Author's Note: Welcome to chapter 21! This one is a little longer than the previous one, so I hope you're happy about that :) Happy reading! x
It was a few hours later, not long after dawn had broken, when John was lying in silence between his wife and their daughter, Anna sleeping with her back to him whilst he held Adelaide close and could feel her stroking her fingers against the hairs on his chest. He had woken up when she had clambered into bed beside him a little over an hour ago and even though he had known that Anna was trying to teach her to stay in her own bed until the sun came up, he hadn't had the heart to send her away once she had gotten settled.
He loved their cuddles. He loved how she fit so perfectly in his arms; how she talked to herself without even realising it and how she busied herself with tangling her fingers in his chest hair. Knowing that there would come a time when she no longer crept into the room to cuddle with him made him want to make the most of this precious time with her. Time was passing far too quickly for his liking and he knew that – even though she would always be his baby – she was growing up and starting to become much more independent.
She was already learning how to write letters and numbers and she was so close to being toilet-trained now. He was prouder of her than he could explain – of course he was – and he knew that she was going to make him and Anna and her teacher so proud of her when she started school next September, but all he wanted was for time to slow down a little. He wanted her to stay his little girl and he wanted to have moments like this with her – moments when all the two of them did was lie silently together – for as long as possible.
When she snuggled further into his warmth underneath the quilt and nuzzled her cheek against his bare shoulder he tightened his hold of her, his eyes holding nothing but love for her when he turned his head to look at her before he pressed his lips to her temple. She tilted her head back on his shoulder once he had given her a tender kiss and he felt his heart swell within his chest when she smiled at him. She was perfect. He was unsure of what he had done to deserve her, but he knew he would do it all again if he needed to.
'Is Mummy still sleeping, Daddy?' She asked him with a raise of her brow.
He turned his head in the direction of his wife before smiling when he heard her gentle snores, his free hand coming up to stroke Adelaide's curls when he met her gaze again. 'Yes, darling, she is.' He nodded with a whisper as he drew her further into his embrace.
'Mummy sleeps a lot, doesn't she?' She giggled.
He couldn't help but chuckle in response. 'She does, but she needs all the sleep that she can get at the moment. She's working very hard to take care of us and Nanny and she's working even harder to create your brother or sister.' He explained to her as he smiled.
'Can I go and give her a kiss?' The hope was evident in her eyes whilst she looked at him.
'You can, sweet-pea, but be very gentle so that you don't wake her up.' He replied.
Adelaide nodded before pressing a kiss to his cheek and moving out of his arms so that she could get off of the bed, a smile curling her lips as she made her way around to her mother's side. When she reached her she saw that a strand of her hair had slipped into her face and so she pushed it back behind her ear, causing her father's love for her to deepen as he adored the bond that the two of them shared. She then laid a hand on the mattress before pressing her lips against her mother's and drawing back from her again.
'Daddy,' She whispered as she looked at him whilst stroking her mother's cheek with the backs of her fingers, 'can we go downstairs and make a special breakfast for Mummy?'
'You mean you want to surprise her with breakfast in bed this morning?' He asked whilst propping himself up on his hands before she nodded in response as she smiled at him. 'I don't see why not. Just let me get a nightshirt and then we'll head downstairs, all right?'
'Okay.' She said before lowering her gaze to her mother again as her father pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed. She had the prettiest Mummy in the world. She was certain of it. After watching her sleep for a few more seconds she leaned down to leave a kiss on her cheek before pulling the covers further over her. 'I love you.' She told her.
'Come on then, you.' She turned to look at her father when he spoke before crossing the room and reaching up to take his hand, the two of them smiling when he started to lead her out of the room. It didn't take long for the two of them to walk down the stairs and into the kitchen, John bending at the waist to take Adelaide's waist in his hands and lift her to sit on the kitchen counter once they had walked over to it. 'There we go.' He said.
She smiled when he pressed a kiss onto her forehead. 'Thank you, Daddy.'
'You're welcome.' He ran a hand over her curls. 'Now, what should we make for Mummy?'
Adelaide fell quiet as she thought for a moment. 'Scrambled egg on toast!' She told him.
John had to chuckle at that.
Anna had been craving scrambled eggs for the last few weeks now.
'All right.' He smiled. 'Shall we take her a bowl of strawberries up as well?'
'Yes!' Adelaide gasped. 'Mummy loves strawberries.'
