AN: Here's another chapter!
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DOWNTON ABBEY
Two Months have passed since the last chapter, and it is now mid-late spring.
"Shh!" Mary hissed at her sisters as she leaned her ear against the door to the library. "Oh, what is he saying to Papa?" Edith asked, with her hands clasped in nervousness. "I don't know, I can't hear if you both are laughing!" Mary insisted as she tried to hear what Gregory was saying to her father.
"I realize that my living standards aren't quite up to what Edith….make her very happy…give me permission to…" "Edith, you might be right!" Mary leaned away from the door and hugged her sister. "Really? What did you hear?" Sybil asked stepping in closer to Mary. "I heard him say… Say..." Mary's voice trailed off as she suddenly felt very light headed. "Mary, are you alright?" Sybil put her arm around Mary's back. "Yes I'm…" her body suddenly went Limp, and Edith and Sybil barely caught their sister before she hit the floor.
"Mary?! Mary!?" Edith cried as they lowered her to the ground and laid her head on Edith's lap. "Papa! Papa!" Sybil cried as loudly as she could as she did her best to check her sister's vitals. "Sybil?" her father's voice called back, and in an instant the door was opened. "My God!" he crouched beside Sybil. Gregory followed after, and upon seeing the situation, his medical training kicked in. "What happened?" He asked Edith, as he took Mary's vitals and saw they were fine.
"I'm not sure… I mean, we were only talking to each other, when Mary suddenly fainted." Edith blushed a bit; ashamed that they had been listening in. "We should move her to her room." Robert suggested. Gregory nodded, and quickly picked Mary up. "Show me the way?" He asked quickly, and Edith nodded, and began walking towards Mary's room.
When Mary was settled in her bed, she began to stir. "Mary? Oh thank God!" Sybil cried when Mary's eyes opened. "I apologize, I must have spaced everything for a moment." Mary sighed, confused as to how she was tucked into her bed. "Mary, you where unconscious!" Edith Explained as she took Mary's hand. "Mary, do you mind if I ask you some questions, as a doctor of course." Gregory asked her. "Oh, no, I suppose not." Mary was confused, she'd fainted?
"Would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?" Gregory, who had taken on his Doctor Lowe mask of seriousness, asked Mary's family. "No, not at all." Edith said as she stood. "Do you mind if I stayed, Gre- Doctor Lowe? I am training to be a nurse." Sybil begged, keeping hold of Mary's hand. He looked to Mary, and she nodded. "I suppose that would be acceptable. But do you mind Edith?" he felt he would be too embarrassed to ask what he knew he had to ask in front of her. "No, of course not, come Papa." She smiled at the man who she realized she loved, and left the room.
Doctor Lowe cleared his voice and took a seat beside the bed. "Now, Mary, I'm going to ask you some personal questions, but please keep in mind, this is strictly as a doctor, not as a friend." Mary nodded, and held Sybil's hand tighter. "Mary- Mrs. Crawley, have you been feeling strange at all lately?" He asked. Mary thought for a moment and then nodded "I suppose a bit." "How so?" "I suppose I've been nauseous a bit." She admitted. "Does the nausea come and go, especially in the mornings?" he asked. "Yes, I suppose it does."
Gregory pursed his lips for a second before steeling himself to ask her his next question. "And I assume that you where intimate with your husband before he left. Is this true?" Mary's cheeks flamed as she nodded, a sight that almost made Sybil laugh out loud. "And have you had your cycle since then?" He asked, and Sybil gasped as she finally fully understood. Mary felt her cheeks grow all the more red, and she thought over the question, realizing she hadn't had her time since the week before the wedding.
"No, I haven't." Mary's voice was quiet. "Well then, I cannot say for certain, but everything you're telling me leads me to believe that you are pregnant." Mary's jaw fell open as she realized how stupid she'd been- of course she was, there was no reason she shouldn't be! "Thank you Doctor Lowe, Gregory." Mary smiled at the man she hoped would soon be her brother in law.
"I'll leave you be then, Congratulations, Mary." He smiled at her genuinely, and left the room. "Oh Sybil!" She cried happily and hugged her sister around the neck. Her sister was laughing jubilantly. "Congratulations Mary!" Mary smiled and put her hands over her still flat abdomen. "Sybil, would you get me my stationary?" She asked and gestured to the box she kept on her vanity. Sybil nodded in understanding. "Would you like to be left alone?" She asked when she had it on her lap. Mary nodded "Please, make sure Edith and Papa aren't worried." Sybil nodded and kissed Mary's head before leaving.
When she was alone, she took out her letters from Matthew, though there weren't many yet, she treasured each letter, and held the pages, worn from being read again and again, against her heart, as she knew Matthew had held them recently. She took out a sheet of Gold trimmed stationary and a pencil and prepared to write her letter.
