A/N: Thank you very much to those who reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate each and every one of them. Many thanks to my patient betas, Tripp3235 and mswainwright.

Disclaimer: Not mine. All Downton Abbey characters belong to Julian Fellowes and ITV. I'm just playing with them.

Chapter 7

As the wedding drew closer, Tom and Sybil were unable to meet nearly as often as they would have liked. Tom was frequently busy with helping the staff at the main house or in the gardens on top of his own duties until all hours of the night. But after their drive to Harrowgate, they had settled into an easy familiarity with one another. Often a look from across the room was enough as Tom helped carry various things while Sybil walked about the house.

The afternoon five days before the wedding, Sybil noticed that Tom wasn't around, so she took a short excursion out to the garage. He was tinkering with one of the cars. He had brought Matthew, Cousin Isobel and Lavinia to the house earlier, where they were looking over the wedding preparations when Sybil left the house.

"What are you doing now?" asked Sybil as she came into the garage.

"I'm tuning this car," said Tom without stopping to look at her, which was unusual. "When I picked up the Crawleys and Miss Swire this morning, it was sounding off so I thought I would take the afternoon to see what the issue was." As he finished tightening another nut, Tom got out from under the hood, looked at her seriously and said, "I'm glad you've come. Can you stay? I have another half hour or so of work before I'm done and there's something we need to discuss."

"I'm not expected until the dressing gong. What is the matter?" asked Sybil concerned by Tom's tone.

"I got a letter this morning," said Tom. "It's on the table in the cottage, if you want to read it."

"Why don't I make us tea while you finish?" said Sybil.

"That's a good idea," said Tom as he went back to working on the car. "When I'm done, I'll come and we can discuss it."

After Sybil entered the cottage from the garage, she put the kettle on the fire. She set out the tea things before looking to the table where an open letter was sitting. Sitting down on the chair by the table, she looked at the envelope first. The return address listed The Dublin Times. The letter itself was typed.

Thursday, April 3, 1919
The Dublin Times
53 Shannon Street
Dublin, Ireland

Dear Mr. Branson,

I received your application as a journalist last week and
was very impressed by the article you included. It showed
a perspective that Ireland needs at this time. I have a
current opening here that I think would suit your abilities
and requirements.

As you are currently living in Yorkshire, when would you
be able to come to Dublin for an interview to discuss com-
pensation and duties? I am able to hold the position for
you until the end of the month. I ask that you respond
post haste so that we can arrange the meeting before
your departure.

Yours Truly,
Nolan G. Connolly
Editor, The Dublin Times

After initial shock subsided, Sybil noticed that the water was boiling. She quickly retrieved it from the fire and made tea. As the tea steeped, she read the letter over again. We're really going. When will we tell the family? We can't possibly leave before Matthew and Lavinia's wedding. We will have to write Mr Connolly back as soon as possible. When she heard the door open, she dropped the letter on the table and launched herself at Tom.

"That's wonderful news!" said Sybil. "I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it."

"Do you mind if I clean up first?" said Tom with a smile.

Sybil quickly pulled away just realizing that he was likely covered in grease and grime. "I'm sorry. It's just that the news is so exciting. I can't believe how quickly this position came about."

Tom walked over to the bed where he took off his dirty boiler suit before going to the basin where he poured some water in and started to wash off what he couldn't wipe off. "I was surprised, too. Now that we have something. When should we tell your family?"

"I'd like to tell them tonight," said Sybil, the decision suddenly firm in her mind. "But I won't be able to leave until after Matthew and Lavinia's wedding. I won't steal their thunder by eloping on the eve of it."

As he wiped his hands dry, Tom said, "You are aware that once we tell them, I will no longer be in your family's employ and will have to stay in the village. We will be parted again."

Looking at Tom, Sybil said, "Yes, I know, but it will only for a short time. I can telephone you at the Grantham Arms, and visit when I can before we leave. At least we won't have to be deceitful any longer."

Tom walked over to her, took her in his arms and said, "Your father won't keep you from me?"

Sybil smiled and said, "They can't very well lock me up and throw away the key, especially with a wedding coming up."

"I can always wait for you outside the church and you can come away with me then," teased Tom with a smile of his own.

"Well, I would like to bring a few things and I don't expect that I would be able to take it to the wedding with me," said Sybil, unable to stop from smiling.

"I just don't want you parted from me," said Tom as he pulled her closer.

"I promise that I will come when you call," said Sybil as she looked at him.

Pulling Sybil onto his lap in the chair in front of the fire, Tom asked, "Can we seal it with a kiss?"

"Absolutely," said Sybil before she leaned in to kiss him.

After kissing for a while, Sybil broke the kiss, leaned her head against Tom's shoulder and tried to memorize the cottage and the times they had spent here in the last few weeks. It was unlikely that they would be able to spend any more time here in the future and Sybil wanted to remember all the happy times they had before leaving.

"So you'll have to pack this afternoon," said Sybil, breaking the silence.

"Yes, I think I could do it after I drop Mrs. Crawley off in the village before dinner," said Tom as he kissed her head. "She has an engagement with the women's auxiliary this evening and needs to return by five in the afternoon, but if you want to tell your family tonight, it might be best if I use the opportunity when I'm in the village to bring my things then."

