Chapter 1: A sunrise to mark a new beginning
The curtains were opened and the sun glared into Mary and Matthew's room. Mary didn't open her eyes, in fear of being dazzled by the morning light, but she turned herself in such a way that she could bury herself in Matthew's side. She pulled the covers up over her some more and blearily opened her eyes. Anna came in first thing every morning, and every morning the two of them woke up to the sound of her heels on the floor, or of the tray being put down at their bedside, but not this time. Matthew had woken even before Anna walked in the room and had spent his time thinking about all sorts of things – life, his wife, books, work, the plan for the day – and looking at Mary, realising how much he loved her, but Mary had slept through all of that and woke up only to the gorgeous, not-particularly-English sunrise that had found a way to her through closed eyes. She had opened her eyes long enough to see the remarkable colour of light on the bed, but had closed them immediately when she decided it was far too bright to see first thing in the morning. Matthew turned his head and pressed a kiss into Mary's hair and said, "Morning." Mary replied with a smile that Matthew couldn't see and ran a soft hand over his chest. Matthew put his hand over hers and squeezed it gently. "Mary," he said, waiting for a reply before going on. She just managed to mumble back, sleepily,
"Mmm?"
"Look at the sunrise," he said, in awe of the beauty of it.
"I can't," Mary muttered. "It's too bright; I can't cope."
"Don't be so grumpy! It's glorious. You'll be sorry if you miss it." Matthew squeezed her hand as gentle encouragement to take a look. Mary reluctantly pushed herself up, letting Matthew do the same, but grumbled while doing so. She sat up and leant against Matthew. He put an arm around her back, lovingly. She rubbed her eyes to force them to deal with the sun and pulled together her thoughts enough to be able to look out of the window. Her jaw dropped gradually, without her realising. She was completely star-struck. The last time she'd seen a sunrise that wonderful in England had been before the war; before the Titanic went down; probably even before her engagement to Patrick. All that time had passed since then, but it was the one morning that stuck in her memory more than any other. But this sunrise was even better in a way – maybe because she had Matthew, or maybe because it was genuinely a more remarkable sunrise, but she was in complete astonishment. The rays of light wound their way through the branches and leaves of the trees. They set an orangey, magical light on the grass, lighting up the dew from the night, making the grass sparkle everywhere, as if it had been sprinkled with thousands of tiny diamonds. The birds were jumping around on the grass and flying from one tree to the next, singing their songs beautifully. The light was gorgeous and made Mary, Matthew and Anna happy to be alive. All three of them were anticipating a good day ahead. Mary stared at it, trying to take everything in. To wake up and have something with that level of beauty stare her in the face was not a normal occurrence. Matthew, although astounded by the magnificent wonder of it, was less struck by it – he had been up for half an hour or so and had had time to let his eyes adjust themselves, and anyway, he could never think of a sunrise as more beautiful and elegant than his wife. Mary wanted to be outside and see it through thin air and not through a less-than-perfectly-clean window. She wanted it to stay like that forever, but knew it would only stay in her memory. She, Matthew and Anna all knew that the sun would move and time would roll on and leave the view in the past. But they kept their eyes on it for as long as they could. Matthew kissed through Mary's hair again and said, "Glad I made you look at it now?" Anna smirked to herself, as Mary turned in bed and shot him a look as if to say, Oh, alright, perhaps you were right this time, but you don't need to mock me, thank you!, before giving him a kiss as a 'good morning'. After a few minutes Matthew left to get dressed and have breakfast, while Mary stayed in bed. Anna placed the tray over Mary's legs and Mary ate slowly and not very much. She wasn't particularly hungry and was spending her time looking at the sunrise, but then, so was Anna.
"When was the last time English nature gave us something like that?" Mary said, not taking her eyes off the garden, but aiming the question at her maid.
"I don't think it ever has given us anything so beautiful, Milady," Anna replied, as Mary threw back her covers and walked over to the window.
"Perhaps not. But it makes you happy, doesn't it?" Mary asked, knowing that the answer from anyone with working sight would be 'yes'.
"Yes. Very happy." Soon enough Mary was getting dressed, but even then she didn't stop gawping at the light until the sun was up enough just to be a normal morning sun in the cloudless sky of the English countryside. And even then, the sun had something about it. It was not a normal morning. There was certainly some gorgeous quality within the air.
Mary was soon down the stairs and walking into the drawing room with a skip in her step and a new energy about her. Normally she'd look for Matthew, but on this occasion she didn't really care about who she'd find. Instead she was just wandering aimlessly and rather happily. "Morning, Mary," Edith said as she walked into the room.
"Yes, it is rather good, isn't it?" Mary replied with a smile.
"Did you see the sunrise?" Tom asked – aimed at both women.
"Yes," they said together, both looking rather happy.
"It was rather impressive," Mary continued.
"I agree," said Tom, "It was absolutely stunning. I've never seen one like it. Even less so at this time of year. We never had them to quite that level in Ireland when I was there."
