It was a lovely morning in early June, a perfect day for a wedding with the weather cooperating by dawning sunny with the few billowy clouds in the sky not threatening rain. Although it might be a perfect day for a wedding, the tiny wedding that would take place that day at St. Brigid's, a small church in a lower middle class neighborhood of Dublin, would not be considered perfect by some who knew the bride and groom.

Kathleen, still sitting at her kitchen table, was surprised when Sybil appeared in the kitchen for she hadn't realized how long she had been sitting here reminiscing although the streaks of sunlight that now filtered through the pale lace kitchen curtains should have been an indication.

"There's water for tea in the kettle" Kathleen said not thinking that it had long grown cold.

"Thank you but the motor car from the hotel is already here" Sybil replied.

"Oh!" Kathleen sounded a bit flustered as she suddenly realized the time. She had been surprised when Sybil returned here to spend the night instead of staying with her sisters in that fancy hotel. Briefly she wondered why neither of her daughters, Kate and Sinead, who still lived at her home had not yet made an appearance before thinking they had probably spent the time in Sybil's bedroom. Those two girls she thought were looking forward to this wedding almost as much as Sybil unlike Sybil's own sisters.

"I hadn't realized the time" Kathleen said as she glanced at the large clock hanging on the wall over the stove. Of course Sybil hadn't come to the kitchen for tea or breakfast since she'd be eating breakfast at the hotel with her la-di-da sisters. It was there that Sybil would get ready for her wedding.

"I just want to thank you again for …" Sybil looked directly at the woman that in a matter of hours would be her mother-in-law "for all you've done for me. Letting me stay here, showing me how to …"

Kathleen cut her off before Sybil could finish "it's the least I could do." She wouldn't voice her opinion that she did it for her son's sake.

Kathleen rose from her chair. "After all you'll soon be my daughter." Then surprising Sybil she gingerly hugged the younger woman.

As sharp as ever, Kathleen could see the tears that Sybil was battling to hold back. "Now … now …" she started as she continued to hold Sybil and patted her on the back. "It looks like it will be a lovely day and you'll be a beautiful bride. Now you better get yourself to that motor car, you don't want to be late."

Sybil nodded, her face breaking out in a big grin before surprising Kathleen by lightly kissing her on the cheek and then dashing out of the room. The last minute had been the closest physical contact the two women had ever shared.

Following closely behind Sybil, Kathleen came to the front parlor where she was joined by Kate and Sinead. The three of them watched from the large front window as Sybil said something to the uniformed chauffeur who held the door for her. She noted the man said something back to Sybil before closing the passenger door and walking around to the driver's seat with a grin on his face.

She wondered if Sybil had told him she was marrying a former chauffeur today. It was hard to imagine that it had only been three months ago when she had received Tom's letter telling her he was returning to Ireland and intended to marry. She wouldn't deny that she hadn't been pleased when he had written that he was marrying the Lady Sybil Crawley the youngest daughter of his employer.

When she had written to Tom agreeing to let Sybil stay with her until the wedding, Kathleen had tried to prepare him for what he and his English Protestant aristocratic bride-to-be would face in Dublin, had hoped that her words would cause Tom to reconsider but of course her son hadn't heeded her words. Tommy, even with all his smarts, was often a dreamer. Only he would have the audacity to think that he could win the heart of someone like Lady Sybil.

They had decided for Sybil's safety as well as that of Kathleen and Kate, Sinead and Donal who still lived in the family home that they would not tell people of Sybil's background. It would of course be apparent when the girl spoke that she was English but there was no need to publicize the fact that she was actually Lady Sybil Crawley the youngest daughter of the Earl of Grantham.

Kathleen was now embarrassed that her first thoughts about her future daughter-in-law hadn't been pleasant. She couldn't help but wonder why the daughter of a rich Englishman would want to marry a lower middle class Irish lad and she feared that once the girl came to Ireland and saw what she was really getting into she'd take the first boat back to England leaving a heart broken Tom.

But Sybil had surprised her. In many ways she was the type of woman that Kathleen had always thought Tom would marry, smart, independent, full of ideas as to how the world should be. She was also kind and warm-hearted which could mask her strong will and stubbornness. Kate and Sinead had bonded with her almost immediately. Although she thought the road ahead would still be rough for Tom and Sybil, she was pleased when Sybil admitted to her that she had kept Tom waiting for so long not because she doubted she loved him but that she wanted to be sure she could leave her old life behind.

