New Acquaintances

The Countess of Grantham was a marvelous hostess. Jean had never been in a house so grand in all her life, nor had she ever imagined to be a guest at the table of an earl. But this new life she was leading with Lucien had brought them to Downton Abbey, this marvelous place, and she knew she would have to get used to this sort of finery. It was a lot to contemplate for a woman who, one short year ago, had been a housekeeper in Australia.

Jean followed Lady Grantham through from the dining room to the parlor after their marvelous meal. She could hardly hold a conversation, she was too much in awe of her surroundings. It did not help either that the daughters of Lady Grantham—Mary, Edith, and Sybil—were all bickering about something or other behind Jean. She tried to ignore them and just follow Lady Grantham.

"Would you like an after-dinner drink? A brandy, perhaps? Or we can have tea, of course," Lady Grantham offered.

"A brandy would be lovely," Jean answered, taking a seat on the settee beside Lady Grantham's place on a plush chair. "This room is beautiful."

Lady Grantham smiled. "Thank you very much." She turned to the butler to take the glass offered to her. "Thank you, Thomas."

The footman then came over to Jean, offering her a glass as well. She thanked him and glanced over to the Crawley girls, all still in hushed but somewhat heated conversation.

"I am sorry about all this," Lady Grantham said conspiratorially, seeing where Jean's eye was drawn. "There's been some disagreement about whose turn it is to get a new frock, and I thought I'd try to force some cooperation by telling them to decide amongst themselves."

"I suppose raising daughters is not as much like Little Women as a mother might want," Jean said sympathetically.

Lady Grantham chuckled, "I said the exact same thing not a week ago! Do you have children?"

"Lucien and I don't have any together, but I have two sons by my first husband. He died many years ago, when my boys were young. They're both grown now. Christopher is in the army in Australia, and Jack travels," she answered delicately. Lady Grantham might have daughters bickering with each other, but she did not need to know Jean's troubles with her sons. She also would not divulge that Lucien had lost his own wife and daughter around the same time Jean's first husband had died. Their tragic past that brought them together was not proper discussion with new people. Though Jean did like Lady Grantham and hoped that they could become friends.

Music interrupted Jean's thoughts, and Lady Grantham looked out to the door and frowned. "I wonder what that is," she muttered to herself.

But Jean knew. "Do you have a piano?"

"We do, yes. Edith is quite an accomplished pianist," Lady Grantham said.

Lady Edith heard her name spoken and refuted her mother. "Hardly. I'm certainly not as good as that," she said, referring to the music drifting into the parlor.

Jean pursed her lips to keep from smiling. "I'm afraid that'll be Lucien. He loves music, and I'm sure he saw your piano and couldn't resist."

"Shall we go see?" Lady Grantham suggested.

All five ladies stood and went in search of Lucien's beautiful music. And sure enough, Jean found her husband playing merrily. Lord Grantham watched on, his expression unreadable; Jean could not tell if he was confused or impressed. Perhaps both. That was a rather typical response to Lucien.

"Lady Grantham, you look like a singer to me. Care to join in a song?" Lucien offered.

Jean nearly stopped him, insisting he leave the countess alone and out of his nonsense. Lord Grantham looked like he was about to do the same. But Lady Grantham smiled and stepped forward.

"Oh what fun," she laughed.

Lucien played with a bit of flourish and started singing one of those popular Irish tunes. It had made its way to Australia, so surely they knew it here, too. Sure enough, Lady Grantham joined in. She had a lovely voice. Lord Grantham looked surprised.

"Come along, everyone," Lucien encouraged.

Jean started singing as well, and soon the rest of the Crawley family did as well. It was terribly nice, actually. Lord Grantham seemed to relax a bit as he sang with his wife and daughters and their guests. Jean enjoyed as well, having sung with Lucien around the piano quite often at home. Well, their old home. They'd have to make sure to have a piano in the new house as well.

A few hours later, after the Blakes went home and the Crawleys had all retired for the evening, Robert joined his wife in her bedroom. She put her book down and smiled as he removed his dressing gown and came to his side of the bed.

"Did you have a nice evening?" he asked.

"I did," she confessed. "I had a feeling I'd get along with Australians as an American, all of us a bit foreign, but they rather surprised me. Pleasantly so. It's plain to see that this is all so new to them, and I do remember when it was all new for me too, but they're much older than I was when I first became part of this world. I think they're quite fun. I hope it wasn't too scandalous for you."

Robert laughed lightly. "I had my reservations, as you well know, but no, I agree with you, they are quite fun. He's got a wild streak about him, but he seems a good chap. And she's quite nice."

Cora nodded. "She is. I liked her very much. I should like to have her back for luncheon or tea sometime soon."

"I wanted to invite him shooting until he mentioned that he didn't hunt or engage in sport at all."

"Well, things must be different in Australia. But I'm sure you can find something else to do with him, if you'd like."

"They obviously like music. Perhaps we can invite them to a concert in York with us."

Cora smiled. "I think that's a fine idea. And oh, wasn't that fun, all singing at the piano? I can't believe we've never done anything like that before."

"We have during Christmas," Robert reminded her. "But you know as well as I do that it's like pulling teeth for Edith to play piano with us and for Mary to restrain herself from criticizing Edith until Sybil starts crying from their cruelty."

"I know," Cora groaned. "Though I will have to thank our guests for distracting our girls from their argument over the new frock. I don't know what I was thinking, making them decide for themselves."

Robert took her hand and kissed it comfortingly. "You were trying to get our girls to find a way to get along."

"Yes," she agreed. "But also because it wouldn't have been fair for me to decide."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because Sybil deserves it for being so sweet, but Edith probably should get it because she's lost in the shuffle so often, but Mary is the eldest and needs to be properly dressed so she can find a good match. Mary bullies Edith, and Edith antagonizes Mary, and Sybil tries so hard to broker peace between them. It's just not fair to any of them. I don't want to keep overlooking Edith but this penchant for self-pity that she's developed is so frustrating. And even if she is the eldest, I don't want to reward Mary's haughtiness. And…well, I know a mother isn't supposed to have a favorite but…"

"But Sybil is your favorite," Robert said, finishing her sentence. "Yes, I know, darling." He kissed her hand again. "I see what you mean. It's best they figure it out themselves. And if they can't, I'll threaten to cancel the dress allowance for the year."

Cora laughed. "Oh they'd revolt if you tried that!"

"Well, they'd better figure it out, then." Robert got into bed properly and blew out the candle on the nightstand. "I'm too exhausted to think about it anymore now."

"I agree." Cora blew out her candle as well and settled into bed beside him. "Sweet dreams, Robert," she murmured, kissing him softly.

Robert smiled and kissed her back in the dark. "I shall dream of you and your singing."

"Is that a sweet dream?" she teased.

"The sweetest." And soon enough, sleep overcame them both.