AN: Sorry for updating so late, but I went on a spontaneous weekend vacation.

Thank you so much for all the reviews and please let me know what you think about this chapter!

Have a great week everyone,

Kat

July 1889

Cora

"Cora, what the devil are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," she replies and her mother doesn't inquire any further, something that Cora is rather glad about. Because if her mother knew what she was smiling about, she'd be in a right state. But she just can't forget the memory of Robert trying to climb a fence to get entrance into one of the small little gardens in London and falling off that fence, right onto his behind. The look on his face had been priceless and just for that she is more than happy that they managed to slip their chaperon. Although said chaperon had been Lady Rosamund Painswick, Robert's sister and Cora isn't sure how interested Lady Rosamund actually was in chaperoning.

It had been such a nice afternoon, she had found out that Robert was very easy to talk to during their first dance and that impression only manifested itself afterwards. He seems traditional in many ways but not in all of them, he is politically interested and doesn't mind her interest, in fact he even seemed to care about her thoughts. And although he admitted that he knew next to nothing about paintings, he still suggested they meet at the gallery the following day and even joked that maybe she could teach him something he could then use to impress other ladies. She had laughed about it but halfway through the laughter had become stuck in her throat when she realized that she wasn't too keen on Robert impressing other ladies. She had said as much and felt like the stereotypical blunt American right afterwards. But Robert had smiled at that and said

"Well, if that is how it is, then maybe you should start calling me Robert." He had looked surprised at his own forwardness but she smiled at him and he smiled back. He gently brushed her cheek with one gloved hand afterwards and had almost made her swoon. But she keeps telling herself that he has not yet mentioned the lovechild and that is what she is waiting for, that will determine how their acquaintance will go on. She understands why he has not yet said anything, he is probably afraid of chasing her away, but she thinks that he should do so soon, otherwise he would seem like a pretender to her, like someone who does not necessarily lie but also does not always say the complete truth.

.

Rosamund

"So how was it?"

"How was what?" Marmaduke looks at her incredulously.

"It was nice. I think he finally may have found what he is looking for."

"I thought your parents only wanted to teach him a lesson."

"Yes," she replies and then hesitates for a moment. She is not quite sure whether she should tell Marmaduke what she really thinks. He and her father get along well, but he would probably not stab her or Robert in the back. "But it is not what I want for him. I know he has to marry for money. But Ms. Levinson has enough of it, we know that and Robert likes her. Of course there is no love, not yet. But it could come for them, I think. He even suggested going to the National Gallery with her, something he has never offered to anyone before and something I have begged him to do with me for years now."

"And you don't think that he is trying to teach your parents a lesson? Because he found out what their plan is?"

"I think that might be part of the reason. But he also genuinely likes Ms. Levinson. I'll see how the visit to the National Gallery goes and then I'll talk to him. I only hope that he does not keep quiet about Matthew too long. There are rumors that Matthew is Robert's lovechild and if she has heard those rumors and Robert does not contradict them, then the whole thing might be heading for the drain."

"But isn't that what your parents want?"

"Yes. But it isn't what I want and I very much doubt that it is what Robert wants." Marmaduke smiles at her.

"What is it that you want?"

"I wish that Robert could marry for love. Of course it won't be easy and maybe Ms. Levinson is not enough for that, but I know that they could be content with one another at the very least. And who knows what will happen, sometimes love develops over time."

"Why do you care so much about whom Robert marries and why?"

"Because he is my brother and very dear to me. I didn't grow up with parents taking care of me. I don't doubt that my parents love me but they were never really there. They are an earl and a countess, they were not supposed to care about their children and heaven forbid they'd do something they are not supposed to do. But Robert was there. We often fought but we also tried to run away together. And once we got older, he always listened to me. Mama and Papa never cared about my opinions but Robert did. I sometimes needed to tell him to care but he always did care in the end. And he was always supportive of us. He told Papa that he approved of you and that is why my father let you marry me."

"Thank god for your brother then," Marmaduke says, takes her hand and pulls her onto his lap. "You are a very good sister."

