AN: Hello all! This chapter was originally two chapters, but I decided that I would combine them just to help move things along! So here it is, the next chapter! Thanks for the reviews and the follows!
Summer 1918
Mary stared out at the front lawn of her Grandmother's home. It was lush, green and beautiful, flowers bloomed in the garden, but Lord knew it wasn't home. Even after four years in New York, she couldn't imagine it as her
home. No, home was England, Was Downton. And now her family was begging for her return.
Or rather, three of them were, the three of them who knew. Begging for her to return to Downton, to her family, to him. How could she come back to him after all these years, tell him the truth, when she knew how much he would hate her?
And what was the point? Her family had told her all about his precious little Lavinia, how she was intent on stay by his side regardless of his injury. She had to have been an extraordinary girl, Marythought, to have Matthew love her. Though she wasn't surprised that the girl wanted to stay with Matthew. Matthew was the best of men- to let him slip through your fingers was utterly stupid. She knew from experience. How could she return to Downton and tell the truth, and ruin Matthew's
happiness? Ruin this Lavinia's life? She couldn't.
"Lady Mary?" Anna asked, entering the room.
"Hm?"
"I've had a letter, from Mr. Bates. About Mr. Matthew again. He says, "The man's condition is unfortunate- He is bound to a chair during the day, and his bed during the night, and is in such a sorry state of mind that I often believe he wishes to be dead. He has sent Miss Swire away, and refuses to hear-"
"He sent her away?" Mary asked, rising suddenly. Anna nodded. "He sent her away…"
"Yes, Mi'lady. He has." Anna confirmed. She knew all about her Lady's plight, and had always been supportive, while secretly wishing to return to Downton, her home. She longed to see Mr. Bates again, longed to spend the day doing those old remedial tasks. The time was right now, Anna could feel it, if she could only convince Lady Mary.
"Interesting." Mary sniffed. She stared out the window again, scanning the yard until she found who she was looking for. "I'll be in the garden then." And she strode elegantly out of the room. Her heels clicked against the marble flooring as she walked through the hall- this place was so...empty, and lacked the warmth and the memories that Downton had always seemed to radiate. Her Grandmother Levinson was always away, on some tour or holiday or other, leaving her alone for the most part. She had to admit that she missed the warmth of her large family surrounding her. Over the years she had often contemplated returning, but there had always been so many reasons not to, but now…
"Mama!" Mary turned around, and her face broke into one of those special grins that only her precious son could get from her.
"Charlie my love, come here!" Mary cooed, and the little boy ran forward and leapt into her arms. She pressed several kisses to his curly blonde hair, and then brushed it away from his forehead. "What have you been up to my love?"
"I foun 'dis in the garden fo' you, Mama!" Charlie giggled, and handed a crumpled flower to his mother. Mary lifted it to her nose, and inhaled the sweet scent. "I help!" Charlie cried, and lifted the rose to tangle it in his mother's dark hair.
"Thank you my darling! How do I look?"
"Beautiful!" Charlie giggled. Mary scooped him up in her arms, and pressed a few more kisses to his round cheek. He was a perfect angel, in looks, and in manners, and he had inherited it all from his father. His beautiful blue eyes, and blonde curls, right down to the facial expressions and a small birthmark on his right hip. "Mama sad?" Charlie asked, clamping his hands on her cheeks. Another trait he had inherited from his father; being able to see right through her.
"No my boy, How could Mama be sad when she's holding you in her arms?" Mary asked, and blew a raspberry to the inside of his wrist causing him to giggle. "My good, sweet boy." She kissed his cheek once more, and set him down on his feet. He grabbed her hand, and walked alongside her, babbling incoherently about this thing or that as Mary watched him. For the thousandth time in the last four years, she wondered if she had done the right thing in hiding him from the world, from her family, from anyone who might hurt him or look down upon him. From his father.
His father.
Mary thought of Matthew, how he had always looked at children, how he had always wanted them. And now he wouldn't have any...except...he already did. A perfect son, his copy exactly, without a trace of her sharper, darker features. And she had selfishly kept him from him. She had once thought that her little Charles Reginald Crawley was a perfect blessing, a perfect gift for her to cling to when Matthew was lost to her. Matthew could have gone on as normal, married Lavinia and had a dozen more babies without ever knowing about Charlie.
But now Charlie was his only chance at having a child- let alone an heir for her family home. It was rightfully Charlies, as Matthew's first born, as her first born. She had always known it, and now… how could she deprive Matthew of the joy of being a parent, something that she had found such great joy in
these last four years? She loved him madly, even now, and even if he would hate her for her deception, hate her for her lies, he would love her son- their son. How could he do anything else?
"Charlie, do you remember that Mama is from a place far away from here, from a place called England?" Mary asked, scooping the boy up once more.
"En'land?" He asked.
"Yes, England. From a great big house with gardens, and libraries, and ponies." Mary said with her best storytelling voice.
"Ponies?" He gaped, excitedly.
"Yes, ponies! Do you suppose you would like to go there?" Mary asked.
"Ponies!" He nodded, and Mary laughed.
"Yes, yes, you shall see many ponies, even Mama's special pony, Diamond." Mary said resolutely. "Anna?"
"Yes Mi'lady?" Anna asked as she walked towards Mary and her son.
"Have Mr. Wyatt book three places on the next ship leaving for England. We're going home."
...
"Yes, of course my dear… Yes, I will take care of everything. Don't worry. Yes….I love you too. I'll see you soon. Goodbye." Violet said. She hung up the telephone with a grin.
"She's coming home then?" Sybil asked, beside herself with excitement.
