"I've never really understood Americans," Daisy said as she stood in the doorway, twisting a dish towel in her hands. "All their customs and such… its similar to us but not quite. I just never understood any of it. I just don't understand it all."

"There are many things not to understand about them," Ms. O'Brien stated as she worked on her knitting. "They are a confusing lot, all of them." She paused and looked over at Mrs. Levinson's maid. "No offense meant towards you, of course."

"None taken," the woman said. "Honestly I don't understand you British so I think we're in the same boat."

"Well now-" Mrs. Hughes began only for Anna to interrupt, shifting Noah on her hip.

"I think its quite common for people of different countries to not understand one another. Everyone has a rich history."

Anna had come by to return a cook book that Mrs. Patmore had lent the Grantham Arm's cook only to find herself forced to play peacemaker when Miss Reed began to poke her metaphysical needle into the staff, trying to get reactions. Anna had been able to tell at once that the woman was looking for a fight from the way she kept smirking at everyone… and unfortunately it seemed like everyone else was itching for some verbal sparring as well. She could have left well enough alone but the old habits were hard to kick and she found herself stepping in all the same.

"Except that's the problem, it's it?" Ms. O'Brien said. "Americans don't have a rich history."

"I'll admit we can't hold a candle to the British Empire," Miss Reed said and Anna winced; even though the other servants were smiling at that comment she just knew that the woman wasn't actually trying to compliment them. "We've only massacred one indigenous people and enslaved another. We have quite a way to go to catch up with all of you."

Daisy frowned at that. "What do you mean? I don't know of any Indigent People?"

"Indigenous, my dear," Miss Reed said politely, tapping her spoon against her coffee cup. "And of course you don't… the English killed them all or shipped them off to some bog or swamp where they could never be seen again. Well… until you all decide that you want that land too." Mrs. Hughes opened her mouth to protest but Miss Reed continued on. "Again, I am not saying that we Americans haven't done the same… after all, much like a child learns to curse from hearing their parent let loose a foul word, so too did we learn our sins from watching you. But the fact remains that every place the British Empire has stepped they've left bloody footprints."

"We have brought culture and stability to the world," Mrs. Patmore complained, stomping in from the kitchen. "Would you have us all back in mud huts?"

"The Greeks and Romans were far more cultured than the British," Miss Reed stated. "They had democracy back while everyone living on these lands were trying to figure out how to grow crops. They say that the African tribes had a deep and spiritual culture… the only thing you had that they didn't were guns."

Ms. O'Brien glared at her before turning her head away in a clear rebuff of the American. "Leave it to someone like you to fail to see the importance of the British Empire and all it's done for the world."

"You don't get to only look at the good and not the bad," Miss Reed countered. "To do so is to fail to learn from history." She paused. "Or you could do what I do."

"Complain and mock your hosts?" Mrs. Hughes said pointedly.

Miss Reed shook her head though at that. "Decide to live for the future rather than the past. Work towards what is coming rather than clinging to what has come before." She turned to look back at Mrs. Hughes. "I think that's why all of you hate us Americans so much. You are so obsessed with the past you've made your entire lives revolve around constantly trying to swim back to it. Fighting against the current. How many of you would rather have an old king rather than a new one because you are scared of what he might bring? We Americans… we are always racing towards the future. It might be horrible, yes… but it might be far brightest than what came before. The only difference is we'll know."

And with that she stood up.

"I must see to Mrs. Levinson. She likes to take a bath right before she dresses for the evening meal."

The others watched her go and Anna looked down at Noah who was too busy fiddling with a stuffy to really pay attention to what was going on.

"Well, have you ever heard any rubbish more prettily made up ?" Ms. O'Brien said with a huff, rising and moving to go get her ladyship ready for dinner.

"Hmmm, I am sure that won't be the end of that," Mrs. Hughes said with a scoff. "Those two will fight till the blow the horns of Judgment Day and still manage to bicker even as the good Lord brings all the souls to Heaven." She shook her head and walked over to Anna, patting her on the arm. "I suppose for you at least you don't have to worry about dealing with her. That is a plus." Mrs. Hughes held out her arms. "Now… how about a hug and a kiss for us, Noah?"

The little boy happily allowed Mrs. Hughes to take him, giggling as she pressed a kiss to his cheek before she walked him over to Mrs. Patmore to say goodbye (and Anna also knew that the cook was sneaking him a treat that would ruin his appetite for supper but she could never bring herself to ask her to not spoil him). For her part Anna walked over to Daisy who had her brow utterly furrowed.

"Don't worry about it, Daisy. Miss Reed I think just likes to stir things up."

