'I have been so sure of anything.'
Well then Mr Carson. If you want me to have have me, to quote Oliver Cromwell, warts and all.' She couldn't believe she was actually saying it, that she finally was able to say it to him after so long squirting around each other. Finally she could go forth and set a date for her to become the happiest woman in all of Great Britain. She smiled, almost biting her lip to stop an undignified squeal of joy from slipping from them.
The world slowed suddenly as his lips flickered down and he began to lean into her. He couldn't be about to do what she thought he was could he? He could! She tilted her face to meet his and met him part way as their lips tentatively met. It wasn't her first kiss ever but it was the first one that mattered, she was finally kissing the only man she would ever kiss for the rest of her life.
Just as she thought her heart couldn't sweet any further she felt his hands slip up to her neck and cradle her face between them. He pulled back after a moment and looked at her his eyes telling her everything she needed to know. She could see reflected back at her the words Mrs Patmore had regaled to her-he thought she was beautiful, he was proud to have her, he loved her. She watched awed as he bent to kiss her forehead-she'd never noticed before just how lovely his chin was but at once it was now all she could see. The intimacy of this second kiss, almost more reverent than the first, caused her eyelids to flutter shut. He wrapped his arms around her and she fell against his chest in an embrace better than any she had known and more loving than she ever dare imagine she could receive from the normally reserved butler.
She couldn't believe he'd actually talked with their friend about… martial intimacies, let alone with such tender cantor as he had. Very few people would ever see that side of him-herself and Lady Mary were the only two who truly saw it. She supposed Beryl was now a honoured member of the elite group even if she'd been reluctant to do so.
They stayed wrapped in each others arms for many minutes, the outside world not only being shut out but unimportant. Eventually he pulled back and said the words she had longed to hear from the man himself.
'I love you Elsie. I cannot wait to call myself your husband. I can't wait for you to become Mrs Carson, it will be the proudest moment of my life.'
'Oh Charles, I love you too. You old booby.' She grinned as he chuckled at their private joke.
'Not just any old booby. I'm your old booby. Always and forever, warts and all.'