"Maybe you should tell Robert that," she says half laughingly. In fact she does thank God for Robert from time to time. He is the perfect brother and the best present her parents ever gave to her. Although he would probably hit her on the nose for thinking about him as a present.

When Robert comes to her house the next day to pick her up to chaperone him and Cora at the National Gallery, she can see how excited he is. He smiles the way he used to on Christmas mornings and he is almost bouncing on his feet. She wants to comment on it but then decides not to because she does not want to put him into a bad mood. Robert and a bad mood are not a good combination for anyone somewhere in his vicinity. So she only smiles at him and says "Shall we leaven then?"

She had planned to let Robert and Cora out of her sight eventually but she realizes that that might be rather difficult to accomplish when she sees that Cora is being accompanied by her mother. Rosamund does not like Mrs. Levinson and an afternoon spend in her company is not a very nice prospect, but then she looks at Robert and sees how he smiles at Cora and how she smiles back a true smile. And because a true smile is rarely seen during the London season, especially not by women on the hunt for a husband, she accepts her fate of spending an afternoon trying to pry Mrs. Levinson's attention away from Robert and Ms. Levinson gracefully. It takes her about an hour of asking questions about New York and when Mrs. Levinson begins to gossip about her friends or more likely people she wants to be her friends, she takes an Elizabeth Bennet like approach and listens to her with amusement.

Robert throws one questioning look at her and she nods almost imperceptibly. The last thing she sees is Robert leading Ms. Levinson towards the exit of the museum without either one of them looking back.

.

Cora

"Robert, we can't just walk away like that." She cannot believe what Robert suggested to do and what she agreed to do. Leaving his sister and her mother at the National Gallery and going to the park.

"Of course we can. I am sure that Rosamund guesses where we are and she does not mind."

"My mother will mind," Cora says and when Robert shrugs his shoulders at that, she realizes she does not care much either.

"If you get into trouble, I will tell your parents that it was all my fault. But that is what the London season is about, isn't it? Trying to find a husband or wife, preferably one to better yourself and slipping your chaperones."

Despite herself she has to laugh about this.

"You are right and that was very well put." Robert smiles at her and says "Thank you, Cora."

They keep on walking and talking about this and that and they make each other laugh. She wishes that Robert would mention his lovechild soon because if he doesn't, she doesn't know whether she can let things go on. She wants to very much, she likes Robert more than any man she ever met, but she can't marry someone who keeps the truth from her, even if he is not lying. She tries to think of a way to stir the conversation towards children and is just about to point out a cute little blond boy to Robert when that boy comes running screaming "Papa, Papa" on the top of his lungs. Robert kneels down and catches the boy who runs into Robert with such force that they nearly topple over.

"Hello Matthew," Robert says and smiles at the boy.

"Who is she?" Matthew asks and points at her. Robert exasperatedly rolls his eyes.

"Matthew, haven't you got any manners?"

"I forgot them. I am sorry Papa," the boy says and looks down. Robert lifts the boy's chin and says "Don't let it happen again."

"I won't, I promise," the boy says with a kind of sincerity that only small children can have. But the boy keeps looking at her so curiously that she can't help but kneel down and say "Hello Matthew. My name is Cora Levinson and I am very pleased to meet you."

Matthew stares at her open-mouthed and then says "You talk very funny." Robert is about to rebuke him but Cora does not see anything to rebuke in that comment. Of course Matthew should not have made it, but his comment was nothing but curious.

"I am from very far away. Maybe I can tell you about it someday. But for now I think your nanny is waiting for you."

Matthew runs off to join his nanny and Robert looks at her.

"Thank you," he says. "For not yelling at him."

"You are welcome. He is a very sweet boy, isn't he?" She prays for Robert to talk about Matthew, to put it all into the open now, to not make her doubt.

"I am sure you have many questions," Robert says and motions for her to go on.

"I have heard of Matthew before," she says, carefully trying to keep her voice even because she does not want Robert to become defensive right away. She wants to have a real discussion with him.

"What have you heard?" Robert asks her and she can detect a slight insecurity in his voice.

