children?"

Snitch hesitated. "We'll think about that when it happens."

Ben sighed. "I don't know if I like that answer."

"I think the apartment'll hold three, if the third's a baby."

"You think?"

Snitch was silent.

"Danny… you're only twenty. You can wait, can't you? Until there's more money?"

"You let Lissy marry when she was eighteen!"

"Lissy married a twenty-five year-old with a good, steady job and family money. When Max came, they were ready for him."

"But, I…" Snitch searched for the words. "But I love Lute, Mr. McDonaghey."

"You can't survive on love alone."

"I'm tryin' so hard!" Snitch protested. "I don't have no education, I don't have no family, I don't have nothin', Mr. McDonaghey! But I'm trying as much as people'll let me try! I got enough money put away to keep us fed for a year. And Lute's got a job too!"

"Doing laundry for elder people in your apartment house is hardly a job."

"Well, she gets paid, don't she?"

"And what about when she gets pregnant?"

"Maybe that won't happen for a while."

"Don't kid yourself. You both want children. I've known that since you came over here to meet Max. It'll happen sooner than you think it will."

Snitch sighed and looked away.

"If I have to, I'll start stealing and pawning again."

Ben blinked. "Would you really?"

"Yeh. I'd have to keep it secret from her, but if it'd help pay the bills, I'd do it. Those are skills you never lose." He reached into his coat pocket and took out a small box. "If I have to, I'll start with this. It was my mother's, and I wanted to give it to Lute, but… but if we need money, I'll pawn it off…" He opened the box and held it out towards Ben, who took it gingerly. Inside was a simple silver ring, a pale green stone glinting in its center.

"This looks old…" Ben commented, handing it back to Snitch, who shrugged.

"Mama said it came from me grandmother."

"Don't sell it. It's an heirloom."

"I don't know what that is, but if I have to sell it, I will."

Ben stared at Snitch for a moment, then sighed. "Give it to Lute."

"Sorry, suh?" Snitch blinked.

"Give it to Lute. Go on and ask her. You have my permission," He leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. Two down, one to go.

Snitch seemed shocked into paralysis for a moment, then a wide grin curved onto his face. "Oh, you won't regret this, Mr. McDonaghey, I promise!" He said, standing and grinning. "I promise, suh, I promise!"

Ben had to laugh. "Get home and practice what you're going to say. You'll need it."

"If you say so, suh. G'night, suh!"

Snitch backed out of the room and into the foyer, where he bid Lute's mother a cheery good night before stepping into the chilly evening. Mrs. McDonaghey came into the front room and looked suspiciously at Ben, who was lighting a pipe.

"He seemed awfully merry tonight," she commented. "Did he ask what I think he asked?"

Ben glanced at his wife, stuck the pipe in his mouth, and settled into his chair. "He did."

His wife raised her eyebrows. "Are you teasing?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Lana, my dear, would I tease on such a serious subject?"

Lana raised her hands to her mouth in surprise. "Oh, Ben! She'll be delighted!"

"But it won't be us she finds out from. Promise me you won't tell Lute like you told Lissy."

Lana rolled her eyes and walked past him towards the kitchen. "It was a slip of the tongue."

"No slipping of the tongue this time around. Promise me?"

"I promise!" She clucked her tongue. "You do something once, and they never forget it…"

Ben smiled to himself and turned his attention to the window. Their family was a happy one, and he was more than willing to welcome Danny Riccio into it.

Lute wore blue taffeta and an endless smile at her June wedding. Snitch seemed unable to take himself from her side; their hands were locked together.

They greeted friends and family, Lute chattering aimlessly with her girlfriends and Snitch being teased mercilessly by the former newsboys. There was love and good feelings all around.

Snitch's friends could not remember a time they had seen him smile so much. "With his dad hittin' him all the time, killin' his mom and stuff… I don't blame him," Itey said, watching as Snitch danced with his new bride. "It's good he's happy now. He deserves some happiness."

The other boys nodded their agreement and drank their wine.

There was celebration and joy throughout the night at the McDonaghey home. When Snitch took Lute by the hand and led her out the door to walk her to her new home, his apartment, there was applause and catcalls that made both husband and bride blush to hear them.

