Eryholme, June 1913
Mary's eyes shone, taking in the spacious drawing room with its cream walls, intricate ceiling mouldings and French windows filling it with summer sunshine and delightful view of the gardens. Oh yes, she so could imagine them living here!
She turned to see if Matthew shared her enthusiasm and was nearly giddy seeing that yes, he was looking around in evident approval.
"I was just imaging us sharing afternoon tea here, just the two of us," he said thickly. Mary could not resist kissing him for that.
They went through the rest of the house – peach dining room with its round table, the great hall clearly showing its Tudors' origins, modernised well-lit kitchen with a huge, cased window giving it plenty of natural light, cheerful, comfortable bedrooms. The house was quite big – it was very clearly a proper manor – although it was of course small in comparison to Downton Abbey – and simply charming, especially on a bright June morning.
"It's rather bigger than I ever expected my house to be," said Matthew musingly. Mary looked at him in alarm.
"But you just said you were imagining us here?"
"I was, and I still am," answered Matthew with a smile. "But it still shocks me sometimes that this is the kind of house I am considering living in. I have always liked a simpler life, you know."
"It is simpler than living at Downton," pointed Mary sharply. As much as she was charmed by this house, leaving Downton was a concession on her part.
"And thank God for that!" said Matthew fervently. "I am coming to love Downton. It's a lovely house. It's your home and I want it to be my home, too. Just not quite yet."
He looked around.
"This is still grander than I expected or wished for, but at least it would be ours. We wouldn't have to dress up for dinner every night," he threw a quick, teasing glance at Mary's alarmed face and laughingly amended, "Unless we want to, of course. But the point is, we won't have to. And we will be eating alone, just the two of us."
He sighed happily, apparently delighted with his vision.
Mary bit her lip. Had he been always feeling like that? Had he been unhappy living with her at the Abbey, when they had formal dinner with her family every night and separation of sexes afterwards? This was how she had always lived, for her such routine was domestic and comfortable, but had it been so stifling and unwelcome for him?
"I never have not dressed for dinner, unless I was sick in bed," she admitted. "But I guess it might be a bit much for just the two of us. It will be strange for me though."
Matthew looked at her with fondness.
"We might dress for dinner if it's important to you. And of course we will be often dining at the Abbey in full splendour. But it will be up to us to make decisions like this."
He took her hand and kissed it, his eyes smouldering.
"And I can imagine all kinds of things we can do instead of me staying behind in the dining room to have my port and cigars."
Mary shivered in anticipation. She could imagine all kinds of things too. She remembered vividly the intimate dinners they had been sharing on their honeymoon and had a scandalous thought that maybe creating some new traditions in their own house would not be such a bad idea.
She dragged her thoughts back to practical matters, although with great efforts.
"So you agree to accept this house?"
Matthew looked at her seriously.
"Do you want it, darling? Can you imagine us living here?"
Mary nodded decidedly.
"It is a bit farther from Downton than I would prefer, but still within reasonable distance for us to be able to visit for dinner without necessarily staying the night. The house is lovely and the grounds amazing. The stables are in good condition, so I will be able to have Diamond with me and we can get you a horse as well. What about your job though? It is a bit remote."
"I can drive or cycle to the train station," answered Matthew easily. "Or drive to Darlington. I think I will set up an office there. Of course there will be times when I have to go to London, but I hope you will accompany me for longer trips."
"You might convince me, if you ask nicely enough," Mary sent him a flirtatious look and was delighted to see its effect on him.
"So if we are sure, we will have to discuss the servants. Papa mentioned that this place could be run with eight, but I think he forgot the outside staff."
Matthew's eyes bulged.
"Why would we need more than eight? Even eight do seem excessive."
Mary exhaled in frustration.
"No, it's not. We need a butler, a valet, a footman, my lady's maid, a housekeeper, housemaids and kitchen maids, a cook, a chauffeur, a groom and a gardener. That's twelve and I didn't even count anybody to take care of the laundry."
Matthew rubbed his face.
"I don't need a valet," he said tiredly, "And do we really need a butler and a housekeeper? Or a footman, for that matter? It will be just the two of us."
"But we will entertain sometimes! How can we do it properly without a butler and a footman?"
"The maids could serve, you know."
