An: Hello there everyone! Here's another chapter! I know this story just seems to keep going and going, but it's just how I wished things had gone in the real series of course, and I keep imagining new things and keep putting my imaginings into words! Here Im going to add in a bit of a plot point that in cannon occures earlier than this, but I'm going to put it here- because just because I don't own downton doesn't mean I can't dream!
"For the last time Mama, I'll be delivering this child at Crawley house! It's my home now." Mary sighed for what felt like the hundredth time since she sat down to take her tea. Her mother had decided to join them this week, and she hadn't stopped talking about the baby.
"But the abbey will be his home one day, when Matthew inherits!" Cora insisted.
"And I hope that this won't happen for many years. If I had my way, it would be at least twenty years before Matthew took Papas title and home." Mary hissed, and Sybil took her hand to comfort her.
"Mary, darling, you know its tradition for the future earl to be born in the family home!" Cora said pleasingly. The three sisters shared a curious look, and Mary just shook her head.
"Mama, have you forgotten your grandson? William? He was born here." Edith said, finally breaking the silence.
"But he's at such a fragile age, anything could happen yet- it is good to have an heir and a spare so to speak, and Mary is so certain that the child in her womb is a boy-" Mary cut her mother off with a mere look.
"Mama, how dare you! Have you forgotten Matthew, the heir? And our son William, his? The line hasn't been as secure as this since Papa was a baby!" Mary hissed. "And I will not have you suggest that William would die before he's grown! And I had thought the child in my womb to be a boy, But now I hope it is a girl- I hope from now on I have nothing but girls!"
"Now Mary, you know I didn't mean any offense, I love my Granddaughters every bit as much as I love my Grandson!" Cora sputtered- how on earth had she ended up so in the wrong?!
"No, you didn't mean offense Mama- but can't you see that you've upset her?" Sybil scolded, and fetched a handkerchief for her weeping sister.
"I only meant to say that, should a terrible thing happen, and You all know I pray that it doesn't, it would be good for Mary to have a second son, to help secure the line!" Cora said.
"Yes, it would be convenient if we had...what was it you said? An heir and a spare?" Mary spat, her tears giving way to her anger.
"It would just be such a weight off of your father's shoulders, and off of mine! And Matthew's as well, I'm sure! After all, siring a string of potential heirs is one of his duties! He'd love you for it!" Her mother explained, though she was beginning to lose her own temper. Couldn't they see that she didn't want Mary to ever feel as she had- as she did now? Cora knew she would never trade any of her daughters for a son, but she wished, oh how she wished, that after she had had Sybil, she could've given Robert the sons she knew he always wanted. When they'd first been married, Robert had said he wanted six children, Three girls and three boys. First three girls had come, and they were pleased by this- but then another child hadn't followed...not for sixteen years! And then...she'd lost him. The precious son she had wanted to present him with all of those years.
"Don't you dare insinuate that Matthew only loves me for my ability to bear him sons! What, do you think Matthew and I have a marriage of duty? That he does the deed and then vanishes into his dressing room? Because it isn't so. We love each other Mama, we love each other, and we love our Catherine, and our William, and this baby so much! And we would never care about what gender our child is, because all that matters is that it is healthy, happy, and always knows that it is loved!" Mary broke down in tears once again, and Edith and Sybil rushed to her sides.
"Mama, I think perhaps you should leave us be for a while. We can take this from here." Edith smiled at her, but it did not reach her eyes. Cora looked down at her feet, but nodded, and left the room with all of the grace of a proper Countess.
"I know it's stupid...What mama said did make sense in a way! It's what every one told me when I was to marry Patrick, that it was my duty to bear him sons for Downton. And It made plenty of sense then, because I didn't love him, not in the way someone should love a husband. But to even think that way with Matthew...It's wrong, can't you see, it's horribly wrong!" Mary wept, though her sobs were fast fading away. "Pardon me."
"We know, it's the baby." Sybil gave her older sister a dazzling smile, and lay her head on her her shoulder. "You didn't say anything wrong really. But neither did Mama."
"Sybil..." Edith cautioned.
"No, think of it from her side. She and Papa were a love match, as much as anyone else who marries within our circle is. But she always has felt guilty for not providing Papa with his heir. As much as she loved Patrick, as much as she loves Matthew, and William, she knows they're only here because she failed at the one thing that she knew was her duty." Sybil explained. Mary bit her lips and thought on it. Her mother, her poor, poor mother...She really had been trying to be helpful.
"It doesn't change the fact that my child will be born at Crawley house. It's my home now." Mary insisted.
"And you've every right to have your baby where you want, Mary. Mama won't care, not really when everything is said and done." Edith said in a soothing voice she used mainly for Belle when she was crying. Mary nodded at her, and wiped her eyes, but before she could say another word, Carson appeared at the library's entrance.
"Excuse me, Lady Mary, Lady Edith, Lady Sybil. There's a gentleman here to see you, Claims to have stayed at Downton during the war." Carson explained, with his great voice.
"To see us, Carson? Specifically? That seems odd, as the only one of us abiding here at the moment is Sybil." Mary asked, her eyebrow arching.
