Work Text:
(Andy's point of view)
"Daisy, do you smell anything burning?"
"Oh, no!"
Daisy rushed to the kitchen.
On the table, she has left out her pen and paper that she's been writing on.
Daisy and I are newlyweds at Mr Mason's house.
She has been writing avidly lately.
Is she writing down recipes?
I was clearing off the table and casually glanced at the paper.
"Thomas, I love you. Please come with me."
...... What?
I looked twice at the words on the paper.
There's no doubt about it, it's Daisy's handwriting.
What the hell does that mean?
Could it be that she is still in love with Mr Barrow?
She confided in me before we got married that she used to like him.
But he is a man of circumstances, and besides, she must love me now.
Or did she marry me because she couldn't marry Mr Barrow? She didn't care who she married?
Did asking him to come with her mean eloping?
"Andy, can you help me?" Daisy's voice came from the kitchen.
"I'm coming."
I rushed to put the paper back where it had been.
*
The next day, my mind was still occupied with the letter I'd seen last night.
"Andy? ...Andy?"
I was surprised when a strong voice called out to me.
I was having lunch in the servants' hall. Mr Barrow was looking at me.
"What's wrong, Andy?"
"No, it's nothing."
I had unconsciously tried not to look at Mr. Barrow and blocked out his voice as well.
He smiled softly.
"Are you worried about your holiday? It's all right, Mrs Patmore is here, we'll have extra help from the village, no guests, and the lord says the meals are simple enough."
"Oh..."
"So don't worry about the honeymoon."
"Thank you."
Apparently, he thought I was thinking about the honeymoon.
He arranged it so that we could go on our honeymoon.
I looked at him again.
He's always been a good-looking guy, but he looks even cooler, probably because of the confidence he's gained since becoming a butler.
He's so cool in my eyes, Daisy must be falling in love with him again.
If Daisy wants to elope, I bet Mr Barrow will ignore her. So there's no way they'll elope.
But it's so sad.
I sighed quietly.
That night, in our bedroom, Daisy was excitedly reading our honeymoon guidebook.
"Do you think the fish food will be good, being by the sea?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Or would you prefer meat?"
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"Andy, What's going on?"
"Uh..."
I looked up from my slumped face.
"I tried to talk to you, but your mind was elsewhere. You're a bit strange today."
Daisy's eyes look at me with concern.
Her emotional, sparkling blue eyes I love.
I've been thinking about it all day and I've finally made up my mind.
"Daisy, I love you."
"I love you, too." she smiled happily.
Damn, you're so cute.
I tightened up my mind, and continued.
"So I don't want you to hide anything from me. Even if I can't be the man you love most, at least I can be the one who understands you best."
"Wait a minute, what are you talking about?"
"...I read the letter you were writing."
"A letter?"
"You wrote it on the table last night. A letter to Mr Barrow."
"Um... you read that one?" She screamed.
"I didn't mean to read it, I was trying to put it away and I saw it."
"Oh my God..." She slumped.
"They say infidelity is not good, but, in this case, Mr Barrow has his own circumstances, and I thought it might be an exception, or something like that... I mean..."
I looked squarely at her.
"I want to protect you, Daisy. I want to be on your side."
I cut off my words and waited for her reaction.
She looked puzzled, as if she had no idea what was going on.
"Andy, do you think I wrote that for Mr Barrow?"
"It was your handwriting."
"Yes it was... it was, but it wasn't!"
"What's your point, Daisy?"
She sighed deeply.
"How embarrassing! But it's better than you having some weird misunderstanding."
She stopped being embarrassed and seemed determined.
Daisy held out to me the papers.
"You want me to read this?"
She nodded.
The sheaf of papers was thick. It was a very long letter.
"Do I have to read them all?"
"Not all of them, no. I think you'll soon get the point. Just read it."
She dropped her gaze, as if refusing to have any further conversation.
That's awful. It's too much to have to read a love letter to another man.
Why are you doing this to me?
Maybe she thinks I'm an idiot? Does she think I won't be able to read through it all, or that I wouldn't understand it even if I did?
...No, that's just me being cynical. She's not the kind of person who would do something like that.
I prepared myself to read it, and what I found was like a novel.
A Hollywood star comes to Downton Abbey to film a movie. And Mr Barrow falls in love with the male star. Is that really the plot? I'm not sure about my reading comprehension.
(The text I read yesterday was not a letter, but a line from the male star to Mr Barrow.)
"...Daisy, what is this? It looks like a novel..."
"Well, it's kind of like that." She replied, behaving suspiciously like a child who's discovered a prank.
"This butler... he's modelled on Mr Barrow, isn't he?"
"Maybe." Her eyes were shifting.
"This Guy Dexter is your favourite Hollywood star, isn't he?
"Yeah." comes the raw reply.
"Well..."
I can't keep up with my understanding but... anyway, does this mean Daisy's making this up?
She covered her face with her hands.
"Oh no, I'm too embarrassed...I didn't mean for anyone to read it."
"Then why did you write it?"
Her face became thoughtful.
"Maybe, because I'm happy now, I wanted Mr Barrow to be happy too. Even if it's just in a story."
So that's what you mean.
Daisy is a pretty, opinionated, attractive woman, a top-notch cook and I'm proud of her.
She's a very compassionate person who gets angry, cries and acts out for those closest to her.
Sometimes she does outlandish things, but that's because of her compassion and energy.
...I didn't expect her to be so unpredictable...
I relaxed and laughed. I was relieved and happy.
"Daisy, are you happy now?"
"Very much."
Her loving gaze is on me. Only me.
Yes, she's a compassionate person, but the man she loves the most right now is me.
