Downton Abbey: The Risk Of Love

Amicis Illuminatio Mea

Manchester,
July 1920

The train ride seemed to take forever to Matthew. He was sitting and glancing from the newspaper in his lap to through the window at the passing trees and fields. The heir was utterly jittery from the fact that he and Thomas were finally returning to Manchester after so many months of sneaking around. Of course, they still needed to hide their romantic relationship from John and Harvey — but their friendship could be in full bloom. It would be the first time they would celebrate either of their birthdays together, properly. The time in the trenches barely counted as there had been no time for such things — battles had taken place, watches and leave.

This also made Matthew excited for the upcoming birthday of Thomas Barrow in August and he had some grand plans for a gift or two for the man who held all of his love.

He glanced down at the newspaper again and read the headlines about the new airmail between London and Amsterdam that had opened, but it held no interest to him. All he wanted was to escape this first class cart and be with Thomas once again. After all these years his heart still yearned whenever they were apart — and it did not matter if it they were parted for a few minutes or hours, it constantly ached until he was near Thomas again.

Finally the train began slowing down and the city of Manchester began passing by. The sight of it made Matthew think more about what Tom had said, about purchasing a house in the city, because how liberating it would be — to always have a getaway. Maybe he would be able to, one day soon.

With an inhale Matthew stepped onto the platform and his face turned; there he saw Thomas standing a few carts down and they both grinned at each other. They began walking towards each other when two loud voices came echoing.

"Matthew, Thomas!" Harvey called out and he and John walked towards the two men. "Finally, you are here!"

They greeted each other with handshakes and John said "It has been far too long, but no time to idly stand here, let's go to the car."

Harvey and John began walking from the platform and station, with Thomas and Matthew behind them and, when the latter saw the car, his eyes went wide.

"Is that the 1920s Rolls-Royce silver ghost pall mall tourer?" Matthew asked and whistled "Impressive, very impressive."

"Thank you Matthew." Harvey said proudly and made a little bow with his head before patting the car "She is the only woman in my life, I'm very proud of her."

John rolled his eyes and looked at Thomas. "Harvey has quite the love for cars, a new model every year — changes them far more often than underwear."

The ride took quite awhile but eventually Harvey pulled into the gravel driveway of a quite large Victorian house in the outskirts of the city. It had a luscious yard with large trees growing that kept it somewhat hidden. What surprised Thomas the most though was that there were no servants there to greet them, nor to take their bags — it seemed perfectly empty of people.

"I'll show you to your rooms." John said "and you can get ready for the evening."

"And what attire do we require? White tie?" Matthew asked as they were led inside the entrance room that held a large spiral staircase. It was smaller than Downton, of course, but it was bigger than the Crawley house in Downton Village. The walls were decorated with portraits of, what Matthew suspected, were John's ancestors and family. "What a lovely house, I did not think it would be this grand when you said ' abode' over the phone."

"Being the only child it was left to me after my father and mother died — " John said. " — I thought of selling it, but it seemed wrong to do so." He shrugged and then looked at the guests for the weekend " — and no white tie is required, but perhaps a black evening jacket?"