CHARLES'S CHRISTMAS CAROL-38
Hello my dear friends. So good to be back. As you probably recall, in the last chapter our dearest Chelsie's marriage began to go through the crisis. Charles went to London and Elsie stayed with the kids. Life is not just desserts and that's why I want you to understand my motives for this and the next chapter...(I have a long plot in mind and I will probably have to divide it to two chapters).The crisis continues...In spite of that, I really hope that you will like it...
When Charles left for London, Elsie thought, that she won't be able to manage on her own, being in this new situation...She was used to handling everything alone for few months each year, as the London season was a permament element of their lives, but that was before Logan and Carter were born...With just Charlie and the girls it was much easier.
However, Elsie was not the person who liked to wallow in misery, she was a woman of action, a multi tasking lady, who knew that now, when Charles was away, she had to be a father and a mother for the children, as well as the person who encompass everything and she did.
Luckily for her, the boys were growing, having a healthy apetite and as time was passing, they started to cause less and less troubles..There were even nights when Elsie slept few hours straight, without waking. She watched with warm emotions, as her youngest children were developing week by week... Carter was eating much more than his brother, like he wanted to make up for the loss time and pretty soon the difference in their weight has almost totally disappeared..
Elsie sighed with relief, because in the beginning, she was really worried about her little boy. Now there were no more reasons to be worried about.
Charlie, remembering his father's words, tried to be a true guardian for the family...He visited the Abbey, not as frequent as when Charles was around, but he went there on regular basis, just to check if his father's pantry was in order and to see his favorite "aunt" Beryl, who never forgot to have some chocolate cookies hidden just for him. Every time he went back from the Abbey, he was sad and Elsie asked him about the reason once. He confessed, that he was missing Sybil very much and that the Abbey was not the same without his dearest friend and his father, but even so, he didn't neglect his duties of checking the current situation, just like he promised his father...
The girls were a tremendous help for Elsie too...They were all having a summer holidays now and they spent all their time at the cottage and Elsie was touched, seeing that she must have done a good job with raising her children, because as much as they liked to play outside and have their summer fun, they were caring about her and were ready to help her however they could..
Charlie was often getting up in the morning to set the breakfast table and he and the girls went shopping to the village, to buy some groceries.
The girls were completely in love with their little brothers and for once in their life, they were not fighting about something, as it often happened before, when they couldn't reach an agreement about the toys or the clothes. Now, for the first time, they were truly agreeable-they fairly shared their brothers.
Logan, who was much louder and much more demanding than his brother, was Charlotte's favorite and she spend most of her day caring about her little brother, while Victoria's favorite was Carter, who was much calmer and less demanding...
Elsie's heart melt, when sometimes after lunch, she lied on the sofa for a while, just to get some rest and when she got up, waking from a short slumber, she found the girls guarding their brothers, while they were napping-either inside or outside, as the weather was favorable and Elsie often took the twins outside, to get some fresh air...They both lied in their pram looking with astonishment for all the new things displayed in front of their eyes..
Beryl and Mrs Brown were a great help for Elsie too. Now, when the family was away, there were much less duties than usual. Of course, Mrs Brown appointed all the maids to clean the most used rooms properly, as advised by Elsie, who also did that when the family was away and she was the housekeeper, but Beryl had a lot of more time, not being chained by the stove all day..
They both visited her on regular basis-Beryl never came with an empty hands. She always had snacks or even the whole dinner prepared, which always met with Elsie's approval, as cooking was still one of her least favorite things...On those evenings, where Beryl visited them with a dinner, Elsie always invited her to stay and eat with them and they sat and chatted and when it was time for Beryl to go back to the Abbey, the children were protesting loudly...
Mrs Brown visited Elsie too and she helped her by sending one of the maids, to help cleaning the cottage once a week and constantly asked Elsie if she needed any other help...
On Sundays, Beryl and Mrs Brown came after breakfast and they stayed all day, playing with the children, taking them for a walk. Elsie either went with them or she stayed, just to have few moments for herself.
She was extremely grateful for their help and she constantly told them about it. She couldn't imagine coping without them...
