AUTHOR'S NOTE: Several reviewers expressed regret that Mary did not tell Matthew that Pamuk came uninvited, so I wanted to clarify some things. Those of you who have read my other stories know where I stand regarding Pamuk - I firmly believe what he did to Mary was not consensual. I know that Julian Fellowes said that it was intended as consensual and Mary succumbing to her attraction to him, but this is simply not how I see that scene. Mary refused him explicitly, with no room for misunderstanding, several times, first when he asked her to come to her when he kissed her and then when he was in her room. She threatened him with summoning help until he pointed out that she would be ruined if he was found in her room. She only stopped protesting when he manipulated her into believing she had no other choice, but she was still asking him anxiously whether it was going to be safe, whether it would hurt. I'm sorry but this is not a picture of an eager lover to me, although I understand if some of you interpret this scene differently since, as I said, it was not the intention of JF to write it as non-consensual.
That being said, what I love about canon is how Matthew doesn't judge Mary despite getting none of the extenuating circumstances. He knows the same version as the others: Cora, Edith, Richard, Thomas, people in London, but unlike them he does not condemn Mary. Come to think of it only Anna and Robert offered similar reaction to her instead of using such charming words as slut and damaged goods, and of course in this story Robert doesn't know anything yet. So I wanted to preserve it for now, because I love this contrast and what it does say about Matthew. But it will come up later, because one thing I desperately wanted to see in the series was for somebody to tell Mary that it was not her fault, when she internalised so deeply that she should feel guilty and ashamed for it all.
Dining room, Downton Abbey, December 1913
Edith looked at Anthony, seated on her right, and beamed with happiness.
He was here, for the very first time, as a member of the family. She expected him to be a frequent dinner guest in the oncoming months until their wedding and, she thought with a slight blush, her companion on all future visits to Downton afterwards.
It still seemed surreal to her that in a few short months Downton would not be her home anymore. She would live at Loxley, be the mistress of that house as Lady Strallan, ordering the servants and throwing dinners and parties, with Anthony on her side. She wouldn't be the overlooked and forgotten middle daughter anymore; she would be an adult and a woman with a position and respect – and, she thought, looking at her fiancé, with love.
She looked at the faces around her and thought with exhilaration that they all seemed happy for her, despite the misgiving most of them voiced before her engagement. Mama was sending her fond looks over the table, Granny smiled indulgently, Sybil sighed wistfully every time she caught sight of Edith's ring. Papa had disappeared in the library with Matthew and only reappeared with him when the dinner was ready, both of them in very good mood and rather preoccupied, but Edith did not forget how sincere he had been when he had given her and Anthony his blessing at the Winter Ball. The only person who was indifferent to her engagement was of course Mary, but since she was also too preoccupied with her own business to antagonise Edith in any way, she counted it as a win.
"I so regret I wasn't there at the ball!" said Sybil. "It's so romantic to become engaged at one."
"It was," agreed Edith with a blush, looking lovingly at Anthony who smiled in response.
"I'm glad to hear you think so," he said. "Although in all truth it was a coincidence. It was the first time I saw you in weeks and I simply could not wait any longer."
"I'm glad you didn't," said Edith, smiling at him again.
"The photographer will come tomorrow to take your picture for the engagement announcement," said Cora with a smile. "We will publish it as soon as you choose a date."
Anthony looked at Edith with a smile.
"What do you think, my sweet one? When would you like to marry?"
"Soon!" exclaimed Edith breathlessly, then blushed and giggled self-consciously when he raised his eyebrows at her impatience.
"Well, it will have to be before May," said Cora reasonably. "Otherwise you won't have time for a proper honeymoon before Sybil's debut."
Before Edith or Anthony could answer, Mary cleared her throat delicately.
"About that," she said slowly, then smiled with the most brilliant, genuine smile Edith had seen on her face in years. "Matthew and I have an announcement which may complicate planning it all a bit."
Edith's stomach churned as she saw Matthew smile with equal happiness and reach for Mary's hand over the table.
"That's true," he announced proudly and looked at Mary with utterly besotted eyes. "This afternoon, Mary made me the happiest man on Earth by agreeing to become my wife."
A moment of stunned silence was quickly replaced by a pandemonium of happy squeals and congratulations and all Edith could think about was that once again Mary's affairs took precedence over anything happening in her life.