"Tonight?" Lute asked, smoothing her dress with gloved fingers as they walked home. Their friends would have gladly paid for a carriage, but, as said before, the walks in the park were best.

"Tonight," Snitch confirmed, slipping an arm around her waist and kissing her mouth.

For six months, they were able to truly tell everyone that it was a 'happy ever after' story. Snitch's job at the clothes shop made enough money to keep them fed and to pay the bills, with just a little left over to put away 'in case of emergency'.

But after the first six months, something happened.

An old man and his daughter privately owned the clothing shop Snitch worked at. In need of money, they sold it to a larger, better known company. This new company didn't like Snitch's street accent or his friendly demeanor with customers; they wanted snooty rich people like themselves. He was fired as soon as they realized he was an employee and not a street thief trying to rob them blind.

Though, in his fury, he honestly considered that option.

He quickly started looking for another job, and discovered, much to his dismay, that there were plenty of people who wouldn't hire him because of his lack of education or simply because of the way he talked.

"We'll be fine," Snitch told Lute every night after dinner. "We've got plenty of money stored away, we can last until I find another job."

Then, Lute caught pregnant.

Snitch started to panic. Money was tight already, there was no way they could afford to take care of a child now. Sure, Ben and Lana had given their middle daughter her own crib from infancy, and Tom and Lissy had offered to clothe the child with Max's throw-aways, but that wasn't enough. What about food? What about keeping his child under a warm roof? He hit the streets daily, looking for a job, some job, any job, anything that could get him the money he needed for his family.

In Lute's second trimester, he got desperate. Sticky fingers stay sticky forever, and he started to steal again, pawning things off to get money.

But it was still never enough.

The fighting began: Lute was moody and easy to rouse. Snitch was stressed and tired. They snapped easily and fought often. Several times a week would Snitch go and sleep on the living room floor, muttering to himself about the scathing moodiness of women and why the hell he'd gotten himself into this mess.

It was during one of these spats that Lute went into labor with her first child. Her mother and elder sister were called, as well as a doctor, and during the moments when there was no one but Snitch and an incredibly pained Lute, she screamed words at him that he had been completely unaware she knew.

When Lana and Lissy arrived, they shooed Snitch into the front room during the birth, and, once he got used to the crying and screaming, he quickly fell asleep. When he awoke the next afternoon (still feeling very tired despite having slept for over eighteen hours), his sister-in-law stood over him with a pleased smile on her face.

"Come meet your daughter, Danny," she said, her blonde hair falling off her shoulders in the ragged excess of a person who has been working much harder than she expected to work.

Lute was asleep when Snitch entered the bedroom, locks of hair still slick with sweat clinging to her face. Sitting on the edge of the tiny bed was Lana McDonaghey, cradling a tiny infant in her arms. She stood and gave the child to Snitch, who felt ready to cry with pride.

"Lute wants to name her Mary. Mary Anne." Lana smiled. "But she wanted to wait for your agreement."

Snitch nodded slowly, unable to take his eyes off his daughter. "That's fine. Mary Anne Riccio. Sounds real pretty."

Lana and Lissy shared a smile when Snitch leaned over and kissed his sleeping wife's forehead. It was an image of calm after the storm.

Or, rather, eye of the hurricane.

After Mary's birth, things were too busy for fighting. Lute was always at home, taking care of her baby, and Snitch was always out, looking for a new job. When Snitch was home, at night, the baby required constant attention, and he usually took that job to give Lute a chance to rest.

But even with the busy schedule, things couldn't stay quiet for long. Both mother and father were lacking in sleep, and it eventually grew to the point where the strings couldn't grow any tighter and had to snap. Lute accused Snitch of not helping with the baby (which was untrue, as he always let her nap when he came home in the afternoons while he took care of Mary), and Snitch accused Lute of not helping with money-making (which was also not true, as Lute still washed clothes and did other chores for more elderly tenants).

Times were tough, and they just kept getting tougher. Snitch's money from pawning and Lute's pitiful pay for the chores only just barely bought them enough food to survive. Around Mary's first birthday, Lissy and Tom were insisting that they help, but Lute's pride kept them away from her personal finances. Finally, the older couple offered to take Mary for an afternoon, at least, to give the younger couple a rest.

