Author's Note: Welcome to chapter three and I hope that you all enjoy!


The sound of a soft melody being played on the piano in the sitting room caused William to smile as he descended the staircase after getting out of bed the morning after next. He knew that there was only one person in their family who could play the instrument so well. When he walked into the sitting room he felt his heart swell as his gaze fell on his little sister before he walked up behind her. 'You are so talented.' He stroked her back.

She turned her head to look up at him without pausing or removing her fingers from the keys, her hair cascading over her shoulders when she turned to the instrument again. 'I have that piano recital at school tonight.' She reminded him. 'I didn't practice last night because I had to help Mum with supper so I'm going to have to sit here all morning. If I mess up I'm going to look like a fool.' William sighed before pressing a kiss to her crown.

'You aren't going to mess up.' He reassured her. 'You know all of the pieces that you'll be playing inside and out and even if – when it's over – you feel as though you didn't do well, Mum and Dad and I are still going to be so proud of you.' She removed her fingers from the keys before resting her hands in her lap and lifting her gaze to him, a look of slight anxiousness on her face as she sighed and he ran his hand warmly up and down her back.

'You know how there's going to be a big concert held at Downton for the men at war the week after next?' She asked her brother before he gave her a nod in response. 'Well, it would seem that Lady Mary wants be to join the other musicians. She asked Mum at the party if she thought I would be willing to do it and then Mum asked me, but all I've said is that I'll think about it.' She said to him. 'If I'm honest, I don't think I'm good enough.'

William scoffed before reaching out to draw the back of his hand down her cheek as he looked into her eyes. 'You are the most talented pianist I've ever known and I'm not just saying that because I'm your big brother. Whenever you're playing the piano you make it seem effortless. You learn pieces so fast and you make them sound so beautiful. I can't tell you what to do, sweetheart, but I believe that you would do so well at that concert.'

'I'll consider it and give Mum my answer after the recital.' She admitted. 'I promise you.'

'That's all I ask.' He cupped her face in his hands. 'That you consider it.'

He then brushed his thumbs against her cheeks whilst pressing his lips to her forehead in a lingering kiss. 'I'm going to go and help Mum to finish breakfast. You keep going with your practicing, all right?' His hands fell from her face before he moved back from her.

'All right.' She nodded. 'I love you, Will.'

'I love you too, Mags.' He reassured her before turning and walking out of the room.

He offered his mother a smile when he walked into the kitchen and she turned her head in his direction before walking over to her and pressing his lips to the side of her head. 'Is there anything that I can do to help you?' He asked as he rested a hand on her back whilst she continued stirring the baked beans that were in the saucepan atop the stove.

'I think I'm almost finished with breakfast, sweetheart, but you could get the table set for me if you wouldn't mind.' She replied when she looked up from the saucepan and met his gaze, William nodding before he stroked her back and approached the drawer where the cutlery was kept. 'Thank you for helping me to take care of Maggie.' She said to him.

He looked over at her as he started to set the knives and forks down on the table. 'You don't have to thank me. I know that you've been rushed off of your feet and Dad's knee has been playing up over the last couple of days.' He admitted. 'Besides, sitting with her and helping to keep her temperature down helped us both to bond a little more I think.'

'Oh, so does that mean that the two of you won't keep annoying each other and being at each other's throats anymore?' She teased when she turned off the stove and began to put the beans onto the four plates in front of her, the sound of his chuckle causing her to smile before she turned around and looked over at him as he laid down the last knife.

'Brothers and sisters are supposed to annoy each other.' He smirked. 'That's the point.'

The two of them laughed together before Anna walked over to the refrigerator and got out the pitcher of apple juice. She then carried it over to the table and placed it down. 'Where's Dad?' William asked her as he pulled out one of the chairs and lowered himself down into it, Anna sighing as she went back over to the counter to clean it up somewhat.

'He's gone down to the chemist to pick up some more cream for his knee.' She admitted. 'He's worried that he won't be able to make Margaret's recital tonight if it keeps aching so much. I think it's the cold air that's done it; it acts up more when it's cold out than it does when it's warmer.' William leaned back in his chair as he nodded in response to her.

