Chapter 3

Later on that day Mary asked for Anna to drop into her room. A first Anna was confused, as Mary needed no dressing, her bed didn't need to be straightened out and it wasn't at a time when she required a tray, but nevertheless she obeyed the orders of her employer as any good housemaid would; she wasn't going out of her way, and she enjoyed the chats she had with Lady Mary. Whenever she was in Mary's room she knew she could have a bit of a gossip without anyone else thinking it odd – no one was there to see or hear what they said and over the years they had become good friends, although each one of them would never dream of admitting it to anybody else.

Anna arrived in Mary's bedroom and instantly relaxed a little. She remained as professional as she would with any other member of the house, but the relationship she had with Mary let her fall back into slightly more of her natural state of being. Mary was alone in her room. Over the past two days it had been rare to find her alone as Matthew seemed glued to her side, but he had gone to visit his mother in order to relay the news. "Oh, Anna, thank goodness you're here. I've been waiting for someone to turn up – with Matthew gone I've been more bored than ever before, and everybody else seems to think I want to be alone."

"As far as I can tell they're doing it for you, Milady. They're just giving you some space."

"Well, I think you're right, but they don't realise that I don't need quite so much space. I wanted to know if anyone downstairs aside from you know about my failing health? Because I think it would be better if they were to know. I see no reason why they shouldn't and it would stop any questions being asked, despite what papa thinks of it all."

"I think the footmen know. You haven't been at dinner and as far as I know they had a conversation about it, and I think the rest of the staff know you're unwell, but don't know any more than that."

"Right, well could you tell them all please?"

"Of course, Milady," she paused to think about what she was going to say next and then, "If you don't mind my asking, Milady, did you ever get the chance to talk to Mrs. Hughes are Her Ladyship?"

"Oh, crumbs, I'd forgotten about that."

"Don't worry about it, I don-"

"No, no, I may be ill, but I can still ask questions without any difficulty! Could you go ask for mama and Mrs. Hughes to come up now? I'll ring for you at about 5 when they'll be gone, I'll have an answer for you and I'll have had some more time with Matthew."

"Of course, Milady. Thank you."

"Not at all."

Anna swiftly left and fetched Mrs. Hughes from the servants' hall, "Mrs. Hughes, Lady Mary would like to see you in her room."

"Thank you, Anna," Mrs. Hughes replied as she rose from her seat and left for Lady Mary's room. Anna hurried off again to fetch Cora. She was in the library looking for a new interesting book to read. As Anna walked in Cora turned to see her.

"Good afternoon, Anna. Were you looking for me?"

"Yes Milady. Lady Mary would like you to go up to her room. Mrs. Hughes has been asked to go up too," Anna informed.

"Oh Lord, what have I done this time?" Cora joked. Anna just chuckled and smiled as Cora walked passed her. Anna followed her out of the room, but turned the opposite way towards the servants' hall where she still had to mend two of Lady Edith's dresses.

Meanwhile up in Mary's room Cora and Mrs. Hughes had just arrived. "How are you feeling Mary?" her mother said, sympathetically.

"About as fine as I can be, but that's not why I asked for you to be up here. Earlier in the week Anna asked if she could have some extra duties. She's said that while Sybil and I are back it's no problem, as she has enough work to keep her busy, but once we leave she says she gets awfully bored because with only Edith to dress and only one room to sort and with nobody else to do work for she gets decidedly bored once everything's done, so she was wondering if there was any extra work she could do after Sybil and I have left?"

"Well, I could always do with some extra help, but it's not what a housemaid would usually do," Mrs. Hughes said.

"But it's a good chance for her to better herself in something other than being a housemaid, but instead a housekeeper. I think she'd enjoy the challenge, I really do," Mary fought strongly. She was clearly on Anna's side and wasn't going to be swayed any other way.

"So do I, Milady, and I'd be grateful of the help if I could get it."

"I agree," Cora remarked, "I know Anna's a hard worker and I know she wants to please us, so I have no problem with her helping another member of staff if she feels it necessary for her happiness."

"Excellent. I've told her that later on in the day I'll call for her to come up and I'll tell her then, so please don't say anything to her until then, just stay as you normally would," Mary instructed. Mrs. Hughes made her excuses and got back to work, but Cora stayed.

