NdA: I'm sorry I'm sorry, that was a deadful period of exams and it's still not over.. until next week. Forgive me for the lack of updates!
Nonetheless I tried to write a little in my spare time so in the future I'll publish more often (hopefully).

I'd like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the readers, in particular the one who reviewed the previous chapter: Countess of Cobert, witchoesed, Downtonix, Dream of Ragtime, eyeon, sinceyoufellinlovewithme & Ju. Your interest give me motivation!

[I'm not a native, so forgive my mistakes!]

Enjoy!


Chapter 7 – Broken Clock

16th July (Early Afternoon)

Edith's heart broke a little more at the sight of her papa doubled over in misery against the wall of the building.

He had his hands resting on the stone, his chin touched his chest and all his body was shaking through vigorous sobs.
He seemed an old man cracked under the weight of life, all his joy faded away within a few seconds, his strength forgotten, his mask fallen off.

Edith looked at her father like it was the first time: as a child, he had been her hero, with his uniform and his world of duties far away from hers, as a girl, her father had been the symbol of the perfect man, always caring for his wife and children, always strong and wise, always knowing the best thing to do and he had been that her all life but now.. now she felt like the torch had been passed, and no one had cared to ask her first if she wanted it or not.

She felt the woman in charge. It all had changed in a blink of an eye.
The feeling was frightening and yet so empowering; was that the way her mother felt every day? Whether or not the whole matter would have turned out for the best or the worst, now it would have been thanks to her decision. That was the meaning of being a true adult.
Her mother's life was basically in her hand, in hers and Mary's, working on the other side to make sure everything would have been all right. Were they a team, with Tom, now? Just about few years ago, she would have believed that impossible.

"Papa.." she called him shyly, afraid that being seen like that would have embarrassed him. It was like she'd never talked to her papa before.
Edith stepped closer, carefully, trying not to listen to his fathers soft whimper for she would have burst into tears herself. She'd just lost her dear mama for the second time and now she was looking at her father, broke and defeated like never before.
And she would have had to call Mary to tell her that they did in fact not find their mother. But Mary surely wouldn't have loosened her temper of course, she would have remained cold and pragmatic like always, which made the task a little easier.

"Papa, we should go back inside.." she tried again, sighing heavily, placing her hand over his father's shoulder.

Robert startled, turning his back to her so he could've wipe away the tears still rolling down his cheeks.
"I don't what to go back inside." he choked up.

"Papa, if that woman is not mama.." she started, clenching her jaw not to let her own tears escaping her lashes. "Tomorrow is the meeting day. Nothing changed."

"Do you really believe it'll be over by tomorrow?" he turned sharply to face her, his red eyes pierced Edith's soul. She knew her father didn't mean to be harsh or demotivated but she knew also that he couldn't help himself. As a matter of fact, she was a little hopeless herself, yet, nothing had had supposed to be happening before tomorrow, that dreadful, unplanned course of event had to be erased from their memories.
Hope was the key, up until tomorrow.

"We have to believe so, papa." she gave him a sweet smile. "Mama is waiting for us. We have to bite the bullet a little longer."

"Among the three, Edith, you're the last of my children from whom I expected to hear a speech about hope and biting bullets." he sniffed, curling his lips into a half smile.

Edith let out a brief chuckle and nodded.
"I've leaned a lot, papa, thanks to you and mama."

Robert took her hand in his, rubbing dearly her pale skin.
"Do you miss her?" he asked, maybe not to feel entirely alone when everybody were busy making plans and hoping while he was crying and thinking and remembering tirelessly his wife.

"More than ever." Edith answered in a low voice "I come here in London quite often, and I stay away from Downton and from all of you for quite some time.. and I miss you always very much. But now it's different."

"I know." he agreed. Knowing someone in a safe place, even far away from home, is a balm for every worrying soul; yet Cora was lost, among evil people and the thoughts of the thing she might had to go through were a torture. Did it make a real difference? A day or a couple of hours?

"But tomorrow she'll be home, for real." she slipped her arm beneath his father's, giving him a hopeful smile and a comforting squeeze.

"You know, Edith dear, I thought you resembled you mother very little. I thought you would become like Granny or Aunt Rosamund.. independent, sharp, resourceful and now you're here supporting me, giving me hope.. just like your mother would do." Robert patted her hand as they walked once again toward the entrance. "You look like your mama very much now."

