I want to begin with an apology for being so AWOL these last months. RL is just being a stinker right now. Seems I haven't even had time to read any new postings this week. But I've already blocked off some time this weekend (what's a weekend ;-) to catch up. In the meantime, I've cobbled this together. And I'll keep trying to get this one finished before too terribly long. Andith is such a magnificent ship and all those who sail on her are so wonderful!
Anthony awoke the next morning to an armful of Edith. He smiled at first, simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of her presence. Then he tensed. How did they come to be in the same bed? He distinctly remembered that they were to sleep separately. Recalling that he was in the chair and Edith on the sofa last night, he wondered what had happened to move them into his bedroom, into his bed. He hadn't been drunk the night before so he should remember what happened, shouldn't he? Realization came that they were still clothed and relief swept through him. Vaguely a memory ticked in the back of his mind of being led to bed. Edith must have brought me here and then crawled in as well. I suppose it is alright; could've turned out much differently.
He lay there beside his love for a little while longer but when she began to stir, he quickly got out of bed and began readying himself for the day. He'd just finished his shower and shave and slipped into trousers and a shirt when Edith stumbled sleepily to the toilet. Making a quick exit from the bedroom, Anthony headed to the kitchen to see what might be there for breakfast.
After a hastily put together meal that given the late hour of the morning qualified as a brunch, Anthony drove Edith to Grantham House, where she would spend her last day as Edith Crawley. The family was gathered in the drawing room, Robert perusing a newspaper while Mary flipped through a magazine. Cora and the Dowager were huddled together in discussion and only looked up when Edith entered the room with Anthony in tow.
"Oh darling, you've decided to join us after all," Cora Crawley said warmly, her face glowing.
"Yes Mama, Anthony insisted."
"Well, it is traditional," Anthony said as his mouth worked into a crooked smile. "The bride spends her last day with her family and the groom gets thrown out before dinner."
Robert chuckled. "How well I remember. But I don't believe anyone would object if we waited until after dinner to toss you to the pavement."
"Thank you, most kind," Anthony replied in the same teasing tone Robert had used.
"Oh, so the wedding is still on then," the Dowager piped up from the corner.
"Well of course Granny; why wouldn't it be?" Edith asked as she sat on the divan.
"I would have thought that after last night, with all of Anthony's women on parade that you might have come to your senses, child."
Anger flitted across Edith's face but Anthony answered the barb before she could. "They are not my women, Lady Grantham. And having all those women on parade last night, as you say, only fortified what I had already come to understand."
"Oh, and may we know what that might be?" The dowager's eyes focused on him in pointedly.
"I would think you already know. Edith is quite easily the most beautiful and charming woman of the lot of them."
Mary's snicker from her chair was overheard by all and ignored by everyone except Edith, and of course, Anthony. His expression darkened as he looked towards her. Mary merely looked back at him and smiled before she finally spoke. "Really? Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"What you believe matters not at all to me, Lady Mary. What I know is that there wasn't a woman in the room last night that can hold a candle to Edith, present company included." His eyes seemed to bore a hole through hers as he glared at her, defying her to contradict him.
"My, my," the Dowager said with a hint of sarcasm. "One might believe that to be true if they were to go by your demeanor, Sir Anthony."
The baronet's eyes flashed to the Dowager. "One might believe it to be true because it is true," he countered.
The Dowager's eyes grew rounder as she met his gaze. "Well, I am happy that you see my daughter in such a light, Anthony," Cora interjected. "She is very lucky indeed that you hold her in such regard."
"I am the lucky one," he said as his gaze settled softly back on Edith. "I was convinced I would never know love again and to find it with such a lovely young woman makes me the happiest of men."
Mary rolled her eyes derisively from her chair. The Dowager tilted her head slightly and gave her soon-to-be grandson-in-law an appraising look. A very subtle nod of her head indicated her approval, even if no one in the room noticed except Robert. Cora was smiling warmly at her middle daughter and Edith and Anthony had eyes for no one but each other.
Realizing that Mary was at her worst, Robert decided that it might be a good idea to pull Anthony out of the room. No need to have him witness the sisters at their worst just yet, he mused. "Anthony, let's leave the ladies to discuss all the weddings fineries. I've some good cigars and a bit of Jamison in my study."
Anthony didn't really want to leave Edith but he sensed that perhaps Robert was right to leave the ladies to themselves for a bit. And if he were honest with himself, the exchange with the Dowager had left him in need of a stiff drink. "Sounds marvelous," he smiled as he stood to accompany Robert.
