A young girl laid in a bed unable to sleep, she stared up at the ceiling and bounced her feet around as she twirled her toy bear above her face
"You should be asleep you know" A calm voice whispered from the doorway
The girl sat up in bed and quickly said "I'm trying, I really am."
The man entered the room and quietly made his way past two soundly sleeping boys and went to sit on the edge of her bed
"We have a big day planned tomorrow, have you tried counting sheep?"
"Yes..." The girl gently fibbed
The man with greying hair that was a bit thinner at the top than what it was years ago took off his rounded glasses and gently cleaned them with a handkerchief
"Maybe a story will help?"
The girl nodded excitedly
"Alright just one, but then you must try and go to sleep, what would you like to hear?"
The man asked as he adjusted the covers closer to the girl's body
The girl thought for a moment, her eyes wandering around the room then settling on the ear of her bear
"Grandpa, how did you and Granny meet?"
The man smiled at the request, he had expected a story of knights and princesses or maybe even a favorite fairy tale like The Little Mermaid but he supposed the story she requested was as good as any
"We met here actually."
"In the nursery?" The girl asked
"No, not quite. Do you remember me telling you about my Cousin Peter?"
The girl nodded as he continued
"When he was in Africa he would let other people come here to shoot and fish and have a bit of a holiday and-"
"Did Donk and Great Granny come here?"
The man patiently stopped for the curious girl, and smiled because she reminded him so much of her Granny
"No, it was actually your Granny's cousin's husband's family"
He gave the girl a moment to figure out the family connection
"Auntie Rose in America?" The girl guessed
"That's right darling, anyway your Granny, Donk, Granny Cora, Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary were invited along, and because I worked for the estate and organized most everything people usually invited me along for dinner or to go out shooting with them just to be polite"
The girl quietly followed along now
"On the first day, it was rainy and grey and we were going out to shoot grouse-"
The girl's nose turned up at the thought of killing animals, she didn't like hurting things and the guns seemed so loud
"We were in the wagon and I noticed a very beautiful woman with us, she had lovely strawberry blonde hair, just like you, and she looked very interesting and nice and I hoped I would have a chance to talk to her."
The girl's eyes widened at the romantic way her Grandpa was talking and she interrupted
"Did you talk to her?"
"Well, of course I did. You wouldn't be here if I didn't" The man simply replied and the girl smiled at the joke then impatiently asked "But how?"
"Well she wasn't partnered up with anyone and I overheard and asked if she would like to accompany me, and she said 'yes'. Then we spent the afternoon chatting with each other and getting to know one another. I remember she asked me many questions, just like you do sometimes. And she told me about this magazine that she owns and I thought that was very modern and interesting"
"Then did you ask her to marry you?" The girl breathlessly asked
"No darling, it was a bit early for that. We just met, but I did spend the weekend talking with her a much as I could and I asked her to dance many many times. And she said 'yes' every time which made me very happy."
"Granny says she likes dancing with you" The girl added
"I like dancing with her too, but then the party was over and everyone left. I was very sad to see your Granny leave and I hoped that she would come back with another party or that I would see her again very soon."
"Why didn't you call her?"
"Your Granny and I are old and people didn't do things like that back then, but I probably should have."
"When did you see her again?" The girl asked completely engrossed in the story
"I had to go to London for business and I was standing in an alleyway looking at books and I see our of the corner of my eye a very beautiful woman walking past me, and I recognize her immediately. I couldn't speak for a moment but then I managed to call her name and I hoped that she remembered me"
The girl was silent but wide eyed waiting for the story to continue
"And thank God because she did, I was very happy to see her so I invited her to have a drink with me at a restaurant and then I thought maybe I could invite her to have dinner with me. She said she would meet me at 7 and I thought I was the luckiest man in the world."
"Did you ask her to marry you at dinner?"
"I think I wanted to, but we needed to get to know each other a bit more. Plus, at that time I was poor and didn't think I would inherit this place and your Granny was the daughter of an Earl so I thought I was lucky enough for her to go on a date with me, but guess what?"