As she walked to her place in the front pew of the small Catholic church, the church she had attended since moving to Dublin so many years ago and where all her children had been baptized, Kathleen noted that the small chapel wasn't even half full. They'll love her when they get to know her Ma. When Tom had told her this, Kathleen had shaken her head. You haven't been here for years son. You don't know how bad it's become. She knew many of their relatives and friends would not accept Sybil regardless of how nice she was, maybe once Ireland was free, but not now. And she had been right as witnessed by the empty pews.

Kathleen sighed in sorrow. She looked at the beautiful swatches of green and white fabric that had been tied into big bows and draped at the end of the first four pews on both sides of the aisle. Two large urns filled with an array of colorful flowers stood on the floor near the altar filling the church with their sweet fragrance. The church looked lovely and it should have been full as it was on the day her oldest daughter Iona had married here almost three years ago.

Tom and Sybil deserved better and for the first time Kathleen felt ashamed of her relatives many of whom had stayed away from her house since Sybil's arrival. Some would see Tom at the pub but some avoided him too which especially hurt Kathleen since they had known him since his birth.

Kathleen knew from the sudden silence of those around her that Sybil's sisters had entered the church. She watched as her son Donal escorted the two women to the front pew across the aisle from Kathleen. Both nodded at her before they took their seats and then stared straight ahead as if the altar of this small Catholic church was a fascinating sight.

Looking at the two smartly dressed women, in outfits that probably cost more than anyone in this church made in a lifetime, Kathleen couldn't help but think how different Sybil was from her sisters. Kathleen had invited them to dinner last night but feigning tiredness from the trip they declined asking instead Kathleen and her family come to tea at the hotel. Mercy thought Kathleen. As if the Shelbourne wanted the likes of them.

It was Sybil who immediately realized Kathleen's discomfort regarding the Shelbourne and so somehow she persuaded her sisters to come to the Branson house for tea. They were polite but stiff and stayed for barely one hour. They were clearly uncomfortable but whether it was because of their surroundings or because of the impending wedding Kathleen wasn't sure. She felt no warmth from either of them which was such a contrast to the outgoing and warm-hearted Sybil.

Yet Kathleen could detect the love they had for their sister especially the dark haired one. In some ways she couldn't blame them for being concerned about their sister's new life. She wondered anew how the romance between Tom and Sybil had ever escaped the notice of Sybil's family until it was too late. From his letters which he sent regularly, Kathleen had an inkling that Tom had fallen in love with the Earl's younger daughter. She was a sea away and had detected it why hadn't those around them, who actually saw them daily, detected it she wondered. Was it just another indication that people like the Crawleys didn't really see those that waited on them as people, people with hopes and dreams and feelings and desires.

As she looked now at the Crawley sisters, Kathleen couldn't help but think of Sybil's absent parents. If you love your child, you have to accept their decisions she thought. As a mother she couldn't imagine missing such an important day in her child's life. And to miss it because they … Kathleen looked at her son now standing at the altar waiting for his bride. He might not be rich or titled but he was a good man, kind and decent, smart and hard-working, and deeply in love with their daughter.

At that moment Kathleen closed her eyes and made a special prayer asking God to take care of Tom and Sybil. With so much, and so many, against them, she prayed that their love would sustain them in whatever they faced.

Cora had no idea how long she stood at her bedroom window staring out the window without really seeing, her hand still grasping the wedding invitation. Robert had long since moved out of sight wandering further away from the house.

You gave them your blessing.

What else could I do? She was going to leave with him regardless of what I said.

But you won't go to the wedding?

He looked at her as if she had suddenly grown horns.

Of course not Cora. There is no way we could ever go. It's not safe there now for someone like me … like us.

But she's our daughter Robert.

Do you approve of her actions?

She played that conversation over and over in her head. Of course she knew it wasn't safe in Ireland for an English Lord, she had much to Robert's chagrin begun to read an Irish newspaper wanting to know more about the place her daughter would now call home, but although she was Lady Grantham she wasn't English. She was American, a fact that her mother-in-law and even her daughter Mary constantly referred to unflatteringly as if it made her inferior to the English and by implication them.

That Mary and Edith had been allowed to attend the wedding wasn't so much that Robert was any less concerned for their safety but more that it was, in Robert's mind at least, one last chance to change Sybil's mind and prevent her from making this grave mistake. No one outside the family knew of her flight to Ireland and if she came back now her reputation wouldn't be ruined. Even if she hadn't known about this thing with Branson until it was too late, Cora knew even if her husband didn't that it was now too late, and she knew her daughter well enough to know she wouldn't change her mind.

