August 23rd, 1927 ~

I'm sitting here at my desk, head in hand, fighting to stay awake. The past few nights have been...long and restless for me, to say the least. I won't go into details here other than to say I'm realising, not for the first time, I'm a very weak man and the next few days or so can't pass fast enough for me. But enough of that.

Oh, you haven't been filled in on what's been happening around here the past week. After a couple of days of near silence on Archie's part, he finally walked in to my office and closed the door behind himself. He said he needed to talk to me about Daisy. I felt my heart sink. I thought, Here it comes. This is when I lose my chef. Thankfully, that was not the case.

It seems their "date" had not gone as expected. Archie explained that he had never really thought of Daisy as anything more than a good friend. She was close to his own age and someone pleasant to be with. He got the feeling that Daisy was looking for more, much more. He said he had let her down as easily as he could and he hoped this didn't put his job in jeopardy because he really loves working at the hotel. I assured him it wouldn't. He left my office greatly relieved.

Not long after that Daisy popped her head in asking if she could come in to work a couple of hours later than she was scheduled on Friday. She seemed excited and said a friend had asked her on a picnic. I told her of course and she blushed and grinned broadly and left the room. Now I was somewhat confused, but at least Daisy seemed happy and I had a council meeting to get to so I quickly forgot about it.

Hours later, over dinner in the gazebo, I mentioned my conversations with Archie and Daisy to Anna.

'Oh yes! I know,' she said. 'It's the funniest thing! It seems Archie just wanted to be friends. But, that's all right,' she continued, resting her hand on my arm, 'because this very afternoon Daisy received a post from an admirer. She didn't say who it was from but I saw the return address and it came from the Abbey! So I'm trying to think who it could be? Anyway Daisy said this admirer wondered if she'd step out with him on his next half day. That's this coming Friday. They're going on a picnic and she seemed very excited. She said she was afraid if she mentioned his name she might jinx it. Silly girl! Do you have any ideas who it might be?'

'Not a clue,' I said. 'But I hope she hasn't taken a fancy to Thomas again.'

'John, don't be silly. Well, I think it will all work out, darling. You can wipe that worried look off your face.' Anna said, hopefully.

So that's where we are. I feel like I'm stuck in the middle of a bad romance novel.

~ John Bates

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~It Won't Be Long Now~

Today one more thing would go back to normal since the twins were born. Anna would be coming with the children to have lunch at the hotel like she used to do before, and that made John happy. Although their life was easy, and he could see his wife whenever he pleased and have dinner with his family every night, his soft fatherly side always yearned for more.

'I must be a really emotional fellow,' he would often think to himself. All too often he had heard men in the pub talking about their own families, giving thanks for the little time they could spend by themselves, alone or with their mates. Away from the bossy, nagging wife and crying babes…. he remembered those long ago days of his first marriage and could only shake his head and thank his lucky stars he'd found his soulmate, Anna.

John sniffed the yellow rose Anna had picked from the garden and placed on the lapel of his jacket. Then he sighed contently and leaned back in his office chair, watching as she cleaned William's runny nose with his handkerchief. Finn and Fee were in their baskets, sleeping peacefully after a good feeding, and he knew then and there, not for the first time, that he was the luckiest man in the world.

'Mummy, Archie's waiting for me!' William squirmed, trying to escape his mother's grasp, sniffing loudly as he did so.

'Oh right. You go in the kitchen with that dirty nose and Archie will shoo you out.' Anna tried to reason as she finished her task. 'There, you can go now, cheeky beggar.'

William smiled as he ran out of the office, eager to help the chef in the kitchen.

'I think you can blame me for that,' John told her, chuckling. 'Mother always had a hard time grooming me too. I never liked anyone but me giving me spit baths or wiping my nose.'

Anna rolled her eyes. 'Boys! They're all alike,' she said as she handed him his now used handkerchief.

'Eww, Anna, I don't think I want it anymore...' he grimaced playfully.

'Well he's your son and this is yours, you shouldn't be so touchy it about it,' she teased him, as he grabbed her stretched out hand by the wrist, pulling her into his lap. The handkerchief fell to the floor.

'You know I'm not really.' And he wasn't. John Bates was a doting father, one who would change and wash the dirtiest of nappies and clean up any accident that could possibly happen.

'I know,' she said, giving his tie a playful tug, and he couldn't help but kiss her straight away.

As with all of their kisses of late, much passion and longing was shared between them. Tongues dancing together and hands travelling each other's bodies as if this was nothing but the privacy of their bedroom. They both sighed when they broke apart, and Anna wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, bringing him closer to her. That's when she whispered in his ear, just after kissing the skin under his earlobe, 'I miss you, Mr. Bates.'

'Well,' John began kissing his way along her jaw. 'I am right here, Mrs. Bates,' he said, his hands coming around her waist with a delicious smirk on his lips.

