Mandy wrote Anna the next day and told her everything that has happened. She needed to tell someone, and she certainly couldn't tell George. She pleaded with Anna not to say a word about what happened with Matthew to Thomas. He would break for sure, considering the look on his face when she left Downton. She had to tell him herself... but tell him what? That she fell in love with the man who gave her that blasted hairpin, and who she kissed back when he kissed her in the shade of a tree in the middle of the village?

She groaned and her head fell over her folded arm on her desk. "I'm doomed. Thomas is going to hate me for this. Why do I have to be such an easy woman?"

Someone knocked on the her office door and she popped her head up. She expected to see George, but standing in the doorway was Mrs. Crawley. Her gaze traveled around the room. "My, it looks so much better in here with those filing cabinets."

"Tell me about it." Mandy sat up in her seat. "It took me a whole day to organize all the files according to patient, or date for the order forms. I had a splitting headache when I was through with it. Both George and I did after he came in to help."

Mrs. Crawley came in and sat down in a chair that Mandy had put in front of her desk, and she couldn't help but notice facial similarities between Mrs. Crawley and Matthew. Strange, since these were the actors she saw, people who were nowhere near related to each other. Maybe her mind was so focused on Matthew, that she saw him everywhere.

"George seems to be quite fond of you," Mrs. Crawley commented.

"Yes, we're just good friends. He already said that he didn't have any intention of wooing me, thank goodness. I don't want any more of that than I need to. At least right now. I just want to focus on my work here."

"Are you getting a handle on the accounting work?"

"Yes, I have gotten the hang of it. I spend my whole day in the hospital, aside from when I buy my lunches in the village."

The woman's mouth opened in mild shock. "What? Are you saying that you only eat once a day?"

"Pretty much. I wake up, get ready and go straight downstairs to my office and get started on work. I go out and get my lunch in the village, come back and eat in my office, usually with George, and I forget to eat dinner since I'm so busy with paperwork and adding numbers. The time flies, and it's already ten by the next time I look at the clock."

The look Mrs. Crawley gave her reminded Mandy of the look her mom would give her after she did some completely stupid. "Well," the woman began firmly, "I simply cannot allow a working woman such as yourself to go hungry. I think you should come back and stay at Crawley House so you can have three decent meals."

Mandy's heart jumped sharply at the thought of sitting down in at least one meal with Matthew. His kiss suddenly flashed in her memory. "Um, I don't know... after what's happened?"

She waved a hand. "That's all in the past, my dear. Come and stay at Crawley House in a better room that you have now, with a bath that you don't have to share with your co-workers and patients." Mandy pursed her lips together, and Mrs. Crawley noticed her unsure expression. "You are concerned about Matthew." Mandy nodded. "Well, he'll just have to control himself, won't he? Plus, you two are friends. I hear that you two have talked on occasions."

Yeah, and on one of those occasions he kissed me! "Yes, you're right, but... I guess I don't want people at Downton to find out and make a fuss about it."

"Don't you worry about that. I heard from Cora—Lady Grantham—that the house has quieted down and has gotten back to normal. I don't think anyone there would care that you are staying with us."

Thomas would. I promised him. "I suppose not, but um... thank you for the offer, but I'll just stay here. Maybe I can come by for dinner every day, and then go back to the hospital."

"You might as well stay if you will be stopping by every day." She leaned in, her aging eyes hopeful. "Oh, please, Mandy. It would be a joy for me to have you in the house. I quite enjoyed talking with you when you first arrived there. I would like to have more of those occasions to get to know you a little better since I hardly see you here since we are busy with our own work."

Mandy pursed her lips together. She promised Thomas that she would move out as soon as she got the job—and she got the job and was kicked out... Could she break her promise and move back in? She looked at Mrs. Crawley's soft blue eyes and motherly face. She missed her mom, and having a mother-type figure around to talk to would be wonderful. That would be reason she chose to stay in the house, if Thomas questioned her later.

"I... suppose that living here is waring on me a little."

Mrs. Crawley beamed. "Oh, splendid." She stood up. "I will go and talk to Dr. Clarkson and say that you will be moving out of that room tonight."

"Tonight? That fast?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Oh, no, I was just... um... I need a little time to get ready."

"Then I'll ask Dr. Clarkson if you can end early today. I will ask him now."

Before Mandy could say another word, Mrs. Crawley scurried out of the office and headed to the patients' area where Dr. Clarkson most likely was. Mandy slumped back in her seat. She would stay in the Crawley House. What would Thomas think of her when he finds out that she lived there and his love rival kissed her? She didn't want to think about it. And what about his proposal? He waited for an answer. After Matthew's kiss, she was more unsure of her answer than she was when she received the proposal!

Matthew... how would she live there when he was there, considering her feelings for him and his feelings for her? What would Thomas think about her suddenly staying there for good?

"Men seriously are going to be the death of me..." she moaned.

She thought before that her life became more exciting when she arrived in the Downton world. Now, she realized that exciting just meant a huge headache.

~ ~ ~

For the second time, Matthew stood in the drawing room staring at Mandy as she sat with Mrs. Crawley drinking lemon tea that evening. His gaze shifted to his mother, a hundred questions and concerns written in his eyes.

"Matthew, before you start," his mother began, "I'll have you know that Mandy has been eating one meal a day since she started working at the hospital. I made a second offer to her to stay in the house under the pretense that she have three whole meals a day and not starve herself by just eating a few fruits and vegetables from the market for lunch."

"Mother, I really don't think..."

"I know, Matthew, but the girl needs a decent place to stay. I am not opposed, and neither should be anyone else. The fiasco that has happened in the past will stay in the past, and that is final. We all need to move forward."

If Mandy wasn't so absorbed with the hurtful fact that Matthew didn't want her to stay, she would applaud Mrs. Crawley for being straight forward. Matthew remained silent as he looked from Mandy to his mother. "Very well," he said and left the room. Mandy tried not to let the hurt get to her. She knew why he didn't want her to stay in his own house—it was what made him kiss her... his weak will. Honestly, she discovered, her will was weak as well. She had to be careful.

"Are you sure people will be alright with me staying here?" Mandy asked, and heard the front door open and shut—Matthew left.

"Don't worry your mind about it, dear." She sipped her tea.

"It's hard not to worry, though."

"Really, the only person who was against this was the Dowager Lady Grantham. She was in the room when I told Dr. Clarkson you were moving out of the hospital and into this house. Everyone else is fine with it. Matthew has feelings for you, and that's why it's difficult for him to have you here."

Mandy nodded, not wanting to say anything more on the subject. She finished her tea and excused herself to her room—the same one she stayed in before. She sat on the pink comforter and eyed the white dresser with the vase of pink roses on it. She prayed that she was just paranoid again, and everything wasn't a bad as she thought. The last time she was paranoid, though, she thought that Thomas suspected that a man bought the hairpin for her, and he was right.

"Something bad is going come of this, just like everything else that has happened. I know it."