The children were enjoying their summer holidays to the fullest, but they all missed Charles very much...Especially Victoria, who was daddy's favorite girl, had a hard time coping with that and once Elsie saw that while the other children played outside, Victoria was missing...She came to the cottage, just to found her daughter in her room crying...
"Victoria sweetheart...What's the matter? Have you fought with Charlotte again? What was it this time?"
"No mommy...I didn't fight with Charlotte...I'm sad because daddy is gone for so long...I miss him..."
"Oh my baby...Come here to mommy..."-Elsie cuddled her little girl and kissed her light brown hair...Undoubtedly Victoira was Charles's favorite, as her character was most similar to his and she carried his mother's name.."Daddy had to gone away because it's his job...You know that sweetie..."
"I know mommy, but I just wish that he would come back soon...It's been such a long time...You think that daddy misses me too?"
"I'm sure he misses you very much...He misses all of us, but especially you...You know you are his favorite...You'll see honey...Daddy will come back soon and I'm sure that he will bring you something really nice from London...Did you ask him for something when he went away?"
"I did mommy...You think that he will bring it to me?"
"I'm sure he will, especially after I will mention daddy in the letter how good girl you are..."-Elsie kissed Victoria's hair and she wiped the tears from her cheeks..."Now you should go outside..The weather is so nice today and I'm sure that Carter is already missing you..."
"Ok mommy...Let's go..."-Victoria pulled Elsie's hand and they both went outside together...They spent a lovely day, playing and interacting and in the evening, when all the children were safely nestled in their beds, Elsie began to write a letter to Charles...
Every year, when Charles was away for the season, they've exchanged a lot of letters...Those long months, when they were being away from each other, were torture for both of them and they felt a need of talking over the current events..So usually in the evenings, when the children went to sleep, Elsie sat by the kerosene lamp and she wrote a letter to Charles...
In this, particular year, the content of their letters was a little different than usual...Because of the crisis in their relationship, which started just before his arrival...In previous years, a big part of their correspondence, was talking about their feelings, confessing how much they missed each other and how much they both couldn't wait to be together again...
This year's corespondence non of that sort-Elsie wrote to Charles mostly about the cottage-how she handled being on her own, how much help she received from Mrs Patmore and Mrs Brown, how things were at the Abbey-assuring him, that everything was going well and according to the plan, because she knew, that he was always worrying about that.
Elsie devoted a lion share of her letters to their children. She praised Charlie and the girls, telling Charles how they ended another year of school, with excellent results, how the teacher emphasised, that their children were amazingly clever. Elsie also desribed to Charles, how helpful the older children were in everyday's tasks and she caused a smile on his face,while he read the letter, telling him how the girls beautifully shared the care of their little brothers and how Charlie tried to be the man of the house, in his absence, always checking if everything was under control at the cottage and at the Abbey. She also told him with specifics, how Carter and Logan were growing and developing with each passing day.
Charles was indeed smiling widely, when he read all those things and his heart was full of joy and pride, when he realized, that his oldest son was now capable of replacing him and taking care of the family, when he was away. He thought of his two little princesses, who were so eager to take care of their brothers and he also thought about their two youngest boys, still lying in their cradles, still trying to get to know the world that was surrounding them...His heart was full of joy, but also full of sorrow, because he missed them all so dearly and the time that he had to spent in London always seemed to drag for too long, especially when he realized, that this time will never be recovered...It was a time that was taken away from him and his children...Taken away from their family...
The other thing which made him even more sad, was the fact, that this year there was not much of an affection in Elsie's letters...He was used to exchange letters with her, which were full of love, full of longing for each other, full of anticipation for their meeting...Reading her letters this year, was like reading a description of a baby sitter, which he left in charge of his house and children...Love was lacking and his replies were mantained in the same tone as her letters. He was asking questions, he gave her directions and he described his days in London..
He complained about the double dose of duties that he had here, he told her how difficult it was for him to get some proper rest. There were many nights when he had to stay late, waiting for the family to go back from some ball or social meeting, while he was barely on his feet and he had to start again next day, from the early morning. He told her about Lady Mary's good fortune, about how all the boys from the aristocratic families were under her charm, he told her how jealous Lady Edith was and how she failed in her attempts to gain a little bit of attention. He mentioned how Lady Sybil was constantly asking him how was Charlie and telling him to send him best wishes..He told how His Lordship confide in him one night, drinking whiskey after dinner, all by himself, in the sitting room, that he was resigned, being sure that he won't have an heir and on and on...