Edith struggled not to show his father that she was indeed moved by those words. In all her life, she wanted to be like her mother, kind and compassionate, but somehow every time she'd tried, something had happened, preventing her to succeed.
Hearing her father saying she looked like her dear mama, was the best compliment she could've ever received. Her heart warmed up, despite everything else.

"Thank you papa."

"Here." he stopped, right before the big doors of the dispatch "Take this." he worked for few second on her brooch, settled in the centre of her chest, right beneath the wide white collar, and he framed the little blue flowers in it.

Edith recognized the flower right away and all she could do was smiling, glimmering eyes, happy tears hanging from her lashes.
"Mama is waiting for us." she stated "We'll bring her home.. we have to wait just a little more."


"How could this happen?" Robert asked quite furiously although he was striving to keep his temper, that task was definitely very difficult. "Mistaken a woman like Cora with.. her." he pointed out, careful not to hurt the poor woman's feeling.

She had indeed dark locks, she had indeed blue eyes and she was indeed quite tall, more or less like Cora, but she was not Cora.
Her hands were not soft nor white, her neck wasn't elegant nor graceful, her features weren't delicate, her skin wasn't pearly, her eyes were not gentle nor loving.
She was beautiful, but she was not Cora.

"I'm terribly dismayed, Lord Grantham.." mumbled the officer "You only showed us a picture of Lady Grantham in her twenties and.." he sighed sharply "We did our best."

"You clearly failed!" blurted out Robert, and only the brief brush of Edith's fingers on his arm prevented him to go further.

It was true, though, that he didn't think of bringing a recent photo of Cora with him, nor did Edith, no one had thought of that. He only had few photos in his wallet, as an old habit inherited from his father, and the all of them were group shot except for one: the first pictured him and his parents just before Patrick died, the second was of Cora with the girls as toddlers and the last with his grandchildren near their ponies. The only sharpen picture of Cora and Cora only was one of the their wedding day and she was so beautiful and young with her white dress. Apparently it hadn't been helpful for the purpose. "Is this changes something?"

"I doubt it, Lord Grantham." the police officer walked toward the room as the unidentified woman was escorted outside into another place.

The man showed him the little piece of paper on which the tip had been written. "It was anonymous and it mentioned Friday." he explained "At first, we only found an illegal liquor distribution and a small hall for gaming. It was an abandoned house and in the upper floor.. well.. women weren't treated very good and they were captured. We requestioned everything, imprisoned the owners and of course freed the women."

Robert felt sick all of the sudden. He was so happy that Cora hadn't been in that dreadful horror house and yet she could have been somewhere worse; bad things happened behind every corner and his wife would have been in the hands of criminals until tomorrow. What sufferings did she have to go through?
The only thought of someone daring to touch her skin made him shiver, his blood boil, his stomach turn.

"What about that lady?" he managed to whisper, his eyes shut.

"She seemed the finest among the others and she matched the description.. and she was- she is, very upset therefore she doesn't talk."

"No one is looking for her?" asked Edith just above breath.
The poor woman in the other room was frightened to death and hadn't no family to comfort her.
Was her mama terrified? Was her mother silent too, scared to talk?

"For the moment, no one asked for her." the officer said sadly.

A long moment of silence followed.

"What are we going to do, then?" her voice was firm again. She needed a little of the pragmatic vibe of her sister Mary. She was going to absorb and use every tiny bit of her family's vibes as long as it was needed, from the scepticism of Granny to the kindness of mama, from the pratical way of thinking of Mary to the adaptability of Tom, and from herself, she needed to bring out her experience and her resourcefulness. Edith was determined to play her part at the best of her ability.
She wanted her mama back and she wanted also the best chance they had, with everything settled for the worst scenario, in case the meeting wouldn't have gone as predicted. She would have asked for everything and she would have obtained everything, well, that was her grandmother Martha coming out.

"We stick to the plan." the man answered "Lord Grantham will go tomorrow at the park entrance with the sovereigns and a whole police team will supervise dressed as common people. The most important thing is not to scare them away. We only have one shot." he stated with the voice of someone used to command.

"Is it the best we can do, officer?" Robert enquired, his fist pressed against his lips.

"It is, Lord Grantham." he nodded "But I can assure you that it's very successful. Most of the criminals are blinded by gold and they get distracted. Very often we capture them and save all the money too."

"I don't care about the money, I just want my wife back." he whispered firmly.

"I want Lady Grantham back to safety as much as you do, Lord Grantham. I assure you we'll do our best."


