It was all arranged for Anna to go the following Thursday. It fitted in well, because she usually visited John on a Friday. She could go to the farm on Thursday, then go with her mother to see John on Friday. She was tempted to go and see him again herself on Saturday, before returning to Downton, but she thought she'd see how things went with her family first. She got to see them so rarely, she supposed she should prioritise them, and she was sure John would say the same. Still, she was tempted to go and see him two days in a row… She was tempted to go and see him three days in a row, but she was already on a train heading north instead of south, so she supposed that wasn't going to happen.

She wondered if things had changed much at the farm. It had been quite some time since her last visit – since not long after John returned to Downton from Kirkbymoorside, she recalled. She'd been saving her next visit for a time when she could bring him, but that had never happened. It would, though. She was sure.

Her mother met her at the station, and gave her another one of those crushing hugs. "It's so good to see you! Thanks for coming!"

"It's good to see you too, Mum." Anna smiled.

"You've just a small bag, that's good, I've got the trap loaded up with fertiliser! They'll be putting next year's crop to seed soon, and there was a salesman in town selling it cheap, so I bought some for the Hickmans as well."

As her mother finished this statement, they emerged from the station, and Anna saw the trap. It was indeed piled high. It looked like s he'd have to hold her bag on her lap. "You realise it's not actually cheaper if you just buy more of it."

"They'll pay me back! I did ask them first. Oh, and I've done the shopping as well, so that's in there too, towards the front – perhaps you could put your bag there, just mind you don't squash anything."

Anna frowned. "Is it wise to mix food with fertiliser?"

"That's why your father gave me some mats to separate them!" Ida nodded knowingly, as Anna regarded the old horse mats that were sticking up haphazardly, holding the fertiliser at bay. They certainly weren't holding back the smell.

"Ah, the smell of the farm!" she said, climbing onto the seat beside her mother.

"It only smells like this once a year! If you'd only come earlier, you would have escaped it!"

The Smith farm was about eight miles from the township. There was a village closer, but it didn't have a train line. Anna's parents lived in the small house, by the barn. Her elder brother, Peter, lived in the big house with his wife Janet and their children. When Anna was a child, she had lived in the big house with her siblings and parents, and her grandparents had lived in the small house. Now, the generations had moved on.

Anna heard a child's shout as the trap neared the farm's driveway, which quickly multiplied as four more children appeared at the end of the drive, whilst the boy who'd shouted first chased the trap up the driveway towards them. He was her eldest nephew, Alec, and she was pretty pleased to see that he still remembered her. The others she wasn't really expecting to. Alec was nine, and the last time she'd seen him, he'd been eight, but Peter and Janet's second child had died in early infancy, so Alec's eldest living sibling was three years younger than him. That meant that she was only five the last time Anna saw her, and the others even younger, so she didn't expect them to remember much about their last meeting.

When the trap pulled up, Alec said, "Welcome, Auntie Anna," in a very polite voice, and held out his hand to help her down.

"Oh, look how grown up you are!" Anna exclaimed. Touched, she took his hand, but didn't lean on it as she jumped down from the cab, pulling him into a hug as soon as she reached ground level.

"I got tall!" said the boy proudly. "You used to be lots taller!"

"You used to be much shorter, Alec," corrected his mother, stepping forward to give Anna a warm hug. "Auntie Anna hasn't shrunk!"

"No, I got taller, that's what I said!"

"She's not as tall as Daddy," observed Alec's five-year-old brother, James.

"Of course she's not, girls aren't as tall as boys!" hissed their sister, Eileen.

"James!" admonished Janet. "Haven't we talked about not saying every single thing we think about other people?"

"But Eileen's taller than me, Mummy!"

"Alright, shoosh, the lot of ya!" came a booming male voice.

Anna looked up to see her father walking across the yard towards her. She smiled. "Hi, Dad."

"Hello, Anna, love," said Pete Smith, giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek. He looked older, she noticed. He regarded her closely, thinking the exact same thought about her.

