A/N I'm not really sure what to say about this chapter. The only thing I could think of was Crikey! So, this chapter is rated Crikey!
To everyone who has been so kind to listen to my burblings, come on this adventure with me, and generally provide the impetus for me to keep going I thank you from the heart of my bottom.
On the subject of revealing spoilers for this story. For one thing, I'm flattered you think I have the faintest idea what is going on. Secondly, my muse is now so off it's trolley that it is holding my teddy hostage and if I spill the beans it starts snipping... think of Mr Bunion!
Enjoy x
The car slowed as Nanny Stevens and the children walked past the village green. The driver watched the woman carefully. She looked up and caught his eye. Turning the vehicle slowly, Sir Richard Carlisle pulled over to the side of the road.
"Run along now children and play for a little while." She said, ushering them towards the grass. Her tone was so out of character that George gaped at her in surprise.
"I thought you said we should keep clean." He asked as if he could sense a trick.
"Don't worry about that now children. You have been cooped up in the nursery for too long; it will do you good to get some fresh air and exercise." She leant forward. "Why don't we see who can run to the other side of the green and pick a bunch of um… daisies, and then we can make a chain for your Mama?"
Relieved to be finally free from restraint, the three children ran excitedly across the grass, all argument forgotten.
Smiling at her own guile Stevens began to walk in the direction of the newspaper magnet's car. Looking around quickly, she opened the passenger door and got in.
"So those are Lady Mary's children?" Sir Richard said, watching the three figures run away.
"Only two of them, the other boy is her sister's kid. But all of them are a complete nightmare." She said fervently.
Richard nodded his gaze still on the children as they chased each other.
Stevens wondered what he was thinking; she hoped it wasn't a lament for things lost.
"I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me." She said a light teasing in her voice.
If he even noticed, Richard did not care to be teased. "Of course not. It was important that you were in position before they found out I'd been dragged back to this damned place. More important now that Lady Carlisle has taken it into her head to go visiting."
"You think she's up to something?" Stevens asked.
"She has certain… information. I've allowed her to think it powerful enough for me to be persuaded to return. I just want to know what Lady Mary has to do with it."
"I don't understand why you don't just stay the hell away from that woman. She has caused you nothing but trouble, humiliated…"
She stopped as he turned towards her, his eyes ablaze with controlled anger. "That is why I am the owner of a string of newspapers and you are just a junior reporter trying to make her way in the world. I will not be questioned on my reasons!"
Nanny Steven's lips snapped shut. Any other woman would have been tearful, Stevens was not any other woman.
Richard sighed, his hands gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were turning white.
"They look like her… the children?" He asked.
Nanny was looking out of the window to hide her disappointment. "The boy does. The girl looks like her…" She stopped, aware that what she was about to say might cause another flash of temper.
"Her father." He finished for her. "I suppose it was inevitable."
Richard was still lost in his thoughts as he watched the youngsters playing.
Lily-beth had sat down in the grass and was busily picking daisies, she was determined that hers would be the best chain for Mama. The boys on the other hand seemed more interested in wrestling and chasing each other. She poked a finger under her hat and scratched at her scalp. The shorn hair itched. Her Mama had told her it was not so bad and she looked just like the chic ladies in Paris who cut their hair very, very short. Papa had looked a little sad, but eventually, lifting her on his knee, he had kissed her cheek and said that she was still the most beautiful girl in the world… apart from Mama of course. Then he had whispered loudly something about hoping Mama wouldn't get any ideas and Mama had rolled her eyes and laughed, saying she just might. Lily-beth hadn't understood what it all meant, but she was very pleased to be a chic lady, even if George said she looked like a hedgehog. Mama promised they would buy her a cloche hat. Lily-beth didn't know what one of those was. The only clock she knew was in the hallway, so she had a very odd picture in her head.
Michael skidded to a halt beside her on his knees, followed closely by George, their faces glowing with the exertion.
"You're squashing them!" Lily-beth squealed.
Her cousin lifted his leg and did indeed reveal some very sorry looking flowers, his face looking apologetic.
"Don't be such a baby, there are hundreds of them." George said quickly.
"I am not a baby, I'm older than you!" His sister snapped back, trying to hit her brother, who deftly moved out of the way.
"I think you have a fight on your hands." Sir Richard said to his passenger.
