Chapter 14
Anna had already finished her tea by the time John arrived that day. She could tell the children had been giving him a run for his money by the way he walked, leaning more heavily on his cane, his back a little more bowed, and his step a little less sure. She hated this.
"Hello, darling," John smiled as he leaned down to give Anna a kiss. "How are you feeling? Is that pain in your side any worse?"
Anna shook her head. "i don't have it today. I must have moved wrong and it was the muscle like Dr. Clarkson said. You look tired, my love. Want I should slide over and you have a bit of a lie down with me?"
John wanted nothing more than to sink into a bed, even if it was a hospital bed, with his wife at his side and let his body relax. John had debated telling Anna about Johnny's "trip" but decided it would be too upsetting for her. It was a lesson learned, he hoped. They didn't need to rehash it.
"Are you sure I won't hurt you?" John then instantly regretted that. He knew he had given himself away by not arguing at least a bit before giving in.
"John," Anna sighed, her eyes misting over. "I can't do this. I can't keep lying here, feeling almost fine and have you running ragged at home. It's not fair to you. I'm the mum, not you."
John shook his head, "We are the parents. If one of us can't do something the other takes over, that's how we have always been. I am fine, I'm tired and I had a few too many trips up and down the steps because your daughter was having her own private fashion revolution but other than that."
"And once I get home, I'll just be more work," Anna bit her lip. "I'm so sorry, John. I am. Truly."
After both Johnny and Maggie, Anna had periods of heightened emotion, mainly tears over something she wouldn't shake a stick at in a normal circumstance. It seemed she was going three for three.
"Anna," John sighed as he slid beside her onto the bed. "Oh, love, there's nothing to be sorry about." John slowly rocked to and fro as he comforted her. "You didn't do anything to bring this about."
Anna sniffled, "I couldn't get our baby out. I tried John, I tried so hard, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it and now I'm not even with her. I can't nurse her or hold her, I can't help you. I'll be in bed two more weeks even when I come home Friday. You'll be up and down the stairs, you'll have pain in your knee and I won't be able to help you with that either."
Anna choked back a sob. To her this seemed like the most insurmountable problem, but thanks to Robert, the problem had been foreseen and already solved.
"What if I were to tell you that Lord Grantham suggested a solution to at least some of the problem?" John asked as he placed soft kisses along Anna's hairline.
Anna pulled back, her eyes wide. "I want to go home, John. Not to the abbey. Please, let me come home to our bed."
"Well," John sighed. "You will be coming to our bed, but his lordship has seen fit to gift us with a larger cottage to call our home."
Anna sniffled, "But I like the cottage we have? And how will a larger home help your leg?"
John sighed, "Well, this one has a large bedroom on the first floor and it has a small bathroom and toilet attached and two more rooms upstairs. It's wired for electricity and his lordship is going to install a telephone so that I might do some work from the small office off the sitting room. It's a beautiful cottage."
Anna listened to John describing the house. The smile was evident in his voice. It would take a lot of strain off of John's knee to have his own sleeping quarters on the main floor and to have a way to work from the cottage when life demanded it. He would be able to keep up with his work as private secretary and as the half proprietor of the inn. Still, it wouldn't be their little home where they had lived as man and wife since John's release. It wouldn't be the place their children had started to grow, but when the inn was finished, they'd be moving on anyway. This could make the next year easier on John, she couldn't deny him this.
Suddenly, Anna was overcome with emotion again. She began to cry harder than she had the first time around. "Anna? What's wrong? You don't like the idea of a larger cottage?"
Anna lifted her face to meet John's eyes. "It's not that. I'm happy about it, truly I am. It's his lordship. He's been such a good friend to you over the years," Anna sniffled. "But lately, it's changed and he's more like...family, I suppose. I'm so glad you have that, John. That you knocked through that divide at last."
John ran a soothing finger across Anna's cheek. "We have, we had already, many years ago. It feels comfortable now, though, now that I'm a father, too. I understand him better."
Anna turned to place a soft kiss on John's lips. "You are a wonderful father, John. Whatever is happening at home, don't let that make you doubt. I don't know any other man that would so readily care for a newborn as you have our Elizabeth."
"They are our lives, Anna," John replied after a moment. "Our children are our lives now and they are our legacy in the future. How could one not care for something as precious as that?"
"Be careful, Mr. Bates," Anna chided. "Your burr is showing."
John's burr was always present of course, it was part of the mechanics of his speech, but tender and sentimental tones tended to augment it. Anna loved the sound.
Anna winced with a pain a moment later, so John eased her back against the pillows. "Better?"
"Yes, uh, it's the way I'm lying in this bed," Anna complained. "If I sit up or try to do anything like an actual adult my side starts to burn, plus, the stitches itch."
"I'll organize some witch hazel tomorrow for the stitches," John replied. "My mother swore by that stuff for anything irritated. What if I rub your side a bit? Lie on the opposite one?"
Anna shook her head. "What if you go home and put your feet up? I'm alright, I'm going to go to sleep soon anyway. If I can make the chair tomorrow without falling dizzy, I can go home on Friday."
