Here's a new story for you, a Downton AU with Mary and Matthew as the central characters and couple. This idea came to me after reading several other similar stories on different forums, but I've got a few little twists planned along the way :)
I should point out that, as this is an AU, Mary and Matthew are in no way related and I've added a few branches to the Crawley family tree; I do hope that this doesn't put you off. Thanks guys :)
I hope you like it xD
Mary sighed. The heavy piece of parchment in her hand was like a giant slap in the face. She'd known for months that it was coming, but she didn't expect it to be quite so soon and yet here it was. The invitation. The paper itself was cream with a border of calligraphy flowers set in gold and silver. The writing itself was golden and intricate; Mary had to slant the paper slightly since it was in italics.
You are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding of
Sir Harvey Grayson and Lady Helena Crawley
On Saturday 14th April 2012 at three o'clock
The event is to take place at Lady Helena's cousins residence, the Grantham Estate and is to be hosted by
Lord and Lady Grantham
Guests are invited to bring a plus one
We hope you are able to attend and witness as Sir Harvey and Lady Helena are joined in Holy Matrimony
Mary couldn't help but roll her eyes. This had Cora Crawley, her mother, written all over it. From the 'cordially' to the 'holy matrimony'. Her mother always went overboard on weddings and Mary hated it. She had been encouraging Mary for years to find a sensible, temperance man and 'settle down', so much so that Mary found herself reminding her mother that they weren't living in the nineteenth century anymore.
She held onto the paper as she stared up at it, lying on her back on the satin covers on her bed. She sighed eventually and put it down, moving from her room into the bathroom and switching on the shower. As she did so, she tried to think of ways that she could get out of going to the wedding.
She could feign an illness but, if she remembered correctly, she had done that for her fathers fiftieth. She could claim that she was too stressed over exams, but she'd done that for Sybils twenty first. Of course, then it had been true. She could always say that she had prior engagements, but then she'd have to actually find something to do. Everyone knew that Mary Crawley had a hard time keeping anything to herself and that if she ever had plans, they were always plastered onto her Facebook wall the morning after.
Damn social networking.
She could fake cramps! No. That was the worst excuse in the world and she'd tried to use if for her elder sister, Alexandra's daughters christening. To be fair, she regretted that decision as Blaire really was such an adorable little girl.
As she climbed into the shower, Mary began to dread the thought of going to the wedding. It was only a week away and she already felt sick just thinking about it. She'd have to face her parents after almost half a year of trying to avoid them. She'd have to sit through dinner with Edith, whom she would most definitely be placed by because the entire family, immediate and extended, found their spats hilarious. She'd have to watch Sybil and her Irish socialist boyfriend, Tom, be all lovey dovey across the table and she'd have to listen to her mother go on and on about how her youngest sister, Katherine, was getting top marks in her A-levels and was set to be going to Cambridge.
Mary's scowl deepened at the thought. She loved Katie, of course, but the way her mother went on about the child you'd think she was a female version of the Baby Jesus. Mary had been all set for Cambridge, too, until the...incident. She'd been on course, had her eye on the prize, could see the end of the tunnel.
At least, until her friend Anna invited her to a party and she'd met the devilishly charming and handsome Kemal Pamuk. Mary wasn't supposed to be at the party in the first place. She'd been seventeen at the time, still a child, not yet a woman in societies eyes and that was exactly why she'd done what she shouldn't; she'd taken every drink thrown her way and she's even had a drag on someones spliff, though it had been the first and last time she'd done it.
And somehow, she'd ended up in one of the bedrooms. That would have been OK, if she'd been alone. However, as a chaste, drunk young Lady (literally), she'd allowed Kemal Pamuk, a teenager three years her senior, 'have his way with her' as her mother had phrased it later. Mary didn't have the heart to tell her mother that she'd been a willing participant in the act; she still didn't nine years later.
Mary was pulled out of her reverie as Jessie J's Domino rang out loudly and she hurriedly turned off the shower and climbed out, wrapping a towel around her body and grabbing her mobile. Immediately after answering, Mary realized that she'd broken one of her golden rules; always check caller I.D.
"Mary? It's Edith." Mary sighed, as if she could possibly mistake that voice for anyone but her sister.
"Yes. What do you want, Edith?" She asked, and quickly fought to make her voice a little bit more polite, after all, they sometimes got along. Not often, but sometimes. "I'm just a little busy, you see"
"Yeah, sorry about that, I was just checking to see whether you'd gotten your invite to Lena's wedding?" She asked in a bored fashion. When Mary proceded to tell her that yes, she had received her invite but didn't think she could make it, Edith quickly jumped in. "You're kidding, right? I mean, you're really going to do this again? Honestly, mama is already beating herself up, thinking that you've got something personal against her. You know how mama gets"
Mary did know, and nothing annoyed her more than her overly-humble mother taking everything to heart. Katie and Sybil were exactly the same. Mary and Edith, being the eldest and more like their father, were much harder to offend.
"Well you must tell her not to take it so personally, it's hardly her fault that I've so much work to do. I'm surprised that you've been able to take time off from Vogue"
Edith worked at a fashion magazine. Mary had been exceptionally surprised when Edith had been given an internship at British Vogue when she was eighteen. No one in the family, as far as Mary knew, was aware that Edith had such a love for fashion. And yet, four years later and Edith was writing her own article for the magazine called 'Ladies in Linen'. The actual article wasn't about linen, just about what the countries elite were wearing on a day to day basis. Mary hadn't starred in it for some time but this was only due to the fact that she had evaded her sister and the rest of the family, a streak which she had accepted would soon be coming to an end.
"I can work away from the office" She heard Edith say from the phone, "and you can tell mama yourself since you'll be at the wedding, correct?"
Mary sighed and nodded, before she realized that Edith couldn't see her. "Yes, fine, whatever. I will be there"
"And you'll bring your boyfriend?"
That stopped Mary's breath. Boyfriend? She quickly grabbed the invite from where she'd dumped it on the side and looked at it.
'Guests are invited to bring a plus one'
Would the torture never end?
"Mary?" Edith, on the other end of the line, was insistent. "Mary, please tell me you're bringing a guy. I am, Sybil will be bringing Tom, obviously and even Katie is bringing her boyfriend from College"
"Wait, Katie has a boyfriend?" Mary asked and she heard Edith heave a great sigh.
"Mary, thats hardly the issue right now. Listen, I'm in the office and Estelle is calling me so I have to go. We'll see you Friday, right?"
"Wait-Friday?" Of course! The family would be driving down in order to settle into the house and have dinner together the night before. Mary slowly closed her eyes and spoke, "Yeah, Friday. Of course. And I'll be there. With my boyfriend"
And with that she hung up. It was only when she was drying her hair ten minutes later that she realized the impact of what she had just done.
Sooo...what do you think?
I'm up for constructive criticism :) Actually, I welcome it!
I really hope you enjoyed it!
TBC
