9 days ago, Yorkshire...

"That's a broad subject," Elsie said cagily. "It's a county in Western Scotland with miles of coastline and more lochs than you can count. The Campbell clan is the main family group in Argyll, having served as Dukes of the region for centuries."

"Ha! Very funny," Charles laughed sardonically. "I don't need a history lesson. I want to know about your Argyll. When you first came to Downton, you talked as though you'd escaped something."

"I felt that I had," Elsie confirmed. "Where I grew up, it was so… small."

"You once mentioned that Downton was a metropolis compared to home," Charles recalled.

"Exactly. We weren't even part of a town, just a small collection of farms where everyone knew everyone's business going back generations. It was fun until I was ten."

"What happened then?"

"The authorities forced Becky into school. My Mum had home schooled me until then, but they wouldn't certify her to teach someone with Becky's difficulties. If Becky had to go to school, so did I. The nearest school was a thirty minute bus ride away. Every day, the local kids rode there and back together; all eight of us."

"Weren't you excited to go to school in a bigger town?"

"A little, but I was more concerned about how these new children would treat Becky. It had taken some time for the local kids to accept her for the sweet person she was."

"And the kids at the new school?"

"I didn't give them a chance at first. I came off that bus with a chip on my shoulder. I was on the lookout for anyone looking at her too long or in a way I didn't like. Luckily for Becky, we were in different classes. She enjoyed school and was well-liked while I kept to myself for most of that first year."

"That doesn't seem like you," Charles observed. "I've always seen you make friends quickly. I attribute it your ability to see the best in people."

"I didn't see people like that when I was ten. That's something I learned from Becky…eventually," Elsie admitted. "But it wasn't easy."

"It's natural that you wanted to protect her."

"She didn't need my protection. Maybe that upset me as much as anything. She'd looked up to me her whole life and I was afraid she didn't need me anymore."

"I'm sure that wasn't true."

"No, it wasn't, but it wasn't easy for a ten year old to come to that conclusion."

"But…eventually, you learned to play nice with others," Charles teased. "Most of the time."

"Most of the time," Elsie echoed with a laugh.

"So, once you learned to like people, you must have blossomed at school. I image you were in all kinds of clubs and activities. Head girl, maybe?"

"Why do you assume that?"

"When you arrived at Downton you were already a skilled organizer and natural leader," Charles complimented her casually. "You must have had some experience."

On the road, Elsie blushed privately and modestly answered, "When I was thirteen I joined the events committee. People had good ideas, but no follow through to make them happen. I made things happen."

"And a star was born."

"I found that I did have a talent and I enjoyed myself. The thing I liked best was managing a budget. The very idea of superfluous money available for a party was something beyond my experience."

Charles paused before asking a delicate question. "You weren't so very poor, were you?"

"It depended on the year," Elsie shared. "Oh, my parents provided for us. There was never any want, but…there was never extra money. We always had something special for Christmas and, in good years, birthdays."

Charles didn't know what to say. His family had not been wealthy, but he'd benefited from the generosity of the Crawleys.

"Don't feel sorry for me, Charlie. I didn't know the difference. Everyone we knew was like us," Elsie soothed. "It was probably more difficult for you, being surrounded by expensive things that weren't yours."

"I never saw it that way," Charles admitted. "The Crawleys were always generous. I had full access to the library and the stables. I suppose we were cash poor, but I never felt it. Da said we were upper lower class or lower middle class; either way, we were lower."

"So you know that money isn't everything?"

"You're saying that money wasn't your motivation for leaving?"

"Not directly. Our money came from the farm and I didn't want to farm," Elsie recalled. "Or marry a farmer."

"You mean Joe?"

Elsie laughed. "I forgot you met Joe."

"He visited several times," Charles reminded her. "I forced myself to be nice to him though I was jealous as all hell."

"You had no reason to be," she smiled to herself. "There was never any danger of my marrying Joe. Not that it stopped him from asking."

"He proposed to you, while you were at Downton?" Charles was appalled. "You were only eighteen!"

"He'd been proposing every five or six months since I was fourteen and he was sixteen."

"What!?"

"Oh, yeah, he first asked me on the bus ride home from school," Elsie chuckled. "Very romantic. After a while, it was almost always the same conversation…

"'Elsie Hughes, you know what I'm askin'.'

'Aye, because you've asked before.'

'Take your time, I'd rather wait a year for the right answer than get the wrong one in a hurry.'

'I reckon I can give you the right answer in a hurry, Joseph Burns. No. We're not even dating.'

'Then go out with me.'

'I don't see that happening.'

'Think about... carefully."

"I have,I promise you that'

"But five months later, he'd ask again. I think he honestly believed he could wear me down," Elsie said, bemused. "I guess it's a good thing I'm so stubborn."

"Your words," Charles reminded her. "But I am glad you were…resolute. Were you never tempted?"

"Maybe…but not for long. He only ever asked me because his family farm was near ours and we were roughly the same age. In the end, we only dated for three months and never slept together," she recounted. "He was a nice lad, but he was just too… boring to seriously consider."

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"I'm sorry to hear you don't like boring men," Charles sighed comically. "That doesn't bode well for me."

"No?"

"I've often been told that steady and boring are my two best attributes."

Elsie laughed at this assessment. It wasn't wrong. "There's a difference between steady and boring, Charlie."

