AN: Thank you for taking the time to read our stories. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy writing them. Sadly, John and Anna Bates don't belong to us, we just gently use them. However, Eamon, Will the twins and Percy do. If The Journal has given you a laugh or a case of the warm fuzzies, please consider leaving a review. It makes our day. :) Handy-for-the-bus & Terriejane.

Read To Me, John Bates

~ John Bates Journal entry

May 11th, 1928, 11:30 am

And the rains keep coming.

After nothing but rain for the past three days, the children are going stir crazy. There was no school today. The roof has a major leak, so both boys are here with me. Earlier this morning, Sarah caught Will and Percy trying to toboggan down the lobby staircase in a large cardboard box. She let out a scream, but by the time I got out there all we could do was watch in horror as they made their descent, thankfully unscathed.

After that, I decided to take them back to the house to see how Anna was doing. She's stayed home the past couple of days, switching the bedrooms around. The boys are now in the dormer room at the end of the hall. Their bunk beds are set up, Will on the bottom and Percy on the top, and both seem quite pleased with the situation. Anna loves painting and reclaiming old pieces of furniture, and our attic at the hotel has proved a treasure trove. We found an old desk and a rather large bookcase and even a seaman's chest for their toys. I built a simple window seat under the lone window. It makes a nice spot to sit and read. The girls have the nursery all to themselves, and Anna has the little girl bedroom of her dreams. When she's finished with it will be frilly and flowery, I'm sure.

The boys and I are back at the hotel now. Anna kicked us out. I sent Will to the kitchen to help Archie wash vegetables for tonight's stew, and Percy is here with me. I gave him a list numbers to add and subtract. He thinks he's helping with the bookwork. It's good practice for him. Mr. Molesley handed Anna a note when she picked him up this past Friday, saying he was paying better attention in class and is showing a real interest in reading, which he never had before. And he's only cursed twice, both times under his breath. According to Moseley, that's a significant improvement.

We're in the planning stages for the treehouse. I went home early yesterday and was sitting at the kitchen table drawing out the plans...

xxx

...John sat at the kitchen table looking over the plans for the treehouse and enjoying a nice cup of tea as it poured outside. The kitchen window was slightly open, and as much as he wished the rain would stop, the sound was indeed soothing.

A nice relaxing day with the family was just the ticket. It was good, no, not good; it was splendid to be his own boss. To be able to come home early now and then knowing his employees could handle anything that came up at work. Truth to be told, not even his employees had much to do today. There were only three guests staying over and although the pub was usually full, there was not much for Frank, the evening barkeep, to do once the patrons were served; on gloomy days like this, men in the pub liked a good game of chess or cards, and a game could last for hours.

'What are you doing there?' His father came in through the back door shaking rain from his jacket.

'Hm? Just...planning the treehouse for the boys. But if this rain doesn't let up I may start making plans for an ark. Take your jacket off. You're dripping all over the floor.'

Eamon did as he was told and hung it on a hook behind the door, then took his usual seat at the table. 'You did that? And I'm here to witness it happening. Ha!'

'What? I'm not bad at building things, and Caleb and Archie are going to do most of the climbing,' John stated.

'While you supervise. If you say so.'

'I do say so…'

'Let me see.' Eamon gestured for the notes and John handed them over.

'What do you think?' John asked.

'What's this here?' the old man pointed. 'A door?'

'No, that's the roof,' John said with a frown, leaning toward his father to take a look at his sketch.

'God, you're an artist, I can tell.'

'Listen,' John took the papers from Eamon's hands. 'Why don't you sit there and sleep or something, while I do this?'

His father nodded in agreement, sitting back on the chair, but surely, sleep wouldn't come when he could have a chat with his son. 'So...slow day today, isn't it?'

'Yes. Caleb is in charge.'

'While the cat is at home without a care in the world.'

'It's good to be your own boss; that's true. But I'm also watching the children. Anna's busy with the decorating upstairs.'

'Thought you would be helping decorate too, being a fancy boy as you are,' Eamon laughed, and that earned him a scowl from John. 'And what about the children? You're watching them so well they're not even here!' Upon that, the old man felt a pull at his trousers. 'Bloody hell, what's this?!'

'We are down here, Granddad.' William's voice came from under the table, and when Eamon looked, he saw the two boys playing cards on the floor; the tablecloth was working as a tent for them.

