AN: Hello all you wonderful wonderful readers! I've got the next chapter for you!
(It is now December, Mary is about eight months pregnant)
"Look at Mama's little Man, one year old today, Oh I love you so!" Mary said as she tickled his round baby belly. "Who's mama's little Prince?"
"Me!" Reggie laughed and pointed to his chest.
"No, no me!" William insisted as he rushed across the nursery to wrap his arms around his mama's knees.
"Both of you, my darlings, the both of you! I cannot choose just one of you!" Mary laughed. If there was one thing about living at Downton she could appreciate, it was the copious amount of room. The children had large open space to run about when the weather was bad, and the grounds always presented wonderful adventures- but she had to admit that she missed the intimate space of Crawley house.
"Any room for a princess in here?" Matthew asked from the door way, where he stood with Catherine in his arms.
"Of course!" Mary grinned. He set Kit down on her feet, and she quickly began to re account some thing or other to her brothers who listened dutifully. "Good morning darling." Mary said softly as he came to kiss her. She had woken earlier than him today, an unusual occurrence, and had decided that she would have to get up to see the birthday boy.
"It was strange waking up to find your side of the bed empty." Matthew said.
"I couldn't sleep. Your children kept kicking at me." Mary accused, but then she smiled dazzlingly. "But it's alright. I dressed and got to spend awhile alone with our boys before Nanny could come up and try to take over." Matthew sighed, and looked over at his brood. He hated how much time he had to spend away from them, even though he had handed in his notice at the office, and now spent much of his day in the same place as them. He scarcely even got the chance to put them to bed, for the efficiency of the cursed Nanny Cora had hired for them. "Smile for me darling, you look so pensive."
"I don't like this whole Nanny business, Mary. The two of us were doing just fine raising our children without hired help." Matthew explained.
"I know darling, I felt the same way at first...but you're so busy learning to run the estate, and I'm only weeks away from giving birth- I can't very well manage three children all under the age of two all on my own for hours on end, surely you can see that Nanny Meyer is beneficial to us?" Mary asked nervously.
"It isn't my fault I've got so much to learn so suddenly! If anything was fair, I'd have had at least another decade before I should have to be prepared to take on the title- I thought we'd have more time together, just our little family. The country solicitor and his wife, not the Earl and Countess of Grantham." Matthew said, at first bitterly, and then his tone changed to one of sadness.
"We will always be them, you know darling. The country solicitor and his wife, and the Earl and Countess of Grantham. We need not sweep two of those titles under the rug to keep the other two. We are above all a family." Mary promised him.
"Yet how many nights since we moved here have I missed helping feed them? Bathe them? Putting them to bed and reading them their favorite stories? Mary, how can I be a good father and a good Earl?" Matthew asked. He was beginning to feel the composed mask he had been wearing for the last month slip out of place.
"Oh my darling, darling Matthew. You're the best father to our children, they just love you to the moon and back- Surely you cannot question that? And as for what sort of Earl you'll be darling, you'll be a wonderful one. The best one yet, I'm certain of it." Mary insisted as she pulled him as near to her as she could with her rounded stomach between them.
"Papa, Grr?" William asked timidly from no where.
"I believe you're being summoned,Papa." Mary said softly, and Matthew grinned at her before he sunk to his hands and knees, and gave his most ferocious roar.
...
"Three children all aged one- I don't know how you handle it Mary, Really I don't. I've got two, and only one of them walks and talks now!" Edith laughed as all of the children- except for Robbie who was much to small- rolled about on the carpet in the sitting room.
"It does take quite a lot of energy, But it's worth every moment." Mary promised her.
"Here here!" Isobel cheered, and Mary gave her a weary smile.
"Besides, soon William and Kit will be two, and running about creating all sorts of mischief in this great big house with all of its beautiful hiding places. They'll give Carson quite a scare I'm sure." Mary laughed just thinking about the kind old butlers face.
