Chapter 29

Charles and Beryl gaped in disbelief at James Gilfellon. Charles was still shaking with anger. He tried to understand what he had just heard; he said Elsie was in his bed. She couldn't be, Elsie would not do that. Elsie would never do that. Suddenly, James spoke,

"For heaven's sake old man, I was only joshing you. Elsie is asleep. She is asleep in my bed. She was so exhausted after your argument, she dozed off. She is completely in love with you for pity's sake. She doesn't want anything to do with me, she made that quite clear," James explained, as best he could with a bloodied nose and a pounding head.

The magnitude of what he had done began to dawn on Charles. He looked nervously at Beryl and then back to James Gilfellon. I have just thumped a Lord. Over 30 years of service, always behaving in the most proper and dignified manner, and then I lose total control and actually hit a Lord!

"Oh dear god, I am sorry. There is no excuse, no excuse at all. Lord Gilfellon, I sincerely apologise. I don't know what came over me. I was just so ... so …" Charles was numb, he could not believe he had reacted in this way.

"Jealous!" Beryl finished for him. "Mad, green-eyed, enraged and jealous!" she added, in case her first comment had not been clear enough.

"Thank you so much for that Beryl," Charles said ironically and then turning to James, Charles asked nervously, "Are you alright?"

"Is he alright? Does he look alright Charles? You have broken his flipping nose!" Beryl exclaimed.

James had the good grace to chuckle at that. Charles still failed to see any humour in this situation.

"What will Lord Grantham make of this?" Charles panicked.

"It isn't Lord Grantham I'd be worried about!" Beryl said wisely.

Charles closed his eyes for a moment, dread taking hold of him,

"She'll kill me!" Charles concluded. Beryl and Lord Gilfellon both nodded in agreement, with not a hint of irony at all.

######

Elsie started to rouse, a little disorientated when she realised the sun was shining brightly through the window … through a very large window, she thought. Elsie jumped up, her surroundings suddenly dawning on her. Oh my goodness! What am I doing here? She looked around the room, totally flustered. I am in his bedroom! I am in his bed! Elsie vaulted off the bed. Then a thought struck her and she immediately looked down. Elsie, don't be ridiculous, of course you are fully clothed. But what had happened? How did I end up in his bed? Then she remembered chatting to James in the sitting room next door, she had been so tired, she recalled. I must have fell asleep, she reasoned. But I was sitting in the chair … … James flaming Gilfellon … … the man had no shame! He must have carried me into his bedroom. Oh dear god! Anxiety flooded her body again; what if someone has seen her? What if someone has seen her in James' bed? Charles was going to go ballistic …

######

Lord Gilfellon was sitting in Charles' pantry. Beryl had just finished cleaning him up. His nose was still quite swollen but luckily she did not think it was broken.

"Mr Carson, don't look so worried. There's no permanent damage and I dare say a whack on the nose was the least I deserved. I should not have flirted with Elsie, especially after she had introduced you as her fiancée, and I certainly should not have made that lewd suggestion about her being in my bed," James said graciously.

"That is very good of you to say, Lord Gilfellon, but it does not excuse my deplorable actions. Violence is never acceptable and I can only reassure you that I am not a man who normally ever resorts to it. I have behaved completely out of character today and I am ashamed," Charles said despondently.

"Goodness my man, are you always this hard on yourself? You did what any man worth his salt would do to defend the honour of his girl. You say you have never acted in this way before, well I dare say you have never been so in love before either," James smiled genuinely at Charles.

Charles smiled and nodded in agreement, "I have never loved any woman like I love Elsie. She is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. She has given my life meaning. I was just so scared I might lose her … I am still scared I might lose her."

James scoffed at that, "Mr Carson are you blind? You will never lose Elsie. I have never seen a woman more in love."

"That's what I keep telling him!" Beryl interjected. Charles rolled his eyes at Beryl but the hint of a smile appeared on his lips. All three laughed wearily, it had been a long day.

"Well, I should be going. It is almost time for dinner," James said.

"Good grief yes. I need to ring the dinner gong. Should I go and wake Elsie?" Charles asked.

"I would leave her. Probably best if she is at least well-rested when you finally have to explain yourself," Beryl said sensibly.

"Good idea," Charles said and then turning to James, "Lord Gilfellon, I quite understand that you will have to inform Lord Grantham about my actions. He should know how I appallingly I have treated one of his guests. I will take whatever consequences come my way," Charles said with great integrity.

