Edith and Mary both looked up in surprise: there stood the man himself in the doorway, hat in hand, and a slightly guilty smile on his face. Edith's gaze immediately switched back to Mary, and she watched as her elder sister physically shuddered, even taking two steps backwards.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," Tom apologized, taking a cautious step into the room. "I knocked and meant to have myself announced, but I'm afraid your conversation got rather… involved." All eyes again went to Mary who clearly didn't believe that explanation for a second.

"How – how long have you been standing there?" she asked, trying to sound in control but her voice still shook. Edith noticed it.

"Long enough, I imagine," he answered looking at Mary with true compassion.

Mary looked helplessly from Edith to Tom to Edith to Tom. Her head spun. "So… you… you heard?" she couldn't quite string a complete sentence together.

"I believe I heard everything," he confirmed, stepping completely into the room.

Mary couldn't even react. She looked from one person to another to the window to the door to the ceiling to the floor… she had absolutely no idea what to do.

Edith watched her sister and was completely mesmorized for a moment. She knew she should probably do something, yet she couldn't. She noted that all of Mary's earlier anger had completely vanished, and now she wore an expression of… what was the word? Confusion? No, that wasn't it. Panic? No, not that either.

"I – I see," Mary barely got the words out, still glancing all about the room.

Terror. That was the word Edith had been searching for. That was the expression in Mary's eyes right now. Pure, complete, and utter terror.

Edith looked at her sister with true pity. She couldn't remember ever seeing such raw emotion out of Mary. She seemed to stop breathing and for a moment Edith worried that she might actually pass out. She didn't, although Edith noticed that Mary's hand clutched a chair behind her for physical support.

"Hello Mary," Tom nodded. "Edith."

"Tom," Edith looked at her brother-in-law with true admiration. His timing was impeccable.

"Oh, I see that one confrontation wasn't enough for you, Edith," Mary accused her younger sister. "You had to arrange an entire ambush!"

Edith stared at her sister for a minute, wondering if Mary meant to be either defensive or intimidating. Either way she was clearly too distressed to succeed at either one. Edith slowly shook her head. "I honestly had no idea he was here," she answered her sister.

Mary clearly didn't believe her. "Of course you didn't," she said. But again she was too thrown off to even sound remotely intimidating. Both Tom and Edith looked at her with concern. Edith even noticed that her sister's knuckles had turned white as she clung to the side of the chair for support.

"Mary, sit down," she urged.

"I don't need your help, Edith!" she snapped, but followed her advice just the same.

Edith's eyes traveled back to Tom who stood calmly waiting, giving Mary time to catch her breath before he said anything further. She admired his tact in that. She quickly made a decision. "I suspect I've done enough," she declared.

"Yes, I suspect you have," Mary grumbled.

Edith ignored her. "I'll just see myself out then," she picked up her handbag and quickly headed out of the room. Tom caught her eye as she left and gave her a wink. She smiled and went out the front door. Looking up at the morning sun she wondered over everything. She wasn't sure what exactly had just happened, or what was about to happen, but she felt she had already accomplished what she set out to do. She stepped down from Rosamund's front porch and to her amazement, saw a very familiar face waiting in a car out front. Delighted she ran up to it.

"Bertie!?"

"Hello Edith," he grinned.

"What in the world?" she stopped as realization hit her. He grinned a wicked grin. "It was you! You are the one who brought Tom here!" she said in pure admiration.

"Guilty," he confessed. "Get in."

She did and he quickly drove them away from the house. She turned towards him. "What was all that talk you gave me about not getting involved? Letting things take their natural course?" she asked.

"I told you not to get involved," he smiled. "I never made any promises about myself."

"Well played, Lord Hexham, well played," she admired. Bertie grinned as the two of them drove off together.

Back at Rosamund's, Mary was still wishing she was dead. She was wishing Edith was dead. She was wishing everybody was dead. And yet, here was Tom, still standing in front of her. She was utterly humiliated.

"I am truly sorry for not letting you know I was here," he said gently.

"Oh don't lie," she snapped. "You're not at all sorry. Anyway, it doesn't matter," she declared, trying to regain composure.

"Mary, you've never been able to fool me," he said calmly. "Would you like to try again?"

"You sneak in here unannounced, eavesdrop on a private conversation between my sister and myself, and then decide that you know everything," she said in as haughty a tone as she could muster.

"No, that didn't work either," he said with a cheeky smile that Mary found infuriating. "Come on Mary, give it one more try."

Mary's horror was quickly turning back into anger and Tom was just clearly enjoying it. One more remark like that and she might well throw something at him.

"What on earth did you come here for?" she asked with pure venom.

Tom took one more smile and knelt down next to her chair. "You know exactly why I'm here," he answered.

"You must be completely insane," she huffed.

Tom couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I'm insane? Mary, have you seen yourself over the past few months?"

Mary's blood started boiling. "WHAT IN GOD'S NAME DO YOU WANT OF ME?"

Tom reached into his pocket and produced a small box. "I want the same thing I've always wanted," he said, opening it and producing a ring. "I want you to marry me."