August 17th, 1927 ~

We're back to three pets again. Mrs. Emory, the lady who comes in once a week to help Sarah give the hotel a good cleaning, raises singing canaries. Apparently she had heard William bemoaning the loss of Goldie. So after first consulting with Anna, she gave him the prettiest yellow bird, who now resides in it's cage in a cheery corner of the kitchen in front of a window. It overlooks the garden, but well out of reach from Charlie the cat. Anna hesitated at first, only because she hates the thought of any creature being caged, but I reminded her that this bird would never survive on it's own in our English winters.

My mother had a canary when I was a lad. I still remember waking every morning to it's sweet song. Her name was Sugar Pie, and she was a real blessing. Mother loved her so. Even when times were stressful her warbling seemed to bring calm to the house.

Our bird doesn't have a name yet. That's to be voted on tonight by pulling one of three names out of my hat. Each of us has our favourite. I suggested Goldie. It makes sense - in honour of Goldie the Fish. Both Anna and Will turned their noses up at this. Anna likes Honey because of the bird's yellow-gold colour, and she says it's sweet like honey. And Will wanted to name it Corn. That's right...Corn. Presumably because the bird is yellow, like corn. We told him maybe he should reconsider that and he changed it to Butter. So Goldie, Honey and Butter go into the hat tonight. We shall see.

I hear the family moving around upstairs. Jack just raced through the kitchen and circled back into the parlor with Charlie in hot pursuit. Now William's run in, given me a quick hug and kiss and is scrambling up on the counter to better see our new pet.

And here comes Anna down the stairs with a fussy baby in each arm. I should relieve her of one of them.

So sing little yellow bird...you have your work cut out for you here.

~ John Bates

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I see John mentioned our new pet, and honestly, we couldn't be happier for the new addition to our family. This canary is a real singer! It was so pleasant to fix breakfast to the sound of her warbling today. Almost the moment William lifted the towel off, allowing the morning sun to reach her cage the little yellow bird began singing. For such a small animal it has a really strong voice. We love her already! And while it breaks my heart that such a lovely, delicate creature can not fly free, I know she wouldn't survive on her own for long. We'll take good care of her.

We had quite the discussion last night as to what her name would be. I'm even more convinced this morning that we should call her Honey, because her song is as sweet and as pure as honey, but we shall see, when the winner is pulled from John's hat tonight.

So, as I spend most of my days downstairs, either in the kitchen or in the parlor, and in the garden as well, and I always bring Finola and Fiona in their baskets with me. That way I can see to them without having to climb those stairs, and also because I want them near me. I like to watch them sleep and if something happens they're within my reach.

I usually bring them downstairs in their baskets, one at a time and I place them on the kitchen table or on the floor in the parlor, where William often sits near them. He has proper conversations with them and I think that settles the girls. But today, Will spent the morning in the garden playing with the boat John got him at the fair and a basin of water which serve him well as the ocean.

When I stepped into the parlor to have my cup of tea, I was surprised to see Charlie sleeping between the baskets on the floor. That was the first time I ever saw him near the girls. I thought it was too sweet and I gave him a pat and told him how good he was. That only made him stretch and sit up, looking at me with that serious face of his. When I told him the girls names, because yes, I do talk carry on conversations with our pets, he simply looked at them and with his little paw he touched Finn's hand and then turned to Fee, rested his head on the edge of her basket and fell asleep again. Throughout the afternoon, he changed his position from one basket to the other. I know cats can be quite aloof and sometimes wild, but Charlie was born to be a family cat! He surely loves the children.

~ Anna Bates

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John sat on their bed holding Fee in his arms, a big smile on his face and silly words spilling from his mouth. The little girl was wide awake, looking very attentively at her father after a good feeding and a clean nappy. It was Finn's turn now, and she suckled in her mother's breast almost urgently, a grave expression on her brow, looking at Anna judgmentally.

'Finn didn't like waiting for her turn,' Anna chuckled as she looked down at her grumpy daughter. 'She's always the first and now she's rather upset.'

'She should have cried first like she always does then...' said John, looking over at his daughter's face. 'Oh my, she's really upset!' John laughed.

'I have the feeling Finn's going try to be the boss around the house. She has a very strong personality. She's still so little but I can feel it.' Anna ran a hand along the girl's head and Finn sighed contently, at last.

'Oh yes,' John agreed, looking back at Fee who was trying her best to grab his attention with little sounds. 'What's that, my love? You think William should fetch me my hat for us to sort out the name for the birdie? That's exactly what I was thinking about!'

Anna shook her head smiling at John, and William, who until now was on the floor playing with his little boat, jumped up and ran downstairs to find his father's hat. Not one minute later he was back with a wide smile on his lips and an excited look in his eyes.

'Butter, Honey and...Goldie!' Will said, twisting his nose at the last name. 'We need paper to write them down.'

John placed Fee on the bed between his body and Anna's and pointed to a tablet of paper on top of Anna's vanity, and with a pencil he had at hand on his nightstand, he wrote down the names, tearing the paper into threes.

'Now...' he began, as William hopped up and kneeled on the edge of the bed, facing his parents. 'We put these in the hat and give it a little shake.' The three pieces of paper danced together before the boy's eyes as he let everyone know then and there that he would be the one taking the name out.