Drawing room, Downton Abbey, December 1913
She hold her anger in check through the reminder of the dinner, but turned on Mary the moment the women withdrew to the drawing room.
"How could you pick my engagement dinner to announce your own?" she asked Mary, who shrugged and rolled her eyes dismissively.
"Your engagement was announced and celebrated by half of London during Aunt Rosamund's Winter Ball. This was simply a family dinner. How long would you expect me and Matthew to wait? Until you're married?"
"Since you made him wait for over two months, you could have very well waited at least until tomorrow!"
Mary's eyes flashed.
"No," she answered with steel in her voice. "I couldn't. Exactly because I made him wait inexcusably long."
"You certainly took your time to think it through," muttered Isobel, making Mary flinch.
"All that matters is that they are engaged now," said Violet with a quelling glare at Isobel. "And that means we need to schedule two weddings and a debut within a relatively short time. It would be easier if one of them was planned for August."
"I agree," said Cora, exchanging a knowing look with her mother-in-law. "I think Mary, as the eldest, should marry first. Then we could proceed with Sybil's season and finally with Edith's wedding."
"No!" exclaimed Edith furiously. "I won't postpone my own wedding to give way to Mary! Just because there are rumours about her in London, it doesn't mean I have to suffer for it!"
"What rumours?" asked Sybil with confusion, shared evidently by Cousin Isobel, who leaned towards Edith, eagerly awaiting her response. Edith swallowed. It was not her intention to expose her sister's conduct to more people, including her prospective mother-in-law. She felt guilty enough as it was. She sent a quick look at Mary's pale face and her pursed lips and knew with certainty that she would not get away with it.
"Nothing we need to concern ourselves with," answered Granny in an irrefutable tone. Edith had to reluctantly admire her ability to lie through her teeth. "There are always rumours of one kind or other floating about prominent figures in society and it is not what is important here. What's important is the fact that we have to plan two weddings and a debut within several short months. Something simply has to give."
"But it doesn't have to be mine!" cried out Edith, back to the main source of her disquiet. "I got engaged first and I should marry first. I don't want to wait! Let Mary and Matthew wait until summer, if the rumours don't matter, what's the hurry?"
Mary's eyes narrowed.
"What's the hurry for you? Are you afraid your fiance is going to get cold feet if you don't drag him to the altar as fast as humanly possible?"
Edith opened her mouth to retort but, probably happily, she was prevented from doing so by the entrance of the men who obviously did not feel the need to linger long in the dining room. Anthony's smile fell when he immediately noticed her distress and defensive posture as she was standing in the middle of the room.
"My sweet one, is anything the matter?" he asked urgently, coming to approach her. It took all Edith had not to fall into his arms in search of comfort, but she managed to restrain herself to catching his hand.
"Oh, Anthony, we were just discussing the possible wedding dates, what with Sybil's season and now Mary's engagement as well, and Granny and Mama think we should wait until summer!"
Anthony's eyes flickered uncertainly to both Ladies Grantham.
"Well, it is a tight schedule, so if it is best…"
"But it's not!" exclaimed Edith. "I don't want to wait so long to marry you!"
"Edith!" said Cora sternly. "Maybe we should discuss it in a more private setting."
"The emotions are definitely running high," commented Isobel. "But we are all family here, so the topic concerns us all."
Edith noticed Granny rolling her eyes and Mary sending Isobel a wary look. She swallowed hard, but stood her ground.
"There is no reason I and Anthony have to wait," she said boldly. "Loxley is a fine house, with no need for major renovations just because I'm going to move in. We only need enough time to plan and organise the wedding, which shouldn't take more than a few weeks. Do Mary and Matthew even know where they plan to live?"
She felt undeniably smug when Matthew shook his head and Mary scowled at her.
"We barely had time to discuss such things," admitted Matthew easily from his seat beside Mary. "And while I hope we won't have to wait too long to be married, it does make sense for you and Anthony to do it first."
Mary glared at him, but uncharacteristically did not protest.
To Edith's shock, it was Anthony who did.
"But my dear, are you sure? It's going to be such a huge change for you… Maybe it would be better for you to have several months to prepare yourself for it all."
Edith shook her head so vehemently that her curls flapped around her face.
"I don't need time to know that I want to be your wife," she answered firmly. "I'm already sure of that or I wouldn't have accepted your proposal!"
"It will take more than a few weeks to organise a proper wedding," said Cora firmly. "The earliest we can reasonably consider is late February."
