While We Were Watching Downton Abbey (35 page)

She knotted her hands and blew out a breath of air while she waited for him to speak.

But he said nothing. Good God. She couldn’t read his expression. Was that shock? Dismay? Her worst fears rose up to taunt her. She’d finally confessed her love for him and now he sat silent, searching for the words to not hurt her feelings any further when he told her that he didn’t love her back.

“Are you completely horrified?” she finally asked. “Because if you are, I can . . .”

“What?” he asked sharply. “Do you think you can take it back?” His eyes plumbed hers, so serious that she went completely still. As if a total lack of movement would better brace her for impact. “I just wasn’t sure I was allowed to speak yet.”

His lips twitched and she allowed herself to breathe.

“I would have been more surprised if you hadn’t already told me that night on the phone.”

Her gaze narrowed. “What are you talking about? Which night was that?”

“You know, the night you called me when you were drunk and”—he cleared his throat—“and apparently naked.”

She blinked in confusion.

“You told me that you loved me more than Doris’s cheese grits. And then you told me you wished I were there so that you could . . .” He paused, then said quite matter of factly, “Well, I think you offered to ‘screw my brains out.’”

“Oh.” She slumped in her chair, barely resisting the urge to cover her face with her hands.

“If I hadn’t had an early meeting, I would have been on the next flight out of Boston. Just to see if that were anatomically possible.” He flashed her a wicked smile and she couldn’t stop the blush that heated her cheeks.

In the midst of her embarrassment-tinged relief, irritation raised its hand. “So why force me to tell you something I’d already told you?” Samantha thought of the lost weeks and the awful meal her fear had pushed her to produce.

“Well, you were pretty quick to dismiss my confessions when I was either drunk or naked. I thought it might be smarter and more binding if you said it while you were dressed and of sound mind.” He smiled almost apologetically. “But I guess that’s the lawyer in me.”

Samantha tried to process this, but she could barely think let alone sort through the emotions surging through her.

“Before we go any further,” he said. “I think I should make one thing clear. I would have never married you if I didn’t want to.”

“But . . .”

“No.” It was his turn to shush her with a finger to the lips. “I could have loaned you the money to pay off your father’s debts—half of them were owed to the firm anyway. It wouldn’t have been difficult to work out. I could have even helped with Meredith and Hunter as a friend. Or a sort of big brother.” He looked at her and his eyes were clear and forthright. Something deep and promising shone out of them. “Except my feelings for you were never remotely brotherly.”

“But I was the one with the crush on you,” she said softly. “You barely looked at me.”

“I’m not sure your perception was any better then than it has been for the last twenty-five years,” Jonathan said. “But I wasn’t any braver than you were. I knew why you married me, and given all the gratitude and determination to please me—I was afraid that might be all you felt for me. Especially after the way you reacted at Bellewood when I told you our assets weren’t liquid.”

“But it wasn’t that. It was . . . Oh, God,” she breathed as he leaned forward to kiss her. “You love me. You really love me.” It occurred to her that she sounded like Sally Field giving her overly emotional Oscar speech for
Places in the Heart
, but she didn’t care. She could hardly grasp the wonder of it.

“Always have,” he said as his lips settled on hers. “Even when I was afraid I’d never be more to you than financial security, I couldn’t stop. Looks like I always will.”

He stood and leaned down to scoop her up into his arms. Holding her easily against his chest, he kissed her again, then started toward the bedroom. Samantha looped her arms around her husband’s neck and held on.

“You could have told me this before I spent three days cooking that lumpy beef Bourguignon,” she said.

“Samantha, I don’t care if you ever cook another thing,” he said. “I’ll hire Doris away from Bellewood if you like. Or we can put Giancarlo on retainer.” He traced her lips with his, then kissed her so deeply she thought she might pass out. “Right now I’m planning to take you to bed and let you have your way with me,” he murmured. “I’m kind of curious to see if my brains survive.” His laughter was soft and husky, his breath warm against her ear.

“Your wish is my command,” she teased as his lips found the sensitive spot behind her ear then brushed down to her collarbone. He laid her on their bed and began to undress her.

“What’s so funny?” he asked when her lips twisted up in a smile.

