Secrets' Revealed

A/N: I own nothing. I have shelved my other story as the show's plot made it feel redundant. This will be a two to three part story which will deal with the missing sitting room scene and Robert finding out the true identity of one Ms. Marigold Crawley.

Margie Drewe had put on her best dress and hat and walked from Yew Tree Farm to the Abbey while her children were in school and her husband was in the fields. She couldn't stand it anymore. Her husband had lied to her for almost two years. For 17 months they had cared for little Marigold; fed her, bathed her, cared for her when she was ill. And now, she was snatched away, never to be in Margery's arms again. It was cruel. It was deceit. And the child's grandmother had the right to know all about it.

She knocked on the back door, she would never presume to use the front door of the mammoth house. She asked to speak to Her Ladyship and she waited in the servants' hall, fidgeting with her purse handles.

"Her Ladyship will see you in her sitting room. Will you please follow me," Thomas instructed.

She followed the tall man upstairs. Her whole house could fit in two of these grand rooms. She was shown in where Cora was waiting for her.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Drewe. How may I help you?" Cora asked as she motioned for her to sit down.

"Good afternoon Your Ladyship. I have some information that I felt you had a right to know," Margie.

"About what?" Cora asked curiously. While most of her husband's tenants were comfortable enough to approach him, few of their wives would directly approach Cora beyond the requirements of politeness.

"Last summer, my family and I took in a foundling, a little girl."

"Marigold," Cora nodded. " Edith seems to be quite taken with the child," she smiled.

"As well she should be taken with her; she's her mother."

"What?" Cora gasped, her hand coming to her mouth.

"I saw her birth certificate when Lady Edith came to…to take her," Mrs. Drewe replied bitterly. "She's Lady Edith's daughter."

"How did this come to be?" Cora whispered.

"My husband is a kind soul; when Lady Edith confided to him about the child, he offered to take her in a lie to me about it, saying she was the child of a dead friend with nowhere to go. We've four of our own already, so another child was no great difficulty. Four the past 17 months, I've cared for the child; I've loved her like my own and now she's been taken from us by Lady Edith," she recounted, tears in her eyes.

"I had no idea," Cora whispered. But now it finally made sense; the trip to Switzerland, Edith's interest in the small child, her perpetual sadness; all of it made sense.

"And now with her gone, I felt like I had a duty to tell Your Ladyship, so you could make sure she's well…Lady Edith has taken her you see. I'm sure Lady Rosemund would make sure she's alright but well…I love that little girl, Your Ladyship," she explained, with tears in her eyes.

"Of course you do; who wouldn't love a child. But what do you mean, Lady Rosemund? His Lordship's sister?"

"Yes, Lady Edith introduced her to Marigold."

"I see. Thank you for coming to see me, Mrs. Drewe. I will make sure that Marigold is safe and well taken care of, you can be sure of that. And I also thank you for taking such good care of her. Edith spoke of how clever and bright she is; that comes from nurture as well."

"I'll leave you then, Your Ladyship."

Cora rang for Thomas who escorted Mrs. Drewe out.

"Rosemund and Mama, what HAVE you done?"