"She'll be here in two days." Violet confirmed. Sybil nodded and bit her lip to keep from grinning- she hadn't seen her beloved oldest sister in three years, not since her mother had sent Edith, and herself to convince her to return home…
March 1915
"Should we have called first?" Sybil asked, biting her nails. Edith swatted her sister's hand away from her mouth, and shook her head.
"Why? So she could avoid us, as she is now? No, Sybbie, it's best to take her by surprise." Edith explained, and knocked on the large front door of her grandmother's home. "Besides, Grandmother Levinson said we could come. It's her house, we have no reason not to be here."
"Ah, Lady Edith, Lady Sybil, Mistress Levinson told me that you would be coming. I am Mr. Wyatt, your grandmother's humble butler." The kind old gentleman said as he opened the door. "If you'd like to come into the sitting room, I could have tea brought out for you."
"Thank you, that would be lovely." Edith said before Sybil could get a word in. They followed Mr. Wyatt to what Edith thought was the most atrociously decorated room she had ever seen, and took a seat. "Tell me, Mr. Wyatt, Is our sister in today?"
"Lady Mary? Yes, she is. She usually takes tea at about this time in the sitting room- if you'd like for me to inform her of your arrival-"
"No, no, that won't be necessary, Mr. Wyatt, but thank you." Edith said with a charming smile as she took a seat on an overstuffed green chair. The old man nodded, and left the room. Sybil immediately began pacing back and forth across the room, never taking her eyes off of the door. "Would you sit down, Sybil? You're going to wear a hole in the carpet. Not that it would be tragic if you did- I'll never understand Grandmother's obsession with this horrid color."
"How can you be so calm? We haven't heard from our sister in months and you sit there as if we're waiting for her to walk into the breakfast room at Downton on a tuesday morning!" Sybil cried.
"I'm calm because, despite our differences, Mary is an intelligent woman who can make reasonable choices about her own life. She made the choice to travel here, and live here, so there must be a-" She didn't finish her statement as the door swung open and Mary let out a cry of surprise.
"Mary!" Sybil cried, and ran forward to embrace her sister, at first not noticing the change in her sister's figure. She only really noticed when she wrapped her arms around her sister's usually trim waist, and felt a movement against her belly. "Mary?"
"What are you doing here?" Mary gasped, her eyes filling with tears.
"Mama sent us to find you, and try to convince you to come home…" Edith trailed off. She couldn't take her eyes off of her sister's distended stomach. "But I suppose I see now that you won't."
"Try not to enjoy this too much, sister." Mary hissed, and turned her face away from them.
"Mary...Who- how- when?" Sybil said, trying to string together a coherent sentence. "Who?"
"Does it matter? I suppose now you'll telephone Downton and tell everyone about your sister's shame. It's everything you ever wanted, isn't it Edith? A chance to ruin me. It didn't work with the Turkish ambassador, but now you have this." Edith shook her head and physically recoiled from her sister's cruel words.
"Mary, please, We're your sisters, you can trust us with anything!" Sybil insisted, not understanding the battle that waged between her older sisters. Mary bit her lip, and looked at both of them. She did long to talk about this with someone, and not just with Anna. She wanted to tell someone else, tell someone who didn't already know, that she was having Matthew Crawley's baby, and that she was happy to be doing so.
"Mary, Whatever happened between us in the past...I promise you, I won't tell a soul about this." Edith said gently. Mary nodded warily, and then sighed.
"You may as well sit down. Mr. Wyatt will be here in three minutes with tea, like clockwork. And the story I'm about to tell you is long."
…
"Does she know, that Isobel knows?" Sybil asked.
"No. Isobel and I discussed it; We decided that Isobel would play the fool until after Mary's return, and act appropriately shocked when Mary fessed up." Violet explained.
"She's handling this remarkably well." Sybil observed.
"She's angry, of course, because she has been robbed of getting to know her grandchild, of getting to be a grandmother. But she is also grateful to know that she has a grandchild. Grateful that her husband's line is continuing." Violet explained. The look on Isobel's face when Violet had shown her the latest photograph of Charles had said it all. "Though I wouldn't be at all surprised if she boxed Mary round the ears after thanking her for bringing him home"
"She won't tell Matthew, do you think?" Sybil asked.
"No, she's agreed that that particular information must be given to him by Mary, and Mary only." Violet said. She herself was feeling a bit giddy; not only would her eldest granddaughter be returning, but she would bring with her her precious great grandson, whom she had only ever seen in a photograph.
"But how are we to handle this? Do we tell Papa and Mama that she is returning? Or do we let her coming be a surprise? And if we are to tell them, how much do we tell them? Do we tell them about Charlie? Or does Mary tell them when she arrives with him in tow?" Sybil asked.
"My dear, Don't worry. I'll take care of everything." Violet assured her.
"I am worried, Granny! You've seen the photographs; as soon as anyone sees him they're going to know exactly who his father is!" Sybil hissed. "If Mama or Papa find out before Matthew does…"
"Again, Don't worry my dear. Your parents won't be home when Mary arrives. They'll be here with me, for luncheon. They've already accepted my invitation."
"But- how- Granny, how did you know?"
"I've become wise with age, Sybil dear. I knew Mary wouldn't be able to stay away. Not now. So I took the necessary precautions." Violet sniffed. "For instance, you have the afternoon off duty. You'll have to look after the boy of course, when Mary is going to talk to Matthew. She'll have to do that in the first day, and without the child obviously."
"At the hospital? It hardly seems appropriate! Suppose Mary tells him and he creates a scene-"
"Matthew is moving to Downton to convalescence starting tomorrow, Sybil. I told you, I've thought of it all."