Mary's tone was icy when she bit her tongue to stop herself from expressing all her thoughts on that.
"No, they could not. We are going to be an earl and countess; we must live accordingly."
Matthew sighed in clear exasperation.
"But we are not an earl and countess yet. This kind of expense would be totally unnecessary and frankly superfluous to our way of life. How often do you plan to entertain big number of guests? We could always hire some additional staff for a big event."
Mary pursued her lips. She didn't want to quarrel with Matthew, she really didn't. But he was being impossible. Completely unreasonable. She agreed to leave Downton Abbey for him. Why couldn't he make any concessions of his own?
"Maybe we should head back," proposed Matthew, clearly fighting to keep his tone even as well. "We agree on the house, let's celebrate that. We can figure out the details of running it later."
Mary swallowed and nodded. He was right. They decided where they were going to live. The house was more beautiful than she expected and the grounds more extensive than she remembered. It was a perfect summer day and they were planning their life together. There was no point in spoiling it with a quarrel over the servants; they had months until their wedding to figure it out.
"Alright," she said. "Let's discuss the renovations."
They went back slowly to the sedan they took from the Downton garage, talking about phones and indoor plumbing. Matthew insisted on driving himself instead of taking Branson; he wanted to make the excursion to review their potential first home together an intimate moment for just the two of them. Mary bit her lips. She didn't want to spoil it, especially since the house turned out to be perfect for them. On the other hand, it went against her very nature to just submit to him in everything. There had to be some happy medium.
They were driving back to Downton, when Mary decided to go back to the contentious topic. She really did not want to quarrel with Matthew – she was frankly shocked how little they had quarrelled in this course of their acquaintance – so she forced herself to start as neutrally as possible.
"How many servants do you consider appropriate for this house?"
Matthew threw a cautious glance at her and then looked back at the road ahead.
"There is no question of you taking Anna with you," he started. Mary was convinced he was remembering her maid helping them hide a body. You did not part with a servant who showed this kind of loyalty to you.
"We will also of course need a cook and probably a kitchen maid, although Mrs Bird has always managed alone," he raised his hand briefly from steering wheel to stop her from interrupting. "I can agree to take Molesley with me, to serve as butler and valet, although I still don't see a need for a valet for myself – I am perfectly able to dress myself. But we would have more of a need for a butler than I and Mother really do, so he would have more purpose at our household even if I keep his valeting responsibilities to minimum. But then if we have Molesley I really don't see any need for a footman; he would be perfectly able to serve us at meals and unless we entertain much more than I would expect, a footman would have hardly anything to do. So that leaves us with discussing housemaids – one or two? And that should mean that we need six indoor staff and when we add a groom, a gardener, and a chauffeur for you, so you aren't forced to rely on me only for getting out, especially when I am away for work, it would make nine servants altogether."
Mary remained quiet for a moment.
"What about laundry?"
"We could send it out or have some women to come up from the village. Unlike at Downton, I think we won't have enough laundry to justify permanent staff."
Mary went quiet again, deep in thought. Matthew kept sending her wary looks.
"I noticed you changed your mind about necessity of a valet and butler, even though you propose to combine those positions," she noticed. Matthew smiled wryly at her.
"I would be content with a maid serving us, but I am aware some compromises are necessary. You may treat it as my concession."
"So me giving up a footman and a housekeeper should be mine?"
Matthew shrugged.
"If you are very unhappy with such arrangements, we can always change our minds later and hire additional staff. But you never lived without a proper army of servants or in a house of more average size, so I think you might be surprised how much less complicated and efficient it can be. And I confess dining in splendour every night and having no privacy still does not appeal to me very much."
Mary bit her lip. This was Matthew who had known he was going to be an Earl for less than a year. He was expressing a lot of the same views as the other version of him had done, but he was obviously much less settled at Downton or comfortable with aristocratic way of life. And Mary was unsure if she really minded or not. She had loved their married life at the Abbey, but she always had known Matthew had found it constricting and frustrating at times. She was willing to be more mindful of his wishes this time around; she wanted to be less selfish and that was the reason she had agreed to search for their own house. He obviously was trying to take her wishes and views into account as well – she had not forgotten how his other self cleverly had left Molesley with Isobel and yet here he was agreeing to bring him – so maybe she could agree to try how they would function with the number of servants proposed by him. Although she was still grinding her teeth at the perspective of entertaining guests with only Molesley in attendance.
