"This should be interesting." Sybil whispered to Tom as they followed her sisters and their husbands back downstairs.

"I was thinking more violent. When was the last time Edith and Mary were in the same room together?"

"Before Edith and Anthony got married… I think it was at the bridal shower… Yes! That was it. Edith overheard Mary and someone else talking about how there was no term for when both the bride and the groom were settling."

"Come along, don't dawdle." Martha called from the doorway of her office, a small lock box in her hands. "Kindly place your cell phones within. If you need to make a call this week there's a far from smart telephone at the front desk."

"I'm sorry, but I'm expecting…" Sybil began before handing over her phone.

"Are you here for work or for your marriage?"

"Marriage."

"Then in goes your phone, dear." Martha smiled.

Each couple had a small loveseat to sit on, the furniture had been arranged in a circle, completed by the lone chair where Martha would sit.

"Giving up the phone is always the hardest part because you're removing the distraction, the barrier you tend to hide behind when things start to get rough. In my day you finished the fight or left the room, there was no in between. I am here, essentially, to facilitate a conversation between spouses. Occasionally to act as a referee, but mostly to help guide the conversation and force you to continue on through instead of sidestepping the real issues. Usually I start with an icebreaker, but as you already know each other perhaps you could just introduce yourselves for my benefit and tell me in one word why you're here."

"Tom Branson, communication."

"Sybil Branson, same."

"Mary Crawley, lack of reproduction."

"More than one word." Martha chided with a small smile.

"Matthew Crawley, fighting."

"Edith Strallan, overprotective."

"Anthony Strallan, apparently overprotective."

"More than one as well. All right, well, why don't we dive right in and we'll be begin with the couple that had the most difficulty separating themselves from their mobile devices."

"It's not that it's difficult, it's just…" Sybil began.

"Work requires that we're always going through emails or reading articles or…"

"Or missing important events for each other or spending too much time staring at a screen to see to your daughter?" Martha interjected. Both Sybil and Tom fell silent, looking guilty as they exchanged glances.

"There's just… there's always so much going on." Sybil's voice conveyed her exhaustion. "There never seems to be enough hours in the day. Vi is growing up so fast an it feels like we're missing it all."

"She takes on too much." Tom explained.

"So do you! I'm not the one who falls asleep with their phone in their hand or sitting in front of the computer."

"I have work to do, you aren't the only one trying to make a difference in the world."

"I'm going to stop you there, Tom. Let me ask you this, you're both so busy trying to make a difference in the world, when was the last time you tried to make a difference in your home life?"

"Well…" Tom began.

"What home life?"

"There we are. Tonight, I want you two to have a conversation, a straightforward conversation. This is a task for all of you in fact. I want you to sit down and talk about why you're here and what you're hoping to accomplish this week. That's it for today, I'm sure Mrs. Hughes already has dinner set out for you all. We'll meet back here at 10 sharp tomorrow morning. And we'll start with Mary and Matthew."

Dinner was a quiet affair, no one was really keen to speak to each other after their first session finished. Sybil and Tom were both trying to think about what they could discuss while the others were concerned with what would be said when their turn for Martha's attentions came around. After the meal finished the couples each went their own way; Anthony and Edith outside for a walk, Matthew and Mary into the sitting room for coffee, while Sybil and Tom returned to their room.

"So." Tom ventured carefully.

"So." Sybil sighed, moving past him. He watched as she paced the length of their small room before she stopped at the window looking out over the rolling green pastures. In the yard out front she could see Edith and Anthony resting on a bench facing the small pond.

"I didn't mean anything by that earlier… about how you take on too much. I know I do the same thing." Tom offered, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Do you think there's something wrong with us?" She asked, turning suddenly.

"What? No. Why would you think that?"

"We always seem to find something to fill the time, but that something is so rarely each other anymore."

"I don't think that means there's something wrong with us. We've just fallen into a pattern."

"I don't like this pattern."

Tom moved back on the bed, resting against the headboard and putting his arms out for his wife. Sybil abandoned the window, climbing into bed next to her husband and resting happily against him.

"I don't like it either. But we're aware of it now, we can decide what to do differently."

"No more weekend events."

"Agreed." Tom nodded. "I've reached a point where I could probably hire a few people onto the site. Lessen my work load a little."

"I can cut back in some places, but with elections coming up the next few weeks are going to definitely be a bit packed."

"Then we'll figure something out for those weeks."

"I want to have family dinners."

"I think that's a marvelous idea."

"Do you think we'll be able to make this work?" Sybil asked nervously.

"I think we can do anything we set our minds to."

"In that case I think you should set your mind to kissing me."

"That I can most certainly do."

With a smile Tom leaned down, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss. It seemed as though it had been years since they had been left alone long enough to kiss, let alone engage in any of their other favorite activities. Suddenly the week away seemed like the most brilliant idea anyone ever had. Not everything was fixed yet, but it was a start.