Of course I own nothing... all hail Baron fellows
Peevish
Edith closed the door to the nursery. She'd done it. Marigold was tucked in her little cot in the same nursery as her cousins. She brought her daughter home. Under false pretenses, true, but Marigold was here and here she would stay. Edith now had both her mother and her granny to bolster her position, so Marigold was home to stay.
Swiftly, she darted down the stairs to the telephone and connected to London. "May I speak to Lady Rosamund Painswick? This is her niece, Lady Edith Crawley." She politely went through the full course of greeting and introduction even though Aunt Rosamund's butler knew her voice by heart and certainly knew to whom she wished to speak.
"Darling, is the thing done? Everyone has agreed?" Rosamund asked without preamble.
"Yes, yes." Edith said, softly, "She's asleep upstairs. Out like a little light, poor lamb. She's had such a busy few days."
"I hope it will work out well, my darling," Rosamund said, warmly, "I know this isn't perfect, but we have no perfect option before us. Cora's intervention gave us one that is actually tolerable. I didn't know one could exist."
"Who could have guessed?" Edith gave a relieved little laugh, "You must come up to visit us when things are settled. You can properly visit with her."
"Cora is still frightfully angry with both granny and me, my darling. I think absence is logical." Rosamund said.
"I won't have a falling out between you all, when you were only being loyal to me and respecting my privacy." Edith replied calmly, "You'll come up next weekend. That's final."
"Oh, you mothers. You think you know everything," Rosamund smirked, "And so bossy. Fine, my darling. I am glad to be able to see Marigold so soon. But you must smooth it with your mother. Good night, my love."
"Good night, Aunt Rosamund. See you soon." Edith hung up the phone. As she turned around she saw her mother frowning at her, "Mama, I was just chatting with Aunt Rosamund."
"More secrets?" Cora asked, frowning.
Edith looked perplexed and shook her head as Mary and Tom came down the stairs, she stepped closer and smiled at her mother, "Nothing of the sort, but shall we speak later?"
"Yes, we shall." Cora said pointedly and followed the others into the library. Edith nodded, but didn't trouble herself. For years, her mother had threatened to discuss this or that matter with her daughters later, implying they would be scolded at a more appropriate time. Later never seemed to occur. Cora never seemed to remember the offense or lost the will to discipline her children between the infraction and whenever she might be able have a word with them. All three of her daughters had used the deferral tactic with great success. Edith doubted tonight would be the night she'd be called upon the carpet for the dubious crime of calling her Aunt on the telephone.
Edith was incorrect.
After she'd settled into her bed for the night, with a book in hand, her mother entered her room, trailed by Baxter carrying a tray with hot chocolate and small cakes. "Put the tray down there, Baxter and thank you." Cora said, kindly. After the lady's maid exited, she smiled at Edith, "Now you and I shall have a talk."
"About what?" Edith asked, getting out of her bed and joining her mother at the small table in her room, eyeing the refreshments doubtfully, "I think you know everything."
"I don't." Cora frowned, "I know you had a child with Michael Gregson, but I don't know how that came to be. I know that you confided in your Aunt and your Granny, but not me. I don't know how that came to be either."
"Oh, Mama," Edith sighed watching her mother pour out cups of steaming chocolate, "it really is water under the bridge now. Michael and I loved one another. The night before he left forever I showed him how much I loved him. That night was all that was required. 41 and a half weeks later, Marigold was born in Geneva. Aunt Rosamund knew everything because her maid caught me sneaking back in the morning after Michael and I made love," Edith watched her mother wince slightly when she chose not to seek a guarded euphemism, "She was also there when I decided to end the pregnancy."
Cora looked shocked, "You decided to end the pregnancy?"
"For less than a week, that was my decision. I made an appointment. Went down to London. I acted suspicious enough that Rosamund guessed my condition, I told her my plan and though she hotly discouraged me, she went with me to the office. But I couldn't do it. I wanted my child. So Aunt Rosamund took me home and began scheming for ways that I could get through it. I was useless. I had heard Michael was missing, so I was terrified for him. Ashamed of myself and I had no one to turn to but my aunt who was being marvelous."
"You could have come to me." Cora said, emphatically.
"I tried. I'd start to tell you and then you'd say something that would convince me not to." Edith didn't really wish to have this conversation. "I may have been wrong to think this, but my opinion at the time, was that your love for me was not strong enough to sustain me through my struggles."
