Ch 1- Not That Farm Girl Anymore
The Scottish Border 1900
"Waaaaaaa! Ahhhhhh!" William Carson sobbed from his place in his highchair where he sat, his little face almost totally covered in the mush his burdened mother had been trying to feed him.
The baby boy was overtired and upset. His screams carried far above the chaotic fray of the house, almost drowning out the sound of his four older brothers as they ran about loudly playing their game.
"Come now William, I know you're tired." Elsie told her youngest son, using the spoon to wipe the edges of his mouth. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his fists and angrily tried to push his mother away. "Shhhhhh." She soothed, lifting him into her arms and kissing him. "Shhhuuu William it's alright, no m'lad we won't do that will we?" She took a deep breath, trying to center herself. "I'm giving you a minute warning m'lads, to quiet down or your da will remind you to once he gets home."
Almost at once the four older Carson boys stopped, gathering around their mother and baby brother. None of them wanted to get in trouble, and moreover none of them were the troublemaking type… not intentionally anyway. But there was no telling what could go on when five young brothers lived in close quarters. Sometimes they could be quite the handful no matter how well intentioned they were.
"What's wrong mummy?" Five-year-old Liam asked, his identical twin Logan looking down at the frustrated baby who squirmed in their mother's embrace.
William was teething, in pain and overtired.
Elsie was exhausted. She'd had a long few days alone with her rambunctious boys who'd spent much of their free time outside, falling out of trees, getting covered in mud and finding themselves in the midst of all kinds of mischief their father didn't generally let them get away with. That day alone there had been five scraped knees, seven cuts and two loads of laundry if she could remember correctly.
"Mummy I'll hold him for you." Seven-year-old Samuel offered, his bright blue eyes hopeful.
The oldest, eight-year-old Charlie, didn't offer his mother any words of comfort but instead, brought her the blanket he knew she needed to put the baby to bed.
"Or we could hold new brwother for you mummy." Logan offered.
"No silly we can't do that!" Liam corrected. "He's still in the oven!"
"The oven?" Elsie giggled, wondering where they'd learned to call her tummy an oven. "No m'lad." She kissed Logan's cheek. "Your baby brothers both need to go to sleep and you all need to help mummy set the table for supper. Can you do that?" The boys nodded quickly and spread out to go to work.
Even a few years before, Elsie Carson would never have imagined herself like this: a devoted mother of five overactive little boys, with one impending. She was tired, but loved her life and the six, soon to be seven, men with whom she shared it.
"Shuuu bed time Wills, its bedtime." She whispered wrapping her youngest boy in a tartan plaid blanket brought a decade before from her native Scotland.
She rocked the overtired baby and kissed his forehead as she headed up the stairs, listening as her little boys started to set the table in preparation for their father's return to the farm after a several day long absence. The house was quieter now and she could hear her light steps on the stairs as her boys went about their work, whispering and giggling to each other as her fussy baby started to calm and fall asleep.
"Daddy!" She smiled, hearing four little voices burst, followed by her husband's thunderous laughter.
Ten years ago, Elsie had been a poor farmer's daughter swept off her feet by a tall, gallant traveling entertainer known then as Cheerful Charlie. It'd been love at first sight, the kind where each party gladly gave something big of themselves to ensure successful union with the other. For Elsie it had been leaving her family behind. They'd eloped after a two-week courtship against her father's wishes. And in order to be with her always, Charlie had given up his life in entertainment for the simplicity of farming in far northern England. It was something he didn't love and wasn't incredible at, but it kept him with his bride and for a love struck young man who'd never loved a soul like he loved this woman, that had been all that counted… at the time.
They'd thought of waiting to have their first child, but the babies started to come almost immediately and kept coming. Their oldest, Charlie was born nine months after their wedding, the same week they settled into the farmhouse they now called home. His little brother Samuel came just a year later, followed by identical twins, Liam and Logan. The Carson's loved their brood of boys and had decided that four was enough Elsie became pregnant with William, a now almost one year old boy whom they simply called Wills.
The Carsons had hoped, foolishly, that Wills would be their youngest child. But much to their disappointment, Elsie had recently discovered she was expecting number six, a revelation that had caused her husband to make a journey south to his native Yorkshire.
"I'm going on a mission." He'd said, kissing her as he prepared to leave. "I'm not… called to farming anymore. Not strictly. So, it's time to make a change in our lives, Mrs. Carson."
Elsie kissed her baby and tucked him in, listening carefully as her husband distributed presents to their older boys from a far off place called Downton Abbey. She recognized the place name. It was where he'd been brought up and where he'd worked as a boy before going on the stage. He'd long wanted to venture back there and start a new life. They'd been on the way there when they were first married but had settled here instead because they'd found good land for not much money and baby Charlie was nearly ready to be born.
Elsie smiled deeply as she walked down the stairs, watching as her little boys gathered excitedly around their handsome da. She paused, watching closely as he laughed and played with them, the sight reminding her that no matter how apprehensive she was about the journey he'd just made, she trusted him and his judgment implicitly.
"Charlie." She called and he looked up.
"Oh Elsie." His eyes sparkled.
Even after ten years the mere sight of him made her heart flip. In that way, she was almost no different than the innocent girl she'd been when they eloped. Charlie felt the same of her and looked up almost awestruck as he put Logan down and got to his feet.
"Oh my Elsie." He said, wrapping his arms around her and beginning to kiss her deeply.
Although they were used to seeing it, the little boys made varying faces, covering their eyes and pretending to spit in disgust as they looked away from their parent's embrace.
