Author Note: Thank you for the kind reviews and encouraging follows. I will do my best to update weekly. Have a great week!
The following Christmas morning John sat asleep in his mother's room. She too was soundly sleeping after her morning breathing treatment. The door to her room slowly opened as Dr. Anna Smith peered in quietly. She pulled back as soon as she realized they were both resting, but paused a moment to stare at John and smiled. He was still dressed in the same clothes as last evening and she was going on her second day wearing an evening gown. Anna decided to quietly leave and catch a cab to Elsie's house so she could shower and change clothes. As she backed away, John awoke to catch a glimpse of her leaving.
While Anna walked away from Mrs. Bates' hospital room, John came rushing down the hall after her and gently touched her shoulder so she would stop. She turned to find his sleepy face smiling at her slightly. "Hello." He spoke softly.
"John, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't." He lied. "Fancy some tea or coffee?" He asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Actually, I was just about to catch a cab back to Elsie's cottage for a quick shower and change of clothes."
"I could drive you." John responded quickly, "Unless of course…you'd rather spend some time alone."
Anna was flattered, and the truth was, she would enjoy his company again. "It looks like you could use a change of clothes yourself John." She motioned at the bloodstains on his shirt. "I read through your mother's file at the nurses' station. I'm sorry to learn her lung cancer is so far advanced."
"Thank you. I wish there was more that could be done, but… we can only try to keep her comfortable. She has these coughing spells more frequently now…and the blood is always frightening."
"I see that she has stopped her chemo treatments."
"Yes. They were no longer helping. She wanted to try and enjoy her remaining days without the sickness from those treatments."
"I completely understand. I hope they are making her comfortable here."
"They seem to be. And she is finally resting…now, about that ride. What if we run across the street for some coffee and then I drive you to Elsie's? I actually have a change of clothes in my car, and if you don't consider it incredibly rude...perhaps I could grab a shower there as well?"
Anna pondered his offer again, "Of course, of course... If you're sure you don't mind…"
"I don't mind at all. In fact, I could use some fresh air myself."
"Alright then. Coffee first, drive to Elsie's and then showers and fresh clothes all around."
John smiled as Anna began walking away, captivated by her obvious leadership directive.
The crisp morning air danced heavily upon their faces as John and Anna hurried across the street together. He reached the door to the café first and as he went to open it found it locked. They paused in disappointment, looking at one another confused.
John's eyebrows lifted in surprise when he realized why they were closed.
"December the twenty-fifth…I can't believe I forgot."
"It's Christmas Day Mr. Bates. No coffee…and no white Christmas either." Anna touched John's arm in consolation.
"Well, let's hope your friend Elsie has some tea or coffee in her cupboards...as for the snow, we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed."
As John drove Anna she found herself white knuckle gripping the door. John had a flare for high speed and tight corners. "Do you always drive this fast Mr. Bates?"
"No…I usually drive faster."
"Really?!" She tightened her seatbelt when he upshifted the car into 5th gear.
"I'm sorry. I can slow it down a bit... I just forget most women don't have confidence in the performance abilities of Jaguar."
"The turn is right up ahead…you should slow down quite a bit more…as in, slow down right now!" Anna couldn't contain her anxiety any further, her hands were visibly trembling and John finally realized how unnerved Anna really was riding in the car with him.
John pressed in the clutch and the break and the car came to a very smooth stop. "Forgive me. Truly. I'm not trying to impress you or anything. I just…lost my head for a moment."
"Its quite alright John. Its just…my parents died in a car crash and…"
"God, what an arse I am. I do recall you sharing that with me last night, I wasn't thinking. I'm very sorry."
Anna caught her breath and then gave John a small smile. "Perhaps…we could stay at the speed limit? We're almost there."
"Of course," John started the car moving again, now keeping it just below the speed limit. "What kind of doctor are you Anna?"
"I'm a surgeon."
"Where do you practice?"
"I work at a hospital in Oxford…and you? Do you live in London?"
"No…well, at the moment, yes. I moved to mother's last year so I could be nearer her treatment center. I however have a home up north in Downton."
"Downton is lovely."
"I like the seclusion. The countryside inspires me and I tend to be more creative without distractions from the city."
"Here it is. Just up ahead, the last house on the left."
John slowed and turned into the drive, "This is nice, is this where you grew up?"
"It is lovely. But no, Elsie and I lived near Downton actually – in Ripon. Elsie moved here a few years ago when she married."
John put the car in park and got out quickly so he could help Anna out of the car.
