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Mary and Edith stood in Sybil’s room waiting for her to come back from talking with their mother. Doubtless Mama was trying her very best to be brave about Sybil leaving. Mary was sure Mama wouldn’t be pulling any last minute theatrics to try to convince Sybil to stay. But their mother had other means of coercion that Mary and Edith knew too well.
Edith crossed over and sat on Sybil’s bed. “I can’t believe she’s leaving tomorrow. It was so strange for her to go away to York when she did her nursing course. Now she’ll be gone forever.”
Mary rolled her eyes. “She’s going to Ireland, not the moon. I’m sure we’ll see her plenty after everyone’s had a chance to calm down about it all.”
“Still,” said Edith, not prepared to give up her moroseness, “it’ll be strange not seeing her at the breakfast table or chatting with her after dinner.”
Mary tried to hide her own sorrow at her sister’s departure with practicality. “We were all going to leave at some point, it’s just that Sybil is the first. There’s really nothing all that strange about it.”
Edith sighed. “I wish you’d just say, ‘I’m going to miss her too.’ We both know you adore her the most in the family.”
Mary sighed herself and sat at Sybil’s vanity. “All right. You win. I’ll miss her dearly. But you can’t act like this wasn’t always going to happen someday. Maybe not with the chauffeur, but still. We were always going to marry off and go away.”
“Except for you,” said Edith. “You were always supposed to marry Cousin Patrick and stay here.”
“Let’s not bring that up.” Mary cut off that line of conversation before it could get started.
“Do you think she’ll be happy?” Edith returned to the topic of Sybil. “It’s going to be hard for her living in Ireland with Branson-, I mean Tom.”
“I don’t know.” Mary’s voice carried a note of despair. “It’s hard to tell if she’s happy now, or just stubborn. She’s much like Papa in that way. She hates being wrong and always thinks she knows best.”
“I suppose all of us do in a way. But Sybil is more of a schemer when it comes to it.” Edith sighed again. “I wish she would have told us about it earlier, maybe we could have done something then.”
“She’d told me that Branson, I mean Tom, asked her to run away with her when she went for her nursing course, but I didn’t know she was harboring feelings for him as well. I would have done something if I’d known that.” Mary looked at her hands. It seemed like so much was slipping through them these days. “I just wish I could say that I knew Bran-, Tom, better. I have no idea if he’ll be good to her.”
Edith looked over at her sister. “I think he will. He seems like a good man, running off with Sybil aside.”
“What makes you say that?” Mary looked up to catch Edith’s eye. Usually Edith was ready to supply the most pessimistic outlook.
Edith shrugged. “Back when he was teaching me to drive. I guess I sort of got to know him in my own way. We spent quite a lot of time in the car together for a few months. You can’t just talk about depressing the clutch the whole time.”
For the first time since Mama had recovered from influenza, Mary felt a small sense of relief. “Well, what sort of man do you make him to be then?”
“A good one, if I had to say.” Edith smiled a bit. “He was always very patient with me, even when I made mistakes. And not in that servant sort of way either. He was always calm and kind, even when I got us stalled out on the other side of Thirsk and it took him two hours to get everything running again. He just laughed and said he wasn’t sure how I’d managed it and showed me what to do the next time so it wouldn’t happen again.” Edith moved to sit down on the upholstered chair that was closest to the vanity. “I’ve never had someone tell me I’m doing well at something before, or say that just because I’m a woman I shouldn’t know or do something. Branson was always very supportive.”
“Tom,” Mary corrected with a sigh. “We’ve got to try and get it right because heaven knows Papa won’t. And we mustn’t do anything to push Sybil away.”
Edith nodded. “I’m trying. Tom. I think Tom will be good to our Sybil, even if he won’t be able to give her much else.” Edith emphasized the name in order to make it stick in her memory.
“I pray to God that you’re right.” It was all Mary could hope for at this point. Sybil was too darling to end up with a man who drank too much or used cruel words or would ever lay a finger on her. Mary also knew how easy it was for a darling woman to be trapped by such a man. She herself feared that she was about to be trapped by such a man, but she didn’t like to dwell on the thought.
Just then, the door opened and Sybil came into the room. She was scowling and talking under her breath and stopped in surprise at seeing both of her sisters. “What are you doing here?”
“We wanted to talk to you,” said Mary as she stood from Sybil’s vanity. “And help you pack.”
Sybil crossed her arms over her chest. “Not you too. I refuse to listen to any more last minute persuasions. I’m not the sort of fickle girl who can be swayed by talk of comfort or money or cleaning my own chamber pot so you might as well give it a rest.”