"That he is your lovechild." Robert stops walking for the split of a second but then goes on. Cora briefly wonders if Robert had planned to lie to her about this and is now surprised that he can't, but accusing him of something like that would probably not be helpful right now.

"And that did not put you off?" Robert says and looks at her.

"No," she says and looks into the distance.

"Why ever not?" Robert asks with so much disbelieve in his voice that she has to bite her tongue not to tell him to leave if he did not like her not caring about the fact that he has a lovechild. But again that wouldn't be helpful.

"Because a man who lets a lovechild live with him must love that child. And I suppose he also must be a very good father. That is what I am looking for in a husband. That he would be a good father to our children."

"Besides the title and the estate," Robert says, stops walking and looks straight into her eyes. She never noticed what a nice shade of blue his eyes are.

"Besides that, yes." She can't hold his look anymore so she stares down at the ground and takes a deep breath. She thinks better of it then and looks into his eyes again. This is not a conversation to be had with one or both them looking away because they are uncomfortable. If they are going to be married and to Cora it feels as if she was walking down the aisle already even if they haven't even talked about marriage yet, they have to be hones to each other and trust each other.

"Robert, neither you nor me is going to marry for love. I'll marry for a title and an estate, just as you will marry for money and I don't think that we have much of a choice. But if I am not going to marry a man I love, I at the very least have to know that he is a good father because I could never respect a man who would not care about our children. And while I am quite reconciled to marrying without love I cannot marry without respect. And before you have to ask, I think you are a very good father, the two minutes I saw you with your son were obvious proof of it."

Robert very briefly takes her hand in his but lets go less than a second a later. But it was enough for her to long for more.

"Matthew is not my son," he says and then he takes an envelope out of the inside pocket of his jacket. It looks a bit funny and when Robert looks at her he says "I had to stabilize the envelope. I did not want what is in it to be crumbled." He then hands her a picture with four people on it.

"Matthew drew this," Robert explains. "The people up here are supposed to be his parents. He says they cry because they are dead and smile because he isn't alone anymore. And down here that is he and I."

"Holding hands," she says.

"He likes to grab my hand when we take a walk. I don't have the heart to tell him not to do it."

"And why should you tell him that?" Cora asks.

"My father probably knows the answer to that," Robert sighs and Cora understands that Robert's father is not very impressed by his son taking such good care of Matthew.

"Matthew is not very good at drawing," she says teasingly but Robert gets defensive as soon as the words have left her mouth.

"He is four," he says.

"I know," she replies. "And I'd have that picture framed and put it on my nightstand. That would be much safer than carrying it around. And it would be the first thing I looked at in the morning and the last thing I looked at at night."

Robert looks at her as if he was about to answer but before he can say another word, she hears a screeching voice yelling "Cora!".

.

Martha

"Mother, Matthew is not his lovechild." She cannot refrain from rolling her eyes. She is afraid that Cora is about to fall in love with that godforsaken Lord Downton and she wants to protect her from it at all costs. A man who has one lovechild will very likely produce more without thinking about it. And she couldn't stand her daughter being surrounded by children her husband created outside their marriage.

"So you believe that cock and bull story about him being a third cousin then?"

"Of course I do. Why should he make it up?" She wants to slap her daughter across the face for being so naïve and hug her for always believing in the good of people.

"Because he wants you to marry him." Cora cannot hide her smile at this and she wants to shake her daughter out of this. She is sure that Cora is not yet in love with Lord Downton and that it is not too late.

"But I told him I wouldn't mind a lovechild and he still said that Matthew wasn't his son." She doesn't think she has ever been as exasperated by anyone as she is now by Cora. How could she tell a man that she did not mind a lovechild? If that got around, and she is sure that it will because Lord Downton will want to take his revenge after Cora has refused him, Cora would have a very difficult time in finding a good husband. There would be no way anymore to distinguish between the genuinely nice men and those who are only pretending to be nice but already planning their first meeting with a mistress after the wedding.

"How could you say that?"

