THE GIFT
CHAPTER ONE
The small gift, wrapped in gold foil and tied with a red ribbon, sat in the center of her desk. She had no idea where it came from or who had placed it there. She walked over and picked it up, inspecting the package to see if there was a clue as to who it was from. At that moment Anna came bounding into her office. "Mrs. Hughes! Gerti is really sick! Come quick!" She'd sat the package back down on her desk and rushed up to the attics to attend to the young housemaid.
"Gerti? What's wrong?" she asked, kneeling down by the delirious girl's bedside. She placed her hand on the girl's forehead and she was steaming hot. "Anna, call Dr. Clarkson and ask Daisy to get me some cool water and a flannel. Hurry!" Anna sped off as Mrs. Hughes tried to get Gerti to take a sip of water. The young girl cried and pushed the water away, holding her stomach and moaning. Daisy came in with a basin of water and flannel, her eyes wide with fear.
"What's wrong with her?" she asked quietly.
"I'm not sure Daisy. Can you stay with her for a few minutes while I go find Mr. Carson to let him know what's going on?" Daisy nodded, pulling a chair over to Gerti's beside and wiping her brow with the cool cloth. Mrs. Hughes hurried downstairs to find Charles. He was just coming through the green baize doors as Mrs. Hughes rounded the corner on the stairs and they ran right into each other. He reached out and grabbed her arms to keep her from falling down the stairs.
"Mrs. Hughes! What on earth?!" he bellowed as they collided.
"Oh! Goodness! I am so sorry Mr. Carson!"
"Why on earth are you running down the stairs?! You could have fallen and broken your neck!" he replied gruffly.
"I was looking for you actually." she said, straightening her skirts and looking up at him techily.
He smiled widely at this. "Oh? Whyever were you in such a hurry?" She looked at him confused. Why on earth was he smiling like that? Now she was well and truly agitated.
"Gerti has taken ill Mr. Carson..very ill. I've sent for Dr. Clarkson. I'm very worried. She's delirious and writhing in pain!" His smile faded at once.
"Oh my! I am sorry to hear that. Please go back up and attend to her and I will bring Dr. Clarkson up as soon as he arrives." he responded gravely. Mrs. Hughes hurried back upstairs as he went down to his pantry. He peeked into her sitting room as he walked by and noticed that the gift was still sitting there, unopened. He sighed heavily. Why must there always be some sort of emergency? Damn and Blast! I do hope the girl is alright but what rotten timing. I really wanted her to open the gift this morning. He scrubbed his hand down his face and plopped down into his chair. He had made a decision last night and then not slept a wink worrying about it. What if she was offended? What if she didn't like it? It was all he could do not to rush back into her room and take it back. But he knew she'd been in there this morning long enough to see the package on her desk and she would think someone had stolen it if he were to take it back now. Now all he could do is wait and it was killing him! He looked up suddenly as he heard the servant's door open and rushed out to meet Dr. Clarkson. He led him up to Gerti's room and was shocked at the young girl's condition. She was moaning and writhing in the bed oblivious to anyone else. Mrs. Hughes was trying to wipe her face with a cool cloth and not having much success.
"Oh! Dr. Clarkson! I don't know what's wrong with her. Anna found her this way this morning and she seems to be getting even worse!" Mrs. Hughes explained stepping back to let Dr. Clarkson examine the girl. She nodded at Charles and they stepped out into the hallway.
"I'm really worried about her Mr. Carson. I've never seen anything like this before." Mrs. Hughes whispered.
"Dr. Clarkson will know what to do." he whispered back. Her hair was falling around her face from trying to keep the young girl from falling out of bed. Without thinking he reached up and tucked a loose strand behind her ear tenderly. She flinched, took a step back and looked up at him confused. "I'm...uh...I'm sorry Mrs. Hughes...your hair was in your eyes...I'm sorry." She squinted her eyes and looked into his trying to figure out what on earth he was about.