After shaking his head lovingly at her he opened one of the overhead cupboards and got out a bowl before placing it beside her on the kitchen counter. 'If I crack the eggs for you, will you put the milk in and mix it for me whilst I put the toast in the toaster?' He asked her once he had headed over to the other counter and collected a couple of eggs.
'Okay.' She replied.
'Good girl.' Once he had set the eggs down he walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the milk before walking back to the counter, opening another cupboard and finding a measuring cup so that he could measure out the milk. He then cracked the eggs into the bowl before handing the measuring cup of milk to Adelaide and allowing her to pour it in. 'Here you are, my love.' He pulled a whisk out of the drawer. 'Do you know when to stop?'
'When it's yellow?' She asked.
He nodded. 'That's right.'
Once she had started to beat the eggs and milk with the whisk he walked over to where the toaster was and got the bread out of the bread-bin before putting two slices of it into the toaster and starting it up. As he waited for the bread to toast he gazed over at Adelaide and smiled as he could see her tongue poking out of her mouth as she whisked.
He loved how everything always had to be perfect whenever she wanted to surprise her mother. It was clear to him that she loved Anna with her whole heart and there was no questioning if Anna felt the same way about her. The two of them were so close and one of his favourite things to do was watch them together. He loved them both so intensely.
It wasn't long before the toast was done and once he had put it on a plate and carried it over to the counter that Adelaide was sat on he smiled at seeing that she had finished beating the eggs in the bowl. 'Well done, darling, that's perfect.' He caressed her cheek. 'Why don't you hop down now so that I can use the stove? I don't want you getting hurt.'
Instead of answering him she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to ease her off of the counter and back onto the kitchen floor before she approached the table and climbed up onto one of the chairs. 'Daddy, can we go to the park later?' She inquired as she looked over at him and watched him use the stove in order to scramble the eggs.
'I don't think we'll be able to go today, Addie, because Mummy kept waking up last night to be sick.' He told her. 'Perhaps we should let her rest today and then tomorrow – once we've walked Nanny to the train station and she's got on the train – we can go and spend an hour at the park on our way back here. What do you think about that?' He asked her.
'All right.' He heard her say from behind him. 'We can just give Mummy snuggles all day!'
He laughed. 'You know, sweetheart, I don't think she'll object to that one bit.'
It took a few minutes for him to finish scrambling the eggs for Anna and turn the stove off, but once he had he quickly buttered the toast before scraping the eggs out of the frying pan and onto the toast. 'Do you want to get the strawberries for me?' He raised his brow at Adelaide after turning back to her. 'They're on the shelf in the refrigerator.'
She nodded her response before sliding off of the chair and going to the refrigerator, a smile forming on her lips when she spotted the strawberries and got them out. 'Here you go, Daddy.' She reached up to hand the strawberries to him. 'Please can I have one?'
'Well, I don't know how I could say no since you asked so nicely.' He replied before taking a strawberry out of the punnet, removing the stalk and allowing her to take it from him.
'Thank you.' She said before popping the berry into her mouth and eating it.
Once she had finished eating the strawberry, John quickly put a few of them in a bowl before finding a tray and putting everything on it. 'Right then,' He brought the tray into his hands before turning back to her and meeting her gaze, 'let's get this up to Mummy.'
Anna smiled to herself when she heard Adelaide and John talking outside the bedroom door whilst she was sat up in bed with a book a few minutes later. Knowing that her little girl would undoubtedly run straight over to her once she came into the room, she folded the corner of the page that she was on before shutting the book and setting it down on the nightstand. She then reclined back against the headboard and waited for a moment.
Just as she had expected, as soon as the bedroom door opened and Adelaide came into the bedroom her eyes lit up and she made a bee-line for the bed. 'Mummy,' She beamed as she clambered up onto the bed before crawling across the covers to her and settling into her side, 'you've woken up!' She beamed as she tilted her head back on her shoulder and gazed up into her eyes, Anna laughing as she gave her cheek a caress with her hand.
'I have woken up, sweetheart!' She replied before pressing a kiss onto her forehead and offering her husband a smile when she lifted her gaze to him and watched him make his way over to her. 'What's all this?' She raised her brow at him when he set the breakfast tray down in her lap atop the covers, John's eyes holding nothing but love for her as he used his hand to brush several wayward hairs out of her face and back beneath her ear.
'It was Addie's idea.' He revealed. 'She wanted to make you a special breakfast because you've been so tired over the past few days and because you do so much for both of us.' He leaned down to press his lips against hers in a delicate kiss, their lips smacking when their kiss ended before Anna turned her head in their daughter's direction and beamed.