"Terrible time for a wedding," commented Violet sourly, earning herself a glare from Cora.
"I and Robert married in February and we couldn't be happier," she said. Her face softened when she looked at Edith. "I hope you and Anthony will be just as happy in your marriage."
Edith sent her a grateful look, truly touched by her mother's support, and she could see that Anthony was similarly affected.
"Thank you, Lady Grantham. I promise I will do everything in my power to ensure that."
The way he then looked at her made Edith's heart skip a beat.
"Then we only have the matter of Mary and Matthew's wedding date to decide upon," said Cora, looking at the other pair. "If you want to get married before Sybil's season…"
"We do," said Matthew firmly, grasping Mary's hand as she looked up at him in surprise. "We are obviously ready to wait for Edith and Sir Anthony to come back from their honeymoon, so they can celebrate our marriage with us, but we would definitely prefer to face the season as a married couple."
Violet looked at him sharply, but did not say anything, leaving the task to Cora, who pursed her lips thoughtfully.
"We can do it in late March," she finally proposed. "This would leave you and Mary enough time for a honeymoon and settling into a married life before the engagements and demands of the season, and it would be spaced far enough from Edith and Anthony's wedding to ensure both the time for honeymoon and for the guests not to feel too put upon about travelling to Downton for yet another occasion. Does everybody agree?"
They all nodded, Edith with triumph and relief. She won! She faced the whole family, she fought for herself and for Anthony and she won! She was the first to be engaged and she would be the first to marry and she and Anthony would not be pushed to the back of the queue and ignored for more prioritised daughters. She raised her face to look at Anthony and smiled at him brilliantly.
"Since the photographer is already arranged, we will take an engagement photo of you two as well at the same time," said Cora, making Edith look at her in alarm. Surely Mama did not intend to publish both announcements on the same day?!
As it turned out, she did not have to fight for this as well, because Mary protested first.
"We will sit for the photograph tomorrow, of course, since it would be wasteful to make the photographer come twice, but we should wait with our announcement until after Christmas," she said decidedly. "Edith and Anthony do deserve their undivided attention."
Edith gaped at her and she wasn't the only one. Since when Mary cared about Edith getting any attention at all, never mind at her own expense? She noted that the only one not surprised by it was Matthew, which only made her more suspicious about true motives behind Mary's unexpected magnanimity.
"Well, since everything is decided then, we should celebrate," announced Robert, clearly happy that the matters were resolved without protracted quarrels. "Carson, bring champagne!"
Carson obliged promptly and in no time Robert was leading the toast to both newly engaged couples.
"Now the planning may start in earnest," he complained playfully after everybody took their sip. "Just leave me out of it as much as possible!"
"I'm sure Edith and Lady Mary will prefer to plan it together with their mother anyway," answered Anthony good-naturedly and Edith barely stopped herself from choking on her champagne.
Papa actually started coughing.
"Yes," he said weakly after he got his breath back. "I'm sure they will."
xxx
Mary sighed with relief when the main discussion was finally done and she managed to retreat to a semi-private corner with Matthew. Of course Edith did her best to spoil the announcement for her and focus solely on herself!
"I am sorry if I pushed you on the date," said Matthew nervously. "Especially since Edith has a point about us not even knowing where we are going to live. But beside the fact that I simply can't wait for you to be my wife, I hate the thought of you dealing with the ostracism Foyle described. He seemed convinced that a marriage to him would have helped; I hope being married to me may be of some help to you too, even if I'm not a son of a viscount."
"You haven't pushed me," denied Mary firmly. "I quite agree with you on both points. I both don't want to wait too long to be married to you and agree that a marriage is the best way to fight the rumours. They shouldn't have half as damaging effect when I show my face during Sybil's season as a married woman and a future countess. I'm sure we can figure out all the practical details."
Matthew smiled at her with obvious relief.
"You wanted to postpone the announcement in the papers until you could tell Foyle yourself, didn't you?" he asked astutely.
Mary looked at him contritely.
"Yes," she admitted. "However little I wanted to marry him and however delusional I found him to be about me, he was willing to face a scandal to help me. I think he deserves to be informed about my engagement to you in person, not by reading the paper over his breakfast. You don't mind, do you?"
Matthew smiled at her reassuringly and caressed her knuckles with his thumb.
"Of course not. I am so happy you've chosen me in the end that I can afford some pity for his disappointed hopes," his smile turned a bit naughty. "A very small pity."
