rightly | open post.

Mary smiled. "I'm curious to see your skills," she said. She fingered her coin purse debating whether she ought to pay for this. If it was one of the English Lords back home she would have no worries, but she knew that Steve wasn't as rich as that. Mary had quite a bit of money. It seemed a bit wrong to not pay for things sometimes. It was something she would have to talk with him about.

"Alright, then," he nodded, then turned to the operator as he dug into his pockets and took out his wallet. True, she had more money, and he was certainly open to talking about her paying for some things in the future, but not today. He wasn't filthy rich but he wasn't exactly dirt poor either, he could certainly pay for a date on Coney Island.

Paying for one round, he was handed three balls. He set two of them down on the counter, then stepped around and got into a decent stance, aiming at the bottles and then taking a shot. While he didn't knock them all out in one go, only one stayed up.

"Very good, mister! Knock down the last bottle and you can have your pick from all the prizes!"

“May I try?” Mary asked with a smile. She picked up one of the balls and aimed at the remaining bottle. It hit the top and sent the bottle flying off the counter.

“We have a winner!” Said the carnie. “And your lady has an arm on her. Pick a prize, sweetheart.”

“Shooting pheasant isn’t quite the same, but I do know how to aim,” Mary told Steve with a grin. After inspecting the available prizes, she picked a stuffed bunny with floppy ears.

"Of course," Steve stepped back promptly, a little surprised but not the least bit put off. He probably shouldn't be so surprised by her flawless aim, since he knew how British people loved hunting, but he found the way she knocked down that bottle in one try very impressive.

"You're telling me," he grinned at the man, raising his eyebrows. "I better make sure I keep the house tidy, or else..."

He peered at the bunny with a chuckle, leaning in to press a quick kiss to her cheek. "Suppose that means I only won you half of that bunny."

"I hope you don't mind me taking away your moment of gallantry," she replied. Something told her that he wouldn't. Steve had already told her how much he thought of women showing their strength.

Mary smiled when he kissed her cheek, hugging the bunny to side under her arm. "I'd say about 90%. I'm still very pleased." Her free hand slipped into his, lacing their fingers together.

"Not at all," he shook his head. "It was brilliant. And... he should be getting a lot of customers now." He nodded back to the stand, where other couples had gathered after seeing Mary knock down the last bottle. A few women seemed particularly excited to give the game a try themselves.

"I think I can live with 90%," he joked, tugging on her hand a little. "Should we go to the wheel before lunch?"

Mary looked back as well, surprised to see that so many women wanted a try. Had what she had done really been that extraordinary?

"Yes, let's," she said, turning her attention back to Steve. "I'd love to know how far we can see when we're up there." Mary squeezed his hand as they weaved through the crowd towards it. "Do you enjoy going to the beach?"

The norm in these games was that men would play to win their sweethearts a prize, and women didn't often care to give it a try themselves. Mary's shot had been flawless, and she likely made it look easier than it really was, but it got more women wanting to see how it was, too.

"Very much, although this one's a bit crowded. We can go for a walk along the water, though, if you want to." They reached the wheel and he paid for two tickets, waiting in line until they were directed towards one of the cars.

"That would be lovely. I don't have my bathing costume anyway, so we cannot swim." Once they were seated, Mary turned to him and gave him a soft kiss. "You have quite the adventurous day planned for us. You're going to tire me out by the afternoon."

It really was more than she did in a typical day. Mary was enjoying herself though. Any time spent with Steve with wonderful, and she was so glad that her grandmother hadn't protested much about this outing. Perhaps she knew that fighting it was a lost cause, since he and Mary were engaged. Martha had been at least happy to hear that he was serious about her and intended to marry her.

"It's alright. The beach here is too crowded for swimming, anyway." He put an arm around her, returning that soft kiss. His brow quirked up in amusement at her last words. "I should hope I don't tire you out too much," he winked, but then added promptly. "I was planning on cooking dinner for you."

Provided he could get away with keeping Mary that long. Usually it was fine, but he didn't want to assume. She might have promised to be home for dinner, and he wouldn't want to upset her family by making her cancel or not show up.

"Oh," she grinned. "That sounds lovely too." Especially the part about being alone with him in his flat. "You cook?" That seemed unusual to her, even if most of the famous chefs were men. Most often women were cooks. Downton had always had a female cook for as long as she could remember.

The car started to move and they slowly made their way into the air. Mary knew that she was probably supposed to look out at the view around them, but her gaze was caught on the beautiful ring on her finger. She smiled at the way it glinted in the sun.

"I do. Well, nothing too complex or spectacular, but I can cook, and I like to," he smiled at her. "I guess you can be the judge of my abilities later today." It had been a while since he had cooked for anyone like this, but he felt fairly confident he could manage something decent and tasty.