17th June (Afternoon)

"How's papa?" the muffled voice of Mary reached her ear after few seconds.

Her fingers tightened around the phone.
"I think he didn't sleep at all." Edith answered, turning her back to the sitting room, in which her father and aunt Rosamund were sipping tea in a deadly silence "Actually I didn't sleep neither."

"Of course." came the flat the reply. "The house has been awake all night too."

Edith smiled a little: she knew that was the only hint she would have received about her sister's lack of sleep and worrying state of mind.
"We're all dressed up since this morning and we went to visit Baxter. She's very nervous too, I think she feels guilty."

Mary didn't speak for few minutes. As a matter of fact, Edith was the first to be surprised by her will to talk to her sister, but after all, it was a good excuse to kill time.

"How's she?" she enquired with a little sigh.

"Better. They wanted to keep her in for a couple of days more but then she'll be free to go."

"Good." she made her tongue click "So, is it everything settled?"

"Yes. The police will be there trying to catch those men." her voice trembled.

"It all seems rather on the line." commented Mary, her sister nodded, closing her eyes.

"I know. It's all about luck on that, but at least everybody is sure that we'll get mama back." she drew a sharp breath "Mary, we can't tell that to papa what we think." she warned, lowering her voice and bending over her shoulder.

"I agree." Mary nodded "Granny's here. She's complaining, stressing everyone out because she doesn't get enough information." she left out a soft chuckle, and the thought made Edith smile too.

"I'm sorry Mary, but we know very little ourself." she sighed "Anyway, I'll phone you as soon as we get back home with mama."

"All-right."

A long pause.
They both were smiling unseen.
Odd as it seemed, that was their very first quiet talk, the very first talk as sister perhaps.. and they'd needed all that to get there.

"I must go now. We need to go to the police first."

"Sure. Be careful, the both of you. Goodbye, Edith."

"Goodbye, Mary."

"Oh and- Edith..?"

"Yes?"

"Kiss mama for me."


17th June (Evening, 18:45)

Robert was pacing nervously at the entrance of the park.

It was still early, but he'd requested to arrive there at least half an hours before the meeting: for sure he didn't want to be late and miss his only chance to get his wife back.
He childishly insisted in wearing his finest day frock, a steel blue one, Cora's favourite. He wanted to look at his best for the first reunion with her, he wanted to look in her eyes and hold her to make her feel safe again, he wanted to see her smile and her glimmering eyes.

But now he realized that maybe those men would have approached him alone, asked for the money and only then showed him Cora. Strategically thinking, that what a smart man would have done, including himself, and those men must have been smart for sure, to succeed in kidnapping a woman like Cora, hurting Baxter and, most of all, entering a house like theirs at the perfect time to hit the jackpot.

Robert stroked mindlessly the little bag he hanged on his belt, hidden under his jacket, making the coins clink at every step. He'd spent so many minutes counting them, twice, with the police officer, Edith and the banker who suspiciously provided all the three hundreds golden sovereigns early that morning.

It was all settled and his heart was pumping painfully in his chest.

He carefully eyed all the policemen he knew were there, perfectly blended with the crowd and common people and kids enjoying a pacific stroll in the park: the two behind him reading their paper, the one with wife and son feeding the pigeons, the other three pretending to play cards on the bench and with the corner of the eye he glanced quickly at the car parked at the end of the block, barely visible, in which the officer in charge was supervising the whole thing with Edith safely seated on the back.
It had been a precaution, because in that case, if something would have gone wrong, the other members of the family could've been the favoured targets and Robert was already in the front line, dangerously exposed to practically everything.

But what if the action would have gone wrong? What about all those innocent people? All the kids and the family returning home after a walk with their beloved ones? What if they would have set off a gunfight? What if someone would have got killed? What if they'd hurt Cora for some sort of revenge?

Things must have gone as planned.

He didn't want anyone to be hurt in vain, most of all the children and the unaware citizens. They could've been warned and yet, that lack of common people would have certainly alarmed the kidnappers. What would they have thought if they had known? Would they have agreed?

The truth was, everything was worth it, for Cora, because for him, Cora was everything.

But what about those others? The one who didn't even know Cora, would have they risk their own lives for her? Did he had the right to put them all in danger? What would Cora have said?

Robert jerked awkwardly when the bell tower of St. James Church stroke the seven, few blocks away, with a soft sound, summoning all the people for the last function of the evening.

