As always... Nothing belongs to me. Please have fun and let me know if you liked it.
She had a routine on the anniversaries of his death. A routine almost nobody knew of. She would meet nobody on that day. No family. No friends.
Her maid would put out her black dress. The one you wore when you were mourning. She wouldn't speak to anybody. Her maid and butler knew what to do. Only to serve light meals and at a particular time so it would be clear when it would be time to eat without the need to say anything about it.
Violet would sort through old pictures and paintings. She would think about her time with Patrick and she would mourn.
The Dower House was always quiet these days. Sometimes you could hear a sob out of the drawing room but most of the time Violet cried silent tears. After teatime she would drink a sherry like she had done when Patrick was still alive. Often she drank two so that the pain would go away. It never did.
After dinner a driver would come and drive her to the estate so she could visit his grave.
In her younger years she sat on the ground crying and touching his tombstone. She couldn't do that anymore. Instead she stands in front of the grave and cries while clutching the medallion he gave her once. When she couldn't stand anymore because her hip ached to much she would go to the tombstone, press a kiss to her fingers and then her fingers to the tombstone. After that she would turn around and go home.
Her last action of the day would be a drink. She would drink the same scotch Patrick always had. His favorite scotch. Then she would cry herself to sleep.
The next day she was always back to be the prim and proper Dowager Countess. Nobody would notice.
Her staff didn't talk about the day before.
That was her routine since the first year he had died. It never changed.
Except this year.