We meet the family when Cora and Robert are divorced after a marriage of 18 years. Why did they divorce? Is there still love? Robert 44, Cora 41, Mary 21, Edith 20, Sybil 18
Robert fixed his tie, he was preparing for a busy day at the office. Real estate had always been good business, but with the growing economy, his company was flourishing.
Mary entered his office. “Dad, you look fine.”
Robert smiled at his eldest daughter. “I can say the same thing about you. That suit is amazing.”
“The client is waiting, you ready?” Mary asked.
“Definitely. Today you will be the lead. Good luck.” Robert was incredibly proud how his daughter was developing. At the beginning of this year Mary had asked to be more involved in his work. He had always hoped one of his daughters would follow in his footsteps. She was still studying, but now worked partly in the office.
Edith was an editor for a magazine and Sybil was learning to become a nurse in a hospital. All three of them made him proud.
“Oh dad, tonight Mathew and I will stay for dinner, is that alright?” Mary asked while walking out of his office.
Robert frowned. “I am not sure, I have enough food at home.”
“I will ask Mathew to pick up something, he has just two-house showings today.”
Another person who made Robert proud. Mary and Mathew were dating for two years now, he will join the company as soon as they married.
His phone rang. “Edith?” He said answering.
“Dad, are you at home tonight?” Edith asked.
“I will be, but…”
Edith interrupted. “Good, Bertie and I will come after dinner.”
“Your sister, is already coming.” He tried, but she was already gone.
He scratched his head, why was she coming, well he would find out tonight.
+++
When Robert finally went home, he found Sybil in the kitchen.
“Darling, what are you doing home this early?” He asked surprised, kissing her cheek.
“We wanted to surprise you.” Edith came around the corner.
Robert raised his eyebrows. “Why?”
“You are nominated businessman of the year.” Tom said. “Congratulations.”
Robert looked at them in shock. “That is unexpected.”
“But well-deserved papa, you worked hard for it.” Mary said hugging her father.
+++
Cora changed the bedding in the guest bedroom. Rosamund was coming over for the weekend. She loved that her sister-in-law still came over. When she and Robert filed for divorce, she was afraid of losing her best friend. But Rosamund had said, it wouldn’t change a thing.
She let out a deep sigh, they were divorced for four years now. She wished their lives had gone different, but it was better this way. From the start of their marriage Robert had often said: “oh that’s nothing to bother you with.” She started to not include Robert in her thoughts and slowly they grew away from each other. Cora had tried to make it work until the girls would be old enough, they made it until Sybil was 14, in Cora’s eyes still too young, but they had arguments almost every day and that wasn’t healthy. Not for them, but especially not for the girls.
All three had stayed with Robert in their family home. Cora moved out, to the other side of London. Robert loved the busy life inside the city, and she enjoyed the more peaceful quite on the west side of London.
All the girls had their own bedroom in her house, and every other weekend they had spent their weekend with her. In the last year, all three found their boyfriends. Sybil met Tom, he was a mechanic in the hospital. Edith met with Bertie, he had been a guest writer for the magazine she was working for. Mary met Mathew at a family weekend, he was a far-removed family member. At first Cora had her doubts, but he was a very sweet natured man, and the family ties were nothing to worry about.
“Are you going to let me in?” Cora heard through the letterbox. It was Rosamund, she hurried to open the door.
“I am so sorry, I didn’t hear the bell.” Cora embraced her sister-in-law.
Rosamund held up a bottle of wine. “Ready for a fun weekend?”
“With just one bottle?” Cora joked.
Rosamund laughed and held up a bag. “You are more English than you want to admit. I have more than one of course.”
Cora hooked her arm in Rosamund’s. “Come we will sit in the garden, I made a cheese board to enjoy with the wine.”
+++
“Dad? Are you going to invite Mama to the ceremony? Mary asked while they were working in the office.
Robert frowned, he hadn’t thought about that.
“Because I think you should.”
“You do?” Robert asked.
“Mama, supported you all these years, and because of her you were able to build the business into what it is today.” Mary said.
“Hold on, I did the work.”
“Papa, come on! You can’t deny Mama’s hand in this. She always supported you.”
Robert frowned even deeper.
“I still don’t understand why you two are divorced.”
“That is something between your mother and me. Now let’s focus on our work again, did you see the request we got in today?”
“The selling of that million pounds house? I did, but you are changing the subject.”
“Mary, I am not discussing the divorce with you. I will think about inviting your mother.”
“She will be hurt, if you don’t tell her yourself and she has to find out via the papers.”
Robert closed his desktop and said. “So, and now we are going to enjoy our Saturday, we did enough work for this week.
+++
“Bertie? Do you think we should cover Papa’s story in the magazine?”
Bertie looked up, he was busy with his miniature trains. “It’s not really something we normally write about, but why not.”
Edith smiled and walked over. “We will make a multi-page interview with a photoshoot. We can write about raising three strong daughters and being a business owner?”
“Sounds interesting, I will work on it, in the next days. Now let’s enjoy the weekend, stop talking about work. He got up and kissed Edith. “You are exactly like your father, a workaholic.
Edith chuckled, but also reminded herself that her father’s work attitude was one of the reasons, her parents got divorced.
Verhalen van Traan 