"Josie, if you want to have curls for the party, you need to hold still and stop shaking your head or they will all fall out."
Josie squirmed under her mother's ministrations with the hair brush. She was sat on the edge of her parents' bed, in her underclothes and tights. Her beautiful party dress, with its hair ribbon and belt, hung on the wardrobe door. It was an immense distraction and she simply couldn't wait to wear it.
"Can I put my dress on yet Mummy?"
"Once we get this hair tidy, yes you can. The better you sit still, the quicker you can put it on."
John came back from the bathroom, wearing his new trousers and shirt, doing battle with his cufflinks.
"Darling could you just..." he looked up to see Anna's grimace as she did battle with Josie's blonde locks. She wasn't even dressed yet, still clad in her dressing gown with her hair piled up in a towel. He saw how late she was running and understood immediately.
"Tell you what, I'll go and ask one of the others, you're clearly busy here..."
"You do that dear. I'll send missy here out to you once she's in her dress. And do make sure she doesn't spill anything down it...?"
John nodded and headed out to the snug.
The Masons were already dressed and ready, Bill in his good suit, neatly washed and brushed, with Mrs Patmore in her Sunday best blue dress, her hair freed from its usual cap and set into a neat perm. Daisy was sat on a hard backed chair, already wearing her smart red dress, while Mrs Patmore removed the curlers from her locks and gave it a gentle brush out.
"See, I told you you'd suit longer curls, you'd never let me help you with it up at the Abbey..."
"You never had time at the Abbey, you barely got yourself into your posh frock for the servant's balls, you were always flapping over the starters..."
"Well, you both look beautiful now, my ladies," Bill, ever the gentleman, was generous with his compliments. "And how are your lady folk doing in there John?" he came over to help John thread the fiddly cufflinks into his sleeve cuffs.
"Josie's nearly ready, but Anna's running a bit behind. Once Josie comes out I think she might appreciate a hand..."
"There we go," muttered Mrs Patmore, giving Daisy's hair a last comb through. "Right, there you are lovey, off you go to powder your nose!"
"I've got some new makeup special from the village chemist. It's mascara. I've never used it before!"
"Just be careful you don't stick the brush in your eye, that's near fatal or so I've heard!"
"I won't Mrs Patmore..." Daisy's feet clattered up the stairs.
At the balcony she crossed with Phyllis and Joseph, dressed up to the nines and looking immaculate. Neither of them had lost their touch from their valet and lady's maid days.
"Where's Anna and Josie, John?"
"I think Anna's still..."
"Here she is..." The door opened and Anna, still in her robe, brought Josie out to join them, looking splendid in her velvet frock, her blonde curls angelic around her little face. "Now, you sit very still like a good girl, and don't get anything on your dress."
"Anna, are you not dressed yet?" Phyllis was heading over instantly. "Come with me, I'll help you get your hair done..."
John relaxed as his wife and her friend disappeared back into the sanctum of the bedroom. Phyllis could work wonders with hair, and with soothing frazzled nerves. Anna was in good hands.
Anna sat down on the end of the bed and grimaced as Phyllis reached for the brush and comb on the dressed.
"Now, what do you want doing with..." she turned back to catch Anna's expression in the mirror. "Anna? ... Anna, are you alright?"
"It's nothing."
"Anna..." Phyllis' voice rose slightly in a warning tone.
"It's nothing Phyllis honestly, I've just been on my feet a bit today, and I'm not used to going outside in the cold, and now baby insists on kicking me in the ribs." She rubbed her bump and winced tenderly. "I'll be black and blue by the time he or she comes out to join the world!"
Phyllis wasn't convinced, though Anna's explanation was plausible enough. She was still pale and a little thin around the face, but she had regained weight under the care of the Masons and was eating and drinking properly again. Her stomach swelled before her, her pregnancy was definitely on show now that she was more than seven months gone.
"Well, you just sit here. And what would you like doing with this hair? Up or down?"
"Down, I think."
Phyllis was surprised. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen Anna's hair loose.
"I have a slight headache. Nothing much, I had them when I was expecting Josie too. But having my hair up sometimes made it worse. You know, pulled tight and all."
