When my hatred of Valentine's Day and my love of Baxley meet:
The morning of February the 15th started out just like any other, and he was glad of this fact as it meant that it was easy to ask her for a quiet word when she came back down from dressing Lady Grantham without attracting too much attention.
She followed him, looking a little confused, into the boot room.
"Is anything the matter?" she asked him, sounding almost nervous.
"No," he told her quietly, nipping inside after holding the door open for her and closing it swiftly behind them both, "I just wanted to give you this."
Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, he handed her a small red card with a flower on the front of it.
She read what he had written inside it, and then she closed it carefully, her head still bowed to look at it. Her hand rested gently on the edge of one of the petals.
When she looked up at him it was almost timidly, and with a little bit of confusion.
"I didn't know you pressed flowers," she told him softly.
"I don't," he replied, "I went to see my dad last night and asked if I could have one of the ones from my mam's old books. He wasn't keen at first, but then I told him what it was for."
He could see a smile playing on her lips and his heart seemed to want to both calm down and accelerate at the same time.
"He's kind, your dad," she told him, her thumb still stroking carefully over the petals, thoughtfully.
"It was Valentine's Day yesterday?" she pointed out, half-amused, half-wondering.
"I know," he replied, "I didn't want this to be a Valentine."
"Oh."
What had been a burgeoning smile on her lips fell clean away. Her head bowed down again quickly, and her hands fidgeted on the card.
"I mean," he amended quickly, seeing her reaction, "I don't want this to be a Valentine, because I hate Valentine's Day. It's always made me feel rotten about myself. And I want to tell you how I feel about you without having to involve all that Valentine's nonsense, I wanted it to be just us. But then, yesterday, I saw Anna with the card Mr Bates sent her, and I know his Lordship was sending her Ladyship one because I went for the envelopes from the village, and I thought, I should give you something. I wanted to give you something. Just not on that day."
She was chewing her lip a little bit from the inside, her head tilted a little to the side. And then her smile returned, more fully than before, blossoming across her lips.
"So how do you feel about me, then, Mr Molesley?" she asked him.
"Joseph, please," he asked her.
"Alright, then. Joseph."
She was beaming at him now, and his heart was thudding, and he reached forwards to take her hand and it was there, waiting for him, wrapping together with his fingers.
"I love you," he told her, "I think you must know it. I love you very much."
"All I knew was how much I love you," she told him softly in reply, "But that's alright, because I know now."
Her other arms rose gently, touching the back of his neck with her hand. She pressed him towards herself, raising her lips towards his to kiss them. The card was still in her hand, pressing against the back of his jacket as they kissed each other tenderly. He smiled into the kiss and he could feel her smiling too. His hand touched her head gently, trying not to upset her hair but revelling in its softness. When they broke apart, it was for her to be able to quietly whisper;
"Let me see you tonight."
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