It's Coming

The Dinner Table

"It's coming!" Carson announced proudly as some the staff sat down to dinner, his wife at his side.

By now everyone knew. Baxter thought it was amazing how the news seemed to sweep a house of this size so fast, suddenly dictating most everything going on between its many, many walls. She'd been at Downton almost four years, but was still floored at the generosity and caring the family was showing Anna at this time. It wasn't as if it were simply one of the ladies maids having a baby, it was more like it was a family birth. The way Lady Mary was acting in particular, you would think Anna her sister and not Lady Edith.

"Isn't it exciting Mrs. Hughes?" Carson questioned softly, his wife looking down at her plate.

Elsie stared, not as if her eyes were drilling into the table but as if she were looking off somewhere far in the distance, like she was in another world.

"Elsie?" He questioned again when she didn't reply.

"Oh!" She jumped, startled. "Yes. Yes it is exciting Mr. Carson."

"You are going to be a godmother." He reminded enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes I am." She smiled faintly.

Carson was perplexed. Elsie had been very excited about Anna's baby and her place as its godmother even just weeks earlier but now something had changed. He stared back at her not bothering to question her further but knowing something was very wrong. He had no idea what.

Thomas sympathized with Mrs. Hughes-Carson. He didn't feel term 'exciting' fit the bill and rolled his eyes as he poured himself a bit of wine.

"Can't you be happy for them at all?" Baxter asked in a hushed whisper. Mosley looked on carefully, buttering his bread. "The Bates' have wanted this for a long time." She reminded.

Baxter paused, waiting for an answer. Mosley admired her efforts to encourage Thomas (just as he admired everything else about her) but wondered if she tired of speaking to him like a helpless mother would to a smart-mouthed boy.

Thomas shrugged. "They don't need my happiness or approval Miss Baxter." He looked over at Moseley. "Some people get everything. You of all people should know that, Mr. Moseley."

Thomas got up from the table; excusing himself before Carson could chide him about everything the Bates' had been through.

"What'd he mean by that?" Mosley questioned cluelessly, raising his eyebrow.

Truthfully, Mosley wasn't clueless at all. He, if anyone there knew that some people got everything and others got nothing.

Baxter sighed; looking back toward the door her friend had practically hurried out of, thinking she understood what he met.

"He's right." Mrs. Hughes agreed suddenly, her voice sad. "Some people do get everything."

Carson looked back at his wife, almost offended by her words. Hadn't he given her everything?