The title is self-explanatory, because they had no ending.
"Miss Baxter? Would you step outside for a second?"
Everyone else was starting to head up to bed, it had been nothing if not an exciting day, and she had been starting to think about it herself.
His question stopped her, though. He seemed a little uneasy - jolly still, from the drinks they had had but uneasy all the same.
"Of course," she replied softly.
He didn't have his coat on, but he was holding it in his hand. Maybe he was thinking of leaving straight off after he'd said whatever he had to. She followed him to the back door away from all of the other people. They passed Mrs Patmore on the way, more than a little tipsy it seemed.
"You not going up?" she asked Phyllis.
"In a minute," Phyllis assured her.
"Suit yourselves," Mrs Patmore had seemed to have forgotten that the two of them would not be going up together, "I'll say goodnight then," she told them both.
"Goodnight, Mrs. Patmore," Joseph said to her.
She gave him an almost rueful look and went away, murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
They exchanged a look.
"I think she's had a bit much," she murmured to him.
He grinned a little.
"There would have been a time when that would have been me," he told her, "Before you were here."
"I find that hard to believe," she replied, stepping out of the back door after him.
"I get along without it now," he told her.
He still had not put on his coat. She was about to ask him if he should wear it or not if he didn't want to catch cold, when he held it out, plainly offering it to her.
"I don't want you to get cold," he told her.
She hesitated for a moment, looking first to the coat and then to him. He was completely serious. She reached her hand out to take it, but he stepped around her draping it over her shoulders. It was large and heavy and warm and she drew it around herself gratefully, pulling it up to her chin. He smiled at the sight of her in it, and then his eyes fell a little. He looked nervous again.
"I've been wanting to ask you something for some time," he began, "Tonight felt like the night."
"It's been a lovely night," she agreed with him, "With Lady Edith, and with Anna's baby. Oh, and Thomas," her smile broadened sincerely now, "Everyone's got a reason to be happy, at last."
"They have," he said slowly, seeming to weigh up his words very carefully, "But I was wondering-… If I couldn't, maybe, give you a reason to be happy. Phyllis."
She startled a little at the use of her name. And the fact that it made her realise exactly what he was about to ask her. Her heart sped up noticeably, and seemed to move to her throat.
"Of course, it would mainly be me, who would be happy if-…" he stopped himself, shaking his head, starting again, "Of course, recently, I've been happier than I ever thought I'd have the chance to be, at the school, with the cottage. Coming to see you on Saturdays. I seem to have found my feet. Touch wood," he added hastily, as an after thought.
"I'd say you have," she assured him softly.
He looked at her, nodded.
"Well, the thing is-…" he looked away from her again.
Reaching her hand out from under his coat, she took hold of his softly, hoping to steady him, to give him courage.
He swallowed. It seemed to work.
"The thing is," he continued, "These last few weeks, I've been wondering if you'd like-… more than just Saturdays. With me." His eyes were on her face now, as he explained, "The cottage is a little bit for just me, I don't know how to-… I miss you," he confessed, at last, plainly, putting into speech the words that had floated through both their minds more than once recently, "I love you. I want to be with you."
When at last it came, it came so suddenly that she could barely speak to answer him. She took a moment to process it.
Then she stepped forwards, covering his hand with her other one too now.
"You know," she told him, not trusting her voice not to shake, "I considered letting you know. You know what I thought about doing?"
"What?" he asked her.
"I thought about trying to catch Lady Edith bouquet, in front of you," she told him, grinning, "Mad, isn't it?"
Tears had formed in her eyes, but she beamed, seeing him laugh at the idea. She kept grinning
"Maybe I'm drunk," she wondered.
"Maybe I'm drunk to have worked up the nerve to ask you to marry me," he told her, "Because I am asking."
"I know," she replied, "And I'm saying yes."
The look on his face was like nothing she'd ever seen.
"You have no idea," he told her, "How happy this makes me. How hard I'll try, every day, to show you how much I-…" there were tears in his eyes, he reached away to dab at them, but she reached out for his arm, tugging him back to her.
"I love you," she told him, looking up into his eyes, "I love you too, Joseph Molesley."
She reached up, pressing her mouth fervently to his, kissing him with every ounce of might she could muster.
end.
please review if you're as mad as i am about the ending