This came out in a flood just now. Maybe it's because I've watched the Christmas Special every day for a week and I'm always struck by how chivalrous Matthew is in intervening with Richard. Anyway, enjoy! (I'm at work on the story where Mary gets the flu. Stay tuned.)
Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine.
"Three Little Words"
He was just such a good man. Every time he opened his mouth, every time she turned around and saw him, he did something good. When she had first met him, she would have said that was a bad thing, a boring thing, but now after the War and Pamuk and everything else, she was thinking it was downright wonderful. Why weren't more men as decent as Matthew?
This morning, he had chivalrously kept her from saying something nasty before the shoot and she'd gotten the added benefit of getting to spend the first drive with him. She was willing to bet that with an army-issue revolver in his hand he would have bagged a great many more birds than he had with the shotgun, but that was beside the point. When Richard was yelling at her about her attentions to Matthew, Matthew had come to check on her then as well. She had felt only slightly ashamed that Richard was exactly right. She DID prefer Matthew to him.
She preferred his wit to Richard's scathing diatribes. She preferred his charm to Richard's crass ways. They were both self-made men, but one managed to be humble and generous while the other was abrupt and obnoxious.
And just now after that scene in the dining room, Matthew had shown his sterling character once more with three little words. "Can I help?" While Richard was nagging her about setting a wedding date and holding her scandal over her head, Matthew had her back and would do whatever needed doing if it would make her life even the tiniest bit easier. Just the fact that he would ask, that he would offer her a home as long as he was alive, made her fall in love with him all over again.
She wished for the thousandth time that she'd accepted him when she had the chance and went in to play bridge with the ladies.