Once inside Elsie's house Anna quickly went about making tea and toast. John leaned against the kitchen counter watching her. "Please John, sit and make yourself comfortable."
"I'm afraid if I do, I will fall asleep."
She turned and looked back at him with kind eyes, "Yes…I'm rather exhausted myself. Do you need to get back to the hospital right away?"
"No. Mum should sleep most of the day, they gave her a sedative to help her rest…what did you have in mind?"
"Perhaps a nap?"
"Anna, I would love a nap…but doesn't it make you feel uncomfortable having a strange man sleep here alone with you?"
"Mr. Bates…you're hardly a strange man. I know all I need to know about you -I Googled you. You're a very well known artist. " She handed him a piece of toast with blackberry jam.
"Thank you, but I assure you, that's not all there is to know…there's quite a bit more, that I would hope you'd find interesting," he bit into the toast before asking, "You Googled me?"
Anna blushed slightly, "I did."
"And…what did you think?" He was teasing, yet honestly wanted to know her impression of him now.
"I thought I would discover you were a music professor."
John chuckled. "Disappointed?"
Anna bit into a piece of her own toast and teased, "Not yet."
John raised a freshly brewed cup of tea to her and smiled, "Well in that case, here's to never disappointing you, and happy Christmas Dr. Smith."
Anna reached for her own tea cup, as she raised hers to him she smiled, "Happy Christmas to you…Mr. John Bates, artist extraordinaire."
"Now, how about that shower and nap Anna?"
Anna secretly enjoyed that John was so comfortable around her and felt free to call her by her given name. "There are four wonderful guest bedrooms upstairs, but only one full bath…you can take the room to the right of the stairs and I'm in the one to the left."
"You of course will shower first."
"No Mr. Bates, you're the guest, you should go first."
"But you're the lady, and I insist you go first…plus, I couldn't live with myself if there wasn't any hot water remaining for you." He gave her a quick wink then started to clean up the kitchen. "Now go on, off with you."
"Are you shooing me out of the kitchen?"
"I am."
"Well…I'm not used to being bossed around."
"No…I suspect you aren't. Now go." He continued playfully bossing her.
Anna wasn't sure why, but she kind of enjoyed John telling her what to do. "I'll try to save you some hot water then." She left him alone in the kitchen and ran up the stairs to her room, unable to wait another moment to get out of that evening gown. Once wrapped in a robe she hurried into the bath and started the shower. Despite all the stress of the past two days, Anna's thoughts kept wandering back to John. She was impressed to view his art sculptures online and even read through some articles detailing how he had been contracted for unique pieces by other countries. Plus, she couldn't seem to get his eyes out of her mind either…. nor that charming smile of his. She smirked to herself and threw her face back into the water to clear her thoughts.
While Anna showered John finished cleaning up their dishes in the kitchen and then wandered into the sitting room where he discovered a host of photos on the fireplace mantle and a nearby bookshelf. He was delighted to take in so many photos of Anna. There were several of her as a little girl, then at university and medical school. She appeared to be alone in many of her photos, or with girl friends, but there never seemed to be any photos of her with a man – which for some reason pleased John immensely. He continued to explore the large house and entered another room behind the stairs to unearth a piano nestled in the corner of the den. John sat and started playing a little tune he had composed. Soon Anna had finished her shower and changed into some comfortable clothes. As she towel dried her long blonde hair, she leaned up against the doorframe to the den, mesmerized by John's playing. When he paused, she spoke up, "you're really quite good you know."
John turned around on the bench and smiled at her, "thank you…ready for that nap?"
"Very ready. I left fresh towels for you on your bed, and there are tubes of shower gel and shampoo there as well. Do you think you'll need anything else?"
"That's very kind of you Anna. Thank you. I think I'll head up for my shower now and see you later once we've both had a chance at some rest."
"Sleep well Mr. Bates." She said turning round and heading back up the stairs. John smiled to himself and noticed how beautiful she was in her natural state. He very much enjoyed the fact that she was so confident with herself not to fuss over her appearance. Here he was, a perfect stranger and she wasn't over reacting about their circumstances the way most women he spent time with would. John found Anna very refreshing.
Soon after she heard John turn on the shower water, Anna fell fast asleep. For a brief moment she imagined him standing there, water cascading down strong muscular arms, his bare broad shoulders, his long legs. She drifted off to sleep with a small smile on her lips, only to have a racy dream about him.
