The final two vignettes for this little extended drabble. Hope you enjoyed this peek into Tom and Sybil's life in Boston and the start of the rest of Edith's life. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!


December 24, 1925

"Are you awake?" Sybil whispered into Tom's ear, while the two were still in bed in the early morning of Christmas Eve. "Tom, are you awake?"

Tom opened one eye. "No, I'm not."

Sybil laughed. "Oh, come on. You're not snoring. That means you're awake."

"Thanks to my early riser wife."

Sybil smiled as he shifted toward her so she could snuggle into him. "Good morning and Happy Christmas Eve!"

Sybil looked up when he didn't respond, and she saw that he'd closed his eyes again and his breathing was evening out, suggesting he was very close to going back to sleep.

"Darling!"

"Sybil, I woke before the sun for my entire life before coming to this country, which has afforded me the freedom to sleep in even if only on the rarest occasions. Christmas Eve is one such occasion. Are you really going to take that away from me?"

"Are you really going to be so dramatic about it?"

Tom couldn't help but laugh.

"It's just going to be a long, loud day with lots of people, and I thought we take advantage of the calm before the storm to talk."

Tom quickly rolled over so that he was on top of her, before Sybil knew it, and started kissing her neck. "OK, I'm awake, but must talking really be part of the plan?"

Sybil giggled and sighed but still managed to say, "Yes!"

"Fine," Tom said, rolling over again and snuggling them up as they were before. "What's on your mind, darling."

"Well," Sybil said, drawing the word out. "Two things."

"First?"

"Do you suppose Edith could be happy here if she were to stay, you know, permanently?"

The question surprised Tom. "Does she want to?"

"I think she's considering it. She's never been particularly happy at Downton. Even you noticed that."

"But is she going to be happy here? What is she going to do? We don't exactly observe high tea every afternoon."

"I'm not sure, but she has enough to at least figure it out. And she's different. She's grown."

"What about Marigold?"

Sybil bit her lip. "Well . . ."

"She's Edith's, isn't she?"

Sybil sat up. "How did you guess?"

Tom sat up too and scratched his head. "It's not really so difficult to figure out. Nor that uncommon, really."

Sybil sighed. "That's part of it, too, I suppose. I think she has the notion that here, she can truly be her daughter's mother in a way she couldn't back at Downton."

"Lord knows, the child is less likely to be cast out here for having been born outside of wedlock. And she'll have an eager playmate in Saoirse." Tom leaned over and kissed Sybil gently. "I'm happy to support her in whatever she wants to do, especially knowing how it'll rankle your father."

Sybil laughed. "You're incorrigible."

"I get it from you."

With that Tom shifted to the side of the bed and began looking for his slippers on the floor to get up for the day.

"Aren't you going to ask me what the other thing is?" Sybil asked.

"What?"

"I said I wanted to talk about two things just now. Edith was one."

"So what's the other?"

"I'm pregnant."

Upstairs, Edith had been awake for some time, but was just now pulling on her dressing gown, lured out of her room by the smell of coffee. Back at home, she'd never have left her room in this state, having just woken in and still in her night clothes. But something about being so far away from there—in this new place where so many of the rules didn't apply, where she didn't feel trapped—had unwound Edith in a way she had never expected.

It wasn't the this tiny little apartment didn't merit the decorum of her family, although she supposed that much was true. It was that the apartment didn't require decorum of her, and Edith was quickly coming to find that she could do without it. This life may have been lacking in the niceties and comforts of the old ways, but there was an ease to it here that she knew she would like.

Edith found Lily sitting in the small cramped kitchen, sipping her coffee and having set another cup in front of the only other chair at the table. (They'd have to buy a third for Marigold, Edith thought.)

"I took the liberty of pouring it for you when I heard you coming," Lily said.

"It's certainly too small a place for secrets," Edith said. "We'll have to keep that in mind."

"So you've decided to stay for certain, then?"

Edith nodded, not realizing that she was smiling at the idea.

"It'll need some better furnishings, no doubt about that, but I think it'll do nicely."

Lily's words warmed Edith. It pleased her to know that she had someone with whom she could make plans. "Are you really sure you want to stay as well?"

Lily nodded. "If you're sure you want me to stay."

Edith nodded again.

She wasn't sure who put her hand on the table first, but in a moment, their hands were both there, touching first, then intertwined.

The same electricity that Edith had felt before was back and stronger.

It was something new. A beginning.