Mary raised her hand in peace. “We don’t mean to dissuade you. We know your mind is made up and we aren’t trying to ruin you life, we promise. We just wanted to have a few words before you’re gone off to Ireland.”
Sybil look suspicious for a moment before uncrossing her arms. “All right. What did you want to say?”
Mary went over to Sybil and guided her to sit on the bed. Sitting next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders, Mary said softly, “We just want you to know that if you ever change your mind, don’t be afraid to say so.”
Sybil opened her mouth again to be angry, but Mary cut her off. “I know right now you’re sure, and you might be sure a year from now or five years from now or longer. What I’m saying is that if there’s ever a time where you’re not sure anymore, don’t be afraid to come home. We’ll both be here to help you. Even if you have ten children and have been married twenty-five years.”
“But I’m not going to feel differently, not ever,” Sybil said stubbornly.
“And I hope that’s true.” Mary wasn’t sure if she actually hoped it was true, but it was what Sybil needed to hear right now. “But people change, things happen, life can get messy and hard and people who once loved each other more than anything can become strangers. That’s all I’m saying. Maybe he’ll change, maybe you will, maybe nothing happens at all and you’re blissfully in love until you die side-by-side at one hundred years of age. Whatever the case, if you ever feel like life in Ireland, life with Tom, isn’t what you want anymore, don’t stay because you think you have nowhere to go.”
Sybil gave a frustrated sigh. “I know you mean well, but I know things aren’t going to change for Tom and I. We’re going to be in love for our whole lives. I know this with all my heart.”
Edith came over to sit on the other side of Sybil. “We know that, and we’re all very glad you’re happy. And a little jealous.” This finally got a wry smile out of Sybil. “But what Mary’s said is right. We’ll always be here for you if anything happens. Don’t worry about Papa saying ‘I told you so,’ or Mama going on about how if you’d only listened this wouldn’t be happening. Trust us to be on your side in it all and don’t worry about anything else.”
“I wish you’d be on my side now, I feel like all I’m doing is fighting everyone.” Sybil’s tone telling her sisters quite clearly that she was prepared to keep fighting.
“We are, darling.” Mary ran her hand over the back of Sybil’s shoulders. “I’ve been after Mama and Papa to be sensible about the whole thing. It’s just going to take some time.”
“They’re just worried,” chimed in Edith.
“They just want to control me, they don’t even see me as a person. Just a sort of pet they can dictate too.” Sybil temper was not about to be softened.
“And we’ll keep working at them until they come around,” Mary assured. “Please, let me know that you’ve heard what Edith and I are saying.”
Sybil sighed again. “Yes, I do hear you. I understand you think I’m being dragged off by a caveman into some untamed wilderness. But your worries are for nothing. I love Tom and we are going to be very happy together and if I never set foot in Downton again I’m sure I won’t miss it.”
“Sybil, dear, we don’t think that. We know you are going to have happiness in your life and that Tom is a good man. Edith was just extolling his virtues before you came in.” Mary hoped that some words of encouragement might mollify her sister a little.
Sybil looked at Edith. “You were?” Sybil was surprised and her voice softer.
Edith nodded. “I got to know him a little bit when he was teaching me to drive. I was telling Mary that I thought he was a good man.”
Sybil finally smiled. “You really think so? You really support us?”
Edith shrugged a bit. “I know that I wouldn’t want to lead the life your going to, but you’re stronger than I am. And I’m not worried that you’re running off with some brute who’ll mistreat you. So, yes, I suppose I do support you.”
Sybil leaned in and gave Edith a big hug, then turned to Mary and did the same. “I know you’ll adore him every bit as much as I do if you just give him a chance.”
Mary smiled. “We will. We will be coming over for the wedding and then we can meet all his family too, since now our families will be joined.”
Sybil lit up. “Are all of you coming? Last I heard Papa didn’t want the scandal of anyone attending.”
Mary shook her head. “I wouldn’t count on the others. Papa will be sulking about this for at least a year.” Edith and Mary caught each other’s eyes and exchanged a knowing – and exasperated – look. “But Edith and I will be there no matter what. Papa won’t disown all three of us. Isn’t that how the labor organizers do it? You make it where they can’t punish you all?”
“You’ll have to ask Tom, he knows all about that,” said Sybil with a grin. She leaned in and gave Mary a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t wait for you to come for the wedding.”
Mary kissed Sybil on the side of her head then stood up. “And you can’t wait any longer to pack or you’ll miss your train tomorrow. Let’s see what you’ve got that a journalists wife might wear.”