Chapter 4
Lady Edith woke early and rang for the maid. She wanted to look her best when the guest's arrived. It wasn't every day that you got to celebrate your birthday. Sarah the new maid was going to be a fine replacement to Edna. "I'd like you to take extra care with the hair today Sarah. Nothing to special just a tweak here and there; I want it to be perfect." Edith said with a smile. "Yes ma'am you tell me what you thing when I'm done, you tell me what you think, if you don't like it let me know and we'll start over from scratch." said Sarah trying to comfort Lady Edith. When Edith finally did come downstairs in her full glory everything was in a flurry of movement. Mary and Sybil were already up talking to Anna about some trivial something thing or other. Cora was talking to Mrs. Hughes about the dinner menu. When Cora was Edith she quickly walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday darling." said Cora with a wide smile. "Thank you mama, it looks like things are going full swing down here." said Edith. "Indeed they are, almost everything is done. It looks like it's going to be a great night." said Cora with a rather small sigh.
Half an hour later the staff were eating breakfast, the family upstairs had already been served and had started their daily routines as usual. Thomas sat at the breakfast table, he had been itching to go back and see how Ember was doing. He had meant to, it had been a few days since she arrived here and he saw her for the first time in a long while; unfortunately Mr. Carson had been keeping the entire staff on their toes for the past few days and he had no time to go and visit his friend. Yes a thought I supposes I could call her a friend. Funny he thought he had never called someone his friend before. Another thing that was strange, very meal the servants had Mrs. Patmore had sent a tray up to the young house guest. Some people might not have noticed but Thomas did, he noticed that hardly a bite was ever eaten off of the trays of food sent up. "Here Anna will you run this tray up to Miss Parton for me please?" asked Mrs. Patmore. Anna was just starting to get up when Thomas said "I'll get it for you Mrs. Patmore I don't mind doing it Anna" He got up quickly so that Anna would not get to the tray first. "Thank you Thomas." said both Mrs. Patmore and Anna in unison.
He took the Stairs two at a times just to get upstairs faster. It really wasn't very far at all to the servant's stairwell; all he had to do was take a right go down a corridor and to the left. Embers room was the second door on the left. "May I come in?" asked Thomas. "Yes come in." said Ember in a rather sad tone. Thomas walked in and set the tray down on Embers bedside table. "So how have you been?" asked Thomas, he did notice that she was looking very thin, her shoulder blades were prominently protruding out of her delicate skin. "I'm rather bored to be honest. Doctor Clarkson is sending me over some crutches this afternoon so it means I can start to hobble about a bit I suppose. I don't know what go they'll do when I might fall down the stair with my eyes covered." said Ember with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Well I tell you what, If I have some free time I'll walk you around outside for a while, make sure you don't run into any trees or anything of that nature." said Thomas smiling slightly. There was a slight tap at the door and Mrs. Hughes entered the room. "Am I needed downstairs" asked Thomas? "No, and I'm sorry to disturb you're conversation. Mrs. Parton I know there is going to be a party upstairs tonight with the family, it's just that since you're well enough to be out and about I was wondering if you would like to have dinner with us downstairs?" said Mrs. Hughes , a little to Thomas surprise. "Yes thank you Mrs. Hughes, if it's not an inconvenience." said Ember. "It's no inconvenience I assure you. Oh Thomas Mr. Carson has gone into town and won't be back for a while, you're not needed at the moment so you have some time to do whatever it is you want to." Mrs. Hughes said this as she walked out of the room. "You haven't touched your breakfast, or you lunches, or your dinners. Why not?" asked Thomas with a bit of concern in his voice. "I don't know Thomas, a doctor once said I made all it up. There was one time when my family had very little to eat, but that time passed and now I can't bring myself to eat a bite. If I do I get quiet sick. Nobody so far could help me with it." said Ember quietly. "We'll see about that." said Thomas with a great deal of concern. "Do you like a good book because there's one on this table." said Thomas. The answer was yes. They were both happy, a feeling neither of them usually had. The minutes seemed to slip away as Thomas read her a story…..
I Hope you all like this story so far. I know that the Upstairs family has not been in this story very much. Edith's Birthday will change that a bit, I wonder who will turn up for the happy event, and also for the dinner downstairs with Ember. Please Review, I love Ideas so let me know if you have any.