Summer 1918
"Charlie, come here!" Mary said, and lifted the boy into her arms. She had taken an hour after her conversation with Matthew to cry all her tears, and compose herself. After washing her face, and having Anna touch up her hair, she had decided what she must do next- well, what she wanted to do next. "Charlie, we're going to meet someone very special now." Mary said.
"Who?" Charlie asked, and wiggled until Mary put him down and took his hand.
"Sybil, do you know where Isobel is?" Mary asked, and Sybil nodded.
"Around this time every day, she goes out in the Garden to be take her break." Sybil said. She didnt meet Mary's eyes, so that she wouldn't reveal that Isobel knew, and that waiting in the garden had been a part of Granny Violet's plan.
"And where Matthew is?" Mary asked.
"He hasn't left the family section of the library. The door is locked, and Edith is standing sentry." Sybil said. Mary nodded, and fixed Charlie's hair.
"Alright. Wish me luck." Mary sighed, and headed towards the door.
"Good luck- and again, I'm sorry." Sybil said.
"Don't worry." Mary grinned, and led her son by the hand. She walked as swiftly as she could out the back door. "Now, my sweet boy, I want you to be on your best behavior, because we're going to meet someone very important."
"Portant?" Charlie asked as he ran his fingers over a hedge.
"Yes, very important my love." Mary smiled. She scanned the horizon of the garden, until she laid eyes on a woman's figure on the bench, several yards from any of the convalescing soldiers. She headed that direction, with Charlie bouncing around at her feet. When they were nearly there, Mary paused to think about how to tell Isobel the news. "Tell you what Charlie? Will you wait right here, behind this tree for just a moment?"
"Why?" Charlie asked.
"Because I have this chocolate for you, and you can only eat it if you stay behind the tree until Mama comes to get you." Mary said, dangling the chocolate beneath his nose.
"Yes!" Charlie nodded.
"Mama will be right back. Do not move from this spot." Mary instructed, placed the chocolate in his hand, and kissed his forehead before walking out past the tree. "Isobel." Mary called. Isobel turned, and feigned shock exceptionally well.
"Mary? What are you doing here?" Isobel asked.
"Granny convinced me it was time to come home, and face the music, or something to that nature." Mary smiled. "How have you been?"
"I've been better." Isobel smiled. "It's been very busy, of course, with Matthew, and then with the convalescent home."
"I was very sorry to hear about Matthew." Mary said, hoping to find an opening to bring out Charlie. "Actually, that's part of the reason I came back , Isobel. I have something that I wanted to tell you in person."
"Oh?" Isobel asked. She could barely conceal her enthusiasm.
"It isn't going to be easy to hear- though I imagine hearing it will be easier than saying it." Mary huffed. "Especially because it is about your son, on a slightly more intimate level."
"Whatever it is you're trying to tell me, Mary, Just say it." Isobel said, but before she could finish Mary had spoken.
"I have a son." Mary said. "And he's Matthew's son. He's your grandson." Isobel let out a long breath, and put her hand over her mouth as tears began to form in her eyes. "I know you'll be angry with me for keeping him from you, but there isn't time for that right now. He's three years old, he's the most precious child in the entire world, his name is Charles Reginald Crawley, and I have him here with me. Will you meet him?"
"Absolutely, I will." Isobel agreed at once. Mary went back to the tree, and scooped up her son, whose face was now a bit covered in chocolate. She did her best to clear it away as she walked out from behind the tree. Isobel was standing now, staring at the boy who was her flesh.
"Charlie, this is Granny Isobel." Mary said softly. The boy looked shyly at the woman, and then waved. "Well, go on, say hello."
"Hello, Gran Isobel." He said.
"Hello! What a handsome boy you are!" Isobel said, and the little boy grinned. "He looks so much like Matthew- so much like Reginald!"
"Me Reniald- Charlie Reinald!" The little boy insisted, and pointed at his chest.
"Yes, very good my love! Here, go say hello." Mary put her son on his feet, and he quickly bounced on over to the mysterious Granny Isobel.
"Up?" He asked hesitantly, and Isobel happily obliged. "You's sad? Everyone's sad?" he asked, and looked over his shoulder at his mother, who was near tears herself.
"No, Charlie, no. Happy. Everyone is very happy." Isobel said. She couldn't help but lean forward and kiss his perfect forehead, and thank God that this perfect, beautiful boy existed. "Now tell me Charlie, did you come here on a boat?"
"Yeah! So, so big! Like 'dis!" He exclaimed, throwing his arms wide. Isobel laughed, gasped.
"My goodness, that is a big boat! And when you got off of the boat, did you take a train?" Isobel asked.
"Yes!" Charlie said, and wiggled until Isobel put him down. "Like 'dis!" He said, and imitated the whistle of the train before he began walking in circles.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think there was a train at Downton!" Isobel exclaimed.
"Gran, I saw'd ponies!" He cried suddenly, and gripped at her knees. "Big ones- an' li'l too!"
"Oh! Ponies, I'll bet you went to the stable, didn't you?" Isobel asked, and scooped him up again. He prattled on for a few minutes, and Mary watched in awe as Isobel kept him engaged, until he finally decided that there was some very interesting grass that needed to be observed just a few feet from the bench.
"You already knew, didn't you?" Mary asked, and sat beside her.
"Only for a week or so." Isobel said. She didn't take her eyes off of the precious child who had begun to roll about on the ground.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry!" Mary said, and suddenly burst into tears. Isobel turned to her abruptly, and put a hand on her back. "Seeing you with him just now- how happy you were- how much he liked you-"
"You feel guilty, for depriving me of my grandson for three and a half years." Isobel said. Mary just nodded.
"I'll understand if you hate me, Isobel. Just please, don't take any of it out on Charlie- not that I think you would, I just-"
"You want to protect him, because you're his mother." Isobel said.
"Yes. That's what I thought I'd been doing all along! But perhaps I was wrong- he was so angry-"
"Of course he was! You kept his son from him for four years- he has a right to be furious with you!" Isobel said. Mary shuddered and continued to cry. Isobel took a calming breath and put her hand on Mary's back again.
"The past is over, and done with now, Mary. We cannot change it; and as much as I disagree with your choice, as angry as I was to discover it, I can't help but be grateful to you. Charles has obviously been well loved, and well looked after. And you're here now, and you've brought him, just when we needed him most."
"Do you think your son will ever forgive me?" Mary asked quietly.
"Oh, I think he will, someday. Maybe not for a very long time. But I think eventually, he'll realize that no matter what happened early on in Charlie's life, he will be able to be a father. And that means everything to him."
"I don't know how to explain how sorry I am to him." Mary sighed.
"Let your heart do the talking, Mary. You've explained everything to me well enough." Isobel suggested.
"That's what I tried to do an hour ago- it… didn't go well." Mary said.
"Let him have time to absorb everything. When he's ready to talk to you he will. And then you'll work everything out." Isobel said. "Mary, I am grateful to you, for bringing him to us."
"Thank you." Mary nodded. "On some level, I've always known that I should bring him. It was a hard decision to come to after all this time, though."
"Gran Isobel! Look, look!" Charlie called, waving his hands at her.
"Coming, my boy!" Isobel said. She patted Mary on the back once more, and then was off to see what her grandson had to show her.
AN: So, maybe not the chapter you were waiting for, and it didn't answer any questions you had, but I promise you that the answers are coming! Hopefully this chapter was still enjoyable!