His heart is hammering in his chest. He has no idea how Mary and Matthew will react, he doubts that they'll be very happy, but he has to get this over with. Telling them does not get any either by stalling. So when he gets home and he finds both of them in the sitting room, he joins them.

"There is something we have to talk about, but please let me talk first, because it is rather difficult for me to say this."

"Are you sick Papa?"

"What? No." Maybe he should have chosen a different beginning. Maybe he should have asked Cora how to do this. She is much better at such things, but of course she was the lucky one who did not have to tell her child at all, because Sam found out with anyone telling him.

"Mary, don't worry, I am not sick. This is about something else. I am going to get married again and"

"Oh Papa, that is good news. I didn't know you were in love and,"

"Mary, let me finish please. I am going to get married again and yes I will marry a woman I love. I've loved her for years, decades really and now this is the part that will concern the two of you the most: She's pregnant. We didn't think it could happen, it didn't happen for 18 years but now it did, and we were just really lucky that it didn't happen any earlier." The words just tumble out of his mouth without cushioning the blow. Although he really wouldn't have had any idea how to cushion the blow. He really should have asked Cora for advice.

"If that child was a boy, then I wouldn't be your heir anymore." Matthew looks rather hurt.

"No. And I am sorry about that. I hope it is a girl and as I said it didn't happen for 18 years, Cora was sure she couldn't have another child and,"

"Another child? Is that other child yours as well?"

"No, of course not. Her husband just died a few weeks before her son was born." Matthew is staring at him as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Matthew, I am really sorry, and if that child turns out to be boy, I'd still support you any way I could and certainly not only for Mary's sake but for yours as well."

"It's just a lot to take in. I am sorry, Robert, I will be happy for you eventually, but right now I just can't wrap my head around it."

"That's quite alright."

"Papa, I am happy for you now. It doesn't matter to me whether I will be Countess of Grantham one day. But tell me about the next Countess. Have I seen her somewhere?" He isn't sure that Mary is actually saying what she really believes or whether she just wants to be nice to him. He hopes that she isn't lying; he doesn't want to make her unhappy.

"I don't know, but it is possible. It is the Dowager Duchess of Suffolk."

"William's mother?" For a moment he has to think who William is, but then remembers what Sam, he can't help but think of him as Sam, told him.

"Yes."

"Oh, that's why he came to me. I thought his mother had actually heard good things about me. Well, that won't go to my head then."

"Matthew she did hear very good things about you. From Papa. And the Duke did make you his lawyer in all other matters well, didn't he? So he must be very satisfied with your work."

"Mary, I don't think you understand. The recommendation I was most proud of has turned out to be some sort of hoax and that hoax might actually lead to me not being the next Earl."

"But you don't really want to be the Earl. I thought William and you had some grand plans with your law firm." This takes him by surprise, he didn't know about this. But he doesn't want to interrupt Mary and Matthew's conversation.

"We do, but in principle"

"Matthew, that is just stupid. You always were the heir presumptive, never the heir apparent. And yes, maybe, there will be an heir apparent soon. But would that really matter to us? It wouldn't really change anything. We wouldn't lose our position in society, because if that child was a boy, I'd be both the sister of the next Earl of Grantham and the step-sister of the Duke of Suffolk. And think about your career, your plans for the future. You are the lawyer of both the Earl of Grantham and the Duke of Suffolk. Over the course of the last few months you've seen what that means for you. Many of those people who came to you, who even invited you to their parties didn't even know you also were a future Earl. And you don't care about such things anyway. Not really Matthew."

"You are right Mary, of course you are right. Robert, I am sorry, I just was, I don't know what I was."

"Matthew, I understand." He really does and it wasn't a lie when he said that he hoped for a girl. He loves Matthew like a son, and he would feel bad about taking the Earldom away from one son to give it to another. Matthew has done so much for him and Mary, he deserves to be his heir.

"When will we meet the Duchess?"

"Tomorrow. Her son has invited all three of us to dinner."

"That's nice."

"He is very nice, Mary. I wouldn't have become friends with him if he wasn't. You will like him."

"And you know his fiancé. It's Lilly Shackleton."

"I haven't heard from Lilly for ages."

"I suppose you'll see her tomorrow. If she says yes. I don't suppose she'd be there if she said no, but Cora was sure she'd say yes."

"What?"

"He is going to propose to her today."

"How do you know that?"

"He told me. Or rather he and Cora talked about it while I was in the room."

"So there you have it. My mother has had an affair with the same man for over 18 years and now she's pregnant with his child and she will marry him, but that is only possible because of his first wife's death." Lilly looks at him rather taken aback.

"Who is this man then?"

"The Earl of Grantham."

"What?"

"I couldn't believe it either at first, but that's the way it is."

"So your mother will be the Countess of Grantham then."

"Yes."

"And she will probably live at his estate."

"I suppose so."

"We'd have the house to ourselves. At least for a little while before we had children. It might not be bad for us to have some time for ourselves, we know each other well, but we will still have to get used to being married. And I will have to get used to being a Duchess." He knows that he is staring at her incredulously. Apparently she has planned out half their lives without him proposing to her and he wonders why she is so sure of it. But then again, he thinks, they've been in love for four years, they've seen each other almost every day for the past three months and society is bursting with the anticipation of the announcement of the engagement of the Duke of Suffolk and Lady Elizabeth Shackleton. But still, he can't help but tease her a little.

"So you are going to be a Duchess? Which Duke do you think is going to propose to you?" All the color leaves Lilly's face and it occurs to him then that she has spoken without thinking.

"Oh dear God, I am so sorry Sam. I shouldn't have been so presumptions, I," he puts a finger to her lips and she stops her rambling.

