I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY. I Promise posting will be more constant from now on :) Please reviewww

There were no words to describe how Matthew felt. That is perhaps because he had stopped feeling. He had been training for almost six weeks and he felt completely numb. How else could he cope with the loss of Mary? Training had proved a good distraction. There was barely any time to think. Their instructors had them at work all day and night pushing and pushing them until they could barely move from the exhaustion. They had all heard that the war was causing many casualties – many dying each day. For many of the men, this was a worry, for Matthew it seemed to barely matter.

It had been almost two months. Two whole months since she had left Matthew. For Mary, it all came back to Matthew. When she felt sad, she became even sadder thinking about what Matthew would say to cheer her up. On the rare occasions that she laughed, she found herself desperately wishing that Matthew was there to share the moment with her. Most of all, she thought one thought over and over again – Oh Mary what have you done! And she felt one emotion constantly accompanying any others – regret.

Richard had been up to see her only three times. Each visit was accompanied by many patronising comments and a horrible glint in Richard's eye which seemed to promise to her that she was going to pay in bucket loads for this pregnancy, for her affair. Richard was due to arrive shortly for a night. He had telephoned to say he could not stay longer as planned as business called. This seemed to be the case during every one of his visits… She had a small but obvious baby bump now and this seemed to anger Richard even more – seeing the evidence of another man's child growing underneath his wife's dress.

Just as she was in mid thought Carson announced Richard. Richard strode into the room with an arrogant air and Mary grudgingly, let him kiss her hand in greeting.

"How are you?" said Richard.

"Well thank you. Our little boy is doing well I think" responded Mary while placing a hand on her stomach. In all honesty she thought the baby was a girl, but the thought of it being a boy made Richard so very annoyed which she loved to see. As after all, if it was a boy then they would inherit Richard's vast fortune…

At her words, Richard's face went wooden. He did not make any comment but he turned away and Mary could hear him breathing heavily with not quite concealed rage. She smiled to herself, every time Richard visited she tried to be impossible in the hope that it would mean he would visit less. It was proving to be a good tactic. In the last two months she had seen him only three times. She decided to move onto some other touchy subjects – names and homes.

"Where will we live after the baby is born?" she asked.

Richard sat in an adjacent chair and thought before answering.

"In the London house" said he, shortly.

"How are the children?" inquired Mary.

"I have sent them to stay with their aunt for a while, at least till the baby is born and a little while after too perhaps" said Richard.

"Do people know I am pregnant yet? What did they say?"

"Yes" was all the reply she got.

Mary looked at her hands in her lap and pursed her lips.

"I have been thinking about names" said Mary. "I thought Henry Matthew for a boy and Violet Cora for a girl."

Richard looked furious.

"How dare you? Henry MATTHEW?!"

"Well I like Henry and Matthew is the father" said Mary as though it was obvious and speaking like she could not understand Richard's anger although of course she could.

Richard closed his eyes as though warding off a bright light.

"You are in dangerous territory Mary."

"My child deserves a part of its real father" said Mary before muttering "And even absent he will surely be a better father than you"

Richard lost his temper and slapped her hard across her right cheek. Mary's hand went straight to her now smarting and slightly bleeding cheek.

"I do not want to hear another word of this. You are my wife and you will act accordingly. I am here for one night only and" he whispered the last part in her ear. "It has been too long."

Mary's eyes widened in shock. He had not tried anything past the occasional peck since her return and she would not go further. As she began shaking her head in disagreement Richard only gave her a look before leaving the room.

Isobel Crawley heard things. She was a very cunning women and one of her greatest skills was her ability to find out information about people. Since Matthew had returned she had been trying to find out as much as she could about Richard and Mary Carlisle and only a day ago had she come across the most disturbing piece of news – that Mary Carlisle was with child.

That day Matthew would return from training for two weeks before he left for France. Should she tell him? Would it even be his? Isobel was awash with doubt although if it was his then it would all make sense. This was surely the reason why Mary had been so cruel to her dear dear son. She would mention it she decided. Matthew may not come back from France like so many others and surely he had the right to know if he was to become a father. She herself wanted to know if she was going to be a grandmother. This would be her grandchild, perhaps her only one ever – someone to love if Matthew was killed.