"Now that was unexpected!" Robert exclaimed, putting his black hat on as they stepped onto the pavement of yet another busy London street. Just above them was the window of Murray's office, where they had just spent an hour going through several papers and listening to their lawyer explain the exact conditions to them.
"Unexpected, but not unwelcome, I should say," Mary retorted, already on the lookout for a taxi that could take them to Aunt Rosamund's house in Belgrave Square, as they had planned the day before. She had to squint until her eyes had accustomed to the sun beaming brightly down on the city on this cloudless and yet still quite cold day in March.
Raising her hand, she successfully hailed one of the black motors driving around the city. Their number increased continuously, there seemed to be more of them driving up and down the streets every time she came to the bustling capital.
Her father opened the door to the motorcar Mary had just hailed to take them to Belgrave Square, holding out his hand to help her inside before getting in and sitting down next to her in the back seat. "Definitely not," he said with a slight smile. "How does it feel?"
Mary was looking straight ahead and out the windscreen, thinking about what to answer because she was not quite sure what exactly she was feeling at that moment. A little while later, she contemplatively replied: "Strangely liberating, and also constricting at the same time. I am glad that I am finally free of him, but I can't help but feel sad and angry with myself, too. I failed. After Matthew, I never thought I would be happy again, not in that way. Then he came along and we had some good times together, he got me out of that dark haze. And still, that was not enough. I was not enough. I now have a son whose father died the day he was born and a daughter whose father hasn't been there for most of her life, and that is not likely to change for the better with this situation. I am their mother, and I failed them. I only hope I did not doom all of us for all eternity by signing those papers in there."
He huffed a small laugh at her contradicting feelings; after all, he could not imagine what it felt like. There had been a moment years ago when he thought this might have been a possible outcome for them, not that he had wished for it, but he was all the more glad that they had managed to patch things up and bounce back; not in the least due to his mother's interference. He had no idea what he would do without his Cora. But his daughter was in an entirely different situation; she had no idea what to do with her husband. Former husband.
"You haven't doomed anyone, I can assure you. None of us have an official post, so there will be no repercussions in that regard, and the people at home and in the village haven't seen much of Henry in the last months either way, so they will hardly notice. And even if they do, then it will die down soon enough." Robert took her hand and squeezed it gently, treating his daughter to a warm and encouraging smile. She needed it. When she turned to look at him with her big brown eyes full of surprise and deep sadness, he said: "You have not failed them, you have not failed anyone. Some differences are simply too big to overcome, and your taking this step was right. For you, for them, for everyone. You would have failed them had you stayed with him out of false obligation after what he's done. You deserve better, Mary."
Her hand had been trembling quite heavily when she signed her name on the document that effectively ended her marriage, and he couldn't blame her. It was a big step, an outright leap she took. But he only hoped it would lead to a better life for her than the one she had begun to get used to, he hoped for a life filled with less misery and gloom. She deserved that freedom, that happiness. God knows, they all did after everything they had been through the past year.
"What do you say, we go to see Rosamund and after that, I treat you and her to dinner at the Ritz?" Robert asked, an excited and mischievous twinkle in his eye. He had not been there for years and he felt like celebrating today, they all had ample reason. Although he was aware of the fact that he would feel guilty that Cora couldn't enjoy the evening together with them. Robert knew she had wanted to come with them to London, but she was still far too weak. She had seen reason, though, and opted to stay home and practice her walking with Baxter by her side instead. And this way she would get to enjoy having her grandchildren to herself for tea; she had told him once that she not-so-secretly hoped they would ask her to tell another story. She loved having them hang onto her every word as she either talked about the exciting and adventurous things she had experienced on travels with their donk or as she told them another fairytale or read from another one of their favourite books. She cherished those moments.
"That sounds like a lovely plan." The nervous and strained expression on Mary's face softened, and she smiled gratefully at her father, only to furrow her brow again in the blink of an eye. "Can you make that reservation for four, Papa?"
Her father eyed her curiously, his eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion, but he replied with a smile on his lips: "Of course, I can."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"The Earl of Grantham and Lady Mary Talbot, milady" Mead announced as they entered the homely sitting room in Rosamund's house in Belgrave Square.
"Mead, there truly is no need for that formality. I am only here to see my sister," Robert said, sounding quite amused as he pushed past the elderly man standing in the doorway. He had told Mead often enough that a simple introduction would be enough when it was just family and Rosamund had said the same, but the butler insisted on it. He was quite like Carson in that regard, all about doing things properly. Maybe it was just their specific breed of butler, their generation that did not want to abandon the rules and customs they were brought up to respect and follow.
Father and daughter walked on in, only to find Rosamund in the same position Mary had found her in the last time she was there. That armchair near the window must surely be her favourite by now, and the decanter of whiskey was still standing on that small side table next to it. Mary threw her father a telling look, which he requited with a concerned one of his own.
"Robert, Mary! What are you doing here? I did not know you were coming down to London today. You could have had lunch!" Rosamund exclaimed when she turned around and saw her brother and niece walking towards her.
"Oh, we just had some business to attend to and we thought we would quickly stop by," Robert said quickly, veiling the truth of their meeting with Murray earlier. Mary and he had decided to wait for dinner with the announcement that needed to be made concerning that. "And we wanted to invite you to join us for dinner tonight. I made a reservation at the Ritz."
"The Ritz? What are we celebrating, brother dear?" Rosamund replied in jest when she kissed her brother's cheek in greeting.
