Lady Violet was in church, watching her son and granddaughter moving up the aisle towards the altar were Sir Anthony Strallan was waiting.

Lady Violet still couldn't get the thoughts of Sarah Hatfield's ball out of her head. She could still remember how she had felt on the morning before that ball. How full of excitement and butterflies that young girl had been, the young girl that Violet was at the time. She had felt that life was beginning for her, at last! Her childhood had at long last been over. She had finally, finally been eighteen years old and was going to her very first débutante ball.

How young she had been! How young they had all been!

Lady Violet had been well prepared for the season of 1863. She had a different gown made for each ball she was invited to, with glows and jewelry to go with it. All with crinolines, of course, they were still in fashion that year, although that fashion declined in the years after.

The nicest thing with those grown up balls was that there were men there. Real men, not merely boys. Lady Violet had meet Patrick Crawley there. He was almost ten years older than her, friendly but not very handsome. But with a big estate in the country into the bargain, Patrick Crawley looked quite a bit more attractive to Violet.

She thought Patrick Crawley would be a good husband for her, but she had no hurry. Better wait until he had inherited the title, she had thought. She had no intention to marry that year anyhow. She wanted to have some fun before she settled down, she wanted to have at least three seasons to dance and play around. It was considered a great achievement to land a husband during one's first season, but she was certainly not ready to be tied down so early. So their marriage hadn't taken place until several years later, in 1869, although they had liked each other from the start. No understanding was formed between them during that year, although they danced together on many balls.

A couple of years later, during the late sixties, she had been in love with Lord Hepworth for some time, blended by his handsome looks. But she had found Patrick Crawley a better choise, just as rich and more likely to be faithful, although not half as handsome. That decision had proved right, she thought now, since the Hepworth fortune was all gone by now.

She also thought about Strallan's mother, Lady Elizabeth. Lady Violet had seen her for the first time on that ball. Violet hadn't known then that they would become neighbours in Yorkshire later on.

Never had Violet met such an unladylike woman. It wasn't only that she was much too tall for a woman. She was an awful person, very bossy and always considering herself so much better than everyone else. Always looking down her nose - in more than one meaning of that expression - on everybody else. She thought she knew everything about everything, always lecturing people about one thing or another. She was so very self-righteous. Lady Violet had mostly tried to keep their contact down to a minimum.

...

And now she saw that horrible woman's even more horrible son embarrassing her dear Edith by interrupting the wedding ceremony! It seemed that he was talking a lot of rubbish to her, though Violet couldn't hear much of it since he was more or less whispering. Was he thinking of leaving Edith there, at the altar?

Lady Violet had a good mind to step forward and tell Edith to wish him well and let him go. And tell that abominable Strallan that this was the best idea he had come up with for months.

But she stayed where she was, while Reverend Travis ushered Edith and Strallan off to the vestry. Because she knew how much this meant to Edith, how much she feared being a maiden aunt. Being married to Anthony Strallan would be very much worse than being a maiden aunt, in Violet's opinion. But to Edith it wasn't, and her grandmother knew that.

After all, Edith had never been much of a success at balls, and by now there weren't even many young men left to dance with. And Edith wasn't getting any younger.

Anthony Strallan wasn't much of a man, and never had been, Violet thought. It was really unexpected that he had even had the guts to interrupt the wedding.

Or propose to Edith. True, he had proposed to Maud also, but Maud had been a widow and about ten years older than Strallan, so she had probably done most of the proposing herself.

...

Reverend Travis came back almost immediately.

"I have given the bride and groom fifteen minutes to consider", he said. "Maybe we can sing a couple of hymns while we wait?"

But no one listened to him, everybody kept talking about what had happened. What a great scandal it was, how shocking Sir Anthony's behaviour had been. How scared and sad poor Lady Edith had looked. What was it that had made Sir Anthony change his mind like that? Was it just bad nerves? What was going to happen now?

"I hope they will be able to sort it out", Cora said. "I think it will be dreadful for Edith otherwise. She was so happy this morning."

Lady Violet didn't agree. The sooner Edith got rid of that crippled old Strallan the better. But she kept her opinion to herself, for once in her life.

...

Ten minutes later Lady Violet saw Edith and Strallan coming out from the archway to the vestry. They were holding hands, and what was worse, they were both smiling. This didn't bode well for her dear Edith.

