“Mama!” Robert said with a very stern voice. “Can you please let Cora talk?”
Cora gave him a soft smile and looked back at Violet and Patrick, her future parents-in-law. Rosamund was planning on telling them the news about Marmaduke and the wedding today. But Marmaduke got a nasty cough and they needed to go to the hospital. She had asked Cora and Robert to tell them about the wedding. Cora had protested because they needed to tell this themselves. But at the same time, she understood that time was of the essence.
“Robert maybe you should tell them,” Cora said in a soft voice.
Robert opened his mouth but Patrick interrupted him. “I think that my darling wife will need to learn how to listen to you if she ever wants to see Downton being rebuilt.”
“But this is not about Downton.” Cora said slightly shocked.
“It does not matter love. You are part of our family now and your voice needs to be heard too.”
Robert was thankful for his father. It was amazing to see, how hard he and Rosamund were trying to show Cora how much she was loved and that she was welcome.
“Rosamund and Marmaduke asked us,” She looked briefly at Robert. “To tell you about their wedding. Some things have changed.” Cora paused again, Robert nodded that she should go on. “They have changed the date.”
“What?” Violet exclaimed. “And why are they not here to tell us that themselves?”
“Mama,” Robert said calmly. “Rosamund asked us to tell you because she had to go to the hospital with Marmaduke.”
“She could have come after that visit.”
“No, Mama. She could not have. The thing is. Marmaduke is ill, they found cancer and it has spread. The doctors say he will only have a couple more months to live. Cora and I helped them to move the wedding date forward. There is too much risk Marmaduke will be too ill in October, or worse. We managed to get the SkyGarden next Friday. We have an officiant, a wedding photographer, the cake will be ready on that day and we also found a florist who will decorate the place.”
Cora loved how much details Robert remembered. He was truly investigated in this wedding. She could not wait to start and plan their own day together.
“My darling girl,” Patrick said softly. “Oh, my darling girl. How is she holding up?”
Robert turned towards his father. “You know Rosamund. She is pretending to be strong.”
“She is my daughter. She does not pretend, we are strong woman.”
“There is nothing wrong in showing your emotions when you are going to lose the man you love when you are only in your twenties,” Patrick said. “How is Marmaduke at the moment?”
“Rosamund took him to the hospital because he had developed a nasty cough. I do not know what is the cause of that yet. Rosamund has not called or texted yet.” Cora answered. “But overall he is doing amazingly well.”
“You see, there is no reason to change the wedding date.” Violet sneered.
“He is doing well at the moment, the fact they are in hospital at the moment, should tell you enough about how ill he is and why they want to get married right away.”
“Darling.” Patrick rested his hand on Violet’s arm. A gesture Cora saw him rarely do. “I am asking you to support them in this choice, but most of all support them in this hour of need. They need us more than ever.” He looked at Cora. “What can we do to make that day their special day?”
“I have some ideas.” Cora said.
+++
Robert scooted next to Cora in bed. They went back to her apartment, tomorrow they would not go into the office and Robert had started to like the calm that was surrounding her apartment building. Cora put her book down and slid further under the covers.
“How was Marmaduke?” She asked. After dinner, Robert went to Rosamund’s place to see if they needed anything.
“He has an upcoming pneumonia, but the doctor said they were early and could start treatment right away. The chances that it will develop further are small. So he was allowed to go home. Rosamund needs to pay close attention if his breathing gets laboured they need to go to A&E immediately. But they were glad to be home together.”
Cora put her hand on Robert’s arm. “I can only imagine how they must feel.”
They lay a couple of minutes in silence next to each other, when Cora suddenly said. “I forgot to thank your father for sticking up for me.”
Robert brushed with his finger over Cora’s cheekbone. “You do not have to. As I said before, my father likes you and is happy to have you in our family.”
“I cannot express how grateful I am for him. I am not sure if I would have been brave enough to endure your mother without his support.”
Robert moved a bit closer. “Is my support not enough?”
Cora smiled. “Of course it is. But it would have been so incredibly hard without your father’s support. Your love alone would maybe not have been enough.”
Robert kissed the bridge of Cora’s nose. “I think, I can understand that. Especially since your own family is so far away.”
“My father would have loved having you as his son-in-law.”
“And your mother?”
“My mother likes you. Simply because you have an English title, Milord.” She said jokingly.
Robert moved his hand over Cora’s shoulder and arm, down to her abdomen. “We should start thinking about making sure that title will continue.”
“Should we not wait with that for after the wedding?”
“Cora? We did not have protected sex, how are you so sure we did not already start our little family?”
“First, because I am on my period at the moment, there is 100% certain, no baby growing in me. And second, I use the pill, so the chance of becoming pregnant is very small at the moment.”
“You never told me you were using birth control.”
“We did not have a real talk about starting a family. We only said that we both would like it in the future. But that’s it. Maybe I should have told you I was using birth control, but it never crossed my mind. I am sorry.”
Robert kissed her forehead. “It is alright. Probably it is better this way”
“I am going to stop soon because they say it can take a while before you get pregnant.”
“What if you do not take a while and get pregnant right away? Then you will have a big belly on our wedding day, or a little one to take care of. We could wait a little longer, we did not talk about a date yet. We should start planning our day.” His hand was resting on her hip.
“What about the 16th of February?”
Roberts’s fingers had started softly massaging her side, but now he stopped. “Why the 16th? What is special about that day?”
Cora brushed her lips over Robert’s. “It was the day that you saved me from that creep in the pub.”
Robert frowned, but then he remembered. “The day I let another guy hit me, to protect you from his dirty hands. I remember. It was the night I started to realise that I liked you. You were more than just a pretty face.”
“Miss Pretty,” Cora said kissing him, her fingers playing with his hair.
“My miss Pretty.” He kissed her back.
Verhalen van Traan 