Night had long since fallen and Anna had gone to bed, leaving me to finish my book on the settee. She had told me to come upstairs to finish it but I knew she couldn't sleep with the candle light flickering so I read downstairs while she slept peacefully upstairs. The rain outside was coming down hard and I sensed a storm was on the way which made the knock at the door even more unusual then it normally would have been. Placing my book on the table I stood up and headed towards the door wondering who would be here at this time of night?
"Hello?" I called out as I opened the door a crack as the rain came down harder than ever and the wind shook through the house. There didn't seem to be anybody there and I was just about to shut the door when I heard a cry, barley audible over the sound of the wind and rain. I looked around before deciding it must have been my imagination and as I shut the door something caught my eye.
There was a basket on the doorstep.
Opening the door back up I picked up the basket and as I went to bring it inside I almost dropped it. There was a baby in there, a baby! I held the basket at arm's length and shut the door quickly before placing the basket on the settee. The cries from the basket picked up in volume and I looked up towards the stairs before making my way over to them and walking upstairs.
"Anna," I called out as I reached the bedroom door and pushed it open. She was sat on the edge of the bed, folding up her clothes, but she looked up as I walked in.
"What's the matter?" She asked, rising to her feet as I walked in and motioned for her to follow me. She looked curiously at me, but followed me none-the-less. As the cries became louder she looked at me and hurried off down the stairs. She was holding a piece of paper in one hands and her eyes were roaming the page when I arrived downstairs, her other hand was resting on the side of the basket.
"What you reading?" She didn't answer, just kept on reading and I walked towards her, the baby still crying.
"Here, it was in the basket, read it," she told me as she passed t over before taking the baby out of the basket. I looked down at the paper and noticed there were tear stains smudging some of the words.
Whoever finds this letter,
Please look after my baby, Joseph. I don't know what to do, I can't get work with a baby so please just look after him because I can't and he deserves better then what I can give him. There is a shilling and a sixpence, it's all I have. Please, I don't know what else to do.
"What do we do?" I asked and she looked up from the baby who was now sleeping peacefully in her arms to me, an expression of surprise on her face.
"What do you mean? You read the letter didn't you?" I knew immediately what she meant and I shook my head, this wasn't happening.
"No, we can't. What would people say? We can't Anna, no," she just looked at me but I wasn't saying it to be mean. What would people say if we suddenly had a baby? And how could we look after it? We both worked.
"Well then what do you propose we do? There isn't much choice and I'm not just going to let him die," she told me, placing the now sleeping baby back in the basket and walking towards me.
"I don't know but what are you going to do tomorrow morning when we need to go to Downton? Bring the baby with us?" I asked and she narrowed her eyes at me and placed her hands on her hips.
"If I have too, then yes." Neither of us spoke for several, tense minutes until Anna's whole body seemed to just deflate and she just looked at me, she looked tired. "No, I suppose I'm not but what else can I, can we, do? We can't just leave it outside in this," she gestured to the window where the rain was coming down harder than before.
"I know, and tonight is fine, but tomorrow?" I asked and she just looked towards the floor before back up at me.
"I'll take the early bus up to Ripon and, and then, the workhouse," she sighed and looked back to the basket before turning back towards me and I could see tears in her eyes.
"Come on, let's go to bed," I told her, holding out my hand but she shook her head and walked back to the basket.
"I'll stay down here, make sure he doesn't wake up," she told me but I walked over and picked up the basket.
"It's warmer upstairs," I told her as she watched me, before following me up the stairs and I placed the basket on the floor next to Anna's side of the bed. We both climbed in and she had her back to me but didn't pull away as I cuddled her closer.
"I feel sorry for Joseph's mam," Anna muttered and I was half asleep but that caused me to wake up properly.
"Why?" I asked, I didn't see any reason to feel sorry for her. She had left her baby to two strangers and it was only luck that had made one of the strangers Anna, who wouldn't leave the baby outside. Most people probably would have.
"She had to give up her baby, I don't think it was easy and I doubt she wanted to," she told me, her voice lowering and I pulled her closer.
"You can see the good in anyone," I told her. Personally, I thought his mother had probably brought this on herself but I was smart enough to keep quiet, Anna wouldn't thank me for saying that out loud.
"Everybody's got good inside of them, you've just got to look," she told me before yawning and I held back a laugh.
"If you say so love, night," I kissed the top of her head before we both fell into a peaceful sleep.
A/N: Hey there, so this is my new story and I hope you like it! I haven't really got a plan, I'll jsut see where it goes but I don't know when I'll be next updatin because I have school and stuff but I'll try to update once or twice a month! :)