"Robert, are you coming?" Matthew asked, already sure of the answer but wanting to breach the subject anyway.
"Tom doesn't want me there, and I wouldn't know what to do anyway. All that crossing and bobbing up and down, I went to a mass once in Rome, it was more like a gymnastics display." Robert sniggered uneasily only to be interrupted by Kieran, again.
"What he's trying to say is that he's too grand for all of it, rich folk these days can't be catholic, it wouldn't be right for them to have their own beliefs. He's trying to let you down easy Tommy, really he just wants rid of you so there'll no more gossip!"
"Kieran, be quiet, now! Do not speak of Lord Grantham that way, he is my father-in-law and a good man. I'm not pleased that he won't be there, only because that isn't what Sybil would have wanted, but I respect his decision to keep me a distance from it all and if I were him, I wouldn't have been courteous enough to allow a revolutionary to stay in my house for this long!" The atmosphere was getting rather heated and soon Violet would chip in with a snide remark, almost undoubtedly about Tom.
"Why shouldn't I speak of him in anyway I want? He wouldn't try to defend your honour if the situation was reversed, why do you go to such lengths to please a man, who will never truly accept you?" This man was being down right out of order, and no matter what it was about, Tom would not allow such things to be said.
"Either hold your tongue and apologize immediately or go upstairs and get your things, you will not have anything to do with Church of England niece!" Everyone is the room gasped, what had he just said, what could he mean to say?
"Brr-Branson, I mean Tom, what on earth do you mean Church Of England, if you don't mind me saying you are the most catholic person I have ever set eyes on!" Violet was the one to speak through looks of shock and confusion, as expected.
"All I am saying Lady Grantham, is that it no longer matters to me if Sybbie is catholic, or any other religion because either way if my brother has become a man who will speak in such a way, I will not allow my daughter, our daughter, to be brought up anywhere near him. So far, he has done nothing but try to make things difficult for me to try and build a civil relationship between him and all of you. Unless he bucks up his ideas and intends to spend the rest of his stay here trying to regain our trust, I will not be leaving to go to Liverpool with him. I'll stay up north, so you can be in closer contact with your great-granddaughter." The room fell silent and everyone seemed quite astonished my Tom's declaration, everyone except Kieran, who was on the verge of laughter and began his applause.
"Wow Tommy! Quite a speech, but you never were the observant one, they don't want you here, they want rid of you and your daughter, no matter who her mother was! What's to say they won't ask you to come with me anyway, please know though, that under no, under no circumstance will I be apologizing to this clan of la-di-dah snobs!" The look on Violet's face was the most extraordinary expression ever seen in this home.
"Don't, just don't okay? I know you won't ask to be excused so I'll do it for you." Turning to look at the rest of the table, he quietened his voice to say: "Would any of you object to my brother going up to his room to collect his things promptly and haul his dishonourable self-serving arse out of your home?" Shocked by his table manners and language, no one could manage to do more than nod their head. "You will leave tonight, I will give you enough money to buy you a room for the night in the Grantham Arms, in the village then in the morning I expect you to be gone, understood?" Kieran nodded, the same smirk stuck to his face and left the dining room without saying another word. "I am so sorry to all of you for my brother's behaviour, I apologive profusely and only hope you can forgive me for inviting such a terror to your home. Especially you Lord Grantham, I can't believe he had the nerve to say any of those things to you, and I didn't do a very good job of defending you!"
Everyone at the table looked at Tom, feeling so ashamed to have treated him so badly since the day he and Sybil had returned for Mary's wedding. Guilt was the most embarrassing emotion, even more so than embarrassment itself.
"Look, Tom. I see that you were trying to make a point to us when you said you would allow Sybil to be Church Of England, but we all know that Sybil wanted that child to be catholic just as much as you. She will be Catholic, although if you do make choose to stay up north, which we would very much appreciate despite your brother's accusations, we would like for the both of you to live here, at Downton!" Robert had stood up to make this announcement, and now everyone was looking at him surprise amounted. "The fact that you would contradict your own brother, to defend the honour of a man who has shown nothing but disdain to you since the day you arrived here, just proves you are the best and most worthy man my daughter could ever have chosen for herself."
"Honestly milord, I mean Lord Grantham, I could never ask such a thing of you, it joys me to know you want to have a role to play in your granddaughter's life but I cannot ask that you let an widowed irishman become a member of your family!" Anyone could tell that Tom was most delighted at the offer but knew that he could not ask so much of a man he barely knew.
"You didn't ask, I offered. But now I must insist, that you first come to live at Downton, and that you start to call me Robert, if we are to live together we had best be on christian name terms..." No-one had expected this to come about and everyone looked delighted to hear Robert say those words, they had all waited so long for them.
"And Tom, don't bother to try and refuse, even as our chauffeur you knew me well enough to know that I don't give up easily, now as a member of the family you must learn to appreciate my stubborness and know when you are beaten!" Tom huffed knowing that no one was able to contradict the Dowager, he started to giggle a little before declaring that he was willing to stay, if the offer still stands.