There was only one thing that he didn't mention to Elsie..One thing that all the staff present in London knew, even though he thought that they were not aware of this...He didn't mention how unexpectedly well he got along with the new head house maid of the London house-Margaret...He didn't mention how this woman's wit and charm have taken him by surprise...He didn't mention that even though she was young and very good looking, she was also a woman with brains...He didn't mention that it became their constant habit of drinking Sherry late at night, in his London pantry, when everyone else have gone to bed and they were forced to wait for the family coming back from the ball...
But most of all, he didn't mention, that one night, when they had too many drinks and the atmosphere was looser than usual, he forgot himself for a moment and kissed Margaret in the lips, which didn't meet with her objection..On the contrary...She had nothing against it..Of course he came to his right mind quickly, when kissing Margaret, he suddenly saw Elsie's face in front of his eyes, with sad eyes and an expression full of pain...He suddenly stopped, apologized Margaret for his boldness and asked her to leave, to her disappointment...When she left, he sat by the desk and started to cry, thinking that something in his life went in the wrong direction...
Elsie read his replies with a heavy heart...She was waiting for some signal from him, that he missed her, that he still loved her very much, but as another letters came, she was left without any signs of his love and one late night, when she finally found a moment to read his letter, tears appeared in her eyes, because she started to have a feeling, that Charles stopped loving her or maybe she stopped loving him? There was something wrong going on with them and Elsie had no idea how to find a cure for that...She was sitting on the sofa and crying and she didn't notice when Charlie came downstairs, to get some water...But he noticed her cry and he felt a need of protecting his mommy...
"Mommy? Why are you crying? Has somebody hurt you?"
"Charlie! You are awake...I didn't know that you are awake...Nobody hurt me sonny..."
"Because if somebody did, I will beat him!"
"I'm sure you will..My brave boy...I'm safe with you.."
"Yes mommy...I will always take care of you and my siblings...I promised daddy that I will..."
"And you are keeping that promise very well..."-Elsie kissed her boy...
"Mommy, you were crying because you are missing daddy?"
"I suppose I was...We all miss daddy..."
"And daddy misses us, especially you mommy...He loves you very much..."
"I know he does...And you are such a smart boy for knowing that...Now go to bed, it's late..."
"Ok mommy, but you need to get some sleep too...So you won't get tired..."
"Don't worry sweetie...I will be ok...Good night my caring teddy bear.."-Elsie drew Charlie closer and she hugged him closely..."Mommy loves you very much..."
"And I love you too mommy..."
On the next day, Elsie went for a walk to the post office, leaving Mrs Brown with the children. She wanted to post the letter to Charles and she needed a moment to be alone with her thoughts...When she arrived to the post office, it turned out, that there was a letter for her from London. She was quite surprised, because she didn't think that it could be another letter from Charles. She soon found out, that it was written by Alicia-on of her favorite Downton maids, who was taken to London this year, to accompany the family, as she was the most effective of all house maids.
Elsie took the letter and went back home...She put it away for now, because there were so many things to do, as every day...She took care of the usual duties and it wasn't earlier than a late evening, when all the children were happily put to sleep, she reminded herself about the letter...She took it from the shelve and tore the envelop, putting it to the fire...She unfolded the letter and when she read first few sentences, she felt weak in the knees and she had to sit down, because she felt like she was about to faint...The letter started like this:
Dear Mrs Hughes,
I'm sorry to have to inform you, but I thought that as a wife, you have a right to know about some distrurbing things that are going on between Mr Carson and the new head house maid from the London house- Margaret...
That's all for today...Heavy chapter I have to say, but life is what it is and unfortunately the behavior that Charles presented in this chapter is rather common among men...One small crisis and they are starting to look for consolation somewhere else...In tomorrow's chapter, Charles will be back home and he and Elsie will have to find a way to deal with it somehow...Hope you liked it a bit, even though it was sad...If so, your opinions are always welcome...Stay safe and see you soon!