"No, it's fine. Thank you." she said, pushing her hair back behind her ears again. "What must I look like. I feel like I've been in a wrestling match trying to keep her from falling out of that bed."
"Get away with you." he smiled down at her. Just then the door opened and Dr. Clarkson was barking orders.
"Mr. Carson, phone for the ambulance at once! Mrs. Hughes, gather her things! She has an appendicitis and it could burst at any moment! We must get her to the hospital for surgery at once!"
Mr. Carson took off quickly to the phone while Elsie rushed in and grabbed a clean gown, robe and slippers for Gerti. She was laying still and very pale. "I gave her a sedative." Dr. Clarkson said as he walked back to her bedside.
"Will she be alright?" Mrs. Hughes asked quietly, going over to take the young girl's hand.
"She's young and strong. If we can get her to surgery in time, she should recover fully."
The ambulance came and Mrs. Hughes insisted on going with Gertie, asking Mr. Carson to inform the family. "I'll call when I have news." she said as she left. Mr. Carson walked back into his pantry and shut the door, sinking back down into his chair once more. He was well and truly worried for the young girl and felt selfish for his worry over the gift that sat on Mrs. Hughes desk, but he couldn't help himself. Once she had opened it, it would change everything between them.
TBC
CHAPTER TWO
Once at the hospital, things moved quickly. Mrs. Hughes stood back as the nurses rushed Gertie behind a curtain and began to prep her for surgery. "Mrs. Hughes, you should go back to the house where you'll be more comfortable. It will take two to three hours for the surgery and I will call once we are done to give you a report." Dr. Clarkson said quietly.
Mrs. Hughes nodded. "Please do call when she's out of surgery. I'd like to be here when she wakes up if possible. I need to call her mother. She'll want to know what's going on. Thank you Dr. Clarkson." As she exited the hospital Mr. Branson was walking by. "Oh, hello Mr. Branson." she said, smiling politely.
"Mrs. Hughes? What are you doing here this time of day? Has something happened?" he asked, concerned.
"The housemaid Gertie, has taken ill. Dr. Clarkson said it's her appendix so she's having surgery. I'm just headed back to the house to phone her mother."
"Oh my! Well, my car is just over here. Please, let me drive you." he motioned.
"Oh I don't want to trouble you. Surely you have better things to do than shuttle me around."
"Nonsense, I owe you, several times over." he smiled knowingly.
"Well, on that we can agree." she smiled kindly and followed him to his car.
"Mrs. Hughes? I didn't expect to see you back so soon! How is Gertie?" Mr. Carson asked as she came through the door.
"She's in surgery by now. Dr. Clarkson said it'll be two to three hours. I need to call her mother." she said, hanging up her coat and hat. Mr. Carson followed her into her sitting room. "I've got that number here somewhere." she said, searching her shelf for her address book. "Ah, here it is." She turned to see him standing closer than she realized and bumped into him. He reached out and steadied her.
"Careful, Elsie." he said, before he realized it. He cleared his throat, "Uh, I mean Mrs. Hughes, sorry."
She shook her head and smiled at him slightly. "No, no, it's alright. I don't mind you calling me that when no one else is about. It's nice to hear my Christian name." She moved past him to the door. "Might I use the telephone?"
"Oh, yes, of course, please." he replied, a bit shaken by his slip. He turned to see the gift still sitting unopened on her desk and sighed heavily, rubbing his brow.
Once Mrs. Hughes had informed Gertie's mother, she was summoned upstairs to go over room arrangements for the upcoming house party. There were going to be eight guests, three couples and two singles so they'd need to make up five guest rooms. Once arrangements were settled, she headed back downstairs to give her maids the assignments to ready to rooms. No sooner had she dismissed the maids to begin preparations than Daisy came into her sitting room holding a towel over her hand. "Daisy? What is it?" she asked, tiredly.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Hughes but I've cut myself and Mrs. Patmore sent me in here for a bandage."