"Where's young Peter?" Anna's mother asked.

"Ploughin' with Jack," her father replied. "He'll be in for lunch."

Fossicking in her bag, Anna pulled out five small chocolates, one for each of the children. The smallest was only one, so she placed his chocolate into the hands of his mother.

"Don't I get one?" Anna's father asked.

"Umm, you get a kiss," she replied, leaning forward to give him one, at which he beamed.

"Aw, you got the better end of the deal, didn't you, Pete?" said Janet.

The older man blushed, frowned and turned away.

...

They had a pleasant family lunch, in the big house's large kitchen with Anna's brother and the farm hand, Jack. Listening to the friendly family banter around the table, Anna was feeling the best she had in ages. For the first time since her husband had been taken away, she was actually feeling happy.

After lunch, Peter and Jack went back to work while Alec took Anna on a tour of the farm. Actually, her father was under the impression that he was leading the tour, but in reality, Alec was striding further ahead, telling Anna many more things.

"How come you're not helping with the ploughing, Alec?" asked the boy's grandfather, roughly interrupting an explanation of the habits of the family's goats which the older man clearly thought had been going on for too long.

"Mum asked me to take care of Auntie Anna," Alec replied.

"Your gran and I can do that."

"Leave off him, Dad," said Anna, stroking Alec's hair. "He's a wonderful host."

"He has other responsibilities too, that's all I'm saying."

"Well, I'm enjoying my first proper day off in a long while, but I need Alec to enjoy it with me."

Alec grinned up at Anna, very pleased that she'd gone in to bat for him.

Pete Snr shook his head and walked back to the house, his brow furrowed.

...

"Do you notice the difference?" Ida Smith asked, as she took a plate from her daughter-in-law and began to dry it.

"I do."

"You do? Well, I'm not imagining it, then. It seems good for her to be here, she was smiling quite a bit over lunch, but her eyes still looked tired."

"Yeah."

"I don't think she's getting much sleep."

"I know I wouldn't."

"I'll make her some tea tonight, with some hops and camomile. That usually helps."

"You ladies gossiping?" grunted Pete, coming into the house and sitting down at the kitchen table.

"No," his wife replied. "It's not gossip. I was just wondering how I could get Anna to sleep better."

"I don't think camomile would fix her problems."

"Well, it's worth a try!"

"Bastard. I can't believe what he's done to her."

"Now, now. Let's hold our judgement until all the facts are in."

"I wish you'd take me with you tomorrow, I'll get all the facts!"

"Not with that attitude, you wouldn't. I don't want Anna hearing you talk like that, alright?"

Pete grunted and turned away.

"Who is he, anyway?" asked Janet.

"A colleague. Lord Grantham's valet. She has mentioned him to me before, and I thought he sounded a very nice man."

"He's not Lord Grantham's valet anymore, is he? How's he meant to support a wife like that?" Pete scoffed and looked at the wall.

"You knew?" Janet asked Ida.

"I didn't say that. Anna mentioned Mr Bates in the odd letter, along with Mrs Hughes and Mr Carson and Lady Mary and lord knows how many of the rest of them. I did pick up that she thought very highly of him, but I did not know they were engaged."

"What sort of a man marries a nice young girl without asking her father's permission first? Hmm?"

"They had to marry in a hurry, Peter, I've explained that to you."

"Would you have given it?" asked Janet.

"Absolutely not!"

"Oh, so that's what you're really annoyed about, is it?" said Ida, winking at Janet.

"No, that's only the smallest part of it, but -"

"Shh!" hissed Janet, looking out the window. "They're coming back!"

"…I don't like English very much, I prefer maths," Alec was saying, as he and Anna walked through the yard to the back door.

"Really? That takes some brains, well done!"

"I think it'll be useful when I take over the farm. So I know what's happening with money and that."

"I think it will be." Anna stepped into the kitchen, to find all faces turned on her. "Hello…" she said, hesitantly. "What's going on in here?"

"How about a cup of tea?" asked Ida.

...