"I will do no such thing. Anyway, I seem to have suffered some memory loss, it must have been when I walked into that door frame and banged my nose!" James laughed, gave Beryl a wink, and walked out of the pantry.

######

By the time Elsie got downstairs, Charles was already upstairs serving dinner. She was desperate to talk to him, to sort things out. She could not abide fighting with him, well not seriously fighting with him anyway. She did quite enjoy their small tiffs; he was very attractive when he got all stubborn and flummoxed! She did love that foolish man so much. If someone had told her a week ago she would be engaged to Charles Carson she would never have believed it; yet now they were fighting, she thought sadly; she really must speak with him. However, she would have to wait until the service was over. She also needed to speak to James, despite it being completely unbelievable that he had carried her into his bedroom; she still wished to thank him. He had been very kind this afternoon, and she had enjoyed catching up with him immensely.

"Oh, Beryl, there you are!" Elsie said happily, as Beryl walked out of the kitchen.

"Elsie. Hello there. Are you well?" Beryl said, sounding a little strained despite her efforts to sound normal. Elsie gave Beryl a puzzled look. She could read Beryl like a book and she knew something wasn't right.

"I am fine, Beryl. I have been enjoying a rest upstairs. Has everything been ok downstairs?" Elsie asked.

"Fine, everything has been fine … … nothing out of the ordinary at all … … not at all … everything has been fine … … nothing at all to tell … … just a normal day …" Beryl realised she had waffled on far too much, she never could lie.

"Beryl Patmore, what are you not telling me?" Elsie demanded.

"Nothing!" Beryl answered. This is useless she thought, she is going to find out at some point.

"Beryl, what has happened?" Elsie demanded again. Beryl started to weaken.

"There was just a little misunderstanding. But it is nothing at all for you to worry about. It is totally resolved now and everything is fine, so let's just forget all about it," Beryl said as breezily as possible, smiling at Elsie and then making an attempt to walk past her to go upstairs. Elsie grasped Beryl's arm,

"Beryl, please, what misunderstanding?" Elsie was feeling decidedly anxious.

Beryl took a huge breath, exhaled slowly, and then said as calmly and matter-of-factly as possible, "Charles may have accidentally punched Lord Gilfellon!"

Elsie's jaw dropped open.

######

The dinner had gone smoothly. Charles was relieved when there was only a few minutes of chatter about Lord Gilfellon's 'accident', with the Lord and Charles exchanging knowing glances throughout the discussion. They all seemed to believe the story of him clumsily walking into a door frame, however unlikely that might actually be. Despite his early misgivings about Lord Gilfellon, Charles was now very grateful to him for dealing with the events of earlier with such good humour. It was Elsie's reaction he was dreading, the fear of losing her was virtually paralysing him as he endeavoured to keep calm and serve dinner.

Charles was pouring the port now; it should not be long before the family retired and he could see Elsie. He smiled at that thought, spending time with Elsie was the highlight of his day. As Charles poured Lady Mary a port, she thanked him. She then noticed something on his hand, it was a bruise, a large painful looking bruise and if she was not mistaken, his hand had also been bleeding. Putting two and two together, she let out a short, surprised laugh.

"What's so funny Mary?" Lord Grantham smiled and asked.

"Nothing Father, nothing at all," Lady Mary said with amusement.

######

Charles had finally finished his duties for the night and headed downstairs to find Elsie. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he turned to see Elsie standing in the middle of the hallway, ready to greet him. She had her hands on her hips and he could see the fury in her eyes. He approached her cautiously, gulping to try to alleviate his nerves. She stood silently, glowering at him. Good god, I think I prefer it when she shouts at me, Charles thought. She really must be enraged if she is actually speechless. Yet, as fretful as he was, he could not help but think how beautiful she looked. He was now just a foot away from Elsie and, as he gazed into those wondrous eyes, he realised he needed to say something,

"Elsie, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I know I have behaved ….." Elsie flew towards him, kissing him harder and with more lust than he had ever experienced. Charles instantly reacted, enfolding Elsie in his arms and devouring her lips as he entwined his body with hers. Both desperately, with every kiss, trying to reassure the other of their love, reassure the other that everything would be ok, that they were ok.

As the intensity of their kiss began to naturally subside, both clung to each other, whispering sweet nothings, heads resting lightly together as they caught their breath.

"I love you Elsie Hughes," Charles beamed.

"I love you Charles Carson," Elsie said smiling, giving Charles one final adoring kiss.