“Nothing,” she said on a gasp when he’d shed his clothes and joined her. “I was just thinking that the next time we have something to straighten out between us, I’m definitely going to listen to my instincts and cut right to the Saran wrap.”

EPILOGUE

S
NOW IN ATLANTA WAS ALWAYS RECEIVED WITH
an odd blend of excitement and panic. With little snow-clearing equipment and even less experience, the city and its ring of surrounding suburbs shut down. Its sprawling car-clogged highways emptied as quickly and completely as the grocery store shelves on the day that snow was forecast.

It was just ten days before Christmas and the white powder that covered Peachtree Street looked uncomfortable beneath the streetlights as if it knew it didn’t really belong there. Hunter Jackson looked equally uncomfortable though he was doing his best to hide it. Edward turned from the clubroom window to contemplate the younger man. “You’ve surprised me again,” he said clapping a hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “But in a favorable way.”

“Is that right?” Jackson maintained a gruff demeanor, but he didn’t shrug off the hand or the compliment. Edward thought he detected a relief similar to his own.

“You could have saved everybody a lot of trouble if you’d agreed to let me raise money for your company in the first place,” Jackson said. “It’s kind of weird that somebody as old as your uncle and half a world away would be the one to figure out how to settle things.”

“No doubt,” Edward said, though he was certain Jonathan Davis’s suggestions hadn’t hurt. “But I think this feels right, don’t you?”

“It’s okay.” Jackson’s admission was grudging. “I didn’t really want to have to be involved in a start-up anyway.” This had been the younger man’s rationale for starting the conversation with Edward that had led to their agreement; those who had given money to Jackson would, in fact, receive shares in Private Butler while Jackson turned over the two hundred fifty thousand dollars he had left and worked for the firm until Edward had been paid the rest. After that, well, then they’d see.

* * *

EDWARD PATTED HIS JACKET POCKET IN WHICH HE’D
placed envelopes containing the newly minted Private Butler shares for Isabella, James, Brooke, Claire, and Mimi Davenport. Investors had already been notified of the arrangement, but these certificates would make it official; a little extra marzipan on tonight’s Christmas cake.

With a final smile and nod Jackson turned to leave. Edward watched his progress, then heard a small gasp when Hunter and his sister came face-to-face in the doorway. Jackson pulled back stiffly, but Samantha managed to hug him anyway. “I heard what you did,” she said. “And I’m proud of you.”

Hunter glanced around as he stepped back but Samantha seemed unconcerned with their audience. “We’re having Christmas at our place this year,” she said. “Now that things are settled, I hope you’ll come.”

The young man left as Samantha, Brooke, Claire, and Claire’s daughter, Hailey, swept into the clubroom. Isabella and James, who had just finished setting up the drinks and food tables, greeted them. A small Christmas tree twinkled in the corner.

“Please tell me those are not shandies,” Claire said as Edward joined them.

“They’re not shandies,” Edward said, though of course they were. “We had quite a few requests I’m afraid. But we’ll be having mulled wine and Christmas cake and pudding for ‘afters.’” He smiled. “In the meantime I’m certain your wingmen and your daughter will protect you from temptation.”

“Mother!” Hailey laughed. “I should have known you’d be in trouble as soon as I turned my back,” she teased.

“Ha! It’s all grist for the creative mill,” Claire said, matching her daughter’s tone. “Now that I have the go-ahead to write the contemporary novel I have in mind, even drinking with friends qualifies as research.”

“No more seventeenth-century Scotland?” Edward asked.

“Only if one of my characters goes there on vacation,” Claire replied. “Or I figure out a way to incorporate some of LeaAnn Larsen’s time-traveling Navy SEALs.” She grinned. “I just turned in my first three chapters and a full synopsis. I’ll be published by a different imprint at Scarsdale, but my editor seems to love what I’ve sent so far.”

“Congratulations,” he said as the room began to fill. He handed the envelopes to Claire and Brooke. “I’ll do my best to see that your shares in Private Butler increase in value.”

“Me, too,” Brooke said. “Now that I’ve been named head of the Family Division.” She, too, laughed. It was hard not to with so many positive developments. “Who knew being a full-time mother would make me so valuable in the workplace?”

