My Darling ❤️

You don't mean that

Richard had pushed her, and teased her for too long. How long could she handle this?
Anna can in to dress her for dinner.
"I know what I have to do.."
"And brave the storm" Anna replied
"It seems I have no choice, I will go to America to stay with Grandmama until it dies down a little, but there's no pretending it will be easy" Mary sighed
"We have our troubles, milady, both of us, but we get through it, and I won't leave you" Anna reassured her
"Thank you...i am so grateful for you, you know, it's not normal for you, as my maid, to be more of a sister to me than my sisters will ever be" Mary laughed
They were the same age and they had been through thick and thin together.
Mary was glad of at least one unbreakable bond.

The ghost of Lavinia swire hadn't haunted but merely watched over them.
Matthew had come out of his guilty depression once Isobel had made him realise Lavinia didn't want him to be unhappy, she never wanted anyone to be unhappy.
"My dear boy, she watched you and Mary together and said 'how perfect', she wasn't jealous, if she wasn't right for you, she wanted you to be with someone who was." Isobel said calmly and gently
"Mary is engaged" Matthew persisted stubbornly
"Is she though, don't pretend she wouldn't come running to you the moment you called" Isobel replied firmly
"Even if she takes my advice to break it off, which I sincerely hope she does, she told me she will go to America" Matthew drags it along
"I give up! But you won't be happy until you follow Lavinia's wishes" Isobel retreated jokingly
"Oh mother don't guilt trip me..." But she was already gone and Matthew was left alone to contemplate.

A few days before Christmas, it was the annual Christmas shoot.
"You ladies will have to distribute yourselves evenly since there's only three of you"
"Indeed, Mr Walsh" Mary replied to the good family friend.
"Mary shall stand by me" Richard decided forcibly
"I thought you promised to stand by me for the first drive" Matthew interrupted helpfully
"...yes, I think I did" mary replied

"Why don't you have a loader? Neil could've found you one" Mary questioned
"I prefer not to have a witness to my failure" Matthew chuckled lightly
"I'm a witness" Mary continued the joke
"Then you must promise faithfully to lie when they ask you how I did" he laughed
"Anything for you" she said before realising what she had said and going silent.
"You can't marry him Mary, I couldn't bare the thought of you married to that man."
Mary stayed silent, trying not to cry.

The second drive was much more difficult to get through.
"Why were you laughing with Matthew?" Richard said angrily
"He must have said something funny" she replied cleverly
"If you let me think for one moment that you preferred my company to his, maybe I would be more lenient" he turning to her
"I don't deserve for you to treat me like this, what have i done except try to please you?" Richard continued
"You mean you have bought a large and rather vulgar house to trap me in?" Mary replied
"I don't know what you want me to do, anything I do, it's not good enough" Richard shouted
Matthew came to the rescue.
"Is everything alright" he asked helpfully
"Richard's loader seems to have got lost, and this is the best drive yet, he is missing out on all the fun." Mary answered covering up her pain.
"Well don't let me be a nuisance" Matthew said happily and walked off but was always hoping she would follow his advice, it wasn't healthy, being in a relationship like that.

"I just don't think we are well suited!" Mary almost shouted
"You're treading on uneven ground here, what more could I have done?!" Richard shouted
"Nothing. We would never be happy.." Mary was cut off
"Oh you certainly won't be happy by the time I'm finished with you, I buy you're filthy scandal and keep it away from the papers, but for what!" He shouted
"I was so grateful...." He cut her off again
"So you should be! You don't think it stands now do you?" He asked rhetorically
"What's going on, Mary are you alright?" Matthew interrupted
"Oh here he is, the man who can smile and laugh and be a villain" Richard announced slowly, revealing his true colours.
"Can she not be trusted even to get rid of me without you're help?" He continued
"Lavinia knew it, you know, she knew you never loved her..." Richard teased
"Don't you dare...." Matthew began
"She said it once, how she wished you would just admit it, she always said how you looked so perfect, so right with Mary. She was tired and had had a drink, but she said it and she meant it..." Richard trailed off
"You bastard.." Matthew insulted and punched Richard, bringing him into a fight.
Mary's hand slipped over her mouth in shock as they threw eachother around.
Matthew pushed Carlisle into a vase and he crashed to the ground.
Suddenly Mary's father, mother and grandmother came rushing in at the commotion.
"What on earth is going on" Robert asked
He turned to his daughter.
"Are you alright my darling" she nodded so he focused on getting Richard away.
"I'll be gone in the morning" Richard announced
"I won't see any of you again" he continued
The dowager spoke up in the most unknowingly humorous manner.
"Do you promise?" She asked sincerely, which everyone tried their best not to snigger at.
Richard adjusted his waistcoat and left the room.
"Sorry about the vase.." Matthew apologised to the dowager especially as he knew it had belonged to her before Robert and Cora had the house.
She spoke humorously again.
"Oh no no, don't apologise, it was a wedding present from a frightful aunt, I have hated it for half a century"
The evening had been quite eventful enough and everyone decided to go to bed.

