A/N: Here I am, back with the 7th story in my Crutchie and Jennie series. Faith is about to turn 3 and Crutchie and Jennie are both 25 in this one, so there's a bit of a time jump in between this story and my last one. I hope you all enjoy it!
October 1909
It was rather late at night when Jennie finally heard Crutchie come in the door. She had already put Faith to bed and the lamps were lighted, enveloping the parlor in a soft orange glow.
"There you are." Jennie smiled softly at Crutchie when he entered the room. "I was getting worried."
"Sorry. Had to work late tonight, one of the other guys was out," Crutchie said, dropping onto the sofa with a tired grunt and running a hand through his hair.
"That's fine," Jennie replied, standing up. "I saved you some dinner, let me go get it."
"No, don't bother." Crutchie shook his head. "I ain't hungry. Think I'm just gonna go to bed, get an early night."
"You're not hungry?" Jennie frowned, walking over to where Crutchie was sitting and pressing a gentle hand to his forehead. "You don't feel warm. Do you think you're coming down with something?"
"I feel fine, Jennie," Crutchie insisted, twisting away from her touch. "Just tired. Good night."
Jennie pulled away at Crutchie's unexpectedly hard tone and watched him walk towards their bedroom slowly, looking much older than his 25 years. "Good night, Charlie," she called after him softly.
The bedroom door shut with a click.
-Break-
Crutchie's odd behavior that night didn't leave Jennie's mind, but he seemed intent on ignoring it. Over the course of the next week, he woke up early, went to work all day, and came home late at night. Jennie hardly saw him, which of course made her worry even more.
I'm sure it's nothing. She tried to reassure herself as she waited for him to come home one evening. Work is just keeping him busy. His boss has always been quite demanding… Suddenly Jennie's train of thought came to a screeching halt.
Crutchie always brought home his paycheck every week, and carefully put it in the top drawer of their dresser. Then, after church on Sunday, she and Faith would head home to make lunch and he would stop at the bank to pay the rent and deposit what was left of it in their account. But last week… I didn't see him with the check Jennie suddenly realized. He went to the bank, at least I think he did. But not with the check.
Jennie's heart began to thud loudly as she came to this conclusion. What on Earth was going on? She couldn't think of any reason for Crutchie to hide it from her, and he was well aware that they needed it for the rent and groceries and things like that. They weren't exactly wealthy people.
Suddenly, Jennie heard the key turn in the lock. The door opened, and she heard the familiar click of her husband's crutch. She gulped. There was nothing else for it- she'd have to confront him.
-Break-
Crutchie sighed as he entered the apartment and closed the door behind him. He was exhausted from having walked around the city all day and wanted nothing more than to see Jennie and Faith and go to bed. He took his coat off and then walked towards the parlor, intending to collapse onto the sofa and let its softness consume him.
When Crutchie entered the parlor, however. Jennie was there waiting for him. There was nothing so unusual in this, except for the fact that instead of reading or sewing like she normally did Jennie was sitting in her chair staring at him, her posture stiff and straight.
"Jennie?" Crutchie asked as he settled himself on the sofa (though with less relief than had become usual in the past week and a half). "What's wrong?"
"I was hoping you could tell me that, Charlie," Jennie said, and Crutchie winced at her tone. It was soft and quiet and trusting, and that hurt him more than if she had yelled and screamed at him.
"I- I don't know what you mean," Crutchie stammered, trying to play dumb in a last desperate attempt to avoid this conversation.
"Where is it, Charlie?"
"Where's what?"
"Charlie," Jennie's tone had become impatient. "I'm not an idiot. I noticed. Where is your paycheck?"
"Oh." Crutchie lowered his head, twisting his hands together anxiously. "That."
"Yes. That." Jennie sighed. "Just tell me. Where is it?"
Crutchie was silent for a minute before speaking. "Gone."
"Gone where?" Jennie asked, her heart beginning to jump once again. "Do you mean you spent it?"
"No." Crutchie shook his head. "Never got it."
"You- what do you mean? What are you saying?"
"I lost my job, Jennie." Crutchie finally looked up at her, and she could see that his eyes had filled with tears. "I got fired."
Jennie's eyes widened and she looked away from Crutchie for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "I- when?"
"Last Monday," Crutchie mumbled.
"Almost two weeks ago." Jennie waited for Crutchie to nod, then she continued. "Almost two weeks ago, and you didn't tell me."
"I was gonna tell ya!" Crutchie protested.
"But you didn't." Jennie shook her head, disappointment evident in her voice. "So what have you been doing this whole time? When I thought you were at work?"
Crutchie looked down at his hands again and shrugged. "Lookin' for work. I musta been all over the city twice by now, but no luck." He chuckled bitterly. "Thought about tryin' to sell a few papes, but I think I'm a few years too old for that."
Jennie didn't laugh. "How did we pay this month's rent?"
Crutchie froze. He hesitated. "With our… savings."
"What savings?" Jennie asked, anger finally beginning to creep into the edges of her voice.
"I… well… Faith's savings," Crutchie finally stammered.
Jennie's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Let me see if I have this right. You lost your job almost two weeks ago. You didn't tell me. You went around acting like nothing had happened and deliberately deceived me. And then you took from our savings for Faith's future and used it to pay our rent because there was no money left anywhere else." At this last statement, the venom in Jennie's voice became fully audible. About a year after Faith had been born she and Crutchie had begun to put a little bit by every month, intending to use those savings to send Faith to a good school when the time came. Now, a large portion of that money was gone.
"I- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Jennie." Crutchie's voice had taken on a desperate tone. "I didn't mean to hurt you, or Faith."
Jennie took a deep breath and shook her head. "I don't care what you meant to do. I care what you did. And what you did was hurt me, and Faith." Jennie looked at Crutchie with betrayal in her eyes. "If we can't be honest with each other, then what's the point of this?"
Crutchie opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came out. He looked like a fish out of water, gasping for air.
Jennie stood up, and Crutchie stood too. She put a hand up to stop him. "Don't. Please, I want to be alone."
"But shouldn't we-"
"Charles. Enough."
Crutchie flinched, feeling as though Jennie had slapped him. In all their years together, she had never called him anything other than Charlie. Until now, that is.
Jennie went to the front hall and took her coat off of the hook next to Crutchie's, slipping it on as she pulled the door open. "I'm going out. I'll be back by tomorrow morning."
Crutchie nodded, even though she was facing away from him. "Okay."
The front door shut with a thud.
A/N: This story is more dramatic than a lot of my other ones, so I hope you all like that. Please leave reviews and let me know your thoughts on this chapter! I'd love to hear what you think about this so far.