"Kit? What is a Kit?" Cora asked curiously from the doorway. She strode across the room with all of the grace of a Countess, and sat elegantly on one of the overstuffed arm chairs.
"Kit? Me Kit, Gramama!" Catherine giggled and ran towards her grandmother who wore a disapproving look on her face.
"It's just a little pet name we have for Catherine, you know, "Pack up your troubles in your old Kit bag and smile smile smile."" Mary sang quietly. "Matthew came up with it, and we cant seem to shake it now, she likes it so much!"
"Yes yes, Kit like! 's ve'y good!" Catherine nodded, and did her best to pull herself up onto her grandmama's lap.
"It's not very lady like, Mary. What when she is presented to the court will they call forward "Lady Kit Crawley"? That's not very dignified." Cora huffed.
"Of course not Mama, they'll call her "Lady Catherine Crawley". That's what we call her most of the time, it's only when we're in our private family chambers that we call her Kit." Mary explained.
"Yes, Kit me!" Catherine laughed and pointed to her own tummy.
"And she calls herself Kit?" Cora asked in disbelief.
"Well, Catherine is a bit of a mouthful for a girl not yet two!" Mary explained. "What does it matter what we call her at home? We called Sybil "Sybbie" in the nursery, and she was presented at court as "Lady Sybil Crawley". Honestly Mama, You're making too much of this."
"I just think that you're coddling her too much." Cora sighed, but even as she said that she cuddled her granddaughter closer into herself.
"I don't think there is such a thing- I cuddled Matthew and called him Mattie as a baby, and he hasn't suffered any ill effects." Isobel insisted.
"Quite the contrary, Isobel, your son is a good man." Sybil insisted. "If Matthew is an example of what a child will become if it is coddled, then I think it speaks leaps and bounds for the method. I intend to cuddle this one and kiss her when she cries, and I intend to do it myself, without help from a nanny."
"We cannot just dismiss Nanny Meyer, it's not how things are done!" Cora insisted.
"But not in Crawley house." Sybil said, and then covered her mouth with her hands.
"What?" Cora asked.
"Excellent Sybil, now I suppose we have to tell her." Mary sighed. Sybil nodded, and looked over to her mother.
"Mama, after discussing it with Matthew, Mary, and Isobel, Tom and I have decided that it would be best for us to relocate into Crawley house." Sybil explained.
"Crawley house? But, Isobel lives there, you cannot impose on her this way-"
"Actually, Cousin Cora, I don't mind in the least. Since I moved back into Crawley house I've found it to be rather lonely and quiet. There's plenty of room for a little family like the Bransons." Isobel explained.
"It's true, Mama. Matthew and I fit nicely into Crawley house with three children and Isobel. And the Nursery is still in excellent shape, we just repainted it a month or two ago" Mary told her. "And they deserve a chance to go out and make their own house, don't you think so Mama?"
"Of course I do but- I just thought how lovely it was that we had so much of our family under one roof right now, especially with your father's health as it is...Oh-" Cora said with tears flooding her eyes. Catherine looked up to her grandmother, and put a chubby little hand on her white cheek.
"Gram'mama sad? No cry- "Pack yo' troubles in you's old Kit, and Smile smile smile!"" The little girl sang in imitation of her mother and father so many times. The rest of the group managed a laugh, and even Cora smiled. "See's? Smiles!"
"William, Reggie, Belle, I think perhaps Gramama Cora could use a bit of cheering up? What do you think, a bit of hugs and kisses?" Isobel suggested to the children on the floor, and instantly the children sprung up and ran to flood their beloved Gram'mama with love.
...
"I just don't understand it Matthew, how can the estate possibly have lost so much money?" Mary gasped as she looked over his shoulder at the papers on the desk. She could feel how tense his body was, she could even feel that he was tapping his left foot, something he only did when nervous.