'Maggie will be crushed if he can't make it.' He said. 'She hasn't said anything to me, but I think you and I both know that what she's most concerned about is making Dad proud.'

Anna nodded as she began to bring the breakfast plates over to the table. 'Your father knows that too, which is part of the reason why the thought of not being able to watch her makes him so upset. I know that this won't be the last recital that she does, but it's her first one and he wants to be there to support her so terribly.' She explained to him.

He met her gaze and thanked her when she gave his breakfast to him. 'He just needs to put the cream on his knee, rest and keep off of his feet until we have to get dressed to go to the recital tonight.' He said to her. 'I can do whatever things are on his agenda for this afternoon so that he doesn't have to worry about it and he can come and see Mags.'

'We don't deserve you.' She smiled as she ran the back of her hand down his cheek.

'Yes, you do.' He returned her smile before Maggie walked into the kitchen with a smile.

She walked into her mother's arms when she opened them to her and laced both of hers around her waist before resting her head on her chest, her eyes falling closed when she held her close and kissed her crown. 'I could hear you practicing,' Anna lifted one of her hands up to comb her fingers through her dark hair, 'and it sounded so beautiful, angel.'

'I just hope that I don't forget everything once I've sat down at the piano this evening.' Margaret replied with a sigh when she lifted her head off of her chest in order to look into her eyes. 'I picked one of the hardest pieces because I felt confident that I would be able to do it, but now I'm scared that I'm just going to mess up in front of everyone.'

'Maggie, you sit at that piano for hours on end.' Anna reminded her whilst drawing her a little closer and bringing her hand to her face so that she could give it a stroke. 'You've worked so hard over the last couple of weeks and you know that piece from beginning to end. Even without the sheet music being in front of you. You are going to be so brilliant.'

A small smile graced Margaret's features. 'You really think so?'

'I do.' Anna pressed her lips to her forehead in a delicate kiss. 'With all my heart.'

The two of them then pressed their foreheads together for a second before releasing one another from their hold. 'Now,' Anna gave her daughter's arm a stroke, 'sit down and get your breakfast eaten before it goes cold.' Margaret nodded before drawing out the chair opposite her brother and sitting down in it in order to start eating her breakfast.

It was a few minutes later, just after Anna had sat down at the table herself, when the back door opened and John came into the kitchen. Even though he blessed her and their children with a smile, she could tell that he was in a good deal of pain. It didn't surprise her to be honest. The walk to the chemist and back to the cottage again was a long one.

He walked over to her after closing the door and she accepted the kiss that he pressed to her lips after leaning down, the smack of their lips bouncing off of the walls when he brought their kiss to an end before she watched him run his hand over their daughter's hair. He then limped around to the other side of their table to sit down next to William.

'How's your knee feeling, Daddy?' Margaret asked him once he had started to eat.

He knew that she was just as worried as he was that he wouldn't be able to listen to her play at her recital that evening, but he also knew that he couldn't lie to her. 'It isn't the best, darling,' He admitted before feeling his heart sink in his chest when her face fell, 'but I promise you that – even if I have to go in a taxi – I will be at your recital tonight.'

His words put a sparkle back in her eyes and he felt his love for her deepen when a soft smile appeared on her lips before she went back to eating her breakfast. Just moments later he felt Anna run her foot along his calve and glanced over at her, the two of them sharing a smile of their own as he was able to see the love and pride shining in her eyes.

When he turned his attention back to his little girl – who was no longer as little as she'd once been – when Anna began to eat her breakfast, he sighed. Even though his knee was giving him trouble and even though he knew that sitting in the hall at her school for two hours that night wasn't going to help it one bit, he found that he couldn't care less. She wanted – no, she needed – him to be at her recital and he wasn't going to disappoint her.

He was going to be there to support her and to see her perform that night.

He would make certain of it.


'Mum asked me to bring you this up.' Margaret smiled over at her father as she entered his bedroom with a cup of tea after knocking on the door a few hours later, John giving her a smile of his own from where he was reclined against the headboard with a book in his hand. 'Mum says that if we help you relax then you won't be in so much pain later on.'

