One-Sided
Since Alice, Mr Molesley has been careful with his heart, taking care who he offers it to and as a result, he doesn't give it to anyone else. Until Anna.
Head Housemaid at Downton Abbey, she's pretty and intelligent and he's instantly captured by her beauty. Talking to her, he finds her sweet and gentle with a witty sense of humour. He's bewitched by her. Anna.
She doesn't flutter and fawn at him, in fact, she barely acknowledges his existence, yet oh, how he wishes she would! He watches her from afar, admires her slim figure and the way the sun shimmers across her golden blonde hair. He finds himself wondering what it would be like to kiss her, to feel her in his arms, to see that sweet smile of hers aimed only at him. She enchants him without knowing it. Anna.
He finds himself imagining courting her, taking her out into the village, proudly walking with her on his arm. He imagines buying her gifts, showering her with pretty lace and hairpins, anything for her. He dreams of marrying her, Mrs Anna Molesley, he sees her smiling at his side in her bridal gown, that sunny face gazing longingly up at him. He wants her. Anna.
Though he follows and admires her, he knows little about her. It's tricky, finding out about young women in service, one misplaced question and eyebrows are raised. It's only at the garden party that he finds a suitable person to question. Mr Bates, a fellow bachelor and seemingly good man, seems an ideal candidate and Molesley poses the question that has plagued him.
He doesn't hear the tone in Bates' voice as he speaks of Anna's 'special someone', he doesn't notice the way the man looks longingly at Anna's departing form. It never crosses his mind that the man he is questioning about Anna is the man who has her heart.
It becomes painfully clear later that night, after war is announced. After eating with the rest of the staff he notices Anna leave via the backdoor and decides to follow. From the doorway he watches in horror as Anna, his Anna, walks straight into the arms of Mr Bates. Bile rises into his throat as he watches the way Bates holds her, speaks softly into her ear and presses kisses against her hair.
Turning away, he's never felt so miserable. Anna is not his, she never will be, she belongs entirely to another and for the first time in over twenty years, Joseph finds himself longing for Alice. At least she'd pretended to love him.