After two helpings of roast chicken and potatoes, followed by apple crumble with lashings of cream, and an awful lot of conversation, Anna felt ready for bed. First the children, then the adults started ascending the stairs to bed. Anna wasn't staying at the big house, she was staying with her parents in the small house, so they all stood up and began preparing to leave.
"It's alright, stay longer if you like," yawned Janet.
"Thanks, love, but we'd better get going," said Ida, stepping towards the door.
"Thankyou for a wonderful meal, Janet," said Anna, giving her sister-in-law a hug.
"Hey, you did at least half of the work!"
"No, I didn't!"
They said their goodnights, and Anna and her parents walked across the barnyard to the small house.
"Tea?" asked Ida as they entered.
Anna smiled. No matter what the occasion, her mother always thought that a cup of tea was a good idea. She'd developed some of the habit herself through her upbringing, but not as strong, and lately, she hadn't been having as much tea as she used to – not in the evenings, anyway. Thinking about it, she reasoned that this was probably because her mother had always made tea for everyone, so Anna had always thought of it as a social thing. Therefore, she wasn't drinking it much now, because at the moment, she was spending her evenings alone.
That was probably it, she reasoned.
She was not, however, alone now, and her mother was looking at her quizzically.
"Tea, Anna?"
"Love some."
"Good. It won't be what you're used to, mind. I'm going to make you some sleepy tea!"
"Some what?"
Anna's mother didn't reply, having already disappeared into the kitchen.
Her father collapsed into what was clearly his favourite armchair. It looked a little worse for wear.
"You've still got the same chair?" Anna asked, sitting down on the settee.
"Oh yes. I'd never part with this."
"Due for a re-covering, I think."
"Oh no, no. It's fine."
He looked up at her, then back at the chair. "No, no." Then he looked up again, and she could feel his eyes on her.
"What time do you want to leave tomorrow, love?" asked Ida, poking her head back into the room.
Anna breathed in, remembering what was to happen tomorrow. "Umm…we're going in the trap, are we?"
"Yes. And it's a fair way."
"Yes it is, it's an hour from Downton, and that's in the car."
"Oh, she can fly along, don't you worry. Two hours, do you think?"
"More like two and a half. Are you sure you want to do this, Mum?"
"Why on earth aren't you taking the train?" asked Pete.
"Because the prison isn't close to a train station, and neither are we. It won't be any quicker to take the train – I did check, love."
"But you'd be far more comfortable! Look at the girl, the last thing she needs is to be clattering around in a trap all day!"
"The prison's not that far from the station," said Anna.
"It isn't? I heard that it was. How far?"
"Well surely you could take a local bus or a tram anyway!" Pete snorted.
"It's less than a mile, I'm sure."
"Oh!"
The shriek of a kettle came from the kitchen, and Ida rushed off to make the tea.
"You should come more often," Pete said softly. "We miss you."
Anna smiled at him. "I would like to."
"Are you alright, Anna?"
"You know me, Dad. I'm made of strong stuff."
...
They took the trap to the station, and then took the train. Ida was talking about a variety of things the whole way, but stopped when they got onto the train because of the large number of people who might overhear. She continued to say the odd unremarkable thing, but the real questions she wanted to ask Anna had to be postponed. She couldn't stop thinking about them, though, and hadn't done the previous day either. Neither had Pete, based on what he'd said to her that night in bed. But how do you ask?
As they walked out of the station, Anna was looking around, and her face looked even gloomier than it had earlier. She was remembering the last time she had been here. When she had met Mr Bates on the platform and they had happily walked through these doors together, her arm through his, and down the street.
They were walking the same way now. Anna swallowed.
"Tell me about him, Anna."
Anna was looking towards the cathedral, not giving any indication that she'd heard what her mother had said.
"Anna?"
"What?"
"Tell me about him."
Anna raised her eyebrows, unsure. "What do you want to know?"
"I don't know, anything. Where is he from, for example. Little titbits I can ask him about."
"He's from London."
"Is he? Oh!"
They fell silent again, Anna guiding them through the city streets.
"How do you know your way around here?"
"I'm not sure. I've only been here once or twice. I remember it pretty vividly, that's all."
"Do you often take the train to visit him?"
"No, usually Lord Grantham allows me to go in the car."
"Oh, that's very nice of him!"
"It is."
"Does he know John well?"
"John saved his life."
"What? When?"
"In the African war."
"He served in Africa?"
"Yes."
"See, this is what I want to know about, Anna – you haven't told me anything at all about him!"
"I know, I'm sorry. It's hard for me to talk about him, I…sort of clam up."
"It makes you sad?"
"A bit. Listen, there is one thing that you should know. You should know that he has a limp, he's limping quite heavily at the moment, actually. It's because they won't let him use his cane."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, normally he uses a cane, and he can walk fine with that, but they won't let him use it in there so he has to…well, he has to limp a lot more."
"Why does he limp?"
"Because he has some shrapnel stuck behind his knee."
Mrs Smith almost stopped walking. She hadn't been expecting this.
"I'm sorry, Mum, I haven't told you even the most basic thing about him, have I?"
"Are you telling me that my son-in-law is a decorated war hero?"
"I don't know if he's decorated. He never talks about it. So don't ask, alright?"
"Oh, men!"
...
He was hopelessly nervous. He hadn't felt this way since his wedding day. Those were happy nerves, though. These were more…threatening. What if she didn't like him? What if she told her daughter to divorce him?
