"Donk, it's your turn," George said, sitting on the ground close to his grandfather next to their board of ludo. In recent weeks, the boy had taken a special liking to this particular game and pulled it out almost every day when Nanny brought them down after tea. It had easily ousted snakes and ladders, which had been his clear favourite before. And lucky for him, Robert had nothing against a fair game against his eldest grandson. As long as he won.

He was mesmerised by her, there was no denying it. Even after all these years. Although he would try to deny any such allegations if confronted. He watched her mouth move and he could not suppress the bright grin as her lips curled into the faintest of smiles. He watched the way her nose crinkled ever so slightly and how her eyebrows were raised in playful astonishment looking at the children surrounding her on the settee. She was replying to something one of them had said; or maybe she was just reading from the book open in her lap? It was probably the latter, now that he was thinking about it. But to him, it did not matter, not really. She looked carefree; an impression that she had made on him all too rarely in recent months. He enjoyed seeing her so at ease once more. If he weren't such a forlorn fool with words, he might have even told her that the sight warmed his heart.

Alas, he knew he could never say as much to her, and so he simply continued to watch her. She sat somewhat crouched over the book of old fairytales from their daughters' youth with Marigold and Caroline perched on the red couch to either side of her. It was an unfamiliar sight for him, even though he wished it was not. Marigold was trying her best to keep her half-brother still in her lap and away from the apparently very fascinating pages in their grandmother's lap. The blonde boy had still somehow managed to grab the edge of one of the pages and began tugging at it with as much strength as he could possibly muster. And once again she was saying something, this time turned to look directly at the little boy to her left, joy and playful rigour reflected in her eyes and face as she carefully pried the page from his tiny and surprisingly strong fingers. Then, while her granddaughters were laughing about the whole scene, she went back to reading them the story as if nothing had happened. She squinted her eyes, a ray of sunshine directly falling on her face now that she was leaning forward again. She looked so beautiful, so serene, so at peace. And healthier. Her road to complete recovery was still a long one, but she was looking more and more like her old self, before her illness had taken over their lives for so long.

"Donk?" George inquired again.

"Robert?"

Now it was on Cora to turn her head and look at her husband with concern written all over her face when she realised he still had not reacted to George. It was not like him to not respond. When she saw, though, that he had been looking at her, she could not suppress the slight chuckle and the gentle smile that followed.

Robert, however, was still far too preoccupied looking at his wife sitting on the settee from his spot down on the carpet nearby to hear the boy's simple utterance to regain his grandfather's attention. He was beyond mesmerised and enchanted by her presence in the room, it reminded him so much of the few peaceful afternoons spent like this when their daughters were so young and his mama had not been there to reprimand them or lecture them about the proper way to spend the time with their children. He did not even realise her focus was no longer directed at the book or even the children surrounding them and instead entirely on him when she repeated herself.

"Robert?" she asked again, this time more inquiring and with even more conviction and strength.

And this time, he listened. Mainly because he finally recognised his name being spoken. He shook his head quickly and focused once more to find his wife no longer reading from the book, but looking directly at him, a questioning glint in her eyes.

"Yes, dear?" he rushed to reply, an almost apologetic expression on his face.

"You were somewhere miles away, weren't you?" she smiled.

Feeling more than a bit called out, he reluctantly set to reply: "I think so, ye-"

Huffing a laugh, Cora smiled and said: "Well, I know so. George has been trying to get your attention for a while now."

Looking a tad bit confused, his eyes followed her slender fingers as she delicately pointed to the boy sitting next to him on the ground.

"I am terribly sorry, George," he said apologetically, turning back around to look at the blonde boy. "What is it?"

"First of all, it is your turn to roll the dice, Donk. I just set your last moving piece back with the four I rolled and now you have three throws once more," George replied, sounding quite schoolmarmish. "And I also asked if you knew when they will return. It has been more than a week since Mama's last letter arrived"

Baffled, Robert looked down at the board placed on the floor between him and his grandson. And indeed, his last piece that had previously been standing so close to its target had been set back and in its stead stood George's green piece as if to taunt him. "What? No, that cannot be," he murmured in disbelief.

"Look, the four is still there. I rolled it fair and square and now you have to walk the entire round again. You could still win, though."

Grumbling, Robert took the dice from his grandson and rolled it three times. He grumbled even more when none of the three throws showed a six and he had to keep his piece right where George had reset it to.

