The children were wise and mature beyond their years. Matthew didn't entirely believe it was because of his injury, it was because of who their parents were. That didn't mean that didn't act out now and then. They were still children. They had acted out when they first moved. Jo and Katie at least. They argued more. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to have them share a room, but they had to learn how to get along.

When Katie had been born, Jo had felt left out. But then she looked forward to being a bigger sister. That meant she would be in control, that she would be someone that her little sister looked up to. But that was not to be the case. She and Katie were the complete opposites. Katie would often like to do her own thing and she loved reading books. They couldn't have been more different in personality as they were in looks.

People, strangers would comment how pretty Katie looked.

One woman had comment, "She's such a beauty."

Jo had been about to say thanks but the woman was making a beeline for Katie's pram.

"What hair color is that? Red? And she has the most gorgeous blue eyes!"

Katie's hair was an auburn color, the color of Granny Isobel's brother had had in his youth. It also matched the shade of Granny Rachel's. Everyone would assume they were related. One day when they had walked into the Bates's shop. She had asked her father one day, "Am I pretty papa?"

"Of course you are. People are fascinated by babies."

Andy and Carrie had been too young to not adjust to the move. George had just looked bored all the time.

He had told Jo first, explaining why they were moving. She had overheard them talking about it.

I had heard mama and papa talking to moving to the city.

"I think we should go." Mama said.

"What made you change your mind?"

"Everything."

"If we don't do this, I don't think we can undo it. At least for a long while."

"I know."

"We won't be able to get back here that often, not at first."

"I know that too. If I can bring the children back to see the family for a weekend or two each month or in the summer and on holidays, such as Christmas and New Years, I'll be content with that."

"I don't suppose your father will be too keen about this."

"Especially your mother."

"No, maybe not, but you know how she is. She'll quietly stew on it a bit and then she'll be done. She wants us to be happy. I'll be sure to write and call her as much as I can. And I can take the trip Downton on holidays and the summer, when I am able to make it."

"Of course I'm sure she'll love that. Are you sure now? Are you sure this is what you want. It's always rains in London and I know how the dreary weather can be on your back."

"Darling this is England. It's always dreary. I'll take something for it if it becomes to unbearable. Unless you want to move to American."

"Over my dead body. London it is then. It is what you want, isn't it?"

"It will mean a good life for us and the children."

"We have a good life."

"I know. But I want to show them there's a world behind these walls, teach them not everything is handed down to you. That you've got to work hard. I want a life that is our own, before this is all ours."

When Mama leaves the room, Papa spots me. He's looking in my direction like I shouldn't be there. I'm not afraid of Papa, though I used to for a different reason, when I was real little and wasn't used to his chair. He never shouts at us but he can look like he is with his eyes.

"I did a lot of eavesdropping in my day. Although, I think you're much better at hiding. I didn't see you there."

"I know."

"Come and have a seat."

Instead of sitting on the sofa I come and sit on his lap. Only because no one else is here. They'd say I'm getting too big.

"Did you hear everything?"

"Yes."

"You can't say anything to anyone, not even your brothers or sister until I talk to Grandad and Granny Isobel, understand?"

"Yes." They might not be too happy about it. "We're moving to London?"

He nodded. "I want more opportunities for us. See that there's a whole other world beyond this place. And more to living than stuffy dinner parties and fancy dress."

I stifled a laugh. "Like Paris?" The last two years we had taken our holidays there. Sybie would come with us.

He smiled, his eyes sparkled as it reached his eyes, a special smile only for me. "Yes, but not quite like that. I have a chance to make our own living, there's better housing than here in the village and better schooling. My friend Mr. Buckley. doesn't have any children, he had no one to leave his law office to. He's left it to me and when he dies.."

"It becomes yours?"

"Yes.

"Just like that? We're leaving?"

"Not right away..."

"But...Beth is here."

He is surprised like he expected that I had forgotten. He frowns, making hard lines on his forehead. I don't like it. It makes his look grumpy old man, which papa isn't. He opened his mouth but then closed real tight. He took my hand.

"Beth..." He stops as if it is still painful to say..."is in Heaven. She's not here. You know that. We're not leaving here. We're taking her with her in our hearts. It won't be forever. When I become Earl, we'll come back, and this will be our home again."

"You mean when Grandpa Donk dies."

"That's not for a very long time."

"You said it won't be forever."

"A very long time is not forever."

"It will feel like it."

"I know why you're upset."

