Author Note – Hi all! Once more thank you so much for reading and reviewing! : ) Just wanted to put this note in to clear up a few queries! At the moment, we are on Christmas 1912 – I had no idea we were going to take 60K to get here when I first started writing this fic so it is a surprise to me to find we are still 21 months away from the war and there will be plenty of drama before then! To give you an idea of how long this fic will be, I have tentative plans for post-war life for the Crawley sisters and I really hope to get that far! I know a few of you are concerned for Edith's love life – believe me, she will be getting one! 1912 has rather been Sybil and Mary's year but many more are ahead! And Tom will be turning up as well eventually! And there are plenty more twists to come yet!
I know a few of you are not going to like what happens in this chapter – though I hope some of you will. I am just going to say there is a long way to go, and while some things are set in stone, some are definitely not! I hope you guys stick with the fic, but if you decide it's not for you, thank you so much for getting this far – I truly appreciate it!
Chapter 25
When Sybil got through to the drawing room, she did not know if she had imagined what she had thought has passed between her father and Matthew for she knew she had seen just the start of it – if anything had happened.
She went to the corner of the room to gather herself for a moment for even though she was with her family, she did not want all of them to know how she felt – especially not Matthews mother for fear it was going to be too much for Isobel and she was going to put her off of her. And she could do without her grandmother seeing too much either.
She had been on her own for just a moment when she felt someone at her side – at both of her sides. She was glad to find she had a sister there on each.
"I do think that all went as well as it was ever going to," she said to them both.
"I agree –" said Mary with a nod. "James and Granny were no better than we were ever going to get them to be but Mama and Papa have been wonderful."
Sybil nodded - they had.
"And – and did you see Matthew at the end of the meal," she said to the two of them for she did not want to be the one to say it, but there was something within her which said if she did not reference what had just gone on then she was sure she was going to go mad.
"He did appear to go straight to papa." Said Edith as she reassured Sybil. Mary was not sure if she would have gone as far as that for if the three of them were wrong then – well she did not want Sybil to be disappointed, but the thing was sad now and she was not going to scold Edith for it. Not that night.
Sybil nodded – she had been right. The three sisters stayed there for a while as Sybil caught her breathe. She now knew she had a big decision ahead of her…. Or at least she thought she did. And she did not have to think very hard about her choice she found. She knew what she would do…
X x x
The following day was Christmas Eve and in the night before Matthew did not sleep a wink.
All he could do he found was go over the night before in his head – how pretty Sybil had looked and how well he felt his mother had conducted herself. How cruel James had been but then he did not think there was a lot of surprises from that quarter.
Then he thought of Robert and the fact he had said yes to him. Part of him did not think he would have argued if he had said no but he had not and now he was one step closer – to the best Christmas ever.
To secure it he had to just harness his courage once more
Over breakfast he managed to get Sybil to agree to a walk in the grounds that morning, so he was glad to find they were not going to have an audience for this.
"I do like your mother so very much," said Sybil as she and Matthew as they walked together in the grounds of Downton Abbey, wrapped up in coats and scarves.
"She said much the same to me about you," he said with a very light heart. It did him such good to see how they had taken to one another.
It only made him surer of what he was doing.
He knew they could all get on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a smile form on her face.
"Another good sign."
"She must have been a great help to your father."
"She was – and at times, it was whether he wanted her to be or not."
The two of them laughed gently but Matthew knew the truth. His father would not have had it any other way. He had always admired his mother and when he married he wanted nothing more than to have such a partnership with his own wife.
And he knew who he wanted to be his wife.
"Sybil, darling," he said as he came to a stop. She did so as well, so they were side by side.
She looked at him expectedly. "Yes."
Time seemed to stop for him for a moment and he knew this was it. Once he had said the words there was going to be no chance for him to take them back. But that was rather the point. He did not want to take them back.
"Golly – I have dreamt of this for so long and now the moment has come I do not know what to say to you."
She could feel the weight of the air about them change. All her life…
A thousand thoughts rushed through her head and she could not finish any of them.
"Sybil, I know the last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, but it has got to the stage now where I want to be nowhere but in that whirlwind and I want to be with no one but you." He said and his voice shook a little as he did so.
She squeezed his hand.
Courage.
