A/N: I just discovered this amazing, amazing period drama. And now I can't help but want to do this...

Disclaimer: I own nothing...except a house and it's made out of h, o, u, s, and e.

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Coming Home

"John, you'll never guess who was here," Mrs. Thornton said as soon as she saw her son alighting from the closed carriage. She had been waiting for his arrival. Not knowing where he was at a time when they just lost everything made her linger outside their house. Her son was made of far sturdier stuff than his father but still she couldn't help the worry that twisted her gut.

Acutely aware how desolate her son must already feel...and then that woman came unannounced and John missed the opportunity to see her. Mrs. Thornton was afraid her son would view it as his terrible fortune. He might had said that they would never speak of Ms. Hale again but she knew her son. And she knew he felt something for that woman that couldn't be erased by months or even years of separation or even by the fact that, that woman was scandalously rumored to love another.

So here she was about to inform him that his precious Margaret just paid them a visit. He might have missed it true but still if he knew, if she could make him understand that Ms. Hale had more than shown that she had not forgotten this place then surely it would cheer him up.

Her words were up in the air when she saw John, alighted from the carriage, had with his free hand assisted what it seemed like another passenger from the inside. A feminine hand accepted his proffered arm and Mrs. Thornton couldn't help the gasp she unconsciously expelled as that hand was followed by none other than Ms. Hale's face.

Mrs. Thornton finally noticed that her son carried a carpet bag. Ms. Hale's most assuredly.

"You're back quite so soon," Mrs. Thornton said drily to the other woman. With no one about the cotton mills except them, nobody but she knew.

Subsequently, Mrs. Thornton directed her gaze towards her son, about to tell him the details of Ms. Hale's earlier visit when she beheld how her son's eyes shine and how his harsh lips curled upward into a smile. She was his mother, of course, she knew how elated he was at that moment.

"You're staying long?" Mrs. Thornton asked. She didn't show it but she anticipated the younger woman's response with awaited breath. She hated Ms. Hale but only because she had the power to hurt her son.

Margaret answered, almost in a stutter, "If John-Mr. Thornton-wishes to I could stay for a-"

"I want you to stay forever," John blurted out, almost sounding afraid that if he didn't answer fast enough Margaret would change her mind.

Mrs. Thornton's lips pursed in a disapproving line. "She can't stay in Milton forever, John," she told her son. Hearing his indrawn breath and before he could voice his disagreement, she continued, "Ms. Hale has to go to London at the very least once a year to visit her aunt and cousin and maybe purchase a gown or two."

She heard her son's relieved chuckle followed by a muttered, "Or maybe even Spain, with me as her travel companion."

Spain?

The meaningful look the both of them exchanged told Mrs. Thornton that there was more about Spain.

Ms. Hale's smile towards her son was too radiant and her son couldn't help but succumb to it. His own answering smile, a sight even her own heart fluttered to see.

Thusly, Mrs. Thornton pursed lips curved ever slightly upwards. Ms. Hale indeed also had the power to make her son happy...and she would always want happiness for her dear child.

And that had nothing to do with Ms. Hale's money. And what it could do for the mills.

"Come in, Ms. Hale. My daughter might have left something you could wear. I am sure Fanny would not mind it if you use them whilst you wait for your own clothes to arrive," briskly Mrs. Thornton mentioned, leading the two inside her-their home.

-o0o-

~10 21 15 AF P10 22 15~