Chapter Six

A/N: Thank you to Caoicaoi and granthamfan for reviewing the last chapter.

Cora knocked on the door of her husband's study, knowing that he would always be there in the middle of the day. Robert was rather a creature of habit, and after having known him as long as she had, she knew precisely where he could be found at any given time of day.

He called his summons quietly, and she slipped around the door, her face illuminated with joy when she saw her husband's smile appear. He crossed quickly to the door and embraced her, resting his cheek on her hair in a gesture of affection. She wrapped his arms tightly around his waist, glad to be back in her husband's arms, though she had not even been gone from Downton a week.

"My dear Cora." he greeted her, once they had separated, though his hand continued to rest on the smooth surface of her cheek. "What a relief it is to have you back with us."

"It's a relief to be home." she told him in return and felt the truth of the words in her heart. She had not known what it truly meant to miss someone until the past week she had spent without her family and it was not an experience she cared to repeat in a hurry. "How are the girls?"

"They're fine." he told her, and Cora felt a small weight lift from her chest. She had never been away from her daughters for such a length of time before and she had not known how they would cope being separated from her for so long. She felt a little silly, worrying about them like this, as her youngest, Sybil, was now almost a woman grown, but she was a mother and she doubted she would ever cease to think about them and wonder if they were well. "Although they seemed a little quiet. I think that they were missing you more than anything else."

"Well, I know I was missing them just as much." she answered, remembering the awful feeling that accompanied a mother being separate from her child. She did not think that she had ever left Edith alone for such a period of time, let alone Sybil, who she still thought of as being a child in a cradle, despite the fact that she would be presented in London this coming summer. Her smile spread a little wider at the thought that she could see them again.

"Did you manage to find the truth of this business in America, then?" Instantly, the smile fell from Cora's lips and she drew away from her husband's hand as if his palm was a burning ember, scorching her skin. Another weight settled on her chest, the heaviness of guilt; here she was, smiling away, when her own sister and brother-in-law lay drowned on the bed of the Atlantic. Here she was, relieved at how she could see her daughters again, when her poor niece would never again hear her mother's voice or see her smile.

"She's dead." she told Robert, her voice cracking a little. She did not have to specify to whom she was referring, which was fortunate, as she still could not say the woman's name without breaking down into tears. "They both are. They haven't recovered the bodies yet, and they don't think they will, but... but they drowned."

"I'm so sorry." Lord Grantham laid a hand on his wife's shoulder, but did not pull her closer, as he had a feeling there was more to the tale than she was saying. He did not want to press her for more information when she was so close to falling over the edge into despair, but he needed to know. "And their daughter? Annabelle?"

Cora let out a sigh, laced with so many emotions that her husband could not put it down to any one. But then she spoke, feeling as if there were a tiny twinkling light appearing in the darkness, to guide her through her grief. "Annabelle survived."

"Good Lord!" Robert exclaimed, his face breaking into a grin wider than any she had seen since the ship had gone down. He had never once met the girl, barely knew her name, if the truth be told, but it was a glint of happiness in this dark cloud of despair, and he was willing to cling to any good news as much as she was. "Poor child, having to survive as an orphan. What will happen to her, I wonder?"

"Actually, Robert, that was something I needed to speak to you about." Cora paused for a moment, considering how to phrase her request, which her husband would at best see as a gesture of familial love, but would at worst see as a ludicrous plan. She would have to make sure she was persuasive enough, but not so forceful that he would feel attacked. Robert was a difficult man to reason with at times and it had taken years of marriage for her to learn exactly how to bend him to her will.

"She's staying here with me."

Cora's mouth formed a slight rounded shape, her eyes widening as she realised that her secret had slipped past her lips as an informative for her husband, not as a question, which she had no doubt he would have responded better to.

"I beg your pardon?" Robert's voice was unreadable, a blend of emotions melding together in his tone, so many that Cora could not quite gauge his reaction. However, it was clear from his expression that he had not taken the news as positively as she would have hoped. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Robert, I know that this is a shock for you, but she is my niece, and I promise-" Cora stopped abruptly, as she saw the door of the study creak open a few inches, a lock of blonde hair slipping to hang in front of the wood, even as its owner tried to hide herself.

Annabelle.

A/N: Please review!