This story is finally winding down, one to go YAY. Love to hear what you think about how it should end, so comments and reviews are welcome. Enjoy!


AGAINST ALL ODDS

Chapter 29 – Beginnings and Endings

The large stained glass window cast a kaleidoscope of colors into the room where Sybil waited.

"Ah now there you are," said Louisa as she pinned Sybil's veil in place. "You look like a real Lady as Queen McBride once said." And the two friends chuckled at their old nemesis on the ward. "I'll check on a few things and come back," Louisa told her.

"Thank you," Sybil told her friend.

After Louisa and Anna helped Sybil put on her wedding dress, Jeremy had driven them to the church not too far from the cottage. Sybil finished getting ready in a side room off the entrance to the sanctuary. The ceremony would begin in about an hour. Louisa's "butterflies in her stomach" couldn't begin to describe her state of nervousness, but it was only calmed by the joy she felt that finally she and Branson would finally be wed.

The four months of settling into their cottage had been quite busy and Sybil had little time to reflect on the consequences of her decision to leave Downton for good. She had heard little from her family since she bid her Aunt Rosamond good-bye in August. She decided not to tell her family where she had moved. She did however send her address to Matthew asking him to contact her if there were any family emergencies. Otherwise she requested he keep where she now lived a secret. Her family would have strongly disapproved of her current living arrangement. However she no longer travelled in their social circles, so she suspected that little was known about her life and what she did with it that would have been cause for embarrassment. Likewise, they were far from Ireland and Branson's family, so the two crafted a world that was their own and included their new friends Jeremy and Imogene along with old friends she knew from her days as a nurse—Dr. McNeil and Louisa.

Since Sybil was estranged from her father, she asked Dr. McNeil to walk her down the aisle. She awaited his appearance. They would be married in this lovely church, with its quaint arts and crafts interior. It was a suggestion made by her mentor who had become a good friend of both her and Branson. The doctor came for dinner at least once a month where they enjoyed long discussions about politics, history, and news of the day. As she waited she recalled the eventful day in November that Arthur had recommended that hold the ceremony at this particular church.


It was a Sunday afternoon and Sybil sat in their main room reading on the sofa warmed by the fire. Branson had joined Jeremy on an errand and would not return till later in the day. She enjoyed the peacefulness after a busy week in the laboratory and her various duties around the hospital.

The ring of the doorbell startled her and she rose to answer it. Last week Louisa and Lottie came for tea, but today she was not expecting anyone. When she opened the door to her surprise there stood her sister. "Mary!" she exclaimed taken aback at the appearance of her older sister in this part of London.

"Don't look as if you've seen a ghost. It's not been that long dear sister," Mary greeted her little sister.

"I just wasn't expecting anyone," Sybil replied, still trying to comprehend the appearance of a family member four months after she had informed the family about her engagement to their former chauffeur.

"Might I come in?" Mary inquired eager to get out of the brisk fall afternoon.

"Oh, so sorry, I don't mean to be rude. Please, please do come in," Sybil gestured her sister into the house. "How are you?" Mary was dressed in a dark green wool coat and wore a light green dress that fell below her knees. Her black hat tastefully sat askance on her upswept hair, her sister observed. Mary always carried her patrician pedigree with great elegance—she will be a fitting Lady Grantham Sybil thought. "What brings you here, how ever did you find me?" she then asked trying to discern the reason for her sister's unexpected visit.

"Papa needed someone to take papers to his solicitor in London and check-in on Grantham house. I volunteered since I wanted to get a new dress made for the holidays and it was a chance to escape the dreary days of the Yorkshire fall. With no hunts since the start of the war, November at Downton has been quite dull. Please don't be angry I tricked Matthew into telling me how to find you—I surmised he would be the one person who would know where you were living," Mary replied as she looked around the large main room.

"I knew someone would eventually figure it out," Sybil replied as she and her sister sat down in the sunny main room.

"Hmm, so this is where you've fled to. It's a long way from Downton. Seems quite…um lived in I supposed. Lovely painting, a very unique style," Mary commented as she noticed the large canvas over the hearth.

"Yes, its by our neighbor Jeremy, a gift to welcome us to the house. He likes to abstract the colors and geometries he sees in the garden behind the cottage. There's not much back there now otherwise I'd show you. But we find it quite a comfortable little house. Tom and I are very happy here," Sybil told Mary not sure what to expect from her sister given her vehement disapproval of her forthcoming marriage.

"So you've married him already have you? Well I suppose after that major battle with our parents why wait?" Mary asked.

"No we are not married, but soon." Sybil clarified to her sister, awaiting another series of curt disapprovals, but none came.

"Oh," was Mary's only response as she looked around the room. "How are managing? Have you found a good cook and housemaid out here?" she then asked.

"I'm learning as I go along. My neighbor Imogene has been very helpful. She must have thought it very curious that I had so many questions about how do things around the household. But to answer your question, I take care most of the chores around here—the cooking and keeping the place tidy. Tom helps with some. And Imogene shares her housekeeper with me once a week, so I confess I don't do it all," she proudly informed her sister.

