“Robert, can you come and help me?” Cora called out. She was sitting in the bathtub, but she couldn’t get herself up.
Robert zoomed around the corner. :” What can I do?” But when he asked the question, he saw the problem. Cora was using a chair to lift herself up these days, but the chair wasn’t near the bath. He offered her his hand, gave her a big towel, and brushed his hand over her growing belly. She was almost 7 months pregnant, and the baby was weighing heavily on her muscles already.
“Are you all packed for Brussels?” he asked. Tomorrow morning, they would take the Eurostar. Cora was to far along to fly comfortably. In the train she could walk around when needed.
“I am, Rosamund is coming in an hour to pick up Mary, I need to go to the office to get the folders for Rotterdam.”
“I can do that, just tell me where they are.”
Cora had stepped out of the tub and leaned her body against Robert’s. She kisses the tip of his nose. “Come with me, we can go directly to that open house?”
Robert almost forgot they were going to look for a house today. They lived a pretty comfortable life here in this penthouse, but there wasn’t enough room with another baby on the way. He had found a beautiful home in the neighbourhood of Richmond.
+++
Robert parked the car in front of the house. The estate agent was waiting for them. The house had 4 floors, she explained once inside. On the ground floor a spacious kitchen and a reception space. From the kitchen you walked into the conservatory that opened up to an enormous garden. On the first floor two bedrooms with an ensuite bathrooms and a study. The second floor had 3 more bedrooms, one of them had an ensuite bathroom, the other two shared a bathroom. On the fourth floor was space for another study or cinema room. There was a double garage with a studio room above with an ensuite shower room.
They had entered in the hallway, with a spiral staircase. “From the top down, it was magnificent,” Maja the estate agent said.
Cora climbed the first flight of stairs. She breathed heavily. “This will be good for our health.” She joked. “Robert, you can go on and see the rest of the floors, I believe you when you say they are good. ” She rested her hand on her belly, with the other she steadied herself against the wall.
Maja, offered her a chair. “How far along are you? If I may ask.”
“7 months now.” Cora caressed her belly, the little one was moving a lot today, she could feel it was getting less space to really move around.
“How wonderful, I just learned this morning, I am pregnant myself and can’t wait to see my belly grow. Oh, I am sorry, I am oversharing.”
Cora chuckled: “Don’t worry, of course you want to share this wonderful news, congratulations. I guess it is your first?”
“Ladies, I will do the rest of the house showing on my own, you two can babble all you want.”
Maja, turned around. “Sorry sir, no I will walk with you and show you the house.”
Robert laid his hand on her shoulder and winked: “I know how you pregnant ladies can be, I can go and see the rest on my own.”
Robert had sensed that there was an instant connection between them two and he thought, maybe Cora would find a friend in her. She could use a friend, Cora only had Rosamund and some friends, who were not worthy of the name friend.
Cora and Maja had gone down and chatted some more, while Robert explored the house.
“When do you need to know if we want it?” Robert asked when he came back in the living room.
“Well, there are more viewings this week, at this moment there isn’t an offer on the table, but that can change in a day.” Maja answered.
“What was the asking price again?”
“£1.975.000.”
Robert looked over at Cora. “What do you think, can you see yourself living here? Mary running around in the garden, and you watching from the conservatory with the baby in your arms?”
“I think you can see us living here already, darling, but isn’t this a little bit to big?”
“I you are up to it, this one will not be our last one.” He turned around to Maja and said: “My offer is £2.000.000 cash! We will be back in eleven days, tell the owner, whatever offer they will get I give at least £25.000 more.”
+++
The events in Brussels went smooth, Cora took all the pictures needed, she had been so proud of Robert. All his clients seemed to love him, and the company was becoming world famous.
They had taken the morning train to Rotterdam. Cora only needed that afternoon for the pictures of the office there. She said she would make some more scenic photos in the city the next days.
Robert had filled the spacious whirlpool, and now they were enjoying the warmth of the water together. Cora used Robert as a backrest, and he was lazily massaging her shoulders and arms.
“What do you want to do tomorrow?” Cora asked.
“We can take a water taxi and go see the harbour?”
“Darling, I don’t think that is really a good idea, did you see how fast they are going, jumping over the water? You really see me inside that, in my condition?” She smirked.
“How stupid of me, that’s indeed a bad idea.” He apologised.
+++
The 6 days in Rotterdam went by so incredibly fast, they had enjoyed the ‘Markthal’ an indoor market, with all kinds of Dutch foods, like ‘poffertjes’ Dutch small pancakes, and ‘kroketten’. They walked over the beautiful bridges, the shopping street under ground level. Went to the city of Dordrecht on the same day as they had visited ‘Kinderdijk’. It was a lovely old Dutch city, especially in comparison to the new and modern Rotterdam.
Robert had said, it looked like Manhattan. Cora laughed and said that it was the nickname of the city: Manhattan aan de Maas. The city was located at the river the Maas. She read that the modernisation was because of WWII when almost the whole city was burned during a bombing. Just a few older buildings were left, like the old harbour. A small and cosy place.
+++
“Robert thank you for this holiday, we missed out on a lot the last time we’ve been here. I love that painting in Mary’s room even more, now I have seen the windmills in real life.”
Just before they left for the train. Robert got a phone call. Robert smiled at Cora: “Congratulations Mrs. Crawley, on your new home.”
If Cora could have jumped in his arms, she would have. For now, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. He tried to twirl her around, but it was a clumsy turn.
“We will need to do a lot of renovation work, but I think that within a year we can move. First we will wait for the arrival of this little one.” Robert bent down to kiss Cora’s belly.
Verhalen van Traan 