CHELSIE'S OLD AND NEW ERA-4

Hello all. Thank you for all the reviews. I see that you are liking the story so far, so I can continue. In this chapter, we will see how our love birds are coping with being apart. Charles in France and Elsie at Downton, but at the beginning of the chapter, there will be one sweet moment, especially for my dear friend who requested it. Hope you will like it.

Chapter 4- Apart and away

The next morning, Charles woke up, hearing Elsie calling him by his name...He knew, that it was time to get up and he groaned with disappointment. It was so wonderful to be in his own, warm bed, feeling Elsie's body so close, but now he had to get up and go to this trip, that he was so afraid of...He would much rather stay here forever, cuddling with Elsie, than to take this unfortunate trip...

There was no other way than try to get through this with dignity. The next hour passed very quickly, as he was getting ready, bathing, getting dress, had some brekfast etc.

As they were about to leave to the Abbey and Charles saw, that Elsie was making sure for the last time, that he packed everything and she was about to go to the door, he suddenly felt, that there was one important thing, that he needs to do, before they will leave the cottage...

"Are you ready Charlie? We should be going..."

"Just give me two more minutes Elsie. I just realized, that there is still one very important thing that I had to do, before we leave..."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like this..."

He neared her and took her in his arms, giving her the sweetest kiss...Full of love and longing, which he already felt inside, even though they hadn't parted yet...His love for Elsie was so strong, that he couldn't imagine, being without her for a longer time...

Elsie was surprised by his actions, but she didn't protest..On the contrary, she surrendered to the unspoken proof of her husband's love...She felt like crying a bit, but she didn't want Charles to be disappointed with her behavior..That parting was a lot more difficult, than she realized..

They stood alone, in the middle of their living room, kissing gently and when they parted, the love in their eyes was unmistakable...

Charles caressed her cheek delicately and she reciprocated with the same gesture...

"Now I'm ready to go...Take care of yourself Elsie...Do not overwork and do not let those actors destroy the Abbey..."

"I won't, I promise...Look after yourself Charlie...And come back to me as soon as possible..."

Few more touches and they were ready to go...When they got to the Abbey, there was a lot of commotion. The packing of the bags, checking if they took everything, hurrying each other, so they wouldn't miss the train...He could only exchange few more words with Elsie, as Charles was always opposed to showing feelings to his wife in front of other people and they went away...

They both felt very unhappy, seeing their beloved ones disappearing, but there was no other way...They had to find the way to go through this uneasy situation...

Few days later, Downton Abbey...

Elsie was rolling her eyes a lot these days...The movie experience was certainly much worse than she suspected...A lot of people circling all over the house, the diva's humors of the main actress, Daisy's and Anna's excitement, which was sometimes difficult to bear..

She was so tired, that she barely managed to have a little time to herself...The only pleasurable moments, were when she was talking with Mrs Patmore, as they were both secretly laughing at everything that was going on in the house.

When Elsie was coming back to the cottage, in the evening, she was very sad, as it was extremely weird to be there without Charlie...The cottage was quiet, lonely and she didn't like those nights spent alone...Now she knew, how grateful she was, that they had each other...When Charlie was around, sometimes she wanted to strangle him, especially when he was in his grumpy mood, but now she would gladly listen to his whining, if it meant that he would be here...But he was far away and all she could do was to wait for him...

Her longing for her husband didn't close her eyes to the things that were going in the house and she quickly noticed, that Thomas was very sad, after receiving a letter. She always felt a little responsible for Thomas and she was probably one of the few people, who didn't judge him too severly..She decided to talk to him, in her first spare moment and she visited him in his pantry...

Thomas told her the whole story and his face expression was meaningful...The news about Richard Ellis's marriage, has really saddened him and Elsie wanted to bring him at least a little comfort..

"I know that you may not see it now Thomas, but everything in our lives is happening for a reason..If Mr Ellis chose to get married, then perhaps it's the way it meant to be..."

"No Mrs Hughes...I know Richard well...He did that just to be safe, so nobody could discredit him...He was visiting places...You know..Where men like me and him can meet with others and he was afraid, that someone will discover it...It makes me sad, that he decided to spend his life faking...Pretending to be someone that he is not..."

"And I take it that you would never do that?"

"Never...Fortunately for me, Downton Abbey is much more tolerant place than Buckingham Palace and everyone knows who I am and even if they condemn it, they do not express their aversion to me openly, well maybe except of Mr Carson.."-he smiled cheekily to Elsie..

"You know Mr Carson...He has his own way of seeing some things and nobody is able to change that, even me...That's the fact I came to accept..."

"You certainly made him more tolerant than he was before Mrs Hughes...I noticed that, but you are right, there are some things in Mr Carson that even you are not able to change. In spite of that, you are a very happy marriage, am I right?"

"Yes Thomas...Mr Carson is difficult to bear sometimes, but I wouldn't change him for anyone else.."

