"So, you don't mind my staying… with the child?"

"Of course not! I don't even want to think about the place without you living in it."

Elsie felt she could have jumped for joy at that moment.

"On one condition, you consider changing your last name."

Oh. There always was a catch to the good things in life.

"You know what I'm asking, don't you?"

"You haven't exactly asked anything yet."

"But you know what it is. Now I'm not going to pressure you in the least bit, it's a big decision and I want you to take your time, I'd rather wait for the right answer than get the wrong one in a rush. And I don't want you to feel obligated to say 'yes' either, my home will always be open to you and that little boy of yours there."

"Joe Burns, you are truly a wonderful man."

"And don't you forget it."

Elsie knew the life she had given up once before and the one she was going to give up now. Before Elsie left to work at Downton, she had been a farm girl always on the arm of Joe and he had been adamant on marrying her then. But she was young and wanted something different from life on a farm. As much as she loved her life in service and the people she shared it with, she knew it would be impossible to raise a child there and they would be an extra burden on the staff. That's considering if Mr. Carson had even allowed her to stay on.

Of course, she always did wonder what life would have been like had she accepted Joe's proposal and now it seems as if fate had drawn them together again. Joe had loved and lost his wife and just last month she received his letter asking if they could meet. Elsie had written a letter declining knowing it wouldn't be proper to entertain those ideas, but curiosity had gotten the better of her and now, thank the lord she never posted the letter.

"So what are we calling the lad?" Joe asked as he walked her to the farm "He's got to have a name to go by."

Obviously the child was going to have a name, she just hadn't the time to think of a proper name with all the craziness going on. Elsie still had so many things to figure out, such as how she was going to provide for herself, Becky and a child. The only reason she had settled on Joe was that he was already a father and he was a pair of hands she could count on when times were rough.

"To be honest I'm not quite sure yet. For traditional Scottish names I rather like Calum, Glenn and Angus."

"It sounds as if you have some non-traditional names floating through that head of yours."

Could this man read thoughts? One name in particular had been very much on her mind. It wasn't exactly proper, but did it really matter now that things were going another way.

"I rather like Charlie, not Charles, but Charlie."

"Charlie Hughes, sounds like a good strong name to me." Joe said as they turned up the lane to the same farmhouse she remembered from so long ago. "Any idea of a middle? I hear Joseph makes a goodun." It was said with humor, but there was an undercurrent of hope in the suggestion.

"Very funny Joe." A middle name wasn't something she had really thought about. If she was honest with herself, there was one more soul she cared about at Downton even if she hadn't known him very long. The young footman was just a teen starting his first job away from home and he got into the odd shenanigans during his off time, but he was a hard worker who didn't try to garner the affections of her maids and she had quickly come to think of him as a surrogate son without even realizing it.

"There's a new footman at Downton that I didn't get to know very well, but I think I'll miss quite a bit. So, Thomas?"

"There we have it." Joe turned the knob and opened the front door "Welcome home, Charlie Thomas Hughes."