Free hand reaching for hers, he ran his thumb across the ring on her finger, then he lifted it up to kiss her knuckles. "We'll never get to enjoy the view like this." She kept looking at her ring, and he kept looking at her.

"I look forward to it," she replied, interested to see what he would make for them. She knew it wouldn't be like dinners at Downton, but in her months in New York she had come to enjoy her casual dinners with Steve most of all.

Mary turned her gaze up from the ring towards his face. "I think I'm rather enjoying this view," she said quietly before pressing her lips to his.

His lips curled into a wider smile just as he pressed them to hers, returning the kiss. He tipped his head a little and parted his mouth just so, though he didn't aim to deepen the contact, especially here of all places. His hand cupped her jaw, sliding down to her neck, and eventually he pulled away with a few reluctant pecks, unwilling to put too much distance between them.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see a bit of the view, as they rose higher on the wheel. "Look," he muttered, turning his head to the side finally to get a proper look at the view. They could see the parks and all the attractions, the people moving around on the ground below them, the beach crowded with people all over the sand and in the water. Farther beyond it, there were a few buildings and houses, though not much more than that from where they stood.

She hated to part her lips from his, though she was conscious of the fact that they were in public and needed to behave accordingly. Thus, she let him pull away, even if it was only just a bit.

Mary looked out to where he pointed, to the beach and carnival rides on one side and below them, to the buildings on the other. As they rose higher in the air, other bigger buildings in the distance came into view. "There's the city," she said with a smile, "and the Woolworth building." The tallest building in the world was in New York, not London. Mary hoped they might be able to overtake it soon.

Well, for as long as the ride lasted, they should be fine. It was easy to stay away from prying eyes when they were several feet off the ground, and Steve was sure that no one could actually see them kissing from down on the ground, not to mention that no one should be looking up at them anyway.

"Very good," he hummed, teasing her a little. "Change the accent, and you could almost pass for a New Yorker."

Mary glanced back at him. “I’ll pass on being a New Yorker, even if I do like the city very much.” It was probably her second favorite large city after London. She reached over and took his hand. “When you were in the war, did you get a chance to visit Paris?” Mary enjoyed Paris, though her French wasn’t very good, and Parisians didn’t seem fond of speaking English.

Steve chuckled at that, shaking his head. "I thought as much. But I was just teasing, you know." He rather liked Mary's accent anyway. He liked everything about her, actually, and he wouldn't want any of it changed.

His smile faded a little at her question, and he lifted a shoulder. "Well, I went to Paris. Can't say I visited much of it, sadly." He wasn't there as a tourist after all, and despite having been to a lot of places during the war, he never really enjoyed any of them. He never got to— Downton had been perhaps the only exception, and only because of Mary.

She knew he was teasing, of course. With a smile, she lifted his hand to her lips and kissed the back of it.

His face always seemed to fall when he talked about the war, and Mary supposed that she couldn’t blame him. From what she had heard of it, it sounded horrible. Still, Mary was curious about what exactly Steve’s role had been in the war. She debated if now was an appropriate time to ask him about it.

“Perhaps when we’re back in Europe we can visit Paris as tourists,” she said.

He smiled warmly at her words, nodding softly. "I'd like that very much. I'd like to visit a lot of places with you, actually." Paris would be a good start, though. Close enough too, so it wasn't too big a stretch for them. "Oh, and we do need to decide on a place to go for our honeymoon."

“Yes we do,” Mary said with a smile. That was a more pleasant thing to think about for the time being. “Do you have any ideas or suggestions? I might like Italy or the French countryside, or we could go to Ireland or out to the English coast.” They had a lot of options.

"Italy sounds nice," he answered promptly. "But we can think of a more specific destination later. There's no rush." Even if Steve felt all but ready for it as it was, he tried not to get too impatient. They'd have plenty of time and their whole lives to enjoy all sorts of things together. "Can you speak any languages other than English?"

"A bit of French," Mary replied, "but I was never any good at it. Sybil always got the best marks in French." Foreign languages didn't come easily to her. Math was a cinch, but words could be confusing, especially in another language. "What about you?"

"I know French. German, too, and some Polish. I can manage a bit of Spanish and Italian, but not all that much." It was a lot to know, he was well aware, particularly for an American soldier, which was why he went on to explain. "Most of it had to do with the work I did, during the war. I'm just lucky languages are easy for me to learn. I've never had much trouble picking up new ones."

"Really?" Mary asked, surprised. "That's quite impressive."

They reached the top of the Ferris wheel and stopped so that passengers below could be let off. She gazed around at the scenery again. There was something quiet and private about being up this high, where nobody could hear them.

"Steve..." she said quietly. "Will you ever be able to tell me what work you did in the war? If we're to be married, I would like to know."

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