"Oh, it's not that," Daisy said softly, twisting the towel again. "I was just thinking about what she said… about focusing on the past and not living for the future." She looked at Anna. "Did you know that they want to give me William's pension."

"I'm not surprised. You two were married."

"But it wasn't a real marriage," Daisy said softly. "I keep thinking about that… how I was unfair to him. Made him think that I cared for him more than I actually did. I've wanted to not accept, to find some way to turn it down… but what Miss Reed said…"

"Daisy?" Anna pressed when the kitchen maid grew silent.

"William… he's in the past, isn't he? I wish he wasn't… I very much wish he was here with us right now. Even if I couldn't be what he wanted me to be… it would be better if he were here. But… he isn't. And he's never going to be, will he?"

"Not in this life," Anna said softly. She didn't like to talk about the afterlife… she knew what the Bible said about Heaven but… sometimes it was hard to believe that there was something beyond death. Yet she also knew that wasn't what Daisy needed to hear at the moment.

"So… I could spend the rest of my days thinking back about him and worrying about what I could have done… or I could move forward. William… that money could help me move forward." She paused. "Do… do you think that's what William would have wanted?"

"Yes," Anna said, trying very hard not to cry. "I think that's what William would very much want for you."

The kitchen maid nodded and managed a smile before she hurried back to work, Mrs. Patmore bringing over Noah who had something sticky and sweet-looking around his lips. She shot the woman a dark look but the cook merely shrugged and darted away.

"Oh, leave her be," Mrs. Hughes said, walking back to Anna. "We all like playing aunt with this wee one."

"And he likes you doing so," Anna assured her, Noah smacking his lips before giving a little yawn. "I must be off. He needs a nap."

"And you need to ensure that his Lordship doesn't drag you up to dinner."

Anna's eyes went wide at that. "Yes, I do believe you are right… I'm not brave enough to eat with them as is, let alone with Mrs. Levinson there!"

"I would join you if I could!" Mrs. Hughes said and Anna laughed before quickly darting out of the hall and out the back.

~MC~MC~MC~

Cora watched as her mother sliced into her beef, her fingers wrapped around her utensils like they were fighting weapons. Somehow, no matter how many times she saw her mother, she always forgot about her unique way of eating. While everyone else made do with a limited of movements as possible her mother went in full contrast, twisting her wrists and jerking her arms about so that if the footmen weren't careful they might get an elbow in the gut. Honestly Cora couldn't help but wonder if her mother did it on purpose; be so blatantly bad at how she cut into her meat in order to aggravate those around her. She knew all other table manners. She knew every fork and spoon, she never put her elbows on the table or talked with her mouth open. She understood how to serve herself. It was just that one thing and Cora knew her mother wasn't a fool who missed how everyone else ate.

'Everyone has their little power plays and their games they like to engage in,' she thought to herself. 'Ways they like to put people off balance.' Cora herself had done things like that herself, such as allowing people to forget her heritage only to remind them of it when they said something horrid about Americans or the Jewish people. Robert said often he didn't like to be thought of as a bumbling oafish lord and yet he was able to act like a genteel and kind man one moment… and then turn utterly firm the next once someone had been lured into a false sense of security. More than one carpetbagger, as they'd called them in her youth, had learned that when they'd arrived trying to trick him into selling off some land or buying soddy equipment for the house.

"You know," her mother said casually after swallowing a piece of meat, "I am surprised you have recovered so quickly from the shortages." She took a moment to take a sip of wine. "I know that there is talk that certain Southern states were suffering shortages of pork and beef and yet here you are with a full table." She paused. "Though I do hope you didn't spend much trying to impress me."

Mama ever looked up from her food. "Oh, we would never do that."

"Hmmm," Cora's mother said, obviously hearing the insult even if Robert's mother didn't speak the words aloud.

"There were shortages, grandmomma," Mary told her. "I had a devil of a time finding ingredients."

"Yes, you did mention that earlier, didn't you, but I didn't get to press you on it. You cook now, Mary?"

Mary though shook her head. "Bake. Not cook."

"Whatever is the difference?"

"A cook is Mrs. Patmore, who will prepare meat and vegetables and the like. I stick with cakes and pies and biscuits and other deserters. Thus a baker, not a cook."

"Well, that makes sense." Cora's mother smiled at Mary. "Perhaps I should send you some cookbooks from America, allow you to see if you can take some of our favorite dishes and put a British twist on them. Have you ever had New York Style Cheesecake?"

"I can't say that I have," Mary admitted. "I'll admit I've heard of cheesecake… I believe Matthew's friend who was in Germany mentioned it-"

Cora's mother cut Mary off. "Oh, not that piffle! New York Cheesecake is so very different from the German one. You must try your hand at it, my dear. It is so rich it almost hurts to eat it but you find yourself going for your fork all the same."

