Thank you for your comments and the compliment! This story follows on from the events of the first film in 1927, so Caroline Talbot is around a year old. As for the rest of your questions, you'll have to wait and see...

Cora watched her daughter anxiously as Mary leafed listlessly through the garment catalogue at Madame Swann's boutique.

'Mary, darling, are you quite all right?' she asked, gently.

'Yes, thank you, Mama,' Mary replied, automatically, not looking up from her aimless page turning.

Cora bit her lip then moved to sit beside her, taking the catalogue from Mary's unresisting hands. 'I'm afraid I don't believe you.'

Mary stared at her, dead-eyed. 'I'm perfectly fine, Mama.'

'No, you're not. You've lost your spark and I hate to see you so low.'

Mary said nothing, staring over her mother's shoulder at the wall.

'Sweetheart, you can talk to me if there's something bothering you. I hope you know that.'

'I do, yes,' Mary replied, not taking the opportunity to open up any further to her mother.

Cora reached out, taking hold of Mary's hand. 'Is there something wrong between you and Henry?'

'No.'

'Is it that you miss him? Because he seems to be away on business rather a lot lately.'

'No, Mama, I don't miss Henry,' Mary said truthfully, startled to think that had even occurred to her mother as it hadn't crossed her own mind. In reality, Henry's frequent absences were something of a relief. 'He's doing what he needs to do to make the dealership a success.'

'Yes, he and Tom seem to be working very hard to build the business.' Cora paused, noting Mary's reaction to the mention of Tom. Where Henry's name hadn't pulled anything from her, something flickered across Mary's face at her brother-in-law's name.

'Mary, is it Tom you miss?' Cora asked, carefully. 'I know he's been spending most of his time in York recently.'

Mary glanced at her mother before looking quickly away, unable to hold her gaze.

'You know it's perfectly understandable if you do,' Cora said, trying to break through to her daughter. 'You and he have worked so closely together for so long. For years now, I've barely seen either of you without the other right next to them.'

When Mary still didn't meet her eyes, Cora gently put her hand to Mary's cheek and brought her face round to look at her. To her surprise, she saw a sheen of tears in Mary's eyes.

'Oh, my darling girl. Is that what's bothering you?'

Mary pulled her face free, reaching up to delicately brush away a tear that had the temerity to spill from her eyelashes. 'Ignore me, Mama. I think you're right and I'm not quite myself at the moment.'

'Perhaps you should speak to Tom and ask him to work from the estate office more often if you're missing his company.'

Mary shook her head. 'I can't do that. He has other commitments. Besides, I will have to get used to him not being there in the long run, won't I? I doubt he will stay at Downton forever.'

Cora looked at her quizzically. 'Do you know something I don't?'

'No.'

'Then what makes you say he will leave Downton?'

Mary looked at her mother, incredulously. 'Isn't it obvious? What if he marries again? Do you really think his new wife would want to live in the ancestral home of his late first wife with his former in-laws?'

'His new wife?' Cora asked, quirking a curious eyebrow. 'Is Tom courting someone?'

'You'd have to ask him that,' Mary replied, tightly, trying to keep her emotions locked down and firmly under control.

Cora studied her. 'Is this about these infamous letters your papa tells me arrive for Tom every day?'

Mary nodded miserably.

'Do you know who they are from?'

'Miss Smith. Cousin Maud's former maid.'

'Ah, I wondered if that might be the case. I know it's an attachment your grandmother is exceptionally keen to encourage.'

Mary tightened her jaw, a complicated and potent mixture of jealousy and despair ripping through her. 'I know she does. She considers Maud's Brampton estate the one that got away.'

'I can see the sense in the match. Tom and Miss Smith have a similar background,' Cora said, thoughtfully. 'They'd also make a good team in running Brampton when she inherits it. She'll have the money; he'll have the experience.'

'You make it sound so transactional!' Mary cried. 'That's not how marriage should be!'

'No, but sometimes that is how it begins. Besides, if they are writing to each other, perhaps there is already a level of affection between them.'

