A/N: I'll be trying to update weekly, as this story will likely be around 10 chapters long and I have a few finished, but we'll see how it goes and if you remain interested! Please let me know your thoughts - I love reading your theories! I must say, some are in the right track... :) I know some people are worried about Anna but I can assure that after some troubles and issues this story will have a very happy ending - but then it's the journey that counts, doesn't it? ;) Thanks so much for reading!
Chapter 3
"Anna," Mrs Hughes's voice called from the doorway, and Anna looked up from the pair of shoes she had been polishing for the past few minutes. "Have you found Lady Mary's riding boots?"
Anna cringed slightly. "I asked Mr Bates to take a look in his lordship's closet. It wouldn't be the first time they ended up there, so I thought it was worth a try."
"She wants go right after luncheon, so I hope you'll have it ready soon," Mrs Hughes said.
The house had been incredibly busy these days, with several visitors and dinner parties several times a week. If Anna were honest, it was getting a bit too much for her. While she was more than used to these occasions, for the past few years she grew tired more easily, and she longed for the time to arrive when she could just be in her husband's arms, not worrying about the several tasks that lay ahead for her.
"I will," Anna assured her with a smile. Mrs Hughes lingered for a moment at the doorway before entering the boot room.
"You look tired, my dear," she commented with a kind smile. "I'm sure you are glad today is your half day off."
"I am, though I won't exactly rest when we get home," Anna sighed. "We've had bats in the attic. Mr Bates got rid of them and then I convinced him to finally clear out our spare bedroom now that the attic is empty. I'm afraid that when we moved in we just put everything we didn't want there, and we never did work on it later."
Mrs Hughes chuckled. "And I'm sure Mr Bates is looking forward to it as well."
Anna shook her head, joining in her laughter. "That's why we've postponed it twice. He knows we'll have to work on it today."
Mrs Hughes crossed her arms, shaking her head slightly at Anna in an almost motherly way. She still held a smile on her lips. "And do you have any plans for the spare bedroom?"
Anna's heart stopped for a moment but she allowed herself to smile. "Not yet. I think we'll wait and see what happens."
"That sounds like a very good plan, my dear," the older woman said, only to be rushed out of the room by Daisy, talking about some trouble in the kitchen.
Anna was left to her thoughts then, and they weren't bad at all. She felt rather hopeful today. Truth be told, she hadn't let herself think too much on the subject since her hopes were crushed last month, but John never failed to reassure her. He was right, of course. They still had time. She had always wanted to be able to enjoy married life before having children, and they could consider themselves lucky, aside from everything that happened to them - prison, and then her own ordeal. She didn't like to think about it; she hated thinking about whatever time they had apart from each other. They were slowly reaching the point they were before everything, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself, as she felt her confidence grow every time they were together. They could wait a little longer to start a family, but she had absolutely no problem in trying now.
"Found them," John said, and Anna looked up to see him entering the room with Lady Mary's riding boots in his hands. She smiled brightly at this, reaching for them, but her husband had other plans in mind, apparently. He sat down next to her.
"You don't need to do this for me, you know," Anna rolled her eyes as her husband started to polish Lady Mary's boots.
"Nonsense. I like to help you," John smiled, and she knew she couldn't resist to that. "The sooner we do this, the sooner we can leave for our day off."
"And I'm sure you are looking forward to it," Anna said teasingly.
"I'm always looking forward to spending time with you, however that may be," he said, winking at her, and she wanted to be able to kiss that grin off his face. He really was quite the orator. "Are you sure you don't have any errands to do in the village today?"
"I'm sure," Anna said with a grin of her own. She stopped polishing to look at him properly. "Mr Bates. Did you just ask me if I wanted to go shopping? Are you feeling quite well?"
"Perfectly well, Mrs Bates," he chuckled.
"Or is that just because you are dreading moving things about? Yes, that's probably it," she teased him. "You do need new socks, but I'll get that when I go to the village for Lady Mary tomorrow. You aren't escaping today."
"I would never want to escape from you, my darling," he said, and she knew that this time he was speaking honestly, not teasing.
She let out a giggle anyway. "You cheeky beggar."
She had big hopes that they'd have as much fun emptying the bedroom as they were having while trying to find a reason to fill it.
Anna surveyed the room with a smile as she and John took most things out; it was a small, spare bedroom, but it was of no use if they kept using it as a storage room. She wasn't quite sure how they had so many things, really. They had two drawers of items and clothes that were either too old or in need of a renovation. There were two rugs they had been given by Lord Grantham that they had yet to find use for, and a small, hidden part of her hoped they would make a good use of them when the day came that they would move from the cottage.
Thankfully, she had left everything very organized, in case they ever needed anything, and when they got through most things - a few of them would be moving to the small attic, and a very old cabinet that belonged to her late mother-in-law was found to be in a too much compromised state, unfortunately - their little spare bedroom began to take shape, and it looked much bigger than it really was now.
John was sweating from moving things around, and she was not much different. Sighing and resting the broom she had been holding against the wall, she put her hands on her hips and smiled at her husband.
"Well, now this can be a proper bedroom," John said, and Anna nodded. "We just need a bed, that is."
