In the kitchen Elsie was humming an old song her mother used to sing as she prepared tea for Joe and the farmhands. After considering Joe's offer after breakfast, she decided there was no reason not to marry the man. Tonight, when it was just the two of them, she would ask him to propose properly and officially accept. From there on she could have her sister back with her and live out the life it seems God and her mother wanted for her.
The kettle whistled and she was pouring the hot water into the pot of leaves when she heard a knock at the door. She was riding an absolute high as she went to greet her unexpected visitor having finally laid a path for her new future… or so she thought. Standing there on the doorstep was none other than Charles Carson, the only man she ever really cared for. Standing next to him with her trunk between them and a basket in hand was her favorite young footman, Thomas.
"Hello Mrs. Hughes," Thomas was the first to greet her "Mr. Carson thought it would be best if we hand delivered your belongings so we could beg you to come back."
Mr. Carson shot Thomas a stern look and if Elsie hadn't been absolutely gobsmacked, she would have laughed at her little troublemaker causing trouble at first sentence. "Good afternoon Mrs. Hughes. Yes we have come to ask you back, but firstly we'd like to wish you the best of luck on your new path." If only he knew "His lordship hadn't realized you missed farm life this much and wanted to offer you a tenancy for one of his farms."
Finally finding her voice she replied "That's very kind, but I'm afraid I've already put down roots here." Was her mind playing tricks on her, or did Mr. Carson seem disappointed? "Where on earth are my manners?! Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable." She stepped aside so Mr. Carson and Thomas could shuffle in and put down her trunk. The basket Thomas had carried was a gift from Mrs. Patmore and was filled with her favorite biscuits, tarts and cakes that only she knew how to make. This would be the final time she'd get to taste them.
Leading them to the sitting room she prayed Charlie napped through their visit. In her letter she wrote that she missed the simplicity that came with a quiet of farm life and hadn't been able to tear herself away from it to come back and properly hand in her notice. It was a pathetic excuse amd she hated blatant lying on such a scale.
"It's quite a nice little place you have here." Thomas said trying to break the uneasy atmosphere "I quite envy you having this all to yourself."
As if on cue, Joe came in the backdoor and unknowingly smashed her coverup to bits. "Hello there love. Care to introduce me to our visitors?"
"Certainly, this is Mr. Carson and Mr. Barrow." "Joe Burns" he took over introducing himself. "Charles." "Thomas." Elsie watched Joe's face as he shook their hands and surely enough, the origin of Charlie's name dawned on him and his expression darkened.
"Why don't you head back out before you dirty the floors and I'll bring tea out right away." Elsie was desperate to separate Joe from Charles before he blew a gasket and Charlie knew of her shame.
"Actually, the boys and I are quite hot; think we'll have tea in for a change."
Tea had been more awkward than she could have imagined. On one end of the table Thomas happily chatted away with Peter and the farmhands Aiden and Colin unaware that on the other end, Joe was sizing up Charles from across the table and interjecting himself into conversations between her and Charles. Things hadn't gotten much better when Charlie started wailing from his crib. Charles and Thomas' heads whipped around at the sound and Elsie immediately jumped up and excused herself to soothe the child.
In her room, Elsie had just changed Charlie into a fresh nappy when Thomas strode in. "They went back outside. Who have we here?"
"His name is Charlie." Thomas raised his eyebrows at this "He's the child of a friend of Joe's whose wife died in labor. We offered to take him on so he could be looked after properly." She wasn't sure he believed her, but it was what she could come up with on the spot. Thomas took Charlie from her and played with the lad getting an instant smile. It seems as if the often cold man not only had a soft spot for kids, he was a natural with them. Elsie smiled softly watching the two boys bond and knew she wanted Thomas forever in Charlies life.
"You know, he still hasn't been christened."
"Oh?" Thomas hadn't taken his eyes off Charlie.
"It will be a while till I can get him a proper gown, but when the day comes, would you like to be Charlies godfather?"
Thomas's head shot up completely in awe. "You want me to be his godfather?" he asked incredulously
"Yes, you are obviously enamored with him and personally, I would love to keep a connection to Downton."
"Don't tell me you're going to miss life in Yorkshire?"
"I find it easy to say I'm going to miss it very much Thomas. In fact, you'd be surprised to find I have very few reasons to stay here." A weight had been lifted off her chest as she confided in Thomas. She was about to confess that the only reason she ran to Joe was for milk and an extra pair of hands when a deep voice cut her off.
"I'll assume the child was every bit of your reason to stay? It would have been worth mentioning if it was." Watching from the doorway was Charles and the atmosphere instantly tensed again.
Thomas, taking his cue, handed Charlie back to Elsie and mumbled something about Aiden as he slid past Mr. Carson. Charles walked over to her to get a closer look at her boy with his hands behind his back and that stuffy attitude of his plastered across his face.
"He's not Joe's friends, is he." It was more of a statement that it was a question she could tell. This man had a way of sniffing out the truth when something indecent happened, but for just this once couldn't he let it lie out in the open without picking it apart? She had already been caught in one lie, so it probably would be best to out the truth- she could trust him not to spread gossip anyway.
"I've never told you, but I have a sister."
"I didn't know you had a sister."
"That's because I didn't want anyone to know if I'm honest. Becky was born sweet and simpleminded. I've scraped to have her cared for, but a nurse has been taking advantage of her and now…"
"You have the child." His expression remained stoic "Becky's care must be expensive; you should have given him up and come back to Downton. He'd have a good life with a mother and a father."
Elsie couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I just couldn't just give him away once I laid eyes on him. Between him and Becky, they're the only family I've got left. Besides, if you needed to know, Joe and I will be marrying and bringing Becky home to the farm. So Charlie will have two parents and I will get my sister back!" That last part wasn't concrete, but who the hell was Charles Carson to tell her to abandon her sister and nephew?
Elsie stormed outside with Charlie and looked out at the men working hard in the field.
"I didn't mean it like that Mrs. Hughes," He followed her with an embarrassed look on his face "but surely you can see it would be easier on you to…"
"Easier financially, yes it would be, but on the heart it would be torture. Money can't solve all your problems, Mr. Carson, but family can!"
He had no retort for that. Charles simply stood there flabbergasted with his mouth agape and to be honest, she was rather glad that parroting Joe's words to Charles had shut him up.
"I'm sorry. Unless there is a way I can make it up to you, perhaps it would be best if Thomas and I were to leave."
"It may be best if you do." She answered stiffly.
With that, Charles walked out to the field where Thomas stood leaning against the fence. A bright smile shone out as he nattered on about something to Aiden. On the farm, Thomas had acted soft and more casual than he had at Downton and something about his actions were familiar and at the same time strange. She briefly wondered if she might be able to coax him into farm life if she used Charlie and Aiden's friendship as bait, though Thomas might go running when he learned what Aiden was.
Suddenly everything clicked. Thomas hadn't been wooing the maids because he wasn't that type of man. She just managed to get her wits about her when Charles and Thomas approached to say their goodbyes.
"It looks as if we will be taking our leave, Mrs. Hughes. I shall mark my calendar for christening as soon as you can give me a date." Thomas let Charlie grab his finger in a mock handshake and with a terse goodbye to Charles the two men walked away, one of them out of her life forever.