'Good Lord, don't you beggars have better places to play?'

'They like hiding under the table. At least, I know where they are,' John said.

'Oh, Daddy, we need a rope and a bucket to haul food up to our treehouse,' William said from under the table.

'And a ladder we can pull up to keep people out, Papa,' Percy added.

'And windows, plenty of windows,' Eamon suggested.

'It will be an open treehouse,' John explained. 'Nothing too fancy.'

'I want windows, though,' William muttered.

'And a door.' Percy pulled at John's trousers to make his point.

'What about a slide?' Eamon suggested. 'A slide would be grand!'

'Oh yes a slide!' the boys exclaimed in unison, excited about the whole thing. Oh, the games they would play inside that treehouse. It would be a great Summer; they knew it!

'And swings. Swings from the big limb,' Percy clapped his hands together.

'Swings! Yeah!' William smiled, until he noticed his friend playing the wrong card. 'Hey, Percy, that's not the heart one.'

'It's a heart,' Percy pointed out at the right corner of his card.

'But it's black with a tail,' Will reasoned.

'It's a heart, that's what matters,' Percy replied.

'So, you're going to paint it?' Eamon asked John, who was focusing on writing down some notes on his paper.

'Dad!' It was Will's turn to pull at his trousers now. 'Percy's using black hearts and red hearts all the same.'

'I am not,' Percy defended himself. 'Only once or twice.'

'I think it should be natural wood like because it's in a tree,' Eamon thought aloud, trying to peek at his son's notes.

'Papa, Will's taking the cards I won!' Percy cried from under the table.

'You didn't win them fair and square,' William said.

At that moment, Anna came into the kitchen, carrying two curtains in each arm; light violet with pink flowers, and pink with yellow flowers.

'John?' she approached her husband, showing him the fabrics. 'I need your opinion on-,'

'What is it, Anna?' he turned to her; exasperation was written all over his face.

'Goodness me,' she frowned, and he sighed apologetically.

'I'm sorry but…' He took his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose. 'What is it, love?'

'I just want your opinion on the curtains, that's all,' she replied.

'The pink ones,' John said, before turning back to his notes.

'Are you sure?' She bit her lower lip, eyeing the fabric. 'I like the yellow flowers, but the pink and violet go well too.'

'Dad, he's cheating again,' Will complained, pulling harder at his trouser leg, and as if trying to make a competition out of this, Percy did the same on his other leg.

'All right!' John raised his voice and brought his hands up. 'Enough cards for you two, and I'm just planning yet, not building, and yes, I'm sure about pink.'

Everyone went silent, confused to what was happening. John was always so calm, even with his Father. Anna reached for him then, caressing the back of his neck with her fingertips.

'Will you help me put them up? Please?'

'Now?' he asked her, and she nodded with pleading eyes. 'Fine.' How could he say no to her?

'And then,' Anna leaned down, peeking under the table. 'You'll help me bake a cake for for tonight, all right boys?'

'Yes!' Will and Percy replied, suddenly forgetting about their disagreement over the game.

'Put everything in place before I come back, and don't fight,' she warned with a smile before telling John to follow her.

Eamon was left alone with the two boys. 'So…' the old man peeked under the table. 'Come on out, you two, I'll teach you a new game. It's called poker.'

xxx

May 12th, 1928

Another day and more rain. It seemed that the unusually good weather in April was long gone, and they were stuck in a sort of second winter; although it wasn't very cold, just dreary.

'No, Fee! You're going to destroy our fort!' William cried as he saw his sister crawling quickly toward the fort of blocks he and Percy had been building.

'Come here, you crawling monkey!' Right on time, John scooped the girl up in his arms and tossed her into the air. 'You are a mighty destroyer of everything they do, aren't you?'

Fee laughed, trying to grasp for her father's nose. Her twin, though, saw this moment as an opportunity to finish what her sister hadn't been able to. Baby sisters, Will huffed.

The family had just had dinner, and they were all enjoying some time together before bed. The boys sat before the fireplace, building forts and playing with soldiers. Anna sat on the sofa, mending this and that, and Eamon sat in his usual chair, trying too hard not to doze off.

'Will...the girls have the right to play too,' Anna said with a smile, as John joined her on the sofa with Fee in his arms. 'You were a baby once too.'