At this, Lute and Snitch readily accepted.

By the time Mary was returned to her parents, her mother was already pregnant. But she wouldn't find that out for a few more months.

When she did find out, and she told her husband, he simply stared at her in horrified shock.

"Another?" was all he managed to croak out. "We can't afford another!"

"Don't make me feel bad about it," Lute spat. "It's half your fault."

"But we have no money!"

"There's nothing we can do about it now!"

And, again, the fighting started.

But always, in the end, they loved each other. And they loved Mary. That was what kept them together even though things were so difficult.

Yet, there were times when the love was nearly replaced: anger, stress… fear.

One evening, two months before Lute's second birthing, Snitch came home to find his wife sitting sullenly on their ratty couch, her arms folded over her chest. She looked up when she heard the door click shut behind him.

"I found something today," she said. "Come here and see it."

Licking his lips, Snitch walked forward. He sat next to her and waited. "Well?"

She unfolded her arms and held her hand out to him. Dangling from her fingers was a diamond necklace with a gold chain. "Where did you get this?"

Snitch stared at it for a moment, and remained silent.

"Did you steal it?"

Snitch felt momentary relief. He had been afraid Lute would accuse him of cheating; most women would after finding a necklace like that in their bedrooms.

Then he remembered how much Lute had hated his sticky fingers, and the relief was replaced with annoyance.

"Yeh," he said stubbornly. "I's gonna pawn it off for money. I been doin' it since before Mary was born."

Lute raised her eyebrows. "That's were that extra money was coming from?"

"Yeh. You really think I'd waste time at the races like I said I was?"

"Danny!'

"What?" Snitch shouted, standing up. "What? You'd rather we starve to death than me pickin' a few pockets?"

Lute stood up as well, a bit slower with more struggling. "This," she shoved the necklace into Snitch's face, "is not 'pickin' a few pockets'! This is outright stealing! Do you know how much it's worth?"
"Do you know how much food it'll buy? Food we need for ourselves and our daughter? And for the one on the way?"

Lute threw the necklace on the ground, its chain breaking as she snapped it downward. "Why don't you try getting a real job?"

"What do you think I do every day? Go out on the corners and sleep? Find daytime whores and sneak them into alleyways? Sorry, love, but did you ever think that maybe a boy with no education might have a bit of a difficulty finding a real job?"

"Why don't you try the factories? Or the textile mills!"

Snitch stared at her in shock. "Because I don't want my kids waking up one morning to find out their father is dead!"

"But what if your children die before you do because you can't find a stinking job?"

That was when he hit her.

Her head jerked to the side and she fell, luckily, onto the couch. Snitch's hand hung limply in the air as he slowly came to realize what he had done.

"Oh, God," he whispered. "Oh, God, Lute, I'm sorry…"

She touched her cheek where he had hit her, and stared up at him. He saw that shock, and, oh God, he saw fear too.

He saw his mother's face in his wife's.

"Lute, please, oh God, I'm sorry, honest I am…"

He sat next to her on the couch, and she cowered away from him. Hurt, he reached to touch her, and she cringed.

"Lute, I ain't gonna hit you again," he told her softly. In the other room, Mary, now learning to talk, started screaming for her mother. Snitch glanced at the bedroom, then stood and reached to help Lute stand. "I'm so sorry. Honest. I never meant to hit you."

Lute took his hand only because she couldn't get up without his help. She stared at him as she went to collect her child, and Snitch grimaced at the sight of the already forming bruise on her cheek.

"Then why did you do it?" she asked him simply. Without waiting for an answer, she left the room and cuddled her child behind a closed door for two hours. Snitch was sure he heard her crying behind it.

And all he could do was lean against the door with his head in his hands and feel like a complete ass.

By the time Lute went into labor, the bruise on her cheek had faded, but that fear of Snitch had not. Lute insisted Snitch stay in the front room and play with Mary during the birth. This disappointed him; he had really wanted to help this time.

When he heard the crying of an infant in his bedroom, he thought, Another one finished…

But Lute was still shrieking.

Then, another cry joined the pervious, and Snitch's head jerked upwards from his hand game with Mary.

