To my readers,
My apologies for taking so long to provide this latest one shot short. Starting next month I begin a new story on how Tom and Mary's love story began and grew.
The Runaways
George pulled Sybbie aside in the school room after Nanny stepped out to help Mary with the feeding of the twins. "Don't cry sissie." He gave Sybbie a hug, wrapping her tighter as she cried.
"I can't help it. Godmother and Papa don't want us anymore Geory."
"How do you know?" George's face betrayed his worry. Despite his attempts he too could see how much his Mama and his godfather lavished their new brothers with attentions great and small. What did it matter that Grandmamma and Grandpapa were grateful his mother was alive and the twins too? Neither Geory nor his cousin understood words like underweight, premature, and delicate. He only knew that for the first time in their lives his cousin Sybbie (who he regarded more as a sister than anything else) and he felt they were no longer necessary to their parent's happiness.
Even the staff seemed to be against them. Too often George had spotted Mrs. Bates storm by him or Sybbie in a race to the room where their brothers slept. Too often he had comforted Sybbie knowing it was his duty to be brave. Now he patted her shoulders. "Don't cry Sissie. I want you." Then he said something he often heard his Mama say. "You must always keep that in mind."
Sybbie wiped her tears away. "Oh Geory – I feel so awful. What shall we do?"
"We could go away. My father has cousins in a place called Manchesterter."
"But how ever shall we get there?" Sybbie sniffled.
George watched her dry her eyes knowing that his Mama would have told her to 'never let people see you weep.'
He clapped once when she offered that they should go to Uncle Kieran's.
Sybbie took George's hand. "He always said he would care for me if something happened to Papa."
"That's a grand idea!" Geory clapped his hands again. "He likes when I help him under a car. I could help him in the Garage." A smiled accompanied the twinkle in George's eye.
Sybbie brightened then. "And I can help clean, and make the beds. I will need to learn to cook though." Resolve took the place of the tears in Sybbie's eyes.
"We'll leave at the first light tomorrow." George stood up.
"All right." Sybbie nodded. "But however will we find Liverpool?"
"I have Papa's compass from the war." George attempted to wink like his godfather but managed only a clumsy pair of blinks. "Can you gather some food for the journey?"
Sybbie nodded her head. "I'll get some cakes and cookies during tea and dinner. No one will notice them missing, just as they will not miss us."
#
It was still a full moon when George and Sybbie left by the servants entrance to Downton. They followed the county road for the first couple of hours until the sun started to break over the eastern sky.
George imitated the procedures Mr. Bates had taught him when using a compass. After a short stop where they began moving cross country George noticed Sybbie. "What's the matter Sissie?"
"I had no idea it would be so cold Geory." Sybbie shivered.
"The sun will rise soon and we'll be warmer. Still, we can stop and rest if you need to." He indulged in a bit of pride.
"I'm merely cold George Crowley – not weak." Sybbie snapped back.
"Yonder is a barn. Perhaps they've a loft with hay." George pointed and led the way forward.
A few moments later they were safely ensconced in the barn where they found a stall with straw as deep as they were tall. George chivalrously lay his coat down on the straw for Sybbie as she unfolded the blanket for them to share.
#
At Downton the next morning Anna served Mary in bed. She was the first to notify her that George and Sybbie had not come down for breakfast, and were nowhere to be found.
"Have you told Mr. Branson?" She swept her eyes around the room, suddenly uninterested in the tea.
"His Lordship informed Mr. Branson My Lady." Anna was about to open the door and leave when Tom opened the door and stepped into the room.
Dressed in tweed he wore riding boots gleamed from the vigorous polishing he'd given them the night before. This was his day to check the farms in the valley. The short distances involved would have wasted the purpose for the car so he had elected to ride.
Tom rushed to Mary's side. "I'm sorry my dear I just checked the children's rooms. Their beds have not been slept in."
Mary covered her mouth in a silent scream. Her eyes locked on Tom's, "Oh god."