She heard him sigh when she set his cup of tea down on his nightstand before he closed his book and set it down beside him on the bed. 'Come here.' He reached out to take her hand. 'Come and have a cuddle with me.' She lowered herself onto the bed at his request before shuffling nearer to him and reclining next to him, her head settling on his chest.

When he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her nearer to him she draped her arm over his stomach, her eyes falling closed of their own accord when she felt his lips on her crown. 'I can still remember the first time I held you on this bed after you were born.' He admitted. 'You were that tiny that I thought I'd break you if I wasn't careful.'

She giggled in response.

'Your Mum felt so exhausted and weak after giving birth to you so she asked me to hold you until she felt strong enough to.' He went on as he brought his hand up to her hair to run his fingers through it. 'I can't explain how privileged I felt to be the first person to hold you. You looked so beautiful and I fell in love with you the moment I picked you up.'

She tightened her hold of him when she tilted her head back on his chest to kiss him on the cheek. 'Have I always been a Daddy's girl?' She asked when she snuggled against him again and curled her fingers into his shirt, John nodding in response before pressing his lips to her crown again and trailing his hand delicately along her back through her dress.

'You have.' He said. 'From the age of four months until you were around one you wouldn't go to sleep unless we had skin-to-skin. I remember coming home from Downton one time and before I had even closed the door your Mum had given you to me and told me to get you off to sleep. She had tried everything to send you off, but you just wouldn't give in.'

Even though she obviously couldn't remember the time that he was talking to her about, the thought of not wanting to sleep unless she was on his chest back when she had been a baby made her love him all the more. She had been a Daddy's girl from the outset and she knew that – even as she grew older – the love she had for him would never dissipate.

'I can't wait to listen to you play tonight, you know.' He said to her once the two of them had laid in silence together for a few minutes. 'When you first came to your Mum and I and said that you wanted to learn how to play the piano when you were nine, I think that we both thought you'd get bored of it in time. We never thought you would get to here.'

Margaret shifted in his arms until her head came to rest on his shoulder and she looked up into his eyes. 'Neither did I, to be honest.' She admitted. 'At the start I just wanted to do it because Kate was learning and when she stopped I thought that I would stop as well, but then I realised that I loved it too much. It's hard, but it's so much fun as well.'

'Your Mum and William and I are all so proud of you for how hard you've been practicing for this recital, sweetheart.' He told her whilst massaging her waist through her dress. 'I know that you're nervous and I know that you feel like you're going to make a mistake, but you're not. You're going to be the best one up there, I swear that.' He smiled at her.

'I love you so much, Daddy,' She whispered as she laid her hand on his chest and nuzzled the side of his neck, her eyes drifting closed, 'and I hope that I make you proud of me.'

'I know you will, darling.' He turned his head to kiss her forehead. 'I know you will.'


As she sat between her parents in the hall at school with her sheet music in her lap late that evening, Margaret was able to feel her heart racing in her chest. Rachel Anton was on the stage as she delivered her performance and she knew that she was less than five minutes off from finishing, meaning that – in less than five minutes – her teacher would be reading her name off of the line-up sheet so that she could do her own performance.

She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so terrified and unsure of herself.

Whenever she had messed up whilst practicing at home it hadn't bothered her since her parents and brother had been the only ones to hear her do so, but if she messed up now it would bother her. If she messed up now, then she would mess up in front of the whole school almost. She would mess up in front of her teachers, other students and even the parents of other students. She knew that she would never hear the end of it if she did.

The feeling of her mother's hand on her knee through her dress brought her out of her thoughts after a time, a trembling sigh escaping her when she turned her head towards her. 'Sweetheart, you're trembling…' Anna whispered to her when her gaze met her own.

'I don't think I can do this.' She shook her head.