It was time.

Robert held his breath, staring nervously at everyone approaching to him, stepping beside him and passing him over, every time, like he was a rock in the middle of the river, bypassed by the water with the minimum effort.
He felt thousands of tiny beads of sweat on his forehead, on his neck, tediously dropping under his collar, making him shiver, out of distress and discomfort, anxiety and eagerness.

What took so long? Where were they?

Robert felt tears of frustration stinging his eyes as the time passed. Sunset was on the horizon now and the voices crowding the paths of the park seemed fewer and fewer.

He searched again, behind every tree, every statue, begging the under-cover agents to step back because maybe they'd scared the kidnappers away, running up and down the small passage that went from the entrance's gates from the first fountain, analysing every suspicious face, every man or woman with their hat covering their eyes, every figure who walked too slow or too fast in every direction.

His head was spinning, he felt his heart in his throat.
What had gone wrong? What did he do?
He turned sharply, panting, asking silently for help to the nearer officer.

"What time is it?" he enquired, his mouth dry.

"Twenty past seven, sir." he replied sadly.

They were still playing their part, but the both of them well knew it was useless.

Robert thanked him with a small nod, before returning to watch all the bystanders, the distant ones and the close ones, some of which returned a weird, puzzled look.

He swallowed hard, fighting back the tears, pacing nervously around the fountain, his eyes lost, running everywhere.
He could only think about Cora. Why wasn't she there? Why it was all so difficult? Was she all-right?


Edith stared at the blurry figure of her father with her watery eyes, her slender fingers clenching at the seat before her.

She desperately wanted to ask the officer with her what took so long, why her mama wasn't there, why the kidnapped didn't reclaim their money yet, why everything seemed awfully normal out there and not even a bullet had been shot, from either part.
She sighed anxiously, biting her bottom lips as a man, commonly dressed, approached the car, removing his dirty hat to reveal perfect polish hair.

"Nothing?" the captain asked.

The other just shook his head.

"What's happening?" breathed Edith, grabbing the officer's arm with strength as he opened the car door.

"They didn't show up." he answered concisely, wearing his hat.
The man walked slightly back to let her out and then urged her to follow him toward the park.

"What are you doing?" Edith strived to walk beside him. Her sight was blurred, her heart was pumping painfully and her mind was overwhelmed by sadness and frustration and, above all, disappointment.
All her hope, dreams, all the time spent imagining that scene, holding her mother again, smelling her perfume and feeling safe like a child, all that, shattered. Blown away like a pile of ashes at the wind. "You'll scare them away!" she cried, sniffing, bouncing her sight from her father to the officer.

He didn't answer, walking even faster to reach Robert, who was still pacing nervously up and down the small path.
The officer stepped closer to him, placing the hand on his shoulder to make him stop.

When he turned, Robert's eyes were on fire.

"What are you doing?" he blurted out, furiously. He'd used the same word of his daughter and yet they seemed so differently. "What are you all doing?" he enquired when he noticed the other agents leaving their fake activities to gather around him.

"They didn't come, Lord Grantham." the captain said. His voice low and flat.

The soft whimpering of his daughter, proving that all he was saying was true, broke his heart completely.

"No. No!" he yelled, tears rolling down his reddened cheeks "Get back to your positions!" he pointed out some benches "We still have time! They're here, you'll scared them away! Cora-"

"Papa!"
Edith clenched to his arm with all her might. Shaking and sobbing over his shoulder as she attempted to hold him to comfort him and herself.
She hated that situation, that dreadful fate that rose up their hopes only to crush them the minute after. She hated everyone because they seemed incapable of bringing her mama back, she hated herself for being so powerless and she hated that love they shared because it was their weakness, preventing them from thinking straight.

"It doesn't make any sense." a stranger's voice rose up from the silence; it belonged to a young officer with a pair of fake moustache on his upper lips and a folded paper in his hand. "Those bastards never give up a bag full of money." he commented shyly.

"He's right." the captain agreed. "Something must have happened."

"Something?" Robert's voice trembled "Something like what?"

"Like loosing their trade good." he stated severely.

Robert and Edith shared a puzzled glance. That meant that maybe Cora escaped? That maybe she was free?

"Are you positively sure?" he enquired Robert, holding tightly her daughter. That was the first good news in days, the first that maybe had proves, that maybe gave them real hopes.

"It's the only reason I can think for not showing up." the man dared to curved his lips into a half smile.

