AN: A short chapter today! But I couldn't wait to introduce Robert and Cora into the story!
Mary took a seat on the sofa and so did Sybbie, sitting so close to Mary that she was almost in her lap. Mary wrapped her arm around the young girl, pressing a kiss to her cheek and soothingly rubbed her back. Cora and Robert had sat opposite them, watching the interaction with love in their eyes. They were so proud of her, for everything she had taken on in the last couple of years. They couldn't have lived the life that they were living currently without her and Matthew's support. Matthew sat on Sybbie's other side after he had rung through for some tea and biscuits. They were all going to need it, that was for sure. There was so much that they had to tell Robert and Cora.
"I don't even know where to begin!" Robert said, taking in his daughter and her family. He took in his granddaughter, my god how thin she was! How sad she looked, traumatised even! He'd not seen her since last year and she had changed so much. The light in her eyes was gone, that carefree smile that once lit up her face was gone and her naturally slender frame replaced by a bag of bones and skin it seemed like. Then he took a look at his eldest daughter, she looked exhausted and no wonder with everything she'd undertaken in these last months! He reached his hand out and gently took Sybbie's hand in his, reassured by the way she clung to it.
"My dear girl...what has he done to you?" He whispered, growing in alarm when Sybbie bit her lip so hard that she drew blood. Matthew got out his handkerchief and dabbed at her lip with so much love and care that she burst into tears. Heart wrenching tears that pulled on all of their heart strings, Matthew picked her up and cradled her in his arms. He gently rocked her whilst she sobbed, gripping at his shirt and hugging him tight. She didn't think it would be this hard to tell her Donk and Grandmama everything that had happened, but it still felt like it only happened yesterday. She laid her head on Matthew's chest, the steady thumping of his heartbeat was slowly beginning to comfort her.
"He... he... Mummy and Daddy say that it's something called rape. But all I know is that he hurt me between my legs, really badly. We went for a walk and he attacked me out in the fields surrounding the house. He hit me, he choked me, he called me all sorts of horrible names... when he was done, he just left me there. I couldn't get up for hours it hurt so much!" She took a sharp intake of breath, grabbing hold of Matthew's tie and playing with it like she would do with Tom's when she was very small. Mary reached out with her hand and soothingly wiped her tears with her thumb, Cora and Robert looked like they were going to throw up! How could this have happened to their darling granddaughter? They wanted someone to pay, that was for sure.
"I tried to keep it secret for as long as I could, really I did-" She was cut off by Mary and Cora's steely glare. Now she knew where her surrogate mother got her glare from! She looked down as Mary spoke, wringing her hands together.
"Sybil Mary Cora Branson! You shouldn't have been trying to keep it a secret at all! You didn't deserve anything that happened to you, you know that daddy and I will always be on your side as will Donk and Grandmama, not forgetting George too!" Mary spoke softly, raising her eyebrow in concern. She hated that her daughter felt like she'd had to hide her trauma from them, that she had felt like she couldn't tell them what had happened. Matthew kept his arms wrapped around Sybbie tightly and kissed her forehead, she was being so brave. He was in awe of her.
"I know Mummy I was just so embarrassed by it all... It was November by the time it came out, Daddy can you tell this part please?" Sybbie hiccuped slightly. Matthew nodded his head, his heart still swelled with love whenever she called him 'daddy'. He stroked her hair as he remembered back to that awful day, the day their lives had changed in an instant. It was single handedly one of the worst days of his life.
"We were having breakfast and one of Sybbie's dresses came, Mary opened it and I'm not even joking when I say this it was the smallest dress I've ever seen in my life! We'd been having issues with her losing weight, we thought it was to do with her image so Mary had a chat with her and she promised to start eating normally. This must've been about a month after it had happened, it turns out that she was mashing food into her plate or giving it to George!" Matthew said, raising his eyebrow disapprovingly while Sybbie blushed slightly. Robert laughed slightly, that sounded about right! George loved his food and could eat for England! He quickly stopped laughing when Cora glared at him.
"Mary soon figured out that Sybbie had been giving George her food and had a stern word with both of them, then she had to take George to the train station so that just left Sybbie and I. I wanted to have a chat with her, there were other signs too; she hated being touched, anytime she was hugged she would flinch or stiffen and we just knew that something was wrong. I told her how worried we all were, how unwell she was looking and how it seemed like she was scared of us..." Matthew's throat tightened and he looked down at his little girl, he hugged her tight and kissed her forehead.
"She let me hold her hand without flinching away when I told her how much she was loved and that we would never hate her, that she could tell me what was wrong. Then she got incredibly upset and told me that I didn't understand, she just crumbled on the floor and sobbed. She let me hug her for the first time in all those months and she begged me to make it stop, she told me how much it hurt. She worked herself up so much that I thought she'd throw up... but then Mary came in and asked her what was wrong and Sybbie said some things that made Mary figure it out. She asked her if that's what happened and she broke down, she didn't need to say it!' Tears slid down Matthew's face as he spoke, Mary reached out and wiped them away. They both watched as Robert and Cora went from shock, to sadness to anger in the space of a few minutes.