"And what is that difference?"

"You are steady, but you are not boring."

"You may be the only person who believes that."

"Possibly," Elsie allowed.

"Why?"

"It might have something to do with the fact that I love you. So perhaps we shouldn't dissect it too much."

"Elsie Hughes, you are a wise and wonderful woman."

"So I've been told."

-00-

They chatted playfully for the remainder of her drive, even when Elsie stopped for petrol. At one point, they held a lively discourse on politics, concluding that all politicians are worthless.

"I only vote so I feel that I have the right to complain," Charles confessed.

"A right which you freely exercise," Elsie joked.

At one point, Charles tried to explain why cricket is the perfect sport.

"Oh, I do enjoy a good tea interval, but could take or leave the rest of it. I can't remember the last game I saw," Elsie admitted.

"It's a match!" Charles erupted. "Not a game!"

"Whatever," Elsie laughed. "If you enjoy it, I'll not stop you. I'll find something else to do when they're playing for the soot."

"It's The Ashes!"

Elsie could swear that she heard him banging his head on the table. Of course, she knew all about The Ashes, but she wasn't ready to admit that she had become a cricket fan during her time at Downton. That would mean admitting that her favorite Downton event was the match between the House and Village and that her favorite part of the event was a certain young man in cricket whites.

Amongst the light banter, they did discuss some more serious subjects, such as their views on having children.

"I still don't want any," Elsie told him plainly. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not at all," Charles assured her. "Neither of us wanted children years ago, but… I only asked because people do change their minds."

"You mean 'women change their minds'?" Elsie corrected bitterly. "I know people always think a woman regrets being childless when she's 'of a certain age,' but I know I won't."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Since I as eight years old, I've known that, someday I'll be responsible for Becky. I don't resent that, but it made me want to have a part of my life where I wasn't beholden to anyone or anything. Does that make me selfish?"

"No. It makes you incredibly self-aware."

"And you still don't want any kids of your own?"

"God, no!"

"But you're so good with the girls," Elsie observed. "Especially Mary, who most people think is an utter nightmare."

"She's a teenage girl," Charles defended his God-daughter. "And only an occasional nightmare. No, I feel about children the way I feel about dogs."

"This should be good."

"I love them, so long as they belong to someone else," Charles elucidated. "I can tolerate them, play with them, and even enjoy their company, but only because I know they'll be going home eventually."

"Do you mean that?"

"Absolutely. When I babysit or dog sit, I do have fun, but when they leave, I always think 'Thank God for the quiet,'" Charles professed. "I've had my fill of snotty-nosed children running things below stairs. I almost feel as though I've raised dozens of teenagers. I'm not so narcissistic as to require the perpetuation of my specific genetic code."

Elsie laughed. "That's very progressive of you."

"My only potential regret is… I know Mum would have liked grandchildren," Charles said thoughtfully.

"Will she expect them?" Elsie wondered. "When she learns we're together?"

"She'll ask, but she won't press." Charles predicted. "Besides, she has her cats and that annoying pug. She's happy enough and she'll only care whether or not I'm happy."

"And will you be?"

"I will be if you are," Charles answered immediately. "But if you change your mind, I'd be easily persuaded."

"What about all your grand talk of not needing to perpetuate your genetic code?"

"It isn't my genetic code that's worth perpetuating," Charles flirted. "But…Not to put the cart ahead of the horse, mind you. But, assuming things work out, I look forward to welcoming Becky into our home."

"Damn it," Elsie chastised him. "You promised not to make me cry."

"I didn't mean to."

"I know."

"Are you almost there? I have to leave for the Abbey soon."

"I'm close. What's going on today that's so urgent that you couldn't take half a day off to drive with me?"

"There's a photoshoot for the website and a new brochure," Charles said with disdain. "We're putting an emphasis on the wine weekends this go round."

"I imagine they're as lucrative as weddings without the hassle of a bridezilla and a mother of the bridezilla," Elsie teased.

"You'd be surprised how fastidious these wine enthusiasts can be."

"No, I wouldn't," Elsie teased. "Well, I'm here."

He heard her put the car into park. They both sat silently for a moment.

"They're just opening. I should go."

"When will I see you?"

"Come to the soft open next Thursday," she invited.

"Critics don't usually come to those," Charles protested. "That's your opportunity to work out the kinks, run the staff through their paces… not that I have to tell you that."

"I know, but we aren't planning the official launch until the next Friday," Elsie informed him desperately. "Daisy wanted the extra week and I agreed because we still don't have our blasted liquor license. That means an extra week until we can officially tell everyone we're seeing each other. But, if you come on Thursday, you can make your report the Saturday immediately following. And then..."

"We can go public? My review will have to be impartial," Charles warned. "Maybe even brutally honest. Will you and Beryl be ready for that?"

"Beryl won't be there. She was making Daisy too nervous hanging about," Elsie related. "When left to it, Daisy's a natural leader in the kitchen."

"And you think she's ready?"

"The soft opening is just a formality really," Elsie declared confidently. "We're bringing in staff from the other restaurants to ease the transition. What could go wrong?"

"Alright, I'll be there."

TBC…

AN/ Next chapter, a quick glimpse at the soft open (though we know a bit of how that went) and then back to the present!

Thank you for your faithful follows and for reading/ reviewing.