John lit up at that news. "Oh, Anna," he sighed and held her close to him again. "Well, that doesn't give me much time. I'll have some of the village lads that help in the garden come and help with the packing. You'll come home to our new cottage."
John was like a child on Christmas Eve. He was so delighted. Things were looking up once again for the family, all their due being paid in full.
As soon as John sent word to Robert that Anna had been agreeable to the move, everyone was busy. All of the remaining Downton staff, some boys from the village, and some previous staffers jumped in to help. Cora and Mary oversaw the wrapping and movement of Anna's most precious possessions, a few small china figures John had gotten for her for different occasions, as well as the placement of the furnishings. When the new cottage proved to large for the few things Anna and John had, Cora and Mary went into their stores to see what could be given to make the cottage more inviting and homey.
"Well," Cora sighed as the hall boys deposited the final piece of furniture, a large, overstuffed chair and ottoman. "We've done all that can be done it seems. Anna will have to put her touches on it to truly make it yours, but every woman needs to do that to feel at home."
John smiled at Cora, "Thank you, your ladyship, Lady Mary, for all you have done. His lordship has been very kind."
"Not at all, Bates," Mary replied. "I care for Anna like a sister, well…more than I suppose at times. I'm glad to see this working out for you, even if it is only for a year."
"Did Anna get the all clear to come home, Bates?" Cora asked as she sat down on the settee with her long legs slanted to the side.
'She did, m'lady," John replied. "I'm to go around tomorrow at 9am to collect her, but we know with hospitals, it'll be luncheon before we get home."
"I only wish that weren't so true," Cora replied. "We are working on that…"
John chose not to reveal to the children Anna was coming home on Friday for two reasons; he didn't want them to be upset if something happened that prevented it, and he didn't want to have two bouncy, excited children on his hands all of Thursday night.
When morning came, John fixed breakfast as usual, then announced both children would be heading up to the big house for nursery with Granny Elsie.
"But I"m too little for nursery," Maggie protested. "Miss Caroline said you have to be four, but I'm not four yet."
"You don't have to be four, Margaret Mary," John replied. "Most children are four when they start at nursery if they are learning, but Johnny was at nursery since he was a wee babe like Elizabeth there. You are only going to play with the toys and hear stories. It'll be great fun, you love to play at the abbey."
Maggie nodded, she had to admit that. Miss Caroline liked to be prim and proper sometimes, she was going to be a great lady one day, Maggie supposed she had to practice.
Johnny watched as John slipped a bonnet onto Elizabeth's tiny head and booties onto her tiny, wiggling feet. "Is Elizabeth going to nursery too?" Johnny asked.
"No, son," John replied. "Elizabeth is gong to stay with Granny Elsie while Daddy does some errands in the village. I'll collect her after and Mr. Branson will bring you home in the motor later on."
With the tone set for the day, the children cleaned their hands and teeth after breakfast and eagerly set out with Mrs. Hughes and their little sister toward the abbey.
Anna was dressed in a simple green dress John had brought for her to wear. She was sitting in a wheelchair at the side of the bed, a smile brightening her beautiful features.
"Hello," John greeted.
That simple word could still send shivers through her. It was the first word he had ever spoken to her, but the way he had said it was so distinctly John it set her heart a flutter.
"Hello," Anna replied with a huge smile. "I can't believe it. It's finally here. I feel like I'm being released from prison this time."
"Well, it's bad," John replied. "Not as bad as prison, but a close second, though I wouldn't want her ladyship to hear that comparison."
"I'd never," Anna replied. "Everyone has been so kind, it's simply that I want to be home with you and our children. I want to hold my baby girl when I want to and be a mummy again. I miss it. I miss them so."
"They miss you too, my darling," John assured her. "They do. They are at the abbey now with nanny and Elizabeth is with Mrs. Hughes. Once you're settled in bed, I'll call down to the big house. Mr. Branson said he'd be happy to drive them home. We'll stop and get Elizabeth from Mrs. Hughes on our way home. It'll give you two some time before the older ones come back and demand your attention."
"That's so sweet of you, John." Anna smiled up at him and reached for his hand. "I'd like just a little time with her before the other come, if that isn't selfish."
"If anyone has earned the right to be selfish, it's you, Anna," John soothed. "But, no, it isn't selfish. This whole thing has been one of the roughest patches we've gone through, I can't imagine what it feels like not to have been able to be with Elizabeth at home, but we got through it. It's over; things will only get better from here you'll see."
John was so optimistic, that had rubbed off on him over their married life. Anna loved his exuberance and his joy. This was what he deserved, it's what they both deserved. She could only hope and pray John would be proven right in the end.
A/N: So the Bates family is moving, that move, will end up being even more of a blessing as the story continues. Thank you for reading, I love seeing my hit counter tick up and I love hearing from my readers. Special thanks to my loyal reader DearElizaHamilton for always sharing her opinion. If you haven't checked out her work, you should do.