Mary looked at him sardonically.
"Yes, I can see that."
They laughed together companionably, exchanging understanding looks of shared mirth mixed with simple exhilaration that they really were engaged, all their differences resolved.
Or nearly all.
"Well, where do you want to live?" asked Matthew, relaxing slightly against the back of the sofa and looking at Mary curiously. "We've only established that neither of us wishes to share Crawley House with my mother and that I have no desire to move into the big house with everybody else."
"Which is a pity," said Mary chidingly. "You're the heir, living here would keep that in everybody's minds, even if you do insist on keeping that job of yours."
"I absolutely do insist on keeping it," confirmed Matthew easily. "Hopefully we have decades yet before I assume the title and I can't be idle until then."
"You could," countered Mary dryly. "But don't worry, I reconciled myself to the fact that you won't."
"So I take it you won't mind too much being married to a solicitor?" asked Matthew in a low voice which made Mary shiver for some reason.
"If I did, would I go to such lengths to get engaged to you?" she asked throatily and was thrilled to note that her words made Matthew swallow visibly. She loved the confirmation of the effect she had on him. "But since I am willing to put up with your unnecessary job, shouldn't you compromise on our place to live?"
"I am willing to compromise on the actual place, but not on the issue of it being a separate house, just for us two," answered Matthew firmly. "I am greedy and want you to myself. Besides," he added dryly. "I think we both won't need an audience when we will inevitably quarrel about one thing or another."
Mary raised her eyebrows.
"Ah, so you envision us quarrelling already?"
"Of course. It's us. I am certain we will quarrel about all sorts of things."
"And yet you want to marry me?"
Matthew's eyes darkened in a way which made Mary think he would have kissed her if they weren't in a crowded drawing room.
"I've never wanted anything so much in my whole life."
As she shivered again with anticipation, Mary thought dimly that Matthew might have a point about living separately from their families.
xxx
Anthony was also much relieved when the storm calmed down and he could relax with Edith in another corner of the room.
"Your family is rather more boisterous than mine," he admitted with humour, making Edith laugh.
"Quarrelsome and contrary would be more accurate," she agreed, then looked at him with some apprehension. "You aren't too put off by it, are you?"
"Put off you? Not in the slightest," he assured her immediately, grasping her gloved hand and basking in the fact that he was allowed to express his affection for her openly now. He felt the shape of his ring under the glove and smiled even wider. "Although I might need a quiet evening to recover after family dinners at Downton in the future if they are often so volatile."
Edith laughed again, looking relieved.
"Not quite to this degree," she assured him dryly. "Tonight we had a contentious issue to settle, that's all."
He looked at her seriously, so very touched again by the way she was fighting for him and their marriage.
"Edith, don't think I want to postpone the wedding – it's the last thing I would want, I can't wait for you to be my wife – but are you sure that you want it to be so soon for the right reasons?"
Her eyes widened in sudden alarm, making him awfully guilty, but he didn't relent. He needed to be sure that his concern was unnecessary.
"Whatever do you mean? I told you I don't want to wait."
"Yes, my dear, and I loved hearing that. I am wondering though…" he paused, searching for the right words. "Do you want it to happen so soon because you truly can't wait to be married to me or because you can't stand being once again pushed out of the way of your older sister? Because I can understand that, darling, I truly can. Your family has long been very unfair to you. But I need to know that it's not the reason for your insistence on the earliest possible wedding date, because the last thing I would want is to make you rush into things. I can wait if you need more time."
"But I don't!" she exclaimed earnestly. "Anthony, I am sure. Yes, I want to be married first, since I was the first one to get engaged – I want for something in this house to be about me, for the first and last time – but most of all, I want to start my life with you. I know it's going to be so much happier than the life I've been living here. I don't want to wait."
He smiled, thinking that he would so love to kiss her now if they weren't in company.
"Then we won't wait," he said, basking in the delight clear on her face. "We will marry in February and run away from here together."
Crawley House, Downton Village, December 1913
Isobel was silent on the short drive back from Downton, but Matthew wasn't fooled by it. She was clearly unwilling to voice her thoughts in Branson's hearing, just as she had been in the Crawleys' presence, and was biding her time until they were alone.
He was proven right as soon as they gave their coats to Molesley and sent him to sleep.