The women watched the two men leave, all with different expressions. Edith, of course, felt somehow bereft with Anthony out of the room. The Dowager watched Anthony and then turned her gaze to her middle granddaughter, trying to see her as Anthony so clearly did. Cora smiled as the men left, thankful that for once, Robert's instincts had helped to avoid trouble. And Mary, Mary simply watched the back of the taller of the two men with blatant antipathy.
Once the door had closed behind the men, Mary wasted no time. "I suppose Papa wanted to get Anthony away before he had a chance to reconsider."
Edith's face flushed as anger rose in her cheeks. Cora's eyes flashed her displeasure at Mary's comment. But it was the Dowager who replied first. "Your acrimonious attitude does not serve you well," she directed at Mary.
Mary rolled her eyes, as she so often did, and sighed. "Oh please, you can't really think that …"
"I'll tell you what I think," Edith interjected. "I think you're a bitch. I'm happy, marrying a man that I love and he loves me and … I'm happy. And you can't stand that. You keep playing with Matthew but never seem to get anywhere and you're miserable and you can't stand that I might be happy, so you say all the awful things you say. And honestly, for my sake I don't care. But I won't let you treat Anthony that way. He is a good man, an honorable one despite the reputation he seems to have acquired the last few years, and I won't let you treat him like he is anything less."
"Honorable? He has bedded half the women in London! And we haven't heard about the others, the women on the Continent or anywhere else he has travelled. Honestly, I'm surprised he isn't eaten up with some horrid disease. Although, I suppose just being who he is could be considered dreadful enough."
"Mary,…" Cora began but was quickly stopped by Edith. "If what you mean by "being who he is", then you mean that he is kind and considerate, a gentleman, thoughtful and careful of my feelings, and the only person who has ever put me first, above anything else. Yes, I suppose in your eyes that is dreadful." Edith glared at her older sister and then stood, exiting the room without another word.
"Well, that was…" Mary started.
Cora's eyes flashed to her eldest daughter. "Don't. Not another word, now or ever on the subject. Your sister is happy and Anthony certainly is all the things she said. And if you can't be happy for her then you can at least be quiet." Cora stood to follow her middle daughter and try to calm her.
Mary glanced at her grandmother only to find the elderly woman glaring at her as well. "Your mother is right, Mary. While Anthony would not have been my choice for Edith, largely because of his age, he is a gentleman and he is your sister's choice. Best you make peace with that and leave this petty behavior behind."
"Not you too? Surely I'm not the only one who thinks him terribly boring and…"
"Enough! As the man told you himself, your opinion does not matter in this."
With a loud huff, Mary left the room in a fit of anger indignation, leaving the old woman to contemplate just where her granddaughter had taken on that streak of meanness.
Cora found Edith in her room, pacing. "Oh Edith, I am so sorry that Mary is being so…. " She hesitated when her daughter turned to glare angrily at her. "… difficult."
"Why?" Edith asked.
"Pardon?"
"Why now, Mama? Mary has treated me like that for years. You never tried to stop her before. So why now? Is it because she was attacking Anthony? You'd defend him but never me?"
"No, not at all," Cora said as she crossed the room. With a heavy sigh, Cora sat in a chair near the window. "I…. I never quite knew how, still don't know how, to stop Mary when she gets like this. She can be quite… determined when she's in one of her moods. When the two of you were younger, I did try, so very hard. But my efforts only seemed to encourage her more, especially if my back was turned. And after a while, it seemed you'd learned to manage her moods. I am sorry, very sorry, that I couldn't do better."
Edith looked at her mother and then remembered what day it was. She didn't want it to be a day of anger and recriminations. "I'm sorry Mama, for being angry. I suppose I just thought this one time Mary might be civil, at least. I don't want to be angry or for anyone to be upset today. I want it to be a happy day, my last day as a Crawley."
Cora smiled at her daughter. "You've become very wise, my darling girl. Yes, it should be a happy day, a lead up to tomorrow's joy. Come back down and sit with us. I did speak to Mary and I'm certain your grandmother is letting her know now just how inappropriate her behavior was. Certainly, she'll retreat for the now."
Smiling, Edith nodded. "Alright. We'll try again. But Mama, please understand that I am done with tolerating Mary's malice, especially when it is aimed at Anthony. He is too polite and too kind to answer her as she deserves. And he does not deserve to be attacked by her."
"Quite right. As it should be. You really do love him incredibly, don't you?"
"With everything I am, yes. I never thought…. I just never believed it could be this way for me. But he truly makes me happy, so very, very happy."
"Then it is a true celebration, your wedding. Marriage can be an awful lot of work but with the right person, it can be an awful lot of fun too," Cora said softly as she wrapped her middle daughter in a loving hug.
