Bertie tried to look as if he didn't care as he walked away from Edith towards Downton Abbey with his hands on his back.
In reality he was in a turmoil of emotions. He loved Edith so much. And he was so disappointed in her.
And he had told her that it was over, although it broke his own heart to say those words.
Marigold was Edith's own daughter. And Edith hadn't had enough trust in him to tell him that in person. What kind of man did she think he was, really? An old-fashioned Victorian? Unable to deal with the modern world? Why didn't she trust him?
Instead he had had to hear it from her sister. The shock of that had made it impossible for him to pretend that he already knew.
He had felt so humiliated.
She didn't trust him at all, it seemed. How would he ever be able to trust her after that?
...
Life was dreadful. He had lost Peter.
All the way in the taxi Bertie kept thinking about Peter. That he would never see him again. That Peter was gone for ever. That nice, friendly man that Bertie had played with as a child. The closest to an older brother he had ever had.
...
Bertie had been sad when he started out on this journey, but he was even sadder now.
Because when he started out he knew that he had Edith to kiss and comfort him. Now he didn't even know who Edith was. He had lost her also, at least the Edith he had known.
Edith's own daughter, that sweet little girl, who must be the most important person in Edith's life - and she hadn't dared to tell Bertie about her. Bertie, who had very much hoped that he himself was becoming an important person in her life also. And shown Edith that in every possible way.
But obviously he was not important enough to Edith to be told the truth.
No - Bertie made up his mind to stop thinking about Edith. It was over.
He had fallen in love with her but it seemed he hadn't really known who she was. He had fallen in love with a dream. Did they know each other at all?
But he just couldn't stop thinking about Edith, not even now.
When she had told him how wonderful she had thought her life was going to be with him he had been very close to take her in his arms again and kiss her and forgive her everything. If he only had had more time before getting to the train...
No, no, no this was not the way he should think about her. He had to stop it. It was over.
...
It was over! Soon he would be on the plane, and that would perhaps be exciting enough to keep his mind on other things.
But until then he just couldn't stop thinking about her.
Deep down he couldn't really believe it was over.
AN: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment!
This is to be continued, at least if you want me to.
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I reused part of my story Over that I wrote before seeing 6:8. It turned out to be very much canon - Bertie can accept that Edith has a daughter but not that she didn't trust him enough to tell him.
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Actually, I honestly think Edith and Bertie will be alright. The only thing that worries me is that someone left a wedding invitation for their wedding in a church - that is just the thing DA would do to trick us.
Or that Gregson would come back - I would really hate that.
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Mary/Talbot was really unbelievable. Coldest love story ever. But at least I'm happy Tom didn't end up with Mary.