'Don't worry son, you can do it,' his father said.

William smiled closing his eyes, anticipation building as his hand dove into his father's hat, taking one and only one piece of paper. He opened his eyes then. 'It's a B! Butter! It's Butter isn't it, Dad?'

When John nodded, without a second look, and Anna knew right away that there was something fishy going on. 'That's lovely!' she said, the victorious smile on her son's face enough to make her forget for a moment about her husband's suspected chicanery. 'Butter Bates, well, I think that's perfect really.'

'Yes! It's perfect really!' William repeated. 'I think Finn and Fee like it too!'

'But of course they do,' John replied, taking Fee in his arms again and rocking her against his chest. 'I should put this one to bed...and then little William.' He lifted his brow at his son, smiling.

'I'm not little, Daddy! I am a big boy already!'

'Well then, why not help me with Fee?' John stood from bed slowly, and walked towards the girl's cot, resting the baby gently against the white sheet. 'Cover her, big boy.'

William nodded seriously, focused on the important task his father had entrusted to him. He covered his sister, tucked her in comfortably with a light quilt and stood on tiptoes to kiss her forehead once he was done.

'Very well done, lad.' John patted the boy's head.

Anna got all teary-eyed at the sight, Finn now asleep at her breast.

'Let's go lad, you next. Finn's still going to take some time,' John said as he moved Will towards the door.

William protested but tonight he wouldn't be so lucky. John took him to his room and put him to bed. Then he read him a short story from one of the boy's many books. Soon the William drifted off to sleep.

'I managed to take her off my breast without waking her up, thank God.' Anna said when he returned to the bedroom. 'She'll settle now.'

'Good, Fee's sleeping so soundly already, it would be a shame if Finn started crying.' John took the babe from her arms and placed her in her cot.

'So...Butter Bates, uh?'

'I like it, sounds good.' He smiled,stripping off his clothes and crawling into bed with her.

'I bet if I get the other pieces of paper they will all say Butter as well.' Anna turned towards him.

'Well...I heard him talking to the babies after dinner, and he was telling them how he was sure he would pull Butter out of the hat.' John looked at her poutingly. 'I cheated out of love, love.'

'You cheeky beggar!' Anna giggled as she scooched closer, tangling her legs with his . 'I love you.' she whispered, wrapping her arm around his neck. Her kiss was slow and heated and when they broke apart, they smiled and she contentedly rested her head on his chest.

This was their time, theirs alone, when they would normally make love, but it was still too soon. So they shared their day with each other...their thoughts. Anna was sprinkling tiny kisses over his chest, and John couldn't help but run his hand lovingly through her hair. After a few moments he finally spoke, 'Did Daisy tell you about her date with Archie?'

'She did...but I don't think it was as good as she thought it would be,' she pursed her lips, looking up at him.

'Really? Why not?'

'Well...I'm not sure, something sort of...it seems like the flame has extinguished there, for some reason. I honestly don't know.'

John raised his head from the pillow. 'You don't think he...he better not have done anything to Daisy else-'

'No, not like that,' Anna shook her head. 'Maybe she realised she didn't like him as much as she thought. Maybe he said something wrong. Although she was very excited about their future when we last talked about him.'

'Ha! Even women don't understand women!' he teased her, kissing her cheek and leaving a little bite in the corner of her mouth. 'Thank God I married such an uncomplicated girl.'

Anna giggled as he repeated his soft love bites against her neck, running his lips along her jaw. 'Now that you mention it...what did you tell Mr Molesley?' she caught her breath and asked.

'Oh well...I advised him the best I could...a bit of this and that and I think he was rather pleased with himself by the end.'

She looked at him with a mischievous gaze.

'Pleased as in he liked to know how things worked...not that he was pleased...Anna!'

'Good!' she smiled, teasing him. 'I don't want you sharing your wonderful tricks with anyone.' she whispered in his ear.

'Tricks?' he asked, his face turning pink and his body responding too well to the sound of her voice.

'You know better than anyone what I'm talking about, Mr. Bates.'

'Well...maybe...' Anna kissed him again before he could finish his sentence.

'Maybe we should go to sleep because you have guests arriving on the morning train!' she teased.

'Maybe we could sleep for the next two weeks? And wake up when...' John growled.

Anna shook her head smiling.

'You should pity your poor husband, you know. Keep teasing me like that! It's not my fault, Anna.'

'Just simmer down and hold me. Two weeks will go by before we know it! And...maybe we don't even have to wait that long...' she whispered.

'No?' He looked at her with pleading eyes.

'Maybe not, I'm feeling pretty good.' She winked at John as he pulled her closer still, eager to feel her body against his. That made him feel a little better, after all there was nothing he could do. In these matters Anna was the one in charge and he would always obey. But while he slept he would dream of them making love, and every morning he would wake up happy that one more day had gone by. Anna felt exactly the same. They would never manage to wait two whole weeks.

Journal entries are written by handy for the bus & terriejane.

We'd like to thank the lovely annamays (aka fuzzydream) for being our beta.

Thank you for reading :) please review!