Handing the dice back to the blonde boy, he then said: "I have not heard from your Mama or Aunt Edith either since then, but I do not think it will be for much longer. They have extended their stay in France twice already and I am sure that however nice the summer at the French villa might be, at least your mama will want to return to Downton pretty soon. She will want to get back to her work eventually, we all know she can not go without it for long. And I am not confident that she approves of some of the choices I made in the running of the estate during her absence, she will want to know how much damage control she will have to do. I also cannot imagine Tom and Lucy will want to stay away from little Violet a second longer than they already have to." With vigilant eyes he watched as George rolled another five and set his piece forward once more, now getting dangerously close to his own target. With a sigh, he added: "All that to say, I am certain they will all come home very soon."

"Who will come home very soon?"

Robert's head whipped around at the sound of the voice coming from the doorway, as did Cora's. But even before either of them could utter even a single word, George had already bolted up and began running to his mother. She stood there, her arms spread wide as she smiled at everyone before embracing the boy who practically flew into her arms.

"My, you've grown again, haven't you, Georgie?" she chuckled, ruffling his blond hair when he finally let go of her and guided her to the unoccupied settee opposite Cora and his cousins.

In the meantime, Robert had managed to get up from the floor with very minimal grunting involved. But he knew he had not looked very graceful at all. Luckily for him, everyone's focus was on his eldest daughter and her interaction with her son. Smiling benignly at them, Robert walked closer and came to a halt directly behind Cora just when Tom, Edith, and Bertie stepped closer. Edith and Bertie immediately crouched down to greet Marigold and Peter, while Caroline got up to hop onto the other settee next to her mother.

Greeting his son-in-law with a strong handshake, Robert asked: "Tom, great to have you back home. But where are Sybbie and Lucy? Don't tell me they loved the Riviera so much they decided to stay there?"

Chuckling at the obvious joke, he kept standing next to Robert when he replied: "Oh no. They loved it, especially Sybbie. But no, they returned with us but immediately wanted to go upstairs and greet Violet in the hopes that she's awake and not napping."

Cora turned to look up at the two men standing close and smiled at them. She loved to see her husband so at ease with the son-in-law he never wanted. If they were to tell people that just ten years ago Robert had tried to pay him money to leave Downton and leave their daughter be, they would surely get laughed at. Tom had not had the easiest time coming into their family, but he had changed, just like they all had. And now neither Cora nor Robert could see their family complete without him or Sybbie there, or Lucy and little Violet.

Letting her thoughts wander and thinking back on everything that had happened in the years since then, Cora had not heard what Tom had said, and so now it was on Robert to gently put his hand on her shoulder and say: "Darling?"

"Oh, I am sorry," she said, looking up at the two men smiling down at her. Apologetically, she added: "What did you say?"

"Only that the past few weeks were full of surprises and that we hope you and Robert will be able to join us on our next trip to France. We enjoyed ourselves, but we missed you," Tom replied instantly with a wide smile.

"Surprises? I want to hear all about those!" Cora laughed.

"I think next year we will be able to join you once again," Robert chimed in. "This year, however, I think the long train ride alone would have been too much for Cora."

"Undoubtedly."

The pleasant chatter that filled the library of Downton Abbey died down momentarily when out in the hall the dressing gong was rung, but it immediately resumed, although slightly less excitedly.

"That is our sign to finally get upstairs and at least wash some dust from the journey off before dinner is served," Mary said as she got up, looking at Edith and Bertie, who were doing the same.

"Yes, we should better get going!" added Edith, her young son still cooing comfortably on her arm.

Quickly, everyone filed out of the grand room and faster than anyone could have said cricket, the children were running up the stairs. Robert had just put away the book the children had chosen that afternoon and given Cora a hand to stand up from her position, when to both of their surprise, Mary was still standing close to the door, apparently waiting for them to catch up at last.

"Yes, Mary?" Cora asked when they reached her, her arm hooked into the crook of Robert's arm. She did not need the support and stability his presence by her side offered any longer, but it felt nice nonetheless. Familiar. Comforting.

"I just wanted to give you this before we all go up. I am afraid I would forget otherwise."

Their daughter reached out her hand, an envelope in her hand. Even before Cora had fully taken hold of it, both she and Robert recognised the handwriting addressing the letter to her. This could only be a letter from Harold, but it puzzled them how Mary had come into its possession. The afternoon post had already been given to them by Parker and it was still far too early for the evening post to be delivered. And there was no stamp anywhere to be seen.

Seeing both of their quizzical faces, Mary rushed to say: "I know what you must be thinking, and I promise we will answer any and all questions you might have concerning this at dinner or afterwards."