"Me too."
I hugged my lovely wife. She also hugged me tightly.
We kissed to make up.
It would have been nice to end it there, but...
"But then the model... no, it's nothing."
I was about to say that Mr Ellis would be a better model, but this was not something that could be casually mentioned.
"Tell me." Daisy, in my arms, asks with a smile.
"No, it's nothing."
"What is it? I'm curious."
She is curious. She wouldn't be studying on her own if she wasn't.
"The model... what?" Daisy says.
"The model... you see, that."
"What's that? I don't know what that is."
She just nodded her head.
She does not seem to know about Mr Ellis.
I know that Mr Ellis used to say goodbye to Mr Barrow each other alone, and I know that Mr Barrow gets in a good mood when he gets a letter from Mr Ellis. So I'm sure that's what's going on.
I can't bring myself to tell her who is not yet aware of that.
Yeah, I'll fake it somehow.
I"ve been hiding my illiteracy for years, so I'm pretty good at covering up small discrepancies in conversation.
"If they find out that the model is Mr Barrow, that's a big problem, isn't it? If you're going to send it to a publisher, I think you should write it in such a way that they don't know that he is the model."
"Publishers? I hadn't thought of that."
Her blue eyes twinkle.
Oh no, I said something I shouldn't have!
I can feel a switch flicking in her body. When this happens, she is unstoppable.
"Anything else? Let me know."
She looks at me with a twinkle in her eyes, her gaze full of anticipation.
What man can do nothing when the woman he loves expects so much from him?
"Er, let's see... you know a lot about cooking, so maybe you could have more cooking episodes."
Why am I saying things that intrigue her even more?
I just didn't want to let her down!
"Right, and you know a lot about serving. Shall I write more about the dinner party scene then?"
She was excited and relied on me.
What man can say no when the woman he loves looks forward to it and relies on him?
"That's a good idea. Dinner parties are good for conversation."
"What do they talk about, for example?"
She is waiting for me to say something, ready to take notes. When did you get ready to do that?
"Lots of things, like..."
I watch as she impatiently takes notes, wondering why I'm talking like this.
-several months later -
(Thomas's point of view)
In the butler's room, I was taking an afternoon break.
There is a guest, Richard.
He had come to Downton for my day off tomorrow.
We were chatting over a cup of tea.
"Thomas, have you read this newspaper novel?"
I looked through the newspaper Richard had offered me.
The title of the novel was "The Butler's Tea Time".
"What's the story?"
"It's about a butler in the service of an aristocratic family, and in the latest episode he's being courted by a wealthy American."
"A Bildungsroman?"
I've actually heard of American millionaires taking out servants of British aristocrats. Daisy had also been approached.
I skimmed through it.
It looks as if it was written by a servant. No way. No servant would be educated enough to write such a novel.
"Interesting or not, the author has a good eye for servants."
"Not interesting?"
"I can't say it well, but..."
It's a Bildungsroman, but I felt it had the sweetness of a romance novel.
"I was flabbergasted when I read it. It was as if what I feared was happening."
"Wow, you have quite an imagination."
I teased, but Richard's eyes were not smiling.
"Hey, Richard? This is just fiction, right?"
"Yes, but... the main character, the butler, seems to be like you.
"Does he?"
"Tall, good-looking. Good at his job, good at cricket and cards. He's cynical, but he's also kind to people in need."
"You can find men like that all over the place."
"No." Richard said crisply. "Besides, there was a film shoot here. "
"Well, yes."
He's persistent, I admitted, thinking.
It was rented out to film locations to earn money for upkeep.
Richard continued with increasing vigour.
"I read in your letter about a very friendly Hollywood star. Maybe he courted you?"
"No, he didn't. I gave him some advice about clothes and he said he wished I were his dresser, that's all."
"I knew he was asking you out."
"It was just a thank-you. They exaggerate."
"Thomas, do you really think it's just flattery?"
Richard asks insistently. That sounds like he's jealous, and I'm amused.
"Yes, maybe there was such a future..."
At that moment, His eyes became murderous. I rushed to explain.
"No, it's not what I wanted, it's what I read in the novel."
"A novel? What kind of novel?"
"A science fiction novel. There are a number of parallel worlds besides this one, where I'm a little bit different, and maybe Thomas Barrow, who went to America, is one of them. In the style of a science fiction novel, it would be."
"A slightly different you...? Lots of Thomas... slightly different Thomas..."
Richard's gaze wandered and he muttered to himself.
He seem to be trying very hard to understand. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough?
I continued.
"There are a number of branches in life, and maybe there is a world for each branch. If the King had not stayed at Downton, if I hadn't gone to York with you, if we never meet again..."
"No, that's not possible." Richard leaned forward.
I sipped my tea and looked at Richard sitting opposite me.
I smiled at my lover.
"It must be a miracle that I met you and am here with you."
Richard finally seemed convinced and his attitude softened.
"What happens to Thomas Barrow of this world?"
"He's having tea with the King's valet."
"That's it? Just sharing tea time?"
He stood and put his hand on my desk.
He looked into my eyes, took the teacup from my hand and moved it aside.
Then he quickly leaned forward - we were kissing over the desk.
Seconds later, he was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.
But his eyes were smiling like a boy whose prank had succeeded.
Oh come on, where's the guy who told me to be circumspect?
But I can't help smiling with pleasure.
We have to be circumspect.
We have to be discreet.
But nothing can spoil the happiness that I have communicated with beloved.
I wish that I, in the parallel universe, was as happy as I am here.
Hopefully, good luck to all Thomas Barrow.
Well, I think I'm the luckiest one.