"14 years ago...I had an affair with Lord Grantham. You are not Lady Grantham's child."
"We just want you to know that the whole of England will be yours someday."
Lady Darrel Crawley is the youngest daughter of Lord and Lady Grantham...or so she's...
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A/N: I recognize that DNA tests were invented much later. However, for the sake of the plot, I have decided to change its invention date.
Over the next few weeks, Downton Abbey returned to a new normal. Their Majesties did not send any news to Crawleys, which everyone was grateful for. While Darrel's classmates discovered Robert's affair (Downton had a reasonably small village), they stopped pestering about it after a few days. Although, Darrel knew that Ms Bunting got great pleasure from her discomfort.
The one thing that changed for the worse was that Robert was permanently kicked out of the bedroom, and Cora barely looked at him. They hardly spoke, and if they had to be in the same room, one of them would leave as soon as possible.
One afternoon, Darrel returned from school when she found Lady Grantham in the gardens. Darrel approached her and saw that she had been crying recently.
"Mama?" Darrel asked. "Are you all right?"
Cora looked up, embarrassed to have been caught. She wiped the last few tears, "Yes, I am fine. Do not worry about me, dear."
Darrel sat down next to her, "You know that this does not change a thing, don't you? You will always be my mother, no matter what happens."
"Thank you, dear. And you are still my daughter."
"I sure hope so."
The two of them laughed, even though the situation was very painful for the entire family.
"Mama," Darrel sighed, "I do not know what is going to happen in the future. However, I do know that I want everyone's support."
"And you will have it, darling," Cora assured. "We will always be here for you."
"Then you and Papa have to talk again."
"Darling, it is not that simple."
"Yes, it is. This is a difficult time for all of us, so we must deal with it as a family."
"I would love to be able to forgive him, but I cannot. He betrayed me, and he held this information from me."
"Mama, I know I might be too young to understand marriage. However, if you could forgive Papa when he told you about me, why can you not forgive him now?"
Cora did not know how to respond; she knew Darrel had made a good point. She did manage to forgive Robert for the affair, but part of it was because she felt that she could not abandon the baby he had with him. Since there was less at stake now if she did not forgive him, she did not feel obligated to move past things.
"I feel betrayed," Cora informed. "He lied to me. When he came to me and told me about you; I asked him who he had the affair with. He told me that the woman was insignificant, and she was unable to raise a child, and that he would be full of guilt if you were on the streets. So now that I know who it was with..."
