The life of Eve De La Cruz

Chapter twenty

It had been almost three months since Eve and Emilio married, and now it was time for another wedding at Downton again. It was only a short while before the wedding of Edith and Sir Anthony Strallan. Eve was in the drawing room with Hera lying in the sun near the window and Cora helping to sort out the wedding gifts as Edith and Violet walked into the room.

"See, I told her everything would come right, but she wouldn't believe me," Violet said.

"I still can't. Something happening in this house is actually about me," Edith said with a smile, "The dress came this morning."

"I was rather sad you decided against Patou," Violet voiced before looking at Cora, "I would've paid."

"Lucile was safer. We don't want her to look like a chorus girl," Cora explained. Edith smiles with a chuckle.

"How is Anthony?" Violet asked her granddaughter, "Excited, I hope."

"Desperately. Just when he thought his life would never change, he's going right back to the beginning," Edith replied with a smile.

"Oh. What an invigorating prospect," Violet commented, causing Cora to give her mother-in-law a look.

"I am so happy for you, Edith," Eve spoke, "Hard to believe that we're almost all out of the nest when it seems like it was only yesterday we were playing with our dolls."

"I know," Edith said, "I can't wait to have all of our children playing together. Are you and Emilio expecting anytime soon?"

"No, not at the moment," She replied, "Emilio and I want to enjoy our time together for a while before we have children."

A bit later that day, Cora is arranging flowers in the library while Robert sits at his desk, Tom and Matthew read on the couches, and Emilio and Eve sit next to him.

"How will they advertise it?" Cora asked her husband about Downton.

"I don't know exactly. "Desirable nobleman's mansion with surrounding estate and properties," Robert replied.

"Where will you go?" Tom asked him.

"We have some land further north at Eryholme, on the border with Durham. It came with my great-grandmother," He answered, "The house is pretty and we might make something of it. We could always rename it "Downton Place."

After finishing with the flowers, Cora sits down next to Tom.

"Who lives there now?" Matthew inquired.

"A tenant. But we can come to an arrangement that keeps him happy," Robert replied.

"Let's take a picnic there tomorrow. Take a break from the wedding on Edith's last day of freedom," Cora suggested.

"Molesley's in the hall," Mary informed them as she and Sybil walked into the library, "He wonders if he might have a word."

While Sybil sits between her mother and husband, Mary stands.

"I'll come through in a minute," Matthew responded.

"Not with you, with Mamma," Mary told Matthew, causing him to look up from his newspaper in surprise, "Molesley."

Molesley enters with a smile, but then his face falls to find the entire family there, "Your Ladyship, may I have a word?"

"Of course," Cora agreed with a nod and a smile but didn't move. Molesley proceeds nervously.

"Milady, might I be allowed to put forward a candidate as Miss O'Brien's replacement?" He requested.

"What?" Cora questioned.