"Oh dear, well come sit down and let me have a look at it." Daisy sat down in the chair across from her as she pulled her first aid kit out of the bottom drawer of her desk. She gently cleaned the cut on Daisy's thumb with peroxide then put some salve on it and wrapped a bandage around it. "There now, keep it dry as you can Daisy."
"Mrs. Patmore is gonna kill me! How am I gonna wash the dishes?!" she panicked.
Mrs. Hughes sighed. "I'll come speak with her." She looked back at the package still sitting on her desk, wondering who it was from and what was in it. She walked into the kitchen where she found Mrs. Patmore yelling at Daisy. "Mrs. Patmore, please. The girl didn't cut herself on purpose. She's going to have to keep that finger as dry as possible so it will heal or it could get infected. Now, I will have one of the maids come down and help with the washing up so you can stop your panicking." This seemed to satisfy the harried cook so Elsie headed upstairs to find Madge. She knew the girl wouldn't be happy to be sent down to kitchen duty but there was nothing she could do about it now. She also knew that it meant she would have to stay upstairs the rest of the day and help the maids get the rooms ready. "What a day! I should've stayed in bed!" she murmured to herself as she climbed the stairs.
Charles checked her sitting room at least four more times that day to see if she'd opened the gift yet and found her room empty and gift still unopened each time. "What on earth is she doing?" he wondered to himself. Later that afternoon the phone rang and Mr. Carson answered it.
"Yes, Mr. Carson, may I please speak to Mrs. Hughes?" Dr. Clarkson asked.
"I'm afraid she's not available to come to phone at the moment Dr. Clarkson. Might I relay a message to her for you?" he asked patiently.
"Yes, please tell her that Gertie is out of surgery and doing well. She's still asleep but Mrs. Hughes had said she wanted to be here when the girl woke up."
"I will find her and let her know right away Dr. Clarkson. Thank you." He hung up and headed upstairs to find Mrs. Hughes to relay the news at once. After searching for nearly ten minutes, he finally found her in the gold room, wrestling a fitted sheet onto the large, four poster bed. "Mrs. Hughes! Why on earth are you doing that? Shouldn't one of the maids…"
Before he could finish she cut him off. "Well, I am two maids down today Mr. Carson and I am the housekeeper, I do know how to make beds afterall!" she snapped, then immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry, I'm just very tired."
"Why are you down two maids? Is another one sick?" he asked, concerned.
"No, I sent Madge down to wash dishes because Daisy cut her thumb." she sighed, looking up at him. "Did you need something?"
"Oh, yes, Dr. Clarkson called and Gertie is out of surgery and doing well. She's still sleeping. He said you wanted to be there when she woke up?"
"Yes, I did, but now...I don't see how I can go with all this work yet to be done. Maybe I could send Anna." she said, sitting down in a chair across the room, clearly exhausted.
"I'll take care of it. You can't spare Anna, just finish up and don't worry anymore about it." he smiled, turning to leave.
"But who will you send?"
"Don't worry about it!" he said, raising his eyebrows to make his point as he turned and headed downstairs.
Charles arranged for Mr. Barrow to take care of dinner, and grabbed his hat and coat. "Mrs. Patmore, I may not be back for dinner. I've an errand to run in town that may keep me quite late." Mrs. Patmore nodded as she continued her dinner preparations.
"I'll save you a plate." she called after him.
"Mr. Carson? I didn't expect to see you here!" Dr. Clarkson said with raised eyebrows.
"Yes, well Mrs. Hughes was unable to come and so I thought I'd come down to be there when Gertie wakes up. We wouldn't want her waking up alone and not knowing what's happened. Better she sees a familiar face I think."
"That's very kind of you Mr. Carson. Her mother has phoned and will be in on the first train in the morning. Come right this way." Dr. Clarkson ushered Mr. Carson behind a curtain to the young girl's beside. He sat down in the chair looking at the girl's pale face. "She's still sleeping and probably will be for another hour or so, but she's recovering very well and should be fine."
