As always, thank you. :)
Chapter 54
Summer 1971
"Zinnia?" Pippa asked, entering the large room where her middle daughter was sitting. Pippa remembered when her mother learned her third baby was a girl. Mary had said please don't let Zinnia become the Edith of the group. But in the end, Zinnia was her very own person and because there wasn't the severe competition between sisters, they were not a copy and paste of Mary, Edith, and Sybil. In fact, Zinnia shared a lot of the same interests that she and Mary also shared.
Zinnia glanced up from the television and turned to her mum.
"Yes?"
"Where are your sisters?"
"Um, I believe Violet is outside with Gran and Maebh. I know that Lavender was trying to explain to Granny the bones you found on your last expedition."
Pippa smiled. She sat down next to Zinnia and rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand.
"And what are you doing?"
"Watching Black Beauty."
Pippa lit up at that.
"That was always one of my favorite stories."
"I know. They have a show coming out about it soon," Zinnia informed her.
"Oh, how brilliant!"
1930s – Downton Abbey
"Come on," Mary said, gently pulling Anna behind her as they snuck to the barns. It was late and Anna was freezing. She couldn't believe she had forgotten to grab a scarf and her gloves. But Mary was so excited to show her the surprise that Anna was along for the ride.
Finally, they walked into the barn and some of the chill left Anna's skin. The cold wind was no longer hitting her.
"Here," Mary whispered, even though no one was near them. She brought Anna to the back of the barn and slowly opened the gate to a closed off area. There stood a beautiful black American Quarter horse. "I found him!"
"Oh Mary!" Anna happily squealed. "You did find him!"
Mary entered the barn, placing her hand on the horse's neck and giving it a loving rub. Anna was always amazed by how natural Mary was with horses. She was meant to be a rider. It was a large part of her passion and who she was.
"I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know until this morning and I had to have Thomas arrange to get him."
"I'm sure he loved that," Anna sarcastically stated.
"He didn't, but I reminded him we can always find more butlers. He's been in such an odd mood lately. Acting like he's on a high horse or something." Mary shook her head. "Anyway, he's here. And we have to keep him hidden all week."
"But Pippa loves the barns!" Anna said, worriedly.
"I know. I thought maybe we could keep her busy. We have everyone coming in tomorrow. I am sure we can find ways to keep her from coming out here."
"Perhaps." Anna wasn't so sure. "But she will love him." Her lips curled up. For months, Mary had been searching for the perfect horse for Pippa for her twelfth birthday. She had finally decided that Pippa needed a horse like Black Beauty from Pippa's favorite story. Ever since then, Mary had been working hard in searching for that specific horse.
"And he'll be from both of us," Mary said, wrapping her arm around Anna and kissing her cheek.
"No," Anna said. "The horse is from you. I have my own gift for Pippa. Besides, you two bond over horses. This is your special gift to her."
"Are you sure?" Mary asked.
"Yes, I am. I want it to be from you."
"Would you like to pet him?" Mary then asked.
"Sure."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
The house was packed. Thomas found himself scolding footmen left and right who seemed to act as though they had no idea what was expected of them. It wasn't as though they weren't used to this house being full of people. They often had guests. But something about the abundance of children seemed to have them all thrown off.
The children ranged from Edith's youngest, 4, and Anna's oldest, 15. There were 10 children total.
He came around the corner upstairs to hear Pippa, Marigold, and Aisling whispering and giggling about something. He cleared his throat, which just caused them to look up and laugh more. Then they scurried off down the stairs to get into something, he was sure. Those three were all a bad influence on one another. Though, Edith would claim not her Marigold and that it was the other two girls.
"Mr. Barrow?" A hand tugged on his pants pocket. He looked down to see Sybil's son, Sean.
"Yes?"
"George said you are good with piggy back rides. Might I have one?"
Thomas sighed. He was much older than he had been when George was a little boy.
"Perhaps later," he answered with a tight grin.
Sean ran off with one of Edith's boys. Somehow, even with most of the children downstairs, it was still loud upstairs. He rubbed his temple.