Violet saw a distinct element of triumph in Edith's face, something she hadn't seen often. Last time she could remember was when Edith had demonstrated to her grandmother that she had actually learned how to drive the car. Violet hadn't thought much of Edith's driving abilities, and even hesitated to get into the car and let Edith drive her. But Edith had been extremely proud of her accomplishment, and impossible to say no to.

Exactly what Edith had done to Strallan in the vestry, Violet didn't know. But it was probably something quite indecent, and very improper to do in church. Because Strallan had a distinctly new look in his face, although he still looked tired. It was a more manly and self-assured look, there was even something resembling satisfaction in it.

Strallan looked around the congregation with much more confidence than could have been expected, given the circumstances. "Sorry everybody", he said with a tired smile. Then he turned to the altar and made an excuse to Travis, telling him to start again. After that Violet saw him quickly turn back to Edith again, giving her an encouraging smile.

...

The rest of the ceremony went the way such ceremonies normally does. Nothing very interesting happened and nothing very scandalous. Lady Violet had been to more than fifty weddings in her life, so she more or less dozed off. When she woke up again she could hear Strallan and Edith be pronounced husband and wife.

So now Violet had to welcome that dreadful man into the family! And smile sweetly at him during the wedding reception. It wouldn't be easy, but she had to make an effort.

...

That Sir Anthony almost jilted her at the altar was what people would remember from Edith's wedding.

Everyone tried to be smiling at the reception, but the smiles were uneasy. There was a subdued mood over the whole party. The only person to look genuinely happy was Edith herself. Her tears had dried by now, and she was looking at her new husband with a mixture of pride and tenderness. Sir Anthony looked tired more than anything else, it was obvious that he was making an effort to be friendly.

"So, what happened to your cold feet then?" Lady Violet asked Sir Anthony as she was standing beside him and Edith when they were all ready to enter the dining room for the wedding feast. "Why make such a fuss about stopping the wedding, if you weren't prepared to go through with that? Can't you see that you were only wasting people's time."

"Well, my darling wife here talked me out of it", he said with his usual friendly smile, touching Edith's shoulder with the only hand he could use.

Violet had meant that as a reproach, after all he had acted in an abominable way, but he took it as if she had just made a friendly enquiry. It was so infuriating, could this man never get angry? He was just like his mother! How could her dear Edith want a sop like him?

"I wonder why she bothered to do that", Violet said pointedly.

Edith looked terrified at that, looking up pleadingly at her new husband, so Violet thought she had to soften it a little. Because Violet loved Edith, and didn't want to lose her.

"Well, not much to do about it now, I guess. So you are welcome into the family, Anthony!" she said, trying very hard to smile friendly at her favourite granddaughter's new husband.

Then Violet turned away to go and talk to someone else. The last thing she heard was the beginning of a whispered excuse from Edith to Strallan: "Granny doesn't mean..."

Which was quite infuriating also, in a way. Lady Violet had never said anything she didn't mean.

...

Later, when the newlyweds left in their car for their wedding night at Locksley, and everyone at Downton were outside to see them off, Lady Violet had one last thought she wanted to share with Edith's mother.

"How will he ever be able to do those things with only one arm?" she said to Cora with a disapproving air. "The poor girl wont have much of a wedding night, I'm afraid! And I doubt it she will ever have any children."

"Oh please, don't be silly", Cora said. "Don't you know there is more than one way to do that? I'm sure they will be fine. And Edith will probably be in the family way within the year. Where there's a will there's a way!"

Violet looked scandalized, but it didn't keep Cora silent.

"And they certainly look like they have a lot of will!" she added. "Can't you see how adoringly they look at each other?"

...

AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you ever so much for reviewing!

The reviews are really what keeps me posting.

A special thanks to Thymelady, part of whose review to chapter 18 of this story I have stolen and changed a little as Cora's remark here. Tack så mycket! Hoppas det var OK!

I didn't like the Lady Violet of season 3 much, as you can perhaps see here. Her telling Edith she wasn't meant for married life, after Violet herself had chased away the only man who has ever giving Edith a chance of that, was a little too much for me somehow.

But I'm sure Violet loves Edith, and Edith loves her granny, even if she is able to see her faults, at least sometimes. And my Violet is actually a little more considerate to Edith during the wedding than JF's.