Nanny Stevens didn't even bother to look up. "Oh they do that all the time." She said dismissively. "I don't tend to worry about it until one of them starts screaming."
Richard glanced at her, his eyebrow raised. "I didn't pay off a perfectly reasonable Nanny so that you could act like you couldn't care less."
"That Nanny would have paid you to get away from them. And don't look at me like that. It's not my fault the parents won't let me beat them, so sometimes I let them beat each other."
He turned back towards the children as if they fascinated him.
"I know you told me not to question you." Stevens started, "but I really don't see the point in this. The Crawleys are doing absolutely nothing of any interest, unless you count the maid, and that Lady Mary gets right under my skin."
"What maid?"
"Some silly little maid who makes googly eyes at Crawley. You think it's got legs?" She asked hopefully.
Richard shook his head. "No-one really cares what men do. It's unfair, but a way of the world. Besides, there won't be anything in it, he's not the type... Lansdowne is up at the Abbey isn't he?"
"James Lansdowne?" She asked, her interest peaked. "Yes, he is. Do you think Crawley has something to do with his dealings?"
Richard shrugged. "They were in the army together, Lansdowne was his groomsman, what other possible reason could there be for him to be here?"
She nodded in agreement.
"Keep an eye on him, ask the servants at Downton, try and find out what he's up to this time. He's been clever so far, but everyone makes a mistake sooner or later."
"I will." She reached over and laid her hand on Sir Richard's knee. "Speaking of which, when are you going to get rid of her Richard?"
He paused. "Cecily has proved somewhat cleverer than I first thought. She is dangerous to me at the moment. That is why you need to stay where you are and make sure Lady Mary isn't involved."
"But once you have sorted this out, you are going to divorce her?"
He placed his own hand over hers and gave it a squeeze, finally giving her his full attention. "Of course I will." He said oozing charm. "You just have to be patient my darling."
There was an ear splitting scream from one of the children.
"And that I think is your cue." He said.
She genuinely smiled, a rare event for Nanny Stevens, and, reluctantly removing her hand, she got out of the car.
In the grounds of Downton Abbey James and Edith were taking a stroll in the sunshine. They walked as though there was an invisible barrier between them.
"So where do you think you will go next in the world?" Edith asked politely.
"I'm not sure really, it depends on… many things." He answered lamely.
"Such as?" She looked so innocently at him that for a moment words almost failed.
"You… you can't be completely ignorant as to why I wanted to come here Edith?" He said it so gently, so tenderly that a blush rose to her cheeks. She looked away quickly. He wasn't sure how to read her. It was ridiculous really. Here he was a grown man, a man who was skilled at studying people, and yet she remained a complete mystery to him.
When she did not speak, he assumed the worst.
"Are you at least going to tell my why?" It was petulant, it was childish, but he had to know. The lack of understanding had haunted him many a long Indian night.
She seemed uncertain, wringing her hands in that way she had when someone said something barbed, usually Mary, or when she was uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you all those years ago…" She couldn't explain could she? He would never understand, and after her talk with Mary she wasn't even sure she did anymore. This was James, he was kind and patient. He never laughed at her, or made her feel as though she was the ugly duckling between two beautiful swans. He had come back and now he thought she would still refuse him again. How could she tell him that it was only her fear of disappointing him that had made her run away?
"I did care for you… do; I mean I do care for you." She said with difficulty.
"But not enough." His shoulders sagged.
"It was never that…" Oh why was this so hard?
"So what was it Edith because I love you. I loved you then and I still love you now and I don't think anything is ever going to change that, so because you are the kind sweet person that I know you to be, please, please tell me why and I will never bother you again, I promise."
Her eyes opened wide with surprise at such a declaration. This sort of thing certainly never happened to her, her sisters yes, in romantic novels definitely, but not to ordinary Edith Crawley. She just stared and stared until James turned away in frustration.
"I love you too." Was all she could say.
"You do?" Now it was James' turn to look amazed. "Then why…?"
"Why what?" There were tears in her eyes. "You haven't asked me anything."
He fumbled in his pocket, dropping the small ring box onto the grass. Instinctively they both knelt to pick it up. He reached it first and opened it to reveal the ring. He gazed into her eyes and took her hand.
"Edith Crawley, will you please finally put me out my misery and marry me?"
The threatened tears were now spilling freely. Speech was completely impossible. She could only nod.
Words were then no longer an option as he took her face in his hands and finally kissed her.