As he walked over past Lady Mary's room, he glanced inside. Anna was doing her hair. Everything appeared quite professional, though Thomas knew the truth. He touched his chest where he could feel the letter and picture in his pocket. He carried it with him at all times, afraid it might be found by someone else.
He didn't quite know when he was going to use it. He needed to save it for a good moment and he had to handle it carefully. Part of him did feel for Lady Mary and Anna. He, of all people, understood what it was like to love someone you weren't allowed to love. And he had been fortunate that this house hadn't thrown him out because of who he was. But, holding this sort of knowledge was great power. He, Thomas Barrow, was not about to lose that leverage he could hold.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Mary never held any expense when it came to any of the children's birthdays and Pippa's twelfth was no exception. Sometimes, Mary went even more overboard because Pippa's birthday was right before Christmas and she wanted to make sure the day was special for her daughter, not feeling overshadowed by the holiday.
For this particular year, Pippa said she was happy just to have the family here. Per her request, Mary had a large chocolate cake made for her. Anything her children wanted on their birthdays they often got. It was one way Mary could spoil them rotten.
The party went exceptionally well. Most of the evening, the children danced and sang. Mary, Edith, and Sybil sat by the side and watched, laughing. The only thing that was missing was Anna. She had to remain with the staff working for this evening, like she did every year. She got to be in the room and watch the celebration, but it still wasn't the same. Mary especially hated it for Pippa's birthday. This was a day when they all should be celebrating together.
However, Mary had spoken with Mrs. Hughes about making sure Anna was able to join them to the walk to the barn. She wanted Anna to be able to see Pippa's reaction to seeing her new horse for the first time. They worked it out to where most of the staff would be invited to come along.
"Where are we going?" Pippa asked, after Mary told her and all the guests to put on their coats.
"You'll see, darling. Just put on your coat."
Anna helped Mary put on her coat and Mary didn't miss how her fingers brushed against her neck. It made her happily shiver and look forward to holding Anna in her arms later that night.
They made the trek to the barn where Mary opened the door to show the beautiful black horse. Pippa gasped.
"Is that for me!?"
"Of course, darling."
Pippa quickly brought her arms around Mary.
"I love him! I love him!" She exclaimed. The she rushed over near the horse. As she grew closer, she slowed making sure the animal knew she wasn't a threat. Mary watched with a smile. Pippa really was great with horses; Mary liked to think she got it from her.
Her eyes then searched out Anna, who looked just as elated as she felt. She stood toward the back of the large crowd of family members and staff. Johnny was beside her, whispering something into her ear. She watched Anna nod and then smile up at him. Oh how Mary wished they all could be standing together.
"You outdid yourself this year, Mary," Cora brightly said. "You didn't even tell us what you were getting her."
"I wanted it to be a surprise."
Cora smiled and placed her hand on Mary's hand.
"She really is a wonderful girl." She then winked and walked back over toward Robert. Mary chuckled. Her parents did adore Pippa. They had decided that whether or not Pippa was hers didn't actually matter. What did matter is that they loved her. And that meant the world to Mary.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Anna walked into Mary's room and saw Mary already unhooking her earrings. Their eyes met in the mirror and they both smiled. It had been a good day. Pippa was now twelve years old. Anna had a hard time believing it. It seemed like only yesterday that her daughter had been born. What a wonderful twelve years it had been.
"I think Pippa would sleep in the barn if we would let her," Anna said, chuckling. She hadn't had a chance to give Pippa her gift yet. Pippa, along with most of the other children, had remained down at the barn way past sundown. And Anna wanted to have that moment special with Pippa alone.
"She would," Mary agreed. She stood from the bench and walked over toward Anna. Her hands rested on Anna's wrists, gently pulling her closer to her, so that their lips met.
"We should be careful," Anna whispered against Mary's skin.
"But I missed you all day," Mary replied. Her lips moved over Anna's jaw and then dipped to her neck.
"Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Remember, I'll have to sleep upstairs."
"Upstairs?" Mary sounded absolutely wrecked by the idea. "But I have trouble sleeping without you, darling. And aren't you more comfortable in here."
