"Enjoy" the next chapter. Things can only get better after this :-) Speaking of making things better. Hugs to my fantastic beta who taught me that "unseeingly" is actually a word!

Chapter 5

Dickie paced the room like a caged tiger. It'd been two hours since the doctor had arrived and he hadn't seen or heard from Isobel or anyone else. Larry sat in the chair by the fireplace, staring unseeingly into the fire. He hadn't said a word ever since they had entered the room and Dickie preferred it that way. His fury over Larry's behaviour was overwhelming, but he refused to send him away, because he didn't want to let his eldest son off the hook. Elizabeth was badly injured and he wanted his son to take responsibility for it.

Just when the clock on the mantelpiece struck seven o'clock the door opened softly and Isobel came in. "The doctor just left," she announced quietly, carefully avoiding Larry. Dickie noticed she had taken her hat off and was still wearing an apron that was sprinkled with blood stains.

Larry rose, "And?"

Isobel hesitated, but then she answered without facing Larry. "She'll be fine... she needs rest and care, but she will be fine," Isobel said, staring at Dickie with a look in her eyes that he couldn't interpret.

"Thank God," Dickie sighed.

"I want to see her," Larry said eagerly.

"She's asleep," Isobel said indifferently. "Perhaps tomorrow - if she wants to see you. Or anyone else. She needs rest."

"Perhaps it's best that we allow her to recover in peace." Dickie's voice sounded like a warning.

Larry swallowed, but he nodded, realizing he had lost this battle. "I should be going then," he said and crossed the room with quick steps, as if he feared someone might try to hold him back. Isobel lowered her eyes, as he passed her, unwilling to acknowledge him in any way.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow!" Dickie said to Larry, who just nodded and headed for the door.

"Mrs Crawley...," Larry stopped, a hand on the door handle, and hesitated, "Thank you," he said lowly and left. Isobel winced, "Somebody should write that down."

"Thank you," Dickie repeated softly. "It was good of you to take charge."

Isobel shook her head. "I guess even Larry would have called for the doctor. I was just quicker."

"Well, I imagine a fall like this could have been fatal," Dickie said. "It was good of you to take care of her."

"In a way it was fatal," Isobel explained calmly and looked down on her hands that were folded over the stained apron.

Dickie was confused. "What do you mean? You said she would be fine."

"And she will be fine in time," Isobel confirmed in a strange voice. "But she lost the baby."

Dickie became pale, "I beg your pardon."

"Elizabeth was pregnant," Isobel explained. "It was at an early stage. I doubt she knew it herself."

"Good Lord." He drew a deep breath. His shock was obvious. She had seen it before with men who didn't know what was happening to their wives. Having and losing children was not something men could cope well with in general. And when the child was illegitimate the embarrassment was even bigger.

"Is there anything I can do for her?" he asked.

"I don't know. That's something you need to find out yourself."

Only now he registered how hollow and distant she sounded. Confused about her uncharacteristic coldness, he looked at her. The events had clearly taken their toll on her. He could tell she was tired, but underneath her understandable exhaustion, there was something else. A tension he had never seen in her before.

"Is there anything else?" He asked, tensely.

She shrugged, "No... I was just wondering..."

"About what?"

"I'm wondering who the father was," she explained coldly.

He held his breath as he finally understood the meaning behind her demeanour. "Is that what you think of me?" He asked, visibly hurt by the underlying accusation.

"As a matter of fact, I don't know what to think," she replied honestly.

"I never touched her," he said, his voice rising with anger. Isobel closed her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to believe him, but there was this tiny bit of doubt in her heart. This flickering pain called jealousy that got to her every time she thought about the young, beautiful woman. It had been haunting her ever since she had seen them together at the dinner party at Grantham House.

"How can you even think I would..." He was lost for words and finally his frustration with her and their situation found an outlet. "Will you ever be done with stomping all over my heart and my dignity?"

Alerted by his tone of voice her head jerked around. "Excuse me?"

"First you agree to marry me, then you reject me, not only once, but twice and now you're standing here in front of me, perfectly aware of my love for you...," he exhaled deeply, "and accuse me of philandering! With a woman who could easily be my own daughter and who was almost engaged to my oldest son?!"

"Well..." Isobel felt blood rising into her cheeks.

"Not to mention the fact that you were the one who kicked me out of your life, whom I was incapable of convincing to marry me!"

"But..."

"What?" He asked briskly.

"She's living in your house; you were constantly seen together in public and after the scene Larry..."

Dickie laughed bitterly, "Do you think I would be flaunting around a mistress in front of everyone's eyes here in London and let her stay in my house, hoping the servants won't catch me sneaking across the hall in the middle of the night?"

She had to admit that his logic made more sense than her jealousy driven imagination, yet...

"She's young, she's beautiful, she's...," she said, now much wearier and desperate.

"She's what?" He asked.

"She's here and so close to you. She's everything I am not."

"You could have been here," he said quietly. All the anger seemed to have been drawn out of him. "I wanted you more than words could express. But you refused me over and over again."

"You know why."

"And I'm tired of hearing it."

Both fell silent and with the silence an unbearable sadness filled the room.

"I should be going now. The others will be waiting for me," she decided, when she realized there was nothing left to be said.

"I'm sure they are," Dickie replied and rang for the butler. "Cabot will see you out."

"It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit."
― Noël Coward

~tbc~