"So Mary finally deigned to accept your proposal," observed Isobel in a tone which Matthew knew well enough was only outwardly placid. "Did she tell you why it took her two months?"
Matthew sighed. He did know that his mother's attitude was coming out of love and concern for him, but it did pain him all the same. The worst thing was, there was no way he could dispel her doubts about Mary. He could not tell her the whole truth – he was sure Mary would have been aghast if he did – and to be honest he was not completely sure if the truth would be enough anyway. His mother was open-minded and liberal, but she had strict moral standards and he was her only son. Confessing Mary's true reasons for delaying her answer might lower his mother's opinion of her even further and this was the last thing he wanted.
"She did," he answered, choosing his words carefully. "And her reasons were valid and understandable."
"Oh?" Isobel's whole features were expressing her scepticism. "Well, what were they?"
Matthew looked at her earnestly.
"I'm not going to tell you, Mother," he said simply and firmly. "It is a private matter between the two of us. Please believe me when I assure you that I fully understand why it took her so long and I am assured she loves me just as much as I love her."
He saw that Isobel was clearly taken aback by it and internally winced. They didn't really have any secrets from each other; their relationship was so open and honest, but then again there was never any other person involved since his father died. Matthew had a sudden realisation that this was just the first step of him leaving the life with his mother to form a new family with Mary and for all his happiness at the prospect he felt a pang of regret too.
He could see that she realised the same thing.
"I will believe you and trust that you know what you're doing," she answered finally. "But I can't say I will be able to not worry about your happiness at all until I see better proof of her feelings than I've seen so far."
"That's fair, Mother," he acquiesced reluctantly and came towards her to place a grateful kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for trusting me. Goodnight."
He felt her eyes on him as he climbed the stairs to his bedroom, but in all honesty he could not think much about her doubts. He was much too full of happiness and visions of a bright future for that.
He was engaged to Lady Mary Crawley!
Mary's bedroom, Downton Abbey, December 1913
Mary was not at all surprised when her mother entered her room soon after Anna left and sat on the edge of her bed.
"I am so happy for you, my darling," said Cora earnestly, her eyes shining with joy. "I know that Matthew is who you truly want."
"He really is, Mama," answered Mary, smiling brightly herself. After months of heartbreak and doubt, she could still hardly believe that she was engaged to him. "I told him everything and he loves me anyway!"
Cora sat up straighter, looking at her disbelievingly.
"Everything?"
Mary nodded, feeling the tears prickling against her eyes despite her smile.
"Everything," she confirmed.
Cora squeezed her hands.
"Then I know you truly chose a very good man," she said in a choked voice. "He must love you very much to overlook it."
"I think he does, Mama," agreed Mary, blinking against her tears. "I don't deserve him, but he does love me anyway."
"You do deserve him," said Cora sternly. "Whatever mistakes you have made, you do deserve to be loved and admired as the wonderful girl you are, and I couldn't be happier that you found a man who understands that."
Mary looked at her incredulously.
"Then why were you beating it into my head that I am damaged goods now?"
Cora looked away from her for a long moment, searching for words.
"Because I was deadly afraid for you, darling," she said finally, her grasp on Mary's hands tightening. "I love you so very much and I was terrified that you destroyed your life and that you were too stubborn and unreasonable to salvage what you still could of it. We live in a harsh world and, as you experienced in the last few weeks, not many people are so understanding and forgiving of such mistakes as Matthew turned out to be."
Mary winced, looking away herself now at the reminder of the ostracism she had encountered in London.
"Do you think it will be enough?" she asked quietly, avoiding Cora's eyes. "That people will forget about it when I'm married?"
Cora nodded with more assurance than she actually felt.
"They won't forget," she admitted reluctantly. "But the marriage to your father's heir will ensure your place in society and will take a lot of weight off the rumours. Since many people won't be able to imagine that Matthew was willing to forgive something like that, some will stop believing the rumours' veracity altogether. Others will still assume they were true, but will see the marriage as the family supporting you in every way and won't dare to act against you anymore. We live in a society in which an unmarried girl with a scandal is usually ruined, but a married woman with a position in society can still thrive. You will see, it won't be half as bad during the season."
Mary turned back towards her mother.
"Thank you, Mama," she said softly. "Thank you so much for being on my side even though I haven't always appreciated your methods."
"Of course I was and am on your side," answered Cora with a fond smile, letting go of Mary's hands to caress her cheek briefly. "You are my daughter and nothing is going to change that."