June 22, 1926

"I love you, Elsie." His voice was soft and somewhat tentative. His loving wife had been ill at ease for most of the day, and he thought he knew why. His problem, however, was in how best to approach the topic of conversation without upsetting her this close to bedtime.

She turned her head on the pillow and gave him a small smile. "I love you, too, sweetheart." She could feel the heavy silence starting to fill their bedroom, creating an unhappy atmosphere where there should only ever be love and happiness. It pained her heart to know she was the root of the problem.

Without another word passing between them, Charles reached down and laced his fingers with hers, bringing her hand to his lips for a tender kiss, then pressing it against his cheek, resting it there for a moment before lowering it to his chest.

For Elsie, that was the final straw. She couldn't bear the strain any longer. She had to know and he deserved an answer.

"I … I need to know, Charles," she started, thinking that if she could just make an effort, the words would tumble forth from her and relieve her of her worries.

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, Charles rolled onto his side, though he kept her hand still safely tucked within his much larger one. "What? What do you need to know, love? I'll tell you anything. You need only ask." Even in the darkened bedroom, he could see the worry in her eyes, and he longed to take it away and replace it with happiness and laughter.

"Christmas Eve. You asked me to marry you," she stated in a matter of fact manner.

"I did," he said with a grin. "It was the second happiest day of my life … well, after you finally put me out of my misery and told me what we were celebrating," he teased.

She gave a weary smile, fondly remembering the few moments inside his pantry. But, she could not be dissuaded from her quest for answers. She needed to know or else the doubt wouldn't go away. It would only resurface around this time every single month. She had to push forward.

"But … why?"

"Why Christmas Eve?" He gave a little shrug. "I thought it would be romantic, I suppose. I'm sorry if I didn't do it properly, though we got there in the end," he added brightly. "If you'd wanted something else, I could work on something for our anniversary," he suggested, doing his best to make her happy.

She reached out and caressed his cheek with her free hand before brushing an errant curl from his forehead. "No, love, no need to ask me again. It was a romantic gesture, and I relive that moment every single day."

"Then, I'm confused. Why … what, exactly?"

She took a steadying breath. "Why did you ask me at all? Why did you ask me to marry you?"

His brow furrowed in confusion. "I thought that was obvious, Elsie. I asked you to marry me because I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be by your side every day, to make you happy, to share little moments like this with you." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. "I asked you to marry me because I love you. I love you like I've never loved anyone before or ever will again."

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she listened to his heartfelt declaration of love, knowing in her heart that he meant every single word of it. Still, she had to set her mind at ease. "And it had nothing to do with our conversation about Becky, about my financial situation?"

He could feel the tremble in her hand and hear the hitch in her voice. He drew her into his arms, cradling her head to his chest and holding her tightly, almost as if he was afraid she would run away. "No, Elsie Hughes Carson. I had decided to ask for your hand in marriage long before I knew of Becky and your money." He lightly kissed the top of her head and snuggled closer to her. "Shall I tell you something?"

She nodded, leaning back so she could see his face properly. He had answered her question openly and honestly. Now, she wondered what else she might learn.

"Since the day at the beach, I had been thinking about one thing you said. You reminded me that we were getting older and we could afford to live a little. Those words kept ringing in my head for months after that. I realized that we were aging, though I still say we're not old," he teased, tickling her side a little to make her laugh. "And when I thought of the years ahead, I realized I didn't want to face them without you by my side. The more I thought of retirement, the only thing that mattered was you. That's when I realized that I love you. It didn't matter if we were at Downton, in a little cottage, or by the sea. The only thing I knew was that you were … you are … the most important person in my life and nothing else matters."

At the end of his declaration of love, he closed the distance between them and kissed her sweetly on the lips, hoping to drive all her worries and doubts from her mind forever.

"I don't deserve you, Charles Carson. I truly don't."

"You've got that the other way around, love. I don't deserve you. But fortunately, we don't always get what we deserve. Sometimes, the good Lord sees fit to look beyond our faults and bring someone into our lives that makes us a better person, makes us want to be more than we are. He knew exactly what he was doing when he put you into my life, my girl. He knew that neither of us could settle for someone who didn't challenge us, someone who merely walked through life instead of living it."

She laughed softly, giving Charles a bit of hope that he hadn't bungled the chance to make her happy again. "I'm happy he saw fit to put us together, Charles. I said it the night you proposed, but I'll say it again. I thought you'd never ask."

He couldn't help himself, and since Elsie seemed a little brighter in spirit than when she'd first crawled into bed, he thought he could risk a little teasing. "Oh? And is that why you made me ask you twice for your hand?"

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "I never!"

"You did! I asked if you'd like to invest in a property together with me. Then, weeks later, you told me about Becky and you couldn't go in with me. Then, I asked you again on Christmas Eve."

"How was I supposed to know that investing in a property together meant marriage? You never said. You never gave me any indication."

"You certainly didn't hear me asking Mrs. Patmore if she'd like to invest her money with mine, did you?" he joked, giving a little shudder at the thought of living with the loud woman who stressed him beyond belief. "It was a backwards way of doing things, I'll admit, but it was my way of testing the waters, I suppose. If you weren't opposed to a business venture, you might not be opposed to joining your life with mine," he added somewhat shyly. "I never needed your money for this cottage, Elsie. I only ever needed you … just you."

She wrapped her arm around his waist and burrowed deep into his side. "Well, you have me now … now and forever." Her lips left a warm kiss to his chest through his pyjama shirt. "Thank you for telling me all of that tonight. I just needed to hear it, needed to know."

"It's the twenty-second of the month. I have been waiting patiently for this conversation, to be honest."

"I don't follow. What's today got to do with anything?"

"Around this time every month, you get a little glum. I have noticed it for some time, but only recently was I able to put the pieces together. For the longest time, I thought I'd said or done something until I noticed the pattern. The payment for Becky's care is due around this time of the month. I know it concerns you … the money aspect, I mean."

"It does, and part of the reason I asked you about your reasons for marrying me was to put my own mind to rest. I couldn't go on knowing that perhaps the only reason you married me was because you knew I'd never be able to retire. I hope you're not offended."

Charles grinned. "I can assure you, the very last thing in the world that I am is offended," he announced proudly, doing his best to imitate her Scottish accent, earning him a playful slap on the chest. They both dissolved into a fit of laughter, a stark contrast to the way their pillow talk had started. When he managed to catch his breath, he took the conversation one step further. "No more worries about money, Elsie. You must promise me. We have more than enough to live on, even if we were to both retire tomorrow. The cottage is paid for. We have money in the bank, investments with sound returns. Becky and her beautiful sister, will never want for anything. I promise you that, love."

"And what about you? You've worked hard to earn that money. What do you want?" she asked, willing to do her best to give him anything he asked for, anything his heart might desire.

"You. You're all I need to make me happy. Knowing that at the end of a long day, I can curl up in your arms, in our bed, and bear my heart and soul to you, that's all I need. You accept me for who I am, grumpiness and all, and you love me anyway."

"I do love you, Charles Carson, so very much."

He gave her a wink and used the pad of his thumb to caress her cheek. "I love you, too, Elsie Carson. It's not every day a man is lucky enough to marry the woman who makes his heart sing and is also his best friend."

"Would you sing for me now?"

He pulled the blankets around them a little more, drew her head down to his chest, then he softly began to hum a little tune he knew was precious to both of them.

Dashing away with a smoothing iron, she stole my heart away.

A/N: Thanks for each and every review. If you have a minute, I'd love to hear what you think.