No, he doesn't. When I mentioned Beth, he acted like I did something wrong and is punishing me and still is.

"We can come to visit on holidays and in the summer like Mama said."

I want to tell him that it won't be the same. He won't always come. It's the first time I've been mad because of his injury.

"I need you to promise you won't say anything. Not yet."

I am quiet. My arms folded.

"Josephine. I want your word."

"I promise." I sigh and climb down.

Moving back home almost two years later. I was glad and relieved to be back home. Yes, this was my home. But I also felt guilty.

Grandpa Donk is gone. Gone where? My little siblings ask. But I already know. Just like when my baby sister died.

Papa said we wouldn't move back here until he was Earl.

Papa encourages me to go out ridding. I had been looking forward to it and all I could talk about, but that was before, when this was supposed to be a weekend trip.

I don't feel much like ridding right now. Spartan can tell. She nickers and sighs. When I go back inside, I hear Mama and Papa arguing.

"You're teaching her to avoid her problems."

"Doing something she loves will help her."

Mama isn't really angry. She's just sad about Donk, as I would be for my papa.


Adjusting to a move is nothing compared to adjusting to living without a loved one. How were the children going to react to their grandfather's death, their beloved Donk? Who would tell them?

The children would be waking up in another hour or so. Matthew went up to see them. When he came back, he told her,

"I didn't tell them. l thought it would be best for you to." Robert had been her father. "We can tell them together if..."

"No. I think you did the right thing. George and Jo already know. But I don't know how to explain it to them. How did you do it? When you told them about Beth?"

He came to sit beside her. "Tell them in a way that they will understand. They can sense something sad has happened. We might feel sad about it. But this is a time to celebrate. Your father lived a good life."

Mary mechanically nodded. It was hard to imagine that Andy and Caroline would have no memories of their grandfather. Perhaps faded ones but the others would remember him clearly, making it all the more harder.


At the funeral Matthew had made a speech, as new Earl, he had no choice but to. Mary thought it heartfelt and perfect, but Matthew thought it wasn't, that he just said what they wanted to hear, nothing about the man but promises that he felt he couldn't fulfill.

"You will take care of them as my father has. Even better because that's what type of person you are."

"I can barely take care of myself."

"That's not true." She didn't have to look at him to know that he was scowling. "Not entirely. If you allowed me to help you now and then."

He had wanted to stand while doing the speech and he was still on his feet. He nearly collapsed back in his chair barley making it. Evelyn came over, noticing.

"Are you alright?" Evelyn asked.

"I'm fine." Matthew tried to wave away his concern.

"You're obviously not." Mary said. "You've been standing too long and out in the cold. Let's get you inside."

"I'll help." Evelyn offered.

"Thanks Evelyn." She hadn't been expecting him to but the faster they could get him out of here the better.

They helped him into the car and Evelyn rode with them back to the house. She had a difficult time pushing his chair over the threshold.

"Here. Let me." Evelyn took hold of the handles and maneuvered the chair through.

Matthew who had for the majority of the ordeal remained silent let a out a deep breath that was no doubt of frustration.

They got him upstairs before he collapsed again, fortunately on the bed. Though he disguised it as flinging himself onto it. She asked Evelyn to wait outside while she got him situated.

"I can get out your pajamas for you and put them on for you if you like?"

"No. I'll just stay in my clothes. I'll rest till they arrive, to great them. I don't want them thinking I'm too weak to be Earl."

"You're not. They'll understand. I thought you've accepted..."

"I have. I don't have a problem with how I am. It's not their opinions. But knowing that's how they will always assume things." He appreciated their help now and then, but family and friends can be among the most severe of all limitations. They mean well and are sincere in their sympathy, but sympathy is not what he wants. The adjustments are still not easy at times, but he considers each day a blessing from God, as he is reminded that he is still alive and that he has a loving family, children to share it with.

"We haven't seen Charlie and Chuck in a while. I'll give them a call but first I'll call Doctor Clarkson."

"For a retired doctor he sure works a lot." Essentially, he was retired. He was able to be their family doctor without having to worry about conflict of interest if he were still working at the hospital in the village.

She smiled at that, going to the end of the bed she takes off his shoes, "Well, he is fond of you." When she looks up, she sees that he's fast asleep in. He must be that exhausted. She slipped out of the room.

"Thanks so much for your help, Evelyn. Everything's under control now." She announced to him to take the hint, but he didn't. They both stood in awkward silence.