"Truly Mary, how are you? Is Matthew treating you alright?"

"Matthew's treating me just fine mama. He's been truly wonderful about the whole thing. I'd say he's been better than the rest of you. He only leaves me for meals and he's only gone to tell Cousin Isobel today, but he should be back soon." As soon as Mary said that Matthew walked in. He'd been listening to the conversation between Cora and Mary.

"Speak of the devil! Have I really been truly wonderful about the whole thing?" he asked as he sat on the bed and held Mary's hand.

"Yes, you really have, my dear," Mary said with affection in reply.

"Well, I'll leave you two to each other," Cora said as she slipped out of the room. Mary and Matthew just smiled at her as a thank you and then turned to each other and instantly kissed without saying a word beforehand, but they didn't need to, they each knew what the other wanted. It seemed so clear to both of them that they were meant to be together. Once they had broken Mary posed Matthew with a question, "How's dear Sybil? Is she coping?"

"She seems fine at the moment, but she may crumble when she's actually about to give birth. She is due next week remember."

"So it could happen any minute."

"Absolutely. Poor Sybil. I don't know how women give birth, it seems to cause an inordinate amount of discomfort."

"That's why we're stronger than men!" Mary and Matthew laughed and then leaned into each other for another kiss. Mary couldn't help but think that a moment like this could've been the beginning of Sybil's pregnancy, even though she knew so well that was not going to happen to her at that moment. Mary pulled away and buried herself in Matthew's chest. How has this happened? Mary thought as Matthew kissed her neck and stroked her arm. How have the women in my family managed to mess everything up? First we have a pregnant rebel who married an Irish socialist who was once our chauffeur, then we have me, married to a man I hated at first sight. Oh, and poor old Edith, she's never known real love. All of her love has been rather one-sided. She loved Patrick when he was pushed towards me, she liked Matthew far more than I did at the start, and Sir Anthony, although it was clear that he was truly fond of her to begin with, it resulted in him pushing her away. Oh, the poor, poor thing. I do feel sorry for Edith – sometimes I believe the only reason she's always so cold is because she's so often left out. I must go on that ride with her once I can – she needs the company; and why should she be unhappy when all the rest of us are always so contented? Mary kept thinking about Sybil and Edith – and even herself until her eyes dropped and she, and Matthew soon to follow, was enveloped with sleep.

Matthew stayed with her and only moved her when he was woken and called down for a phone call, but as he moved Mary out of his embrace she woke. "Sorry, darling, I have a phone call waiting, do you-"

"Go, stop whoever it is waiting!"

"I'll be back up as soon as I can be," he brushed his lips over her nose and left reluctantly. Really, Mary was pleased she'd been woken. She looked at the clock and remembered Anna would be waiting to hear her answer. She reached over the bed to ring for Anna.

A few minutes later Anna returned, followed closely by Matthew. Matthew sat on a chair next to the bed and smiled lovingly at Mary. Of course, she smiled back, but she didn't want to keep Anna waiting for any longer than she needed to, so turned to her and said, "I spoke to Mrs. Hughes and mama, and Mrs. Hughes has said that she could always do with some extra help. I thought that helping a housekeeper could help you expand your horizons, not that I think you'll need the experience to put in a reference any time soon, but if you'll enjoy it and we can help Mrs. Hughes at the same time it seems like a rather sensible thing to do! I think Mrs. Hughes will probably want you to begin helping tomorrow, but you may want to ask her to make sure."

"Thank you Milady. Thank you ever so much!"

"Anna," O'Brien said as she popped her head around the door, "Lady Edith would like you to go to her room as soon as you can."

"Thank you O'Brien," Anna said as she began to leave the room, but just before she left, "Thank you Lady Mary," she was beaming from ear to ear; she was so clearly pleased with what Mary had done for her. Mary soon fell back to sleep, she was tired enough to sleep through supper and Matthew was considerate enough to leave her be. Eventually Matthew and Mary were in the same bed, both asleep and with no chance of being interrupted.

I'm so sorry I've taken so long to do this, but I've been back at school for about two weeks, but I've had so much homework and this was just pushed to the back of my mind, but it's here now. I know it's soppy, but who cares?! I loved the new episode, and I hope all of you did too! Constructive criticism please - I love reading what people think of my work. Anyway, thanks for the favourites and follows and reviews.