"You see...This is exactly what I want from life...I want to have someone, that I can talk about with such warm emotions, as you are talking about Mr Carson...Of course in my case, it will never be so easy and open, but I still want that...You know Mrs Hughes, recently I kind of felt like my life was going nowhere-professionally and personally and now, when I received this letter, I feel that even more...I think that it's about time to change something in my life..."

"If that's the way you feel Thomas, than I would strongly recommend you to follow your heart and your emotions, just don't make too drastic decisions...If you want a change, the change will come, when there will be appropriate time for this...I can understand you very well...I had similar emotions, just before Mr Carson proposed to me...I felt like I was standing in the middle of nowhere and I thought, that nothing will ever happen to me again, that I will die as a lonely spinster, hating my job and my life..And then everything changed...It will be the same with you...Just wait patiently..."

"Patience has never been one of my stronges sides, but I will take your advice...You are one of the wisest people that I have met in my life Mrs Hughes..."

"They say that flattery will get you everywhere Thomas, but I know that you are honest when you say what you say...Now come on, give me a glass of Sherry...I need to survive to the evening and it's not an easy job now.."

"Right away Mrs Huhges..."

South of France...

Charles sat on the balcony, with the glass of good wine, in the darknes...Everything was so quiet and peaceful...The nights were his favorite part of being here, when everyone else have gone to bed and he had some time to think.

This trip was certainly not a picnic for him...Most of all, the weather was really difficult to cope with.. Never ending sun and heat, have made it difficult for him to do his job. He had to admit, that as always, Elsie was right, when was trying to convience him to buy some ligher clothes for the trip.

He was outraged at the suggestion, telling Elsie, that it was ceertainly below his dignity, to wear lighter clothes. Used to cold English summers, for the first time, he had to face the level of heat that was influencing his daily routine.

Fortunatley, there wasn't as much duties here, as in Downton, but all the surroundings- that mystery from the Dowager's past, that lack of sympathy for the guests from the French lady, have made it difficult to do their jobs.

The fresh air of the night was like a huge relief for him...He was thinking about that embarrassing moment in the hat shop, when he was trying to ease his suffer from the heat and he unexpectedly met Lady Bagshaw, who was kind enough to help him pick the hat...And if that wasn't enough, she offered to pay for it, which was not very subtle.

But the worst part was, that shop seller, who thought that they were married!...Charles wondered, what would Elsie thought about that, but he guessed, that she would not liked that...She rarely expressed jealousy, but sometimes not much was necessary, to wake the Scottish dragon inside her and in this case, it would not be difficult.

For him, the very suggestion was ridiculous. Him married to someone else than Elsie? Unthinkable! She was the most miracoulous woman in the world and now, he wasn't even able to imagine being married to somebody else..Even his very distant memories about Alice, always made him wonder, how was it possible, that he wanted to marry her back then? But of course he didn't know Elsie, luckily for him, she entered his life..

Suddenly his mind went back to the interesting conversation, that he had tonight with Miss Baxter and Mr Bates.

Miss Baxter announced, that either Mr Molesley will propose to her, or she will die as a spinster and he asked her a question, that now seemed silly, even to himself...He asked her, if she will not marry anyone else? How could he even asked her that, when only few years ago, during his own proposal to Elsie, he told her, that he was certain of one thing- that he will not marry anyone else...Few years have passed and he still believed it, as strongly as then...Elsie was the one...

He smiled, thinking about her...He was missing her so much..Her beautiful smile, her ability to change his worst mood into something positive, her balmy presence, when he was facing some crisis. The warmth of her body radiating from her at night, when she was lying next to him, the sweet smell of her hair, that he so much associated with her...

Her lovely, melodic voice, with unmistakable Scottish accent...All those little things, which put together, gave the image of an ideal woman, that he loved and adored for so many years and only his past complexes and his unflexible attitude for changes, have stopped him from marrying her for so long, which he now has considered as the biggest mistake of his life...

How could anyone think, that he could be maried to someone else, when he had a walking ideal, waiting for him at home and how could he possibly doubt other people's sincerity of feelings, when his own were undeniable...Those were the questions, that he was weighing in, sitting all alone, at hot summer night, in French riviera, wishing, that he could be many miles away, back to his country and back with his wife-that was exactly where he belonged...

I feel relief, because when I started to write today, I had a little writer's block and I was wondering, if I will be able to finish the chapter. I made it...I have squeezed everything I wanted to squeeze. First of all, I filled the gap of tender goodbye between Elsie and Charles, which I definitely missed in the movie and I developed the conversation between Elsie and Thomas, which was really wonderful, but something was missing. Plus of course few alusions to the hat shop scene (which I hate) and to the fact, that Charles asked this silly question to Miss Baxter, forgetting what he said to Elsie few years ago. I hope you liked it a bit and if so, your opinions are always welcome. Have a great week!