Hey everyone this is the next story in my series, so this is a continuation of "May I Introduce Lady Aurelia". After writing that story I realised that Sybil and Aurelia would actually have been 24, not 21 as I previously said. So I've corrected that in this story.
We join our favourite family just after Sybil and Aurelia's birthday ball.
The house was bustling with action as the servants all frantically tidied from the previous night's ball. The family were all still in their beds, having only gone to them about an hour before; but the party had very much been a success.
The two months leading up to the ball had been hard for the family and especially for Aurelia. It had taken her a long time to smile again after the revelation that Mrs Hughes was her biological mother and she'd spent a long time battling with the guilt that she felt. However, as time passed she felt more and more determined to build on her relationship with Mrs Hughes, so that neither of them saw their relationship as servant and master any more.
They met every night in Aurelia's bedroom, as they had done every night since the day Aurelia was born, but the difference now, was that they sat and talked and Mrs Hughes no longer took on the role of a lady's maid. As a result the formality between the two was beginning to fall away and they were beginning to feel much closer because of it.
Mrs Hughes was finally beginning to feel happy, genuinely happy, for the first time in twenty five years. She not only had her daughter in her life, but she was no longer carrying around the guilt with her that she was lying to the person she loved most in the world. She was finally allowed to be a mother and her days were filled with the longing for her evening, so that she could spend the time with her daughter.
Cora and Robert's relationship with their youngest daughter had also strengthened and grown because of the revelation, much to everyone's surprise. When they were first forced to tell Aurelia the truth they both feared that their daughter might become more distant with them, or that the pull of her natural mother might take her away from them, or even that she might have hated them for what they did; but Aurelia never felt any of this. She loved her parents more for what they did for her and for Mrs Hughes and understood how difficult the situation must have been for them as well.
Not only had Aurelia been spending time with Mrs Hughes, but she'd also taken the opportunity to spend more time with Robert and Cora. Although it wasn't considered "proper English etiquette" she never failed to tell her mother and father that she loved them and she especially loved her mother all the more for not only taking on another woman's child so willingly, but also for being strong enough to allow that woman to then be a part of her daughter's life. Aurelia admired Cora immensely and felt no shame in telling her mother that.
The one relationship that Aurelia found the most difficult to cope with was that with her sisters. Although the other three girls were very loving and supportive, Aurelia still found it difficult, especially when facing Sybil, whom she'd been raised with as her twin. She was desperate to feel close to Sybil as they had always been, but the realisation that they weren't twins hurt Aurelia the most.
Many a morning Mrs Hughes walked into Aurelia's room to find Lady Sybil sleeping in the bed next to her sister, which wasn't an unusual occurrence as they had always sneaked into each other's rooms in the middle of the night and fallen asleep talking; but recently the two girls had fallen asleep talking about the fact that they weren't twins at all and the fact that this pained them both more than anything else had done.
However, the most recent development and drama for the family, was the fact that Sybil had finally plucked up the courage to tell her family that she wanted to be with Tom Branson, their chauffer. There had been plenty of screaming and shouting, banging of doors and empty threats made between Robert, Cora and Sybil. Naturally her parents weren't happy about her decision, but for the sake of the party they had all put their differences aside, but now the party was over and the fall back to reality was about to start.
None of the family stirred until about lunch time, by which time the servants had cleaned the house from top to bottom and put all the furniture back to where it belonged. Although the twins celebrated their birthday together the previous day, as always, Aurelia's actual birthday wasn't until today, a day that, for the first time since Aurelia's birth, Mrs Hughes didn't feel sad or upset about. For the first time, she was actually going to be able to celebrate the day her daughter was born.
Aurelia was the first one up and had got herself dressed. Although she realised that Mrs Hughes was probably busy, she still couldn't resist the temptation to go down to the servants' quarters to see her. As it happened Mrs Hughes was sat on her own in her living room and the other staff were too busy to notice Aurelia's visit.
Although the family now all knew, well, Aurelia and the girls plus Matthew and Isobel, no one else in the house had been told of the secret; of course there had been speculation as to the secret that Lily McAlister had been trying to blackmail his Lordship with, but no one had even come close to the truth and Mrs Hughes intended for it to stay that way.
Aurelia knocked on Mrs Hughes' living room door and gently pushed it open. The housekeeper was sat behind her desk with ledgers and invoices in front of her, but her face broke into a broad smile when she saw Aurelia and her work soon laid forgotten.
'Ella, this is a pleasant surprise!' She exclaimed brightly.
'I hope I'm not interrupting you Mam.' Aurelia replied quietly. In the last couple of weeks she had started referring to Mrs Hughes as mam, although not all the time. For the most part she called her Elsie, but every so often, when her guard was down or when she was relaxed in Mrs Hughes' company, she would refer to her mother in the natural term.
