A/N: The rest of the furniture arrives! This fic will be updated in quick succession since it is a birthday fic for the amazing PiperHolmes. Without whom, you would not be reading this right now.
Thanks to Tripp3235 for a quick beta. Same universe as The Journey to Happiness and Branson and Crawley and one where Sybil and Matthew live and Edith marries Sir Anthony in 3x03 (which is a slight change from an earlier chapter of Branson and Crawley).
Disclaimer: Not mine. All Downton Abbey characters belong to Julian Fellowes and ITV. I'm just playing with them.
Chapter 5 - The Last of the Furniture
"They're here," Beth shouted, when she looked out the window to see a lorry coming down the lane in the hour before noon.
Sybil and Beth had spent the morning making the bed she and Tom had bought with the Dowager's wedding gift, putting everything else in the front room in its place and tidying up. The vase and the candlesticks that graced their mantle in Dublin now rested on the mantle in the cottage and a tablecloth was on the dining table.
"Good morning, Alfred." Sybil smiled at the footman supervising the hall boys doing the heavy lifting.
Beth nodded to Alfred. She had hope that it was Jimmy who was sent. Now she lost a tuppence to Ivy, who thought that Mr. Carson favoured the taller footman.
"Good morning, my lady, Beth," said Alfred. "Where would you like the cot for the baby set up?"
"This way," said Sybil, leading the way. "The nursery is the door by the stairs. I don't know whether it will fit down this narrow hallway."
Alfred surveyed the hallway. "The cot had to be disassembled in order for us to take it out of Miss Branson's room. That's what took us so long to leave. The separate pieces ought to come right through."
"That's wonderful." Sybil smiled at the footman. "When you're finished unloading the lorry, I will need the crates to be taken upstairs. Beth and I are unable to manage it ourselves."
"Of course, Lady Sybil." Alfred smiled. "Mr. Carson mentioned it."
"Thank you, Alfred." Sybil made to leave. "I'll let you and the hall boys manage the items from Downton while Beth and I continue to clean and tidy."
Alfred nodded and headed out to check on the hall boys. Though he liked Mr. Branson, he still didn't understand how Lady Sybil could give up all she was born to in order to tidy and clean a cottage.
Alfred and the hall boys were done their work just before noon and Sybil sent word with them to Mrs. Patmore about their dinner time. After a lunch of sandwiches that was interrupted for Sybil by the baby's need for her own meal, she and Beth worked diligently while her daughter napped and was able to put everything that was brought from Downton away before two o'clock. At which point, Beth returned to the big house to help prepare the cricket lunch the next day.
After Beth left, Sybil wrapped the baby to her and walked to the village to purchase fresh food for the weekend. While her mother had insisted that the cottage pantry be filled with necessities such as flour, sugar, tea, spices and other cooking ingredients, Sybil didn't have the time to rise and bake a loaf of bread for tomorrow's breakfast, so she purchase a loaf of bread from the bakery, some vegetables from the green grocer and some meat from the butcher in the village. The meat and vegetables could be made into a stew that she could simmer the following morning before the cricket match and she and Tom could have something for Sunday dinner.
When Sybil returned to the cottage, the baby was crying and Sybil instinctively knew from the cry that her daughter needed changing. Dropping the groceries on the worktable in the kitchen, Sybil rushed the squalling infant to the change table in the nursery. Though she had handled babies at the Langford clinic, a mere month ago with sleep deprivation at its peak, the crying would have caused Sybil to freeze and panic, wondering what to do with the loud, wailing bundle in her arms, but now as a slightly more experienced mother, she could tell by the cry what her daughter needed from her and hence instinctively knew what to do.
"Now, now Nora," said Sybil in a quiet, soothing voice, like Tom had taught her. "Mama is working as quickly as she can to clean you and change your nappy." Nora paid no mind and continued to squall. "She's lifting your dress and taking the pins out one by one and she's going to see what surprise you've left her." Opening the diaper, she could see that the baby had wet and dirtied herself and it was the watery brown smear that was irritating her. "Oh, that's why you're crying, sweet pea. You've dirtied yourself."
When Sybil looked over at the pitcher and bowl on the change table, she was grateful that Beth had remembered to fill the water pitcher before she left because it hadn't crossed Sybil's mind. Quickly pouring some into the bowl, Sybil grabbed a wash cloth and dipped it into the water before wiping the baby's dirty bottom. "Now Mama is wiping you clean. Doesn't that feel better? Yes, it does. Oh, yes, it does." The cool cloth soothed the irritated skin and little Miss Branson's wails started to quiet down.
"All right now, Nora. We're going to put the dirty nappy and the dirty washcloth in the bucket and get a clean nappy for your clean bottom." Reaching down, she took the lid off the nappy bucket and dropped the dirty things in there, replacing the lid before taking one of the folded nappies and sliding it under the baby's bottom. "Before we pin the nappy to you, missy, we should put some nappy change paste on your bottom to keep it from getting irritated. In the rush this morning, Mama must have forgotten to put it on you when she changed you." Sybil then reached for the jar on the shelf beside the change table and then took some and smeared it generously on Nora's bottom. Wiping her hands clean on the clean nappy, she continued in her quiet, soothing voice. "There we are, darling. Mama is going to pin this clean nappy to you." After the nappy was snuggly on, Sybil placed her daughter in her basket on the floor with a toy so she could wash her hands. "I'll be right back, Nora."
After wiping her hands clean and cleaning the bowl and refilling the pitcher, Sybil picked up her now happy baby girl and put the groceries away together. The baby loved the antics of the vegetables, and her eyes followed the carrots as they danced above her head before being put away in the pantry. After that, it was what she and Tom had dubbed belly time. In her correspondence with Dr. Byrne, Sarah had recommended that the baby be put on her belly several times a day for as long as she would tolerated to develop her neck and back muscles. In the rush and bustle of the week, Sybil had only managed to put the baby on her belly maybe once a day for all of five seconds each because when Sybil wasn't there to entertain her, she became frustrated quickly and would start wailing until Sybil put her on her back.
Placing the baby on a blanket on top of their made bed, Sybil laid down on the bed so that she was essentially eye-to-eye with her. Waving a brightly coloured doll in front of Nora's face that her sisters had already purchased for their niece, the baby's unfocused eyes followed the doll's contrasting colours as it moved across her field of vision.
"That's my good girl!" Sybil smiled at her much wanted child. She had been thrilled when she found out she was with child, even writing to her mother about her "joy of joys" news as soon as her condition had been confirmed. She had thought that when she fell in love with her daughter the day she was born that she couldn't possibly love her more, but despite the sleep deprivation, the pain from the stitches, and the sore, cracked breasts in the first weeks, she had grown to love her child more and more with each passing day.
When the baby had grown tired of the waving game, Sybil started the near and far game, which brought a laugh out of Nora. While she played this game with her daughter, she thought how easy it was for Nora to smile and laugh and she contrasted it against the comments they had received from the Dowager Countess about modern parents anytime she caught either Tom or her playing with Nora at Downton. Eventually, Nora became too frustrated.
Sybil moved onto two other games before the baby became too tired to be distractible, so the new mother scooped her child up and took her for a walk around the house before she started fussing for her next meal. Getting tired herself, Sybil nursed her while lying on the bed. After the baby was out like a light, she quickly swaddled her with a blanket that she always kept handy and closed her own eyes for a quick nap.
A/N2: The move is in essence done. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! :)