'It's all right, Will, we can build it again,' Percy assured his friend with a tap on his shoulder.

'I guess,' William gave in, but then Finn took one of the bottom blocks from what was left standing of their fort, and it all came tumbling down. She giggled, finding it too amusing.

'Give the block to daddy, Finnie,' John called the girl, as he bounced the other on his knee. 'Give it here?'

'Give it to me, lass.' Eamon reached his arms out, shooting his son a challenging look. John took it seriously. If it was a competition he wanted, that's what he was going to have.

'Come on, Finn. Come to Daddy,' John raised his voice to call the girl's attention. Anna rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where this was going.

'Here, sweet beggar, grandpa is closer to you and all…'

Finn was confused, but her smile never wore out. She looked from one to the other, and then to her mother, who was focusing on the hole in the sock she was darning. Finn shook her head and squealed and then she let go with one loud syllable; a syllable that would start a war in the house.

'Pa!'

'Finnie!' Anna exclaimed, putting aside her mending and reaching out for the girl. 'My smart girl!'

'Ah!' The two men melted right away. 'She said my-,'

'What are you talking about! She said Grandpa!'

'She said Pa, as in Papa, Dad,' John reasoned.

'You big chump, no one ever says Papa in this house,' Eamon shouted.

"I do,' piped up Percy.

'I tell them to say Pa all the time, don't I, Anna?' John countered, facing Anna for an answer. 'Don't I? Tell him.'

'Sometimes you do, yes,' Anna replied.

'There,' John cocked his eyebrow at his father.

'It was Grandpa, though, I've been training them to say it,' Eamon shrugged his shoulders, too sure of himself.

'My baby's first word. You are so, so smart.' Anna kissed Finnie's cheek as the girl tried to free herself from her grasp to get back on the floor. Fee, on her father's lap, began to hum at her mother for attention too. 'Oh, you're so smart too, Fee.' She pushed a blonde lock back from the baby's forehead and placed a soft kiss there.

'I knew Finn would start talking first,' John said, trying to forget about their dispute.

'It's barely a word, John. It doesn't matter. Fee could start making sentences first.'

'That's true,' he nodded, running a gentle hand along Finn's cheek. 'But I still think Finn's going to talk first.'

'Maybe...she's more vocal, that's true,' Anna agreed.

'Come on, my love. Say Pa again,' John insisted, but Finn couldn't take her eyes from Percy and William, and Anna had to hold her back from jumping to the floor. Finn was an adventurer, and she couldn't be held for long.

'Pa as in Grandpa,' Eamon teased.

'Stop it,' John sighed. 'She was talking to me, not you. She was looking at me when she said it.'

'What did Will call you?' the old man asked.

John looked over at Anna. 'Da-da.'

'See!'

'Anna! What do you think she said?' John questioned her, and the two men waited for her answer as if their lives depended on it. Anna could only giggle at them.

'I don't know, but whatever it was, she loves both of you very much, and that's what matters.' She smiled as she finally placed a restless Finn on the floor. Now, the girl was happy and began to crawl to the boys again.

'Well, I should do dishes. It's getting late.' Turning to the boys, she asked, 'Do you want to help me?'

'Yes, I want to!' Percy replied. He loved helping his Mama in the kitchen.

'Me too' William said, probably because Percy had said it first. 'Dad, don't let them drool on the toys too much.'

'I won't, son. Don't worry.'

'All right, now that they're gone,' Eamon began. 'Say Pa again, Finnie. Come on.'

'It's all right...Fee will say Da-da so loud one day; you'll see,' John promised, holding Fee against his chest.

'That's if she doesn't say Grandpa before. Been training them for weeks now.'

'Pa!'

'There she goes again!' Eamon cheered.

'She was looking at me, though!' John stated.

'With one eye on me and the other one me too, then.'

It was going to be a long evening for the family with those two arguing about Pa's and Da's. They wouldn't be John and Eamon Bates otherwise.

xxx

It was much later that night when Anna was finally ready for bed. The girls had been fussy to put to sleep, and she had to spend extra time lulling them. When she entered the room, John was already in bed under the covers, a book in his hands and a sweet smile welcoming her.

'That took a long time,' he said, running a hand through his loose hair.

'You two excited them too much with that silly fight.' She shook her head with a giggle. 'But I've already washed up; that's why it took longer.'

