I got inspired...by a certain movie...so here it is. This might be it's entirety..I'm not sure. I welcome and covet your thoughts and suggestions for further chapters. I have something in mind...some of you will, no doubt, go there..just not sure yet if I will.

"Get those muddy boots out of here! I've just swept the floor!" Elsie Burns used the broom to shoo her 16 year old son and husband of 21 years out of her kitchen. "I'll have you both on your hands and knees, cleaning before supper, if you don't get on." Tendrils of her brown locks hung loose around her face, a trickle of sweat ran down her temple. Her apron was faded, her hands calloused and red from cleaning. It was her day to deep clean and it was no easy feat on these hot summer days in North Yorkshire. It was sweltering and the heat seemed to exhaust her energy very early in the day. She pushed herself, always pushed herself and her house was immaculate and lovely.

"What's for supper, Mum?" Benjamin Burns toed his boots off at the front door and plodded into the kitchen and gave his mom a kiss on the top of the head. He was already a solid 6 foot, nearly a foot taller than her, and a strong build like his father. Joe Burns came in and poured himself a whiskey, took his dirty hat off and laid it on the kitchen table.

"Get that off my clean table!" Elsie yanked Joe's hat off the table and hung it on the hook by the back door. "We're having stew, now go wash up, both of yeh."

She plated their supper and sat only long enough to eat. She spent the rest of the evening cleaning up the kitchen and then settled down to finish a dress for Lady Mary Crawley, the daughter of the Earl of Grantham.

Elsie was a farmer's wife; a hard working woman with a gift for dress making that was noticed throughout the county. It was her favorite past time and the one thing that brought her joy and a true satisfaction in life. She had met Lady Grantham in the village one afternoon many years before. It was in the dress shop where Elsie was delivering a dress she had made for a young girl's coming out. The dress was exquisite and Lady Cora took notice of it. She struck up a conversation with Elsie and asked her to visit Downton the next day to talk about having dresses made for her girls. Elsie was delighted to have the work. It made no difference to her that Lady Cora was of noble rank and they had gotten on fetchingly. She had been making Mary, Edith and Sybil's dresses for as long as she could remember and the girls adored her and her dresses. As they got older, they had been keener to buy dresses in London or Paris, when they were away. But occasionally, they would see something in a magazine and ask Elsie to replicate it and she always did it to perfection. She had also made a good little sum of money with her extra work; she kept it socked away beneath a loose floor board in the living room of their home. Elsie had also come to enjoy going to the Abbey and had struck up a friendship with Mrs. Patmore, the cook,and the Head House keeper, Mrs. Walker.

Her eyes burned from the strain after four hours of meticulous bead work. The candle was almost burned completely down and her back ached from the position she had been sitting in. Joe and Benjamin had gone to bed hours earlier, which was always the custom. Elsie rarely slept more than 3 or 4 hours a night. It wasn't what she wanted for she was perpetually exhausted but she just could not manage more than that.

She had unwittingly agreed to marry Joe Burns when she was just 18. She had begged him to be released but his will was so much stronger than hers and she could not refuse him and break his heart. Joe was raised by farmers, it was in his blood, a man of great work ethic; a good man. He aspired for more though and they had moved to Yorkshire shortly after being married. It was difficult for Elsie, moving from her parents and sister but she had learned to live life as a farmer's wife. The early years of their marriage were good albeit the work was hard to establish a place; it was known throughout the county that the Earl of Downton paid well and Joe had been relentless about getting on at there and his tenacity eventually paid off. He was loathe to part with his money, he loved it just to have, not for its purchasing power. He also was of the mind that it was unnecessary to hire help and you almost always needed help to run a farm. So it was Elsie who was the help. From the time they started farming, she had been called upon and expected to do anything a man would be expected to do. She had little household duties in the beginning of their marriage and with no child to tend to the first 5 years of their marriage, she had no excuse to refuse. It was back breaking labor and at times she had resented the life she chose but she always resolved that she chose it and moved on.

"Now eat up Ben, your faither will be ready to go and he'll get angry if you aren't ready!" Elsie put bread, meat and apples into a satchel and closed it up.

"Mum, what will you do while we're gone?" A bite of porridge fell from Ben's mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth open!" Elsie wiped her hands on her apron. "Oh whatever will I do?" She teased. "I've got dresses to make for the Crawley girls and plenty of gardening to do." She walks over and kisses him on top of the head. "I'll miss you lad."

"We'll miss you too mum."

Every year, Joe would take the harvested crops to Bristol to sell. It was a day's journey by horse and wagon; he would spend two days in Bristol selling his crops and then head home. It was 4 days that Elsie relished. It meant four days of being who she wanted to be, doing what she wanted. Ben had been going with his father since he was 12. Elsie wouldn't let him go before that for fear something would happen. She was extremely protective of Ben, her only child. It was difficult to conceive and she nearly lost him when he was three to diphtheria so she had kept him close for as long as she could. Fortunately, Ben was a strapping lad that had grown quickly and healthily. Elsie's fears lessened as he got older and at Joe's encouraging to let him work. He went to school and was a smart kid and polite. He was a blend of her good sense and kindness, Joe's ruggedness and manliness. A good balance of their looks, her eyes, his blonde hair.

"Come on! We must be goin'." Joe comes in the door and wraps his arm around Elsie's hip and pats her bottom. "Bye love. We'll see you in 4 days." She reaches up to kiss him but he turns before she can reach up. "Bye then. Be careful!" Her heart sinks a little.

Ben gets up and hugs his mum tightly. "Love ye mum. Don't get into trouble while we're gone!" He grins and kisses her on the cheek.

She squeezes his arm. "I'll try son. Take care of yer faither."

Elsie stands in the doorway, watches her husband and son pull away from the small house they have occupied on the estate of Lord Grantham. They had lived a comfortable life here. Joe was a tenant farmer, one of the best and had made a name for himself. Elsie was proud of him, thankful for the consistent life, forever grateful for the gift of Benjamin. A tear strayed down her cheek, a lump formed in her throat. She went back in and closed the door, sat down at the kitchen table and stared into the nothing.