The prisoners who were expecting visitors were lined up and lead into the visitation room. Then the visitors were allowed in from the other side, in a much less ordered manner, allowed to find their respective seats on their own. John scanned the crowd for Anna, locking her eyes with his own. She smiled.
As Anna and Ida approached the table, John stood and politely nodded at his mother-in-law.
"Mum, this is John," said Anna.
"Bates! Sit down!" barked a guard.
"After you, Mrs Smith," he said.
"Bates!"
Anna and Ida quickly sat, and so did John, seconds before the guard reached him.
"I won't tell you again," the guard sneered.
"I was greeting my mother-in-law, sir," said John calmly.
"I don't care what you were doing! No standing, and no touching!"
"Understood, officer." John stared straight ahead, and winked at Anna. The guard walked away.
"No touching?" said Ida. "Really?"
"Yeah, that's the worst part," said Anna.
"I'm so sorry, Mrs Smith," said John. "I should not have put you through that."
"Oh no, you have to stand up for yourself. Can't let them walk all over you!"
John remembered the few things Anna had told him about her mother. She had definitely sounded like a woman with spirit. So was Anna. He smiled.
There was awkward silence for a moment, broken by Anna asking him how he was.
"I'm fine," he said. "How are you?"
"Not bad at all. I've been having a nice time on the farm."
"Good! I thought you would." John smiled.
Ida watched them look into each other's eyes.
"Mrs Smith…I'm so sorry that we haven't met before now. It is entirely my fault, and it was disrespectful of me."
Ida nodded. "Thankyou."
"I wish things could have been different. And I wish they were different now."
"Me too. I wish I could have got to know you before the wedding, but that didn't happen, so we'd better start now."
"That was my fault, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for causing so much worry for you now."
"Alright, now stop apologising, and tell me about yourself."
John smiled weakly. He could see exactly where Anna got it from. "Thankyou for giving me the chance to do that. I know I don't deserve it."
Anna intervened. "She's accepted your apology, John. And it wasn't your fault anyway."
John looked into her eyes. His heart broke every time she told him that. He knew it wasn't true, and yet she seemed to think it was. He wasn't sure why.
"Tell me about yourself, John," Ida repeated. "I won't bite."
John smiled broadly this time, making his eyes crinkle. "Err, alright, well, where to start… I grew up in London. My mum was from Ireland, Dad was from London, and he had a bookshop there, which was my first job… and then as a young man I joined the army. Did that for a few years, and now I, well, I was working for Lord Grantham as his valet, and I hope to do so again."
"What brought you to Yorkshire?"
"Well, my time in the army had come to an end…" John winced and looked at Anna. She fixed him with a stare, and nodded. Her mother didn't need any more details than that.
"I'd known Lord Grantham in the army, and he'd told me about his estate, I thought it sounded nice and I was looking for a change of scenery." He winced again. "But more than that, I really needed a job, and he had said to me once that if I ever needed anything, I should ask him. I called in the favour."
"He's really good at his job, though," said Anna. "When he first came, people thought that because he had a limp he wouldn't be able to do anything. Mr Carson, everyone, they were really hard on him."
"Anna was the only one who had faith in me." John smiled.
"But he proved them all wrong, and after a few weeks there, everyone loved him – not only because he's good at his job, and if there's anything he can't do, he does something else to make up for it, but also because he's such a lovely man, he's a respected senior staff member, he provides a responsible, non-judgemental presence for the younger staff to look up to, and… and everyone really misses him now."
"Do they really?" John whispered.
"Very much so. Mrs Hughes said the other day, when she was ordering me to take these three days off, I said, 'No, I shouldn't do that, because I've already had lots of time off this year to deal with police and lawyers and things,' and Mrs Hughes said that that didn't count as time off, and I said, 'Well, if I'm not doing something productive for Downton Abbey, then surely it does,' and she said, 'Freeing Mr Bates is productive for Downton Abbey, Mr Carson wants him back!'"
John laughed, and Anna and Ida joined him.
His face became serious again. "I can't tell you how much that means to me."
"Thought it might."
"So, Mrs Smith. Have you spent your whole life in Yorkshire?"
"Oh, my turn, is it? Yes, I have. Grew up in Topcliffe, worked as a housemaid for a family in Thirsk for a while, and then I became a farmer's wife."
"A fine profession!"
"You think so?"
"Well, you keep the farmer fed, and the farmer keeps the rest of us fed. His job is important, but he wouldn't be able to do it without you."
Ida smiled. "You're a charmer."
John winced again. "I'm sorry – that's not what I meant to do, I mean, I – well, I suppose I do want to, but I did mean what I said, I wasn't just saying it."
"Hey, sucking up to your mother-in-law is always a good idea!"
"That's not what I was doing, I mean – well, maybe I – am I?" he asked Anna, who was smiling broadly by this point.
"He's the sort of nice man who says that sort of thing anyway," Anna explained to Ida, who nodded knowingly.
"No, don't talk me up, I'm not – I shouldn't even be…" He sighed. "Mrs Smith, please don't listen to what Anna says about me, because she is very, very biased."
Anna laughed out loud.
"Well, you have already proven that you are a polite and charming man by calling me Mrs Smith, which you don't have to do, you can call me Ida."
John took a breath, and smiled at her. "Thankyou."
