the princess and the pauper ♕ tommy shelby

chapter nine

"We must, I couldn't thank him enough" Mary said. "Join us for dinner, we'll have Granny come and Mary's fiancé is also coming" Lady Grantham said. "I will, I have missed you all so much" she said. "I am sorry I left as I did, but I felt like I had to help somehow" she said. "We understand, darling, we are glad to have you back now" Lady Grantham said. Ophelia saw Edith and Sybil again as well before going back to work to help where she could. Before dinner she went to see Tommy again.

"I'm glad you are alive" Tommy said. "I am glad you are. But I assume you'll be back if you can" Ophelia said. "I won't be. This wound. It made sure neither Freddie nor I need to go back, honorary discharge for saving the life of Captain Crawley" Tommy said. "Thank you again, my family is ever so grateful" Ophelia said. "It is nothing, trust me" Tommy said. The dressing gong rang, which Ophelia missed more than she thought. "I need to go; I will see you again after dinner" she said and gave him a longing kiss.

Neither of them knew that Lady Grantham had seen it, and instead of anger which was something Ophelia was expecting from her family, there was a smile. Her daughter's happiness was clear on her face, and that's all she could wish for.

At dinner Ophelia, who was dressed in one of her old frocks, met Sir Richard Carlisle, someone she never knew before and wished she never had. He was an odd man, he seemed to think he was much more important than he actually was. "There is more news" Lord Grantham said, looking at his family, after dinner in the drawing room. Even though they could only use half of the room, with the other half being used by wounded soldiers, they still made the best of it. "What more is there?" the Dowager said, who had requested to be seated next to her youngest granddaughter. "There is a man here, who claims to be Patrick Crawley" Lord Grantham said. "Cousin Patrick?" Ophelia asked. "Yes, his story is that he was found by Canadians, and had memory loss" Edith said.

"I clearly missed something" Richard Carlisle said looking around. "Patrick is the man Mary was supposed to marry before the Titanic sank" Edith said, and Ophelia thought it was quite unnecessary to tell Carlisle that. "And our cousin, Downton's first heir" Ophelia said. "This is good" Matthew said, who was now able to sit in a wheelchair. "How is this good?" Mary asked, looking at Matthew. "I can't walk, and possibly not have heirs, he comes back and now Downton has the possibility to have heirs again" Matthew said. "Do we even know if he's speaking the truth?" Ophelia asked, looking at her father. "I have sent his story to Murray; he's going to see if it adds up and if anyone can confirm it" Lord Grantham said.

"Does he look like Cousin Patrick?" Sybil asked. "His face is burned" Edith said. "That's convenient" Mary said. "It is him; I know it is" Edith said. "We haven't seen or spoken to Patrick for 6 years, and for all we know this man met him once and remembered the stories" Ophelia said. "This is Cousin Patrick you're talking about" Edith said. "Possibly" Ophelia said. "Edith, we can't just believe any man who walks in here and claims to be family, especially not one who we assumed was dead" Ophelia said. "Ophelia is right, besides this all seems very convenient, where was he before?" Mary said. "Convenient? How?" Edith said.

"The man's face is burned beyond recognition and his reason for not finding us was amnesia?" Mary said. "What about his accent? Does he still sound posh like Patrick used to?" Sybil asked. "He sounds Canadian now" Edith said. "How? Even with memory loss he wouldn't just lose his accent" Ophelia said. "Girls now is not the time. We will wait for Murray and go from there" Lord Grantham said.

Before going to bed, Ophelia visited Tommy again. "Look at you, all dressed for dinner" Tommy said when he saw her. He was out on the balcony, having his last smoke for the day. "It feels weird, being dressed like this again. I haven't been dressed in anything but my nurse scrubs since the war started" Ophelia said, standing next to him. "What's troubling that pretty head of yours?" Tommy asked, when he said her frowned forehead. "According to my sister Edith, our Cousin Patrick, who we thought died on the Titanic is a Canadian soldier here" Ophelia said.

"Did she recognise him?" Tommy asked. "No, she says his face is burned but he recognised her" Ophelia said. "Claims he had memory loss which is why he never came back" she said. "You don't believe it?" Tommy asked, sitting down on a chair. "No, because if it was truly Patrick, I would think he'd find Mary first, the sister who he was engaged to" Ophelia said. "Did they love each other?" Tommy asked.

Ophelia turned to him, walking closer as she pulled her shawl closer around her arms. "My people, we don't marry for love" she said, caressing his cheek which calmed his mind. "We marry for status, and hope we like each other enough to be civil" Ophelia said. "Would you have to do that as well" he asked, holding her hand in place on his cheek. "Possibly, though most men my age have died during the war, I don't know how many are left" she said.

Tommy looked at her, determination on his face. "Then I'll make sure I get the status I need to marry you" he said. She looked at him quite shocked and wondered how he'd manage to do that. "You'd do that?" she asked. He stood up, somewhat taller than she had been, and rested his forehead against hers. "I'd do anything for you" Tommy said. "I'd do anything for you too" she said.

Mary looked away from the scene, she felt awful for having to encourage Ophelia to break it off. "She seems happy" Cora Crawley said when she saw her eldest daughter walk away. "You know?" Mary asked in shock. "I do, she's not good at hiding her affections for him" she replied to her daughter. "You approve?" Mary asked. "Yes, and no. Your father will have difficulties with it, but my daughters happiness comes first. Besides, Ophelia is the youngest, she would never inherit anything anyways. And this man seems to make her happy. Do we know who he is?" she asked. "Thomas Shelby, Ada's older brother. He's the one who helped save Matthew and William" Mary said. Lady Grantham nodded. "That we can use to perse your father" she said before going back upstairs.

Ophelia, who had suddenly gotten an idea to see if Patrick was speaking the truth or not, asked Tommy for his help. She had told him some childhood stories about Patrick, and even though she was young, she still remembered them and Patrick. She would pretend to be just a nurse, and Tommy would play the role of a lord's son who'd also spend his time at Downton, a family friend so to speak. And if Patrick said he remember they knew he'd be lying.

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am i in love with ophelia and tommy, yes i am