Chapter 9: Ellie

"I feel like I need to give you a disclosure before we walk in there."

Tommy hesitated as we stood at the entrance of our new home. It was a five story brick tenement building, recently built about five years ago or so according to Tommy. Sarah had warned me of how bad tenements were, and told me of a law that was passed about ten years ago that called for improvements in these buildings, requiring indoor plumbing, proper ventilation, outward facing windows, and fire codes up to standard. Since this was considered a new law tenement, I hoped conditions were not as horrible as she described. Landlords weren't always amicable toward following new regulations, especially if they were costly.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," I said, almost as if I was convincing myself.

"My accommodations on Titanic were better."

"As they should be, she was the finest in the world before everything happened."

"Yeah, well don't say I didn't warn ya," he sighed, "It's only temporary."

"Take me inside already," I nudged him. He nodded, taking a deep breath before opening the door to let me in. The main floor, a common area, was just clear, open space with a concrete floor and baby blue walls, no front desk or anything. I was startled for a brief moment when I realized there were a handful of people staggered across the room, propping themselves up against the walls fast asleep. I could only assume they were homeless. It was so dark, you could easily stumble over one of them if you weren't paying attention.

"We're up on the fourth floor," Tommy said quietly, taking my hand tightly, "Just follow me."

Walking briskly past the scattered group of sleepers, Tommy brought me to a wooden set of stairs which began in the corner of the room. Trash and empty liquor bottles had accumulated on the stairs, but there was less of it the further up you went.

"No elevators?" I teased.

"Sorry, lass."

"Well having to carry groceries up these stairs is just unacceptable. I can't bear it."

"Just remember, you chose this life," he looked down at me with that smirk of his, "You got that ring on your finger now, too late to turn back."

"You could have showed me the place before you proposed."

"And have you say no? I had to trap ya when I could."

I giggled as we made it to the fourth floor. To my relief, there were no sleeping bodies in the hall. It was very dimly lit, the hall floors were the same hardwood as the stairs, topped with a red, green and gold runner with a floral design. It certainly had seen its fair share of some wear and tear. The walls were coated with matching red paint, which was beginning to chip a bit from lack of upkeep.

"You know, I'm surprised they let you move in here already." we walked a feet doors down and stopped in front of an apartment embellished with the number 417 on the door.

"The faster I'm here, the easier it is for me to get to work," he said, working on unlocking the door, "The mill is only a few blocks from here. If I'm here, no excuse to show up late or not at all. Incentive to get people to work, especially people like me."

"Does everyone who lives here work at the mill?"

"No, not everyone. They own apartments in a number of buildings in the area, I guess. Contracts with building developers and what not," he shrugged as the door lock clicked open. He slid the door open, extending his arm out, "After you."

"Thank you," I turned my nose up in a snobbish manner, making him snicker.

A small, empty apartment greeted me, lit by candlelight. It was all tongue and groove hardwood. The room we were standing in was covered with red, floral wallpaper and had a white fireplace. An open door to the left led you to the kitchen, painted mint green. It was quite small, the whole apartment was smaller than the dining room in the townhome in Philadelphia I grew up in.

"There's three rooms," he shut the door behind us, locking it, "Technically four I guess if you count the bathroom. Where we're standing will be the parlor, kitchen, as you can see, is to your left past that door there. Bedroom is past the kitchen behind the door on the right there, bathroom is behind the door on the left."

Quietly, I set my suitcase down by the door and paced around. We would certainly need furniture. The porcelain sink in the kitchen were scrubbed, floor was swept of any debris. There was a shelf in the kitchen above the sink that was cleared away, and a white, glass cabinet above the small two burner coal stove, which would be the perfect place to store pots and pans, maybe some dishes. There was a bit of counter space next to the sink, with a two door cabinet underneath. Not much space for cookware at all, but manageable with only the two of us living here.

After examining the kitchen, I made my way to the bedroom. It was the size of my walk in closet. There was a wooden dresser that was really scratched up, but useable nonetheless, and a twin sized metal bed frame. The bathroom across was about half the size, barely enough room for the tub in there.

Candles were lit everywhere, the warm glow made the whole apartment feel surprisingly inviting . As I paced back to the parlor area, I finally took notice to pillows and blankets all laid out.

