Prompt was from Hades Lord of the Dead: Write a story in which more of Mrs Hudson's backstory is revealed.
"Mrs Hudson?" Watson called. His voice echoed through the lower part of the house. "Mrs Hudson, are you in?"
"In the back room, dear!" Mrs Hudson called back.
Watson made his way through to the back room to find Mrs Hudson sitting in an armchair, fingers gently rubbing over the painting in her lap. The painting was a portrait of a young couple, holding each other close, with wide green fields visible behind them.
"Did you know I used to live in Ireland?" Mrs Hudson asked, voice shaky. "That's where I grew up, a little town outside of Cork. Then I met Patrick." She stroked the cheek of the man in the portrait. "He was a sailor. He loved the sea, dear man. Always talked about the smell of salt on the air, the wind whisking through his hair. I thought he was mad, at first. I only knew fishermen, but he was a tradesman."
Watson murmured a response, not wanting to disrupt the story.
"His ship had docked in at our village, needing repairs. They stayed for months. Each day, he would come to see me, and we talked, and started courting... it was wonderful. My family loved him, and so did Laura- I was a nanny to her little daughter. Laura's the one who painted this." She gestured to the painting, running her finger over the small white signature at the bottom.
"Eventually, his ship was repaired, and he had to leave. But I wouldn't let him leave alone. We got married, and that was that, I suppose." She sniffled, wiping at her eyes. "I never let him leave alone again. Not until..." She wiped her eyes again.
Watson laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I understand."
Mrs Hudson leant back into it. "Yes. I suppose you do."