'It was Father who started, you saw it.'

'Nevermind. How's the boys?'

'Asleep in a blink of an eye, those two,' he sighed, pleased. 'They love their new beds. Will had to pull his bed curtains closed.'

'Bless them.'

Anna laid her nightgown on her side of the bed, as she always did before putting it on, and slowly began to undress. That, of course, had made John forget all about his book, as he rested it on his legs, just to watch her. Piece by piece, her skin came into view, and his intake of breath made her take notice of him.

'Are you staring?' she asked with a flirtatious wink.

'How could I not?' he replied, wetting his lips with his tongue. 'I'm not made of steel, nor do I wished to be.'

She slid her nightdress over her body then, making sure the ribbon that held it together at her neck was loose enough for him to dare a peek. With that, she sat down on the bed, leaning toward to him.

'Read to me, John Bates,' she whispered, running a hand along the his covered chest.

John cleared his throat with a smile and flipped through a couple of pages before starting. 'All right...

'Have ye beheld (with much delight)

A red rose peeping through a white?

Or else a cherry (double graced

Within a lily? Centre placed?

Or ever marked the pretty beam

A strawberry shows half drowned in cream?

Or seen rich rubies blushing through

A pure smooth pearl, and orient too?

So like to this, nay all the rest,

Is each neat niplet of her breast.'

'Robert Herrick? You're reading that?' Anna giggled, 'That's very racy of you.'

'I am racy,' John said, bringing one finger to the top of her nightgown and taking a peek inside at her naked body; exactly what she was waiting for, and to tease him further, she slapped his hand away. 'Fine. Choose a book and I'll read it to you,' he chuckled.

'Lord Byron.'

'Poems then?' He took the book from his nightstand. One of his favourites.

'From you, always. You have the most beautiful, soothing voice. And when you read poems…' she sighed dreamily, 'it feels like you're touching my soul.'

'Come here then,' he withdrew the cover so she could slip inside next to him. 'Lay your head on my chest and just listen.'

She did as he said, his heartbeat a calming constant, as was his breathing and the vibration his voice caused against her cheek. It had been awhile and she had missed this so much.

'She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.'

He would kiss the crown of her head now and then, whenever the pauses allowed him to, and she would turn her face on his chest and breathe in his scent.

'One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.'

His free hand played with her hair, as hers drew lazy circles on his chest. Her legs entangled with his as she laid on her side, and her eyes grew heavy.

'And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!'

She wasn't asleep just yet, but she didn't open her eyes again that night.

xxx

~ Anna's Bates' Journal Entry

May 13th, 1928 2:30 pm

Finally, the clouds have parted, and the rains have stopped! The construction of the treehouse is underway. John and Caleb are standing out under the cedar tree discussing which limbs would need to be removed. Will's there too. Percy's back in school today and seemed glad to have something to do.

John ordered the lumber this morning, and it should be delivered tomorrow. I hope there's no delay because I don't think the boys can stand the anticipation much longer, John too, for that matter. I think he's as excited as Will and Percy.

I've asked John not to be climbing up into that tree, but I expect he will anyway. He's promised me they'll build a safe and steady staircase even he can navigate and not the rope ladder the boys had wanted. One they could pull up to keep out those pesky intruders they claim are out there. Here's hoping the weather holds for a few days so they can get it finished. Will and Percy plan on sleeping in it next weekend. I don't feel very comfortable with that idea, but we'll see.

Finnie spoke her first word last night, which was wonderful. But the word she said has caused quite a controversy between Eamon and John. She said, Pa. But which Pa? Grandpa? Or her PaPa. Eamon has been working with the girls to say, Grandpa. I've heard John trying to teach them Daddy, Dad, Da-da, but never Pa. So, you decide. I do hope one of them says Da-da soon, though. Mum would be nice too.

I finally decided on the pink curtains with the yellow flowers for the nursery. The walls are a pale yellow and it all looks very nice. Not that the girls care just yet, but I do.

It really has been a busy week for us and continues to be. We have three guests booked for this afternoon and three more before the weekend. And I'd like to get my garden tearoom opened too. Archie and I have had our heads together coming up with new finger sandwich recipes.

I'd better leave off now. It's time for me to drive to the train station to pick up our guests.

~ Anna