'I knew this would happen Cora,' Robert fumed as he paced around his bedroom, with Cora resting in her chair.

'Well what do you propose we do Robert? Prevent her from seeing Mrs Carson? Ban her from having anything to do with her? I don't exactly see what we can do except to accept the situation,' Cora reasoned.

'Does it not bother you at all Cora that our daughter is being taken away from us? She is slowly crossing the divide and forgotten that we raised her as Lady Aurelia Crawley!' He fumed.

'Robert, Ella is my daughter too and I have never once, even in the last year, thought any different. Sometimes it does bother me, that I have to share the role of her mother, but then I remember what Mrs Carson went through twenty-five years ago and what she gave up when she allowed us to take Ella,' Cora said. 'I don't doubt for one moment that Ella loves us Robert, but we have to accept that her life has changed now and that if we keep pushing her, we might push her away from us forever; which would be the very thing you're afraid of in the first place!'

'Be that as it may, she wants to raise her child, our grandchild, with the knowledge that Mrs Carson is also its grandmother; what if, when the child is older, it starts to talk in the village or draws attention to the fact with the other servants? We could risk everything that we have worked hard to protect!' He shouted as he paced some more.

'Robert, what exactly do you mean by that? The only thing we worked hard to protect during the last twenty-five years, is Ella…'

'Yes, but I failed her, didn't I? I failed to stop her from finding out the truth and from causing her immense pain; I failed to stop Richard from entering her life and from causing her more pain. What if…' he said before he broke off and sank sorrowfully into a chair in front of his wife. 'What if, the reason she is pulling further away from us, is because we've caused her too much pain, that won't heal?' He explained with a much quieter and calmer tone, which caused Cora to look at him with sorrowful understanding. She then knelt beside him and cupped his cheek lovingly in her hands.

'Robert, have you not spent any time with our daughter recently? Because if you have, you will know that she adores us both, very much, that I have no doubt of; but her compassion and empathy for others, means that she feels that she needs to make it up to Mrs Carson, for all the pain and suffering that she feels she has caused,' Cora said softly. 'Once she knew the truth, there was never going to be any question of her not forming some kind of relationship with Mrs Carson, but the question is, how we deal with it.'

'And what do you suggest exactly? That we live as one happy family?' He replied sarcastically.

'Of course not; but Ella doesn't want us to live as one big family either Robert. She's tried to create a life separate from the one she shares with us, but what else could she have done after she had found out? We couldn't very well have expected her to carry on as before, as if nothing had changed,' Cora said impatiently.

Robert looked at his wife; she was right, of course, but it didn't ease his pain any. He hated the thought of losing his youngest daughter, whom he loved more than he thought possible and hated himself for not protecting her more.

'I don't hold any ill will towards Mrs Carson; I understand that what Richard put her through must have been an awful ordeal, but I don't want us to lose Ella.'

'Well we will only lose her if we keep pushing her. We need to spend more time with her, the way she does with Mr and Mrs Carson, just the three of us, especially whilst she has to rest. Perhaps it is time that we stopped trying to turn a blind eye to her relationship with Mrs Carson and started taking more of an interest in it. I don't want our daughter to feel awkward or uncomfortable about her relationship with Mrs Carson.'

Robert looked at his wife and patted her hand softly. He knew that she was right and neither said much after that, but sat together in silent contemplation. They both thought about how they wanted to approach this latest development and deal with their own feelings for their daughter.

Whilst her parents were in their room down the hall facing emotional turmoil, Ella was in her own room with Henry. They were sat talking about their new home together and what they would do to the garden and how they planned to decorate.

'Well I don't expect you to be doing anything, at least, not until after the baby is born,' he said as he cradled her on his knee, their foreheads resting against each other.

'Darling women have babies all the time and still manage to run a house,' she replied.

'Yes, but they haven't had to deal with everything that you have and you must let me take care of you.'

'Everything is going to be alright with the baby though, isn't it? I know I'm stubborn and I don't like the idea of resting, but I do want our baby to be healthy and strong.'

'Our baby is going to be absolutely fine and so are you; we just need to take it a day at a time.' Henry placed a kiss to Ella's nose which she wrinkled playfully.

'What are we going to tell it, about my situation? I'm sure it'll want to know why it has three sets of grandparents and we will still have to keep my relationship with Mam and Dad a secret.'

'Well we have a few more years before we have to start worrying about that my love and who knows what will happen in that time; but I agree with you, our child deserves to know the truth about its family, how much we tell them though, I'm not certain,' he replied with a slightly furrowed brow.

'I can't wait to be able to spend time with Mam and Dad and our child, our own little lives separated from the life I lead here; but I do need you to understand that Downton Abbey will still play a huge part in our lives.'

'Of course it will and of course I understand that; but this move could be the best possible thing for us Ella. This is where we can finally grow, as husband and wife and as a family,' Henry replied with a smile. 'Wait until we visit it in a few days and we can really start making plans,' he added.

The rest of their evening was spent in quiet contemplation as they discussed all of their plans together, some silly, some dreamlike and some more serious; it was all there, waiting for them at their Muse Lane cottage.

Well that's the end of that wee story folks! I very much hope you enjoyed it and thank you all for your kind reviews; but don't feel too sad as my Elsie muse is in full swing after that forehead kiss, so the next story will be up soon xxx