"Why would you think that?" Cora asked, her eyes filling with tears.
"Because it never had been in the past." Edith explained, gently. "I've always either found my own way or gone to others for help, Mama. Even as a little girl, your interest in me wasn't a powerful force in my life."
"I reject that." Cora replied.
"Please feel free to do so." Edith said, "I am very grateful for the assistance you've given me this week and sincere interest you've taken in Marigold's situation and future."
"Not the warmest of thank yous." Cora said, wiping a tear away.
"But the sincerest, Mama. Perhaps you do love me, there've been times I've thought it might be true. After my almost wedding, you were sympathetic for a while. After we learned of Michael's death, once again you were kind. But it never seemed to last very long with me. You bore quickly where I am concerned." Edith brushed her own tears away.
"That's not true." Cora said, but her face was clouded with a bit of doubt.
"But I was Aunt Rosamund's favorite. When I was 8 years old, you forgot my birthday. Do you remember that?" Cora shook her head, "I do, unfortunately. Mary will. She thought it was hilarious. Until Aunt Rosamund appeared with a huge box just for me. It was twice as big as the one Mary had gotten on her birthday. She lied for you. She said there was no little party at Downton because she was taking me to London for a week with her and Uncle Marmaduke."
"Oh. That birthday." Cora remembered, "It wasn't quite like that. Your grandparents were coming from America in two weeks and the house was in an uproar. Yes you fell through the cracks, a little, but that doesn't mean I didn't love you!"
"Of course not. An 8 year old cannot always be expected to understand the nuance of all situation, I think you will agree." Edith said dryly, "I had a jolly time in London, though. So it did feel like that was my present."
"You always liked going to spend time with Rosamund." Cora sniffed, "But she was such a bad influence on you. You were peevish for days when you'd come back."
Edith opened her mouth to speak, then closed it looking intently at her cup of chocolate.
Cora frowned, "Now you won't speak?"
"Now you've set a trap." Edith said striving to keep her voice serene, "I am considering my options. In truth, there is nothing I can say. I cannot defend myself. Anything I say will confirm that I am peevish still. And will confirm your injury at my hands. Fine. If that is what you need me to say. Is it? You are the injured party here? Nothing I have suffered in the course of the last 2 years can compare to what you've suffered in being kept in the dark? I should have trusted you above Aunt Rosamund and Granny?" Edith leaned forward. "Perhaps that last bit is true. I should have. And I wish I had been able to bring this trouble to you, for it might have been more happily resolved sooner. But our relationship had never been one that encouraged me to have confidence in your steadfastness."
"But you had faith in Granny?" Cora asked sharply.
"Granny figured it out." Edith said leaning back, "I would have been too terrified to tell her. Aunt Rosamund made the mistake of telling her to give me extra cherishing then announced we were going to Switzerland to learn French. She knew very well what all that meant. Honestly, we weren't being all that subtle." Edith sighed, "Don't be cruel to Granny. She was very lovely about the whole thing. She paid for my passage, my board and my hospital. She even came to see me when Marigold was being born."
"I'd have been with you as well." Cora said, angrily.
"I know that now. But I was so miserable at the time, I wouldn't have wanted you there. Granny and Rosamund... there was no judgment." Edith explained.
"I wouldn't have judged you."
"Then why are you judging me now? Why are you judging them now?" Edith asked sadly. "I do love you, Mama. I always have, but this is the first time you've come to my room after bedtime since... have you ever come to my room after bedtime? Even after my botched wedding. Even after everything that happened with Michael... the first thing that brings you here for a long talk, isn't my need, but your hurt feelings."
"I am your mother, not Rosamund." Cora stated, suddenly.
"Of course," Edith replied.
"Marigold is my grandchild." She said emphatically.
"You are the only grandmother she has." Edith noted.
"I am going to protect both of you. I alone can do it."
"That has occurred to me in the last few days," Edith agreed.
"And I am doing it because I love you and because I love you, I love her." Cora explained.
"I understood that without hot chocolate, Mama."
"But I want you to love me as you love Rosamund," tears streamed down Cora's face, "As Sybil loved me."
Edith gasped, "Oh, Mama. Of course. I didn't understand." She leaned forward and embraced her mother. "I can love both you and Aunt Rosamund at once, I promise."
Cora sobbed softly into her daughter's golden hair, "No, darling. You have to love me best."
"Don't be peevish, Mama." Edith sighed.