Robert closed the door behind him. His mother just confirmed he was his father’s son. He was relieved but felt shame he had doubted his mother. Eduard was so convincing, and the time period fitted perfectly. But clearly his father had been happy to see his wife back home. He chuckled, remembering coming home from the Boer war. He had been away for a very long time.
He was incredibly nerves when the car turned on the drive way. His girls would be so big already, but he was mostly longing to see his wife. The letters Cora wrote to him, made him aware she was having a hard time. Although she was not saying it with so many words, he could read it in between the lines. He knew his mother was not giving her an easy time. Even though they had three children, his mother still did not believe, Cora would be a good Lady of the house and she would leave one day. He knew his father adored Cora, so that was a consolation to him, he would have protected Cora against the harsh treatment of his mother.
Carson was standing at the front door, welcoming him home. He quickly got inside, and Carson took his jacket. “Where is her ladyship?” He asked.
“She is in the library Milord.”
Robert rushed to the library and swung the door open, only to find his mother sitting there. “Good to have you back home son.” She said and let him kiss her cheek.
“It is good to be back home.” Robert answered. “Where are Cora and the girls?”
“You never know with that woman.” Violet answered.
“She is upstairs in the nursery preparing the girls to greet you, we were not expecting you back so soon.” His father greeted him.
Robert flew up the stairs, he almost bumped into Nanny, who was holding the hand of Sybil. The little girl hit behind her Nanny, when Robert got on his knees to greet her. “Hello darling.” He reached out his hands, but Sybil kept hiding. All of the sudden he was out of balance, when his two other girls run him over. Screaming. “Daddy, daddy.” He laid on the ground with Mary and Edith on top of him. When he got up, he saw Cora standing in front of him, with Sybil on her arm, talking to the girl.
“This is your daddy, you remember daddy, do you?” She put her nose in Sybil’s neck and made her laugh, before putting her on the ground again and looking at him with so much love in her eyes.
Robert lifted the girls from his chest and got up. He stepped towards Cora and pulled her close, he kissed her passionately until he noticed, she was trying to push him off of her.
“Cora?” He asked insecure. Why did she not want to kiss him, did she not miss him.
Cora wrapped her arms around him and whispered. “I wish we could never stop kissing, but not in front of the children and servants.”
He then noticed not only Nanny was in the hallway, there were more servants looking at them. “I am sorry.” He said very softly.
“Don’t be.” Cora smirked. “You need to make up for this tonight.” She winked, took the hands of Sybil and Edith and headed to the stairs.
“Did the talk not go well?” Robert was shaken up from his memories by Cora’s voice. She was standing next to him in the hallway.
All of the sudden he pulled her close and pressed her face against his chest. He felt her hands on his back moving slowly up and down. Something she did when she was calming him down.
“I am my father’s son.” He said relieved, pushing Cora back and kissing her.
“I am glad, I never doubted that for a minute, but still.
Robert kissed her again, a little bit longer this time.
“There is something else on your mind, sweetheart?” Cora asked when they broke the connection.
“I just remembered the day I came back from the Boer war.” He felt Cora stiffen up.
Cora remembered that time as it was yesterday. The moment the letter came, that he was needed at the front, her world fell apart. There she was a young mother, left alone in this big house. Far away from her own family, still trying to get her mothers-in-law approval. And there he went, her rock in this storm.
Robert put his hand on her cheek. “But it is all in the past now, look at us now.” He pressed his lips against Cora’s for a brief moment, he felt her lips curl up in a smile.
“We had our battles, but we won them all.” She said.
“Well said, and we are going to win this one too.” He took her face in both his hands and kissed her again. “We will win this.”
Cora enjoyed this moment to the fullest, his taste in her mouth, his hands on her cheeks. This was all she needed at the moment. Being in the arms of her husband.
“Ahum” a woman’s voice sounded.
Quickly, Robert stepped back, it was Mrs. Hughes who needed their attention. Robert needed to suppress a chuckle, this was not the first time Mrs. Hughes had seen them in a romantic way and this one was innocent.
“Miss Dalgleish is waiting for you Milady.” Mrs. Hughes said.
“Tell her I will be down in about 5 minutes, thank you.” Cora answered and looked at Robert, who was still trying not to laugh.
Once Mrs. Hughes had turned around the corner, Cora put her hand on Robert’s chest. “What is so funny about this?”
“You remember that evening in the library?”
“When you mother moved to the Dower house?” Cora smiled thinking about that evening.
“Exactly, that one. The children were upstairs in their beds, Mama was not around, and all the servants were downstairs. Although, we thought they were.”
“You showed me what heaven was that night.” Cora remembered every detail of that night. How Robert slowly undressed her. He was struggling with her corset, but when he finally managed, he had pushed her down on the sofa and jumped on top of her. Exploring every inch of her body with his mouth. When he finally entered her, he was so incredibly enthusiastic, that at one point the back of the sofa gave out and they were falling on the ground.
“The night we broke the sofa.” Robert chuckled.
Now Cora was laughing, her face brightly red from embarrassment. “When Mrs. Hughes and Carson came running in to check what that noise was. You were so quick with covering me up, I still do not know where you got that blanket from. But they never got the chance to see me fully undressed.”
“I do not know either. I remember thinking I should hide you and felt like a very naughty schoolboy, breaking my mother’s stuff. Not realising the things were mine now.”
“If we ever get the change, we never tried out that sofa we got in the small library.” Cora said giving Robert a very cheeky look.
“Cora.” Robert gasped.
Cora smiled. “I need to go down, Miss Dalgleish is waiting on me.” She kissed him again and walked away. Robert saw how she grabbed the railing to steady herself. How he wished there would be a day he could try out that sofa with her, that would be a great gift. But for now, he would already be happy, if she would stay with him for many years to come.
Verhalen van Traan 