"He asked me why I hadn't been put off by Matthew. So I told him." She wonders how Cora could be so bad at scheming. It feels as if she had taught her nothing. As if her little girl had no idea how important it was to keep quiet about certain things, and not so quiet about others. And she wants to tell her that but the look of pure honesty and innocence on her daughter's face makes her swallow her words.

"Don't get hurt," she says instead. They are asking more than enough of Cora. To the outside world, even to her daughter, Martha pretends to agree with her husband that Cora should marry into the English aristocracy at all costs when in fact she would much rather give Cora a little more choice in the matter. But she knows she can't defy her husband, not in this and just like him she wants the family to finally belong to the first circles in New York.

.

Cora

She knows her mother thinks that she is naïve and innocent when she is not, but she used the fact that she can still look like a little girl to her advantage. Lady Rosamund Painswick has invited her to tea and she wanted to go alone. She is almost sure that Robert will be there as well, because those two seem to be as thick as thieves. She is fully aware of the fact that Robert wants to defy his parents by considering marriage to her but she is defying her parents just as much. And maybe that is a good beginning.

When she is admitted into the Painswick's library she expects to find Lady Rosamund at the very least and quite possible also Robert waiting there for her. But there is nobody there and so she sits down a little nonplussed. She looks around the living room which is decorated according to the modern fashion. Robert told her that Rosamund and Marmaduke had bought the house shortly after their marriage. Apparently Lady Grantham had thought it a disgrace that they still had to buy a house but Robert said that he had had the feeling that Maramduke had bought it for Rosamund which was quite a romantic gesture. When she hears a rustling behind her she turns around expecting Rosamund or one of the servants but what she sees is Matthew appearing from under a table and climbing onto a chair, intently staring at what appears to be a very colorful tablecloth.

"Matthew," she says and smiles when the boy turns around, realizing that he has just been caught. It takes the boy only a second though to regain his confidence.

"Hello Ms. Levinson," he says and she is very impressed by Matthew remembering her name and pronouncing it correctly.

"What are you doing here?" she asks and the boy's eyes light up. She supposes that he expected to be send from the room or at least for Cora to call for nanny to take him.

"I am looking at this map. Papa and Aunt Rosamund showed it to me. But I wasn't finished looking at it, so I came back down here." She is surprised at Matthew's honesty and thinks it rather endearing.

"I suppose nanny did not allow you to come down here," she says. Matthew thinks for a moment and then says

"She did not tell me not to come here." This makes Cora laugh out loud and when she sees the pride on Matthew's face for having come up with such a good argument, she gets up and lightly touches his head once.

"You are a smart boy," she says.

"Papa says I am too smart," Matthew replies with such obvious pride that Cora has to laugh again.

"What are you looking for on that map?" she asks.

"America. Lady Granny says you always have to be prepared. So I wanted to find out where you are from. We can make tall talk about it."

"I think you mean small talk," she says and then looks at the map herself. "Would you like me to show you where I am from?" Matthew nods with such enthusiasm that he almost falls of the chair, so she instinctively picks him up, places him on her hip and holds him with one arm. The other one she uses to show Matthew where she grew up, where she lived in New York and where the train took them when they went from Cincinnati to New York for the first time.

.

Robert

He walks down the stairs in a slightly hurried manner. Not only are both Rosamund and he late but Matthew is also missing and he begins to be very mad at the boy. Looking for his wayward son is the last thing he wants to do now. He wants to wait for Ms. Levinson in the library and that is all. But there is a chance that Matthew might be hiding in there. He only took the boy along to his sister's house because he knew that Marmaduke owned a huge map of the world and Matthew had been begging to look at one to see where America is. So he took his son and the nanny along. Neither Rosamund nor Marmaduke mind Matthew, in fact they insist on him calling them 'Aunt' and 'Uncle'. "That is what we are if you are his 'Papa'," Rosamund once said. He had been surprised at first, but later on she had told him that they would never have children and that thus his children would always be very important to them.

When he opens the door to the library he realizes that not only is he too late but also that he has found Matthew. He wishes he could take a photograph and tries to commit the memory of Cora holding Matthew and telling him something about a train journey across America as if he was her son to his mind forever. He watches them for a minute and then makes a decision that could change his life forever.