"He said he would like to see the daughters of the house, Mi'lady." Carson nodded.
"Did he leave a name?" Edith asked.
"Gordon he said it was. Patrick Gordon." Carson said. The sisters looked at each other, waiting to see if one of them knew the name.
"I'll admit that the name does ring a bell. Perhaps he's here to thank us?" Sybil asked, twisting the material of the skirt between her fingers.
"But then shouldn't he ask for Mama or Papa?" Mary asked.
"I suppose so- but perhaps one of us did something for him specifically?" Edith asked.
"Not that I remember. Should we let him in? It's terribly rude to keep him waiting." Sybil said.
"Do I look a frightful mess?" Mary asked, wiping her eyes once again.
"You look beautiful." Sybil assured her.
"Alright Carson, I suppose you may show him in then." Mary said with a dignified nod as her sisters helped her to sit up a bit straighter.
"I should warn you all, his face is...rather disfigured." Carson said nervously.
"Carson, we all saw the men who lived here. I'm sure it won't be too much for us to handle." Sybil said evenly.
"Very Good Mi'lady." Carson said, and disappeared. The sisters waited in silence, no words were necessary now.
"A Mr. Patrick Gordon." Carson announced, and the Girls craned their necks to see him. Carson hadn't lied, his face was rather a mess, but it didn't bother them a bit. They had seen worse. His hair was straight, and dark, and even from their seats they could see his blue eyes.
"Mary, Edith, Sybil! You all look just as wonderful as the last time I saw you." The man's accent was not English.
"Pardon me, Mr. Gordon, but you're speaking to us in rather...familiar terms. I'm afraid that none of us seem to recall meeting you before." Mary said eloquently.
"So you really don't recognize me then? I should've known that you wouldn't." The man sighed and sat down on their father's chair. Yes, there was something in the way he sat, in the way he held his hands, that was familiar.
"Are you suggesting that we met you before the war? I didn't think we knew any Patrick Gordon." Sybil said.
"You didn't. I went by a different name then." Patrick said, and ran his hand through his hair, again in a way that was almost familiar.
"I'm afraid I don't follow." Edith said after a few moments.
"So none of you remember me? Not even you Mary? Or Edith." The way he said Edith's name was almost as if it was a prayer he had often recited in the night, something he dreamed of, but never dared say.
"I'm sorry, no." Mary scoffed. What was this man playing at?
"I should've thought that you wouldn't. You've got a husband now, a third baby on the way. Why should you remember an old fiancee."
Mary's blood turned to ice in her veins, her heart stopped beating, everything went' still for just a fraction of a moment.
"Are you claiming- are you saying that you..." Edith couldn't finish the sentence.
"Yes. Yes. It's me. Its Patrick." He said, tears coming to his eyes.
"Crawley? You're Patrick Crawley?" Sybil gasped, and stood from her chair, suddenly on the defensive.
"Yes! Oh, how good it feels to hear that again!" He sighed.
"No. It can't be true. Patrick Crawley is dead- and he has been since nineteen twelve!" Sybil hissed.
"Not dead. Just suffering from amnesia!" Patrick explained, rising from the chair and walking a few steps behind his chair.
"Now that seems just too good to be true! If you are who you say you are, and you stayed her during the war, why didn't you come forward then? Hm?" Sybil asked. Her other sisters had been stricken to silence.
"Do you have any idea how terrible it is, to sit in a place you've known all your life, so close to family you love, and not have them know you? To be a stranger to them? Every day, I hoped, I prayed that one of you would notice me! Would recognize me for who I was...but you didn't. And I was so ashamed of my face, that I couldn't... I thought that you would all be disgusted if you knew. But then yesterday morning I woke up, and I just knew that if I didn't come back...If I didn't fight for what I love, for what is mine, I was a coward of a man." Patrick said.
"Your story is impossible! It's ridiculous, isn't it ridiculous?" Sybil gasped, crossing her arms to keep from lashing out at this man who was trying to spoil the happiness of her sister.
"Edith, please, you've got to know that it is me. We always cared for each other, didn't we? Loved each other even! Edith, look at me, and tell me you don't know me!" Patrick demanded, going to kneel before her and take her hand.
"Why, I...I...Oh!" Edith stammered, her eyes filling with tears.
"Or Mary- come on now, we were engaged for Christ's sake! Don't tell me you can not see who I am!" Patrick begged.
"I can see who you are." Mary said calmly.
"You can?" He asked, his body relaxing at the overwhelming relief.
"Yes. You're a liar! A rotten liar! How dare you come here after so many years claiming to be the long dead heir! How dare you!" She spat, rising from the couch more quickly than she thought was possible at this stage in her pregnancy. "It seems rather convenient to me that a man would come here, not long after the war, his face unrecognizable, claiming to be someone that was known to have a large fortune and estate coming to him! Now look Patrick Gordon, or whatever you name truly is, you had better-" Mary suddenly hissed and folded over in pain.
"Mary are you alright?" Sybil asked, immediately at her sister's side.
"I think...I believe that...My water has broken!"
AN: Sorry for the Cliffhanger! The next chapter will be here relatively soon!