"Well, we don't here, normally," Edith stated, "But it means we relish it when we do get one as wonderful as the one this morning," she turned to her sister and asked, "Are we still riding this morning?"
"I don't see a reason why not," Mary said in high spirits, "But I want to write some letters before we go, so you probably won't see me much until we're off." Mary smiled and let Tom and Edith keep chatting and headed back upstairs to write those few letters. Matthew saw her going up the stairs from the hall and said to her from below,
"Where are you going. You've only just come down, haven't you?"
"Yes, but I don't know why I did. It was a sort of spur-of-the-moment decision. Anyway, I want to write some letters before I go riding with Edith."
"You never told me you were going riding," Matthew said, not complaining, but simply pointing out a fact.
"Didn't I?" Matthew shook his head and Mary continued. "Oh. Well, never mind. I'm going, regardless of what you think."
"I'm glad to see I influence your life so much," Matthew said, mocking his wife, as she began again to climb the stairs.
"You do influence my life 'so much'! I love you," Mary called back as she made her way up to the top of the stairs. Matthew continued into the library, looking for a new book to read. He often found Robert in the library when he ever went in, but he wasn't there this morning. Robert had gone to have a look at one of the cottages on the estate, so Matthew was alone in the library. It was the first time in all the time he'd spent in that room that he realised how large it was; and quite how empty it seemed with nobody there. He started browsing the endless shelves, completely unsure of what genre of book he might like to read. He wasn't in the mood for reading extracts of multiple books to see if it would intrigue him – he just wanted to get on with reading, so he spotted The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, a book which he'd read a million times before, and began to read it again. He knew everything that would happen. He practically knew the first few pages off by heart, but it didn't hinder his love for the story. He knew that Mary wanted to be locked away, so he sat in the library, away from the noise of Edith and Tom (and probably soon to be Cora as well) having a general gossip. He found himself a comfortable position and read. He could have been there for the entire day and finished the book. It was not a short book, but was not one that would take days of constant reading to get through. But due to the fact that he'd read it so many times before – over and over again, he read it even quicker than he would a book he'd never laid eyes on before. He knew what would come up next at every point, but the book was still one of his favourites of all time. He was a fair way through it – for the amount of time he'd been reading it, when he was interrupted by Tom, who said at the door,
"Do you fancy going to have a look at one of the cottages with Robert? Sorry to interrupt your reading, but I did say we'd meet him, and I sort of forgot to mention it to you."
"In that case, I think I ought to come with you. The wrong side of Robert is not a good place to be. And it doesn't matter about the book. I've read it countless times before," he said, as he got up, left the book on the table with a bookmark marking where he'd stopped and began walking out of the room. "Let me just go and tell Mary I'm leaving, and then I'll be ready to go," he said, as he headed towards the stairs.
"I'll wait for you outside the front door then," Tom called after him, wishing he still had Sybil to inform of his departure from the house. It seemed that the little things is what got him so emotional about her. He missed her more on the little things, like not being there to share news with on a good day, or not being there to tell, 'I love you' (the fact that he thought it wasn't enough – he wanted to be able to tell her face to face), than on the bigger things, like not being there in bed, or not being there at Christmas – he'd got used to these over time. Matthew got upstairs and knocked on his bedroom door. A voice calling,
"Come in," came from behind the door, so Matthew did so. Mary was just finishing getting changed to go on her ride with Edith. Anna was just leaving when Mary said, "Hello, darling,"
"Hello," Matthew replied, and gave her a quick kiss. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to the other side of the estate with Tom to talk about one of the cottages, so I may not be here when you and Edith get back from your ride."
"Alright. Will you be back for lunch?"
"That's a good point. Err, probably not, come to think of it. I'll get Tom and your father to agree to get lunch with me in the village," Matthew realised, as he made a mental note.
"I'll tell them downstairs before I leave then, shall I? On your behalf," Mary teased, with a smile on her face.
"Would you? Thank you ever so much. I love you, Mary. My darling, darling wife." Matthew gave her another kiss, but a much more elongated one this time. His lips didn't break contact with hers as they danced their tongues together, softly... lovingly... passionately... and tenderly. Mary broke the bond between them when she realised that if somebody didn't break it then they'd be together like that all day. She completed it with,
"I love you." Matthew simply smiled at the comment, gave her another peck and hurried out of the door, remembering that Tom was waiting for him out of the front of the house. He hurried down the stairs and walked out of the house to find Tom stroking the nose of Diamond, Mary's horse, and talking to Edith, who was already mounted on her own horse. Matthew saw that Edith was waiting and said,
"Mary will be out in a minute. She wants to talk to Mrs. Patmore for 30 seconds, but she'll be out any minute."
"That's fine. I can wait. I wouldn't if it was raining, but how can I not enjoy waiting in weather like this?"
"Well then, we'll leave you to it," Matthew replied. Tom left Edith and the horses in the capable hands of two of the groomsmen and was off, talking to Matthew about the cottage as soon as they were no longer staring at horses.
