AN: Thank you again for the reviews and the follows! They are what keeps me writing.

Mary

There's a knock on her door and she is hesitant to open it. "Who is it?" she asks. "Edith and Patrick" her sister's voice says. She opens the door, looks at them and knows what they want. She wants to scream at Edith for stealing her husband and hug her for freeing her from him at that same time. "Come in. If it's both of you, there's no harm in it."

"Mary, this isn't easy. I know everyone thought you and I would get married. But the truth is I don't love you. I love your sister. And she loves me too." She doesn't know what to say.

"Mary, I'm sorry."

"No, Edith you are not. You can hardly contain your smugness. You've just stolen my title, little sister", she snaps at her. The moment the words are out of her mouth she regrets them. Not because they have hurt Edith, because they haven't, she smiles even more now, but she regrets it because she thinks that Matthew would be mortified if he knew that she said such a thing.

"Just so you know, Mama and Papa are happy for me. They won't stop us."

"No, they are all for love as long as it falls in the right place."

Patrick looks at her with an expression on his face she can only call brotherly love. "Mary", he says. "If you want me to, I'll try to make your father come round to Matthew. I am almost sure I can do it now. I've kept the estate in the family. It doesn't matter who you marry, really. And why not Matthew? I like him a lot."

"Why do you think I'd want to marry Matthew?"

"Because you are a different person around him. You are yourself. You always put on an act for everyone. But not for him. And he is head over heels for you too."

"I can't marry a country lawyer. I am from the aristocracy, not the upper middle class. Where would we be supposed to live? In his house in Manchester, together with his mother?" She sees her sister opening her mouth, undoubtedly forming a spiteful retort. But she is surprised by Patrick's reaction.

"Edith, keep your comment to yourself, love. No Mary. I think Matthew is quite ambitious. He wouldn't mind living in London. I am sure I could convince your father to let you live at Grantham house."

"Let, let, let. I don't want to be let. I want to make decisions."

"Think about what I said Mary, please. I don't love you like I love your sister. But do love you like a sister. I want you to be happy."

Cora

She wakes up in the middle of the night and is surprised not to find her husband besides her. This worries her because he always sleeps in her room. So she gets up and goes looking for him. She finds him in the library looking at something that looks like a family tree, papers strewn all around him.

"What are you doing darling?" she asks. The moment he hears her voice he looks at her and smiles. She wishes he'd come back to bed with her right now.

"I am looking at the family tree and our connections to Matthew. And I found something out."

"It must be good because you look like the cat who got the cream."

"Matthew is Patrick's heir. As long as Patrick doesn't have any sons that is."

"Why does that make you so happy?"

"Cora, think about it. Patrick will marry Edith. It is what we wanted, or close enough. But imagine they don't have son. That might very well happen as we both know rather well. Matthew would be his heir then, followed by his son, should he have one. Now suppose Edith and Patrick don't have a son but Matthew has son and that son was Mary's son as well. Patrick's heir would still be our grandson then."

"So what you are saying is that if Edith married Patrick and Mary married Matthew the chances of my money staying in the family would be much better."

"Yes. All we have to do is convince Mary to marry Matthew."

"You are playing with fire my dear. If you try to convince her, she won't do it."

"We have to come up with a plan then."

"Robert, as good as this sounds, as much as Mary seems to like Matthew, I doubt that it will happen. She will not want to be the wife of a country lawyer."

"That's where I come in. I've already asked Murray about Matthew a few weeks ago because the girls kept talking about him. He says that Matthew is considered by many to be one of the brightest legal minds of his generation. I told Murray that Matthew was a cousin of mine and that I wouldn't mind if he were able to put his abilities to good use. Murray said he'd arrange something. Matthew will get a very lucrative job offer in the near future. One that would make him and Mary be accepted in the highest social circles. Especially combined with her title."

"And you think that will make Mary marry him."

"It just might my dear."

"It is unlikely."

"It was unlikely that you'd accept my proposal and yet you did."

"I was hopelessly in love with you. The crown prince himself could have proposed to me and I'd have rejected him for you."

"Maybe Mary is hopelessly in love with Matthew."

She has to smile at her husband. She knows this idea is making him happy and not only because it would better their chances of keeping the money, the title and the estate in the family but because it would make him very happy if he knew that their daughters were happily married.

"It appears that you have found a suitable husband for our daughter."