Edith made her way through the restaurant to find Bertie waiting at the bar for her
"Sorry if I'm late, I had to run a few errands." Edith made her excuses as Bertie stood and pulled out a chair for her
"Not at all, I was a bit early anyway."
"Have you ever been here before?" Edith asked as Bertie motioned to the barman for to take Edith's drink order
"No, I don't make it down often but I'm certainly happy to be here now." Bertie said after Edith gave her order
"Thank you again for inviting me, I hope your mother was as happy with my work as you seem to be."
"I think she is, well now that there is no danger of you quoting me, mother can be very determined and I think you accomplished what she intended, so job well done."
"So you're to have every eligible woman in the country after you now?
"Not all of them, half won't want to come that far North." Bertie joked and earned a laugh from Edith
"You'll have to make due then, despite what you say she must be very proud of you and everything that you're doing."
"She is in her own way she is just anxious for me to find a suitable wife."
"As any mother would be in her position, we all face pressures from our parents after all." Edith said as she took a sip of her cocktail
"I hope Lord and Lady Grantham don't give you too much trouble."
"Papa wasn't thrilled when I first started writing but he doesn't mind so much now, and Mama actually takes a liking to it I think."
"The benefit of having an American for a mother I imagine." That earned another laugh from Edith, as Bertie was feeling more confident and happy in his decision to ask Edith out
"We're very lucky to have her, and she's adjusted to life in England well I think. Her and Papa are very happy from what I can tell."
"Good, they're both lovely people and I'm looking forward to seeing them next month." Bertie said referencing the visit he and his mother would be making to Downton
"So are we, in fact don't let him know I told you but I think Papa has a bit of a crush on you. He brings you up nearly every time we speak." Edith admitted to a surprised Bertie
"I hope you're not sick of me then."
Edith couldn't help herself from blushing and admitted to him "Of course not, in fact I'm very glad we've met."
Bertie gave her one of his easy smiles and sincerely told her "Then that makes two of us."
"I do love London at night when things have slowed down a bit, well in some places anyway."
Edith said as she walked with Bertie on her way back to her apartment. After dinner he had offered to see her home and she accepted, a part of her worried that when she was writing the story Bertie was putting on some sort of a front or show but their dinner was another example of him being thoughtful, kind, and interested in her as a person.
"I don't mind it now, all the chaos in the day time is what puts me off." Bertie admitted
"I find it invigorating at times, but then again I'm not here very often."
"I do find that hard to believe, I would think a glamorous writer would be the toast of the town, and a daughter of the Earl of Grantham at that."
"I do have a daughter at home, I can't exactly spend all my time in literary salons." Edith reminded him
"Of course, but a night or two every now and then wouldn't hurt." Bertie lightly said as Edith's mood darkened a bit
She was reminded of when she was at Brancaster and Bertie mentioned her visiting London, she felt guilty for how she reacted and what it must have made him feel like if he'd noticed. The intimacy of them walking together down a dim street and the way their burgeoning friendship was progressing made her want to be open and honest with him.
"I try to come to London only when it's a necessity, I feel a bit guilty otherwise."
"Because of Marigold? Surely your family and the nannies would look after her." Bertie reasoned
"No, not that exactly the truth is when my husband passed away I was here in London, attending some party where I thought I could sniff out a column and he was at home with our daughter." Edith bitterly told him still angry with herself for the choice she made
"That's terrible to hear, what happened? I'm sorry, if you'd rather not say it's fine." Bertie told her, of course he had heard rumors as to what happened but he wanted to hear it from Edith herself and hoped that she trusted him enough to tell him
"No, it's fine. I was going away for the weekend and he was looking forward to catching up on reading and spending time with Marigold. From what I was told everything went normally, he had his supper, Marigold was put to bed, he spent some time in the library then went to bed at his usual hour. The next morning however he was late getting out of bed and when his valet checked on him he was still in his bed but cold and not breathing." Edith explained as Bertie patiently listened.
"Edith you can't blame your self for that, I'm not a doctor but it sounds like there was nothing you could do to prevent that."
"I know. It was explained to me many times, the official cause was a massive stroke. There was reason to believe that it happened in his sleep and he felt nothing, which is a blessing I suppose. But the fact of the matter is I can't forgive myself for not being with him."
"That's perfectly understandable, one of the worst things about losing someone is the regret you end up feeling. It's something everyone experiences, I still wish I could have one more conversation with my father but I think what's more important is how happy you were together when he was alive."
Edith gave him a grateful smile "We were happy together, it took us a while to get there but we were happy. I do need to do a better job of remembering that, but thank you Bertie. You're very good at finding a kind perspective in anything."
Bertie took great pride in her compliment and told her
"Thank you, I try to anyway, no one gets through life unscathed after all."
"Very true, well here we are." Edith said as she stopped on the sidewalk and Bertie looked up to see a grand house
"I thought you said you lived in an apartment." Bertie stated as he marveled at the building in front of him
"I do, this is Anthony's family home and he decided to chop it up into apartments to generate more income. It was a bit of a project but we kept the biggest one though, it's comfortable enough for how little I'm here." Edith explained
"That's not a bad idea at all." Bertie said with an impressed look on his face
"Yes, Anthony was very clever. Thank you for seeing me home and for dinner…I had a very nice time tonight." Edith told him with a bright look on her face
"So did I, and I certainly wouldn't mind doing it again when we're both in town." Bertie nervously said hoping he wasn't reaching too far
Edith realized then that despite telling herself the contrary Bertie actually might be interested in more than an friendship with her
"For now you'll have to settle for a visit to Downton, I hope it won't end up being too boring for you."
"I'm looking forward to it very much actually, and with you there I'm sure I'll enjoy it just fine..." Bertie told her as he took her hand "…Goodnight Edith, I'll see you in a few weeks."
"Goodnight Bertie, get home safe and we'll see you at Downton." Edith replied and turned to go into the house with a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
A/N; Glad to see people are still enjoying this, thank you for all the kind reviews!