The man teased looking to make the story more entertaining
"What?" The girl nervously whispered
"I was waiting at the restaurant and it was past 7 and I thought the beautiful woman either forgot about me or stood me up, I was very nervous, but then she comes in a rush and explains there is an emergency at her work and she has to cancel"
The girl frowned, sad at the unfortunate turn of events
"But I wanted to spend time with her so much and I could tell she was worried so I offered to come along and pitch in. I was willing to do anything, make coffee, get sandwiches, I just wanted to take the opportunity to spend time with her."
"Did you?"
"Yes, your Granny and I spent the whole night putting together the magazine and I certainly had fun. I realized that not only was Granny beautiful and kind she was a very intelligent and a hard worker and a real modern woman. And I began to fall in love with her that night."
The girl smiled and waited for the story to continue
"Then we started to spend more time together, mostly in London, we loved to go out for dinner and dancing and sometimes we would just walk around a park and talk to each other. I went up to Downton to meet her family once and spend more time with her of course, then one night I asked her to marry me. I was very nervous because she was a successful modern woman and I was just a lowly estate manager with not much in my future. But I loved her very much and I thought she loved me."
"Did she say yes?"
"Not quite, she said she needed to think about it, which I understood. Marriage is a very big thing darling and you must consider everything."
The man said taking the opportunity to impart some wisdom to his granddaughter
"When did she say 'yes'?" The girl asked wanting to get to the important part of the story.
"After a few weeks I went to go see her, and I found something out that upset me-"
"What was it?"
"It's really not important now darling, but the point is I acted foolishly and let my pride cloud my judgement. I told her I loved her very much but I couldn't marry her. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made."
The girl became very sad at the thought of such a consistent relationship in her life not happening and could see the regret on her Grandpa's face
"I was miserable and sad for a few months, I couldn't stop thinking about your Granny but I was being stubborn but then someone helped me realize what I fool I was being and arranged for me and Granny to meet"
The girl's eyebrows raised in anticipation of what was coming
"We met at a restaurant and your Granny looked like the most beautiful woman in the world. Within a second of seeing her I realized she was the only person I would ever want to marry and I had to get her back"
"What did you say?"
"I told her I was sorry and that I missed her terribly much and that I couldn't go through life without her and if she gave me another chance I would work every single day to make her happy and keep her safe."
"What did she say?" The girl automatically replied
"She said she was sorry as well and that she missed me too and that if I still wanted her she'd be happy to marry me. And of course I wanted her more than anyone else in the whole world. So I asked her properly again and she said 'yes' before we even had a chance to order food."
"Then what happened?" The girl asked followed by a large yawn
"We started planning the wedding, we didn't want to wait very long so it happened very quickly which was perfect, I figured we waited enough. Then we came here with your Aunt Marigold and we were very happy, then along came your Uncle James and your mother and we were even happier. And then our children grew up and your cousins, and you and your brothers came along which made us the happiest we've ever been."
"Even with Christopher and Johnny?" The girl skeptically asked as she eyed up her sleeping brothers across the room
"Your little brothers can be a handful, but yes even with them. And we love when you all come to visit us."
The man said as he leaned in placed a loving kiss on the girl's head then a voice gently spoke from the doorway
"Bertie dear, you know the children's bedtime was ages ago"
"He was telling me a story because I couldn't sleep Granny" The girl sleepily explained as the older woman joined her husband by the bedside
"Was it a good story?"
The girl smiled and nodded as she felt sleep coming on
"It looks like your Grandpa did his job rather well" she said as she smoothed out the covers and kissed the girls forehead "Sleep tight, Gracie."
The man lead his wife out of the room and softly shut the door behind them and put his arm around her as they walked to their bedroom
"She seemed to have liked the story you told her."
"Yes, it's quite a good one, my favorite actually."
"Oh, what was it then?"
"Ours."