The Crawley sisters had taken the overnight ferry, arriving the day before the wedding. Under strict orders not to leave their hotel except to attend the wedding, the plan was for them to have Sybil visit them at the hotel on the day of their arrival and let her know that she was welcomed to return with them. In fact if she agreed to come back they would leave that evening.

If Sybil had agreed to come home, they would have heard from Mary by now since she would have telephoned when they arrived in Liverpool. But Mary hadn't rung. Cora thought she would have been more surprised if Sybil had changed her mind. She glanced once more at the clock on the fireplace mantle and saw that it was half past noon and grimaced as she realized that Sybil was now Lady Sybil Branson.

She's our daughter Robert.

Do you approve of her actions?

It wasn't wanted she wanted for her daughter. How proud she had been at Sybil's season for her lovely daughter had been quite the success with her numerous invitations to balls and parties and dinners and teas, so many that she couldn't possibly attend them all and her dance cards at the many balls she did attend were completely filled. Sybil's own ball at Grantham House had been a sought after invitation. Cora blinked back tears as she remembered how stunning Sybil had looked that night in her midnight blue silk gown. She had been so sure that gentlemen would soon be arriving at Downton with the hopes of courting the Earl of Grantham's youngest daughter but instead war had been declared and that changed everything.

Or so she thought at the time and had continued to think until that night he walked into the drawing room. Oh how could she have been so blind?

This is what comes from spoiling her.

That's not fair.

She's forgotten who she is.

Or have we overlooked who she really is?

Even during the excitement of her season, Sybil had never given any indication that she was interested in any of the men she danced or talked with or for that matter that she was interested in marriage. Unlike her sisters, Sybil had never talked about presiding over a large house, of hosting dinners or garden parties. As a child she would rather play outdoors running around or climbing trees than play with her dolls or have pretend tea parties. It seemed the only time she was sedate was when she was reading and her favorite books were adventure stories or about faraway lands never stories of Princes and Princesses like those favored by Edith.

The politics. The canvassing. The women's rights. The nursing. None of it had been a phase for Sybil. Was that were they had gone wrong? If they had listened more to their daughter would they still be facing this situation? If they had let her go to school when she had begged them … if they had let her continue nursing … if they had let her … if they had let her just be her.

I don't bow and scrape, and I've not seduced anyone. Give your daughter some credit for knowing her own mind.

That had been the appeal of Branson … he had accepted her for who she was. He had seen their daughter so much more clearly than she or Robert had and that is what had been, and still was, so hard for Cora to accept for it made her feel that she had been a failure as a mother.

Cora was startled by how little she knew about the man who had won the heart of her daughter for she was sure from the way they had looked at each other that night in the drawing room, the way they had taken strength from each other, the way they had faced her family together, that they were in love.

Other than being Irish and Catholic she knew almost nothing about him. Robert had been amused at first by the lad's appetite for books saying that Branson had probably read more of the books in the library than any Crawley had.

In her letter to Sybil she had asked her to write about Branson, no Tom she had to remind herself to say for he was no longer Branson the chauffeur but Tom her son-in-law. She wanted to know about his new job as a journalist, to know about his family, to know about their life together but most of all she wanted to know about the man himself. She wanted Sybil to allay the fears she had of the life Sybil would live in Dublin.

She had sent the letter with Mary and Edith. According to the society in which she lived, Cora realized the impropriety of her and Robert attending the wedding although in her heart she didn't agree. After all, Sybil was her daughter and would always be loved by her despite her choice of husband.

But the letter wasn't all Cora had sent. She had saved most of her allowance for the past two months and had sent that fearing Sybil would have more need of that than she did. But the letter and money were only part of what Cora sent with Mary and Edith.

While Robert was loathe to send a wedding present Cora wasn't and so without his knowledge or consent, in probably her only act of defiance in all her years of marriage, she had filled a trunk with household items. There was so much sitting around the house unused or unneeded, that Cora was easily able to fill a trunk with practical items such as sheets, blankets, towels, tablecloths, dishes, and silverware.

She had been honest with Robert when she told him this marriage wasn't what she wanted for Sybil. But Sybil had made her decision and Cora had decided she would accept it for if not she would lose her daughter forever and that was something Cora could not and would not accept. To Cora a mother's love was forever.

Thanks to all who have read this story and especially to those who took the time to leave a review. I might do another chapter covering Mary/Edith and Robert and the wedding - but on second thought that wouldn't fit in with the title of this story.