AN: The universe of That American Girl is somehow still stuck in my mind and there are several alternative versions that I have decided to work on. This is the second one of them.
For those of you who haven't read the original version of That American Girl (TAG) here is a short summary:
TAG is based on the idea that Violet got her will and that Robert did not marry Cora, but someone else instead. Consequently Cora married someone else as well, namely the Duke of Suffolk and they have a son named William Samuel. However, Sam has never met his father because the father died before Sam was born, which of course means that Sam himself has been a duke all his life. Cora was never really happy with the Duke.
Robert and his wife have a horrible marriage and do not get along at all, but they have daughter, Mary (yes, THE Mary). Robert and Cora eventually meet again and fall in love.
Anyway, I hope you like this and that I am not boring you with the TAG universe.
As always, let me know what you think!
Kat
P.S.: I know this is a rather unrealistic story and it probably is OOC a bit for both Robert and Cora, at least considering their relationship to one another, but I just liked the idea of this story and hope that you do too.
For those of you who have not read the original TAG story: The first chapter is told from Sam's point of view, which might be little hard to realize if you don't know the original version.
He has lived with just his mother all his life. Except for the servants of course, but in matters of family it has always just been the two of them. His father died before he was even born, apparently the man was part of carriage race gone wrong, and he has been the Duke of Suffolk all his life. It has never bothered him, it has always been like that and he wonders if maybe the responsibility wears less on him than on others of a similar rank because he has never known it to be different. His mother has of course taught him well, she taught him to accept his position but to also think about other aspects of life. She also told him that he should get married only for love. He knows that his parents' marriage wasn't a love match, his mother's money saved his father's and thereby his estate and he also knows that his mother still regrets that marriage.
He is about to propose marriage himself, he knows that at twenty he is still rather young, but he also knows that Lilly Shackleton is the love of his life and she has been for the past four years. He is sure she will say yes and it makes him very happy. This will of course mean a major change in his and his mother's living arrangements because Lilly will obviously live with them. Fortunately, Lilly and his mother get along very well, in fact Lilly prefers his mother over her own, but there is one thing he needs to tell Lilly before the wedding, maybe even before the proposal, in fact there are two things.
While he was still younger, he sometimes wondered why his mother never remarried, there were men enough who were interested in her, who came to visit them in their townhouse in London, some of them even tried to strike up some sort of friendship with him and there were a few that he thought were rather nice, but his mother never showed any real interest, claiming her son's title and responsibility as the reason. Ever since falling in love with Lilly however, he has had the suspicion that there might be another reason all together. His mother isn't always home, she spends one or two nights away from their house almost every week and if for some reason there are weeks in which she just stays at their house, she gets rather moody and seems lonely. So four years ago, when he fell in love himself, he realized that his mother must be in love too and that she probably has an affair with someone. It doesn't really bother him, his mother is an adult, she owes him no explanations, but he thinks that this affair must have been going on for many years.
His mother once told him that she couldn't have any more children, that his birth had been very difficult and caused rather a lot of irreparable damage and so there had been even less reason for him to care about his mother's affair, as long as it stayed secret. However, he isn't so sure about the irreparable damage part anymore. His mother has changed, not in a bad way, but she has become more emotional and more fidgety and he has heard her cry several times now. When he asked her about it, she said it was nothing, but he has heard her throw up every morning for the past week and he is almost sure that she is pregnant. He has already considered just confronting her with his suspicion, in fact he has already made plans on how to deal with this, his plan is to take his mother to his estate, let her have the baby there without society pointing her finger at her and then just refuse to give any explanations later on. Maybe that is not the best of plans, but it is the only one that would work. He'd love to have a brother or sister, he doesn't care about the legitimacy of his sibling, he couldn't care less about a scandal. He'd not even mind the child's father staying with them, although he is sure that he must be a married man, because otherwise he'd know the man and his mother would be married to him. He wonders if the child's father knows about the child, but he will ask his mother about that once she tells him about the baby, because eventually she will have to tell him.
When he arrives at the Palace of Westminster to attend a meeting of the House of Lords, he doesn't pay attention to where he is walking and runs into someone standing in the doorway.
"Oh, I am so sorry," he says. He has no idea who he has just run into, there are more than 700 members in the House of Lords and he knows about thirty of them.
"Never mind, I was the one standing in the doorway." He is surprised by the kindness of the man he has bumped into because the man in question must be at least 20 years his senior and those men usually do not take kindly to him because he is still so young but ranks above most of them. That is of course unless they have a daughter they would like to be a Duchess. Then those men are very friendly to him. This one probably has an eligible daughter too.
"You are the Duke of Suffolk." It is not a question and that is never a good sign.