"I guess we can start small," she said reluctantly and noticed Matthew's start of surprise with amusement. Obviously he was expecting bigger resistance from her. "I am sure Mama will agree to lend us a footman for bigger parties, especially since in most cases we would invite the family as well, so he wouldn't be needed at the Abbey."
Matthew beamed at her.
Garage, Downton Abbey, June 1913
"See, Branson, we returned the car without a scratch!" announced Mary brightly when Matthew parked the sedan in front of the garage. Tom smiled right back at her, his eyes crinkling.
"I had all the faith in you two, milady," he answered cheerfully. "Barely felt the urge to reach for my rosary. Which is good, because I left it back in Ireland."
"Do socialists feel the need to pray?" asked Mary with raised eyebrows, accepting Matthew's hand to get out of the car.
Tom laughed.
"Only when it's their new job on the line, milady. But as I said, it wasn't a very strong urge."
Mary gave him a friendly wave on her way to the house, extremely glad that Carson was not here to see it. She was starting to understand how Sybil had managed to have a whole secret relationship with Tom for years. The garage was really out of the way and out of sight from the big house.
Matthew threw her a curious look.
"You are much friendlier with Branson than you usually are with the servants," he noted inquiringly.
Mary shrugged.
"I am friendly with Anna and Carson," she pointed out. "With the rest, I found it better to keep my distance – it makes the relationship between us professional and easier. But Branson is an easy man to like and surprisingly well read and interesting to talk to. He's quite political, you know."
Matthew was looking at her with fascination.
"Whenever I think I have you figured out, you are showing me quite a new side of yourself," he said contemplatively. "I wouldn't have taken you as someone who either gets into political discussions with a chauffeur or, if you ever did, approve of more radical views."
Mary squirmed internally. He was not wrong, per se. But it was Tom. Even if she wasn't exactly allowed to call him by his first name at this point.
"As long as he doesn't intend to put a bomb under the lot of us or sets Downton on fire," she answered dryly. "But since we are thankfully not in Ireland, I believe we're safe. He is completely wrong in his views, of course, but it is extremely entertaining to debate them with him. I do not know so many other socialists, you know."
"And when did you find the occasion to have so many debates with him? I do not suppose it was in the library?" asked Matthew, trying to imagine Cousin Robert's face at such an occurrence under his roof.
Mary laughed, shaking her head in disbelief at a similar picture.
"If Papa got a whiff of the idea that his Irish chauffeur is trying to corrupt his daughters with socialism, Branson would be out of his job before he would be able to say "Marx". So please, be careful to never ever mention it to Papa. It was during my excursions to dressmakers in Ripon and York ahead of the Season, of course. Talking with Branson filled the time, but I do admit it was probably not wholly appropriate."
"Don't worry, I will be silent as a grave," assured her Matthew with playful solemnity. "I'll be living in hope of seeing you corrupted by the socialists thinking, although I may faint in shock if you ever espouse it."
"I may yet surprise you," said Mary, throwing him a sideways glance. "Maybe I am a hidden progressive."
"I have no doubts that you will continue to surprise me," answered Matthew thickly, then kissed her quickly before they reached the front door of the house and Carson's watchful eyes. "And not just with your political views."
Lady Mary's bedroom, Downton Abbey, June 1913
"When are you going back to London, milady?" asked Anna, brushing Mary's hair in preparation of doing it up for dinner at Crawley House. Since most of the family remained in London, with Mary and Matthew coming to Yorkshire for the weekend just to inspect the house in Eryholme, Isobel invited her son's fiancée to join them for dinner instead of eating alone at the big house.
"First thing on Monday. Oh, I'm going to miss you, Anna! I am going to talk to Mama about bringing you to London; I hate being dressed by O'Brien."
"I would like that very much, milady!" said Anna brightly, pushing away the thought that it would be very nice to see certain valet again.
Mary looked up at her.
"Actually, there is something I want to ask you," she said a bit nervously. "As you know, Mr Crawley and I decided to move to the house in Eryholme after our wedding."
Anna nodded.
"I would love for you to agree to become my lady's maid. Oh, please say you will! I cannot imagine anyone else in that role."
