Beginning

Old habits die hard, she thought as she opened her eyes to the darkness of the room. For decades, she had been forced to wake before the first rays of the sun appeared in the sky, forced to pull on a confining corset, eating on someone else's schedule, following a routine. She had once prided herself on the constancy of it all … the precise manner in which the household ran under her direction. She had received plenty of compliments, both from her employers and others who often visited, about the quality of everything at Downton.

Today, however, was different. As she shifted in bed, she burrowed deeper under the blankets, closer to the warmth radiating from the man in the bed next to her, the man who had pledged himself to her at Christmas with a proposal and who had finally claimed his prize, both at the altar and in their marriage bed.

A warmth infused her cheeks and a thrill ran through her body as she remembered the way they had spent their first evening as man and wife. Charles had been so loving, so attentive, so very passionate as they made love for the first time … and the second … even the third in the wee hours of the morning. Never had she felt so loved and cherished, so completely happy and truly sated.

He began to stir next to her, dragging her back from her recent memories. She smoothed a hand over his bare shoulder, the side of his neck, his chest in an attempt to soothe him back to sleep. There would be no need for rising so early, corsets, routines. As she absentmindedly ran her hands through the sparse silver hairs on his chest, he brought his hand up and captured hers, bringing it to his lips for a kiss to her palm.

"Good morning, love," he whispered in a hoarse voice.

There was something about his deep, rich timbre that sent a shock all the way to her core. "Mmmm, it is a very good morning, sweetheart," she replied, tilting her head up to capture his lips with hers.

It was a gentle kiss, much like their first one weeks ago, similar to the one they shared in front of Reverend Travis and their friends, almost identical to the first one they shared as Charles carried her across the threshold of their cottage. The main difference this time, though, was that there was no need to stop the progression of the kiss, no need to pull back, to speak of past loves or a lack thereof.

Still, Elsie pulled back from Charles and threaded her fingers through his mussed hair. "You look very handsome and happy this morning," she said, her accent very thick this particular morning.

"Must be the company I kept last night," he answered teasingly. "What do you say we try this again tomorrow morning and the morning after that … for the rest of our lives?"

"I'd say, Mr. Carson, you have simply made me an offer I cannot bear to refuse."

With no warning, he shifted so she was lying beneath him, staring up into those chocolate brown eyes that left no doubts in her mind as to what he was thinking, wanting, needing, requesting.

She draped a leg over his hip, drawing him deeper into her embrace, giving him the answers and the permission he sought but didn't really need.

"I love you, Mrs. Carson," he whispered against her lips.

"I'm happy to hear it, Charles. Now, stop talking so much and kiss me," she demanded.

They were still in bed when the sun peeked through the curtains, the downstairs clock chimed half past ten, and Charles's stomach began to grumble from lack of food causing Elsie to giggle. With a great deal of effort and several distracting kisses from her husband, Elsie finally managed to pull on her dressing gown and make her way downstairs to the kitchen.

A new day … a new life … a set of new routines … but all of them signaling the best thing of all … the beginning of their new life together … retired and so very happy.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you'll take a moment and leave a review, too! I hope to update this daily (or every other day) with responses to the other prompts in the February Chelsie series which was posted on Tumblr.