Une Nouvelle Ère [Book 2]

II

Cora Crawley was busy finishing the last of her papers when she heard the door of her office open.

"Doctor Clarkson, we'll have the meeting tomorrow morning at 10 latest. We wouldn't want to tire our delegates in the afternoon, as they do have other hospitals to go to."

"Duly noted, Lady Grantham."

She then stops in writing her papers as soon as she heard a rather familiar voice. It was very different from Dr. Clarkson's, as if it was a voice of a young man. She looks up from her papers, and was in shock at who she saw.

"Alex?!"

Her son removes his hat, and grins happily at his mother.

"Hello, my darling Mama."

Cora quickly got up on her feet and rushes to hug her son, surprising Alex in process.

"Oh my goodness! You're here...you're finally here!!" she said excitedly.

He chuckles softly "I am, yes. I am here."

"When did you arrive? And why didn't you telephone me?"

"I just arrived earlier, Papa picked me up. And, I wanted to surprise you, which I think I did."

"Very much, yes!" Cora said "I am just so happy you're here, even if it's just for a week."

"Any free time given to me, is a time I'm willing to spend with my family" he assured her, making her smile happily.

"Oh, I still have to finish my papers!" Cora then remembered "I suppose you can wait for just a few more minutes, before we head home for tea?"

"I have all the time in the world, Mama" Alex smiles "And I'll tell Dr. Clarkson about the meeting tomorrow."

"Thank you, Darling!"

Alex then spend more time at the Hospital than the usual. After telling the Doctor of the said meeting, he then visits some of the patients, who are all residents of the county.

The patients were delighted to see the young Viscount when they saw him and even talked to him. The older patients even remarked on how he looks more and more like his father as he gets older, to which Alex of course, takes it as a compliment.

As Cora then went to look for her son, she saw him talking to one of the oldest patients in the hospital: an 84 year-old woman who was bedridden due to tuberculosis. Alex was smiling sweetly as he listens to her stories from her childhood.

The woman then weakly reached an hand out to Alex, and gently touch his cheek.

"You remind me of Lady Grantham, milord" she said "You are so much like your mother."

"Do I, ma'am?" Alex asks "You are...actually the first one to say that."

The elderly woman chuckled weakly, and smile "You may physically look like Lord Grantham, but your kindness towards other people, being caring and willing to help others no matter who they are...that's what Lady Grantham is to us. And that's you as well."

Alex was touched as he heard those words. It was quite already given that his mother was a kind and caring woman, being a humble human being despite being born in the upper class society. But to hear this from others, especially from the people that she helped with, was a first time for him.

He also never expected, or even thought about that comparison of him and his mother. Alex was used to being compared to his father, that he never really thought about what he and his mother had in common. And to also hear it from others, was all the more surprising to him.