The night was over. A night that Edith had spent with a man - her Granny would be scandalised if she knew. But she would have no reason to - Edith and Bertie had spent the night together, but not in the way people usually think of when a man and a woman are said to have spent a night together.
Now they were sitting together on the sofas, happy but tired. Satisfied in the way you are after a job well done.
It was then that he uttered those words - "You inspire me".
Edith was happily surprised. Bertie wasn't really flirting with her, well at least not the way Michael had done it from day one. But they had worked very well together, and Bertie had helped her to solve things she found difficult with his calm common sense. The night had been wonderful. He was a nice and thoughtful person, and helpful, and she felt comfortable in his presence.
This would probably lead to nothing, but she found herself slowly starting to fall in love with him. He was a nice man. He was handsome too. She wouldn't mind seeing more of him. A lot more.
...
"I spent the night with Bertie Pelham and it was wonderful", Edith imagined herself saying at tomorrow's dinner at Downton. That probably would make even Mary listen to her. It wouldn't be a lie, but she knew she couldn't say a thing like that anyway.
...
She thought back about the men in her life - first Patrick, who was destined to marry Mary, who didn't care at all about him. Truth be told Patrick cared just as little about Edith as Mary cared about Patrick. Edith had still been devastated when he died, but of course she knew she would never have had a chance anyhow.
...
Then there was Sir Anthony - the man who had chosen Edith over Mary - the only man ever to do that. She had loved him and he had loved her back, at least she had thought so. It had been wonderful, but in the end he had left her in the most humiliating way possible.
She still didn't know what had made him do that. It had been difficult for her to trust anyone after that.
...
Then there was Michael Gregson. The man who had flirted with her from the very start. The man who had made her so disappointed when she found out he was married. The man who had disappeared in Germany. The man who had died there more than a year later. Edith had no idea what he had done all those months in between, perhaps she would never find out.
Michael Gregson wasn't a very honest man it seemed. But she had a lot to thank him for. Her flat, her magazine, her independence. And most of all her Marigold.
...
All those men where in the past now. Perhaps she hadn't learnt anything at all from meeting them. Perhaps she was just letting herself in for a new disappointment when she sat there smiling at that sweet and helpful man.
Because things were complicated. Even if they got to know each other better, there was always Marigold. If they got closer she had to tell him about Marigold being her own daughter, and then he would probably lose interest. But there was no way she could part from Marigold. If she had learnt nothing from life, she had at least learnt that. She needed Marigold just as much as Marigold needed her.
Probably more, although it was hard to admit.
...
"You inspire me", Bertie said with a tired but happy smile.
"Not many people would say that", Edith said, always ready to belittle herself.
"That is because they don't know you!"
Edith felt her heart flutter in an all too familiar way. She hoped it wouldn't lead to more heartbreak this time.
AN: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment! The OC is Herbert Pelham, of course, I can't find him in the character list.
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I like Bertie since the CS:5 and am glad to see that he is - still - just as nice as he was there. Or perhaps even nicer. I have been an Anthony/Edith fan for many years, as you perhaps know, in a way I still am. I feel sorry for Anthony, but at least I want Edith to be happy. Just like Anthony would.
I never cared much for Gregson, I still think he was a bad guy telling Edith he was happy she wasn't married, while not mentioning the fact that he himself was. And I'm sure he knew that Edith had been jilted - it must have been the big scandal that year and he was editing a society magazine. If he didn't know about that he was very bad at his job.
But Gregson did give Edith Marigold - which to begin with seemed to be the worst thing he did. And she did inherit him, which made her more independent, which was of course good also.
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I hope that Bertie won't jilt Edith - I'm a little bit worried about the wedding program that has been found. They often do such things on purpose - the pictures of a healthy Sybil with her baby, the pictures of Edith and Anthony in front of the altar - to lure us to believe that all is going to go well.
But perhaps JF only wants to surprise us by letting Edith get happily married while Mary remains a widow - Mary says something about preferring to be alone to marrying the wrong man, which seems like a hint in that direction.