The first time it had happened it was in the privacy of Aurelia's bedroom. They were just saying goodnight to each other and it had slipped out, which resulted in Mrs Hughes breaking down completely.
'Oh Elsie I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, it just…slipped out!' Aurelia had said as she sat Mrs Hughes by the fire again.
'Oh Ella, I'm not upset; but I waited for so many years to hear that and I never expected you would.' She sobbed with joy.
And ever since then, every time Aurelia said it, Mrs Hughes felt her heart jump into her throat with absolute joy. And her heart certainly leapt to hear her say it on this occasion, on this day. For the previous twenty three years the 14th of April wasn't a date she enjoyed rejoicing as it had been the day that she had become a mother and lost her daughter all in one go. But this year was going to be very different for them both.
'Och no Ella, I'm never too busy for you.' She replied as the young woman sat down in one of the chairs at the table. 'Did you need anything in particular?'
'I just wanted to make sure that you are alright, that's all; I realise that today is obviously…' Aurelia said but she trailed off and twisted her face into an awkward grimace.
'Well thank you for your concern Ella. You're right, normally today is the worst for me, I don't mind admitting it. I remember it with such sadness, but this year is going to be different, because this year I have you back in my life and I can remember you being born with such fondness, not sadness.' Mrs Hughes explained with a teary smile and she received a teary smile back, but before either of them could really shed any tears Mrs Hughes opened her desk drawer and pulled out a small, well wrapped box.
'I hope you don't mind that I didn't give this to you yesterday, but I wanted to wait until today before I gave you this particular present.' She explained as she handed it to her daughter.
Aurelia smiled and gently pulled the red ribbon that held the brown paper in place.
'It'll not be quite the jewellery you're used to, but I wanted you to have it because it's something very special to me.' Mrs Hughes explained as she watched Aurelia open the small red box to reveal a gold locket. There were no jewels on the locket, only a small intricate Celtic engraving, but Aurelia already loved it more than all the diamonds she owned.
'Elsie this is stunning, I can't possibly accept this!' She gasped.
'Yes you can and you will. My mother gave it to me on my twenty-first birthday and now I am passing it on to you. I very much hope that you will one day be able to pass it on to your daughter.' Mrs Hughes said proudly and smiled as Aurelia opened the locket to see two photographs inside.
On one side there was a woman with a young child, no more than about three or four, that Aurelia didn't recognise and on the other was a photograph of a very young Mrs Hughes holding a baby, who Aurelia guessed was her. She traced her finger over the image of her with her mother and felt the tears spring to her eyes.
'That was taken at your first Church Fete held here at the house; you were about six months old at the time. I don't have many, but that was one that your mother gave me.' Mrs Hughes explained calmly, but her voice sounded to be struggling.
'You look so much like me!' Aurelia said with a smile, the thought of who she looked like was a question that had plagued her on and off over the last two months, but now she could answer that question.
'Well I wasn't that much older in that photograph than you are now.' Mrs Hughes explained.
'And who's this?' Aurelia asked as she pointed to the other photo.
'That's me with my mother.' She said and Aurelia scrutinised the photos further.
It was a great relief for Aurelia to see how much of a resemblance there was between herself and Mrs Hughes; even as a baby and toddler they looked very alike, although she noticed that she had the Crawley chin, which she very much hoped she got from her father Robert and not her biological father, his brother Richard.
'Will you help me put it on?' Aurelia asked as she handed the necklace to Mrs Hughes, who immediately did as she was asked. 'I think this is the nicest gift anyone has ever given me.' She added as she forced back her tears and tried to resume her aristocratic tone.
'Well, health to wear it.' Mrs Hughes said with a smile as she clipped the two clasps together.
'Now I think I'd better let you get back to work and I should head back upstairs to face the battle zone.' Aurelia said as she got up from her seat.
'I take it Lady Sybil is still digging her heels in.' Mrs Hughes said. 'You know we have sacked staff for far less than what he's done.' She added.
'I know, but don't think badly of him. He does love her and she love him; although I think Papa believes she's just trying to prove a point, but she's not, not this time anyway.' Aurelia replied, just as Mr Carson knocked and opened the living room door.
'Well thank you for your help Mrs Hughes.' Aurelia said quickly as she made for the door. 'Mr Carson.' She said with a nod of her head as she passed the butler.
'Milady,' He replied with confusion and waited for her to leave before he spoke to Mrs Hughes. 'What did Lady Aurelia want?'
'Oh she just came down to thank us for last night; it would seem that the party was a success.' Mrs Hughes said and Mr Carson never suspected a thing.