Chapter 4
The door was opened, but the man who the office belonged to had a feeling even if had been shut, then it would not have been knocked on before his visitor strolled through, annoyance written all over her face.
"So did you get the email from her ladyship on high?" said Mrs Hughes as she walked into Mr Carson's office. It was clear the stress of what was going on was beginning to get to her. She did not want to be locked down more than any of them would and it was bothering her more than she could say. Indeed, more than she would say.
The Abbey manager felt as if he was going to have to bite his tongue somewhat – so she was in that kind of mood. When he had got the email he had thought it was remarkably kind of the Countess. After all, it was the home which at the end of the day belonged to the Crawley family. It did not belong to them. To any of them.
"I did." He said in the tone that said even if she tried to get him to criticise Cora, he was not going too, so she may as well give up before she tried.
"It was very kind of her to let her stay at the place where we live more than she does." Elsie said and the sarcasm dripped off her tongue.
"It was."
She through him a sharp look to tell him not to try her. Neither of them were in the mood for this.
Well, it was no good to debate whether it was cheek or kindness which allowed them to stay on. The point was, would they?
"And what are you going to do?" she asked.
Charles smiled. Well at least she wanted to know. They were not completely at odds then, were they? "I am going to stay." He had his own place in York – he even had a little garden. But he had worked at the abbey man and boy, or so it felt to him. He did not have the emotional attachment to his own little home he did to the abbey.
And he hoped she was going to stay as well.
He did not want her going off on her own to be a lone wolf during this time.
"What about you?" he asked her, bushy eyebrow's rising up his face.
"I have not made my mind up yet."
Of course she hadn't, he thought to himself.
"Well for what it is worth I would hope you will stay," he admitted. He didn't mind saying the words either. Not under these circumstances.
She looked at him wide eyed, trying to work out how to reply. When she was a little slow to do so, Charles carried on.
"I think we should ring Beryl as well, talk her in to bringing the girls up," he said as if they were talking about business as normal. "This will be the best place for them, and we'll be company for her."
Elsie felt strangely grateful to Charles for taking charge right then. This was how their working relationship was. Sometimes he flapped, and she took over. At others, vice versa.
"Right – well, I will go and call her." She said and turned to leave the room as fast as she had come into it.
"Elsie?"
"Yes," she said turning back to him for a moment.
"Stay."
X x x
Sybil pulled up at the station in her little blue Citroen C3 with the roof down. For all the troubles you heard about in the news, she did not think anyone could deny the fact they were having one of the most beautiful springs weather wise that she remembered.
The wind was in her hair, she had a man she loved working just up the road and she was working doing a job she loved as well, in the Maternity Ward of Ripon Hospital.
She just had to convince her mother that it was safe enough for her to stay there.
As she pulled up into the station, she saw the train must have just beat her for her mother and her sister were already there waiting for her to collect them, their bags at their feet.
"I am so sorry," she said as she pulled up and got out of the car, taking off her sun glasses as she did so. "It is so good to see you both."
She had not had a lot of time with either of them since the wedding on New Year's Eve, and she could not remember the last time they had spent a prolonged time at the abbey. Though she was sure having plenty of people around was going to disturb the peace she had for herself and Tom there and her daily routine, Sybil was the sort of person who could only see that as a good thing. The more people about the better.
"Oh my beauty it is so good to see you," said Cora as she took her daughter within her arms.
Sybil took a breather. She was sure this was the sort of thing that they should not be doing right then until she remembered she was going to take her mother home. They were going to live together in the same – rather large – household.
So she could take a cuddle from her mother and in turn her sister and enjoy them.
And she would.
"Hello Edith."
"You look well Sybil," said Edith as she returned a quick cuddle.
"Let's get these bags in the boot," Sybil said as she opened the back on her car.
Edith grinned. The boot was so delightfully Sybil. She had her uniform in there, trainers, gym bag as well as out of date election leaflets from December. If their grandmother had had any idea that Sybil had supported a party other than the conservatives then she would sure she would have a heart attack, but she did not think Sybil had ever let that get in the way of anything.
"Ready to go home?" Sybil asked as the three of them got into the car.
Edith nodded, "Definitely."
X x x
"You know I thought that I was going to be the one who was going to be quiet on the way up – I did not think you were going to be." Matthew said to Mary.
His wife scratched her head. "So did I – but I text Anna before we left saying that I was going to see her soon – it was thoughtless really. She'd already told me she and John have gone in to isolation." It was just her routine when she was on her way home. Her and Anna always met up, whether they were in Yorkshire or London.
Mathew nodded. He thought it was a good choice as it was known that pregnant women had been put on the shielding list. The last thing in the world that her and John could be having was Anna with respirating problems when she was giving birth. They could not take any risks with her health.
"I'm sure that was wise."
"As am I – but selfishly she is my best friend and she is pregnant and I have no idea when I am going to get to see her again." She worried her – and she had had plans for whilst Anna was on maternity. She was going to take some time off and the they were going to have a bit of fun. Now she did not think that was going to happen – especially not whilst the baby was a new-born.
"The good thing is she has John there."
He was going to have a long paternity leave, if they could call it that, and he was going to be there for his wife and child. The family time they were going to gain would be invaluable to them.
He had to say he did not think they could underestimate the joy that was going to bring to Anna and the comfort she would get out of it in the long run.
"Call The Midwife would have us know that birth is a time for women," she reminded to him. It was a guilty pleasure tv show for her but she knew Anna loved it.
"Call the Midwife is surely a little out of date – you want me in the room when you give birth, don't you?" asked Matthew smiling at Mary.
"I wouldn't count on it," she replied with a smile which reassured him she was joking.
Silence reigned for just a moment.
"I just so hoped that when she was off we were going to get a bit of time together." – and she wanted to know the baby.
"There is a long year ahead of us - there might be time later on." Said Matthew comfortingly.
He was always the optimist. And that was why she loved him so.
X x x
Beryl Patmore had got the email from Lady Grantham, but she had to say she had not really considered going up to stay at the abbey until she heard that Elsie and Charles were going too. She had just assumed no one was going to take up the offer and it was going to be easier to stay in her little house with her girls.
Now she wasn't so sure.
Originally, it had been a two up, two down kind of job though it now had an extension on the back that was Daisy's room. It was bigger than Ivy's room upstairs by her mothers. And nearer their downstairs bathroom as well. No wonder Daisy had jumped at the chance when she had the opportunity of her own space in early in her teen age years.
But now as Beryl looked about their home she had to say it was no place to lockdown, not that she had ever been through it before or knew what to expect.
For one thing there small courtyard could not be described as a garden. There would be no such worries if they were at the abbey where there was plenty of open green space.
For another, the tiny kitchen wasn't going to give her much in the way of therapy. Baking and cooking had always been her escape, and yet you could barely get two people in there. If they stayed at the abbey then she was going to have full run of the café kitchen, with its double oven, kitchen aid and American style fridge.
Plenty of space to bake.
So truthfully, she had made up her mind long before the girls had got back from school on collage. They were told, not asked, to pack a bag to go to the abbey. Beryl had, in a former life, been an army brat and it showed. That was why she had been so determined to give her girls a solid home. A stable home.
Now it seemed to her as if it was being taken away.
Ivy seemed delighted to be able to go and live up at the big house whereas Daisy complained and moaned, delaying packing up for as long as she could.
But go they would, to the abbey, to plenty of space for the girls to study and where there would be other human interaction for the three of them.
Beryl could only hope she was doing the right thing for her family, if there was even such a thing at such a time.
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