A/N: Today I'm drowned in fluffiness and pink candyfloss, I'm afraid. *facepalm* I'm sorry!

To see Edith talking to the farm workers during their afternoon break delighted Sir Anthony. She had read an awful lot about farming during the past months and amazed now the men with her skilled questions. He always encouraged her to widen her knowledge in this area. It was obvious that he would leave this world before her and he wanted Edith to be prepared to run the estate on her own.

As if hearing his thoughts, Edith turned her head looking at him, smiling. She appeared to him very happy sitting next to the men on a hag bale, chatting, laughing and, finally, accepting a cup of tea offered to her by one of the tenants.

In this moment she was very different from the Edith half an hour ago.

Before going to the fields the couple had visited the tenants' homes. They had talked to the farmers' wives, had admired their children. Calling there, it had been Anthony doing nearly all of the talks. Edith had seemed nearly to hide behind him. She had appeared very shy. Not that the women had been frightening at all, but Anthony noted that Edith had felt somehow insecure regarding household matters.

He didn't want to compare her with Maud, because this was rather unfair. When he had taken over the estate and Maud had become responsible for the household, they had already been married for a while. They had been a bit older than Edith was now, had lived in the house for several years. In addition, Maud had already assisted his mother in several household matters.

For Edith everything was new. The life at Downton, her former home, had been very different. Their common home was smaller as it was its staff. He had hired some additional servants, but in the end it was still a smaller house with much more tasks for Edith than her mother would ever have to do. He was sure that she would step into this role soon, too, but it would take some time.

Edith had finally finished her tea and returned to him. The look of her walking back from the edge of the field to the carriage took his breath away. It might not have been a very ladylike look with her dress slightly rumpled and her hair ruffled by the wind, but in this moment she was exactly the Edith he had fallen in love to, this beautiful, imperfect, lovely wife of his.

"Your really impressed my tenants," Anthony said, when they were back at the carriage on their way home.

His wife pushed him slightly. He answered with laughter, before he added: "I hope you won't run away with one of them."

"Maybe I should," she replied airily. "If you are saying such terrible things about me so soon…"

He felt a stitch in his chest. Would she leave him easily? Would she go with another man? Anthony knew that these thoughts were silly jealousy only, but it made him feel weak.

Edith recognised his change of mood at once. "It was a joke," she said utterly dismayed about the look of his face. "I'll never go away, Anthony. For no one in world I would leave you." She leaned in for a kiss and he was barely able to stop carriage, before she clung to his waist begging for some more passion.

Anthony imagined that whole scene had to appear very funny for a distant viewer with him struggling to balance at the bench as well as with the reins, which nearly slipped out of his hand. He returned her kiss and gave her another one, just to ensure that she was really there. "I don't remember being so silly in my life," he recalled one of his thought aloud.

"Do you think it is wrong?" Edith asked. "To be that silly, I mean."

"No, I don't think so." Anthony replied. "I don't care."

This time it's only a short chapter written during my lunch break, but with more to come after the weekend. I promise. Thank you all for your lovely reviews!

Loveedith: I'm so sorry, but it had to be the worst dish I was able to think of. [The second choice was hash of lights (correct term?), but I couldn't imagine him eating this.] So, please try to forget. xxx