AN: Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last chapter! I'm so excited to almost be at 200 reviews! Here's another chapter for you!
"Good afternoon Lady Mary." Molesly said as he opened the door for her at Crawley House. Mary nodded to him kindly as he took her coat and her hat.
"Molesly, where is Mr. Crawley?" She asked.
"Outside with Mrs. Crawley, and the children Ma'am." He said. Mary nodded at him, and quickly went to the back door. Sure enough there they were, her darling husband, her darling children, and her mother-in-law. For a moment she just stared at them. Catherine was perched on Isobel's lap, her blonde curls bobbing as she spoke and gestured wildly, and Her two sons were wrestling, very gently, with their father on the ground. She walked out towards them. The first one to notice was her dark haired son, the one who looked most like her, and he quickly abandoned his wrestling and ran towards her.
"Mama!" William called. Mary sunk down to one knee as quickly as she could being six months pregnant, and wrapped her arms around her little prince. "Mama." He sighed and placed a sloppy kiss on her chin. His chocolate colored curls were sticking up wildly, and his blue eyes were sparkling.
"Hello William my darling boy. Are you wrestling with Papa?" Mary asked as she smoothed his curls.
"Yes! Pa' very strong- I's stronger." William explained. Mary grinned at him, looked up and saw a smiling Matthew approaching her with their blonde children at his heels.
"Hello darling, how did it go? Did everything check out?" Matthew asked. Mary bit her lip, looked to the children, then looked to Isobel.
"Isobel- Mother, do you suppose you could keep an eye on these three while I talk to Matthew inside for a few moments?" Mary asked. Isobel looked skeptical, and concerned, but still she nodded.
"Of course I can Mary- but is everything alright?" Isobel asked. Mary nodded, and patted Williams head.
"Yes, everything is alright. Go run along now William, Kit, Reggie, go play with Granny Isobel!" Mary said, and she didn't have to ask them twice. Instantly all three of them gravitated to their grandmother, and started to vie for her attention. Mary reached a hand up, and Matthew helped her to her feet.
"What is it darling?" He asked, holding her firmly in his arms.
"I said I wished to speak to you inside for a few moments. I'd like to be able to sit down comfortably." Mary explained. Matthew nodded warily. He refused to stop supporting her until they had entered the house and she was safely seated on the sofa.
"Now Mary, what is it? Is everything alright truly?" He asked, and took both of her hands. He couldn't explain why but he was absolutely terrified- was something wrong? With Mary, or the baby? What if she... He shook the thought and stared into his wife's beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and found them warm and misty. "Mary, please."
"Matthew, everything is alright. I'm healthy, and the baby is healthy...and the other baby is healthy too." Mary said slowly and watched to see if he understood. His brow scrunched and he stroked her hair back from her forehead.
"That is a relief darling. I was worried their was something wrong with you." He said and kissed her very gently. Mary waited for what she had said to click in his mind, but after a minute, he still said nothing. She sighed, and took his hand and placed it over her stomach.
"No, no, nothing like that. We're fine. All three of us." Mary said, this time being much more obvious. He stared at her curiously, still not fully understanding.
"Three darling? I'm not sure what-" Mary cut him off with a look and another sigh.
"Simple darling. One." She took his hand and placed it over her own heart. "Two." She said, and placed his hand over one half of her stomach. "Three." She said as she moved it to the other half, and saw the light come on in his brain.
"Three-t-two babies? Twins? Darling, twins? Are you certain?" Matthew asked. He had moved from his seat on the sofa to kneel before her.
"Well, I'm only as sure as Dr. Clarkson and Dr. Lowe are. They both agreed that there were two very distinctive heart beats coming from my womb." Mary explained, and Matthew's eyes widened in absolute awe. "They could be wrong of course, but I don't think they are. This feels...It feels similar to how it felt when I was carrying Catherine and William. Sometimes I've sworn that I've felt a foot press against the bottom of my stomach while I felt another one very distinctly on my ribs- darling, I think that they must be right." Matthew nodded and his beautiful blue eyes clouded with tears. "Matthew, darling, please, don't cry." But he only shook his head and then pressed his face to her stomach.
"Mary...This is...My God. Do you know what it felt like when I was in that chair, being certain that our family would only ever be one of three, that I'd never be able to father another child? And then to have the twins- to have Reginald and now, two more...darling, I cannot even begin to put into words how happy I am, how absolutely happy I am." Matthew explained, though he had a hard time forming the words around the lump in his throat. Even after he had been able to use his legs again, and been able to make love to his darling wife, he hadn't been certain that it would be possible for him to father another child- after all an injury as severe as his own was not one that could possibly just vanish with no repercussions. But then he'd had a second son, and now twins, his twins, were growing inside of his wife's body
"Oh my Matthew. I love you so terribly much." Mary said, and felt a few tears of her own form in the corners of her eyes. She lifted his face from her lap, and pressed her lips desperately to his own. Their kisses grew more and more fervent and heated, and soon his weight was pressed gently on top of hers.