"Thank you." Mr. Carson nodded as Dr. Clarkson took his leave. He sat there looking at the young girl, a mere child of twelve, and thought to himself how much she'd grown over the past year. Being the youngest, she was considered a tweenie and lit the fires every morning before anyone else was up. She did her job well and never caused a minutes trouble. He was overcome with pity for the young girl having to be away from her family at such a young age. He himself had come to the Abbey as a young lad of thirteen and remembered how much he missed his family the first few years. Yet Gertie never complained and Elsie...Mrs. Hughes had started training her to be a housemaid and she was doing wonderfully. He was very glad she was going to be ok. He laughed to himself, thinking...no one would ever believe I was having such sentimental thoughts.
He heard the girl shuffle in bed and murmur something and he looked up quickly, moving closer to her bedside. Her eyes fluttered open as she looked up at Mr. Carson wearily. "Pa?" she whispered, closing her eyes again. She whimpered and Mr. Carson took her hand.
"Shhh, Gertie. You're alright. You're safe." he whispered.
"Pa, it hurts." she whimpered again.
"It's Mr. Carson, Gertie. You've had an operation, but you're going to be fine. You're mother will be here in the morning." he said gently.
"Pa, don't leave, don't leave me." she cried again.
Mr. Carson sighed, feeling sorry for the young girl. "I'm right here. I'm not leaving." he said, patting her hand.
Nearly three hours later, Mrs. Hughes finished upstairs and made her way to her sitting room. She realized she still didn't know who Mr. Carson had sent to be with Gertie and headed to his pantry to ask him, but he wasn't there. "Mrs. Patmore, have you seen Mr. Carson?"
"Yes, he said he had an errand to run in the village and wouldn't be back for dinner." she said distractedly as she cleaned up in the kitchen.
Elsie returned to her sitting room and sat down wearily in her chair. "What sort of errand could he possibly be on that would keep him out during dinner?" She sat back up straight. "Surely not!" She leapt to her feet and grabbed her coat and hat. "Mrs. Patmore, I'm going down to check on Gertie. I won't be back for dinner."
Mrs. Patmore huffed. "Everyone's skipping dinner it seems. I'll save you a plate." she called.
When Elsie arrived at the hospital she was ushered back to Gertie's bedside by Dr. Clarkson. "I'm surprised to see you Mrs. Hughes. Mr. Carson said you'd not be able to make it tonight."
"Yes, well, I finished a little sooner than expected." she said, as she pushed back the curtain. There sat Mr. Carson, asleep in the hard chair next to Gertie's bed, holding her tiny hand in his giant ones. Mrs. Hughes gasped and clutched her hand to her mouth at such a sweet sight causing Mr. Carson to wake up and look up at her through bleary eyes.
He suddenly sat up straighter. "Oh, Mrs. Hughes! I wasn't expecting to see you tonight." he said, no letting go of the girl's hand. He turned to look at Gertie. "She...uh, thinks I'm her father. Keeps calling me Pa." he blushed. "I didn't want to upset her by telling her any different."
"Ma?" Gertie blinked, trying to focus on who was in the room with her.
"No love, it's Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson." Mrs. Hughes responded.
"Mrs. Hughes? Mr. Carson? Why...where am I? Why are you both here?" she asked, trying to move and then crying out in pain and letting go of his hand.
"Easy does it. You've had an operation. You're appendix. But you're going to be fine. Just lay still and rest." Mr. Carson soothed.
"Your mother will be here in the morning dear. But tonight, you must rest." Mrs. Hughes said quietly, pushing the girl's hair back from her face. Gertie nodded and then moaned in pain.
The nurse came in and gave her something for pain. "This will make her sleep the rest of the night. You two should head back and get some rest as well. You can come back to see her in the morning if you like." she smiled kindly.