"You cook and clean? Huh, how progressive. But don't you find it, I don't know how else to say this, but beneath you? After all you aren't the daughter of an accountant from Bromley, and even then one would at least have a live-in maid," she asked sincerely baffled by her sister's new regime.

"Its work, especially after a busy day with Dr. McNeil and seeing patients. But I don't mind. It may not be how I was raised or what was expected of me, but I like determining these details in my life. I find it sort of invigorating," Sybil told Mary. "How is, how is everyone at Downton?" Sybil asked hesitantly.

"Same as ever. Our parents are well. With no more daughters to find husbands, Mama continues with her charity work to keep busy. Papa's immersion in estate affairs seems to have rid himself of his dour mood from the summer," Mary informed her and noticed Sybil looked down at the mention of their father, she did not realize how the latter would affect her younger sister.

"And Cousin Isobel and Matthew?" Sybil asked not wanting to talk further about her parents.

"They are well and send their regards. Its about Matthew I wanted to see you," she then told Sybil.

"What about Matthew?"

"To begin, I believe I owe you an apology for my rude outbursts last summer. And I also owe you my gratitude for keeping my engagement with Matthew on course. That is why I coerced your address from him. He told me how supportive you were of me while I foolishly wavered in my commitment to him. I do love him you know, it's just been difficult to sort out my emotions these past five years."

"Yes I assured him of your love and simply asked him to be patient."

Mary smiled at her little sister and then said, "You know I envy you and admire your courage. You've chosen who you want to marry and how you want to live your life."

"But it seems in doing so I've hurt the people I care about the most," Sybil reminded her sister.

"Maybe, but you have managed to escape the mountain of expectations heaped upon us as little girls. Look at what that competition to find a husband did to my and Edith's relationship?"

"I am glad that you and Edith mended fences by the time she married Sir Anthony."

"But my behavior before then and after with you was reprehensible. I'm mortified at who I was then," Mary confessed. "I grew up knowing that Downton should be mine—I was the oldest and quite rightly the next in line. But having to concede that the only way I would have it is through whom I would marry, bred resentment; an anger made worst by knowing that who that husband would be was not going to be my choice. Poor Matthew bore the brunt of that fury. I felt everyone was making decisions about my life except me," she said earnestly.

"As the oldest, you had the most difficult position of us three sisters. By birth order no one paid attention to me, in some ways I did have the most latitude to get out from under it all."

"But I've finally realized my good fortune and I'm glad Matthew stayed committed no matter how indecisive I was. You know he stands his ground against me, I appreciate that and he sincerely cares for me—I couldn't ask for more in a future husband. And I end up with Downton in the bargain."

"I thought you simply had to realize how lucky you were to have Matthew," Sybil said glad to see her sister had overcome being her own worst enemy.

"You saw the best in me and I'm grateful for it."

"You are my sister and I love you."

"And I repaid you for your loyalty by disparaging your own choice to wed the man you love. How cruel I was and I'm sorry for that," Mary said beginning to cry, a very unusual display for her otherwise steely sister. Sybil came over and sat next to Mary on the sofa and put her arms around her.

"It's the past and we are both moving forward," she said. Changing the topic Sybil asked her sister, "how about I make a pot of tea for us."

"Yes," Mary said drying her tears, "I'd like that very much. I couldn't boil water no matter how hard I tried."

Mary joined her sister in the kitchen as Sybil prepared tea. As the water boiled, she heard Branson and Jeremy return.

"Sybil, where are you; we've great news. Sybil?" she heard Branson say as he came in the main room.

"Excuse me, Tom has a habit of losing things, let me go see what is happening," she said as she left Mary at the table in the kitchen.

"What's the matter?" she asked as she walked into the room. "Jeremy," Sybil greeted her friend.

"You won't believe this my love, but we've heard the war is over—they'll announce it tomorrow! The guns have finally stopped," Branson said picking her up and spinning her around.

"Isn't it remarkable. I lost so much to this blasted war and now it's finally over. I'd better go tell Imogene the news," Jeremy happily told them as he left for next door.

"Its really over!" she said trying absorb the impact. "We had heard news from the lads in the ward that the Germans were withdrawing, but I thought it was to just regroup. They've really surrendered?"

"That's what we've heard from a friend of Jeremy's who was an officer with connections to the War Office."

Just then Mary emerged from the kitchen.

"Did I hear correctly, the war is over, can that be true?" Mary asked.

"Lady Mary?" Branson said surprised to see her there.

"Yes, the war has ended!" Sybil told her sister and then she said to Branson, "Mary was in London for a few days and decided to stop by for a visit."

"That's wonderful news! Father will be pleased," Mary said happy at the news.

"Let's celebrate. Arthur's coming for dinner anyway; let's invite the Stokes. We've all suffered through this conflict—its time to have something good come out of it," he asked Sybil.

"A grand idea," Sybil agreed. "I cooked a large roast we have plenty for everyone."

"Would you join us Lady Mary?" Branson extended an invitation to Sybil's sister.

"Well, I had planned," she started to make excuses, but then decided, "I'd be delighted. And please call me Mary," she replied.

