This is a part of a complete Downton Abbey rewrite, exploring the story lines that I feel had so much potential but were left by the wayside. In this version, Edith marries Anthony Strallan in late 1914. They are married happily for five years until his death from the Spanish flu. Edith's position as a keeper of her own household will serve as a source of confidence in her future dealings with Robert, her relationship with Michael Gregson, and her writing career.

April 1919.

Loxley was a good place for living. Not so large as Downton, it was dignified while retaining a sense of warmth. It was also a good place for mourning, having plenty of nooks and sitting places hidden from the taunting sun.

Born second, noticed last, married first, Edith Crawley Strallan was not one to fight the inevitable. She had learned early in her childhood that things often did not go her way. Her first love ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere off the coast of Maine. Her second love, and first reciprocated, made it back from the war relatively unscathed, but that did not much matter now.

Anthony Strallan lay on the grand bed he usually shared with his wife, a practice he unwittingly shared with his in-laws. His skin radiated with the fever that sent the blood pounding through his temples for days. His right hand, clammy to the touch, was held by his wife. Looking at her, Anthony was once again amused that he had won over such a lovely young woman while he was in the middle of life, when he had not been considered such a prize even in his youth.

"You remind me of Maud when we first married. She was very funny. Not a lot of people saw that but she was." he'd said to her, on their first drive through the countryside in the months before the war. Looking back, discussing his late wife might not have been the best way of wooing, but Edith had understood what he meant. She always understood what he meant.

In a few hours he would be gone. Lady Edith Strallan would be the acting baronet of Loxley. Their son would be without a father for the majority of his life. She thought of him now, in the nursery where she'd left him with his aunts. Anthony opened his eyes after a long blink, "You gave me my life back you know?" Edith leaned in, resting their joined hands under her chin. "And you are very funny. Maybe a lot of people don't see that. But I do." Anthony Strallan chuckled and exhaled deeply. For now, Edith sat by the bed and held his hand, with him being grateful she had given him his life back and she thinking that he was very funny.