Oh, God, he thought, Oh God, please no, please don't toy with me like this.

Lissy came out to grab clean towels, and Snitch looked at her for an explanation.

"Well?" he demanded, his voice high, as Lissy started to re-enter the bedroom.

Lissy paused. "Girls," she said, then went back into the bedroom, shutting the door.

"Girls…" Snitch repeated. "Good God, girls, as in… as in two?"

Mary stared at her father. "Mommy okay?" she asked.

"Yeh," Snitch replied. "Yeh, Mommy's fine." He ran his fingers through his hair. "It's Daddy you have to worry about, sweets."

Lute's second pregnancy came in the result of twin girls: Megan Katherine was quiet, only crying when she was hungry or dirty, and even then she was quiet. Lauren Nicole shrieked almost constantly, only stopping when she was tired, or when her father sang to her in his off-key, accented voice.

Snitch, despite his initial fear, had been unable to keep himself from loving the twins from the moment he saw them, the way he hadn't been able to keep himself from loving Mary. He realized, as he watched his daughters sleep one night, that his need for a job was now desperate. Overnight he had gone from needing to support a family of three to needing to support a family of five.

He set out each morning at seven and didn't return until eight each night. Lute was left to deal with all three girls for the entire day. Every afternoon, while Mary slept on the big bed and the twins dozed in their crib, Lute attempted to clean the tiny apartment, only to end up collapsing into tears and finally into a shaky sleep on the floor, until either Mary shook her awake, asking to be fed, or until one of the twins (usually Lauren) started to shriek to be changed.

This routine led to even more fights between the couple. Mary went to her mother in tears one afternoon, begging for the fights to stop. Of course, this only started another fight that night, when Snitch came home. Lute confronted him, with the twins sleeping in their crib and Mary listening just outside the bedroom door, and their came a point where the couple's voices were so loud that their next-door neighbor pounded on the door to complain. Snitch was so embarrassed as he politely shut the door behind their neighbor that as soon as the door clicked shut, he roughly grabbed his wife's wrist and yelled at her for being "ornery", "stubborn", and "too sensitive".

The following morning, he saw the hand-shaped bruise on her wrist and wondered guiltily how many times he would hurt her before she decided to leave him.

The idea of her leaving (due to lack of money, lack of attention, or simply because he couldn't control his goddamn temper) had crossed his mind several times, and it always frightened him. He loved her. He knew the only thread she was hanging on to now was her love for him… but that thread was growing thin, and he knew that as well.

A week before the twins' first birthday, Snitch begged Lissy and Tom to take all three of his girls for a full twenty-four hour period. Just after Lissy picked up the girls and treated them to a walk in the park, Snitch and Lute fell asleep in each other's arms, slept the entire day, then spent the night talking quietly, calming the heavy tension. When their daughters came home, even young Mary, now nearing three, could see how much more relaxed her parents were. The following nights were much more pleasant, with more songs, smiles and laughter.

Four months later, Lute announced another pregnancy, and Snitch nearly fainted at the idea of yet another mouth to feed. The cycle began again, with late nights spent shouting and arguing, Lauren sobbing right along with her mother while Megan and Mary watched in sullen silence.

Finally, one night, everything snapped.

Megan and Lauren, now two, watched in surprise as their parents argued vehemently, something about how Daddy never helped out at home- it was a common argument, one the twins and their sister usually ignored, but there was something different this time. Mommy's voice was shrill, and Daddy's voice wouldn't go lower than a dull roar… plus, it kept cracking. Mary, listening from the other room, started to cry. A placid child, she hated the fighting.

"Is it my fault I didn't have the money for an education?"

"That's why there's factories, Danny!"

"I keep tellin' ya! I've told ya a thousand times! People die in factories! I ain't workin' in one!"

"There has to be someone out there who will hire you, then. It can't take three years to find a job!"

"You try doing it then!"

"You know what I think?" Lute said, putting her hands on her hips and staring her husband in the eye. "I think all you do on the streets all day is pick pockets!"

"Okay, sure," Snitch knew better than to deny it. "I pick a few pockets while I'm out there. But it's not all I do! Besides, it helps us get more money!"

