Drawn to You [Downton Abbey]

Chapter 13 - A Revealing Luncheon

Due to beautiful sunny weather, the family had an outdoor luncheon the next day, out in the grass on the north side of the building. Thomas and Alfred were in charge of serving. Thomas eyed Edith as she sat with her family at the table the servants had set up. He wasn't able to find her or even talk to her the day before because he was too busy with his other duties. He itched to tell her everything, but when would he have the opportunity to do it?

Thomas didn't really pay attention to the conversation about the hospital that went on between The Dowager and Mrs. Crawley. He was too focused on the woman he was in love with sitting next to Sybil and Tom at the other end of the table. So, when he did have the opportunity to talk to Edith, how would he even start the conversation? Tell her straight out? Ease into it? Knowing her, she would want him to get straight to the point.

The family eventually finished their lunch and continued talking with one another. Thomas grew impatient. Edith looked up at him from where she sat, and she gave him a look that asked, "What's wrong?" He shook his head, indicating that there wasn't anything wrong. She eyed him a moment, looking as if she wasn't convinced. She stood up. "How about a walk?" she asked everyone. "We can bring our tea along."

Everyone surprisingly consented, and they were off, with the footmen holding trays as the party walked through the grass in the sunshine. Thomas noticed how the sun gleamed off of Edith's golden hair, and he gulped at her attractiveness. She looked his way and kept his gaze. She walked over to him and asked for more tea, but leaned in and said after, "Thomas, I suggested this walk just so I could have a word with you. Are you alright? You are rather fidgety."

"I'm alright. I just... do you think sometime today, I could talk to you?"

"Of course. What about?"

"That would be defeating the purpose of me asking you to talk later, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose so." Edith's mother called for her and Edith leaned in and whispered, "Alright. Meet me in my new study tonight at 9:30, after everyone has gone to bed."

"Alright."

The family walked on through the grass and passed a pond with willow trees and rose bushes. Thomas happened to be walking close to Lady Grantham, Mrs. Crawley, and Edith.

"How lovely," Lady Grantham said. "The weather and the scenery..."

"Yes, Downton is beautiful this year," said Mrs. Crawley. Thomas glanced at Edith as she walked with the two women, herself wearing a white sundress. Mrs. Crawley was quite right about the beauty.

About twenty minutes passed as the party walked more around and back to the dining table. Edith stood near the table where Thomas had the tea tray, sipping her own cup of tea. He walked up to her. "Pardon me, M'Lady," he said, and she gave him a smirk. Him calling her "M'Lady" became a joke with them since they always addressed each other by their first names. The gaze between them lasted a while longer, and Thomas wasn't watching his position and stood more into the table, causing a cup of tea he had poured earlier to fall over, and the liquid to splash onto Edith's sundress. She gasped from the surprise and people looked over.

"I apologize, M'Lady!" he said instantly and gave her a cloth because that was all he could do for her in front of the family. He grimaced. Edith's white dress had a massive yellow splotch on the front. "What a clumsy fool I am," he muttered.

"It's alright, Thomas, really," she said as she set her teacup down and dabbed her dress with the cloth. "I suppose you are rather clumsy."

"Go on, make fun of me."

She chuckled and continued cleaning herself up as Thomas cleaned the rest of the spilled tea on the tray, as well as on the table around it. He noticed a presence suddenly appear next to him.