"Well, but- she must be somewhere." breathed Edith, parting reluctantly from her father's embrace.

"As soon as we get back to the police station, I'll phone every London dispatch and every hospital to see if there is any unconscious woman that matches the description." he declared proudly, spreading a positive vibe among all the officers, who began to smile, proposing things and activities to optimize the searchings.

"Mama is strong." pointed out Edith, her mind running wild along the others "Now it's clearly a race against time. They- the kidnappers could be after her too. Mama's clever if she ran away she could still be outside, somewhere." she drew a sharp breath, wiping the tears away "We must let her know that we're seeking for her. We must let all London we're seeking for her, also we might discourage those criminals if they're looking for her."

"All-right." the officer nodded "It what I was thinking about. We need to make this big."

Edith smiled, turning to Robert.

"Trust me, papa. We'll find her." her eyes glimmered "The papers will be our weapon. I'll phone Mary to get one picture of mama, she'll ship it to us with the night train and the special edition of The Sketch will be released tomorrow morning.. soon the others will follow."

"I do trust you, Edith dear." he sighed, smiling melancholy. "It's your field."
His daughter had grown so much in the last years, he almost didn't noticed. He was proud of her, truly proud of her and now that her passion and her job could've been the key to the finding of his wife, he couldn't have been more grateful. "I just pray for this to be over soon. Especially for your mother."


17th June (evening)

"Miss Doe, you should go to your room." the nurse suggested, but Cora shook gracefully her head. She was sore and she felt weak, but all those family chatting, all those kids running in the corridors to their mother and their newborns siblings made her happy, not to mention that she felt awfully lonely by herself in that room, with the emptiness of her mind too.

"When the visiting hours will be over." she pleaded, adjusting the woollen shawl on her shoulder as she rested on one of the armchair of the common room.

"All-right, but please don't get too tired." the nurse smiled.

Cora nodded, smiling sweetly.
She was in that Hospital since the morning, she had received food, warm clothes, treatments and medicines and she knew she had just a general distress, due to the terrible places she had been kept in. Her throat would have recovered soon, as her superficial wounds, the doctors had told her that even her mind would have healed eventually so she was confident and quiet about that, even if her lack of memories scared her, sometime.

Being in the common area, especially during visiting hours, kept her mind busy and happy and now that they told her that in some special days the families could've stayed longer, until eight o'clock, was a relief. Honestly, she was scare of the night, because she knew she would have nightmares about that horrible experience.

"Bye bye, miss Doe!"

"Bye bye, Tommy." Cora smiled at the young boy waving his little hand at her. He'd been there since the early afternoon to meet his little sister. He'd told her everything about it and she'd listened quietly, trying to remember something as the boy talked, but without much success.
Yet, his funny voice made her new name a little more likeable: since no one knew her real name, the doctors and the nurses started to refer at her as 'miss Doe', as she seemed to have nothing on her left hand but a defined groove on her finger. She of course didn't remember a thing, thus every one presumed she was a single woman or divorced. Cora however felt like she was definitely missing something fundamental.

Her sight went on the big clock tickling in the corner of the room.
Twenty minutes more and they would have forced her to return to her room.

Cora sighed demoralized, staring at one of the last visitors heading at the main stairs.

They were two, a fine couple, maybe father and daughter as he seemed quite older than the lady, whose hair were perfectly combed and were gold as the grain. She smiled when they both partially turned, giving their goodbyes to a patient in her room: they were definitely father and daughter because they shared the same chin.

And he looked quite handsome too.

"So the police found the poor lady's family at last?" the woman said, grasping her father's arm as they walked.

"Yes, I saw them hugging just before we left for the hospital." the man answered, wearing a grey hat.

"Well, at least that's a good news." the woman commented and that was all Cora heard before they disappeared behind the corner.

She sighed again, lowering her eyes.
Some woman had found her family. She was happy and still she couldn't help but envy her.
Would that have ever happened to her too?
Maybe soon, the wait would have been started tomorrow.

Patience, she reminded herself, don't loose hope.
Was someone looking for her?
How would have done if they didn't even take a picture of her, yet? What were they waiting for? Was the police doing enough to find her family?
Did she have a family?

"Miss Doe?" she turned when she heard the nurse calling for her. She stood up, sure that she wanted her to return to her room; she offered her hand instead, urging Cora to take it.

"What is it?" she asked curiously, following her.

The nurse grinned.
"There's someone for you."