CHARLES'S CHRISTMAS CAROL-33
Hello my dear friends. I'm back to writing the story. Hope you missed me a bit ;-) In this chapter I decided to develop the plot that I started in the last chapter-of little Charlie and mean Lady Mary. This time she will get her lesson. (plus two other subplots)This is dedicated to one of my faithful readers-checkem89- this one is for you!
"So what do you think about her? She is here for three months and she acts like the queen of downstairs"-Beryl asked Elsie about her opinion of Miss O'Brien, who joined the downstairs team three months ago, as a Lady's maid.
"I think she is a little too sure of herself and if you ask my opinion, she is the kind of person who likes to cause trouble...Her Ladyship seems to like her very much..."
"Like her? She twisted Her Ladyship around her little finger...I don't like that...Plus she is so sour...You can't even joke with her and I didn't hear one civil word from her to this date.."
"I didn't either...I believe that she has a difficult past behind her...Something very bad must have happened to her or maybe she is just frustrated with the way her life is going..."
"Aren't we all? Well maybe except you and Mr Carson...You sure have no reasons to complain.."
"I have to agree with you...We are truly blessed, but remember that having three kids is not a picnic and now this one on the way..."-Elsie pointed at her enormous pregnannt belly...
"Speaking of which...Are you sure that you still want to work? You are so close to your due date and to tell you the truth, I'm surprised that you are still able to walk!"
"Sometimes I'm surprised myself, but I rather go here than sit at the cottage all day..You are as bad as Charles...He keeps on nagging about my work..."
"He is worried about you...You know how much he loves you...By the way...It's only a week till your tenth anniversary...Have you planned something special?"
"Not yet..I don't believe that we can have anything special that day...With our job to be done, my nearing labor and our happy bunch..."
"No chances for a romantic day, huh?"
"Slightest chances"
"It's a pity..You deserve to celebrate on this day..."
"To tell you the truth, I bought Charles a gift-a beautiful watch that he liked so much..I'm sure he will be happy about that...But don't tell anyone, this is suppose to be a surprise for him.."
"I won't..Let's just hope that he will buy you something too...But he may as well forget it, after all he is just a man..."
"Ain't that the truth Mrs Patmore"-Elsie smiled warmly to her friend..."I will go upstairs for a moment and check something and then I'm off to the cottage...Enough work for today.."
"I fully agree with you...Check whatever you have to check and hurry home...Please have some rest...You are exhausting the youngest Carson with your lifestyle..."
"He has to learn, that life is not all about fun, but hard work...I will see you tomorrow Mrs Patmore..."
"If God will allow...Have a nice afternoon"
Elsie hurried upstairs to do the final checking and when she opened the door, separating upstairs from downstairs, she heard a very loud voice of Lady Mary, who was obviously scolding someone...Elsie stopped in the place, where she could heard some more, but she still wasn't seen by anyone...
"How dare you hang around here all the time? How many times do I have to tell you, that your place is downstairs...Isn't it enough that you are disturbing the footmen and your father? It is not your house...You are not allowed to be here.."
"I'm sorry Lady Mary...I was just...My dad asked me to check, if there was enough candles in the dining room and I..."
"No more of that...I want you to disappear and it has to be now! If I will ever see you here again, I will tell my father to forbid you to come here!"
Elsie's blood was immediately on fire...That wasn't the first time, when Lady Mary scolded little Charlie, but this time, Elsie decided that she won't get away with that...
"Lady Mary do you really think that you have a right to address my son this way? Because I don't believe you are...Does scolding a little boy gives you so much fun, that you feel a constant need of shouting at Charlie?"-Elsie's eyes were full of anger, when she looked at that young woman, who she truly hated...Nothing good could came from that girl, she always repeated that to Charles, but now she has crossed a line..."Charlie will you go downstairs and check if dad needs your help?"-Elsie watched as her boy was heading towards downstairs and she turned to Lady Mary again, full of inner furiosity..
"Mrs Hughes...I think that you are forgetting yourself..You are in my father's house and you are his employee. My father is kind enough to let your son hang around here, although I don't know why, but that doesn't mean that he can disturb the servants in their job and constantly bothering my little sister...
"Lady Mary may I remind you, that in this house your father makes a key decisions? If he has nothing against Charlie being here, I would expect you to not to hassle my son anymore, otherwise I will report your behavior to your parents..."
"Mrs Hughes...My father makes the decisions, but very soon I will be the person who will take over, as you know my parents don't have a son, so I will be the one who will be in charge of this house and I can assure you, that when it happens, your son won't be welcome here...And you too...Until this day, I have tolerated your presence, because of Carson, but as soon as I'm in charge I will not hesitate to..."
"Mary! Stop it at once! At once! Is this a proper behavior for a young lady? Is this what I taught you? You will apologize Mrs Hughes at once and if you don't, I will make sure that your father will know all the details and he will not take you with him to the shooting at Wilmore's Estate...-Cora, who was a silent and an accidental witness of this scene, was completely disguisted by her daughter's behavior...
"But Mama I..."
"No but! You have no right to speak to Mrs Hughes that way! The fact that she is our servant, doesn't mean that you can disrespect her! She is older than you and she is in advanced stage of pregnancy! Apologize Mrs Hughes at once!"
"I'm really sorry Mrs Hughes.."-Mary has lowered her head and she was shaking from anger...
"Furthermore, you must promise that no such thing will happen again...You will never address Mrs Hughes or little Charlie that way, do you understand?"
"Yes Mama, I understand..."
"Now go back to your room and think about your unforgivable behavior...And don't come down until dinner."
