Elsie sat on their sofa and enjoyed watching Charlie as he placed a few more logs onto the roaring fire that he had going, which cast a warm glow around their sitting room. He had even made her tea, the first thing that he had done on their arrival at their new home, which she was no sipping lightly on and taking comfort from its warmth.
Compared to how the cottage looked the last time they stayed in it, it looked a lot more homely, with items of furniture that they had chosen and bought together; although some of the items were gifts from Ella. She had bought them the most beautiful welsh dresser, which now took pride of place in their sitting room.
As she sat on her sofa, in her own sitting room, in their own home, Elsie now felt a little more relaxed than she had when they were still at the Abbey, but she still couldn't quite shift all of her unease.
'Are you quite alright Elsie? I won't hold it against you if you are struggling.' Charlie asked kindly and with such warmth and sincerity, that Elsie really did feel better; she knew that she truly did have him on her side.
'Right at this moment I'm not sure how I feel; it's lovely to be alone together like this, which is something that I've never truly appreciated before now, as we certainly don't get enough of this at the house. However, it does feel strange without my Ella. I feel as if someone has chopped off one of my limbs.' She explained, but she didn't sound upset. Although her voice sounded a little shaky, she did manage to remain strong.
After placing a few more logs on the fire, Charlie joined his wife on the sofa, wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to him. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the cracks and crackles of the fire, mesmerised by the flames as they danced in the hearth. Eventually though, Elsie was stirred from her trance when Charlie spoke softly to her.
'What do you suppose it will be, our first grandchild, a boy or a girl?' He asked her with an amused tone.
'Our first grandchild? So you think Ella and Henry will have more than one child?' Elsie replied as she joined her husband in his ponderings.
'I have no doubt in my mind that we'll soon be surrounded by our own nursery of them. I think they'll have five; three girls and two boys, one of them will be the eldest.' He said and was delighted that his story telling and predictions was helping to bring back that familiar twinkle in his wife's eyes.
'Five children? My, my, that will be a handful.' She laughed.
'They are certainly that. We're always going to be telling the boys off for playing football near my greenhouse. I keep trying to teach them cricket, but they're not interested. The middle girl though, she's interested; she's interested in everything a young girl shouldn't be. She's a tom-boy, much like her mother. The eldest girl is very bright, she's going to be a doctor like her father, she's the one who's most like him and she's quite a daddy's girl; but it's the youngest one that I have a real soft spot for. She's small for her age and looks fragile, but she's feisty, like her grandmother. I've seen her stand up to her older brothers. She enjoys coming to us for sleepovers and sits patiently in the kitchen whilst you bake, waiting to lick the spoon.' Charlie said as he allowed himself to get completely lost in his world.
'So you've not given this any thought then.' Elsie replied with a laugh as she enjoyed the scenes playing in her head. 'Do you really think Ella would let the child stay with us sometimes?'
'I don't see why she wouldn't. She's a resilient girl, so she will find a way to make that happen.' Charlie said as he stifled a yawn.
'I believe you are right and as much as I would love to sit here fantasising all night, I think it's time that we headed up to bed, don't you?' She replied reluctantly.
They turned off all of the lights and made their way to their bedroom. They undressed in a sleepy silence before climbing into bed. They shuffled for a few moments until they became comfortable in each other's arms. Elsie was just drifting off to sleep when Charlie interrupted her.
'You know that I'm here for you during the night, if you feel that you are missing Ella, I'm here for you.' He whispered tenderly in her ear.
'I know you are and I know that you always will be and I love you all the more for it.' She replied as she gave his forearm, which was wrapped around her waist, a gentle squeeze.
After saying goodnight, they drifted off to sleep, which Elsie struggled to do at first, as she thought about where Ella was, so far away from her in that moment; but the lovely thoughts of the dreams that Charlie had filled her head with that night, played happily in her mind and she finally allowed herself to let go and imagine how different her life was going to be.