My Darling Matthew,
I know that I usually wait until I've received a reply to write a letter, but a circumstance has risen, which I feel is necessary to inform you of immediately.
Oh, that sounds like there is something dreadful doesn't it? Worry not my dear, it isn't anything that is at all awful, after all I promised I'd only complain about trivial things, didn't I? I suppose that right now, you're becoming terribly confused about what my news Is, and I'm rambling even through writing… perhaps I should write this again later.
Or, perhaps I'll just say it now. I am expecting. Yes, Matthew, expecting does mean that I am pregnant! I wish I could have told you in person, but I don't know when I'll see you next as your leave is so unpredictable, and I decided its best that you know as soon as possible. Oh Matthew, I can hardly believe it! When I tell our Family, I can only images there reactions. Mama and Papa will go crazy, hoping for a boy. Edith and Sybil will be excited about becoming aunts, your mother will be excited to become a grandmother, and I suppose granny will praise us for being so prompt.
As for me, I am excited, elated to have this miracle inside of me. I love you, my darling, we love you. I can hardly wait for you to join us.
All of my love, my darling,
Your Adoring wife, Mary.
She read over the letter once and smiled at her own ramblings, and decided this is the letter she would send, as she knew it would bring a smile to Matthew's face to read it. She sealed an envelope and kissed it gently, and spritzed it with the soft rose scented perfume. She rang the bell for Anna, and waited for a moment, her mind going over all of the facts.
"A baby. If it's a boy, Matthew's son will be the heir… but I'd be happy to have a daughter, a beautiful little girl, with Matthew's blue eyes. True, I'd never wanted a baby for a reason other than to produce an heir… but Matthew's child? Yes, I want it more than anything."
"You need something Mary?" Anna asked as she entered the room, having heard that Mary had fainted not long ago. "Oh Anna, you'll never guess what I've found out!" Mary smiled. "What is it my lady?" Anna asked with a hint of a smile. "I'm going to have a baby!" Mary announced loudly and laughed. "Mary! I'm so happy for you- what did you need?" Anna asked. "Would you mind posting this letter to Matthew for me?" Mary held out the letter, which Anna took. "I'd be glad to Mary, congratulations!" Anna said again as she disappeared from the room.
Mary set her stationary kit beside her bed, and tucked Matthew's letters under her pillow, and pulled her covers to her chin, and fell asleep.
"A letter for you sir." William said as he approached Matthew. "Thank you William, who's it from this time?" "Your wife again sir." He smiled as he put the letter into Matthew's hands, and sat with some of the other men at a table.
Matthew smiled, and held the letter to his face for a moment, inhaling the sweet rose smell. He carefully tore open the letter, and smiled at his wife's elegant hand writing. He nearly laughed aloud as he read Mary's rambling on the page and then his eyes fell upon the sentence I am expecting. Yes, Matthew, expecting does mean that I am pregnant! He nearly dropped the page in surprise.
"Hey Crawley, what's wrong- you look live you seen a ghost!" One of the men he recognized as Peter called over. "My wife just wrote me…" Matthew trailed off as he finished the letter. "A dear John letter?" another man asked sympathetically. "No, not quite." Matthew laughed, feeling suddenly joyful. "What's the news than Crawley, we're all biting at the bit to know." Peter came over.
"Mary just wrote to tell me she's pregnant." Matthew smiled at saying it aloud for the first time. "Well, Congrats then Mr. Crawley!" William said happily. "I thought you two only we're married five days before you left." Peter asked as he sat down on the ground. "We were." Matthew said.
"Well that was mighty quick of you then, good work Crawley!" Peter slapped Matthew on the shoulder, making Matthew blush. "Aw, how cute, Crawley is blushing!" Peter announced to his fellow men, making all of them laugh. "You'd better write to your wife then, tell her you love her." Peter suggested kindly, and Matthew Smiled as he took out his paper
My Dearest Mrs. Crawley,
I love you, more than the words on this page could ever express. I cannot tell you how much Joy your letter brought to my heart. When I read it, I was honestly shocked, knowing we'd had such a short time to be together before I left, which makes this all the more special in my heart.
I can imagine it now, you round with our child, and looking the most beautiful I've ever seen you. Then you holding our child, who will hopefully look more like you than me. I can only hope that I will be there with you when the time comes for you to deliver the child, perhaps this blasted war will be over by then, and our child may grow up in a more peaceful world.
I'll close off this letter by again saying I love you, and I miss you very much. Please, take care of yourself, and our little one.
With all of my heart,
Matthew Crawley.
AN: So there's the end of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! There aren't too many more chapters of this story to go, but I'm sure I'll be writing more stories, and well, there are still more chapters to go!