Sorry it's taken me a while to write chapter 3, this is a challenging story for me to write and I hope you think I'm doing okay so far, please leave your reviews, they really encourage me and I'd love to know what you think so far!

I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3:

Matthew had picked Mary up and taken her back to the house as quickly as he could, followed by Dr. Clarkson and the rest of the family.

Robert was still very clearly in shock but he knew that he had to do something and fast if he were to stop the news from getting out, causing a scandal not only for Mary but for the whole family. Cora and Sybil were surprised, of course they were, after all Mary had gone to bed with a man other than her fiancée and was now carrying his child but the most important things on their minds were Mary's safety and health.

"I'm taking her up to her room." Matthew said, turning around to face the others as he arrived at the house with Mary in his arms, still cradling her tummy. By now she was in much more pain than before.

"No. Don't you think you've done enough without going up to her room with her again?!" Robert shouted, an angry expression on his face. "Give her to me." He ordered as he took his daughter from Matthew's arms and carried her upstairs.

Matthew had never seen Robert so angry, he didn't want to leave Mary to go through all this on her own but he had no choice, Robert wasn't going to let him anywhere near her now. What had he done? Feeling worried and rather annoyed, he walked over to the library by himself to calm down.

"Matthew." Sybil called out sympathetically as he walked past her but he just ignored her and carried on walking towards the library.

"Leave him for a while." Tom whispered to his wife, resting a hand on her shoulder. If anybody could understand how Matthew felt, it was Tom. He had been through almost exactly the same thing, although his affair was a little more scandalous given the fact he was Sybil's chauffeur long before becoming her husband.

"I can't believe it." Edith confessed under her breath. All along she had thought that Sybil was the only rebel in their family but it turns out she was wrong. Although Mary wasn't her favorite person in the world, she knew that this didn't seem like her, it wasn't like her to not think things through, she was usually the most precautious in the family.

"I'm going to see how she is." Cora decided. "I suppose somebody should keep an eye on Matthew, just in case he decides to do anything stupid, other than what he has already done, I mean." she said before making her way to Mary's room, leaving Tom, Sybil and Edith to take care of Matthew.

When Cora arrived in front of Mary's bedroom door, she knocked and waited for an answer. Robert opened the door and joined her outside of the room.

"How is she?" Cora asked, concerned.

"I'm not sure, Clarkson is examining her as we speak." He replied, stroking his brow.

"Poor darling…" she said under her breath. "She's been through so much lately, what with Sir Richard and all… but I'm glad he's gone now, I didn't like him…" she confessed, looking up at Robert with sad eyes.

"Why she has put herself in this situation, I cannot tell you… What was she thinking?!" he asked, raising his voice slightly.

Cora sighed before looking her husband in the eye. "A year ago we practically tried to push Mary into marrying Matthew and now that they have finally shared their feelings for one another we're trying to keep them apart…" she said, wondering when everything had gone wrong.

"Indeed…" he replied, staring into thin air. "Why couldn't they have just done it the proper way?" he asked.

"I agree but now that it had happened, we must face the facts; they love each other and I love Mary and as her mother I will support her even if you do not."
Cora said, having made her decision.

"I need time to think, I still cannot get my head round it… I'm going to have to talk to Matthew, where is he?" he asked.

"He's in the library, but go easy on him Robert." She said, smiling a sad smile.

As Cora made her way into Mary's bedroom, Robert headed towards the library, looking for Matthew.

Meanwhile, Tom had followed Matthew into the library and had been trying to calm him down.

"I know now it seems like the worst has happened but it will get better. I can remember the very moment Sybil and I announced we were getting married
When I finally walked into the drawing room and stood by Sybil's side in front of you all and spoke of our intentions, I had never felt so scared. I was almost certain the family would never talk to me again but, in time, they did… Even after Sybil got pregnant, you all stood by us, against all odds and for that I am grateful and I can tell you that it will take time, but things will work out." He said, taking a seat opposite Matthew and offering him a glass of brandy.

"I hope you're right..." He replied, taking the glass from Tom's hands.

Just then came a knock at the door and both men stood up.

"Matthew?" Robert asked in a loud voice.

Tom gave Matthew an encouraging look before standing up and patting him on the shoulder.

"Good look." He said as he made his way to the door, passing Robert on his way out.

Matthew took a deep breath and straightened his composure as Robert made his way over to where he was standing.

"Robert, how is she?" he asked, putting his drink down on the table beside him.

"I'm not too sure at the minute." He replied, sounding angry and upset.

"And the baby?" he asked nervously, praying that it was still alive. He hadn't wanted to ask but he had to know.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to ask Clarkson, I don't know much more than you do on that subject." He answered in a harsh tone.

Matthew sat back down and stared into thin air, his head in his hands, wondering what Robert was going to say.

"During the last seven years, I have got to know you and I have grown to love you as a son but what you have done is unforgivable, you have betrayed my trust in you and the one thing I would like to know, is why?" Robert asked curiously as he stared down at Matthew.

Matthew lifted his head up to face Robert, no words could have hurt him more, he was angry at himself for having disappointed the closest thing he had to a father.

Matthew took a deep breath before answering. "I love her. Carlisle treated her like she meant nothing to him, she was just there to make him look good as far as he was concerned, he never loved her, not in the way I do." he replied honestly, looking away from Robert.

"Even so, what even made you think it was okay to join Mary in her room?" he asked, raising his voice a little.

