AN: First of all, sorry for not posting anything in such a long time but I really just did not have the time to write anything, sometimes not even to read new stories or chapters. So if you haven't received a review from me, I am truly sorry and I am trying to review at least some of the stories/chapters I should have (and wanted to!) review in the past couple of weeks.
Again, this is mainly a Mary/Tom story and I know I might be stepping on some people's toes, so if you don't like the Mary/Tom pairing you should probably stay clear of this story.
I hope you enjoy this little piece of writing and I'd be very grateful for a review!
Have a great day and week everyone!
Kat
He's been staring at the harbor for an hour.
The harbor, a point of welcome and goodbye.
He thought it welcomed him and his little girl five months ago.
But it wasn't the welcome he imagined.
.
He thought he could be content in Boston.
Maybe even happy.
He did not think he'd be homesick, so very homesick.
He didn't even know how much he thought of Downton as his home.
.
Or 'the family' as his family.
"Goodbye my dear boy. And good luck. I will miss you."
Robert's parting words have replayed themselves in his head for months now.
No one has ever called him 'my dear boy' before.
.
Robert does so continually.
Every letter begins with the words 'my dear boy'.
And there are a lot of letters.
Not just from the man he has begun to think of almost as a father.
.
Cora, Edith and Isobel write to him regularly too.
Once a week.
Even the Dowager has written to him four times now.
Although he doubts she would have done so if she knew that he was also exchanging letters with Mrs. Hughes.
.
He thoughts drift to Mary.
Mary, who writes to him more often than anyone else.
Mary, who he misses more than anyone else.
Mary who asked him to come back.
.
'I love you.'
That was how she ended her last letter to him.
An hour later his daughter was running through the house yelling 'We are going home!'
A day later he bought the tickets for the crossing back to England.
.
'Coming home.'
That is what he said in his telegram to Mary.
'Good.'
That is what Mary said in her telegram to him.
.
Sybbie jumps out of the car the moment the footman has opened the door.
"Donk! Granny!" she screams while running towards her grandparents.
Robert catches her and lifts her up and gives a kiss on the cheek while Cora brushes her hand across Sybbie's head.
"Welcome home."
.
He doesn't know who said it.
But it drives tears into his eyes.
Mary is looking at him and he smiles.
She returns the smile and makes him dizzy.
.
He hasn't felt like this in years.
Not since Sybil's death.
He thinks he should feel guilty.
But he doesn't.
.
"Don't feel guilty," Robert says to him.
He is surprised that his father-in-law knows.
"How did you know?"
"I know my daughter. And I know you too," Robert says and pats him on the back.
.
The congratulations are heartfelt.
It seems odd to him that when he married Sybil nobody seemed happy about it.
And now that he is married to Mary everybody seems happy.
Especially Robert who has now told him for the second time that he'd have him torn apart by wild dogs if he made his daughter unhappy.
.
The world truly has changed.
And his life has changed with it.
He watches Sybbie run towards the Abbey.
Mary and he follow her home.