"Sybil, I am not a son of an earl and I know it is terribly wrong of me to ask you this before you have had a chance to see if you can find one who is to your liking." But if he knew her at all then he knew she did not care a fig for all of that. He was not going to do her the disservice of thinking she did. If he were to do that then he would not deserve her at all.
"All I know is if I do not ask, I am going to regret it forever, not saying these words – and I do not think you care a jot for all of that.
"Lady Sybil Crawley, I am in love with you. Please do me the honour of saying you will be my wife."
For a moment she could say nothing and the stupid thought that she was not yet out crossed her mind.
She was seventeen and not a lot of seventeen-year-olds she knew got marriage proposals.
But she did.
So all she had to do was listen to her heart and do what it told her - that the more time they spent together, the more time she wanted to spend with him.
He was good and kind and intelligent and thoughtful and handsome.
And she did love him.
So, she did not have to think at all really.
"Yes," she nodded with a wide smile as she stepped closer to him. He took the hint and was quick to take her in his arms.
"You will?"
"I do believe that is what I said."
"I know but it sounded so lovely – so say it again," he sighed blissfully.
"Yes – I will marry you!"
x x x
Mary knew what had transpired between her sister and Matthew as soon as the two of them came into the library.
She fancied that the whole family did.
The two of them were in such high spirits and were flushed.
Robert kept his breathe bated for he knew what was to come. If Matthew had not asked then, she would have no cause to smile as she was smiling then and if she had said no then the same could be said of Matthew.
But the fact was the two of them looked quite delighted.
So it was done. His youngest child was set to be married. Or at least she had accepted a proposal.
Matthew looked at him and he knew what he was asking. Could he tell everyone?
Well, he did not see what was the point in saying no when the entire room was looking at them with bated breathing.
They were so obvious that it did not; take a lot of brain power for anyone to see what had transpired. Even James seemed to have caught on not that he was too happy about it.
"Are you two quite well?" Cora prompted them.
Sybil gave a laugh.
"Oh mama we are so much more than quite well," she said as she looked up at Matthew with all the love in the world in her eyes.
"When Sybil and I were out for our walk, I asked her a rather important question. And I am the luckiest of men to be able to report that she said yes to me."
There were gasps all around the room. He was sure he could hear the joy in there though it was no wonder there were quite a few surprised gasps as well.
After all, this was happening rather fast, even he allowed that. But there was nothing which he and his dear Sybil were able to do to fight the emotion which they were both feeling.
Violet from where she sat gave James a look to tell him her opinion had not changed from what it was earlier yet as it was clear her son had sanctioned this madness she did not see that the two of them were going to be able to do anything about it.
As they sat there the rest of the family got up to greet the – well, who were going to be the newlyweds if it got to that stage. Isobel was calling Matthew 'her dear boy' and hugging him, no doubt proud he had got his hands on the family silver as the two of them had planned.
James watched Cora. It had been his hope as she had not been consulted by her husband that she was going to be greatly upset that Robert had said yes to a man who was so far beneath them but you could always rely on Cora to let the family down. She and Robert rushed to embrace their daughter in her happiness.
As for his own son and the girls they rushed around the happy couple congratulating them. He did not understand how none of them could see this was a mistake.
X x x
If it had been any other night, then Anna was in no doubt of the fact that she would not have been asked to do this but it was not any other night – Lady Sybil had just got engaged.
And there was joy above the servant's quarters. All the footmen were needed.
She thought of the stunned silence which Mrs Hughes had responded to the news of her own happy announcement.
The reactions could not be more different and though she wasn't one who was given to jealous feeling, she could not but admit to herself she wished she had got met with joy.
Lady Sybil was so young. And yet she was so sure.
She wished she was sure. More than anything, she wished that.
But maybe it was because she was so young she could be so sure. Once you lived a bit it was harder to be sure she thought to herself. You knew what could go wrong then.
She put any dark thoughts to the back of her mind and got on what she had been asked to do.
She knocked on the door, careful not to unbalance the tray she was holding.
"Mr Bates."
She could hear inside that there was someone moving to the door and knew all she had to do now was be patient. He was coming.
From the sounds of it, he had some trouble moving around.
Yet there had been such conflicting reports of him. Gwen appeared to have liked him and Daisy was thrilled by the news of his return, believing him to be a romantic figure. William said he had not wanted him to go in the first place. She was sure theirs was the opinion she should trust over that of Miss O'Brien and Thomas. They were hardly fountaining of truth.