'I love you so much.' She gave Adelaide a squeeze. 'Thank you, my lovely.'
Adelaide snuggled further into her whilst being mindful of the tray. 'You're welcome.'
'Does my kitchen look like a bomb's hit it?' Anna giggled when John sat down on the bed.
He gave her a sheepish smile. 'Yes…' He chuckled, 'but I promise I'll clean it up.'
'I love you.' She reached out with her free hand to take one of his.
'And I love you.' He reassured her before lifting her hand to his lips and giving it a peck.
When Adelaide reached into the bowl of strawberries, Anna looked at her again before giggling when she offered it to her. Once she had allowed her to feed it to her she ate it before pressing her lips to the side of her head through her curls. 'My little miracle.' She whispered into her hair before drawing back from her and drawing her a bit closer.
'Why don't you come and sit on my knee for a minute so that Mummy can eat before her breakfast goes cold, darling?' John suggested when he looked at Adelaide, his little girl nodding her response before she kissed her mother on the cheek and crawled across to him. As soon as she was in his lap she settled against him, John kissing her head warmly.
'Is Mum still in bed?' Anna asked as she began to eat.
'I presume so.' He replied. 'She wasn't downstairs when we were down there.'
Once she had put another forkful of egg into her mouth and eaten it she reclined back against her pillow and looked at him. 'Last night, when you came to bed and told me that things would be all right with you and me and Mum, what did you mean?' She questioned.
'Last night, when you and Addie were looking at the stars together, your Mum came into the kitchen and we had a talk. She asked me if I loved you. More than she did.' He said. 'I told her that that wasn't possible because she's your mother, but that I like to think that I love you almost as much as she does.' He watched his wife's lips curve into a smile. 'Then I told her that I know that she thought that I was a threat to you.' He explained.
'Then what happened?' She raised her brow.
He sighed. 'I told her about the things that I caught father doing to mother when I was Adelaide's age. I told her that he would do those things to her on a daily basis and that I would never even dream of raising my hand to you, let alone do it.' He stroked her leg through the quilt. 'In the end she apologised for misjudging me all these years and told me that she knows that I'm not just saying that I love you. She knows that I mean that.'
'So…' The relief was evident in Anna's eyes, 'she's all right with you now?'
'I don't see us being best friends any time soon,' He teased, 'but yes. Everything is fine.'
She smiled at him. 'You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that.'
'I just hope that you'll be able to rest a little better now that it's all resolved.' He said.
'Me too.' She admitted. 'I'm so tired of being tired all the time.'
When she put another forkful of egg into her mouth and ate it, John lifted one hand to her face and cupped the curve of her cheek in his palm. 'You are the strongest woman I know and I feel so proud and so honoured to be able to call you my wife.' He said to her.
'You mean everything to me and Addie.' She sighed once she had eaten the piece of egg.
'And the two of you mean everything to me.' He replied. 'Absolutely everything…'
As he sat in the chair beside the bathtub in the bathroom a couple of hours later, John smiled as he ran his fingers through Anna's hair and watched her lie within the bubbles with her eyes closed. She wasn't asleep, he knew that, but she was content and relaxed and that was all that mattered to him. Ellen had gone into town a little while ago to get a couple of things to take home with her in the morning and neither of them had hesitated to give her permission to take Adelaide with her. The cottage was so calm and quiet now.
It wasn't that the two of them hadn't wanted Adelaide around – that wasn't the case at all – but John had known that Anna had been exhausted and that Adelaide being out with her grandmother for an hour-or-so would enable her to relax. Almost as soon as the two of them had left the cottage he had come upstairs to draw Anna a bath and – ever since – he had been sitting with her whilst she soaked and allowed herself to completely relax. He had to admit that she looked so charming and so satisfied as she laid in the bubbles.
After a number of silent minutes had passed the two of them by, she reached up to take the hand that was stroking her hair in her own. She then laced her fingers with his and turned her head to press kisses to his knuckles before sliding further into the bubbles. When she opened her eyes and looked up at him he traced circles onto the back of her palm with his thumb, the two of them sharing a smile before he rose out of his chair to kiss her temple. 'There's room for you in here, you know.' She said to him in a soft voice.
'I know, but I want you to be able to rest.' He replied.
'Next year we will have been married for seven years.' She reminded him. 'You can't tell me that you don't know by now that I manage to relax far better when I'm in your arms.'