Mary turned around the stairs and paced to her room...When she vanished, Mrs Hughes turned to Her Ladyship.
"Your Ladyship I wish to thank you very much for this...I'm sorry that I scolded Lady Mary a little, but this is not the first time when she was being really mean to my son...And I will not allow that..."
"Mrs Hughes there is no need to apologize..Ever since I can remember, I always tried to taught my daughter that she should always be kind to others, especially the servants, but I'm afraid that she didn't understand much from those lessons.."
"Lady Mary is still very young and she may not understand all the things properly...Just give her time.. Your Ladyship, I was meaning to ask you-do you have anything against Charlie and Lady Sybil's friendship? Because if this is a problem, Charlie doesn't have to..."
"I can assure you, that this is not a problem of any kind Mrs Hughes..Charlie is always welcome here...I see how he helps his father...Robert is so fond of him...He shows him his gun collections and he teaches him about horses...In a way, Charlie is a substitute of a son that we don't have..."
"My Lady...This is so kind fo you...Nobody has ever been so nice to my son..."
"You are very welcome Mrs Hughes and if you will ever have any problems with Mary's behavior, please do not hesitate to tell me and I will deal with it..."
"I understand...Hopefully, there won't be any more problems..."
"Please go home now Mrs Hughes...You need to rest a bit...Your due date is so soon...Oh, I was meant to tell you-Robert and I decided, that we want to give you a present for your tenth wedding anniversary..."
"My Lady, I'm so astonished that you remembered about that..."
"Of course..I always try to remember things like that..We decided that you and Mr Carson deserve a day off to celebrate, without your duties and without your children. We will take Charlie and the girls for one day and one night, so you could spent your anniversary together..."
"I don't know what to say...I'm so touched by that...This is a luxury that we don't often have these days, but are you sure that this won't be a burden?"
"More than sure...Just spent this day together and enjoy yourselves...I must be off now...O'Brien is probably waiting for me with a dress for dinner...See you tomorrow Mrs Hughes and once again I apologize for my daughter...
"Let's forget about that...Thank you very much for this amazing gift..."
Cora smiled and left upstairs and Elsie went back to the cottage...She ate dinner alone with children, because Charles was busy at the house, after they've cleaned up and Elsie put her happy bunch to sleep, she took a bath and lied on the bed with a sigh of relief...She was waiting for the birth of the baby with growing impatience...It was extremely difficult to survive the last months of pregnancy... She heard the downstairs door being opened and she knew, that Charles was home...After he took care of his evening bath, he went to the bedroom...His face expression was embarrassed and Elsie realized, that he must have heard about what happened in the house...
"So you know already?"
"How do you know that I know?!"
"It is written all over your face...Don't look at me like that Charles Carson! I told you that if that minx will ever attack our son again, I will deal with her...I caught her scolding Charlie on the stairs..."
"Are you sure that he wasn't to blame for that?"
"Yes, I am sure...You want to defend her? After how she behaved?! Charles Carson, that girl has put a spell on you!"
"No Elsie, she hasn't...I just like her and I know her since she was a little girl.."
"She is not a little girl anymore Charles...She is almost a grown woman, who should know how to behave...Fortunately, Her Ladyship has brought her to heel. About time!.."
"Maybe Charlie shouldn't spent that much time at the Abbey, maybe he is bothering the family..."
"He is not! Her Ladyship told me that the family adores him...His Lordship spents time with him and she told me, that he substitutes a son for him, a son he never had...Lady Sybil adores him...It's only that wicked girl that has something against him..She always has to find some victim...Usually it's Lady Edith and now it's our son..."
"I hope that this will end from now on...And everything will be all right..."
"It will, as long as she will leave Charlie alone and if she doesn't, I will personally throw her down the stairs..."
"My Elsie! My brave, feisty Elsie! I love you so much...You are so protective of our children.."
"Of course I am..They are our children...All three and soon four...You should be protect of them too..."
"I am...You know that our family means more to me than anyone else does...But we need to think about our job here too...Being a father of four, I need to be able to provide for you all...That's why I'm trying to find a solution, that will please everyone.."
"Everyone were pleased, before this little minx didn't start to stir...She has a special gift to make everyone else unhappy..."
"Let's forget it Elsie...We both had a long day...Let's talk about something nicer...I heard that Her Ladyship has a special gift for us on our anniversary...Is it true?"
"Yes...And I'm very grateful-for the gift itself and for the reminder for you, that it is our anniversary...I was afraid that you may forget it..."
"Forget it? My love...How could I ever forget the happiest day of my life?...It wouldn't be possible...Not now, not ever..."-Charles drew Elsie closer to him and she snuggled by his side...
"This is something that I wanted to hear by the end of this day...Can't wait for our anniversary..."
"Me neither...Especially considering, that I have a special surprise for you..."
"What surprise? Tell me!"
"I will not! A surprise is a surprise...You will have to wait one week to find out...Sleep my love...It's so late already...Good night my most precious..."-Charles kissed Elsie softly...
"Good night my dearest..."
That's all for today...Lots of dialogues in this one...Elsie is a true mama bear! Lady Mary should watch her step, otherwise she may found herself in the bottom of the stairs with a speed of light ;-) I know that Cora's reaction here was rather unreal, because as we seen in the series, they've allowed Mary to behave in the meanest way possible and they didn't scold her even once, but this is how she should have reacted every time Mary was being mean and that is almost all the time. In the next chapter, Elsie and Charles will celebrate their tenth anniversary. Hope you liked it. Stay safe and take care!