Thank you so much to everyone who is following this, to everyone who has reviewed. I've tried to take your reservations into account where possible. It is great to have you around enjoying this!

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Anthony insisted that Mary thought about her decision for at least another two days before they made an announcement to her family. In spite of herself, Mary was touched by Anthony's consideration of her feelings. He didn't want her to embarrass herself by making a rash decision in her heightened emotional state that she might soon regret. This was in addition to his brutal honesty that he did not love her, that he still loved Edith but did not think there was any possibility of a reconciliation with her. His openness had won her over completely.

His proposal had a galvanising effect on her, as he had hoped it would. She quickly began taking an interest in the running of the house again, assisting Cora with arrangements as she always used to. She didn't keep to her own rooms all day, and apologised to Carson who forgave her instantly.

This, and how much better she felt having a place again, convinced her that her decision had been the right one. So she and Anthony agreed to announce their engagement at dinner two days after his proposal.

Edith sat down at the dinner table between Tom and her grandmother. Anthony was again placed between Mary and Cora; he was directly opposite her. Things with Michael had been strained since Matthew's death. She hadn't written very much in that time, and hadn't submitted anything for publication. Michael was, by turns, despairing and then angry at her for neglecting him and focussing on her family instead. She had received a telephone call from him that afternoon full of hurt words and pointed remarks. It had ended in confusion, for the line was bad, but Edith thought he had said he would call her again in a few days. Edith had dreaded the moment when her family discovered the truth about Michael ever since she had introduced him to them at Shrimpie Flintshire's. Every time her father said something approving of Michael, or Cora made not so subtle enquiries about future plans, Edith shrivelled up inside a little more.

Then Anthony had been brought back into all their lives and it was as if the creeping death of shame that was her life with Michael had been suddenly brought into stark comparison by the appearance of the glorious, living sun.

After the jilting, without really knowing it, Edith had pushed all her feelings for Anthony into a box somewhere deep inside her where they couldn't hurt her any more, locked it, and thrown away the key. When she saw him again, that box was blown open and her love for him smothered her. But since he had returned, he had spoken to everyone in this family, Mama, Papa, Tom, and Mary, but not to her. She hoped he was just being Anthony…her wonderful, honourable, considerate Anthony…and letting her get used to his presence once again before approaching her and beginning to repair their relationship. She had tried to break with Michael on the telephone aiming to be free again when Anthony did speak to her, which she hoped he would do soon. Now here they all were at dinner. She caught Anthony's eye and smiled at him. He didn't quite smile back. In fact he looked as though he was suffering. Somehow he often looked like that when he was around her. Perhaps she wasn't as good for him as he was for her. She was becoming more and more desperate to talk to him about the future…perhaps they could try again now that her family had to be less disapproving of him. Perhaps she could get him by himself after dinner…

Anthony tapped his wine glass requesting silence.

"Lady Mary and I have an announcement to make. If…if…I am to inherit the title of Earl of Grantham, then I felt it only fair that I should offer the title of Countess to a Crawley. Lady Edith is now not free, but I am pleased to say that Lady Mary has accepted and we are engaged to be married."

There was a stunned silence. Cora was the first to break the spell, followed quickly by Robert and Tom all congratulating Anthony and offering their best wishes to Mary.

Edith sat quite openly staring at Anthony. The man she loved was going to marry her sister…the same sister who called him 'poor, old Strallan'…the same sister who prevented him proposing to her at the Garden Party before the war…no, no, this just wasn't possible.

Violet looked vaguely horrified.

"I hope you aren't going to bolt again Strallan" she said haughtily.

"Not this time, Lady Grantham" he replied quite seriously. He risked looking at Edith.

She was weeping, quite plainly without trying to hide it. He opened his mouth but no words came. He'd hurt her again, the last thing he ever wished to do. He'd felt so sure that the only feelings she had had for him were of bitterness and blame. Yet the pain she was suffering was obvious. She was weeping, and now so was he. They stared at each other until Robert took Anthony's hand to shake it.