"It was the night of the dinner party. Carlisle controlled Mary's every move and I think at one point she may have.. well, she looked over at me and he must have grabbed her wrist or something because afterwards it was bruised rather badly, that's when she left the room…" he began, trying to remember what had happened.

Robert sighed when he heard that Richard had been hurting his daughter, he hadn't known…

"Once the guests had retired for the evening, I went up to her room – but only to see how she was feeling, I swear, I didn't have any other intentions – I just needed to know that she was alright before I left." He continued. "But when I arrived in her bedroom, she was rather upset and she seemed afraid, he did that to her, she was afraid of him. That's what made me decide to stay longer, she needed somebody to listen, she has been looking for somebody to talk to for rather a long time so I listened." He said, nervously awaiting Robert's response.

Robert didn't really know what to say after such a speech, Matthew clearly loved her very much but that wasn't a good enough excuse.

"She was engaged to Richard Carlisle!" He shouted. "And now that he knows about your affair, we will be a house of scandal yet again!" he said, getting angrier and angrier.

"I'm sorry, but it just happened and-"

"It just happened?!" He repeated. "I trusted you Matthew… You repaid me by going to bed with another man's fiancée! My eldest daughter! She was going to marry Carlisle for god's sake!" he shouted, his face turning red with anger.

"He tried to kill her!" he shouted back, overcome with anger.

Had Robert just heard right? He suddenly stopped shouting and calmed down a little.

"What?" he asked, confused.

Matthew hadn't meant to tell him about that, it had just slipped out when he was caught up in the anger.

He took another deep breath before answering. "He let Mary ride that horse because he knew for a fact that it would react the way it did, there was never anything wrong with Diamond…" he said quietly.

Having heard this, Robert took a seat on the couch opposite Matthew. He was Mary's father and she had been going through so much and he hadn't even noticed… He was speechless.

Just then, Carson walked in, interrupting the conversation.

"Dr. Clarkson is leaving M'lord." He announced.

Matthew jumped up from the couch, hoping to finally find out how Mary and the baby were.

Both men made their way into the hall where they found Dr. Clarkson and the rest of the family.

"How is she?" Matthew asked, he couldn't think about anything else but her.

"Better." He replied. "She will need a lot of rest though I'm afraid."

Matthew and Robert both sighed in relief.

"What about… the baby?" Matthew asked quietly, not wanting to bring up the subject.

"For now, everything seems perfectly normal, they were both very lucky." He answered.

"Thank you Clarkson." Robert said as he accompanied him to the door.

"You will need to keep a close eye on Lady Mary, everything seems normal at the minute but after such an accident, she could still lose the baby." He added.

"I'm sure we'll look after her." Matthew said, causing Robert to give him an angry look.

Later on in the evening, the family were sat around the fire enjoying each others company after dinner.

"I'll catch the 9 o'clock train tomorrow morning to London to hopefully persuade Carlisle not to publish this story. We have been a house of scandal once before and I will not have that happen again." Robert told Cora, having made a decision.

"Will you ask Murray for his help?" Cora asked.

"I think I might have to, I will have to explain the whole situation to him though." he replied, lifting a hand to stroke his brow.

"Can we trust him?" she asked, standing up and walking over to the fire without taking her eyes off Robert.

"I believe we can, he has worked with this family for years." he answered before taking a sip of brandy.

Just then, the door opened and Mary walked in.

Robert turned around to see who it was and jumped up from his seat when he saw Mary appear from behind the door.

"What are you doing down here? You're meant to be in bed." he told his daughter as he made his way over to her to guide her out.

"No, Papa, i'm fine, honestly. I need to speak with Matthew but seeing as you insisted he didn't come to my room, I've come down." she said stubbornly, looking over her father's shoulder for Matthew.

"Well he's gone back to Crawley House for the night." he replied coldly.

"Well then I shall see him tomorrow, you won't keep me away from him Papa." she said, unconsciously placing a hand on her tummy.

"As I told your Mama, I am going up to London tomorrow to try to stop Carlisle from turning us into a house of scandal. After that, I will work out what to do about the baby." he said coldly, trying to avoid looking his daughter in the eyes.

"What do you mean? I am keeping the baby." she replied as if it were obvious, resting her other hand on her tummy and taking a step backwards.

"You're not seriously considering keeping the child, are you?!" he asked, raising his voice.

"Robert, calm down, let her rest. We'll talk again tomorrow once we have all had a good nights rest." Cora interviened, walking up to Robert and placing a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Oh of course." Mary began, tears in her eyes "What is it your always say Mama? Everything will look better in the morning!" she said sarcasticly. "I'm feeling rather tired so if you'll excuse me, I shall go back to bed." she added before making her way out of the room.

Robert looked at her as if he didn't recognise her anymore.

"And I'm sorry Papa but I won't change my mind, you may try all you like but you won't take our child away from us." she said sadly before leaving the room.
Robert stood and stared at the door for a moment, regretting losing his temper with her before Cora guided him back to the couch in front of the warm fire.
"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?" he asked his wife, looking for an answer.

"I think that you're doing the best you can to keep this family together and clear of scandal." she replied with a comforting smile.

"But is my best enough?..." he sighed.

End of chapter 3, Thqnks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me what you think in your reviews, as I've said before they really help me to become a better writer and they also encourage me to write quicker:)

If you have any ideas or suggestions for the next chapter i'm all ears, chapter 4 isn't finished yet and i could modify a few things if i like your ideas:)