AN: This has been such a long time between since I last updated, and I am SO sorry! Here it is!
About two months passed since the last chapter.
Mary looked down at her swollen belly, and sighed as she stared as she tilted her face towards Matthew.
"I'm absolutely huge, darling. Soon we will have to expand the doorways, I simply wont be able to fit through them anymore!" Mary groaned. Matthew looked at her in disbelief, and started laughing. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands overlapping on her belly.
"I don't think it's so drastic darling. You've hardly gained any weight at all!" He insisted, and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. His lips sent trails of goose flesh down her body, and then ripples of desire. It was a rare, lazy evening- the twins had fallen asleep as quickly as they had ever seen. Isobel had decided to sleep at Downton, as she had several times to help care for a still weakened Cora. They sat lazily on their bed after a bout of love making.
"You would tell me that, darling, You're my husband! You did this to me!" Mary insisted, and elbowed him lightly in the chest. Matthew laughed, and kissed her on the lips.
"My apologies darling." Matthew said as she tucked her head into the crook of his neck.
"I suppose I could forgive you, love. I do want my son." Mary sighed.
"Daughter. It's a girl, Mary, I've already told you." Matthew insisted.
"Darling, It's growing in my body, I'm sure that I know we have a little Reginald." Mary laughed.
"I won't argue with you. Not because you're right, but because I love you too much to quarrel over something this terribly stupid." Matthew said, and Mary laughed.
"Stupid, Darling?" She scoffed.
"Alright, not stupid...disprovable? Uncertain?" Matthew asked.
"Very well, I'll agree to that." Mary smiled up at him. His hands lingered on her swollen belly, and Mary gasped.
"What darling? What's wrong?" He asked nervously.
"No! Matthew, nothing is wrong, nothing! He moved-Oh, he moved. Oh, you won't be able to feel it quite yet darling. It's just like...Little bubbles, in champagne." Mary gasped, laughing as Matthew's hand folded over her still tiny belly. He smiled up at her, and kissed her lips. "I just...I'm so happy darling, so, so very happy." Mary's eyes filled with tears, and kissed Matthew again. She could do little to explain exactly how happy she was. This child growing in her womb...they had been told that he would never exist. But there he was moving beneath the surface of her belly.
"Darling, you're crying." Matthew said, his voice full of surprise as he leaned in and kissed away her tears.
"Oh Matthew, it's just that...When you were in your chair, I was so sure that we would only have one child- then to have twins! And then when you stood, when we saw the future could be anything we wanted it to be...Oh Matthew!" Her tears began to fall faster, until she was in the midst of wracking sobs. "And I felt so selfish then, because I still wanted you so terribly much- and then I felt worse, knowing we would only have one child, knowing I wouldn't get to provide you with more children, because you deserved so much!"
"You cannot blame yourself, for any of those things, my darling, darling bride." Matthew said, feeling his own eyes welling with tears.
"I know- oh, it's your son doing this to me! I'm never emotional if I'm not pregnant! It's your fault!" Mary said, and suddenly began laughing, until Matthew couldn't help but join in. "We're so ridiculous darling- crying over what we cannot change! And when so much good is in our lives, two wonderful children, a third on the way- you can use your legs again, we've got everything we've ever wanted." Mary laughed, and kissed her husband on his chest. "And this one is more active than Catherine and William were- I mean that I felt the movement earlier this time. It's the most wonderful feeling, you know. I cannot wait until you can feel him." Mary sighed.
"I never thought that you would love being pregnant so much." Matthew chuckled, his hand going to rest on her hip.
"I never thought I would. I always thought that when I had a baby, it would be with a stuffy man, who would have had his way with me, while I laid stiff thinking something about duty. And after that I thought that I would bear an heir, and then be finished. A nanny and a wet nurse would take care of him, and my husband and I would be...Well- In my wildest dreams I never imagined a marriage like this." Mary admitted, rolling so her body was pressed tightly against his, her lips pressed to his, and then smiling as she felt his low moan deep in his chest. "No, nothing like this. I always thought that...that...I would have to choose love and passion, or station and duty...I never thought I'd be lucky enough to have both." She grinned, as his lips graced her neck.
"Love, I'm pleased that you've...Found both..." Matthew said between kisses.
"Not half as pleased as I am." Mary grinned as she felt his hands graze her spine. "No, not half as pleased." And he took her into that world of bliss.
AN:I'm so sorry that I haven't published in about a year! I will do my best to get this done soon!