"Of course I will, milady," answered Anna with a smile, although she did feel a small pang not only for moving away from Mr Bates – he hardly encouraged any interest on her part, did he? - but also for all her friends and acquaintances she had made at the Abbey since she came here at fifteen. But she did like Lady Mary and it was a promotion for her. And it wasn't like she would never see any of them again, Eryholme was not at the end of the world.
Mary let out a relieved breath and smiled brightly.
"Marvellous! You are the first servant I hired for my new home then," she pursued her lip thoughtfully for a moment, before continuing. "It will be much smaller household than here, obviously, and Mr Crawley and I are wondering how to properly divide different duties. He would prefer to keep the number of servants low, but of course we must keep certain standards."
"What do you have in mind, milady?" asked Anna curiously, starting to twist Lady Mary's hair in an elegant updo.
"Do you think we could get by without a housekeeper and divided her normal duties between me, you, the head housemaid and the cook?" asked Mary. She assumed it could work, but if Anna decided it was too much work for her, she was determined to go back to negotiations with Matthew. There was no way she was going to jeopardise Anna remaining as her lady's maid.
"How many servants do you have in mind altogether?" asked Anna thoughtfully.
"A cook, a kitchen maid, two housemaids and Molesley in double role as butler and valet. Do you think it would work?"
It was Anna's turn to pursue her lower lip in thought.
"It might," she said slowly. "I assume you would give the cook control of the stores?"
"Yes," Mary nodded. "And I could assign the guests to their bedrooms and do household accounts. But do you think you could be in charge of linens and cleaning rosters? The house is much smaller than the Abbey, but to be frank you would probably know more than me about the details involved in keeping it clean and presentable."
Anna allowed herself a small snort.
"I probably would, milady, yes," but then she frowned a little. "But would I have authority over the maids? They may question receiving their orders from a lady's maid."
Mary frowned as well.
"Should you be appointed a housekeeper then? And be my lady's maid in addition to that?"
"I think as long as we are clear that I am there in a double role, it should run smoothly. There will be just two housemaids after all, hardly an army."
They smiled at each other in understanding.
Royal Ascot, June 1913
Mary hoped nobody else could perceive with what lust she was staring at her fiancé in a very well fitted morning coat and a top hat, because her own thoughts and feelings were making her blush.
He really was impossibly handsome, especially in well-tailored clothes – and nowadays all his clothes were well-tailored.
It was the first public event they attended as an engaged couple and Mary loved every second of it. Their engagement in her previous life had been vastly different; exhilarating in its joy after years of separation and heartbreak, but private and quiet. Now they got engaged at the very beginning of the London Season and became one of the Society's current golden couples. They were recognised and commented upon. Of course, not all the comments were positive – Matthew's background and occupation were raising quite a lot of eyebrows – but overall the response was positive. They did make a handsome pair after all, he fair and tall, with those devastatingly blue eyes and blond hair, she dark and slim, both intended to be titled and rich. They did draw lots of attention.
And Mary was enjoying herself immensely.
To live through a proper, pre-war London Season in its full splendour again, and not under the shadow of a scandal, but as a woman newly engaged to be married to the love of her life – she couldn't imagine anything better. She and Matthew were also the sole focus of her family's attention; with Sybil's debut still a year away their engagement and wedding were to be the highlight of the year. First their engagement party and the announcement, now planning preparations of the house in Eryholme and ordering Mary's wedding clothes and her trousseau while attending an exhausting list of parties and events to maintain their high profile in Society (and hopefully secure a husband for Edith, although without special success so far). Mama, Granny and Aunt Rosamund were in their element and Mary had to admit that she was basking in being the centre of their attention.
But the best, absolutely best thing about being engaged during London Season was attending all those events on her impossibly handsome fiancé's arm.
Like the Royal Ascot now.
She torn her eyes from Matthew to wave back at a young man frantically waving at them.
"Who is it?" asked Matthew curiously. The man looked familiar, but he couldn't place him.
"Frederick Wentworth, Granny's grandnephew. You might have heard us mentioning him as Cousin Freddie. He was at our engagement ball, but I am not sure if we managed to speak with him beyond receiving his congratulations."