Meanwhile, inside Mary was now downstairs, but she had no luck in finding Mrs. Patmore. Instead she just saw Bates and said to him, "Bates, I need to go, and I can't find Mrs. Patmore, so could you possibly tell her that Lord Grantham, Mr. Crawley and Mr. Branson have said they'd get lunch in the village, as they'll be on the other side of the estate anyway."
"Of course, Milady," Bates replied, nodding his head slightly.
"Thank you, Bates." She left swiftly and ran out to Edith. The groomsmen helped Mary onto Diamond and Edith and Mary started chatting – as friends – as they walked off onto one of the many patches of bright grass that looked like it belonged in some exotic country. Over the past week or so Edith and Mary really had become very close friends. Neither one of them knew why, but they had, and they were being kind enough to each other that Mary had told Edith and no one else – not even Matthew – that she thought she might be pregnant. "Come on, Mary, you can't wait forever; when are you planning to find out if you actually are pregnant?" Edith asked, but it didn't sound pushy at all, but friendly. They were words of encouragement, rather than words of force.
"I'm going to see Doctor Clarkson this afternoon, but I don't know how I can get Matthew to not be suspicious. I can't think of a good excuse for going into Ripon this afternoon," Mary pondered aloud, posing the question to her sister, to see if she had a good idea of what to say.
"Well, why do you want to keep it from him anyway?" Edith asked, not helping Mary's case, but asking a question that Mary hadn't really asked herself. Mary hesitated before saying,
"Well; I suppose I just don't want to get his hopes up too much. He's wanted to hear me say the words, 'I'm pregnant' since our wedding night. I don't want to get him excited for no reason – just to have those hopes destroyed."
"He won't thank you for it," Edith said. "If you are, then he would want to be there to find out at the same time as you. I can come with you into Ripon, if you really want me to. I can say that we just needed a walk together – some sisterly time alone, but I really think it'd be best if you went with Matthew." Mary didn't reply, so Edith said, "Why don't I leave you to think about it, and just come and tell me what you've decided later." Mary smiled to say, 'Thank you for being so understanding', but then Edith said, "But, if you decide to go with Matthew then you'd better let me be the first to know what the verdict is!" The two of them laughed as Mary said,
"Of course I will! Well, after Doctor Clarkson, Matthew and I!" They decided to canter around for a bit, but after a few minutes Diamond jumped sideways and reared up and Mary fell off. Edith screamed Mary's name, and asked after her welfare, to which Mary replied, "I think I'm fine, actually, Edith." She didn't get up for a few seconds. She sat up and rubbed her thigh, realising that it'd be bruised, but when she saw that she wasn't seriously injured she got up and quickly grabbed Diamond's reigns. He'd got over himself and was standing patiently, waiting for something to happen. Mary realised that she'd be stiff the next morning and probably that afternoon too.
"Are you certain you're alright?" Edith asked again, trying to be sure.
"Yes, I think so. My leg's going to be bruised, and I think probably my shoulder as well, but I'll be fine. Did you notice anything in Diamond's hooves?"
"No. And it still doesn't look like anything has hurt him. Maybe he just spooked at something."
"Maybe," Mary said, but she didn't get back on him. "I might just walk him back," she said to Edith. Mary started walking with Diamond, and Edith remained mounted along side, but Edith mentioned Diamond's state,
"Mary, he's grazed all up the side of one leg, and he's limping on that foot." Mary looked around and noticed what he'd done.
"Oh dear. How did that happen?"
"Maybe he spooked at a robin and grazed his leg as he jumped sideways," Edith suggested.
"Maybe," Mary said, not convinced, "But he's normally fine around birds. It's wind that tends to get him jumpy."
"Well then maybe he stepped on something?" Edith wondered.
"I don't know, but I need to get him back to the stables." Mary and Edith walked slowly back to the stables. Usually they'd go to the front of the house and wait for the stable hands to come to them, but instead they went straight to the stables. They were closer and it was certain that there would be somebody who knew a thing or two about horses there. When they arrived, Edith hopped off and one of the stable boys came out to take her horse away from her, but as he turned to leave Edith said,
"Could you fetch someone who knows about treating grazes, please?" The boy nodded and sent for someone more senior. A man arrived. He'd been looking after Mary's and Edith's horses since they were girls. He knew more about horses than anyone they knew.
"Leave him with me," he said to Mary. "He'll be fine, but that will need to heal before he can get ridden again, I'm afraid." Mary nodded and said,
"Not surprising, really. Thank you so much." She and Edith walked back to the house, Mary complaining of aches the whole way there. They got the house and the pair of them got changed and reunited back down in the drawing room.
Tell me if you like it! I was just really annoyed that they skipped a whole year and that we never got the joy of seeing Mary tell Matthew that they're expecting, so I decided that I could try to get rid of some of that anger by writing a story for it - here's the result of that thinking.