It had broken her for about six months. She was a zombie, a shell of her former self. Then one day she realized that she couldn't go on like that anymore. Life wasn't worth living if she was going to be miserable. She had a son to take care of and an estate to save for him so that when he was Lord Grantham he would still be able to live at Downton. It was what Matthew would have wanted.
She stroked her thumb over Matthew's face in the picture, then picked up the one of she and George decorating the Christmas tree. "He is the very image of his father. Matthew's mother says that George looks just like he did at that age."