"Ah, now I remember. He is at Lincoln's Inn, isn't he?"
"Yes," Mary nodded, leading him to their seats. "I see he is with Vivian MacDonald, they are thick as thieves. I think they are close to finishing their studies."
"I know Vivian, actually," grinned Matthew, waving at the man in question. "We were in the debate club at Oxford together."
Mary looked at him in pleased surprise. She sometimes still forgot that for all him being middle class, he had a pretty wide circle of acquaintance from attending Radley and Oxford.
They greeted Cousin Freddie and Vivian MacDonald, taking their seats next to them. Cousin Freddie had wavy brown hair and mischievous grey eyes. He was rather short and stocky, shorter than Mary in fact. As a future baronet, he was a member of aristocracy, though not a peer, but since the family was not one of the richest and his father in very good health he was happy to become a barrister in the meantime. Vivian was a younger son of a rich, though untitled landowner from Kent and with the estate being entailed, expecting the excellent education and family connexions to be the extent of any benefits received from his family. He was tall and thin, with eagle like nose, blond hair and blue eyes.
"I hear congratulations are in order for you and Lady Mary, Crawley," grinned Vivian. "You did rather better for yourself than your reputation at Oxford indicated."
Matthew rolled his eyes, but Mary's curiosity was picked.
"Pray, what was his reputation at Oxford?" she asked eagerly.
"Be careful, MacDonald," warned Matthew with mock seriousness. "Whatever you tell her, I will retaliate fully when I meet your fiancée one day."
"For that threat to discourage him he would have to have first any chance of acquiring a fiancée," chortled Freddie, bumping his shoulder into Vivian, who glared at him briefly.
"I will have you know, Wentworth, that at least I am taller than most women, unlike certain midgets I could mention," drawled he in response to his friend taunt. Far from offended, Freddie just laughed at his insult.
"Going back to your fiancé's reputation, Lady Mary, I am afraid I have very grave reports for you," said Vivian, returning his attention to Mary. "You see, he was such a dull fellow, interested only in his studies, cricket and architecture that he earned himself a nickname of Saint Matthew, for deriding any pleasures enjoyed by mere mortals. He was dependable when one needed to borrow legible and thorough lecture notes, but conspicuously absent when a night of fun was being planned."
Mary chuckled, more at Matthew's long-suffering expression than Vivian's description. Somehow it did not surprise her in the slightest.
"I did play, MacDonald, just not in your company or places you were likely to hang around in," said Matthew dryly. "I did have some standards, you know."
Freddie chortled with laughter at Matthew's retort.
"He's got you there, Vivian. Standards were not what you have been known for at Oxford. Or are known for now, to be perfectly fair."
Mary kept mostly out of the conversation, enjoying their banter and basking in the feeling of her and Matthew's lives merging and converging more than she ever expected to be possible. He was not a born member of the aristocracy, but he was far less removed from it than she had ever acknowledged in her resentment over him inheriting what she considered rightfully hers. Seeing him with Cousin Freddie, Vivian MacDonald or Billy Russell, listening to them exchanging stories about Oxford or public school antics, it was obvious that he did fit right in, even though he did not enjoy hunting or saw a point in having a valet.
Their lively talk was interrupted by appearance of the rest of the family, soon followed by Lady Rosamund and, to Mary's dismay, Sir Richard.
Sir Richard hastened to congratulate Mary and Matthew on their engagement and explained that he ran into Aunt Rosamund at the betting booth.
"When she mentioned that you are here, Lady Mary, I could not neglect the opportunity to convey my congratulations and best wishes."
"Thank you, Sir Richard," said Mary indifferently. "We are very happy. Are you enjoying the races?"
"Not particularly," answered he with a grimace. "I don't know enough about horses to feel that I am making an informed decision regarding my bets. I much prefer poker to horse racing when it comes to gambling."
"A game of cunning and misdirection over specialised knowledge and luck?" Mary raised her eyebrows. Sir Richard smiled crookedly in response.
"Always, Lady Mary, always. Are you staying in London for long?"
"Until July. We have much to arrange for the wedding and our future home before October."
Sir Richard's smile faded at the reminder of her engagement and was replaced by slight scowl.
"And where do you plan to live? At Downton?"