"Yes, I am. Who are you?" he asks rather unceremoniously.
"The Earl of Grantham."
"Oh, Matthew Crawley's father-in-law then." He knows he is being too forward, but he has gotten to know Matthew Crawley rather well over the course of the last three months and he likes him a lot. They met because he was looking for a lawyer with an expertise in industrial law and the two of them have struck up a friendship.
"Matthew mentioned you were one of his clients."
"That means that you do not have a daughter you want to push towards me."
"Excuse me?" Sometimes he curses his almost American upbringing.
"I am sorry Lord Grantham, but it happens rather often that Lords who are very friendly to me are only that because they have a daughter they would like to be a duchess. But you only have the one daughter and she is married already." He knows this because Matthew told him. They have lunch together once or twice a week and Matthew told him how he became Lord Grantham's heir when the Titanic sank and how he fell in love with the Earl's only daughter on first sight and how after some initial shyness, she had fallen for him too and made him the happiest man on earth.
"I didn't know Matthew talked about our private family matters to his clients."
"He usually doesn't, but we've struck up a friendship and so he told me. And I am sorry about your wife dying." He almost forgot that Lord Grantham's wife died about seven or eight months ago.
"Thank you," Lord Grantham replies and he is almost sure that the Earl doesn't look too sorry. But according to Matthew the wife must have been horrible and maybe he is glad that he is finally not bound to her anymore.
The session begins and he has to leave because his seat is somewhere on the other side, but when he makes to leave for lunch, Lord Grantham is waiting for him.
"As you are a good friend of my son-in-law, I thought you might join me for lunch."
"Sure," he answers. He knows it is very American and when Lord Grantham laughs at this he can feel his face turning red.
"You've had a rather American upbringing, I assume."
"Yes. We didn't spend that much time in America, all in all maybe three years, but never for a period longer than four months. My mother wanted to make sure that I grew up in England. But, as the whole world seems to know, she is an American and of course that has influenced me quite a lot."
"And not for the worse, I'd say."
"You are one of a very few people who think so. Although it might be a family trait because Matthew said something similar. My well, not really fiancé, I haven't asked her yet, thinks so too. And my mother. But that is about it. I guess I just have to live with not being what I should be in the eyes of society."
"No one ever is that, Sam. Some, unfortunately most people, play a role, some to such an extent that they lose themselves." Sam. He can't believe it.
"Lord Grantham, would you care to join the Dowager Duchess and myself for dinner tonight?"
"Yes. Thank you for the invitation. I'd like to see your mother again."
"So you know my mother."
"Fleetingly." Fleetingly. That must be the understatement of this and the previous century. He doesn't say anything though, because he genuinely likes Lord Grantham but he is rather shocked because this is not what he expected, not at all.
When he tells his mother about the impending visit of the Earl of Grantham, she can hardly keep her composure and he wonders if he shouldn't just let her off the hook, but then again he is having fun with this and he knows that his mother can take a joke, he knows that at least she will laugh about this in the end. He isn't too sure about Lord Grantham's ability to laugh about himself, but he thinks that all in all, it would make things much, much easier if the two of them would just come clean to him. And probably to Lady Mary and Matthew. And the infamous 'Granny'.
He joins his mother in the drawing room and he is sure that he has never seen her so nervous. He thinks about teasing her, but then remembers that she is very likely pregnant and decides against that.
"The Earl of Grantham," the butler announces and both he and his mother get up.
He almost feels sorry for his mother and Lord Grantham because he can see that it is quite a struggle for them to not appear too familiar, so he pretends to be oblivious to every slip they make. The dinner conversation is polite if a little held back and he has to carry most of the conversation because his usually rather chatty mother seems to be afraid of saying something that will give her away.
"Mama, I don't think we need the separation today with just one guest. Let's just all go the drawing room. Unless you insist on a cigar Lord Grantham, because that cannot be smoked in the drawing room.
"I don't, thank you." He knows he's been a little unkind but he wants to test the Earl to find out more about him and so far his impression that Lord Grantham is a nice man has held true. In fact he can't imagine him not being a good man because if he wasn't his mother wouldn't have had an affair with him for years, probably almost two decades. Because he knows that there is something that his mother should tell Lord Grantham and that she could never do so while he was still there, he decides to go to bed rather early.
"Mama, Lord Grantham, I am rather tired and I think I'll go upstairs. You don't have to leave on my account Lord Grantham, I know you and my mother are old friends." He kisses his mother on the cheek and leaves. He briefly considers waiting outside the drawing room to listen but then thinks that it is really not his business and that he'd be mortified if his mother new about some conversations he has had with Lilly, so he decides to really go upstairs.
