The Best Policy
By: Miss Phyllis Baxter (knockedoveralamp)
Ship: Rachel x Daniel
Word Count: 935
Summary: This takes place after that horrible tea time at Brancaster, where Rachel makes Daniel tell her what was going on. Title taken from the saying 'Honesty is the best policy'.
Daniel walked into the room he was sharing with his wife in silence. He discarded his dressing gown and climbed into bed before leaning over to press a soft kiss to Rachel's cheek. He picked up his book and opened it before Rachel pulled it from his hands and put it on her bedside table. "What?" he asked in a nervous tone because he knew exactly what his wife wanted to talk about.
"Today," Rachel replied, looking at him. She took his face in her hands to try and make him look at her. She was hurting inside with worry for him. She loved him and he had been in such a state of panic when that woman had come in with the little boy. She had sensed that Rose, Mary and Robert had been lying when they had made it seem like they knew her. With the look on Daniel's face, she decided to continue. "Who was that woman and why did her arrival send you into such a state of panic?"
"She's not anybody, I was simply in shock that someone would show up like that," he replied, instantly regretting the lie. His wife didn't deserve to be lied to about this. He had already lied for long enough, and if she was going to leave him for it, then so be it. She would have every right too. He had let her go on for 7 years now thinking that he was faithful to her, and it had been a lie. His heart wouldn't stray from her ever again, but it had strayed once and the consequences would follow him around forever.
"Daniel, I know that's a lie. One minute, Robert and Mary are claiming to have never seen her before in their lives, and then they suddenly know her. Cora even told me that she had never been to Downton, but Robert said she had been," Rachel said. "And they'd only lie if there were something that the guests mustn't know about. I probably looked so stupid to all of them, being the only one out of our entire family to not know her and the boy. Tell me Daniel. I won't be angry." Confirm what I think is going on and I will forgive you. I'll always forgive you my love.
Daniel sighed, not wanting to express that she would be angry with him. She would have to be. To find out that Atticus wasn't his only son, that he had taken another woman to bed (and a Christian woman, no less), that he had been supporting this child though he had not been with the mother in several years. "Rose saved me from having to reveal it all to everyone, including you and our guests. The woman's name is Diana Clarke and the boy's name is Daniel."
"He has the same name as you, I've been wondering about that," Rachel said. "Continue."
"Do you remember during the war right when Atticus was about to become old enough to fight, and you and I were too worried about him to pay much attention to each other?" Rachel nodded lightly. "Well, you might remember that there were some nights I wasn't home, I was with Diana. Daniel is my son."
Rachel nodded lightly and smiled faintly at her husband before taking a deep breath. "I can't say that I'm not surprised at you Daniel. Have you been supporting your son?" she asked, almost knowing that he would answer yes; he wasn't the type of man to shirk his duty. "Have you been with her since then? And if not her, is there another that I have yet to meet?"
"Yes I have been supporting him. And no, not her nor any other woman but you," he replied. "Are you angry with me? You'd have every right to be."
"I'm not angry with you," Rachel replied, pressing her lips to her husband's gently. "I'm not angry because you haven't let it happen again. A lot of men would just keep on doing it, but not you. You're better than that. You've been supporting the child, as you should do. And the war was a horrid time for us, especially after 1917. Constantly worried that Atticus would be called up and that he'd be sent off and that we'd lose our only child. I can't get angry with you for finding comfort. I wasn't offering you any comfort, and I guess you needed it."
"I was worried that you'd start asking if I really loved you, and then questioning how I could do this to you," Daniel said, taking his wife's hand in his. "I do love you and I know I've been a fool in the past, but it hasn't happened since and it'll never happen again."
"If our marriage had been in a good place when it happened, I may have questioned, but it wasn't. And I know that all people are fallible. You're fallible, I'm fallible, Robert and Cora are fallible," she whispered, inching closer to him. "But not one day has gone by that I have doubted your love for me. I've known of your undying love for me since I was seventeen. I know the love isn't going anywhere."
"I don't deserve you sometimes Rachel," Daniel whispered against her lips. "But I strive to be worthy of your love, and I thank you for your forgiveness in the matter."
"I will always forgive the man I have loved since I learned what true love is," Rachel replied, kissing her husband and pulling him down on top of her.