"At a smaller estate further north," answered Mary reluctantly. "But I expect we will be spending a share of our time in London; Matthew is a partner in a law firm here."
"A partner?" asked Sir Richard with evident surprise. "I thought he worked for a firm in Ripon?"
"He was, until fairly recently. He joined the partnership with Mr Weatherby and Mr Swire in April."
She was disconcerted at Sir Richard's brief, but very clear, expression of shock at the news. He recovered himself quickly though.
"Do you mean Mr Reginald Swire? If so, I am acquainted with him and his family. I have heard that he started a new partnership with a Mr Weatherby, whom I have not yet an occasion to meet, but I have not realised that your cousin was involved in it as well."
"He joined later," said Mary, still wondering why it shocked him so that he did. "But so far it seems a good fit and a great business opportunity for him."
To her great relief, Matthew torn himself away from his new lawyer friends and reminded her that they still needed to place their bets. She made her escape from Sir Richard promptly.
"I really would prefer if Aunt Rosamund was more selective in her choice of pals," she huffed in annoyance. Matthew frowned slightly in response.
"He does seem to rile you up whenever you meet. Should I take care to keep him away from you?"
"Gladly," sighed Mary, "But truly, he has not done anything objectionable so far. He just rubs me a wrong way."
Cora's sitting room, Downton Abbey, July 1913
"Have you and Matthew decided how many servants you intend to keep?" asked Cora briskly, notepad on the ready.
"Mostly," answered Mary, biting on her own pencil thoughtfully. "He agreed to take Molesley with him, to act as both the butler and his valet. Said he is mostly used to him by now."
They both smiled at each other in amusement.
"Will Molesley be up to the task? Your home will be quite a step up from Crawley House."
"I hope so," answered Mary. "He is no Carson, of course, but then I have no hope of luring him away, and so I would prefer to have at least one more familiar face around. We will have to hire enough strangers as it is."
"I sure hope you are not going to try to steal Carson!" exclaimed Cora playfully, "Your Papa would have never forgiven you."
"Oh, I think he would agree if I asked him very nicely," said Mary, smiling at the memory. Although she tried to think of her miserable engagement to Richard as little as possible, she was still touched by Papa's agreement for her to take Carson to Haxby. Eryholme household would be on much smaller scale than Haxby though and she would be marrying a man she loved most dearly in the world instead of one she would have needed protecting from, so while she would have loved to have Carson with her she was comfortable with the prospect of Molesley.
"Speaking of stealing servants, I hope you won't object to me taking Anna as my lady's maid," she said firmly. That she was determined to arrange, despite her conscience bothering her a bit about Anna's relationship with Bates. But Anna agreed to the move, probably because at this stage her relationship with Bates was still very tenuous, and it wasn't as if they would never have an opportunity to meet. Mary would gladly take Bates into her household to keep Anna happy and with her, but she rather suspected she had no chance of Papa agreeing to that.
"Of course you may take Anna," Mama assured her. "It is a custom to take a lady's maid out of your maiden household if at all possible."
"Well, then we will need to hire a housemaid or two, a cook, a kitchen maid, a chauffeur, a groom for the horses and a gardener," Mary moaned. She obviously hadn't appreciated enough how much headache choosing to live at the Abbey had saved her last time. "And we have to figure out what to do about the laundry."
"It may seem quite daunting at first, darling, but once your household is established, I am sure it will run smoothly," said Mama in comforting voice. "Hiring servants is a pain, but one you will soon get used to."
"You didn't have to hire so many at once when you married Papa," said Mary petulantly.
"No, but I had to live with your Granny as my mother-in-law for first ten years of my marriage," said Cora caustically. "I am sure I would have preferred to hire some new servants over that."
Mary laughed.
"You win. Even if I had to live with Cousin Isobel, she could not be half as much of a pain as Granny must have been to you."
They smiled at each other in understanding.
"Back to practical matters," said Cora decisively, "We need to advertise for a housekeeper, a cook, and a chauffeur. We can ask around in Downton and Eryholme villages for a housemaid and a kitchen maid and ask Lynch whether one of the undergrooms can be promoted to your groom, same for the gardener. If not, we will advertise too, but it doesn't hurt to check the possible candidates from Downton staff first."
"I was wondering if we actually need a housekeeper," said Mary, "Maybe we would do instead with two housemaids? Our household will be rather small."
