Love Between Classes (Sybil & Branson) (Downton Abbey) (ON HOLD)

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Sybil's POV

Papa, Mary, Edith and I were in the dining room enjoying breakfast when Carson approached papa with his mail. Besides a letter from Shrimpy there was also a letter from Sophie's father, the Earl of Westcott. Benign to myself papa had written to Lord Westcott to thank him for looking after me and to invite him to stay with us at Downton. Papa opened the letter as I watched his brow furrow.

"Sybil, Lord Westcott here says that he has no recollection of you staying with him a fortnight ago." I looked at my empty plate, my sisters suddenly paying extra special attention.

"Well...Um...You see..."

"Mary, Edith go check mama is awake, Carson why don't you clear the plates?" Everybody cleared out the dining room leaving just me and papa. "Tell me the truth Sybil, please?"

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"The truth is I didn't stay with the Westcotts, I spent the night in a hotel." Papa took a deep breath in and nodded his head.

"Why?"

"I wanted to experience the atmosphere, live a little."

"Sybil this is getting ridiculous, all this politics malarkey. I love you for being you, but why can't you follow suit like your sisters have."

"If you love me for being me you would let me do what I pleased how I want to." I stood up from the table, threw my serviette onto the table and removed myself from the room leaving papa shocked. Running out the front door I began to walk towards the garage knowing Tom would be there.

Since we had wed 2 weeks ago Tom and I had spent every hour together that we could. We spent the whole day after our first night as man and wife in Tom's bed, my highlight being Tom's attempt at cooking cheese on toast. Luckily for us no-one required being driven anywhere so Tom was able to stay with me. Once he had dropped me outside the front door mid-afternoon on the following Monday I found myself taking more walks to the garage or trips to nearby villages then before.

The only tricky part of our marriage was spending the night with each other. Since the servants slept in the attic I found it easy to sneak out the house once everyone was asleep, although Tom had spent one night in my bed until Edith came into the room complaining that she could hear me 'sleep-talking' from the hallway while Tom hid underneath the bed out of sight.

As I turned the corner to the garage I saw Tom bending over a car's bonnet and smiled to myself at how perfect he was. He stood up noticing me approaching him and held his arms open for me to walk into. As I snaked my arms around his neck he lifted me up and swirled us round in a circle. I knew we couldn't keep our marriage secret forever, but nothing, including the typical British weather, could keep the smile off our faces whenever we were with each other.