"You know that I have always fancied you..." Not you too. Mary's heart tightened. She thought he had gotten over her. "Then I saw you with him, how much you care for him. You not only help him, but you also help each other, I think." She eased at his usage of past tense.

Evelyn continued, "How perfect, how right you are for each other. I knew that we weren't right for each other. Those were your mother's last words to me."

"They were?"

"She also said that there was a woman out there for me and she'd be lucky to have me."

"And Adeline is so lucky."

"She was well worth the wait."

She walked with him back down the stairs.

"You didn't really have to help."

"You're my friend and so is he."


A few hours later, Violet accompanied them in the library; the villagers and fellow mourners offering their condolences, announcing him as Lord Grantham as they left.

Lord Grantham.

As she saw him there, standing tall, she had no doubt that he'd make a great Earl. He would go down in history as one of the best.

"How are you doing my dear? How is Mary holding up?"

"As you know, she was the closest to him. As a child could be to a parent." Cousin Violet nodded, understanding. She had been close to her own father. "But I don't know what...what to do. The order of things..."

"You became Earl the moment of my son's death."

Matthew closed his eyes tightly. Violet shuffled over, resting her hand on his, squeezing it. He opened his eyes and looked down at it in surprise.

"The path ahead must be clear. You must take charge at once." She said to him. "You must be prepared to step into your role, it will be expected. And you can't propose to put it off."

"No, of course not." He had been expecting this but not this sudden. He'd always thought that Robert would be Earl longer than he would be and Mary a solicitors wife for much longer than she would a Countess.

"Not only because you're Lord Grantham now, but for Mary and the children. Since my son in gone, you're their only protection."

"Mary doesn't need my protection."

"No. I don't doubt that." Violet gave a chuckle. "But she'll need you, to take charge of things on your own for awhile. Just like when your child died." A new wave of sorrow washed over him, deepening. "They're wrong when they say grief and sorrow makes you weak. It makes you strong. Use that. Use that to guide you and be your strength. I know it's a lot to ask. It's what Robert would have wanted..."

He stopped her, protesting. Each time she mentioned Robert's name, it was like a jab in the gut because he knows he'll never live up to him, she wasn't invoking his name out of malice.

"According to your son, I was bloody useless. And he's right. No one wants the leader of this county to be a cripple."

"My dear boy, you give yourself far less credit. He liked the changes you have made. And don't you owe it to him to keep making those changes, preserve them? If not for him, for your children, and theirs? You have the potential to keep making Downton great. With your strive and devotion, and your kind heart, you will go down as one of the greatest Earl's of Grantham that this village has ever seen. Use your strength of loss to be great. I know you will."

As Mary listened to their exchange, she knew it too.


The next morning they were having tea in the drawing room; just Matthew and Violet. Rachel wouldn't come down. With each passing day it seemed that she was distancing herself from the family. Did she not feel that she was a part of it anymore? Mary was with her trying to coax her down, only to return a short time later, by that time Isobel had joined her husband and grandmother.

"I was thinking of setting up a new hospital, building a new one." Matthew was saying. "As the population of the village expands, the hospital should too. We wouldn't want to run out of resources with growing number of patients to treat. It's important to keep up with their welfare, not just their living arrangements. Though I think..." He slightly paused before continuing, it should be done in Robert's memory."

There was a brief silence in the room before anyone else spoke. Not Reggie. Isobel was thinking of her late husband. Of course why would it be? He had no reason to dedicate it to his father, no obligation. She had to be proud of her son, and she was. Reggie was looking down, knowing his heart was in the right place.

"Here. Here." Isobel further second the motion. "I think that's a fitting idea! What Robert would have wanted. What say you, Cousin Violet?"

"I'd say he's already fitting into his role rather comfortably. Oh, you mean the hospital, don't you. Well, if you don't leave me out of important decisioning making." Violet departed. Matthew and Isobel remained in the room.

Matthew smiled at her quips. "But we'll still need to figure out how to raise the money."

"I told you, you could do it." His mother said. "I want you to know how proud I am..."

"You were thinking about father."

"Yes. Am I becoming that predictable in my old age?"

"Golly, I hope not. Because that will mean that I will be. I was thinking about him too, you know."

You were? The doubt must be evident in her eyes for his response was,

"Yes. I'm doing this for him as well."

"He would be proud of you too." Isobel gave him a hug that lasted more than a few seconds.

"Alright, it's my turn now." Mary came made her way over, putting her arms around her husband. Isobel left them to be alone.