"Oh noooo." Charlie cried.
"Kissy face again!" Logan spat, scrunching his eyes closed.
"No kissy face." Samuel whined.
"Bleh!" Liam gagged.
"Boys that's not nice. Mummy and daddy love you and each other very much." Elsie cautioned.
"My lads one day you'll each meet a lovely lass who you'll love as much as daddy loves mummy and you'll understand where he's coming from." He laughed, his eyes glued to Elsie's smile, causing her to blush.
"Nuh-uh!" Liam cried.
"Daddy that can't be." Charlie seemed disgusted.
"Ew no kissy face." Logan looked like he was going to be sick.
"It certainly will be m'lads. Mark my words."
"Story daddy?" Sam asked.
"Hmmmm… yes you can have a story before bed. But now that we've set the table, and had our presents, its pajama time the four of you."
"Noooo…" The four boys moaned in unison.
"Get away with you." He growled, pretending to be angry, breaking away from his wife and pretending to chase his sons up the stairs.
The boys laughed and scurried up the stairs as Elsie went to check on the roast. She yelped as Charlie wrapped his arms around her from behind and started to kiss her neck.
"Oh Charlie." She laughed, dissolving into giggles before turning back to face him. "My Charlie how I've missed you."
"Oh how I missed my Elsie."
"It's just been five days." She said, realizing how silly they were.
"Five days is much too long to spend away from my love and my lads." He kissed her nose. "And I've a surprise for you."
"Oh?"
"Yes. A big surprise." He leaned in and kissed her deeply.
This is of course, was how there were so many little boys afoot. Carson and Elsie were smitten with each other in a manner characteristic of a young unwed couple, rather than a couple who'd been together a decade. And moreover, they had an amazing physical chemistry that drew them together, keeping their love affair exciting and above all passionate. The couple paused over the stove and continued kissing, only looking down when they felt a little hand tug gently at Elsie's skirt.
"Scuse' me! Scuse me."
"What, what is it Liam lad?"
"Scuse me daddy…. I have pajamas on and I'm hungry now daddy, weally hungee." He said, his stomach rumbling loudly.
"Well of course its time to eat, my little lad." He laughed, lifting the little boy up high and blowing kisses on his stomach, causing him to squeal.
…
Several hours later after several games and a long bedtime story, the dinner dishes were cleared away and the boys were fast asleep, tucked in their beds. Carson threw another log on the fire and sat with his wife in front of the hearth where he took her swollen feet in his hands and began to massage them.
"How's the littlest Carson?" He asked of the impending baby who was still many months off.
"He's alright. He's tiny still, so no mischief for him just yet." She giggled.
The couple sighed. They loved their house full of boys but deeply desired something a little different this next time around: a baby girl.
"So." She said quickly, not wanting to discuss it. "What's this surprise you have for me?"
"Elsie I… I need… a change." He said, the nervousness in his voice catching her ear.
"Oh?"
"You know I've always wanted to go back to my roots…."
She knew what he was saying and found herself apprehensive again in an instant. She'd never known anything but farm life, even if she secretly didn't fancy it, and moreover, she'd had all her babies in this house and didn't want to give it up.
"I just…" She paused, watching her husband struggle to articulate his feelings and knowing instantaneously that he was passionate about them. "I feel called after all this time to return to where I am from, to take my family home to where I was raised. To bring my boys up there… there's a tenancy open at Downton, Elsie." He said and she looked up quickly, understanding fully what that meant.
It was something he'd wanted ever since he'd started to work the land and in some way it had become a point of contention between them. She didn't begrudge him going back to where he was from, but overtime she'd grown afraid of leaving the home they'd made together. In a way, that felt like he was leaving her. Now that he'd gotten it she knew they'd have to go. A tenancy at Downton was something coveted. It wasn't something wholly unexpected either: they'd been waiting for it all this time and she'd promised him long ago that when the time came she would go.
"They knew who you were?" She wanted to make sure.
"It's why they chose me for the spot." He said proudly.
"Charlie…" She hesitated, already understanding the loyalty her husband had to a family she'd never met. It scared her.
"It will be an exceptional experience Mrs. Carson…" He assured. "It'll still be land but not so rural like this. There's a whole community to be had. You'll have to grow accustomed to living near town, to sending the boys to the village school. That was something we wanted, wasn't it Elsie, to give our lads chances we haven't had, to send them to good schools."
She nodded, tears in her eyes.
"Don't be upset. Please Elsie I know it will be good for us."
"I'm not upset." She clarified.
"Oh?"
She was confused.
Elsie paused, soaking in everything he had to say. She had always felt a bit trapped, like she could be so much more in life than she was. This feeling was especially true before she met Charlie, a man who showed her new worlds and opened her horizons. Elsie thought quietly about where she'd be if she hadn't gone with him before: probably married to Joe Burns on a sloppy pig farm, in a cold, damp house mothering his six boys instead of Charlie's. Suddenly Elsie realized she'd rather be anywhere with her Charlie than in a palace with Joe.
"Do you remember what I said that night?" He asked.
She nodded slowly. It had been the first day of the rest of their lives: the night they eloped.
"Take my hand." He had said, reaching out to grab her hand. He held it tight, squeezing it in his own. "It'll be a new start…"
"And a beautiful journey." She finished, looking back up at him. She leaned forward and sighed, cupping his cheek in her hand.
"Well?" He asked. "What do you say?"
"Alright Charlie. Lets do it: lets go to Downton."