"What an odd dessert," Robert's mother commented. "I'm not quite for sure I'd like something that hurt me as I ate it."

"Life is pain," Cora's mother responded. "Why should dessert be any different?" She cut into her meat. "Yes, I think I'll get you some cookbooks, my dear… why you might create British versions. Imagine that, Robert… Downton Style Cheesecake."

Robert smiled at that. "It would be a nice feather in our cap."

"And far be it from me to fight anyone when it came to me having control of a kitchen," Mary teased. Cora looked over at Carson who was trying not to grimace; since Mary had returned to Downton she had several times gone down to make use of Mrs. Patmore's kitchen, much to the cook's frustrations if O'Brien was to be believed. What made matters worse was that Mary was clearly Mrs. Patmore's superior when it came to making sweet and decadent desserts. Honestly if she could have gotten away with it she would have had Mary make Edith's wedding cake. But as it was Mrs. Patmore was given that task and still, for the most part, made all parts of their meals while Mary and her fought over counter space.

"Still, I am impressed." Cora's mother dabbed her meal in a bit of sauce that had been drizzled onto her plate. "I am ashamed to admit, Mary, that of all you girls I worried about you the most."

"You did?" Mary said, surprised.

"Of course! You seemed to have only the drive to be the lady of the house! And I always knew you were so much more than that. If you had put your mind to it I dare say you could have been President of England."

"Prime Minister, mama," Cora corrected.

"Hmmm, that always confused me. A minster belongs in a church, not making laws."

Robert's mother chimed in, "One could argue we'd be better off if more of the clergy helped guide us."

"Perhaps… but that would be like trying to take this napkin and dipping it into a bucket of oil. The oil isn't going to get whiter, if you understand."

"Well… yes, I suppose you have the right of it there," Robert's mother admitted. "Politics… a messy affair."

"That's why I'm always telling Cora's brother to get out of such things." She paused. "Still, I am impressed with you Mary in finding something to set yourself apart from the rest of the world. Bravo to you, my dear."

"Would you be more so to learn that much of the meat for this meal came from Downton itself?" Robert asked.

"Really?" Cora's mother said, turning towards Matthew. "This is what all of you mentioned… how you used my husband's money to invest back into Downton and not just in suits of armor and pretty paintings."

"Hopefully Robert will forgive me," Matthew said. "He does so love his suits of armor."

Robert let out a huffing laugh at that. "Everyone always brings up the suits of armor but Downton never had one! I dare say there isn't even a helmet in here!"

"At this point," Tom said, speaking up for the first time during dinner, "I think it is just engrained in the public consciousness that English Lords have suits of armor."

"Like you know how to grow potatoes?" Robert asked.

Cora gasped, ready to scold him for that insult, only for Tom to laugh. "I must admit that is one Irish stereotype I was never able to live up to."

"A pity," Robert commented, eyes twinkling. "I so do love hash browns."

Cora's mother smirked before turning back to Matthew. "So, much of the meat is raised here at Downton."

"It is," Matthew said. "Though I admit that wasn't my part in it. Mary and Tom have been the leaders in getting us into that field."

Mary waved his off. "We merely suggested it."

"And presented why it was a brilliant idea," Matthew said before looking back at Cora's mother. "Many economists are predicting that we are due for a robust growth. The middle class is growing and the men that marched off to war are now returning with a hunger for a better life. No simple meat will do… they are going to desire something special."

Tom took up the conversation. "It used to be that a man wouldn't mind where his steak came from… what mattered was who prepared it. But there is a growing trend of wanting to know the lineage of the meat."

"Rather like show dogs," Cora's mother said.

"Though we don't eat those," Robert's mother chimed it. "At least not here."

Robert decided to finally join back in. "All of us discussed it and we felt that it would be wise to begin marketing out meat in such a way. Matthew already had begun to help people working our lands produce Downton Brand products. There are several shops in London that carry our jams and jellies, for example. Downton Beef and Pork will boast of being true English meat, raised on English farms and eating English grass."

"Well," Cora's mother said as such stabbed at the final piece on her plate, "I'd say you have a winner here." She popped the last bit into her mother and made a show and murmuring in delight. "A good use of my husband's money."

Matthew leaned forward, a slight smirk on his face. "It might not be your husband's money soon."

"Oh?" Cora's mother said.

"Mary and I have talked about it… well, did you know that Cousin Violet asked me to look into the entail, to see if it could be broken."

"Did she now?" Cora's mother asked.

Robert's mother merely shrugged ever so slightly, allowing Alfred to take her plate so they could move on to the next course. "I felt it wise to have someone not tied to the estate like Murray give it a look over. Matthew had shown himself very supportive of the girls; before he and Mary began to court he assured all the girls that he would see to their care."