At last, the door opened.
And she could see him for herself.
Anna would never be able to describe what she felt when she saw him for the first time.
At the time she did not think too much about it – but the first thing she noticed about him was his eyes and she did not think she had ever noticed someone's eyes before anything else before – it was a new sensation.
In the time she had been thinking that time and silence begun to drag on - it was time to stop that.
She gestured to the tray she was carrying.
"My name is Anna - I am Lady Mary's maid. I've been sent with your dinner," she said to him with a smile. When things got back to normal, no doubt he was going to be eating with the rest of them, but for that night, Mrs Hughes had suspected a tray in his room was going to be appreciated. She had been right.
She was clearly his welcoming committee back to Downton. Back to Downton - that sounded as good as it felt to John.
And it was all so much sweeter for the fact he was now looking at her.
The thought was in his head before he could stop it that she did seem as if she was a nice girl- a very nice girl.
Up until then, he had thought it was only a lie that you could have some sort of immediate connection with another soul but now he knew it did happen. Now, it was his job to stop that natural reaction, he thought to himself.
"Thank you very much. I am John Bates – valet to his lordship, once more," he said formally as he followed her lead. She could not imagine why it made her feel so terribly coy. "I did not meet you when I was last here."
They both knew why that was but just then all he knew was he was not ready to go back into his room. It was wrong of him. But he thought he could allow himself some pleasantries.
"Well, I was in Italy with Lady Mary."
"And you had a nice time?"
"Yes, I did," she said conversationally. "I had never been abroad before."
"And would you want to go again?"
Her next trip away she was bound to be her honeymoon. She twisted around her engagement ring and knew in her heart she did want to go abroad again.
But how many opportunities was she going to get? Their honeymoon was going to be a trip to the coast but nothing more than that. Not that that wasn't going to be lovely.
And when she got pregnant she was going to have to leave her job altogether. She was never going to get to go away again. Not really.
But there was no need to lie now.
"Yes, I would."
As she had thought about it, he could not help but be drawn to the ring on her finger.
Well, that made a lot of sense to him. She was a lovely girl. He knew her not at all but he knew she was lovely.
Some lucky man was going to have snapped her up. Mr Molsley, he thought to himself. Good for him.
"Well, do enjoy your dinner," she said and she gave a nod at the tray. "And I am glad I could welcome you here this time around."
So was he. For some reason he was more pleased then he was able to say. But somehow, he felt for the first time since he had been called back to Downton, he felt truly gutted.
He reminded himself he was not free. He had not been for a long time, not since he had made the mistake of marrying Vera.
And Anna was no freer than he was. So, all they would ever be, he thought as he watched her walk away, was a what if.
X x x
"I must say you are a lot calmer about all of this than I thought you were going to be," said Robert as he and Cora got back to their room. Their baby was going to be a married woman and she agreed as if it was nothing when he had a feeling not so very long ago she would have kicked up a fuss to stop it.
The truth was if Cora had tried to stop what had happened changing her, it had not worked at all. You did not carry the corpse the length of your house and remain as you had been. It was not possible.
And so, as a result of that she would be happy to get Sybil settled - not that it had made Mary behave - still, she would then just have Edith to get into her own establishment which she would do in time. It might be harder for her due to the candle which she carried for Patrick, but they would get there.
She felt a long way from the worried mother who had not wanted Mary to go on honeymoon and so she was. "I like Matthew. I think he is going to be a good husband to Sybil so I do not think I can find any real reason to object to any of it."
Robert could not help but wonder what had come over her.
"No one will know outside the family for years."
"Well, no one can say fairer than that."
If Sybil did change her mind then there was going to be a route back for her thought her mother.
All was well that ended well – but they were not at the end of that story yet she thought to herself. Only the one of this Christmas Eve.
"Why don't we go to bed?" she said to him with a smile. The girls were going to grow up and go off and live their own lives. But they would still have each other.
He gave a smile and a nod as he wondered over to kiss her forehead, unable to wait until the two of them were in bed. He still thought she had been very calm over all of this. But for that moment, that worked for him.
Sybil was happy. Cora was happy. His mother wasn't happy.
But then that really would have been one Christmas miracle too far…
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