"Darling, this is not the time or place for this." Matthew protested as he felt her hands run across the the button of his trousers. But she could feel how desperately he wanted her, and blast if she didn't need him just as desperately.
"Of course it is." She purred softly, and his reason began to crumble.
"One moment then." He groaned, and went to lock sitting room door, and pull the drapes closed. Mary stared at him as he came back to her, his bright eyes dark with desire, his lips just a bit red from kissing. She extended her arms to him, and in an instant he was back in them, kissing her in exactly the spot that always made her melt in his arms.
...
"Do you suppose we should tell them tonight at dinner? Or wait until they're born and give everyone a good shock?" Matthew asked nearly a week later as Anna was putting the finishing touches on Mary's hair. It was Wednesday night, and as a rule they ate their supper at Downton with the entire family on Wednesday evenings- except for the children who stayed home and slept.
"I don't know. Gregory already knows, So I'd bet you anything Edith already knows. And Isobel knows, and she told Granny, so the only ones who wouldn't know are Mama, Papa, Sybil, and Tom. And even Sybil and Mama would realize it soon enough when they saw that we were purchasing double the amount of baby things." Mary laughed.
"So tonight then, we make the announcement?" Matthew asked, and Mary gave him a small nod.
"The pearls tonight I think Anna." Mary said kindly, and Anna nodded.
"Yes Mi'lady. An excellent choice if I may say so." Anna said sweetly. Mary smiled at her in the mirror as the maid fixed the pearls around her neck. "Will that be all Ma'am?"
"Yes Anna, thank you very much." Mary smiled at her. Anna nodded and vanished out the door. "I think she still feels awkward around you after she walked in on us this morning." Mary laughed, and watched in glee as his face turned pink.
"It was later than I thought it was." Matthew huffed. "We apologized!"
"Oh, I'm only teasing, Anna is made of stout stuff." Mary said with a smirk. She adjusted the waistline of her new loosely draped midnight blue dress- a gift from Matthew when she had told him about the twins. It wasn't a color she wore often, but he so admired it on her, she figured it couldn't look all that bad. And if nothing else, it was the most comfortable dress she had ever owned.
"You look absolutely beautiful." Matthew sighed. He came up behind her, and gently wrapped his arms about her shoulders. "I love this color on you- or any shade of blue. It reminds me of our wedding day."
"I love you Matthew." Mary said, and twisted her neck to receive his soft kiss. "Are the children all sleeping now? When I put Kit to bed she was being rather contrary."
"When I popped my head in the nursery they were all snoring softly." Matthew assured her. Mary nodded and then hissed loudly. "What is it darling, are you alright?" Mary nodded and brushed at the air with her hand.
"Just a kick in the...Hip. Oof, and one right here. I can't wait until they're out. I can't wait to meet them. And I can't wait until they can stop causing me pain, and start keeping you awake too." Mary laughed.
"You know, we never discussed it, but what do you suppose we'll call them if they're both boys?" Matthew asked. "If we have two girls, We'll have Esther and Mary, if we've a boy and a girl we'll have Esther and Matthew, but what if it's two boys?"
"I don't know darling. I've thought of that this last week, but honestly I can't seem to think of any- or any that I think sound right. I've tossed around Antony, Phillip, Evert, and even Rupert. But none of them seem quite right." Mary sighed.
"No, I suppose not. Under no circumstances will we name one our sons Evert though." Matthew insisted.
"Why ever not?" Mary asked.
"When I was in school, there was a boy named Evert, and he was horrible and mean. I'd hate to have to think of him every time I saw our son." Matthew explained.
"Well, then, we won't call him Evert, if we do have two boys. But we'd best pray that one of them is a girl, or Kit might commit anarchy." Mary said seriously, and they both began to laugh.
"We'd best hurry to Downton now, You know how Aunt Violet feels about tardiness." Matthew said as he helped her up from her seat.
"Don't worry, if we're late, we'll tell them it was because of Baby- Babies." Mary corrected and smiled.
"Twins. I still can't believe it." Matthew said with a grin like that of a stupid school boy.
"Believe it." Mary chuckled, and kissed him soundly. His hand reached up to her hair and she pulled away from him. "You'll make me untidy."
"Good." He chuckled and then took her hands. "Let's go."
...
"Mr. Crawley, Lady Mary, I'm very pleased to see you both again." Carson said.
"Thank you Carson. You're looking well." Mary said fondly.
"I've never been better Mi'lady. And if you don't mind my saying so, You're looking very well yourself." Carson said. In his mind, he could picture so exactly the way that she had looked as a child, a little elf princess who would run around the halls and come to him when she had a stain on her skirt, or a a scrape on her elbow- and there she stood, a wife who had three children of her own, and a fourth on the way. Where had the time gone?
