She opened her eyes to the reality she had tried for so long to rid from her mind. The day had finally come. In a few hours, Matthew was to wed Lavinia and whatever small chance she thought she still had with him up until then was now non-existent. She hoisted herself up in bed and leaned against the back of the bed. She lifted her hands to her head and heaved a sigh. Slowly she slid her hand down over her eyes and wept.

. . .

There was a knock at the door. Mary turned from the window to see her mother standing in her doorway with a solemn expression.

"Oh, my dear." She said wistfully.

"It's alright mother. You needn't look so grave. It's only a wedding. We've been to many weddings before. How should this be any different?"

She moved away from the window to the jewelry box by her bedside. Careful to not catch her mother's eye, she preoccupied herself with locating her earrings.

"I shouldn't have called her back." Her mother moved further into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"As I said, mother. It's perfectly alright. Matthew is well now. In the end, she would have found her way back to him. You only made it happen sooner than later."

Mary was beginning to get flustered. She could not find the earrings she had set out the find and all this talk about Matthew and his impending marriage looming over her was souring her mood. "Oh, where is it! I was sure I put it in here. I should send for Anna-" She turned to make a leave but was stopped before she could even take another step.

"It isn't too late, you know."

Mary had been looking down. Now she looked up and stared at her mother who had sorrowful eyes that mirrored hers. She took another breath. She wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her again. Who would ever guessed, the cold and careful Lady Mary Crawley being so weakened under the spell of a attraction for a man. She held her head high and answered as steadily as she could.

"But of course it's too late. In a few hours, they are to be wed. In this house! What do you propose I do? There are enough rumours going around as it is and I'd rather not have my sabotaging a wedding added to them. And as I just said, it's only a wedding. I may have had a certain attachment to Matthew in the past but I can ensure you we have nothing but friendship between us now. Now if you will excuse me, mother, I really must find Anna."

As she made her way to the door, her mother gently placed her hand on her arm and gave it a little squeeze before letting go and departing through the door before her.

. . .

The wedding was to be held in the garden. The sun was beaming its brightest and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. Cool wind blew and the air smelled of the flowers that grew around the garden. There couldn't have been a more perfect day to celebrate the unity of two hearts. Soon, the guests would be arriving and if she could not find him [Matthew] before they did, the next time she would meet would him would be as a married man. It's not that she wanted to as she so dramatically put it earlier, "sabotage" the wedding she merely wanted to have a final say with him before he truly belonged by law to another woman other than her. The wedding was still two hours away so she would have a sufficient amount of time to find him before the time was up. Surely enough after searching around for a short while, she found him alone by the lake. She made her way to join him.

But as she moved towards him and the lake, he suddenly thrust his hand forwards and threw what appeared to be a toy in the shape of a dog into the lake. This halted her in her steps. She looked towards to lake to see the remnants of small ripples in the water created by the force of the object thrown into it.

Slowly and quietly, she backed away. She had to stop longing for him. He had clearly moved on. It was time for her to do so as well. She held her gaze on him for as long as she could bear before she took her leave, head held high once more in an effort to regain herself. If only she had turned around once more to glance at Matthew before she disappeared into Downton for then she would have seen that this wasn't the case. As she walked away, Matthew could be seen soaked to his skin in the lake, searching frantically for the gift he had just thrown in.