Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

Speaking of the Past

     Rose continued to initiate conversation for the entire walk into town, until they reached the general store. Teddy stopped in front of it, looking down at the list in his hand again before reaching for the door, holding it open for Rose.

     "This is a nice little shop," she said as Teddy walked in behind her. He shrugged, walking over to one of the shelves and starting to grab some of the list's contents. 

      "It's alright, I s'pose," he responded, moving the cans and box he had grabbed to one arm.

      "Just alright?" Rose asked, following him down the aisle of shelves and watching as he grabbed another ingredient. 

      "I went to a shop in London while I was there with my father. That might have altered my judgement." 

      "I love London!" Rose's eyes lit up and she put her hands together. "The city is incredible. The parties, the buildings, the people."

     "I've only been once, and only for a day, but I would love to go back," Teddy said, a grin forming on his face. Rose nodded, smiling at him. 

     "You go once, and then you can't get enough of it."

      "Exactly!" Teddy turned around a corner and paused, his eyes meeting with those of the person stocking the shelves. 

      "The hell you buying those things for?" Lewis Saffer said, eyes darting between the items in Teddy's hands. The boy decided to ignore the question. 

      "I didn't realize you worked here."

      "You dumb? My father owns the place."

     "I know that. I just didn't think that you could read the labels to know what things were." Saffer's eyes narrowed into a glare as he looked at Teddy. Rose looked between the two of them, seeming to quickly figure out that there was a history here. 

    "And who's this?" Lewis moved the attention to Rose, looking her up and down. "You found yourself an older girl to bring to bed? You following in the footsteps of your mother?" Rose's jaw dropped. Teddy could have sworn, or perhaps he was just hoping, that she was about to slap Saffer across the face. 

     "You're disgusting!" She said instead, then looked at Teddy. "Come on, let's purchase these and get out of here." Teddy nodded once, then proceeded to follow Rose away from Saffer and over to the counter. 

     After Theodore had gotten the items, the price of which being left for Lord Grantham to pay, he and Rose began their walk back to the Abbey. 

     "Who was the terrible boy?" 

     "Lewis Saffer," Teddy replied, shaking his head. "And yes, he's always been like that."

     "I don't want to make assumptions about people so quickly, but-" Rose pursed her lips together, shaking her head. 

     "Well, once you do want to make it, you can always come to me to complain about him." Teddy looked up at Rose and smiled. Rose looked at him and smiled back, then started laughing and, soon enough, Teddy was laughing too. 

     "Martha and I have moved in with our grandfather for the summer. He lives in a village, smaller than home, but much more enjoyable," Teddy read aloud from the journal in his hands. "I took a walk around earlier today. Martha had refused to join me, but I do think that I would have enjoyed it much less if she were there. There are more shops around than I had expected, including a tailor, a clock shop, and a bakery. All of these places seemed to have people in them who were around my age. Perhaps I can make some friends while I'm here."

     "What are the chances that your dad was one of those people?" Percy asked from where he was perched on the fence. He had been filled in on the existence of Eliza's box, including the journal that currently rested in Teddy's lap. Upon hearing about it, Percy and Abigail had both offered to be there while Teddy read it, both curious about their friend's late mother and wanting to offer support. 

     "Likely, actually. Dad's father's a clockmaker, so he could very well have been the one in the clock shop."

      "Wow," Abi said, staring at the journal. "It's odd to think that these are her own words." 

       "It is," Teddy agreed, looking down at the penmanship on the pages. This was his mother's. He was finally learning about her; who she was, the life she lived, and everything that was important to her. "I didn't know that she didn't live in the same place as Dad. I always thought they had grown up together for some reason." 

      "When did she start the journal?" Percy asked, tilting his head to the side. Teddy looked at the date on the page and, after quickly doing the math in his head, responded. 

      "She was about 11, it looks like." 

     "We'll get more answers as we keep going, I'm sure," Abi said, watching Teddy's face. After a moment, she reached out and took the journal from him. "But I think we should stop for now." 

     "We only read a paragraph," Teddy replied, although he didn't try to take the journal back. 

     "We can do this slowly. It might be for the best." Teddy took in a deep breath, then nodded. 

     "You're probably right."

     "She is," Percy said, hopping down from the fence. He walked down to where the fence was broken, something that he was supposed to be fixing right now, and looked at it as he kept talking. "I mean, my mother is alive, but I would still need time to process something like this." He grabbed his hammer and nail just as his father came out of their house, trying to look like he had actually been working this whole time. 

     "Have you heard from her recently?" Abi asked. Teddy was glad to have the attention off of his own mother for a moment. He took the journal back as Percy shook his head. 

     "Not really, no. But, mail from America can take a while." 

     "You should see her sometime. Letters aren't the same." Percy simply shrugged. 

     "One day I will. I want to. But she doesn't want to come to England, and I'm not old enough to go to America on my own." 

      "Why can't your father take you? I'm sure he could leave the farm for just a little bit of time." Percy shook his head again, hitting a nail into the fence. He'd been getting more aggressive with the hammer as the conversation went on. 

     "I don't think that would be the best idea. Their divorce didn't go well." Abi opened her mouth again to ask another question, but Teddy put a hand on her arm to stop her. He could understand her curiosity, as Percy rarely spoke about his early life in America, or the family he left there, however, he could understand that there was a reason. 

     "Well, if you'd like, one day, when we're all old enough, we can go to America together," Teddy said, smiling at Percy. Percy looked up from the fence, eyebrows raised. 

     "Really? You'd do that?" Teddy nodded, still smiling. 

      "Of course. America sounds like an adventure that I would love to have."