"If you don't have a housekeeper, you would either have to give your cook the charge of the storerooms or manage it yourself," warned Cora. "Both can be tricky, but it could work. And you would have to manage the cleaning schedule for the maids, too, not to mention linens, serving dishes and other chores of the kind."
"Yes, but with the house so small I think it wouldn't be so difficult," thought Mary aloud. "And if the task turns out to be too annoying, we can always hire a housekeeper later. I also talked with Anna and I think I will try to delegate some housekeeper's usual duties to her."
"But in such case at least one of the housemaids needs to be experienced," said Cora. "So we have to advertise for one too, cause we cannot spare both Anna and Gwen at the same time without incurring Mrs Hughes' wrath. I noticed you haven't mentioned a footman, don't you think you need one?"
Mary sighed.
"Matthew thinks Molesley should be enough for day to day and we can borrow a footman from Downton or hire one from Darlington for big parties."
Cora made a surprised expression.
"Honestly I am not convinced if Molesley can pull it off in addition to his other duties, but I guess we can treat it the same way as a housekeeper – you will try it and see."
She made a note on her notepad.
"I will prepare the advertisements and send them to The Lady. You ask Molesley and Anna to make inquires at the village and talk with Lynch and Jones."
"Anna should help to interview the candidates for the housemaids, I think," said Mary, making her own notes. "And will you help me with picking the cook?"
"Of course I will help, my darling girl," smiled Cora fondly. "You don't know how happy and proud I am to see you getting the marriage you want and deserve and establishing your own household. I am sure you will keep making me proud."
Mary's eyes stung. To have her mother's love, pride and support now was just showing her how much had been destroyed the night Cora had helped her carry the body of Kemal Pamuk from her bedroom. All that came afterwards in their often contentious relationship was tinged with the bitterness and disappointment born that night.
"Thank you, Mama," she said quietly. "You don't know how much I appreciate it."
Downton grounds, July 1913
"And how is the hunt for our servants going?" asked Matthew playfully.
"Pretty well," answered Mary proudly. "We had several promising responses from candidates for the positions of the cook, the chauffeur and the head housemaid. Anna recommended a possible girl from Eryholme Village for the junior housemaid and another from Downton Village for the kitchen maid. The gardener and the groom will both be promoted from the staff at the Abbey, Lynch and Jones are both vouching for them. We should make final decisions before the end of the month."
"Our own army of servants," Matthew shook his head in amusement. "And to think I was bothered just by having a valet when I first arrived here."
"We will be living in a rather bigger house than Crawley House, and we will need to entertain a bit," said Mary defensively. "But are you sure we can afford them all?"
She was actually wondering a bit about that. Come to think about it, she had no clue either how much Matthew was earning as a lawyer, how big was his stipend as his father's heir or how big her own settlement was going to be. Last time they had lived at the Abbey and Matthew had had the Swire inheritance, so those matters were rather moot.
Matthew smiled at her in reassurance.
"We can, don't worry. Your Papa has been rather generous with his stipend, which I barely have spent in the last year really and joining the partnership with Jack and Mr Swire turned out even more advantageous than I expected. Since your Papa does not let me pay rent for our home, we definitely have the budget for the number of servants we agreed upon as necessary to run it," he was quiet for a moment, then added. "I also made some investments recently which worked out quite well for me. Which is lucky, because we still need to finish renovations and furnishing of the house, as well as buy a car. Especially since we are already interviewing chauffeurs."
"Do you have final figures for the furnishing and decorating budget then?" asked Mary eagerly, feeling much calmer on the issue. Matthew would never overstate their income or allowed them to live above their means; if he said they could afford the servants, refurbishing the house and the new car it had to mean they could.
"I do. I will oversee the purchase of the car and the technical upgrades of kitchen, bathrooms and the wiring in the house, but I suspect you would prefer to oversee the rest of the renovations?"
"I would!" exclaimed Mary with delight. "I just hope they will all be ready for the time we come back from our honeymoon, it would be so lovely to go straight to our new home; although of course we would be welcome at the Abbey if the repairs or furnishing were not ready yet."
Matthew's smile was making his face glow with happiness.
"Our home," he said quietly. "What a lovely, lovely thought."