"A note." Tom opened the envelope and read. "Dear Mama and Papa, Because you are now too busy with our brothers Geory and I will go away for a while.. Do not worry about us. We are Crawleys and I am a Branson. We will be fine and will visit when we are settled. Your Daughter, Sybbie. P.S. Bye, Bye Mama - Geory" Tom looked at Mary as if to ask could she believe what was happening?
"Oh Tom. For heaven's sake, where could they have gone?"
John Bates limped into the room. "Mr. Branson, My Lady, I'm sorry to disturb you. I checked Master George's room again. His father's compass is missing."
Tom swept his eyes out the window as he did when he was deep in thought. Everyone was silent as they waited for him to speak. "They wouldn't run away without a plan. Sybbie would insist on it and Geory would plan it." He ran a number of different scenarios through his mind as he tapped the edge of the envelope on the palm of his hand. "Now where would they go?"
Mary was the first to speak. "Kieran's of course. They don't know Matthew's distant cousins well enough but they love their Uncle Kier."
"How would they know the route to take? They're five and six." Tom asked.
Just then Lord Crawley walked into the room. "That may be easier to deduce. I recall Bates and I showing George once how to navigate using dead reckoning." He unfurled a map on the edge of Mary's bed. "I'm sorry my dear." He placed a paper weight on Downton and pointed to Liverpool on the map. "Now we know where they're probably headed." Robert placed another paper weight in the center of the city. He used a pencil to draw a straight line between the points.
Tom was plotting the route they took and gasped when he spotted the first obstacle the pair would face. Both he and Robert looked at one another when they realized the first obstacle the pair would reach was the River Nidd.
"Tom, you don't think…" Robert did not want to upset Mary.
"What is it?" Mary sat up, eyes wide open, her face flushed.
Tom came to her knelt by her side. "There's no bridge along the route they'll probably take." Tom told her. "Farmers keep row boats along both banks to get from one field to the next." Tom held his wife.
Tom stood up and turned to Robert. "Right then. You and Mr. Bates take a car to this point on the map." Tom pointed to a bridge over the county road. "I'm saddling a pair of jumpers and going after them along this route." Tom looked sympathetically to Robert. "I'm sorry my lord, I don't mean to tell you what to do."
"My dear boy. I'm glad you've such a clear head. I confess I do not." Robert touched Tom's arm.
"I'll get a car My Lord." Bates limped away as fast as he could.
As Tom turned to leave, Mary called for him. He turned back to her bed. "We'll find them my girl." He stroked her head and bent to kiss her lips.
Mary caressed his cheek. "I love you." She looked into his eyes trying to show him how brave she could be. "Find them Tom. Find them."
And with a turn he strode out of the room as Mary stirred at the dashing figure her husband cut as he struck the riding crop against a boot shod leg.
#
Tom and the stable master pulled their mounts to a stop at Farmer Jone's stone fence. Tom glanced over to the man. "I'll bet you used to take fences such as this with His Majesty's Hussars."
"Aye, but these old nags haven't seen a fence for years," the man said doubtfully.
Tom estimated they were within a few hundred meters of the children. "Are the horses too old or are you?" He smirked at the man.
"I'll confess Mr. Branson – I haven't jumped a barrier in years and it never was my forte sir." The stable master's voice betrayed his fear.
"Then I'll go first and if I fall you can show me how it's done." Tom reined his horse around almost fifty meters then spurred his mount in the flanks. His black took the leap easily sailing over the stone fence with two feet to spare.
"Now for you man. Jump!" Tom called back.
Gallion's rune mare sailed over as the older man let go a joyful shout of triumph. "Been fifteen years since I done that last." He smiled before noticing his mare had gone lame.
After a quick examination Tom and the man found the mare had thrown a shoe. "I'll have to go on on foot sir."
"Nonsense man." Tom sent his man back to the house while he followed the indentations in the hay field he thought might be Sybbie and George's feet. In the distance he spotted an isolated barn and galloped across the field to investigate it.