"Of course, I am," Anna said. She stroked Mary's cheek. "I love being with you. But I have so much work for the holiday. Plus there are so many people here now. We're already being risky."
"That's half the fun," Mary winked. Her lips came over Anna's. Anna moaned quietly at her touch.
"We really do have to be careful," Anna then said, as she pulled away. "I should be helping you get undressed."
"You can do more than that," Mary saucily stated. Anna laughed.
"I don't have time for that right now, love. I need to go give Pippa her birthday gift from me."
"Ah yes, the illusive gift. Do I get to find out now what it is?"
"Not yet," Anna smiled. She made Mary turn so that she could begin to work on the buttons of Mary's dress. Her fingers brushed along the bare skin.
"Can you believe that Pippa is twelve? Our little girl is twelve years old."
"I know. It really puts in perspective how young that still is," Anna said. "I wasn't much older than her when my mum…."
"I know," Mary cut in. Anna could feel the tenseness in Mary's shoulders. She knew how protective Mary was of her and how much anger she held toward the woman she hadn't even met for sending Anna away at such a young age. Anna realized Mary felt much more about it than she had at the time. But now, looking at her twelve year old daughter, she understood her mother less and less. She could never do that to Pippa.
"Well, you'll have to tell me all about the gift once you finally give it to her." Mary changed the subject. "I'm sure she'll love it."
"I hope so."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Anna inched open the door for Pippa's room, glad to see that she was all alone. Her hair was already down and she was in her nightdress. Upon seeing Anna she stood from her chair and walked over toward her, smiling brightly.
"Was the horse from you, as well?" She asked Anna. "I wanted to give you a hug then, but everyone was watching."
"No," Anna answered. "It wasn't. I have my own gift for you."
Anna suddenly felt very self-conscious about her gift for Pippa. It wouldn't measure up even close to the horse Mary had given her. It may not even mean anything to Pippa like it did to her. But she still put a smile on her face and pointed over to the bed for them both to sit.
After they sat down, Anna pulled a small package from her pocket and handed it to Pippa.
"This was mine when I was a little girl," Anna explained. "The birthday before my father died, he gave this to me. You see we had very little, but my father saved up for this. I've held on to it for many, many years and now I pass it on to you."
Pippa slowly and carefully unwrapped the paper from around the box. Then she opened it to reveal a necklace with a locket. She gingerly lifted it up and opened the locket. Originally, it had held a photo of her father on one side and her mother on the other. She had taken out the photo of her mother, but kept the one of her father, and then placed a photo of her and Pippa when Pippa was a baby on the other side.
"You can change the pictures to whatever you'd like," Anna told her. "I left the one of my father in there. I still have the one of my mother in my drawer upstairs. I didn't know…"
Pippa's eyes were staring intently at the photo of the two of them. It had been taken in France, before they had come back to Downton. It was one of Anna's favorite photos of the two of them.
"You've always really loved me," Pippa whispered. Her words made Anna's eyes fill with tears.
"Always," Anna replied.
"I love it," Pippa told Anna, looking at her. "Will you help me put it on?"
"Of course."
Anna draped the necklace over Pippa's neck and then latched it. Pippa's fingers ran over the necklace and locket. She met Anna's eyes.
"When it's just us, can….can I call you mama?"
Anna's breath caught in her throat. It was all she had ever wanted, but it had been something she couldn't have. Her hand touched Pippa's cheek and her lips curled upwards.
"I know I can't say it around the wrong people. But around the boys? Mary? Mrs. Hughes, even? Please?"
"Of course you can," Anna said, her lips twitched.
"Mama," Pippa tested the word on her tongue, before she smiled. She said it in a soft cadence, unlike the way Mary and her sisters said it to their mama. "Thank you for my gift, Mama."
"You are very welcome, Pippa. I'm so glad you like it."
"I love it. And I love you, Mama," Pippa said, meeting her eyes. "I love you."
"Oh Pippa, I love you too. Happy birthday, my darling girl."
To be continued...