Anna laughed. "For all the guests we keep having?"
He glared playfully at her - their whole life was in Downton, and she wasn't close to any remaining relatives she still had. Indeed, there was never a necessity of having a guest bedroom, but she felt better knowing the room could fit other furniture in the future. Perhaps they could make it a study - a small library for John's books, something like that.
"Not guests," he continued. "Just... Someone else, in the future."
She knew exactly who he was alluding to, or rather she didn't know specifically at all, but she hoped his suggestion would come true.
"We'll wait before we decide to do anything here," she said resolutely. "A few months, like we talked."
"I don't need a study," he quickly said, not forgetting the suggestion she had made a few days ago. "And I certainly can wait, however long it takes."
"It'll be worth it, I'm sure," she sighed. This was as much as she would voice at this moment. She examined the room again. "Well, we should put that cabinet in the corner and leave it there."
John huffed slightly in complaint; Anna shook her head exasperatedly.
"Really, Mr Bates, you don't need to do that if you don't want to," Anna said, but he was already pushing the cabinet towards the corner near the window. He had insisted on doing all the hard work by himself, and she worried he might be putting too much weight on his bad knee. And he still complained, though she suspected he quite enjoyed having her mother him later.
"I want to," he said, but she didn't believe it one bit; her husband was too stubborn for his own good.
And indeed, this one time she had been right. She watched as he walked one step and then another, only to have his right foot catch on a loose wood board on the floor, and she didn't have enough time to catch him; thankfully, in the midst of a loud groan, John leaned against the cabinet and managed to support himself enough so to not fall. The loose board landed on the floor again with a thud, and Anna walked towards John.
"Are you all right?" She knew better than to scold or pity him, knowing how much he hated it all. John nodded, but she could see the pain behind his eyes. "Come on, this is done with. You should sit down for a moment."
"The cabinet-" John started, being his stubborn self, but Anna would have none of it.
"It will still be there tomorrow," she sent him a warning glare. "How's your knee?"
"I can manage," he said quickly, letting go of the cabinet to stand up right. Anna pursed her lips at him. He usually moved around their home with ease, without the aid of the cane, but she was sure this ought to have caused him some pain.
"Do you want your cane?" Anna asked him slowly.
Before long, he nodded.
She turned to get it, which was thankfully just a few feet away, right by the doorway of their bedroom. When she returned, he was examining the wood board that had been the culprit of all this.
"There," she handed him the cane and he smiled at her. "We'll deal with this later. Maybe I could get started on dinner and you can have a bath, see if it helps."
"This damned floor," her husband cursed, and he was met by a stern look from her. He smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Maybe we should think about replacing it."
"We haven't had any other incidents so far," Anna told him, bending down to retrieve the board and place it in its right position. "And the cottage isn't really ours, is it? It doesn't seem fair that we should invest in it more than we already have when in the end we must relie on the kindness of Lord Grantham to not charge us a full rent."
"You are right, of course," he smiled affectionately at her and she did the same, moving to put the board back. Something caught her eye, though. "And we have other plans of our own anyway."
"What's that?" Anna asked, frowning as she reached under the floor for something.
"We have sold Mother's house, you know that," John kept speaking. "And even last week, we mentioned-"
"No, love, I've found something," Anna said, interrupting her husband. She managed to grab whatever was underneath the floor, and it seemed to be a small box. At last, she took out what was indeed a rather small, wooden box. "Oh, my."
"What's that?" John asked as Anna blew some of the dust from it.
"I don't know, but it's not locked," Anna frowned, turning it over. A rose had been painted on it, and it was rather tasteful, though most of the colour had worn off. "And I take it it's not yours?"
John glared playfully at her. "No."
Anna giggled. "Well then. We'll have something to explore later on. Do you think it might be Mrs Turner's?"
John shook his head. "It doesn't seem like something she would forget and leave here. It was hidden. And it looks dated."
"You're right," Anna agreed as she stood up. "And now, dinner. And your bath."
"Are we not opening that?" her husband looked like a disappointed little boy, and she fought the urge to giggle.
"Later. I'll want to take a look at your knee too," she told him softly. She spoke again before John could say anything. "I'll feel better if I do. It might need a massage."
"It's fine, really. I can manage."
Anna pouted, starting to walk away. "There goes my plan of working on a proper massage on you. Before we go to sleep."
This seemed to strike a chord with him, for he grinned slowly and this time her giggle was loud enough for him to hear.
"Actually, I think a massage would go rather well..."
Anna looked up from her reading to see her husband by the doorway, watching her with a smile on his face. She did the same, happy to see him home – she had managed to escape home early as Lady Mary was rather tired from a day trip to York, but John had had to stay on as his lordship wasn't too keen on going to sleep today.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" she offered him as he crossed the sitting room to sit in his usual chair. "I have the kettle on for you."
"No, it's fine," John said, sitting down, but Anna shook her head.
"I've finished mine and I could use the company," she said lightly, already standing up. "Please?"
"Oh, all right then," he said at last, and she nearly rolled her eyes at his tone, fighting a smile of her own. She turned around to go to the kitchen – an adjacent room, separated from the sitting room just by a door. She could hear John sighing as she worked on their tea. "What have you been reading?"