"You will find that out soon enough, Aunt Rosamund. I'll leave you two for a little while, there's a phone call I need to make."
For a split second, Robert looked at her like a deer caught in headlights. They had talked about Rosamund's situation on the way to Belgrave Square and had decided that he should probably try and ask her as soon as possible — today, at best. Was she seriously leaving him alone right now to start this conversation? He had hoped she would be there to help him articulate himself well enough so that his sister would not misunderstand him. So much for that — apparently, his daughter had different plans. That only meant he had to be much more careful with the words he would choose.
"Can I offer you anything; coffee, tea, something stronger?"
He wanted a whiskey, desperately. The alcohol would help loosen his tongue and make it easier to breach the subject to his sister, but it was too early in the day to start drinking heavy liquor and it would also cloud his judgment. That was something he truly did not need for this. And Cora would reprimand him the instant he said yes were she there with him, she would be more than right to do so.
He needed his wits about him for this. "A cup of tea would be nice," he replied instead.
++++++++++++++++++++++
Only a few minutes later, there was a steaming cup of tea in his hands and the pleasant small talk with his sister was getting increasingly harder to bear with this matter burning on his tongue.
"Rosamund, I have a request for you, and I need you to hear me out and not reject it or put me off."
"My, what could that be? You make it sound so awfully serious," she smirked into her tea cup as she took a sip.
Robert only threw his sister a warning look before beginning to talk. Not wanting to evade the whole point of this discussion for longer than necessary, he decided to put it out there and see how she would take it.
"Cora, Mary, and I want you to come back to Downton. Permanently. We want you to move back in with us. The last year has shown us how precious the bonds of family are, and how important. It has shown us how heavily we rely on each other. Having you stay with us over Christmas was what we needed, and I think you needed it just as much. So please, come back home."
A snide edge to her tone and suspicion lacing her every word, Rosamund looked at him coldly and asked: "What's brought this on? What has Mary told you?"
"Nothing much, she only said that she was worried about you, and she said what we all thought. What should she have told me?"
She completely dismissed her older brother, saying: "That's a discussion for another time. But why do you ask now?"
"Tom has recently decided to come and live with us again, and it sparked a discussion between Cora and me. The prospect of having the family all gathered in one place is one that would mean an awful lot to us and to the others as well. You don't have to move into the abbey with all of us if you don't want to. You could live in the Dower House if that would be more comfortable for you. London is so far away and we want you home. So please, come and live with us."
"You're making quite a compelling point there, Robert. But what am I supposed to do about this house? Not to mention Mead, Mrs Evans and the footmen? No, I can't do that."
Rosamund vehemently shook her head. Setting her teacup down, she stood up and walked over to look out the window, her back turned to him. He would have seen it as rude had she not been his younger sister. He had also known that she would not give in easily and would try to shut him out like so.
Still, as she stood there, Robert couldn't help but think of the conversation with Mary. His gaze wandered and he saw the whiskey decanter next to her armchair. Things really seemed as bad as Mary had said, against what he had wanted to believe. Seeing his sister struggle like this and still trying to hide it from them only made him more determined to try again.
The silence stretched. He tried to think of what to say and she secretly hoped he would just get up and leave her alone. He was not supposed to see her like this, so emotional, she couldn't bear it. She was a strong woman, and she would not let her brother see her cry. Discreetly, she wiped at the single tear rolling down her cheek as she tried to calm her racing pulse and spinning mind.
"Can I be honest with you?"
At that, the redhead turned around, finally confident that her emotionally quite inept brother would not notice her inner turmoil. "By any means, please do!" she challenged, reclaiming her seat opposite him.
"Mead is old. He is more than ready to retire, but he doesn't do it out of loyalty to you. Mrs Evans could still come and cook for you if she wants to, and the footmen and maids can easily find work here in London if you give them good references, which I trust you would do," Robert began to explain, now that he had her attention once more.
"Of course!" Appalled by the insinuation that she would even think of not giving them good references, she leaned forward. "Still, what about the house? Where would all of you stay when you're here on business in London, or during the season?"
"When it's just me, I can easily stay at the club, or we open Grantham House. We are not down here as often as we used to and I doubt that will change soon, if at all. I doubt we will see many of the seasons to come. We are all getting older and travelling feels more like a nuisance these days, even without considering the health aspect. Please, Rosamund."
"This really means a lot to you, doesn't it?" she asked sceptically.
Robert regarded her intently, his features soft as he thought back on memories of their childhood. Memories from before, when their lives were not yet so fundamentally different. Memories from back when they were still as thick as thieves. And a part of him longed for that, for the bond they had shared back then. He wanted it back. He wanted his sister back. "It does, Rosamund. It really does."
"Alright then."
"So, will you? Think about it, at least?"
"I will, but for now, I think we should better get changed. Or do you want to go to the Ritz in that?"
Rosamund vaguely waved at the subtly patterned green day suit he was wearing — one he happened to like a lot. But she was right, it was not the right attire for dining at a restaurant as prestigious as the Ritz, least of all for someone of his status. Luckily, he had told Bates and Anna to pack appropriate clothing for him and Mary before they had left, it had been his plan all along to treat his daughter to a night out. Mary had been working more than overtime the past few months to cover for him and Cora and still managed to keep the ship afloat. She deserved that treat, and the turn of events in Murray's office was even more of a reason. And his sister could quite obviously also do with a change of scenery, even if just for the evening.