The brush ran through Anna's hair smoothly and softly, Phyllis' light touch was working wonders on her stress levels. The lines between her eyes began to soften and fade a little.
"Are you sure you're up to this?"
"Oh, of course. I've been looking forward to it. Seeing our old friends again. The Carsons are coming, Elsie wrote and told me so, and I definitely want to see them."
"Well ... let's get you ready for the ball, Cinderella!"
"Whatever you say, fairy godmother."
Phyllis giggled and waved the comb in the air like a magic wand. "You SHALL go to the ball!" she trilled in a high, posh voice.
Anna was laughing. It felt good to do that again. Her hand passed back and forth over her stomach, easing against the sore spots. "Now you just be good tonight," she murmured softly. "Just lie still, and don't wriggle too much. Mummy loves you, just try to be quiet tonight, no football against her insides, do you hear?"
Anna's hair fell from the brush, twisted softly into long waves. Deftly, Phyllis gathered the top layer and drew it back loosely, securing it with a few pins and a length of white ribbon. The style was a new one for Anna, like something out of an illustration in Josie's book of fairy stories.
"There... all done. Let's get you into your dress, and I'll settle it for you."
Anna wore very little makeup, but at Phyllis' suggestion she rubbed a little Vaseline over her lips and smeared a little onto her eyelashes, to make them curl. A dusting of powder over her forehead and nose, and she was all ready.
Phyllis marvelled at her as she turned in her dress. Mrs Clarkson had chosen well. Anna looked like a queen from a fairy tale, in the simple but elegant cut. The green tinge to the velvet highlighted the colour of her eyes, made her smile seem even brighter, and countered the natural pallor of her skin.
"Ladies, our chariots are here!" called Bill from the kitchen.
"Come on then, Cinderella."
"After you, Fairy Godmother..."
Downton Abbey was at its best. Every window on the ground floor glowed with warm light, while the doors stood open and welcoming, revealing the grand Christmas tree, covered with twinkling lights and strings of silver tinsel. Mary and Henry were waiting in the hall to receive their guests. But someone else got to the little party first.
"Good evening Mr and Mrs Bates. And this must be Miss Bates. May I take your coats, and welcome you back to Downton Abbey?"
Thomas hadn't changed on the outside. He might be called Barrow, and settled into the role of Butler to Lady Mary these days, but he still carried himself with that air of self assurity that John remembered from the pre-war days, when he had been a mere first footman with ambitions. He had risen as high as he could have set his sights, Butler to the Earl and Countess of Grantham and the Crawley family, both in London and at Downton Abbey.
But on the inside, much had changed. The smile was more genuine, the eyes warmer, the old familiar sneer nowhere to be seen around his lips and brow. It suited him.
"Certainly, Mr Barrow. And a very merry Christmas to you."
"Thank you Mrs Bates, compliments of the season to your family as well," Thomas smiled at the woman who had worked alongside him for many years, and held out his arm for the coat belonging to his old rival with genial politeness.
"Anna! You made it..."
Thomas nodded to them both, seeing that they were about to be descended upon by Lady Mary, and moved slightly to one side to help the Moseley's with their overcoats.
Mary looked spectacular, as Anna had known that she would. A chic garnet red dress, fringed in layers around the skirt, hung beautifully from her slender frame. A matching red lace band, with a plumy feather affixed at the back, circled her neat bobbed hair, while a long string of ebony beads lay knotted down her front. With her black stilettos and long black evening gloves, and that classic dash of scarlet lipstick, she could have been an advertisement for couture fashion, stepped straight out of the pages of Vogue.
"How wonderful to see you, you're looking so much better," Mary leaned in for an airy kiss against Anna's cheek. "We saw you this afternoon, riding out near Yew Tree. George was delighted to have an audience."
"We all enjoyed it very much, Milady, especially Josie. She loved seeing the horses and the ponies."
"Did she indeed?" Mary smiled down indulgently. "Perhaps she could come to the stables and meet them at some point?"
Josie's face lit up in rapture. There was nothing, save one of her very own, that she would like more.
"Can we go NOW?" she asked, gripping her Daddy's hand tightly.