"No, you know where stealing gets you? Jail! What would I do if you got put in jail, Danny?"

"What would… what would you do? So this is all about you now?"

"Don't change the subject, dammit, you know what I mean!"

"Don't you swear at me!" He pushed her backwards and she stumbled, clutching the counter to keep from falling as she stared at him in surprise. Megan let out a scream and Lauren cried harder. "Goddammit, learn your place, and don't you dare swear at me!"

"Daddy, please!" Mary begged, running out of the bedroom towards the kitchen, tears dripping off her cheeks. "Daddy, please stop, please don't do this anymore!"

Snitch, his nerves still taut, knelt down and grabbed his eldest daughter's left wrist. Again, Megan screamed, and as Snitch raised his hand to smack Mary for interfering, he felt the delicate bend of her young bones beneath his hardy, callused hands, and he stopped, staring into his daughter's bright blue eyes, hating the fear he saw in them, hating that Mary knew what he had felt as a child, that unpredictable fear of your own father.

He let her go, still staring at Mary in a kind of blank horror. Lute rushed forward and collected her daughter in her arms. That was when Mary started to sob, clinging to her mother's dirty shirt. Lauren stood and ran as best she could to her mother's ankles, clutching and crying at the top of her lungs. Soon, Megan joined in the crying, not bothering to get up, but sitting all on her own in the middle of the floor, rubbing her eyes and wailing at the ceiling.

Snitch felt like crying himself when Lute turned her face to him and he saw the shallow hatred in her green eyes. She would leave him now. And she would take the girls with her. She didn't even have to say anything about it. He just knew.

So he wasn't at all surprised to find himself alone in the apartment the following morning.

But he knew there were only two places Lute could go: Tom and Lissy's, or back to her parents' home. The latter was more likely, as it was much larger and could handle four more (or five more, once Lute had her next child) inhabitants. Not to mention there were no other children; Lute's younger sister, Leah, was seventeen, still living with her parents, but certainly no child.

When he went on his job hunts, he often took the street passing by the McDonaghey home, and he often paused there to see if maybe he could catch a glimpse of his wife or his daughters. No luck.

He convinced himself that it wasn't his temper that had forced Lute to finally leave: instead, it was his lack of a job. Now that he didn't need to be home by any certain time to check on his wife and kids, he was out for the entire day, looking for jobs, usually ending up at home between nine and eleven, where he slept until five, and started the routine again.

Finally, after almost four years of searching, he hit the jackpot.

An old friend from his days as a newsboy, David Jacobs, saw him on the street and insisted on taking him to lunch. After a short conversation to catch each other up on their personal lives, Snitch brought up his lack of a job, and told Dave that Lute had left him because of it, taking his three daughters with her. Davey thought for a moment, then smiled.

"You know… I work at this store down near the park… you know, it's kinda large, big window displays? They have an opening in their toy department. If you want, I could put a word in for you."

Snitch couldn't believe it. He had to restrain himself from jumping across the table and knocking Davey over with a grateful hug. Instead, he furiously shook Davey's hand and forced his old friend to immediately take him down to the store.

Long story short, Snitch got the job. As soon as he managed to convince himself he wasn't hallucinating, he took off to the McDonaghey house and started pounding on the door, smiling so wide he was sure that he would be able to tie the ends in a knot before he could make himself stop.

It was Lissy who answered the door, looking annoyed. "Shh! The baby's-… Danny!"

Snitch stared at her, gasping, then demanded, "Where's Lute?"

"Upstairs, resting. Why?" She looked so suspicious. Snitch felt guilty; Lute must have told her family what he'd done. But that didn't matter now. She was going to come home when she heard his news.

"I's got something to tell her. It's real important, Lissy, so please, can I see her?"

"She's resting right now. God knows she needs it."

Snitch blinked. "Why?"

"She spent last night giving birth to your son."

Snitch's knees buckled, and he had to grab the metal railing to keep himself from bowling over. "… What? And… and no one thought to tell me?"

Lissy scowled at him, thinking things over. "No one expected it. In the uproar, no one thought of going to fetch you. There wasn't time anyway; this is the fourth child she's given birth to, and she's got the hips for birthing. She goes through them fast now."