Mrs. Hughes nodded. "Sleep well Gertie and we'll see you in the morning love." she said, kissing the girl's forehead.
"Night Ma." Gertie mumbled.
Mrs. Hughes smiled and shook her head. "Let's go, shall we?" she said to Mr. Carson.
As they walked back to the house in the dark Mr. Carson suddenly wondered if she'd opened the gift yet. He cleared his throat nervously. "Did you uh, have a chance to open the gift that was on your desk?"
"No I haven't, so are you the one who left it there?" she asked, smiling over at him.
"Yes, I did." he said, looking down at his hands.
"Whatever did I do to deserve such a beautifully wrapped gift? It's not my birthday or Christmas."
"No, but it is Valentine's Day tomorrow." he nearly whispered.
She stopped in her tracks and he turned to look back at her shyly. "You...you got me a Valentine's gift?" she asked, her voice a bit higher pitched.
"I did. I hope you aren't offended."
"No, no of course not, it's just...unexpected I suppose." she said, beginning to walk again.
"Hmm, I see I have failed to convey to you how I feel. It's not surprising. I've never been good at expressing my feelings." he said, kicking at the gravel beneath his feet as he walked.
"The great Charles Carson has feelings?" she teased, not knowing what else to say. She was well and truly shocked.
"I know it's hard to believe, but…" He stopped and turned to face her. "I do...have feelings...for...for you, Elsie." he stumbled.
"For me?" she squeaked, not believing her own ears. She'd loved this man for years in silence. Could this really truly be happening?
He looked down at his feet, put his hands in his pocket. "If uh...if you don't feel the same, I'll understand. I won't be offended. I just...well I just needed to tell you. We can just pretend I never said anything and go back to normal if that's what you want."
"Charles, you've not given me a chance to speak." she said, taking a step toward him. "I'm just a bit shocked that's all, but...I do...feel the same way about you. I do." she said, looking up at him, tears beginning to brim in her eyes. "I just thought you'd never say anything."
Charles reached up and took her face in his hands, bending down and kissing her gently on the lips. "I'm in love with you Elsie. Plain and simple." He wrapped her up in his arms and they stood there, her head on his chest for several minutes until he felt her shiver. "Come on, let's get you back to the house before you freeze." He reached down and took her hand in his and she leaned into his side as they walked.
"You were so sweet with Gertie. I'm glad she's going to be ok."
"Me too, I felt sorry for her. She's so young. I don't think about that a lot of times at the house. They're all so young, mere children some of them." he mused.
"Indeed, and it's our job to take care of them for their parents. You did a fine job of that today Charles."
"As did you." he smiled down at her. Just as they came up to the main gate Charles stopped and pulled her arm to get her to turn around. He pulled her behind the corner of the gate out of sight and kissed her deeply. "Forgive me, I just wanted to get one more in before we head back inside." he whispered against her lips.
She was breathless. "No forgiveness needed." she breathed deeply.
Once back inside she headed to her sitting room and there the gift still sat. She picked it up and turned it in her hands as she heard Charles come into the room behind her. "Well, are you going to open it now?"
"Should I?" she teased.
"Yes, please! The anticipation has been killing me all day! You were meant to open it this morning before Gertie took ill." he chuckled.
She sat down in her chair and pulled on the ribbon. The pretty gold foil fell away to reveal a white box. She opened it up to reveal a beautiful, silver, heart locket. It was engraved with a thistle in the center and tiny hearts around the edges. "Oh!" she looked up at Charles but he was now kneeling in front of her.
"Elsie, I love you. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"
Her hand flew up to her mouth as tears fell down her cheeks. "Oh Charles...yes! Yes of course!"
"This locket belonged to my mother, and her mother before. I want you to wear it because you are now the owner of my heart. I know traditionally I should propose with a ring, but I've not purchased one yet. I thought we could do that together, so you get something you really like." he grinned down at her. "I love you so much." he said as he brought her hands up to his lips.
"I love you too." she whispered.
THE END