"Here?" Robert seems so shocked at Cora's announcement, "You want to bring your great-niece, a girl you and I have never met from Chicago, to stay at Downton Abbey? With us?"
Why does this girl deserve this reaction? I think irritably, Over a century, I've stood in Yorkshire under the service and care of the Earl of Grantham and suddenly I'm unfit to host the great-niece of Lady Grantham because she's from Chicago!
"I'm surprised at you, Robert," Cora does that cute pout she does whenever those words are uttered from her mouth, "How can you find it below yourself to host my goddaughter?"
You tell him, Cora, I nod in approval. That is if I could nod.
"I do not think it beneath me," he insists.
Mhmm.
"I just don't understand why a girl we've never met is your goddaughter," he takes off his robe and places it on the armchair.
"Kaitlyn and I were very close," Cora smiles soothingly in that way I've always liked, "I was honored to be her daughter's godmother, even if I've never met her."
"But shouldn't Harold be the one taking care of her?" Robert sits on the bed with a sigh, "You think New York would be better than sending her only daughter across the Atlantic should anything bad ever happen to her."
"Kaitlyn and Harry never got along like we did."
Robert moves the covers and gets under them without much trouble, "It's just strange to think a total stranger is now suddenly our responsibility and will be growing up with our own grandchildren."
"I know," Cora flicks off her light, "but at last, she'll have a good life, whether or not she's a stranger to us."
"What's her name again?" Robert asks as Cora settles into her pillows.
"Bethany," she closes her eyes and yawns, "Bethany Stellper."
Robert nods and turns out his light.
Ah, I thought as I stewed in the silent darkness, Bethany Stellper. I welcome you, however far away you are, to rest easily and without worry within my brothers. My I, Downton Abbey, bring you wonderous memories and good friends while you live in my beds at the mercy and goodwill of Lady Grantham. I pray it is not misplaced.
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Downton Abbey: Chicago Street Princess
FanfictionWhat if the Great Depression brought the working class down even farther and the monarchy back up like it was at the beginning of the century before the war? What if Downton Abbey continued to thrive above other great houses because of the work of...