"I still would have liked to have known!"

"Well, now you do."

Snitch stared at her for a moment, hurt that he had been ignored in yet another of his children's birth. "Well… can I come in? Please? I really need to talk to Lute."

Lissy sighed. "I guess. Come along, hurry up."

She stepped aside to let him inside, and showed him up the stairs to where Lute had been sleeping. Quietly, he entered the room.

Lute saw him and sat up. "Danny…" she said quietly. "Did someone tell you, then?"

Snitch scowled and glanced at Lissy. "No. I only just found out."

"Really?" Lute blinked. "I kept telling them to send for you…"

His heart surged. "Shh. It's okay. I know now. I'd like to see him later." He paused. "And it is a boy?"

Lute nodded.

"Finally!"

She laughed this time, and it hurt when Snitch realized how much he missed that sound.

"But I have good news for you too," he said, going to sit by her.

"Really? What?"

His grin returned. "I got a job."

She stared at him. "Are you teasing me?"

"No! Why would I tease?" He took her hands in his, kissing the knuckles softly. "I had to get a job. I needs you and the girls… and our boy… to come home. I hate bein' all alone in that apartment. I's gotten used to the noise, and didn't even realize it."

Her face softened. She wanted to come back to him. He could see that quite plainly.

"But… Danny, I can't…"

"If you can't 'cause of the baby, that's okay. I can wait a week or two."

"No. That's not it."

Snitch leaned away from her, but kept his hold on her hands. "Why?"

She bit her lip. "First of all, that apartment is just too small, Danny. There are six of us now. You, me, Mary, Megan, Lauren… and now the boy. It won't hold all of us."

"I can fix that," Snitch said quickly. "Davey told me today that me ol' pal Crutchy is a part-owner of some apartments down near the store where I's gonna be workin'. I could get a good deal off Crutchy. Those apartments are bigger, Davey said. They could hold us."

"Well, that's fine, but… Danny, it's not the biggest reason."

He released her hands. "It's 'cause I hit you those times, huh?"

"No." She sighed. "It's because you almost hit Mary."

Snitch shuddered. "Don't remind me. It ain't one of me better moments."

"I hate to say it, but I'm glad it makes you feel guilty. My God, what was going through your head?" She reached over and put her hands in his hair, and my, didn't that feel good? "To even think of hitting your own daughter! Especially Mary… Mary so looks up to you, Danny. She and Lauren both kept asking me when they were going to you again."

Snitch stared at her. "Even though I almost hit her?"

"Danny, she loves you. Didn't you feel the same way about your father?"

"Hell, no."

"Well, didn't you know someone in the same situation?"

As a matter of fact, he did. One of his close friends at the Lodging House, Skittery Tatum, had come to them after his brother Joseph's death. Skittery had idolized Joseph, even though Snitch had seen the scars from where the older Tatum boy had beaten his younger counterpart. Yet, Snitch heard nothing but good about Joseph from Skittery. Joseph Tatum was a regular saint in his little brother's eyes.

"Yeh… I guess… I hate putting her through that, though!" His fist clenched around a snatch of blanket. "All three of them! I hate it! … But I could never help it. The stress… the stress got to me."

Lute bent his head forward and kissed him between his eyes. "You have a job?"

"Yeh. A good one. They'll keep me there."

"And you have a new apartment?"

"Yeh. I think so. I should."

"So you blame your temper on the stress?"

"Yeh." He looked at her. "Please don't hate me no more. Come home. Bring the girls. I miss you all so much."

Lute thought on it, chewing her bottom lip as she did so. "And you won't hit the children?"

Snitch sighed. "I… I can't lie. I don't know. I'll try not to. I'll try as hard as I can. But sometimes my temper gets the better of me. I think I got that from my dad."

"You'll try…" She looked away, out the window. "Good God. Try. I hate that word."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything. I never meant to hit you, and of the times I hit you. Honest. And I wasn't thinkin' when I was goin' to hit Mary. I was so mad, I couldn't believe she was tryin' to get in the way. Lots of parents hit their kids when they's mad. I just thought…"

He looked at Lute, and she looked back. They were young, so young; almost twenty-four. Yet so much had happened to them since their marriage. Things had looked so easy when they were simply engaged, or when they were newlyweds, but… but the easy times hadn't lasted. When do they ever?

