Author's Note: Thank you to Lemacd and Guest for leaving reviews on the first chapter. Your feedback meant a lot to me. I hope you all like this one.
1 January 1926
She pulls the blanket that her son is swaddled in a little tighter around him, brushing the snowflakes from his eyelashes and cheeks as he sleeps in her arms and she waits for her husband to unlock the door to the cottage. Once he has it open, he gestures for her to step inside ahead of him which she quickly does before he follows her and closes the door behind them. The cottage is warm, much warmer than it is outside because he had come home while she had been dressing the baby to straighten the place up a little and start a fire in the hearth. "Let me take him for a minute, darling, so you can remove your coat, then you can go and have a seat on the sofa with him while I make us both some tea." She hears him say behind her before she turns in place and eases the sleeping baby into his arms.
Thankfully, he doesn't even stir and she's able to remove both her hat and her coat and hang them up before she takes off her gloves. Shoving them into one of the pockets on her coat, she turns to John again and he chuckles as he gives their son back to her once he's kissed his forehead. He knows how much she hates not having him in her arms. This time, he stirs for just a moment but she shushes him before he can wake and he settles in an instant. She breathes a sigh of relief and pats his back to help keep him asleep as she and her husband make their way into their sitting room, and she feels John run a hand across her lower back while they approach the sofa. She sits down and makes herself comfortable when they reach it before smiling at him when he drapes a blanket around her shoulders.
"Thanks." She whispers.
"Are you warm enough? I can put more coal on the fire if you need me to." He tells her.
She shakes her head. "No, this is fine. If you could just make the tea, that'll be enough for the time being."
"Get some rest. I'll be as quick as I can." He leans down to kiss her temple before turning around and making his way from the room.
Once she and their son are alone, she relaxes a little more and leans against the backrest before cradling him closer to her and sighing when he tucks his mittened hand between his cheek and her chest. The depth of the love she has for him astounds her. She had loved watching the servants fawn all over him when she and her husband had taken him downstairs to meet them before coming home with him. Mrs. Hughes had been close to tears the whole time and Mrs. Patmore had gone on and on about how perfect and tiny he is and she had loved their compliments, but at the same time she had just wanted them to hand him back to her. Her mother would say that she's spoiling him, holding and cuddling him all the time, but she isn't bothered. This is her first baby and she'll spoil him if she likes.
Besides, what on earth is so wrong about spoiling a child with love?
Her childhood, she knows, would have been so much happier if she had been spoiled with love the way her little boy is going to be.
She reaches for the hand that's resting on his belly after sitting in silence with him for a while and she carefully removes the mitten, a smile spreading across her face as she sets it down in her lap and takes his hand again. It disappears inside her own. He curls his hand into a fist and she feels his nails scratch her palm, her thumb tracing the crease of his wrist as she continues to revel in his perfection. She doubts she'll ever get over how beautiful he is and she already knows that he's going to get away with murder as he gets older due to that. He'll ask her if he can have cookies or something before his dinner and she'll say no, intent on making him wait, but then he'll look at her with those deep blue eyes of his and she'll cave. He's going to find every single one of her weaknesses, she's sure.
It's the subtle tap of her husband's cane that makes her look up and she shifts closer to the armrest to make a little more room on the sofa for him, her gaze following him as he walks towards her with a tray in his hands before he places the tray on the table in front of her and sits down. He reaches for her teacup and passes it to her once he's gotten comfortable and she thanks him before he takes his own and they both sigh in unison as they sip their drinks. "I think Lady Mary was right to insist that I spend a few months at home," She says, looking in his direction. "It'll take me a while to recover from the birth, I imagine, and I want to spend some time with this little one before I even think about leaving him with one of the nannies at Downton all day. I think six or seven months will be good."
"You don't need to give yourself a timeframe because a lot of things could happen or change between then and now that could lead to you needing a little more or a little less time away from work," He points out. "I think work needs to take a back seat for a while now. You should focus on being a mummy and making the most of the first couple of months, my love, and then when you feel like you're ready to go back to work we can talk about it some more. I don't want you to rush into it though. If you aren't completely ready for it and you force yourself to go back to work too quickly then you aren't going to like it. Your separation anxiety will be bad enough as it is, I can tell, and you'll only make things harder for yourself by throwing yourself in at the deep end. I think you should ease back in."
She smiles. "What would I do without you? You're so understanding and you always know exactly what to say."
"Well, I learned from the best," He smirks before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Is little man doing all right? Still sleeping?"
"Dead to the world," She nods as she looks down at their little boy for a second. "He had a long feed though, so that could be why."
"Or he could just be telling us he takes after you where his sleep is concerned." He teases.
She laughs. "Maybe. He'll let us know soon enough though, let's see how well he sleeps through the night thanks to this nap."
"If he ends up being a bit of a nightmare, I'll get up with him so you can sleep." He tells her with a kiss to her cheek.
"You don't have to do that, we can take it in turns." She shakes her head.
"I know I don't have to do it. I want to do it though, I want to help you out because you'll be doing enough through the day." He explains.
She rolls her eyes good-naturedly. "Okay. You know, we still need to think of a name for him. It can't be 'Little Man' forever."
"Why not? No other child will have it. It'll be unique," He chuckles before she gives him a look. "All right, all right, any suggestions?"
"I was thinking we might name him after you," She admits. "You won't agree to John, I know, but how about Johnny? Johnny Bates?"
"Johnny was actually the nickname my mother gave me when I was a boy," He replies. "I think it suits him."
She beams. "Well, that was much easier than I thought it would be. I thought I was going to have to beg you to agree."
"No," He brushes his fingers against Johnny's hair. "If it was something like Malcolm, maybe, but not Johnny."
"Malcolm? Why would I want to name him Malcolm? Does he look like a Malcolm to you?" She glances between him and their son.
"No, that's why I would have argued against the name." He shrugs, smirking.
She huffs in response though there's amusement in her eyes. "I'm far too tired for this."
"Why don't you try to get some sleep while you have the chance?" He asks her.
"I feel as though all I've done is sleep since he was born," She groans. "I feel bad for you."
"I'm fine," He assures her. "Sleep is going to help you to recover, so if you need to sleep then you can sleep. I honestly don't mind."
She thinks about what he said for a minute before she nods and leans forward to set her teacup down on the tray on the table, a yawn escaping her as she moves closer to him on the sofa before he lets his arm circle her waist and her head falls against his shoulder. "You really don't mind if I get an hour or two?" She inquires as she tucks her head into his neck and breathes in his scent, her eyes closing.
"I don't mind in the slightest. You just go to sleep."
"Okay. I love you, John."
"And I love you," He mumbles into her fringe. "More than you know…"
Author's Note: Thank you for reading. Please review and I'll see you soon.
