After Robert made sure Cora ate something for lunch, he sent her to bed. She had a fever and needed her rest. They could not do anything at the moment, he needed to figure out why her mother wanted Cora to come home. He had a feeling that his mother had a hand in this.
He called Rosamund. “Have you secured the house?” He asked when she picked up.
“I have, it is yours. I did the transaction anonymously.” She answered
“That is smart, thank you.”
“What time are you coming to the office, it is easier to talk in person,” Rosamund asked.
“I am still at Cora’s place, I am not coming to the office today. I cannot leave her alone now.”
“Alright, we will discuss this over the phone. I think I know what happened and why Mama called Mrs. Levinson.”
Robert almost choked on the sip of water he just took. “Wait, what did you say? Did mama call Mrs Levinson? Why?”
“She has not kept her eyes in her pocket and she has seen how you look at Cora. She also saw the result of her work and she is a threat.”
“A threat? What do you mean by that?” Robert was flabbergasted by Rosamund’s words.
Rosamund let out a deep sigh. “Oke, let me start at the beginning. I found out why we have this collaboration between the two companies. Mrs. Levinson, I will call her by her first name from now on, Martha. Wanted her daughter Cora to marry into a title here in England. She believes that with a title comes an estate and a lot of respect from other people. She did not know that being a Lord in these times was not the same as back in 1920. Cora must have told her mother about our title and Downton being like it is now.”
“So, I can understand why Martha wanted Cora to come here, but why did Papa go into business with them, what were we, as a company, getting from her coming here?” Robert stood and started pacing around.
“Mama is the brain behind that plan. She had found out that whoever Cora married, will get her dowery. There is a large amount attached to her name and with that money, we would be able to rebuild Downton in its full glory.”
“Wait, just wait, there is one thing I do not understand. Why Cora? Mama does not like Cora. She is against her American heritage.”
“I guess that money makes her forget about those things?” Rosamund laughed.
“You also said, Cora is a threat. What did you mean by that?” He looked into the hallway, the door to Cora’s bedroom was still closed. He could only hope she was still asleep.
“It is a bit harder to explain. But in the end, it comes to this. You are a Mama’s boy.”
Robert started to protest, but Rosamund continued. “You are, you cannot deny that. You always listen to what Mama wants and then make sure it happens. But now Cora showed up, and you started to follow her ideas. For the outside world, you made it look like, you were against that idea with SkyGarden. But we all could see that you liked it. Mama tried to get this idea out of your head, but she failed. And then Cora proved that it worked, it worked out better than we could have dreamed of. We gained so many new potential clients in just the one day the advert is out.”
“We did?” Robert asked surprised.
Rosamund sighed annoyed. “Since when do you not read your emails on a workday?”
“I took the day off to take care of Cora, so no I have not read any emails today.”
“I thought Cora had a cold? Why do you need to take care of her?”
“Her cold turned into a head cold and she also developed a fever. She is a mess at the moment, especially with these developments. Her flight would have been booked, if she was not this sick.” Robert answered. “But I still do not understand why you say Cora is a threat?”
“With Cora at our office, Mama is losing her control over you. You will stand up for Cora’s ideas and less and less for Mama’s ideas.”
“Mama has to accept that there are other people with good ideas.”
“At the moment that is the least of our worries. We need to stop Mama and Martha. They managed to get this deal going, but they will also be capable of stopping everything again. What I have learned in these couple of months, is that Papa and Mr. Levinson are very much alike and they listen to their wives.”
“I have to think about what we can do. But one thing is very clear, Cora is not leaving. I like her too much and I need to know if there is more than a friendship.”
Rosamund chuckled. “You can focus on courting Cora, I will try and safe what I can.”
“I am not courting Cora. She is sick and needs someone to take care of her.”
“What ever you say my dear brother. What ever you say.”
Robert stared out over the river, what a disaster this had turned into. He was glad to finally understand why everything happened. It felt like he walked into a very bad movie, with a terrible plot. How could Violet and Martha do this? They used Cora, both of them did. He was curious to know what his mother told Martha to convince her to call Cora back home.
+++
Robert poured hot water in a big mug, put a tea bag and some honey in it and walked to Cora’s bedroom. There was no sound coming through the door, which meant she was still sleeping. As quietly as possible he opened the door and walked to where he saw her small figure under the covers.
While he put the mug down, he took the tea bag out. He stroked a curl out of Cora’s face. She was still feverish he felt. He hoped her fever had gone down after a couple of hours of sleep. But she had caught it badly. Not sure what to do, he sat down on the mattress. She had slept for a couple of hours now and if she slept longer, maybe she would not be able to sleep tonight. Was he going to wake her up?
He did not have to make that decision because Cora stirred. She blinked a couple of times and then she fully opened her eyes.
“You are still here?” Her voice cracked.
Robert helped Cora to put her pillow behind her back, while she sat up. Her hand went directly to the handkerchief that was lying next to her to blow her nose.
“I am going to make you dinner. I will put enough spices in, to get your stuffy nose to open up.”
Cora laughed. “Thank you for still being here. You did not have to do that.”
Robert took Cora’s free hand. “I am not going anywhere as long as you are feeling like this.”
Cora pulled her hand back and lowered her eyes. “I knew you were only here because you are feeling sorry for me.”
“You misunderstood.” Robert put his hand under Cora’s chin to make her look up. “There is only one reason why I am still here.” He bent forward and kissed her forehead. “And that reason is, that I like you very, very much.”
Verhalen van Traan 