She added some milk to his tea and her own. "Some notes that were in that little box we found yesterday," she answered him, adding a spoonful of sugar to her tea. She decided to add just one more – no one was watching. "There are some letters there too but I haven't got to them yet. It all seems rather dated. I haven't seen any names besides initials so far."
"How very mysterious," John said as she walked back into the sitting room with their cups of tea. He had one note in his hand. "'My darling, how I long for you. I wait for you in the temple, after luncheon, if you can be spared. J'. That cannot be a good thing."
Anna laughed, handing him his tea. "Who are we to judge, when we met by trees and gardens during our courtship?"
"That is only because we never had a moment alone," John pointed out.
"And who is to say they did?" Anna grinned, sipping her tea. "I only see the initials 'J' and 'A'. Maybe they are each a John and an Anna. That would be romantic."
"Poor souls, if they were as lucky as we have been on our journey," John joked, and Anna smiled weakly at him. His eyes softened. "But then, we are very lucky."
He offered her his free hand and she took it, lacing their fingers together. "We are."
They shared a smile. Considering everything they had been through, it was indeed the most important thing that they were here, now, and together. Anna reminded herself every day to not take anything for granted – not their freedom, not their lives. More than anything she longed for a quiet future with husband, no matter where, no matter how.
"What else did you find out?" John asked her softly.
"Well, the notes are always signed by the same person, so I'm guessing the person who owned the box was 'A'," Anna started. "There are some letters, but not too many. I haven't checked them all but I suppose there ought to be actual names in there. The notes are always the same. Longing and meeting in secret."
"Do you think they lived here?" John asked.
Anna pursed her lips. "I don't know. It doesn't seem like it. But they mention the Temple of Diana and the courtyard and the gardens. They must have been at the Abbey. Or at least one of them."
"Maybe they were servants and after they got married they lived here," John suggested. "Just like us."
"One more coincidence between us?" Anna joked. "Or perhaps only one of them lived here. That's why we only see one side of things."
"Perhaps."
"Of course that would be awfully sad," she sighed, drinking the last of her tea and eyeing John.
"Not everyone can be as happy as we are," John said, and Anna smiled at him. She picked one letter.
"I think I'll go upstairs," John said, fatigue in his voice. Anna looked at him alarmed but he soothed her with a smile as he stood up. "It's fine, I'm just a little tired. Not all of us can get home so early," he teased her. "Don't be down here for too long, Mrs Bates."
"I shan't, Mr Bates," Anna said brightly. "Be sure to warm up my side of the bed for me."
John grinned. "As always, my darling."
Anna awoke with a start. Goodness, she was still in the sitting room, and it looked like it was quite late. The letter she had been reading was still on her lap. Fighting a yawn, she picked it up and put it on the table with the other letters. At least now she knew a bit more about their mystery couple from the past – she couldn't wait to tell Mr Bates of it. She stood up, noticing it had started to rain, and stretched herself, wriggling her toes inside her stockings. She should go upstairs, or John would worry if he woke up and she wasn't there.
She walked towards the window, noticing the curtains were just a little open, and thunder echoed in the sky. She took a moment to watch the road outside – all dark and peaceful, it seemed, even with the rain. Mr Chirk's dog was barking again. She rolled her eyes annoyingly, and watched the road some more. She had the distinct feeling that she was being watched for some reason.
The rain let up quite suddenly, and then Anna saw it – the figure of a woman staring right back at her, just across the road. Anna's eyes widened, and she tried to see her more clearly, and she let out a loud gasp. The woman started to walk towards the cottage. She could see her face now – almost a mirror of herself, but with a look of rage on her face. Suddenly, Anna felt as if something was holding her to the floor, making it impossible for her to move. She couldn't breathe.
Anna opened her eyes and sat up, and tried hard to catch her breath. It seemed so real – it was a dream, but it seemed so real. She gasped for air again and looked around; she was in their bedroom, in bed, wearing her nightclothes. John was snoring softly beside her. Her heart was beating hard against her chest and she closed her eyes, taking a deep, slow breath. She hated nightmares – and she especially hated them now, now that she was used to peaceful nights again. She felt incredibly unsettled – it was indeed raining outside. John snored again. Anna shivered and looked at him, deciding to lie back down and try to go back to sleep.
She snuggled against him, wanting to feel his safe arms around her, but she didn't want him to wake up and worry about her. John, however, seemed to sense her closer, and his arm unconsciously reached for her.
"Am I snoring again?" he drowsily asked, and Anna almost cried at his innocence. His eyes remained closed as she scooted closer, and his arms enveloped her fully.
"Just a little," she confessed, and John groaned as she fit her head in the crook of his neck.
"'M sorry," he mumbled.
Her breathing slowed down a little. "It's all right."
She kissed his neck softly, and took a deep breath. John seemed to be asleep again instantly, and Anna closed her eyes. It was just a silly dream. It wouldn't do well to think of these things – she had had way too many bad dreams over the past years and she was willing to put them all in the back of her mind. This one would be no different at all.
But she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was still being watched, even as she was falling into a deep slumber.