It was Christmas day and also, as it happens, the day of the servants ball.
Mary was placing another bauble on the tree and getting Edith to help her position it.
No one could quite believe that Sybil had actually married Branson, the chauffeur.
But both Mary and Edith knew that Sybil was really in love with him and they loved to see her happy.
They had moved to Dublin when they married and they didn't really visit so it was hard to see them, but they made up for it in letters.

Mary was still planning to go to New York in the new year, when Richard published.
While she was getting ready, Anna had asked if she could stay on with her and go to America with her if the trial against her husband didn't go as hoped.
"Why of course you can Anna! You don't need to ask, I would be happy to have an English companion." Mary replied and Anna just smiled gratefully.

The ball came and it was all a bit of a blur. Mary danced with Thomas and then Carson.
Carson was very much a second father to her and had been from a very young age, he had just taken to her as a very small child.
She sat for a while as she had done her duty and it wouldn't be forever until everyone would begin to diffuse back to their bedrooms.
Mary was so consumed in her own thoughts that she jumped a little when she saw a hand offering her to dance.
She looked up to see his face glowing in the candlelight, she just didn't want this moment to end.
She took his hand nervously and they danced as if they had done it a million times.
"How are your plans for America going?" Matthew asked curiously
"I will book my crossing as soon as I hear back from Grandmama" Mary replied
"Will you be gone long?" Matthew sighed
"I don't know, we'll have to see" she shrugged

Cora and Robert were settled in the library.
"Do you think we can go to bed now?" Cora asked
"Yes, I think we've done our duty, has anyone else already gone up?" He asked
"Edith told me she was going up, some of the servants and Rosamund, but everyone else is just talking really" Cora answered
"Yes. The last time I looked Mary was dancing with Matthew.." Robert said suggestively
"Well don't let us interrupt with that!" She joked, but of course little did she know....

Mary stood in the snow without a coat, but she wasn't cold.
She heard footsteps trudge slowly towards her.
"I thought you'd gone up" Matthew said
"No, just enjoying the fresh air, and the last freedom I'll get for a while, with America and just everything." She sighed
"....would you stay.....if i asked you to?" Matthew began nervously but not hesitantly.
"Oh Matthew, you don't mean that. What about Mr pamuk, wouldn't he resurrect himself every time we argued.." she dismissed it
"No. And I do mean it" Matthew replied calmly
"You mean you've forgiven me?" Mary asked shocked
"No" he answered
"Well then" she sighed again
"I haven't forgiven you, because I don't believe you need my forgiveness...
You've lived you're life, and I've lived mine, now it's time that we live them together.." Matthew hinted
"Oh Matthew, we have been on the edge of this so many times, don't take me there again unless you're sure" Mary said, her heart rate quickening by the second
"I am sure"
"And what about your vows to the memory of Lavinia?"
"I was wrong, she didn't want us to be unhappy, she was someone who barely caused a moments sorrow in her life" Matthew explained
"I agree" Mary replied
"Then will you?" Matthew asked, shaking a little
"You must say it properly, otherwise I won't answer" Mary laughed
Matthew got down on his knee.
The snow was falling magically as they stood at the very front of downton.
It was perfect.
"Lady Mary Crawley, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Matthew asked smiling uncontrollably
"Yes!" She replied
Matthew practically leaped up.
Their lips crashed together and he picked her up and spun her around and around and around.
It was the best day of their lives so far.
"To living our lives together" Matthew finished.