"Oh! But Tom – I must admit, one of my favourite memories of you is from Isobel and Dickie's engagement announcement dinner when you got up and ordered Larry Gray out of the room and called him a bastard!" Edith replied enthusiastically. "I know I should disapprove of such language, but it was highly satisfying to hear him addressed thusly!"
"Agreed!" Mary immediately replied. "You're probably the only one with the courage to tell Larry Gray what he really had coming to him!"
"Who is Larry Gray?" Laura asked while looking around, unsure to whom she should address such a question.
Tom took up the mantle and turned to her "Larry Gray is Mary's former mother-in-law's stepson. And he is a reprehensible man. I know I should feel badly about losing my temper at him, but he is just such a …" Tom looked as if he was going to use a curse word, but stopped himself and looked repentantly at Laura and finished the thought.
"… He's a bad person."
"And that night he got what he deserved, and we love you for it!" Mary stated generously.
Edith turned to Henry, who had been silent for a few minutes.
"Henry, all this talk of siblings, do you have any? I remember noting that there were none present at your's and Mary's wedding, but that was a small affair, so I always meant to ask afterward…"
"Sadly, I don't, Edie. My father died when I was a baby and my mother never remarried. So it's just me, I'm afraid!"
"Oh! An only child! You and Bertie have that in common then!" Edith responded.
"Oh really? Bertie - you don't have any siblings either? We are a rare breed, I think!" Henry said to Bertie.
"Yes, indeed!" Bertie replied. "I think my parents wanted more children but… alas, it wasn't in the cards."
"Being an only child certainly had some ups and downs, but I think I'll want my children to have lots and lots of siblings" Henry said as he turned to Mary and winked at her. She simply rolled her eyes while smiling and looked back at Bertie.
Bertie decided to once again bring Laura into the conversation, determined to do better than his blundering first attempt "And you Laura? Are you an only child like Henry and me? Or surrounded by sisters like Edith and Mary?"
Laura smiled at Bertie and said "Actually, I have four younger brothers."
"Oh Golly! The oldest of five! What a way to grow up!" Tom exclaimed enthusiastically.
"And what do they do?" Asked Henry.
"Two are farmers and two are in finance" Laura replied matter-of-factly
"Yes! And didn't your brother John just win an award?" Boasted Edith on Laura's behalf, to Bertie's delight. He loved how supportive Edith was of everyone she cared about.
Laura smiled bashfully as she replied "Yes, and he was written up in the paper, and we were all very proud of him."
"As they must be of you!" supported Henry. "You're a big-time magazine editor now!"
Edith smiled proudly at Laura, and everyone else followed suit, even Mary.
After Henry's comment, there was a bit of a break in the conversation, so Henry took his opportunity to be his usual suave, gallant self and sweep his wife off her feet. He rose from the table, extended his hand to Mary.
"My dearest, wonderful wife! Would you let me lead you in a dance?"
Bertie watched with interest as Mary smiled so widely to the point she was almost blushing as she took his hand, stood up and followed her husband to the dance floor. Bertie remarked how, despite Mary's being cold at times, Henry seemed to bring out a sweetness in her and it made Bertie smile with a sense of knowing. Since he, too, was now privy to the awesome power of truly loving someone, he delighted in seeing that same power shared and harnessed between other people. He surveyed the table again, and Tom was looking at Laura as she had started to quietly say something and Edith was already looking back at Bertie. He smiled at his wife-to-be, and wordlessly got up and extended his hand to her. She beamed at him and as she took his hand, she squeezed it quickly first before she stood up herself. Bertie felt himself flush with pleasure at Edith's gesture and couldn't wait to put his arms around her and start dancing.
The picked their spot, and Bertie took her right hand in his left and put his other hand around to her back. He couldn't help but notice how radiant she looked, as usual. This time she wore a lovely royal blue dress on with a head-piece that made her brown eyes glow as they moved around the floor.
Edith was smiling at Bertie but didn't say a word. Bertie loved that they were so connected that even a comfortable silence was exciting to him.
However, as Bertie began to think about the events that had transpired over the course of the evening, and specifically the conversation that had occurred immediately before they all took to the dance floor, a slight concern took root in his mind.
"You know darling, all that talk about Downton made me wonder …" Bertie began, and looked at Edith feeling a mild amount of trepidation.
"Wonder about what?" Edith smiled, while still smiling just as sweetly as she had a moment before.
"Well, I worry if your moving to Brancaster might prove a bit sad for you in some way. You all have such fond, shared memories of Downton, of growing up there together, and you obviously know it so well…." He trailed off, before he mustered up the courage to continue again "We took the trouble to soften Marigold's transition when she moves, but I wonder … are you concerned that you might suffer from an …. adjustment period of sorts? A fear that you might miss Downton? Even if only for a short time at the beginning…"
Edith smiled at Bertie with such adoration that his face began to turn a deep shade of crimson as his mind wandered to inappropriate terrain.
"Bertie. Downton may have been where I've lived up until now, and where I've spent the vast majority of my life, but I assure you. There will be no adjustment period of any sort, at all. I will always love Downton, but it is no longer my home… You are my home. Whether it's Brancaster, our flat in London, or even the cottage you used to live in as the agent. If that's where you are, that's where I want to be."
Bertie felt his heart beating at such a furious rate, the only reply he could seem to muster was to beam at her, so she continued.
"I may not know Brancaster well yet, and I may not have many memories from there. But you and I will make our own new memories there, together." And she slyly raised an eyebrow at him and smiled.
He looked at her, and felt so overcome by attraction to her, that he was amazed at his own restraint for not picking her up and carrying her home right then and there. Instead, he simply said:
"I might kiss you…."
"What, now?" Edith asked with mock incredulity.
"Yes." He replied, with conviction.
"Here. In front of all these people?"
"Yes."
"You'll scandalize us both…" She said, still fully smiling.
"…Yes." He acquiesced.
Edith only continued to smile at him. And although he knew she had already silently consented to his desire, he felt it only proper to make sure.
"So, may I kiss you?" He asked, smiling slyly.
Edith, still smiling as wide as ever, shifted her eyes down to his lips, and said:
"Yes."
Bertie kissed her with the certainty of a man who knew he was the happiest he had ever been, and had exactly what he wanted. He quickly moved the hand he had around her back already from their dancing up slightly to just below her shoulder blades and pulled her in even closer. Bertie loved how every time he kissed her, it felt like the world around them melted away, and this time he forgot, for just a moment, that they were in the middle of a dance floor.
He let the kiss break naturally, letting go of her lips, but keeping his face just as close to hers as it had been just a moment earlier. They had stopped dancing and Edith took a moment and let out the lightest of sighs, the kind that made his entire body alight with fire. She then looked up at him and said "Oh Bertie, you're simply determined to make the next four weeks feel like an eternity, aren't you?" She said teasingly.
Bertie was so amused at her cheek that he couldn't help himself: he kissed her again but he broke the kiss after only a moment. This time, when he pulled his face back, he raised one eyebrow at her and gave her a knowing look. He thought about replies he could say, he thought about returning her cheekiness with equal fervor. Instead, he let his face become awash in everything he felt for Edith, looked deep into her eyes and simply said:
"My future wife."
Edith's face changed from an amused look to one that was overcome by love, emotion and adoration. She looked him straight in the eyes and mouthed the words "I love you" to him. He smiled in return and they continued to dance once again.
-The End –