He found a hair ribbon in the barn's loft. Tom was on the right track. The pink was Sybbie's favorite color. He remounted and rode on into the forest following a trail used recently by a either a small herd of deer or children walking to the river. Very soon he caught the scent of a wood fire. He dismounted and led the black by the reins. In a few minutes he saw George feeding another stick into the blaze as Sybbie's coat was drying on a makeshift rack nearby. He paused to listen to the suppressed weeping of his daughter and how George was trying to comfort her. He'd never heard George call her Sissie before.
And suddenly a lump rose in his throat. And he understood why they'd run away. "You have ears Tom Branson yet you could not hear."
"Hello the camp." Tom called the same way an American Western movie hero would approach a stranger's site.
"Da!" Sybbie jumped up. She started running to him then stopped.
George too stood. He shifted uneasily from foot to foot as if expecting a tongue lashing.
Tom stopped at an Ash sapling and tied the Black to the trunk. He starred at both George and Sybbie. "I don't suppose I could get a cup of tea?" He asked gently.
"We didn't bring any uncle." George bowed his head.
"We didn't bring anything Papa." Sybbie's voice cracked.
"Do you think then that you'd like to come with me so you can live with us again?" Tom knelt on the forest floor. There was a lingering fall chill down here so close to the river.
"And how'd you get your coat so wet?" Tom asked Sybbie as he unbuttoned his own and wrapped it around her.
"I fell in a stream as we were looking for a bridge across the river Papa."
Tom took note of the fire. He set Sybblie by it and warmed his hands over the flame. "Thank you George for the fire. It's going to keep your sister from catching cold." Tom smiled. "Well, is there anything to eat?"
"Only the…," George began. He looked at Tom. "Sybil's my cousin Uncle." He handed Tom a saltine biscuit raided from Mrs. Patmore's pantry.
"Then why do you call her sissie?" Tom smiled. "I never listened and I missed how the way your mother and I acted. I'm sorry. To you both, I'm sorry."
Sybbie could wait no longer. She ran into Tom's arms and wept.
Tom wrapped her into his arms as she clung to his neck. Still on his knees he reached for George with an extended arm.
"Oh uncle." George cried as well.
Tom stroked their heads and held them tight for a few minutes until the tears that threatened his own eyes disappeared. He kissed the top of George's head and Sybbie's. To George Tom rested his head against his god son's cheek. "No, not uncle. Father."
Then he pulled away enough to look at them both. "My darlings. My lovely darlings. How on earth could you think your mother and I would not have enough love in us to love you all the same?"
No answer came from either one. Both just held on to Tom tighter. Ahead in the distance Tom heard a car horn and knew they were close to the river.
Tom walked back to the Black and unlashed the shotgun, loaded a cartridge and pulled the trigger to signal Bates and Robert.
"Now let's go back And we'll have Ivy make you up a hot mocha." But before he lifted them onto the Black he said the following to them:
"You Sybbie are my first born and the first child I ever loved. You are the spirit of your mother who was the first woman I loved. I could never stop loving you and holding you in my heart, even if someone said that would keep me from death itself."
Turning to George he held the boy. "I made a promise to your father once to always stand beside him, help him, and I make that promise to you. I can never be your DA, Pa, or Papa. But I can be a father to you." He hugged the boy.
"From the day your Papa died I have loved you. When you smile, I smile. When you cry my heart aches, oh my precious little lad you have brothers who need you. They'll come to look up to you, and your sister." Tom had never used those terms to refer to the children in his arms. "Now look. Here's what we're going to do. From this day on. You will both call us Father and Mother. Sybbie you must only call me Father, not Papa, or Da. And Geory you'll call your mother just that. That's how we'll do things, your brothers Matthew and Kieren shall grow up with those names as well. And you as their older sister and brother."
And with that the Bransons and the Crawleys became a tighter family that no depression, war, or moving to another continent could ever weaken.
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