A Sister's Love
Sybil and Tom walked through the doors of the small, murmuring pub side by side. Sybil scanned the tables in the area and caught sight of her elder sisters with their own husbands sitting at a large, round, six-seat table in the far corner of the room. She caught Mary's eye and waved a little too enthusiastically before trotting over to the table with Tom in tow. She greeted her sisters and brothers-in-law briefly before shaking her coat off her shoulders, unwinding the scarf from her neck and falling into one of the two free chairs. Tom removed his own jacket and sat in the final chair between Sybil and Edith. "Have you ordered drinks yet?" Sybil asked as an open question to the whole table.
"No," Matthew replied. "We've all only been here for five minutes or so."
"Lovely," Sybil murmured quietly. "I'm just going to nip to the loo. I'll be back in a minute."
When Sybil came back, she was told everyone's drinks orders had been taken. "We ordered you a glass of claret," Tom said as she sat back down beside him.
"Only one glass?" she asked mischievously.
"You can order more later," Tom said with a smirk.
"You know me so well!" she laughed, leaning slightly closer to Tom. "Thank you," she whispered sweetly before bringing her arms up to rest her hands on his shoulders and pulled him into a tender kiss.
"Oh, come on you two. Canoodling can wait until you're home. Or at least until you can use the excuse that you're both a little bit drunk," Matthew said, but couldn't help the endearing smile that crept over his lips. Even he couldn't very well deny that Sybil and Tom were perfect for each other. Part of Matthew wished he and Mary could behave in such a way. Whilst they did so in private, Mary wouldn't allow it in public. It wasn't so much that Mary wasn't affectionate; she was just very wary about who saw her affection towards Matthew, almost as if it was carved deep within her to be terribly cautious about letting her feelings be seen. Sybil blushed a light shade of pink at Matthew's words. She and Tom were so used to openly showing their love for each other that it seemed slightly unnatural for them not to nowadays.
"Oh, it doesn't matter," Edith grumbled, looking lovingly at her little sister. "The two of them barely get the time to sit together, let alone do anything else."
"Well, actually…" Sybil murmured under her breath, blushing at the thought of how she and Tom had spent a large portion of last night.
"There's no need for vulgarity, Sybil," Mary warned in a way that reminded Sybil of their grandmother. Sybil rolled her eyes, a trait she was convinced she'd learnt from Mary when they were teenagers.
"My point is," Edith continued, "none of us ever get time alone without the children. It's so rare that we all get to spend time together – all six of us without mama and papa and the children."
"It's nice," Sybil said.
"I agree," said Anthony, who was sitting between Matthew and Edith.
"It's not a common occurrence, that's true," Mary said across the table.
"It's hard when we're in Dublin," Sybil said. "And even when we're not, there usually isn't a day when all six of us are free and mama and papa are prepared to look after the children."
"I don't blame them!" Tom chuckled. "Seven children can be hard to handle."
"I don't know how they did it when we were little, let alone now," Edith sighed. "Looking after two children is hard enough," she said, looking towards Mary, who also had two children with Matthew.
"Having three is harder. Not worse, but harder," Tom mentioned. "Looking after all seven of them at their age must be tiring."
"We really must make sure we thank them when we get back," Anthony commented. Just then, the drinks arrived and when the waitress had retreated into the back rooms of the pub, Matthew raised his glass and said,
"To Robert and Cora, for being the resilient and patient grandparents they are!"
"To Robert and Cora!" everyone chorused simultaneously, raising their glasses towards the centre of the table, before all taking a swig of the various different drinks they had each ordered.
As the evening progressed, conversation went through countless topics, some of which seemed completely unconnected. Good old fashioned hearty pub food was delivered to the table, accompanied by laughs and gossiping and friendly exchanges. But, inevitably, the conversation reached the subject of children. None of the three couples were used to spending evenings away from the children. The children ranged from age five to eighteen months. Seven cousins born in the space of three and a half years: none of the family expected that. Sybil had been to first to shock the family with the announcement of the first pregnancy in the three sisters. Saoirse, now five years old, was proud to be the eldest of the group of children and loved helping to look after the little ones. Less than six months after Saoirse's birth, George had been brought into the world by Mary and Matthew. A little under a year later, Edith and Anthony had said hello to their first daughter, Elena, for the first time. Everyone had expected Sybil to be the next to become pregnant again, but it was Mary who made the announcement first, with Harriet being born about six months after Elena, only to wait another six months for James to arrive in Dublin. A year later, Edith and Anthony had greeted another daughter, whom they had named Poppy. The way the sisters had been talking at that point, they had all assumed they'd all stop at two children, but of course, if any of the three were going to keep going, it would be Sybil – everyone knew just how tactile she and Tom were (whether in private or not). So, six months after Poppy was born, Sybil and Tom welcomed Holly to their lives. Everyone was convinced Mary and Matthew had now stopped, and although Edith and Anthony hadn't made any plans, there were perhaps a few hushed murmurings that they might try for a third, and Sybil and Tom made some much less hushed murmurings about possibly extending their family of five to a family of six.
"Just think how far we've come," Edith said, reminiscing to her sisters.
"How do you mean?" Mary asked.
"Well, we were all bickering children once. Sisters, arguing over whose turn it was to go on the swing or whose doll that was or who supposedly stole what. Look at us now. We've all got our own little gaggle of noisy children."
"We haven't really stopped bickering though, have we?" Sybil laughed.
"It has got better," Mary admitted.
"Only because none of us are living in the same house anymore!" Edith pointed out.
"Well you and I had to move apart," Mary said light-heartedly, making a joke of the situation, despite the truth that lay in her words. "Sybil abandoned us for Ireland. She couldn't be peacekeeper from across the sea, could she?"
"I wouldn't have had time to, anyway," Sybil said. "Even before we had Saoirse, we barely had time to ourselves. We had work and we spent a huge amount of time with Tom's family. That's where my love of children came from though, I think. I'd had so much practice with Tom's nieces and nephews…"
"Our nieces and nephews," Tom corrected.
"Our nieces and nephews," Sybil repeated, placing one had gently on Tom's leg, "that I was never really shocked by anything when it came to Saoirse and the others."
"I wish I was that confident," Edith said, remembering her experience with Elena. "I had no idea how to do anything with Elena. And I still wasn't sure when we had Poppy."
"Nobody really knows, do they?" Mary asked into the air. "It's mothering instincts. Ask a mother-to-be what she'd do in a given situation and she couldn't tell you, but put her in that situation when it involves her own child and she'll barely hesitate. It's incredible, a mother's love."
"Are we getting sentimental now?" Matthew asked, teasing his wife gently.
"Don't be ridiculous!" she scoffed. "But it's true. I never thought I could be a good mother."
"But you are," Sybil said.
"Precisely. It's just primal instincts."
So much talk about their children made the couples all want to go and see their beloved little ones. The meal finished after a few more drinks and a lot more conversation and they all made their way back to Downton. Despite their differences, the three sisters had one thing in common – family. A sister's love runs deep inside, and nothing can alter it. They were lucky to have each other, as much as they didn't like to admit it.
Highly lacking in plot, but hopefully a sweet addition to LSL week for the theme of 'family and friends'. I hope you liked it and please review if you did.