“Congratulations,” Claire said. “I might have to drink a shandy or two to celebrate your new position along with having Hailey home, and a book that seems to be practically writing itself.”

The noise level grew as the growing crowd helped themselves to food and drink. “You haven’t said much,” Claire said to Samantha.

“It’s probably hard to talk when you’re smiling like that,” Brooke said. “My God, it’s practically obscene.”

Samantha blushed but kept on smiling. “I refuse to apologize for being happy,” she said. “And I saw a few smiles on
your
face, Miz Mackenzie, after that date with Bruce Dalton. Does your boss know you’ve already started going out with the customers?”

Brooke laughed. “It was one date. And I don’t think either of us is in a hurry. Honestly, I’m just enjoying doing things any way that I choose and in my own time. And watching Pregnant Barbie blow up like a balloon.”

Edward clapped his hands for attention and they all headed for their seats.

“Boy, you all have the best seat in the house,” Hailey said as she dropped down into the sofa between her mother and Samantha. Claire slipped an arm across her daughter’s shoulders as Edward moved in front of the television. Samantha reached out to the others so that all of them were linked. “The first one who starts singing ‘Kumbaya’ is out of here,” one of them stage-whispered. There were giggles from the sofa.

“Well, ladies,” Edward said, taking in all of their smiling faces. “It’s been a grand adventure getting to know you all better and sharing my addiction to
Downton Abbey
with you. I hope you’ll come back in January for season three. I hear Shirley MacLaine is a hoot as Lady Cora’s mother and, honestly,
Downton Abbey
wouldn’t be the same without you.”

There were murmurs of agreement and he felt the smile stretch across his lips. “Ladies,” he said. “I’m pleased to present Christmas at Downton Abbey, which will be followed by mulled wine and a choice of Christmas pudding and Christmas cake shipped over here by my dear old mum.”

There was applause. At Edward’s signal James lowered the lights. Edward pressed play. They leaned forward as one, eager to suspend disbelief, more than ready to lose themselves in the English countryside, within the walls of a grand estate, in the midst of a family that had come to feel almost as familiar as their own.

As they watched the show unfold, Edward watched them and knew as he hadn’t before, that even an ordinary life could rival the comedy and tragedy of a really great period drama. That fairy tales could come true if only they were allowed to. And that friendship was the most potent magic of all; able to form without warning or explanation and in the most unexpected of ways and places. Just as it had while they were watching
Downton Abbey
.

READERS GUIDE

WHILE WE WERE WATCHING

DOWNTON ABBEY

WENDY WAX

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. How does watching
   Downton Abbey
   draw these characters together? Do you think this is part of the value of a hit television show? How has watching
   Downton Abbey
   or any other favorite show added to your life? Could you imagine yourself making a new friend through a shared interest in
   Downton Abbey
   ?
   
2. Downtown Abbey
   chronicles the lives of the very wealthy and the people who serve them. How is this paralleled in the interactions we view between the characters in the book? How do these relationships evolve?
   
3. Samantha, Claire, and Brooke come from very diverse backgrounds and are each at a different stage in life. How do these differences help bond them together and foster their friendship? How would their ultimate outcomes be altered if they had never become friends?
   
4. The relationship between mothers and daughters is a prevalent theme in this book. Readers witness Samantha’s interactions with her mother-in-law, Cynthia Davis, as well as Samantha’s motherly bond with Meredith; Claire’s connection with Hailey; and Brooke’s relationship with Ava and Natalie. Discuss the effects of each of these mother-daughter relationships on Samantha, Claire, and Brooke.
   
5. In a way,
   Downton Abbey
   is also a main character in this book. How would you define its role in the lives of those living in the Alexander? How is the show a catalyst for change?
   
6. Edward Parker’s great-uncle Mason says discretion, persistence, and valor “always win the day” (page 100). Do you think this belief is upheld in the book? Give examples from the story to support your answer.
   
7. Food is often described in the book. What role do you think it plays in different settings, such as during the
   Downtown Abbey
   gatherings, the family dinners with Samantha and Jonathan, and the meetings between Samantha and her mother-in-law? Can you think of other scenes where food is highlighted?
   
8. If you were to write a sequel to this book, how would it go? What do you think the future holds for these characters?