I own none of the characters of Downton Abbey.

The Quiet Man

Chapter 11

A few days later, Bates sought Anna out just after breakfast, before she headed off to do her chores.

"Anna, come here!" he called to her from just outside the kitchen door, urgently beckoning to her to come over.

Anna looked around carefully to make sure that no one was watching before heading out to join him.

"What? I can't stop long, I'll be missed," she told him, but was still thrilled to have a few stolen moments with him, already she could feel her pulse quickening.

"It's your half day off this afternoon, isn't it?"

"Yes, but…"

"Well mine's been changed to this afternoon too. So we can meet up, that is …if you'd like to?"

"Yes, of course I would, but how…"

"I'll explain it all later. Think of somewhere we can go – but I have to get back now," Bates shot her a big smile as he went back inside, leaving her thoroughly puzzled. Why would his half day have been changed to the same as hers?

xXx

As Bates had been assisting his Lordship to get dressed that morning, Robert had casually asked,

"Still keen on marrying Anna are you, Bates?" with a teasing smile on his face.

"Err…yes…that is…if you…or if she…" Bates stuttered, somewhat taken aback.

"Well then, you'll be pleased to know that I have discussed the matter with her Ladyship, and she is of the same opinion as me – that as long as you are able to continue to perform your duties in the same manner as you do now, we have no objections to you and Anna getting married."

Cora had taken a little convincing about it, but as Robert had pointed out, many things would be changing in war time in any case, and this way they would be able to keep two excellent members of staff.

"I think it's about time that Bates had the love of a good woman, and he'd look after Anna very well, I'm certain about that. It's a good match," he'd told her.

"Are you sure it's really what Anna wants though? I know you've assured me that he's been completely exonerated of all the accusations against him, but even so, he's quite a bit older than her, and with him being…" Cora had nearly said 'crippled' but quickly remembered in time that Robert hated her using that term. "What I mean is, are you sure that Anna will welcome his attentions?"

Cora felt quite protective towards Anna, remembering as she did how loyal and trustworthy she was, especially with regard to her quiet, calm assistance in dealing with the 'Pamuk' incident – of which Robert was still mercifully unaware.

"Oh I think it's safe to say that she will 'welcome his attentions' as you put it. After all, Anna went out of her way to prove Bates was innocent of the charges against him. No, I think she would happily accept him."

Robert had recalled the look on Anna's face as she'd earnestly informed him of the information she'd unearthed in London, obviously desperate to have Bates stay at Downton. He was sure she had feelings for his valet.

Cora had let out a big sigh, as she smiled over at her husband and told him,

"You are such an old softie Robert! If you're so set on this, then I guess I can go along with it. After all, I suppose it does mean that we won't lose Anna, not unless she gets …"

"Yes, well, quite, not sure I need to know about any of that kind of thing," Robert had hastily interrupted. He always found such talk highly embarrassing.

So now he took great pleasure in seeing Bates' reaction to his pronouncement, as he saw a deep blush creep over the man's face.

"I will talk to Mr. Matthew Crawley about you having one of the workers cottages. As I expect you are aware, he has been overseeing the refurbishment of some of them, so he'll know when one will be available. Oh and err…I understand from my wife that it is Anna's afternoon off today, so I suggest that you take the afternoon off too. Think you might have something rather important that you want to ask her, hmm?"

"Oh…right…yes, thank you, that is most generous of you milord," Bates managed to say, as he tried to carry on as normal with his duties.

Robert couldn't help smiling to himself as he noticed Bates' hand was shaking now as he tried to put his cufflink through.

"So, do let me know how you get on, because I will need to talk to Carson and Mrs Hughes if…"

"Yes, of course, but in any case she may not accept me."

"I'd be very surprised if that was the case Bates, very surprised indeed."

xXx

Anna normally spent part of her afternoon off in the village on errands before heading off to visit her nearby family at tea time. After a hasty whispered conversation at lunchtime with Mr. Bates, they agreed that to avoid causing any gossip, they would not leave the house together and instead arranged to meet at the village church for a walk around its pretty grounds, as it was a lovely summer day.

Bates arrived first, and as he stepped inside the old Saxon church to wait, he breathed in the intriguing mixture of scents that pervaded the air, scents of old oak wood and stonework from the ancient building, and it seemed to him to evoke the spirits of all the people who had passed this way before him over the preceding centuries, all their footsteps having worn away the middle of the stone aisle. The sunlight was streaming in through the beautiful stained glass window, creating an uplifting, peaceful calm in the building, and somehow, at that moment, Bates knew that everything was going to be alright.

So he managed to relax a little, having felt quite sick with nerves up until that point, unable to contemplate how he was going to react if Anna turned him down.