'Yes, you can.' Anna replied whilst lifting her hand to her cheek before cupping it in her palm. 'You have the sheet music right there, you practiced your piece four times before we left the cottage and you know it inside and out.' She saw the doubt in her daughter's eyes. 'When you're at home and you're practicing you block everything around you out. I can clean in the sitting room whilst you play and you don't even realise that I'm doing it.'

'So…' Margaret's brow creased, 'you think that I should just pretend that I'm at home?'

Anna nodded. 'Once you've gotten up there and sat down I want you to breathe and then I want you to block everyone and everything out and just do your piece. Focus on where your fingers are and don't think about what anyone else is doing, all right?' She brushed her thumb against the skin of her cheek before smiling when she hummed her response.

'Thank you, Mum.' Margaret sighed.

'You are so welcome, darling.' Anna said before removing her hand from her cheek.

Just moments later the two of them applauded with the rest of the audience as Rachel finished her performance, Margaret taking hold of the sheet music in her lap when she saw Rachel leave the stage and Miss Jones, their music teacher, walk onto it. 'Thank you so much, Rachel, for that lovely piece.' She said. 'And now,' Her gaze fell to the sheet of paper grasped in her hands, 'I would like to invite Miss Margaret Bates up to the stage.'

At her teacher's words, Margaret got up from her seat and stepped past her mother so that she could walk to the stage, her heels clicking on the wooden floor as she pushed a brown strand of hair back beneath her ear. 'Just remember to take your time and enjoy it, Maggie, all right?' Miss Jones rested one of her hands on her arm through the sleeve of her cream dress when she reached her on the stage, Margaret smiling as she nodded.

'I will, Miss.' She reassured her.

Miss Jones then gave her arm a tender squeeze before turning on her heel to go across and off of the stage, Margaret taking a deep breath in as she headed over to the piano before she let it out again after lowering herself onto the stool. Once she had set down the pages of sheet music she straightened her shoulders, brought both of her hands up to the keys and began to play the beautiful melody that she had spent weeks practicing.

From their seats in the audience, Anna and John and William smiled whilst watching her deliver her piece. She looked so beautiful in the dress that she had chosen to wear, her brown hair hanging in loose curls down her spine. The three of them – as usual – were in awe of how effortless she made playing the piano look. Her fingers moved over the keys with ease and she looked so calm. To say they were proud of her was an understatement.

When she felt her husband give her hand a squeeze whilst he held it in his, Anna turned her head in his direction before her eyes fell closed when he kissed her on the hairline. 'I feel so blessed to have such beautiful girls.' John mumbled against her skin before he pulled back from her to look into her eyes again, the two of them sharing a gentle smile.

'And I feel just as blessed to have such gorgeous boys.' She giggled.

The two of them looked at one another for a few seconds longer before turning back to Margaret and watching as she played the final few chords of her piece, Anna sliding her hand out of his so that she could join him and the rest of the audience in applauding her when she finished playing. She then watched as she picked up her sheet music and rose from the stool, her eyes sparkling with tears as she watched her walk across the stage.

Once she had made it to the steps, Margaret descended them in order to return to her seat, a giggle escaping her when she sat down beside her mother and allowed her to kiss her on the cheek. 'I am so, so proud of you.' Anna sniffed once she had pulled back from her and met her gaze, Margaret's heart racing as she looked at her father and brother.

'We all are.' John whispered.

'Well done, Mags.' William beamed.

Margaret felt a powerful surge of love for the three of them course through her veins as she leaned back in her seat, her mother sliding her hand into her own and lacing their fingers whilst the two of them watched Miss Jones walk back up onto the stage. 'Thank you for a gorgeous performance, Margaret. I can't wait to hear your next one.' She said.

When Mrs. Jones announced the name of the next student that would be performing, a sigh of relief fell from Margaret's lips as she allowed the tension to leave her. She had done it. She had delivered her performance without messing up. Did she think that she could have done a little better? Of course she did. That didn't matter too much to her, though, because she had made both of her parents and her older brother proud of her.

And that was what she had set out to do in the first place.


William smiled as, once he had said goodnight to Margaret and praised her yet again for the flawless performance she had delivered earlier that night, he walked back down the stairs so that he could go into the kitchen. Katherine would be telephoning him to speak with him at ten o'clock and it was five-to ten now and he longed to hear her lovely voice.

