Cora looked at the bed, Robert was still sleeping. She decided to let him sleep for a while. Her anger had faded away, he looked so adorable while he was sleeping. And she cared too much for him to let this one instance ruin everything. Yes, he had been very unkind yesterday, but had it been that bad? No, it had not, she decided.
She could see the sun coming through the windows, it was still a bit chilly. Spring was on its way, but winter was not budging yet. She wrapped her cardigan a bit tighter around her body and walked downstairs.
Voices were coming from the backroom. Cora walked towards the sound and saw Baxter and Molesey standing in front of the window, that looked over the garden.
“If we finish early, we could go on a walk this afternoon,” Baxter said to Molesley. “I think we are mostly ready to hit the deadline early today.”
“That would be nice,” Molesley answered. “Too bad the temperature is a bit too low, still, to have a picnic.”
“We could walk towards the village and eat something there?”
Cora was not sure if she should make herself known or not. She decided to leave them alone. When she turned around, her phone rang loudly.
“Good morning, Mrs Levinson, I did not see you there, I am sorry. How can I help you?” Molesley said.
“No, no. I did not need you. I was just curious when I heard voices.” She felt her cheeks colour. She could not get used to the fact that she now had a servant. “Please pretend I was not here.” Quickly she turned around and walked back into the hallway. “Yes?” she answered her phone, she had not looked at the screen when she accepted the call.
“Are you still home?” It was Robert’s voice.
“I am only downstairs. What is it?”
“It seems I am stuck upstairs for now.”
“What? What do you mean?” Cora felt she was getting irritated, was he trying to play a game?
“I tried walking downstairs, but the pain was too much for me to do it on my own.”
Cora’s irritation grew, why did he not directly ask her, if she could help? She hated that he wanted her to offer her help. “I will ask Molesley to bring your breakfast upstairs.”
“Oh,” Cora heard the disappointment in his voice. She almost apologised, she stopped herself, just in time.
“I will be going for a short walk later this morning.” Cora continued, ignoring his unvoiced question.
“Can you help me downstairs? I could go with you on that walk?” Robert sounded insecure.
Cora sighed. Finally, he voiced what he needed. “Is that why you called me? Why did you not just ask that directly.”
“Cora, I do not know. Can you please come upstairs, so we can talk, facing each other?”
Cora opened the bedroom door; she had already walked upstairs the second he asked if she could help him. Robert was sitting on a chair, next to the phone. She laughed softly; he had known her phone number from memory. She had already wondered why he would bring his mobile last night, but he had not. He used the landline to reach her, she was touched.
“I am sorry Cora. I understand when you would go back to London. I am behaving badly.” Robert started.
“Robert.” Cora sighed, she stepped closer and squatted in front of him, resting her hands on his knees. “What is bothering you, why are you doing this. If you are tired of me and want me to go, you should say so.”
Robert did not look at Cora, his eyes were looking at the floor.
Cora took Robert’s hands in hers. “We should go somewhere together, today. Away from this village, away from the house. Just somewhere, you and me.”
“Would you still want that?” Robert now looked at their hands. Cora’s thumb brushed over the back of his hand. His hands were big compared to hers. Her small hands did fit perfectly in his larger palm.
Cora pulled one hand back and laid it against his face. “You are fed up with being held back, I understand. As I said last night, I had hoped you would not direct your irritations at me. But I do understand why you do that. Baxter and Molesley are planning on doing something together this afternoon, that gives us the perfect opportunity to sneak out ourselves and hide for a couple of hours.
Robert suddenly wrapped his arms around Cora and pulled her close to his chest. Cora got up on her knees, so she was resting with her head against his chest. She felt his fingers dig into her shoulders. Her own hands moved slowly up and down over his back. The shudders of his body told her he was crying. She held him in her arms until he pushed her back.
“I have no excuse for my behaviour. It is just, that.” He paused. “I had hoped that our weekend together at Downton, had turned out differently.”
“It turned into weeks.” Cora joked.
Robert looked at her, what made Cora stop. “We could have been at a different place in our relationship, if I had not been so foolish. Cora, I love you and I want to spend my life with you. But I do not understand why you would want to be with me. I am foolish and stubborn.”
Cora placed her index finger against Robert’s mouth. ‘Ssstt. That is enough darling.” She came close with her face to Robert’s. “I love you too. Although I also do not understand why you would love me. I do not offer you much. But.”
“You do not offer much? Are you joking?” Robert interrupted her.
“But.” Cora continued. “We will have to accept that the other sees things differently. And I like your stubbornness. It is kind of cute.”
“Cute?” Robert raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, cute.” Cora pressed her lips against Robert’s. She felt him relax and when his lips parted, she pushed her tongue in.
Robert was caught by surprise by the intensity of her kiss, but he did not resist. He eagerly kissed her back, his hands moved over her back, down to her curves. His hand fitted as perfect around her bottom as it did around her hand. He chuckled, how would he fit in her? He thought.
“What is funny?” Cora pulled back when she felt Robert chuckle.
Robert’s cheeks were now bright red and he started to stutter. “Well, I, uhm, I, my hand, well, uhm, I thought…………. Your body has the perfect size, and my hand formed perfectly around your bottom, and I thought. Uhm, I thought. How would it, uhm, fit, uhm………..”
Cora got up a bit more on her knees again and pressed herself against Robert. “You will need to make sure you are feeling well soon, so you can try it out.” Her cheeks got the same colour as Robert’s. The passion she saw in Robert’s eyes made heat shoot through her body. She did not know if she could wait any longer, she wanted to feel him so bad. Her hand moved to his leg and then inwards. She felt how he reacted, what encouraged her to move closer. “I think my hand will fit perfectly too.” Her eyes staring into his. Robert crashed his mouth on Cora’s.
The doorbell rang, what made Cora jump. “We should not do this.” She said. “Especially not during the day, while your employees are also home.”
“I love to take risks.” Robert said with a deep and low voice.
Cora had trouble not falling into his arms again, the way she felt his voice travel through her body was something she had never experienced. “Let’s get up and go downstairs, we should think of where we could go this afternoon.”
Robert took Cora’s hand and got up, her arm wrapped around his waist, and they walked towards the staircase. “I think I know a place, it is a bit of drive, but worth it.”
From downstairs voices were coming up, Cora recognised Molesley and Baxter’s voice, the other she could not place directly. It was a very familiar female voice. Cora looked at Robert when she noticed he stopped walking. “What is it? Does it hurt too much? We can stay upstairs if needed?” Her eyebrows drew together from her worrying.
“We better go downstairs, she will not like to be kept waiting on us.”
“Who?” Cora asked. She still did not get a face with the voice in her mind.
“My mother.” Robert answered.
Verhalen van Traan 