Then he heard the latch lift and the creak of the heavy door opening. Anna was here.

xXx

Anna walked into the church, blinded for a moment by the sunlight streaming in through the stained glass window, so it took a moment for her eyes to adjust before she could see John. He was standing towards the front of the church, staring at her and smiling – she couldn't recall him smiling in such a happy relaxed way before, as he walked up to greet her.

As they met, he gently kissed her cheek, before taking her hand and leading her to sit in one of the pews with him.

"Now are you going to tell me what's going on, Mr. Bates?" she asked.

"I think it's safe for you to call me John here, don't you?" he gently rebuked her.

"Alright then, are you going to tell me what's going on, John?" she played along with him, and he discovered that he loved hearing her speak his Christian name.

"Well you see Anna, his Lordship gave me the afternoon off because…"

He hesitated for a moment because this was a momentous question he was about to ask.

"Yes?"

"Because he knew that I had a very important question that I wanted to ask you, Anna. A question that will change both of our lives forever, depending on your answer."

Suddenly Anna realised what this was all about, what it was that John was about to ask her, and she nearly forgot to breathe because time seemed to stand still as she watched and listened to him, seemingly in slow motion.

"Anna, I love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my being. I wish, more than anything else, to spend the rest of my life with you. Anna, will you do me the greatest honour by consenting to be my wife? Will you marry me?"

He was still holding her hand in his, and now lifted it to his lips to place a gentle kiss on it, as he looked into her eyes, where she had tears brimming.

"Oh John, I love you too, with all my heart and soul, so yes, yes I will marry you!"

With this she put her arms around his neck and buried her face there, letting her tears of joy fall unchecked, while he held her to him tightly, so relieved that she had said 'yes'.

They stayed like this for several minutes, until they were interrupted by the creaking of the church door as it opened to let the curate in, causing them to hastily break apart.

"We've still much to discuss, so let's go for that walk around the grounds hmm?" suggested Bates, as he helped Anna to her feet to make their way out.

"Yes, I'd like that," Anna agreed, as they walked out into the lovely summers afternoon.

Bates offered her his arm which Anna took, as they now strolled together through the grounds of the church, relishing having some time together by themselves.

"So, what exactly did you mean about his Lordship knowing that you wanted to ask me something?"

"Before I could even consider proposing to you Anna, I had to establish whether we could make a decent life for ourselves together, to know exactly what I would be offering you. So I asked Lord Grantham that if were I to propose to you, and should I be fortunate enough that you accepted me, would he consider allowing us both to continue in his service, but as a married couple."

"John! But that's unheard of! What on earth did he say?"

"Well, he seemed happy enough about it, but naturally he had to speak with her Ladyship to obtain her approval before he could agree to anything."

"Oh. I see, of course." Anna nodded.

Perhaps that explained the rather searching look she'd received earlier today from her Ladyship when she'd asked Anna how she was settling back at Downton after her trip to London.

"And then finally this morning, his Lordship informed me that after discussing the matter with her Ladyship, they had agreed that as long as we continued to carry out our duties in exactly the same way as before, they would allow us to continue in their employ as a married couple. And…"

"What? What else did he say?"

"He said he'd be happy for us to have one of the workers cottages on the estate. So what do you think, honestly? I know you've already said 'yes' to my proposal, but do you really think it would be acceptable to you to continue in your job and for us to live in one of the cottages, as husband and wife?"

John was worried that he'd made some very large assumptions about what Anna would want, what would make her happy. Perhaps he'd got it all wrong? Perhaps she hated the idea of living in one of the cottages with him.

By now they had walked to the far end of the church grounds, to a very secluded spot that had a very convenient bench to sit on, which they took advantage of.

Anna turned to John as they sat down together, and taking his hand in hers she told him,

"Yes John, of course it would be more than acceptable to me, having one of the cottages to ourselves would be my idea of heaven."

"You're sure? Really sure I mean? Perhaps you need time to think about it, I wouldn't want to rush things."

"Rush things? John, it's taken over two years to get you to propose to me, so I would hardly call that rushing things, would you? Oh come here, you silly man, of course I'm sure!" Anna told him, as she leaned over to kiss him.

But John pulled back just for a second.

"You've wanted me to propose for that long? You knew you wanted to marry me right from the beginning?" he asked her incredulously.

"Of course. It was love at first sight for me, wasn't it for you?" Anna demanded to know.

"Well yes it was actually, from the day I arrived and saw you smile at me, when everyone else was being so unwelcoming. But I never let myself believe that someone like you would ever be interested in someone like me, or that I would ever be in a position to allow myself to dream of being with you.

"Well you won't have to dream for much longer will you? Soon we can be together every day – and every night…"

"You naughty girl," John whispered, as he pulled her to him for a long lingering kiss, glad that they were in a very private part of the grounds.

THE END

Now continued in 'To Have and to Hold' the 'M' rated sequel