As he had expected on the night before she had left for London with both her parents, being unable to hold her or kiss her or nuzzle his nose against her hair for the past two days had been torture. He had missed her more than he had ever thought he would and there were no words to describe just how impatient he was for her to return tomorrow.

Once he had reached the kitchen he walked over to the refrigerator to get the pitcher of apple juice out, a sigh escaping him as he walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a glass before pouring the juice into it and taking a sip. The telephone began to ring not too long afterwards and he set the glass down before hurrying over to it and picking up the receiver. 'Hello, beautiful.' He smiled as he spoke to Katherine through the receiver.

'Hello, you.' Came her soft and somewhat tired response.

'Goodness, you sound worn out.' He said to her whilst he leaned against the wall.

'Mama insisted that she and I went shopping this afternoon and then out for lunch at a café and then out for dinner with Papa and aunt Rosamund this evening. We all got back a little over an hour ago and so I'm exhausted, but I didn't want to head to bed without hearing your voice.' Her words made his heart race in his chest before he sighed softly.

Oh, how he loved her.

'What time will you be back tomorrow?' He asked.

'We're catching the ten o'clock train in the morning and so we should be back by two. I'll telephone you once we've gotten back to Downton and I've unpacked my things. Then we can both start walking to the park so that we get there around the same time.' She told him. 'You have no idea how much I've missed having you kiss me and hold me near to you.'

He chuckled. 'Oh, sweetheart, I think I do.'

He fell more in love with her at the sound of her giggle.

'So, has anything interesting happened whilst I've been gone?' She inquired.

'Mags had her first piano recital this evening.' He informed her.

'Did she?' She gasped, the excitement evident in her voice. 'How did it go?'

A surge of pride coursed through his veins as he thought back to watching Margaret at the piano earlier that evening. 'It went so well.' He said to her. 'She's made us so proud.'

'I bet she did.' She replied. 'I wish I could hear her perform.'

'You can.' He told her. 'Our mothers were talking at that party the other night and your mother suggested that Maggie performed in the concert that she and your father are holding at Downton. When Mum asked her the first time if she wanted to do it she said that she would think about it, but when we got home tonight she said that she wants to do it next week.' He knew that she was able to hear the happiness that was in his voice.

'Oh, that's so nice!' She exclaimed softly. 'I can't wait!'

'I love you, Katherine…' He said after he had stayed silent for a few seconds.

'I love you too, Will.' She reassured him. 'More than anything in the world.'

When she yawned after she had finished speaking he knew that he had to let her get to bed so that she wouldn't be overly exhausted when she got back to Downton tomorrow.

'Go and get into bed, my love.' He said. 'You've had such a chaotic day and tomorrow will be even more-so, so you need to go and rest up.' He heard the gentle sigh that she gave.

'I wanted to talk to you.' She admitted.

'We're going to have all the time in the world to talk when we're at the park tomorrow. I want you to put the phone down now though, go upstairs and get some sleep. Then, when we're together tomorrow, you'll be well-rested and we can spend hours on end together.' There were a few moments of silence and he waited patiently for her to respond to him.

'All right.' She relented. 'I can't wait to see you tomorrow, you know.'

'Me either, darling.' He smiled. 'Once I'm holding you I'm never going to let you go again.'

'Good.' She giggled. 'Not seeing you has been torture.'

'I know,' He nodded, 'but we'll be together again tomorrow and that's all that matters.'

She hummed. 'You're right. I'll let you go and get into bed now.'

'Okay.' He replied.

'Goodnight, Will.' He could hear the tiredness in her voice. 'Pleasant dreams.'

'The same to you, sweetheart.' He whispered. 'The very same to you.'


Author's Note: Thank you all for taking the time to read chapter three. I apologise for hardly any Katherine and if the ending was awful, but I'm tired but I really wanted to get this chapter finished for you all. I hope that you all enjoyed anyway, hehe! If you have the time please review because I would be so grateful! See you all next time :) x