"That bastard!" Robert snarled, taking everyone by surprise. His hands were shaking and he got up, angrily pacing up and down. "How dare he do that to my granddaughter! I always thought he was such a nice chap! I hope you gave him a good seeing too Matthew! How did you find out it was him anyway?" Robert added, sitting down on the sofa sheepishly after he was yanked down by Cora. Sybbie clung to Matthew tight and let out a whimper.
"It's ok darling, shhhh. Daddy's got you, you're safe now. He's never coming back, you're ok. Well, a couple of days after we found out what happened we were in the drawing room having some dinner. Mary was telling Sybbie about Sybil, particularly that memory of her surprising us all with that dress!" Matthew smirked slightly as did Robert, Cora and Mary. Not that it had been funny at the time, mind you. But 17 years on, they could look on it with fondness, with happiness, even with a touch of sadness that the youngest Crawley daughter who had so much life and courage inside of her was no more.
"So, Sybbie wanted to eat in there. We were just so happy that she was eating at all that we didn't mind, we had just finished up when Carso announced that William was here. He came in the room and Sybbie just went so pale, she screamed and begged us to kick him out and that she didn't want him here. Mary managed to get to her and keep her away from him whilst I asked him what the hell he'd done to her! I've never been so angry in my life, he smirked at me Robert! He told me that she was asking for it!" Matthew stroked the little girl's cheek when she snuggled in close to his chest and he shushed her.
"How dare he say that!" Robert boomed loudly, the more he was hearing the angrier he was getting. Cora gently pat his knee, mumbling something about keeping calm and his blood pressure which made Mary stifle a giggle at her father's indignant look. Matthew smiled ever so slightly, grateful for the little bits of humour that were keeping him sane whilst he was telling the awful story.
"I told him that he had no right to take that away from her, I told him that not only had he betrayed her but George too. I then... well I punched him in the face and told Carson that he was never allowed back here again," Matthew blushed and was surprised when Robert clapped him on the back, he was so proud of Matthew for protecting his family and defending that little girl.
"Well done my boy! Well done... he deserved that and more! I think you showed great restraint actually!" Robert said with a firm nod of his head. Matthew smiled slightly, although he wasn't sure if Robert would say that if he knew what he had actually done to William or helped do he should say. Mary poured them all tea and handed out biscuits. Sybbie got off Matthew's knee and sat next to Mary, cuddling into her side and beaming slightly when Mary whispered how proud she was of her and how brave she was being.
"So... when did it all come about with little Sybbie calling you both mummy and daddy then?" Cora said, her eyes twinkling with love and affection. Mary and Matthew smiled ever so slightly, remembering how they felt when she first called them that. The love they had felt, the parental instincts that came out even more than before, that extra need to keep her safe. They loved that little girl from the very start as if she were their own.
"It was after she told us exactly what that animal had done to her, she had gotten in such a state! She threw up, was catatonic, didn't know where she was or who was there. We got her cleaned up and put her back into bed, that's when she said 'mummy and daddy make it go away!' we were in total shock, at first we thought she was talking about Sybil and Tom until she came around and said the same thing! We've been mummy and daddy ever since!" Mary said proudly, running a hand through Sybbie's hair when the little girl cuddled in her arms.
"You don't mind do you Donk? Grandmama? I'm not forgetting about mama and papa, it just seemed so natural to call them that when they act like my parents!" Sybbie said, worry etching on her face that they might be angry with her. Robert held onto the girl's hands and squeezed them gently, putting every doubt that he was cross with her to an end.
"No, my darling girl. We are not angry with you, they've always acted like your parents even from when you were a baby. They love you so much, anyone can see it and I am so proud of you, you've been so brave!" Robert gently and uncharacteristically booped her nose with his finger causing the girl to giggle and fling her arms around him.
"Oh Donk, I've missed you so much!" She hugged him tight, as everyone else watched on with love.
A few hours had gone by with them all chatting amiably about everything that had gone on in their lives, the door opened and all that they could hear was an excited shout.
"Donk! Grandmama!" George yelled, running into his grandparents arms and nearly knocking them flying. Robert couldn't believe how much he'd grown, he was practically a man now. Cora pinched George's cheek, running her hand through his blonde locks. He was so much like his father, but he had his mother's eyes. He sat next to them, rubbing his hands against his thighs in his excitement to see them. He had missed them so much.
"My dear boy how you've grown! Your mother and father have been telling me how much you've been helping your cousin, how brave and strong you've been, we are all so proud of you!" Robert was beaming from ear to ear and George blushed under his praise. Sybbie smiled adoringly at her cousin, her first friend, her brother.
"He beat William up Donk! He stood up for me" Sybbie said proudly, her eyes shining with love and George grinned. He smoothed his hair back and puffed his chest out.
"Of course I did, he deserved every bit of it!" George smirked and Robert pat his back, he wished that he could hurt him to for everything he had done to his grandchildren, to his eldest daughter and her husband, the man who was almost like a son to him. They sat there until the early hours of the morning, chatting away and catching them up to speed with everything. It was the most normal evening that they'd had in a very long time and it was so lovely, it did Sybbie the world of good Mary had noticed. The young girl was smiling, chatting and even laughing! It was so nice to see, it was the first time in a long time that she was laughing and meant it.
Mary and Matthew didn't know what tomorrow was going to bring, especially with the doctor's appointment tomorrow to see if Sybbie was pregnant. But they knew that with a family like this, that everything was going to be alright, that they could get through anything.