Mary looked away, closing her eyes, desperately trying to hold back the tears she didn't want to shed. Cora watched her, disturbed to see her daughter so upset. She took hold of Mary's hands. 'Mary, darling, if Tom does marry Miss Smith – and it's only an if at this stage – he won't be going far. The Brampton estate borders our own lands. And he will still be Henry's business partner. You will still see him.'

'Will I?' Mary blurted out in anguish, unable to stay quiet. 'I doubt that very much. He'll be busier than ever with the dealership, Brampton, a new wife and maybe even a new family. He won't have time for me. And why should he? I'm only his sister-in-law!'

Cora gripped her hands tighter, taken aback by the depths of Mary's distress. 'Don't say that. You are more than just his sister-in-law, Mary. I very much think you are his best friend. Tom loves you. He won't abandon you. I know he won't.'

Mary dropped her head, and her shoulders began to shake as she fought back her emotions. Cora stared at her normally poised and - some might say - aloof daughter in shock then reached out to embrace her.

'Oh, my darling, shhhh. Things can't be that bad. We're getting far ahead of ourselves anyway. Tom is not going anywhere at the moment. He is not engaged to Miss Smith. He is not leaving Downton. He's staying right where he is for now,' she soothed, patting Mary's back gently.

As her daughter pulled herself together, Cora resolved to have a quiet word with Tom at the first opportunity and persuade him, for Mary's sake, to spend less time in York and more in Downton.

Before dinner that night, Cora hovered, waiting for her opportunity. When Tom arrived in the drawing room, Barrow served him a cocktail and as soon as he moved away from the butler, Cora pounced.

'Tom, would you sit with me a moment?' she said, appearing at her son-in-law's elbow.

'Of course,' he said, following her to a corner of the room where only two chairs were arranged, allowing a quiet tête à tête.

'I'm worried about Mary,' Cora told him bluntly.

Tom looked startled. 'Why? Is there something wrong? Is she all right?'

'No, she's not. She was quite upset at Madame Swann's today.'

Tom stared at her in consternation. 'What? Did something happen?'

Cora glanced across the room at where Mary was in conversation with her papa. 'I know she will not thank me for telling you this, but she misses you.'

Tom's eyes widened, but he said nothing.

'I know you're busy trying to build up the dealership, but could you possibly find a way to spend more time at the estate office with her? She won't ask you herself, but I think it would do her the power of good.'

'I'm sure she doesn't need me-,' Tom began, only for Cora to cut him off impatiently.

'But she does. You and she have worked side by side for years and become the best of friends over that time. Is it so difficult to believe that she may miss your company when you are no longer there in the office with her for days on end?'

Tom gazed at her, keeping quiet.

Cora sighed, deciding to spell out the problem as she saw it. 'Tom, she spends every day alone in that office. Henry is off on business all the time like he is this week, and you are barely at Downton these days. She's lonely. It's affecting her badly and I'm worried about her. I know you don't want her to be unhappy. All I'm asking is that you change your routine a little to allow more time for Mary.'

Tom looked down at his cocktail, unsure what to say to this direct plea from his mother-in-law.

Cora put her hand on his sleeve, looking at him imploringly. 'Please, Tom. I know you care for her, so I don't think you want to see her miserable any more than I do. I'm not saying you should stop going to York completely, I'm just asking you to maybe spend a day or two at the estate office each week. For Mary.'

Tom gazed at her, eventually giving a brief nod. 'I'll see what I can do.'

Cora smiled at him in relief. 'Thank you. I think it will make all the difference. Mary will be thrilled, I'm sure, but please don't tell her I said anything to you about her outbreak of emotion at Madame Swann's. It would only embarrass her. In fact, don't tell her I said anything to you at all. Make it seem as if it's your idea. You know how proud she is. I don't want her to think I've gone behind her back and spoken out of turn.'

Tom nodded, wondering what Mary would actually think and realising he needed to talk to her about this whole conversation, despite Cora asking for his discretion on the matter.

He stood as Barrow announced dinner was served, following his mother-in-law into the dining room and finding himself seated opposite Mary. For the first time in several weeks, he allowed himself to really look at her. She looked thinner, more drawn, less full of life and spark. Less like the Lady Mary Crawley he'd come to know so well over the last seven years. Cora was right, this whole situation was affecting her and not in a good way, and that was a state of affairs he couldn't live with.