Chapter Text
ONE - Decorating homes with holly, ivy, and mistletoe branches
Anne wasn’t overly fond of Christmas.
Maybe that was just due to previous Christmases and the problems that there were at home.
Christmas was a time to be merry.
But a certain member of her family took that to extremes that she never enjoyed. Which made it hard when one of her truest friends took it to the same extremes.
But she had spent the last couple of weeks listening to Ann talk about it animatedly that maybe she had softened her stance a little.
Just a little.
She was glad that Ann’s sweet smile could wash out the annoyance Anne got from Marian’s smirk as she backed down on decorating Shibden.
It had been years since the hall had been properly decorated, with an argument happening each year about how much greenery was going to be brought in from outside. Anne would have still preferred the bare minimum but with the bundle of ivy in her arms, she didn’t think that she would get away with it this year. In fact, Ann had been up before her, so excited to go out and collect enough to complete what she had envisioned. And Anne didn’t have the heart to dampen that excitement. She was sure that it would lead to a heap of teasing from Marian, which Anne hoped that her aunt would do something about. Because in one breath, Marian would say that she was enjoying the company that Ann had provided and that there had been a change in Anne because of it (Anne would want to argue that she hadn’t changed at all but she knew when to pick her battles. Unlike Marian) and in the next, say that she hasn’t changed at all and wonder why Ann puts up with her. But then again, Marian had always been a walking contradiction.
Ann only smiled at her when she turned to her as they reached the hall but Anne knew that she was still so excited about getting the chance to decorate Shibden. Which was nice to see after she had been fretting about it when Anne handed over creative control to her. If Anne was going to allow the heaps of greenery to be brought into the hall, then it had to be done tastefully. And she knew that she could trust that her wife would do just that.
Although she did assume that she would leave Ann to do it by herself while she got on with a little bit of business before the festivities began but was stopped at the bottom of the stairs by Ann.
“I will need some help,” Ann said.
“Ask…”
“I can’t, Anne. They are busy with other preparations and Marian is out. And nobody knows this house like you.” She paused for a moment. “Well, maybe your aunt… our aunt. But you put her on bed rest so that she could join us tomorrow at church for the Christmas Day service.”
It did force Anne to weigh up her options and part of her knew that she would have to leave at some point. The Yule Log still needed to be sorted and the natural light would be dying sooner than she felt like it would take to fulfil Ann’s vision. Although she had pointed out to John which tree she thought would be best. Maybe she could trust him with the task. Even though she did love to get stuck in with the tradition.
Ann’s pleading eyes brought her in and Anne felt powerless to refuse her. Which she didn’t know whether she would end up regretting or not.
Ann could only smile as she walked through the hall. This was the first time that she had complete control over the decorations for Christmas and she was equally honoured and stunned that Anne had given it to her. Even more so when she had asked Anne to help her out. As much as she loved her wife, Ann knew that there were certain things that Anne preferred to do herself because she knew that others wouldn’t do it right. Which had probably been one of the biggest adjustments that they faced when Ann moved into Shibden. Because there was a bit of a difference between spending a lot of time with someone and actually living with them.
But Shibden was her home now and with every day that passed, she felt more at home. And it was projects like the one that she’d taken on that reminded her of that.
Anne was finishing locking up and Ann knew that everyone else was in bed, with Marian and Jeremy bidding them goodnight a good half an hour ago.
It meant that they would have the privacy to do as she hoped.
So she was standing in a particular place when Anne joined her in the housebody. And she was sure that Anne had expected her to have already made it up the stairs by the way that she jumped a little at her presence.
“Sorry,” Ann said, failing to get out of the habit of apologising for her presence.
“I just expected that you would have already made your way to bed,” Anne said.
“Well, I just… I’d had a thought earlier. When we were decorating and I-I-I just wondered whether we could… act upon it.”
“And what thought might that be?”
Ann always had to take a moment to remind herself that Anne would never quickly dismiss her thoughts. Maybe she would work out a way to word her dismissal in the kindest way that she could but, on the whole, Anne always listened to what she had to say.
“It might seem a little stupid. Mainly because I had heard it from Catherine who had heard her servants whispering about it. But, apparently, if a man and woman are caught, standing underneath mistletoe, then the woman has to give the man a kiss. And it is bad luck to refuse.”
Ann enjoyed the few times that she caught Anne off guard and it took her a moment to realise that Ann had placed them underneath the largest part of mistletoe that was decorating the hall.
“Ah,” Anne said as her gaze settled back on Ann. “But I am no man.”
“But does that mean you are refusing my kiss? Your wife’s kiss?”
It was, also, such a delight when Ann knew that she was taking the lead in their relationship. There were many things that she didn’t know or understand but slowly, she felt like she was showing Anne that she was a match for her (despite her wobbles).
And it was a quick peck, just in case someone did magically appear. But it held promise for more once they reached the privacy of their bedroom. And Ann could feel Anne’s eyes on her when she grabbed the spare mistletoe that was on the cabinet at the bottom of the stairs.
“I want somewhere where we could do it all the time.” Ann said before she made her way up the stairs and she knew that Anne would have no arguments with that.