"Though time has proven us not needing that," Edith said, glancing at Sybil who nodded.

"I felt that Matthew would be honorable and confirm everything was as we believed." She paused. "And if it gave Mary the shake needed to see he was an honorable man…"

"Granny!" Mary gasped in surprise.

"Come now, my dear, we can all say it now that you two are wed: only a blind man would miss how you two were meant to be together and even then they'd have to be deaf as well."

Mary pressed her lips together, refusing to comment as the others chuckled.

"What does all this have to do with my husband's money?" Cora's mother asked.

"Everything. As Cousin Violet said when I looked over the entail I felt that Robert's father was rather cruel in how he tied the money up so tightly to the estate."

Cora's mother huffed. "He feared that Cora would grow tired of life in dreary England and hurry back to America."

"Mother!" Cora exclaimed.

"Oh don't give me that you know that I'm right! You might be a proper English lady now but I remember you as a rebellious child. Always dreaming big dreams and seeking adventure and excitement."

"Oh really?" Sybil asked, eyebrow raised and Cora let out an internal moan, knowing that with her mother there the stories of her childhood and more worrying her teenage years would soon be out for the amusement of her daughters. They were never going to let her hear the end of it when they learned just how much like them she had once been.

Cora's mother looked at Sybil and gave a rather over the top wink, in Cora's opinion. "I'll share with you some stories. My favorite is when she convinced Robert and a few of the other boys vying for her attention to hunt for a bracelet she left in the park." She paused. "Tell me Robert are you even allowed back at Alfonzo's?"

"…it was a life time ban and let us leave it at that," Robert commented, blushing in embarrassment.

"But we've gotten off the point." She turned to Matthew.

"Yes… the last thing I want for our children-" he looked at Mary and Cora knew if they were sitting next to each other he would have taken her hand in his own, giving it a tend squeeze, "-is to go through the same thing Mary did. As such we've decided to set a portion of the money Downton produces into a trust until it equals what your husband gave to the Crawleys for Cora's dowry. This will be split among any child we have, boy or girl, who are not my heir."

"My husband gave quite a bit," Cora's mother said.

"I am aware," Matthew said with a teasing smirk.

"Well… I am delighted to hear that you are thinking so far ahead, Matthew." She paused as a new plate, this one with a dessert of a crème cake, was placed in front of her. She cut into it and just as conversations were preparing to begin again she said, "Now if only you two had thought far enough ahead to inform me of your marriage."

Mary set her fork down. "Judgment day is going to come and you will be telling the Lord about that, won't you?"

"Mary," Cora scolded.

Cora's mother, however, held up her hand. "No… let her snap back. I like it when people fight against me, especially when they are in the wrong. It amuses me."

"We have apologized many times… what we did was wrong."

"Yes to the latter point… and to the former I would remind you of the old saying "forgive and forget" is rather wrong. Forgive? Yes. Forget…"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Robert's mother said and Cora SWORE she saw Carson, from the corner of her eyes, snap his head in the dowager's direction. She didn't blame him… Cora had heard Violet Crowley make that very same comment herself many times!

Edith sighed. "None of you are going to let this go, are you?" She waved her hand at her grandmother. "You will use this as a weapon against Mary despite the fact that none of us let mama or papa know that Mary was married… they only learned because Granny found out. And I made no move to tell anyone about Michael asking to marry me… again, everyone just found out." She looked at Mary who stared back like she'd bitten into a sour lemon. "And you will not let go of the fact that you made a terrible mistake in not letting grandmomma know. And everyone is upset that they weren't there for Mary's wedding." She threw up her hands. "So I will fix it! Mary and Matthew will renew their vows when Michael and I marry."

THAT caused the room to fall into shocked silence.

For… about 10 seconds.

And then the chaos exploded out like all the people building the Tower of Babel discovering they were now speaking in different tongues.

"Edith! There is no need for that!"

"You can't be serious!"

"That is your day!"

"I will not steal your thunder!"

"Come now dear, see reason!"

"Carson, can I have another slice?"

Michael's final comment got them all to quiet down once more.

"…it was very good."

Matthew found his voice. "You don't mind, Michael?"

"Of course not. It will still be Edith and my day… you two will renew your vows but it will still be our wedding." He looked over at Tom and Sybil. "Unless you want to join in as well."

"…yes, we can renew our vows as well," Sybil said.

Edith's brow furrowed. "You mean wed."

"No, renew our vows," Sybil said as she slices off a tiny piece of cake, raising it to her lips. "Tom and I married before coming to Downton." She paused. "And I am pregnant."

Tom pressed his head into his hands as the room descended into madness once more.