"I can help pack," said Sybil excitedly as she sat up. "It would be much faster."

"That's a good idea," said Tom with a smile. "I was hoping to do a last cleaning of the cottage before I leave but I don't think I will have the time."

"This cottage is always spotless," said Sybil. "One less sweep won't do it any harm."

"I'm glad you think so," said Tom with a chuckle. "My mother thinks I live like a pig as I don't scrub floors every day."

"Anyway, why don't you come up after dinner to the drawing room?," said Sybil. "As you know, we dine at eight. Dinner should be complete by quarter to nine and Papa and Matthew will come through a little after nine o'clock, so if you come by half past, everyone will be there."

"All right," said Tom as he looked at Sybil and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "Half past nine, it is."

"Let's have a spot of tea before we pack you up," said Sybil as she got up to pour the tea.


They managed to pack all of Tom's belongings into his valise by four o'clock save for the clothing he was going to wear that evening. With the half hour they had before he had to ready the car, Sybil did their dishes while he tidied up the cottage. Tom noticed that in the short time they've been together, that they often worked in harmony with one another with very few words said. They instinctively seem to know when the other needed help. It reminded him of his parents, when his father was still alive. He was looking forward to when they were married and this would be how they would work together everyday.

When they were done cleaning, Sybil took one last look around the cottage. She then walked up to Tom and took his hand. She kissed him and said as she looked into his eyes, "I'll see you in the drawing room at half past nine."

"Half past nine," said Tom as he let go of her hand and she walked out the door and into the garage.


As Sybil walked back to the big house, she looked at it in the dying light and thought with a little sadness how soon it will no longer be her home. With the abruptness of the elopement, she had little time to dwell on this fact but now she could make the proper closure of this chapter of her life. At the same time, she was very excited at the prospect of going to Dublin and of marrying Tom. The news today was momentous. It meant that they had something with which to look forward; it meant that Tom could finally participate in the fight for Ireland's freedom that he had given up to stay with her, and it meant that they could finally be married and not have to part at the dressing gong.

There was little hope that her family would take the news of her plan well. She could not dispute that her parents were fairly progressive among the peerage and had gone along with the clothes, the politics and the nursing, but she highly doubted that they would be willing to go along with the idea of her marrying Tom. It was just not done. However, she was tired of the deception and she didn't care for all the trappings of a daughter of an Earl any more. She wanted to do something useful with her life and she wanted to do it together with Tom.

As she walked into the garden entrance, she decided to go up directly to her room to start selecting her clothes for the evening. She wanted to be done early so that she would have time to tell Mary and Edith about their plans this evening. So she laid out all her clothes, chose her jewelry, and rehearsed in her mind what she was going to tell her family when Tom walked into the drawing room. When the dressing gong had rung, she started to change while she waited for Anna to arrive.


After he returned from the village with Miss Swire for dinner, he went back to the cottage to do one final sweep. As he swept, Tom thought of all that had happened since he arrived in 1913, nearly six years ago. When he originally accepted the position, he thought he would stay for a couple of years and get a good reference and move on. He had figured that being in Yorkshire, he wouldn't be able to follow all the news and would want to move closer to London once he had the experience of working in an English household under his belt, but Sybil and the war had changed all that. Still he had managed to expand his horizons at the libraries of Downton and to stay on top of the political changes around the world. With her encouragement, he had managed to nurture his writing career and get published. Best of all, he had earned Sybil's love and tonight she was willing to brave telling her family about her plans to go with him to Dublin.

His thoughts then wandered to all the girls he had pursued in the past. Before he had come to Downton, he had seen his share of girls, but none of them were even in the same realm as Sybil. They had all been pretty in their own way, some were quite intelligent, others were quite kind, but none had been willing to put him in his place when he was in the wrong in quite the same way that Sybil was not afraid to do, but then none of them had been the daughter of an Earl.

Before he moved to Yorkshire, his mother had hoped that he would settle down with Molly and had broadly hinted at it many times. Molly had been one of the girls he had been seeing on and off in the neighbourhood since he was in school. However, once he had accepted employment with the Crawleys, his mother's hope had been extinguished as Molly decided against waiting any longer for him and married another lad. His mother had been more upset by the news than he had been, as Molly was a nice girl from the neighbourhood who got along with the family. Thinking back, Molly had been nice enough but she lacked something he couldn't quite put his finger on, which was why he never went further than seeing her occasionally. The last news his mother shared of Molly, she had been widowed during the war with a couple of young ones and had moved to Killarney to be closer to her late husband's family.

He then wondered how his family would react to Sybil. He knew from his mother's letter that they would not reject her outright, but at the same time his mother had written that she thought that they were very foolish which could mean that while she would not hinder the union, she would not help it either. On the other hand, his mother had found them a church, gotten those newspaper addresses for them and had offered her home to Sybil before they were married, so he did not quite know what to think. He will just have to wait for his mother's next letter which should be arriving any day as he had written a reply soon after receiving it.

Once he finished sweeping, he washed up and changed into the clothes they didn't pack. After one last check of his appearance in the mirror on the wall, he cleaned out the washbasin and hung the chauffeur's uniform in the wardrobe. Taking one last look around the cottage, he closed the door and started walking toward the big house.

A/N2: And they're off to the confrontation in the drawing room. I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter good or bad, so please do review. :)