"Not now darling," hushed Anna. Josie's face fell, her lip beginning to quaver. Hastily Anna continued, hoping to head off the wails that were threatening to follow. "We're here for the party, remember? And it's all cold and mucky out in the stables, you don't want to get your dress messy do you."
"Can we go later?"
"Yes, maybe later dear."
Anna agreed to Josie's suggestion without her usual careful consideration, anxious to avoid a tantrum in front of Mary's guests. It worked for now. Josie's good humour was restored.
"We should let you greet the rest of your guests," John said gently, preparing to shepherd his family away.
"Go right in, make yourselves at home..." Mary waved a hand breezily. "Everyone's in the drawing room, the Carsons are already here... Hello darling Isobel, how lovely to see you..."
Henry Talbot stepped forward to shake John's hand.
"Good to see you again Bates, and the family too." He motioned for a woman dressed in a neat grey dress with short grey hair and wire spectacles to step forward. "Can I introduce you to Miss Greyson?"
Anna shook the woman's hand, bemused. She didn't recognise the name, and the quiet and slightly dowdy lady looked out of place amongst the splendour.
"Miss Greyson is our Nanny, she lives in the village," Henry explained. "When we're here, she takes care of George, and little Bobby, and she looks after any other children who are visiting Downton Abbey."
Henry bent down in front of Josie.
"We hope you enjoy the party Josie, but it might be a little dull later on when all the grownups are talking. But there are some nice toys to play with up in the nursery, and Miss Greyson is going to have a supper party, for you and the other children. There will be scrambled eggs, and later on some fairy cakes. And hot chocolate. And if you get tired, there are some lovely beds for a nap before you go home. Does that sound nice?"
Josie's face brightened. Cakes and hot chocolate and toys were her idea of a fun evening. "Yes please."
Henry smiled and tapped her nose.
"Well... off you go with Mummy and Daddy first, I'm sure everyone wants to see your lovely dress."
John was charmed. He hadn't gotten to know Henry very well, since he and Anna had left Downton shortly after he and Lady Mary had married. But while he had seemed a little awkward and out of place as a guest, he was a born host and a wonderful father, who had a knack of talking to children.
"That's so kind of you, to arrange all of that."
"Well, we thought it might be more fun for our children if there was something going on for them. George and Sybbie might be grown up enough to hunt, but an evening in a big room with lots of breakable objects and fine clothes is still not really their cup of tea. Marigold is a couple of years younger than them, and since Nanny was going to be taking care of little Bobby anyway, it made sense to make another arrangement. Come, let me get you all a drink..."
By the time John and Henry caught up with the others, Anna and Josie had located Elsie and Charles Carson and were busy exchanging hugs and making introductions. Elsie was admiring Josie's dress, which his daughter was obligingly showing off with a twirl.
Slowly the room began to fill up with guests, some new faces, many old familiar ones. John recognised Lady Edith, with her husband Lord Pelham. She was glowing with happiness and health, far more beautiful and relaxed than she had been during her last few years at Downton Abbey. Miss Marigold stood beside her, clutching at Lord Pelham's hand. John had heard he adopted the little girl shortly after they had married, which impressed him greatly. Edith looked... different. Somehow. John couldn't put a finger on how, until Anna came and slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, to join him in gazing around the room.
"Doesn't she look wonderful?"
"She does... she looks, I don't know, different somehow."
"Can't you tell why?"
"You know, don't you?"
Anna smiled up at him.
"Elsie just told me. Apparently she's pregnant. She and Lord Pelham are expecting a child later in the spring."
Of course. The glow to the cheeks, the slight plumpness, just concealed by the flowing column dress and fringed wrap. Not to mention the brightness of that smile.
"I'm so glad they're happy."
"Me too," Anna stretched up to kiss his cheek.
"Mummy Mummy!" Anna turned as Josie tugged at her skirt gently. "Mummy look, it's the boy who was riding the pony! Can I go and say hello?"
George and Sybbie had joined the party, each walking hand in hand with Mr Branson.
"We'll both go," said John, with a wink to Anna. "I'll make sure everything's OK. You sit down, give your feet a rest while you can."
Grateful for the suggestion, Anna went to sit beside Elsie and Charles, who were noting all of the changes and all the things which had stayed the same since their time in charge of the splendid house. This already had all the makings of a splendid evening.