The two of them chuckled together before he ran a hand over her hair.
'Come and get in the bath, John.' She sighed when she looked into his eyes again.
Knowing that he would never be able to refuse her anything, John leaned in to brush his lips against hers before rising from the chair and beginning to rid himself of his clothes. In minutes he was climbing into the bath behind his wife, the two of them smiling at one another when he leaned back against the bath and she shifted backwards until she was sat between his legs. She then settled back against his chest, her head coming to lie in the dip between his neck and shoulder before she kissed his neck. 'Mmm…' She hummed.
'Mmm…indeed.' His lips grazed her hairline as he spoke to her before kissing her there.
'When was the last time we did this?' She whispered as she laced their fingers together on her stomach underneath the water, her eyes closed as she basked in their closeness.
John thought for a moment. 'I honestly can't remember.'
'I've missed it.' She sighed. 'I think we should make it a weekly thing.'
'We could give Addie her dinner an hour earlier so that she goes to bed an hour earlier and then, whilst one of us is reading to her, the other can come in here and start to run the bath.' He brushed a kiss against her wet and glistening shoulder as he held her near.
'I like that idea.' She turned her head in his direction.
'Do you?' He smiled before grazing her nose with his.
'Mmm hmm…' She nodded.
'Good.' He whispered.
He then captured her lower lip in a long and delicate kiss, one of her hands moving from over his beneath the water to come up and tangle in his hair as his lips shifted over her own. The sound of their kisses bounced off of the bathroom walls, Anna smiling against his lips when he traced her lower lip with his tongue and she curled her fingers into his hair. She then parted her lips beneath his and allowed him to deepen their kiss, his hold of her tightening when their tongues began to dance to a song that only they could hear.
'You're so gorgeous…' He murmured between softly passionate kisses as he lifted one of his hands to the side of her neck to keep her in place, his thumb running along the line of her jaw as his other hand stayed on her belly and he held her flush against his chest.
'I love you so much.' She whimpered.
'I love you too…' He replied. 'More than you know.'
When she walked into the bedroom that she shared with John once she and her mother had said goodnight that evening, she was unable to stop the smile from spreading across her lips as her heart swelled at the sight in front of her. Her husband was sound asleep in the bed in the centre of their bedroom with Adelaide snuggled into his side, her tiny hand lying next to her head on his chest whilst the two of them snored gently together.
John was always going on about how perfect she looked whenever she and Adelaide fell asleep or spent time together, but as she watched him sleep with their little girl safe in his arms he looked far more perfect than she could ever imagine herself looking. Once a few moments had passed she started to walk over to their marital bed, a laugh escaping her when she lifted Adelaide's Winnie the Pooh book off of his chest and bookmarked it.
She then closed it and set it down on the nightstand before bending down to give him a soft kiss on the forehead, her lips smacking in the silence of their room when she drew back from him. Before walking over to her wardrobe for her nightgown she covered him and their daughter further with their blanket and smiled down at them both once again.
It didn't take her long at all to change out of her dress and into her nightgown and once she had brushed out her hair she walked over to the bed, a tired sigh leaving her as she climbed into it and laid down after turning off the lamp on her own nightstand. 'Are you here?' She heard John mumble as he stirred somewhat whilst she settled down to sleep.
'I am, my love.' She reassured him with a stroke of his chest. 'Go back to sleep.'
He turned his head towards her, his eyes still closed. 'Come here.' He said to her.
With a giggle and a loving shake of her head she leaned over their slumbering daughter to brush a kiss against his lips. 'Love you.' He sighed as he settled down beside her again.
'I love you too.' She whispered before burying a kiss into the curls at the back of their beautiful little girl's head. 'Just as much as I love you, my little dreamer.' She mumbled.
As she closed her eyes and waited for slumber to claim her once she had snuggled up to the two of them she smiled to herself again. If – when she had first come to Downton – someone had told her that she was going to meet the love of her life at the foot of the servants' staircase she never would have believed them. Just like she never would have believed it if – when she had been recovering from her attack – someone had said that her life would be perfect in just a few years' time.
Back then it would have seemed too good to be true.
But now she knew that it wasn't.
She had a husband that she loved with all her heart and soul, a little girl who meant the whole world and more to her and a little baby growing safely in the depths of her body.
Her life really was perfect now.
And she would never allow herself to forget that.
Author's Note: Thank you all so, so much for reading this chapter and I hope that you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please review to let me know what you all thought and I'll see you all in the next chapter :) x