"That's just it, I don't know! I can't figure out what on earth would've possessed your father to put so many of the estate's assets into one investment- and such a risky one..." Matthew grumbled. He dabbed his forehead with his sleeve and turned over one of the papers. "Mary, if we can't figure a way out of this..."
"We'll lose the estate." Mary said. It suddenly felt like her whole world was falling out from under her, and her vision swam.
"Exactly...my God Mary, I'm sorry." Matthew said, and buried his face in his hands. "I'm not even Earl yet, and I'm already failing."
"Oh Matthew, my darling darling Matthew, How can you possibly think this is your fault? You knew nothing about it until today, how could you be failing?" Mary insisted. She knelt down beside him, and pried his hands away from his face to wrap her own slender fingers around his.
"Mary, this is your home, it's supposed be our sons home one day- and you see, now, because of this, I may be the one to lose it all, and I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Matthew said, and to his frustration, tears began to fall down his cheeks.
"Oh my darling. Downton is a beautiful house, and I'd be lying if I told you I did not love it- but my home is with you, where ever you are, because you are half of my heart. If I have you and our children, I have the world." Mary promised, and he pulled her up into his lap- not a very easy feat considering she was eight months pregnant. She tilted her face up towards his so that he could press a kiss to his lips.
"Mary, What are we going to do?" Matthew asked seriously.
"I don't know love. But we'll think of something, and we'll put up a good fight before we even consider selling. Because I believe in you- in us. And we'll find a way to keep Downton for our children, and our children's children...And after that they can think of their own way." Mary teased, and Matthew laughed.
"But Mary, if we lose the estate-"
"Then we'll cross that bridge. For now, we'll do our best to save it. And we'll enjoy being together as a family- Just think of last night, With little Reggie all covered in chocolate cake, even in his blonde hair! Quite ungentlemanly." Mary said with a slight "tsk" sound, but she was grinning broadly. Matthew smiled up at her, and leaned his cheek against her rounded belly.
"There has to be a way. If we just modernized a bit- produced a bit more income...I mean, I telephoned Murray this evening, he said that we may be able to unload a few of the shares, but we'll still take quite a loss. But if we could get the estate generating more profits." Matthew thought aloud, and Mary hung on his every word.
"Do you think that that would help?" Mary asked.
"I...I don't know, not really. But it's the only option I can think of. It could be done for relatively little cost, but it has the potential to generate a good deal of money, if we begin immediately. Hmm...I can already sense that Robert won't like it." Matthew muttered, and Mary frowned.
"Darling, I'm all for saving the estate- but to upset Papa, now of all times! Somehow it doesn't seem right." Mary sighed.
"I know, and if there was another way I could think of, believe me, I'd try it. But I can't think of anything else we could do! It's not as if anyone has left either of us a great sum of money!" Matthew hissed. He pinched the bridge between his eyes, and sighed. "Mary, if I'm going to even approach this subject with your father, I need to have you on my- our side." Mary felt herself soften at his words, and reached up her hand to caress his cheek.
"Of course I'm on your- our side, darling. I trust you completely. If you think this is the best way, then it is the best way. I love you darling, so very much." Mary said, and she could literally feel the tension melt from his shoulders. "Now, I'm a bit tired, shall we go to bed?" She suggested. She dragged herself up from his lap, and then gasped as he suddenly swept her off of her feet. "Matthew Crawley, what has gotten into you?"
"My darling, darling Mary. Don't you know? It's because I'm absolutely, madly, and beyond all reasonable thought, in love with you." He said, and proceeded to kiss her until she was breathless.
"Mmm. I should hope you do- you've gotten five children off of me." Mary said with her classic voice, and they couldn't help but laugh.
"Are you too terribly tired darling?" Matthew asked as he carried her across her bedroom to their large canopy bed.
"I suppose I could stay awake, just for a little while longer..." Mary murmured, and grinned into his delicious kiss.
AN: There it was! Another Chapter for you! Hope you liked it! I'll update again soon!