They slept most of the day away. When Anna awoke, she reached for her mobile to make sure she hadn't missed any calls from the hospital, and was relieved to notice she hadn't. However she did miss several text messages from Charles Carson. Quickly reading through them, Anna sat up quickly to call him. He had just received her voicemail regarding Elsie and was stuck in Rome trying to get a flight back to London. Her call went directly to voicemail, "Charles, its Anna. I'm sorry I missed your text messages; I was sleeping. The good news is Elsie is doing much better today, and we'll know more in the coming days. Call me when you get this message. Love you!"
When Anna ended the call she heard John shuffling around in the hallway, "Anna?"
She was startled for a moment, "Yes?"
He spoke to her from the other side of the door. "I heard you talking so I knew you were awake. I warmed us a ham and cheese bread downstairs when you're ready. I hope you don't mind – I was hungry, so I thought you would be as well."
Anna smiled to herself. "That is so thoughtful, thank you! I will be down in a moment." She rushed out of bed, despite still being tired and quickly brushed her hair and tied it up in a braid. Once she was freshened up she swiftly took the stairs and entered the kitchen to find John wearing dark jeans and a black polo shirt. He turned to her and smiled as he set two cups of hot coffee on the table with a pan of warm bread.
"My, you're quite domestic," she teased.
John gave her a prideful smile. "Mother insisted I learn my way around the kitchen."
"Do you cook as well?"
"Of course I do. Don't you?"
Anna bit her bottom lip and remained silently staring at him shaking her head.
"Well…I won't hold that against you. I'm sure you can carve a human much better than I can carve a ham."
Anna laughed, she found John to be rather amusing in addition to charming. As they finished eating her mobile rang and she excused herself to answer it. She looked concerned upon returning.
"Anna? Is everything alright?"
"Um…nothing's wrong actually. Just bad timing."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Just then Charles Carson came rushing through the back door with his luggage in tow. "Anna! Are you here?"
Anna turned her head toward the deep booming voice and Charles stopped to look over at John. "Oh, hello." Charles spoke in a questioning voice.
"Charles!" Anna rushed to hug and welcome him home. "This is my friend John Bates. John, this is Elsie's husband Charles Carson."
"Pleased to meet you," Charles gave John a firm handshake. "And you, Mr. Carson."
"Now…Anna, I called the hospital and they said you weren't there so I hope that means everything is still going well for Elsie."
"It is. I called an hour ago and she was still resting. They have her on a very high dose of pain killers so she will probably sleep for the next couple of days."
"Tell me the truth…she nearly died didn't she?"
"Let's not worry about that now, she's going to pull through this."
"But I should have been here for her. Thank God you were."
"Charles, you can't blame yourself. She is going to recover, and you will be here now to take very good care of her – just like you always do." She hugged him again as tears formed in his eyes. "I don't know what I'd ever do without her Anna…"
"I know. Neither do I." Anna whispered.
As Charles composed himself he pulled away from Anna, "John, Anna, can I offer the two of you something to eat?"
"Actually we've made ourselves quite at home while you were away, can we offer you a ham and cheese bread?"
"Anna…I should probably get back to the hospital. Now that Charles is back, you should spend some time with him."
"No, please don't leave on my account Mr. Bates." Charles protested.
"Honestly, I have to return to my mother's bedside. It was nice to meet you, I hope everything goes well for your wife."
"Thank you, and all the best to you and your mother."
Anna's face dropped, she was disappointed that John was leaving, but understood his need to return to the hospital. "Let me walk you out John."
Near the front door John grabbed his coat and old clothes then turned to look at Anna. "Will you be alright?"
"I think so. Thank you for taking such good care of me."
"Likewise…Anna…call it fate or perhaps a Christmas miracle, but I'm really glad I met you last night."
Anna was touched by his kind sentiment, and she smiled slightly, "Mr. Bates, you've been nothing but a blessing to me since we met. I'm very glad too."
"Can I ring you sometime?"
"I would like that." She gave him an even bigger smile.
"Can I…ring you later tonight?" He had a delicious twinkle in his eye.
"You're not tired of me yet?"
"Yet? …Never."
Anna was quiet for a moment and looked away embarrassed. "I'm beginning to think you're a charmer Mr. Bates."
"I have a thing for strong, intelligent doctors named Anna Smith…plus, I'd like to know why that phone call earlier upset you…or am I interfering?"
Anna was so caught off guard by John. He was unlike any man she had ever met before, and certainly nothing like any man she ever dated. His genuine kindness and sincerity made her feel like she could tell him anything.
As she opened the door for him Anna looked up into his fierce penetrating eyes and asked, "Can you call me after 9 tonight?"
John just stared back at her and she felt something stir in the pit of her stomach. "I thought you'd never ask," he said with a wink of his eye as he left.