Oh yes, John Bates was right there and she knew exactly what he meant. Better still, she felt it. His desire was making itself known through the fabric of his trousers and that feeling was sending shivers up and down her spine as memories of their last lovemaking, so many weeks ago, flashed in her mind. Wonderful memories that she couldn't wait to repeat. Memories of his mouth and his hands finding all of her special places only he knew about, sending her over the edge time and again before she helped him find his own end. They were made for each other, in everything they did and said, and in the most sensual of ways.

And now she was overheating, her own body responding to his, and she instinctively melted further into his lap, wriggling, wanting to feel more and more of him. Their lips met again and their hands went back to roaming. His hardness painfully trapped between the constraints of the fabric and their bodies. He couldn't help but let go of a low moan.

Thankfully, when Daisy opened the door his moan had already been uttered, and luckily his desk was not the first thing you could see when you entered the office. So it was, between the door opening and Daisy's voice interrupting them, there was enough time for Anna to rise up from his lap, her skin flushed and her breathing erratic, and for John to clear his throat. But there wasn't enough for him to clear his head as well and in an unusual burst of temper he raised his voice at Daisy. 'Don't you knock before coming in anymore?!' The second he said those words he regretted them deeply.

'I am ever so sorry, Mr Bates.' Daisy apologised quite embarrassed. 'I didn't think...'

'It's alright, Daisy. Don't worry.' Anna smiled at the girl, trying not to make her feel embarrassed about the situation. 'What is it?'

'Archie is calling for lunch,' and with that Daisy was off and John was resting his forehead in his hand.

'John...'

'I know…. She took me by surprise, all right? I'll apologise to her...' he sighed. ' Do you think she realised what she almost walked in on? Poor Daisy.'

'I don't know, but she's not as innocent as we imagine, I suspect. Probably no more traumatizing than walking into your parents bedroom at an inopportune time.'

John buried his face in his hands and groaned.

'Come on then, I'm starving!' Anna winked, pulling his hands away from his face to make him rise from his chair.

'You go call Sarah first, to see to the babies? I...I can't...I shouldn't go just yet.'

'Why ever not?' his wife looked at him questioningly, and all he had to do was to point down to his lap with an desperate look on his face. Anna could only giggle at his state, telling him to behave while she called Sarah, after all their daughters were sleeping just meters away from him.

'What?' he let go of an exasperated sigh. 'You are wicked...Mrs. Bates. Too wicked.'

'Don't you despair, Mr. Bates, it won't be long now.'

With a wink and a mischievous smile, she exited the office calling after Sarah, leaving her poor husband to cope with his own arousal all alone. 'Just you wait...' he whispered, looking up at the ceiling. 'I'll kiss that naughty smile from your lips soon enough.'

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Mrs. Carson and Mrs. Patmore dropped by this afternoon. I wasn't expecting anyone when I heard a knock at the back door and looked up to see Mrs. Patmore, nose pressed against the glass, peering through the window at me. It gave me quite a startle, but what a lovely surprise!

They had been over to the pub to see Daisy and Sam and then cut through the garden to visit me and the children.

We had tea and a nice chat, and of course they spent the whole time each with a baby in their arms. They also brought William his favourite biscuits and that was enough to settle him for the day. My dear son was eager to share them with his sisters and I had to explain him that Finn and Fee were still too young to be eating chocolate and vanilla treats.

'No teeth,' I reminded him. He was sad about that. He really wanted to share but he decided he would be doing a lot of sharing in the years to come. Better to take advantage of them being babies now and still too small to be running after him begging for his things.

So it seems that Andy, footman at the Abbey is our Daisy's admirer and has been rather keen on her for awhile now, according to Mrs. Patmore, and honestly, I was surprised to learn that. Until this morning I had never heard Daisy talking about any beau from there, and he's never called on her since she's been here, but it seems that will change from now on...we'll see. All I know is that Andy is a good man and if Daisy chooses to be she will be in good and caring hands. My, that girl is always in some complicated romance it seems, but she's young still and she should find out what she really wants before settling for good. Better to take longer to find the perfect match than to settle right away for a bad one.

I really never had crushes when I was younger. The first time I saw John I knew he was the one. It would either be him or a life in service. Luckily it was him...even though it took us many years to be together for good. But it was all worth it to have the life we have today. Those bad memories of the past are washed away by undying love and happiness. And whenever I look at my children and my husband I know that these feelings will last a lifetime.

That's enough of that sort of talking. I'm sounding rather mushy today...

William is playing in the parlour with his toys and I can hear him talking non stop to his sisters, who are either sleeping or listening to his stories very attentively - I have never seen such quiet little ones. William was such a cry baby compared to them.

Our dinner will be a hearty soup I have on the stove, and the bread I baked earlier and some of the apple pie left over from yesterday. As soon as John arrives, which will be any time now, we'll eat. I am rather hungry, as I always am nowadays with all the breastfeeding I do. Best go set the table.

~ Anna Bates

The 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!