“Did you see Anna last weekend?” Robert looked up when John entered the office. He saw a blush on his face and knew it had been a fun weekend. His own weekend had been magical, Cora had asked to go to Downton and see how far the reconstruction work was.
Molesley had opened Dower House for them and to their surprise, Baxter had been with Molesley. Cora felt guilty. ‘We should stay somewhere else or tell Molesley we can fend for ourselves.’ She said when they were alone for a couple of minutes.
“Why?” Was Robert’s response.
Cora had looked at him and sighed. They obviously planned a fun weekend together and now here we are interrupting them.
“It is part of his job, being at the house when we are here.”
“Darling.” Cora had put her hand on his arm. “I know it is his job, and I also know that you are very used to how things were done in the old days.”
“The old days?” He had exclaimed.
Cora had gotten on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “We can perfectly do without a butler being in the house for a weekend.”
“I can already tell you that Molesley will not leave if we stay in the house. I will eat my hat when he does.”
Cora had chuckled. “Then we will leave and stay somewhere else. Your country is famous for its Bed and Breakfasts, so we will be able to find something. I like you when you are wearing a hat, so let’s not eat it.” She had now kissed him again, long, and passionate.
They ended up in a very cosy Bed and Breakfast a bit up north from the Abbey.
The next morning, they had been into the Abbey together with the contractors.
“As you can see the great hall is almost finished. When you have your wedding day in three month’s time, we will be able to be finished with the dining area. In fact, if everything goes at this pace, the house will be ready to be lived in again just before the wedding” The contractor had smiled at them.
Cora hooked her arm in Robert’s when they walked into the Abbey, this was the first time they walked through the front door together. He heard her gasp when they entered the great hall. Robert was impressed too; it did look like before the fire. The contractor had managed to replicate everything.
“Robert, this is beautiful.” Cora said very softly. “I cannot believe that this will be where I finally will say yes to you.”
Robert stopped in the middle of the great hall and turned towards Cora. Both his hands rested on her sides. “This will not only be where we will become husband and wife, but it will be where we are going to live the rest of our lives.”
Cora took in a deep breath. Officially they did not live together at the moment, but there were not many nights they did not sleep in the same bed. Most of the time, they were in her apartment. But the idea of leaving her own space behind did scare her a bit. What was expected from her when they would move into the Abbey. Was she going to be able to keep working like she did now, or did Robert expect her to be the lady of the house and arrange parties and other posh gatherings?
‘Can you tell me what is happening inside your head.’ Robert softly squeezed her sides.
Another deep sigh. “We will talk about that later, I am sorry. I think I am a bit overwhelmed by everything. Can you show me the library? You shone me through the windows last time, and I am dying to be able to walk into that room.”
Robert turned towards the contractor. “Can we go to the library, or is that area not open yet?”
“The whole building is safe to walk in.”
“Even upstairs?” Robert said surprised.
“Even upstairs. The rooms where the fire reached are still damaged, but we will start with them when the downstairs is finished. If you want, you can walk around on your own. We will meet back here in thirty minutes.”
The contractor had left them on their own, Robert first walked with Cora towards the library. He then went upstairs with her.
“I am still amazed this staircase was not damaged by that fire.” She said while they walked up.
“You remember the first time I showed you Downton?” Robert asked, while leading her to the right when they got upstairs.
“The day you almost killed yourself. I will not easily forget that day.”
Robert managed to have a guilty look on his face. “I promised that one day you would walk down this stairs, and today is that day.”
“Can you first show me a bit more of the rooms?”
Now Robert had a cheeky smile. “I want to show you one room in particular. Follow me.” He took her hand and pulled her with him. In his childlike enthusiasm, he forgot to wait for Cora to start walking and he almost dragged her with him.” He stopped after he had passed a couple of doors. “This.” He said, while opening the door. “This, will be our bedroom.”
Cora stepped inside a large room; the room was untouched by the fire. Inside was a big canapé bed, a comfortable chair, and a chaise lounge. Two big rooms gave them a view of the beautiful garden. Cora turned around towards Robert. “It is a little bit outdated.” She chuckled.
Robert quickly stepped closer to her. “We will make this room our own. The way you like it, is the way it will look like.” He pressed his lips on hers for a quick kiss, but Cora moved her hands towards his neck and pulled him closer. She deepened the kiss; her tongue found his. Robert’s hands roamed over her body. “I cannot wait to spend our first night in this room with you as the lady of the house.”
Cora froze, what made Robert step back and look at her. He put his hand on her cheek. “Darling, what is wrong? Please tell me what is wrong. Something happened downstairs and now again. Are you having doubts? If you do, you should tell me. I do not want you to feel forced to marry me.”
“Oh Robert.” Cora put her hand on top of Robert’s. “Nobody is forcing me to marry you. I want to marry you. Yesterday rather than today. I mean that Robert, marrying you is not the part that is scaring me.”
“Something is scaring you?”
“Yes.” Cora took his hand in hers and walked towards the chaise lounge to sit down. “What is expected from me, when we move into this house? I am not brought up in the British upper class, and I do not know how to be a host or a lady of the house. Your mother will laugh when I fail to perform the duties that come with this house and the title that you will give me when I marry you.”
“Mama, will not laugh.”
Cora huffed. “Please Robert, do not be ignorant. She will, we both know that.”
“Alright, you are correct in that. Mama will indeed not mind seeing you fail. But you do not have to be scared of all these things. I am not going to ask from you to be all that. Living in this house does not mean we have to entertain people.”
“I love you Robert and I love your innocents, but you need to open your eyes for what we are going to do. Reopening the house cannot happen without taking on all the duties that come with a house like this. We will need staff to manage the house and we will need to organise parties and events. You do not want to become the laughingstock.”
“Maybe you are correct. I have not really given that a real thought. I was only thinking about how we could fill up all these rooms with little ones.” He put his hand on her abdomen. “And how beautiful you will look when you are walking down the stairs with a little one on your arms.” He softly kissed her cheek. “I was thinking about how we could go on long walks after dinner to the rose garden. How we could have romantic picnics at the lake.” He brushed his nose over hers. “Papa and I have already discussed how we can move the company up here, so we do not have to travel to London that often. We will keep a dependence in London, Rosamund will probably stay and work in London. You and I will move our office here, John probably too.”
“What about Baxter?” Cora said, a bit overwhelmed by everything he was telling her. “Where is Baxter going, is she not coming with us?”
Robert laughed. “I am sorry, I assumed that made sense, with Molesley she will want to live close to here and not in London.”
Cora laughed too. “I forgot about that. You are right.”
“Cora?” Robert put his hand on Cora’s leg. “We will take everything the way it comes and if Mama is unkind to you, you should tell me right away. Do you promise me that?”
“I promise you.” She smiled. “Well, oké enough worrying, the contractor will wonder where we are.”
“Three more months darling, three more months.” Robert said, while pulling Cora back down when she got up. She stumbled and lost her balance. Robert pulled on her arm again and she sat down on his lap.
“Three more months indeed.” She kissed him, with both her hands on his face. “The day I am allowed to call myself your wife, will be the happiest day in my life.”
Robert moved his hand to Cora’s abdomen again. “I agree, although the day we will have our own little one, will be even happier.”
Cora crashed her mouth on Roberts until she needed air.
Verhalen van Traan 