"Oh, Mary, Matthew, I'm glad you're here. Your father and I need to speak to you um, privately." Cora said as she approached him hastily.
"Is everything alright Mama?" Mary asked. Cora gave her a tight lipped smile, and patted her daughter's hair.
"Come with me now darling." Cora said, and turned on her heel to walk to the library. Mary and Matthew exchanged a look, twined their fingers together and followed after her. Upon entering the library she saw the figure of her father silhouetted in the window and the fading light of the evening. He was staring intently out over the grounds, so lost in thought that he didn't hear them enter.
"Robert Darling, Mary and Matthew are here now." Cora said softly. She approached him slowly and placed a gentle hand on his back. Only then did he seem to comprehend that they were there. "Why don't the two of you take a seat." Mary looked at Matthew in concern, her heart beat sped up rapidly.
"Mama, Papa, is everything alright?" Mary asked.
"I'm afraid not." Robert said.
"Oh God." Mary gasped, and Matthew squeezed her hand tightly.
"We've, well, we've had some bad news from Doctor Clarkson." Robert said.
"You see for a while now, We've suspected that something was wrong. But your father was a bit hesitant to believe that anything could be wrong." Cora said, her voice was a bit strained.
"But that's beside the point now, Cora. You see we've had some bad results from some testing." Robert explained.
"Robert, you don't mean- you can't." Matthew said.
"I'm afraid so." Robert said with a tight lipped smile. "Cancer."
"Oh Papa! No!" Mary cried and put a hand over her mouth.
"And you see, We wanted to tell the two of you, because chances of recovery are...Well, they're slim." Robert said, doing his best to ignore the sound of his daughter's sobs. "And as Matthew is my heir, I want to propose that the two of you move into Downton."
"Robert, I don't know, this is quite a bit of information to take in all at once." Matthew said. Mary had collapsed in his arms and was sobbing quite vigorously into his shoulder.
"I know, And we don't ask for an answer right now, we only ask that you'll consider it- after all Matthew, there is still quite a bit for you to learn about the running of an estate like this one. And my health is...is sure to rapidly decline. It would just be a great comfort to me, and Cora both, if you'd just consider it." Robert explained.
"Matthew, we've got to- don't we?" Mary asked, quietly.
"I don't know darling. Of course, it would answer the question of how to make more space." Matthew said, desperate to make her smile. "But how can this be? You're so young Robert- I shouldn't have to be Earl for at least a decade or two."
"No one is ever ready to take on a title, son. But that's why it would be in your best interest to live here." Robert said, smiling despite the tears in his eyes.
"Oh Papa!" Mary cried again. She got up and went to him as fast as she could to wrap her arms around him. "Papa, I'm so very sorry!"
"My darling girl, it isn't your fault." Robert insisted as he embraced his little girl. All of her life, a part of him had wished that Mary had been born a boy, because if she only had been born a boy, she'd have been a magnificent Earl. But as it was, she would be a wonderful Countess, the prettiest one yet- well except for her mother.
"Alright. We'll do it." Matthew said suddenly. The sight of Mary in her father's arms had convinced him that it was right. "We would love to live here."
"Oh Thank God, Oh Matthew, my son, you've no idea how glad I am to hear this!" Cora sighed in relief, and rushed forward to embrace him. She had never been so glad to have had no son as she was now. Where would they be with out the wonderful young Man who had married her daughter? "We'll start the arrangements immediately."
"Oh yes, that would be a good idea, I'd like to be all settled before the babies come." Mary said with a rather undignified sniffle.
"Oh, it won't be very difficult I think. By the time you and Sybil are due we'll have the nursery all ready." Cora promised. "We can simply move all of your furniture from the nursery in Crawley here- we'll put the two of you in the rooms across the main hall, with the adjoining rooms. We'll set up the day nursery for Catherine for now, and the other and the spare sitting room can be made into a nursery for the boys."
"But what about the other babies?" Mary asked.
"Well, I suppose we'll see where the babies fit in after they're born. Imagine it Robert darling, nothing can make you feel younger than five babies in the house to make you feel young and well again." Cora said excitedly.
"Six, actually, Mama." Mary said softly.
"Six? What do you mean by that?" Robert asked.
"We were going to announce it tonight. We've just discovered we are having twins, a second time." Matthew said, and for the first time in weeks, Robert truly smiled.
"Twins. What about that?" Robert said happily as he rose from his seat at the desk. He paced back and forth with his wife, daughter and son in law looking on. "Eight grandchildren, Cora. Eight...The line hasn't been this secure in generations- and besides that, they bring us such joy- imagine us, having six of them under our roof..." Robert grinned. If nothing else was going right in his life, if everything else was being pulled from beneath his feet, at least he could take solace in the nearness of his grandchildren.
AN: There we are another chapter! Don't hate me for the thing with Robert at the end! You all are wonderful for sticking with the story this long!