"Good then. It'll be a fittin' celebration," he said as he kissed Sybil on her forehead and happy to welcome her sister into their home.


Sybil introduced Mary to Imogene and Jeremy. She had already met Dr. McNeil at Edith's wedding. Everyone seemed to be overjoyed by the news of the war's end. All had been touched by it in some profound way and it was both a moment of personal and collective healing. The group sat around the dining table and feasted on Sybil's dinner. After she cleared the plates all shared a glass of brandy. It was vastly less formal than the dinners at Downton and Sybil could tell that Mary was slowly warming up to her new way of life.

"So now with the war almost over at last, its time to move on to the important things in life like love and marriage," Dr. McNeil said raising a glass to his hosts, "so when will you two be getting married?"

"Well it's to be in December but we haven't figured out where. As with every aspect of our courtship it won't be easy finding a church. I was raised Protestant and Tom Catholic, so now what to do?" Sybil told her friend and mentor.

"Hmm, that's is a tough quandary," the doctor replied.

"I know of a monk who could advise you through the rituals of a Hindu wedding," said Imogene always keen on interjecting unusual options into the conversation.

"A Hindu wedding? That would be unconventional, imagine my wearing beautiful sari in purple?" Sybil giggled as she sipped her brandy.

"If Granny got wind of that it would be the death of her, you'd be better off moving to America to join a circus act," Mary chimed in.

"I know there's a lovely Unitarian church nearby. Perhaps that would be a happy middle ground for the ceremony? Its worth taking a look—the reverend is a decent fellow, he's a good chap from school days—studied philosophy and theology," Dr. McNeil suggested.

"Good idea. We'll take a look then," Branson said look at Sybil for agreement.

"Yes, we need to get moving since our wedding day its fast approaching, this is an excellent suggestion," Sybil affirmed.

After they bid their guests goodnight, Branson and Sybil finished cleaning up after their celebratory meal. With everything put away, the two sat quietly together in front of the fireplace in the main room. The clock struck midnight.

"Today the war ended, I can't believe it," he said staring intently at the fire.

"I know I've been thinking of all those men, many of them just boys I watched come into the wards with wounds of all kinds, only to be patched up and sent out to die for King and Country. And then all the young men I met my first season—tragically cut down before they'd even lived. Poor Claudy what fun we had," she replied in a somber tone remembering her friends.

"Did anything good come out of it? Did anything really change? I haven't been haunted by my days in the trenches. These happy few months with you have made those times feel worlds away. Though, the smell of gunpowder and burned flesh are somewhere still in my mind. I try not to think about it, but every now and then it creeps back and I remember. The men I saw cut down in an instant as we moved the battle line a few feet only to be pushed back the next day. The bullets I fired did the same to them. It was such a waste of life, a waste of everything," Branson said with a remoteness in his voice she hadn't heard in a long time. "At least those fields will finally be covered with living things rather than dead and dying things. And like that, it's over, thank God."

"You saw horrific things that no one should ever witness, I'm sorry for that. But you survived being wounded. You made it through a horrible bout with influenza and God knows what else. I'm so grateful that you are here with me now. Just know I'm here for you, whenever you need me," she tenderly kissed his lips.

Putting his arm around Sybil, he took a deep breath and then said, "We've had a day of surprises, haven't we?" Branson said.

"Indeed, can you imagine my face when I opened the door to see Mary standing there," she replied staring into the flickering flames.

"Why'd she come here?"

"To thank me for helping her with Matthew and apologize for not supporting our marriage. I think she's changed somehow. She's finally stopped rebelling and realized she does have everything she ever wanted," Sybil said as her hand reached into his shirt to slowly massage his chest.

"Well at least that's one member of your family on our side," he said. Turning her face toward his he then asked her, "are you comfortable with not having your family at our wedding. Do you want to try again?"

"What I want is to be Mrs. Branson. All I'm asking is for their acceptance, nothing more," she smiled up at him. But I will send them an invitation and if they decide to come then I will be happy. I'm hoping all your family will be there—your mother, sisters, and brothers. And mine will just have to get used to us. Besides, I don't want to wait anymore; we've already waited too long. And now we can be married after the guns stopped as planned when you first proposed," she told him.

"We will and very soon, let's stop 'round the church next Saturday," he said as he took her hand, kissed it, and joined it with his. They quietly watched the fire as it burned down into embers.


"So dear sister are you ready?" Mary said as she entered the side room wearing a beautiful cream colored dressed.

"I am. Thank you for agreeing to be my bridesmaid. I'm glad that Matthew and Isobel have come. At least part of the family is here," Sybil told her sister as she stood up to take one last look in the mirror.

"You look absolutely stunning," Mary said as she put her hands on her little sister's shoulders and gave her a hug as both gazed in the mirror. Sybil had selected a simple off-white dress with a sheer silk jacket that formed a train in back. They heard a knock at the door.

"That'll be Arthur," Sybil took a deep breath. "I'm ready, come in," she bid him.

"Sybil, there is someone here to see you," Dr. McNeil said as he opened the door and in stepped Robert.

"Papa!"