"Would you like to be a Duchess?" His heart is beating so fast it is making him dizzy.

"I'd like to be your Duchess," she whispers.

"Well then," he says, kneels down in front of her and takes the ring he put in his pocket that morning into his hand.

"Yes," she says. She is driving him mad. In a good way, but she is driving him mad.

"Will you let me ask the question please?"

"Alright. Ask me then." She has already said yes but still he is nervous, probably because he knows that this is something he will only do once in his life.

"Lilly, I love you. Very much. I have loved you for four years now and I know that my feelings for you won't change. I want to spend my life with you and I hope that one day you will be the mother of my children. So, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she says again.

"Mama, we'll have one more guest tomorrow night," he says by way of greeting his mother when he walks into the sitting room.

"She said yes then."

"Yes." His mother gets up and gives him hug.

"Congratulations my dear boy. I am very happy for you."

"Thank you. Lilly's coming over here later today."

"Is she?" There is a twinkle in his mother's eye and he wonders whether she guessed what he and Lilly agreed upon.

"Yes."

"Have I invited her to stay here until the wedding so that you two could get used to each other?"

"Maybe." His mother knows him too well.

"And I suppose I told you that Robert and I would only be too happy to have both of you at Downton when we are married but you are not and cannot live by yourselves in the same house?"

"You were very nice Mama."

"Robert doesn't know about this."

"You could tell him."

"I will have to, won't I? After I apparently invited both you and Lilly to Downton for an indefinite amount of time."

"Not indefinite. We'll get married once you've had the baby. We thought in about seven months or so."

"Sam, you are aware that Robert and I will have to get married very soon and that that would mean Lilly and you living at Downton for quite some time?" He knows this and he feels uncomfortable, but the alternative makes him even more uncomfortable, it has made him uncomfortable for four years now.

"Mama, Lilly isn't happy at her home, not at all."

"I know that and I will talk to Robert. I promise. After all, it wouldn't be the first time that I have invited her to stay with us for several weeks. Only that this time it will be several months."

"Thank you."

"The dinner went well."

"Yes." She smiles at Robert and she can see the relief on his face. She never had any doubts that Robert and Sam would get along rather well, and they both knew that Sam and Matthew had been friends for a little while and Mary had seemed genuinely happy to meet Lilly again. The unknown factor had been how Mary would get along with her. While Mary was rather distant with her, she was nice on a broader level and Cora is sure that eventually Mary and she will get along very well. She doesn't blame Mary for her attitude, the poor girl has had to live with a mother she hated for two decades, so that it is only natural that she is wary of any woman about to marry her father, even if said father hasn't even proposed yet.

"It was very nice of Sam to invite us all to stay here for the night. I hope he knows that this will most likely lead to gossip." She has been thinking about that too and actually thought about stopping Sam, but then she didn't really see why. There will be gossip about them anyway.

"Well, he likes you very much."

They are out on the balcony, looking down the street and she wonders if she should tell him what Sam asked of her, really asked of them, but Robert hasn't really proposed yet and she would feel uncomfortable talking about their marriage as if it was something they had already agreed upon. Robert is now standing behind her, with his arms wrapped around her, his hands resting on her stomach, on their child, really.

"Cora, I love you," he says and then fleetingly kisses her cheek. "And I am so sorry for everything you've been through because of me. I wish I could have made this right earlier but I can do so now. I know that you would be giving up rather a lot, but I love you and I want to be with you. And I want us to raise our child together." He gently nudges her now so that she turns around and looks directly into his eyes for a brief moment. He then kneels down in front of her and although she knew this was coming, she knew when he told her that his wife was dead that he would propose to her once he was out of mourning, it still makes her feel unbelievably excited and happy. Robert now takes her right hand in his left and she can't stop the tears for falling.

"Marry me. Please."

"Yes."

They stay out on the balcony for what feels like an eternity, just holding onto each other, and when they finally walk back inside, she is surprised to hear laughter from the drawing room.

"They are still up."

"Should we tell them now?"

She hesitates for a moment. It would be nice to keep this a secret for a day or two but then again, all four of those young people in the drawing room know about the baby and those four are probably the only people in all of London who will not gossip about them.

"Yes. It's what they expect. It's what we have told them would happen."

Their children's and children-in-law's reaction are what they expected; they all seem to be very happy for them and congratulate them in a very heartfelt manner. The four of them then returned to their game of chess, which they were apparently playing men versus women and the boys are losing spectacularly until Robert takes pity on them and helps them. They still lose, but not as pitifully as they would have without him.

"You have endeared yourself to Sam tonight. With the game."

"Well, he isn't very good at it, is he?"

"No. Actually he is rather pitiful."

"I wonder how two young men as intelligent as Matthew and Sam can be so bad at chess. Especially Matthew must think strategically all day long, but they were playing without a real strategy."

"I don't know. Maybe they just lack the practice."

"Yes. But Mary is very good at it. She and Lilly did have a strategy and I am sure they agreed on it beforehand."

"I am glad they get along so well."

"They used to be friends when they were younger. But eventually Lilly's parents stopped visiting us. Mary wrote to her a few times but never got an answer."

"Lilly's parents are difficult."

"I know. That is why she is staying here, isn't it?"

"Yes. I invited her. She is a lovely young woman but she doesn't get along with her parents or sister very well. She likes her grandmother, I think."

"Her grandmother is a friend of my mother's."

"Robert, I told Sam I would ask you if both Lilly and he could stay with us at Downton until they are married. You don't have to say yes, but"

"Yes. Why shouldn't they stay with us? It might be a big help for you if they did. Mary and Matthew are always running back and forth between London and Downton, so it might be nice to have Lilly and Sam stay put."

"Thank you, darling."