I am running out of prewritten scenes…going to have to get back to it soon. Maybe this weekend, I'll be able to finish some of the longer ones I have been working on.
This is chapter 2 of my torturing Molesley, though I am nicer to him in this chapter.
John Bates stretched, checking the time on his pocket watch as he waited for his wife in the parlor of their small cottage. It was the evening of the annual servants' ball and if she didn't hurry up, they were going to be late.
"Anna!" He called up the stairs, the tone of his voice pleading with her to hurry up. He was about to climb the stairs to move her along when there was a knock at their door.
"Mr. Molesley." John was surprised to see the other man standing at his door. To his knowledge, the valet had never been to his and Anna's home.
"Hello, Mr. Bates. I was just walking up to the big house and I noticed that you were still here, so I thought I'd walk with you."
"Oh, that's nice. We can leave if Anna would hurry up." Bates knew that since Mr. Crawley's death, Mr. Molesley had moved back to Crawley House as the butler for Mrs. Crawley and was lonely for the hustle and bustle of the big house. He also knew that, once upon a time, he had been very sweet on Anna and that annoyed him.
"Tea, Mr. Molesley?" John poured himself a cup from a tepid pot left over from earlier in the evening, trying to be patient, both with his wife's dallying and with Molesley's intrusion.
"Yes, why not." Molesley replied.
"John!" Anna finally called down the stairs. "Black or Purple tonight, do you think?"
Bates almost choked on the swig of tea he had just drunk. It was unusual enough for any of the other servants to hear her call him by his Christian name, but he knew what she was asking, and it was not a mental image he wanted in Molesley's head. A quick glance toward Molesley revealed a blessedly ignorant expression. "Anna, Mr. Molesley is here. Just decide for yourself."
He heard her traipsing lightly down the stairs and knew she was not taking his advice. She peeked her head in the door and smiled politely at Molesley.
"Hello Mr. Molesley." Turning to her husband, she gave him a pointed look only he could decipher. "John, black or purple?"
"Black dear, stick with the classics."
"Alright, I'll just be a minute." She climbed the stairs back up and returned in less than two minutes. The three left the Bates' cottage and made their way to the Abbey for the festivities.
Chatting excitedly with Anna, Mr. Molesley did not notice that he husband was unusually quiet, but Anna noticed.
Toward the end of the evening, Mr. Molesley stole a dance from Anna. Anna took the opportunity to find her husband with her eyes and give him a naughty wink. Bates felt a little bad for Molesley. He knew he was enjoying dancing with Anna, but John knew that her thoughts were all for him.
Later on, after the ball was over and they returned to their snug cottage, minus the extra valet, John Bates slowly pulled the black garter off of his wife's pretty thigh. "Anna, my dear, you are going to be the death of me."
