So sorry for the delay with this chapter. It's been a crazy time for everyone, and I also recently adopted a little boy so I've not had any time for writing.
This is the final chapter in this instalment. I will get around to starting another story focusing on events from the show/missing moments but I have two other stories I also need to finish
This story, and any future stories, will be added to AO3 as well as FF at some point.
Thank you to everyone who has read/liked/reviewed this story. It's been such a joy to write and I appreciate all of you!
Enjoy :)
22.
Unsinkable, they had said. And yet…
He leaves Cora sitting in bed, her breakfast still untouched, as he wonders how to break the news to his daughter. It had taken years to get her to agree to the engagement and now, it turns out, the arguments were all for naught.
Patrick is dead.
James too, he recalls, but it is the young man whose loss he feels pulling against his heart. It is the young man who he can picture as a toddler with blonde curls bouncing on his head, as a strapping boy following Mary around like a lovesick puppy, as a young man thrilled at the prospect of finally making her his wife.
Patrick is dead.
Edith's reaction to the news, although delayed, is typically Edith. She rants and wails and makes sure everyone knows how much she is grieving. Robert is more surprised that she manages to hide her loud, obnoxious grief when out in public. Sybil is sad at the loss of her young cousin (less so the elder man), although she displays her grief in a more muted and respectable manner. Mary's reaction, however, leaves Robert feeling cold.
Patrick is dead.
Patrick – her fiancé – is dead and yet the news seems to have affected her about as much as a fly affects a horse; there are moments when she becomes still and reflective, or when her breath catches in her throat at the mention of his name, but the rest of the time Mary carries on as though nothing has happened. In fact, she has decided to callously pretend that Patrick was never her fiancé to begin with, so that she can avoid going into mourning and having to wear black all the time. The fact that they had an engagement party for the 'happy' couple seems to have entirely escaped her notice.
Patrick is dead.
Despite his disappointment in Mary's attitude, and her seemingly hard-faced desire to move on to her next suitor, Robert was somewhat ashamed to acknowledge that his own grief was mixed up with another, less honourable emotion. Robert was angry.
Patrick is dead.
Patrick is dead and, with him, his hopes for the future of Downton Abbey. Not one, but two heirs lost to the unforgiving ocean and, all because James decided not to wait another month for their travels. Robert is angry at his cousin for stripping him of his sense of security. Even more so, if he is honest with himself, than he is upset at his passing. Robert has never been James' biggest fan but, because of the entail, he had to cultivate a pleasant relationship with the man to try and instil enough knowledge and love into him about Downton to ensure its successful running in the future. Now, his efforts have all been for naught.
Patrick is dead.
James' body is supposedly being sent home, but poor Patrick's body has not yet been recovered. The boy who was so willing to learn, so eager to be loved, and so happy to have somewhere to call home, lost to the sea forever. No official burial. No real closure. And now Robert needs to dig deep to try and figure out a way to keep their ancestral home in the family. Although, thanks to his father, his closest and dearest family members could still lose the only place they have ever called home. Robert just hopes and prays that the next heir, if he can find one, will be as willing to take care of his girls as Patrick was.
Sweet Patrick.
Humble Patrick.
Careful Patrick.
Patrick is dead.