"Hope you don't mind sleepin' on the floor for a bit," Tommy leaned against the kitchen doorway, "The mattress that was left here was more than rough."

"Did you do all of this?" I asked quietly. I was touched by all the little things, already making me feel comfortable. The candles, the cleanliness...it made a difference. "It's nearly spotless in here."

"I couldn't bring you here in the state it was in from the last family that was here."

"I could have helped you," I turned toward him. He shrugged it off.

"It's nothin.' Had to chase a family of rats out of the kitchen cabinets, but other than that it wasn't that bad."

"My god," I laughed uncomfortably.

"I think they might be back for their revenge later. I'd be on the lookout."

"I'll be on my guard," I grinned. I sat down amongst the blankets and pillows, taking everything in.

It was tiny. But when it came down to it, I couldn't believe we had a place to call our own.

"So..." Tommy broke the silence after a bit, "Do you have any thoughts or are ya just gonna sit there?"

"Tommy, it's our first home," I locked eyes with him, "Of course I like it."

"You like it?" He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, "We have a kitchen, right? Indoor plumbing? Bedroom?"

"I mean, yeah."

"Then all our needs are met," I motioned for him to sit next to me, "I've told you, I don't need anything fancy. I just need you."

"Such a low standard of living for such a high class girl," he grinned, ruffling my hair before sitting by me and pulling me into his arms.

"High class was never my taste," I replied, "Just like the green in the kitchen."

"I can paint that."

"Other than that, it's really not bad. It's small, but I think we can manage."

"Well we won't stay here forever," Tommy stated, "Just long enough for me to gain more work experience, save up what I can and get out of the city."

"Really?" I looked up at him, perplexed. "You don't like New York?"

"Eh, I do to a point," he shrugged, "I just feel like there's no room to breathe. Everyone is just on top of each other."

"I can understand that. Philadelphia is not much different."

"I know the jobs are in the cities, and the only family I have close is here, but I think I like a quieter life to be honest," he expressed, "It's what I'm used to. My family home is just a small cottage fallin' apart with a good amount of land. Whenever I felt the need to step out or get away, there was a lot of places I could run to."

"Not so much here."

"No," he shook his head, "So I do want to branch out."

"We have options," I stated, "New York is just one part of the whole country. It's quieter out of the cities. Lots of farms in Pennsylvania."

"In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh?"

"No," I laughed, "Pennsylvania is much more than just Philadelphia and Pittsburgh."

"Then we'll travel there. We'll travel all over and see the country together."

"You have big dreams, Tommy," I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Gotta have somethin' right?"

"Well before we do all that, I think we need to worry about getting settled here," I stated, "We should look into finding furniture on your day off."

"If we can fit any furniture in here."

"We could do a sofa in the here at least. A small table, but big enough for two chairs, in the kitchen, new mattress..." I could picture it already. "The bed frame does looks small."

"It is, looks like it's made for one person."

"Then I guess we have to get used to sleeping pretty close together then," I said, intertwining my fingers with his.

"We'd have to be careful with that," he smirked, "My aunt doesn't approve of us living together out of wedlock."

"Is that so?" we exchanged glances with each other.

"Mhmm," he was looking at me intensely now, as if his eyes were undressing me, "Can't imagine why."

"Me either," I blushed.

"You'll be my wife soon enough anyway."

I loved hearing the sound of that. Wife. It made my stomach flutter with excitement.

"That's true," I said, my fingers trailing to the buttons of his shirt, starting to loosen them, "And I know there's wifely duties I have to fulfill."

"This our place now," he pulled me up against him, "And we can do whatever we want."

"The eyes of God are still watching you," I teased.

"Then I hope God can forgive me."

"For what?"

Taking my breath away, he kissed me so intensely, as if it would be the last time he would, before pinning me down against the pile of pillows. My heart felt as if it was about to burst out of my chest.

"For all the things I'm about to do to you."

A shorter chapter, I know, but I hope to update again soon! As always, reviews are extremely appreciated and I would love to know your thoughts! I always like to know if there people out there reading so please don't forget to drop one if you can! Thank you all!