"Thank you my dear chap. I knew I could rely on your sense of honour" he said warmly.

My sense of honour…my blasted, ruinous sense of honour…oh god!

When he turned to look back at Edith she had excused herself and left the room.

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The next day Mary and Cora were huddled up in the drawing room making plans. Anthony didn't want a big wedding and that suited Mary as well.

"Mama, you must understand that Anthony and I have merely come to an agreement for the sake of the family and nothing more. We don't want a big do. I loved having a big wedding with Matthew…because he was the love of my life." She broke down into tears for the first time in weeks. Despite the violence of her sobs, it was so much healthier for her to cry than to bottle it all up. Cora put her arms around her daughter and silently thanked Anthony Strallan.

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Meanwhile, Edith was letting her feelings about Michael Gregson get the better of her. Yes, his attentions had been welcome when she didn't feel loved or lovable, when she believed she would never see Anthony ever again. But the comfort was short lived, and the shame increasingly oppressive and all-encompassing. Now, because she had been involved with Michael she may have lost Anthony again, for a third time. She was miserable, and she was angry. She put through a call to his office only to be told that Mr Gregson was out of town for a few days. She walked through to the drawing room where Mary and Cora were once again thinking about plans.

"Is Anthony going to be coming round today?"

Cora looked at Mary, and Mary held Edith's gaze.

"He'll be round for dinner." Mary deliberately didn't ask why Edith wanted to know. She thought Edith would say something in her own good time if she wanted to.

"I'd like to have a word with him sometime. I thought it might be a good idea if he and I cleared the air a little, tidied up the past, you know, if we're to be brother and sister."

"That's very generous of you, Edith, and brave too, I realise. Thank you. I'm sure Anthony would like that. He doesn't like…"

"…grudges and bad blood, no, I know. I do know him quite well, you know."

"Better than me. Probably better than I ever will. I'll tell him. Thank you, Edith."

Edith shrugged awkwardly and left. At least she had the chance now of speaking to Anthony alone. She had held back the tears until she got to the entrance hall heading for the stairs to go to her room where she could cry in peace, when she collided with a man Carson was just showing into the parlour.

"Edith! Oh, thank god! I had to see you."

It was Michael Gregson.

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"No, Michael, for the last time, I will not be your mistress, and there's an end of it."

"What…what do you want from our affair then? I can't stand being with you but not being your lover. We can't marry, and I don't believe you want to break with me completely" he hissed, wanting to shout but not daring to in case someone overheard.

"I do want to break with you completely. Things have changed here so much. My life should've changed with the new circumstances, but because of you they have not."

"I don't understand. I know Matthew and his baby were your family, but it isn't as if they were your husband and son."

"It's not just that. There's a new heir. And he's engaged to Mary. And…"

Michael didn't seem to be listening any more.

"You will regret breaking with me. We may not have been lovers, but the press reports have hinted that we were. I could make the publicity very uncomfortable for you and your family. I don't say I will, but I could." His voice had an edge, put there by his despair. He loved Edith and couldn't bear to lose her. He would use any weapons he had to hand to prevent her leaving him.

"Mary was blackmailed into almost marrying a newspaper man she didn't love in exactly the same way. But Michael, be assured that all your threats lost their power to hurt me when Anthony proposed to Mary."

"Anthony Strallan? The man who jilted you? He's the new heir? And he's going to marry your sister instead of you? Oh that's precious!"

Over Michael's deriding laughter, Edith shouted through her tears "How dare you! How dare you! It's too late to throw you out of Downton now, but I want you gone first thing in the morning and I never want to hear from you again."

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There will be more high drama before the tide turns and Our Lovely Couple have some good luck. I know, I'm an angst queen...sorry!

Someone asked about the story I mentioned at the end of Where Angels Dwell. The story is called After the Ball is Over and is the next one in line after this one is completed. It is about Anthony and Edith's first meeting in an alternative 1913. I have been having trouble with it, so I published this one first!