Tears started to flow over Lute's cheeks, and Snitch wiped them away with two fingers, smiling as he did it. "'Ey, now, those ain't for me. Keep those for Lissy; she can handle 'em better than I can." He laughed. "When you girls get moody and cry for no reason… I never know what to do witcha."

Lute laughed as well, and they embraced, clasping each other tightly.

The one reason they had stuck together through the difficult times was their love for each other. Then, later, their love for their children. Mary, who looked so much like her father, poked her head into their mother's bedroom and giggled at the sight she found. Snitch heard her laughter and twisted around to see. Megan (who moreso resembled her mother) and Lauren (who was a nice balance between the two) pushed too hard on their elder sister, and all three of the Riccio girls tumbled into the room, their Aunt Lissy standing over them, shaking her head and holding a fussy baby in her arms.

"I'm guessing my little sister isn't going to take my advice?" Lissy said, stepping over the tussling girls in the direction of her sister.

"When do I ever take your advice, Lissy?" Lute countered. "Now give Danny his son. It's time the father met his boy."

As Lissy gingerly placed the infant in Snitch's arms, Lute leaned over, resting her chin on Snitch's shoulder.

"What's his name?" Snitch asked her, reveling in the sweet euphoria that always came with holding his children.

"We haven't found him one yet. What do you want to name him?"

"Why do I have to choose?"

"Because it's your turn. I named Mary and Lauren. You named Megan. Now it's your turn again."

He looked at her, then at his daughters, sitting on the floor. Their hair was mussed and their eyes were wide, waiting for a response. They had a brother now, and it was time they knew what to call him.

Snitch thought hard, and, after several minutes, his eyes brightened.

"Oliver."

Lute raised her eyebrows. "Oliver?"

"Oliver Daniel Riccio." He looked at his wife. "You like it?"

She tried it out once, rolling it around on her tongue before looking at her son. "Oliver," she said, lightly brushing the fine hair on the child's head. "Oliver… I love it."

"Oliver it is then!" Snitch said delightedly, holding his son up in the air. "Hello, Oliver, glad to have you aboard!"

The young girls shrieked with giggles and ran to their father, clamoring up onto his lap, each insisting that they would be the one to take Oliver's place in Snitch's arms.

Snitch, almost dizzy with joy, handed his son to Lute and placed one arm around her shoulders. Then, he spread the other arm over Lauren and Mary's shoulders, clinging to Megan's tiny fingers as she sat on the opposite leg.

"No one's takin' anybody's place here, a'ight?" He told them. The girls giggled, and chorused 'Yes, Daddy' in a charming harmony.

Snitch kissed his wife's cheek. "So you're coming home? Even though things have been hard before and they may still be hard, you'll come home to me?"

Lute, holding Oliver in the crook of one arm, used the other hand to smooth Megan's hair before kissing Snitch's mouth. "Always. That's what love is, isn't it? Even through the toughest storm, you find your way home."

"Yeh," Snitch agreed, smiling as Mary and Lauren started to push each other over who got the better hug from Daddy. "Yeh, that's exactly what love is. Exactly."

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

GODDAMMIT THIS STORY FOUGHT ME THE WHOLE WAY!

**throws things at it**

**sharp things**

**heavy things**

BAH.

But Elizabeth asked me to write it. And I'll do anything for Elizabeth, who's my cousin, by the way. My role-model, I guess you could say. My Lissy. ^_^; She coached me through this story, and kept pushing me to write it, even though I got really frustrated with it at points.

AND I STILL THINK IT'S STUPID ELIZABETH!

But she likes it, so I guess I'll post it anyway.

LOL, she wanted me to name one of the Riccio girls 'Madison', after her daughter-to-be (Yup, yup, Elizabeth's pregnant, due in December! XD), but just told her no. "They aren't your character's children. They're my character's children. And I have children. Oh yes. Freshmen."

So Lute and Snitch's daughters are named after some of my freshmen. ^_^

That's all.

**throws a few more things at the story before sticking her tongue out at it and shutting word down for the night**