Robert made sure he woke up early. He heard Cora snoring. Good, he thought, she was still asleep. Quickly he went to his dressing room and waited for his valet Burton to enter.
“Is her Ladyship awake?” Burton asked when he entered.
“No, not yet. We should let her sleep. It was difficult last night.”
“Are you still sticking with your plan?”
“Most definitely,” Robert answered. Last night his mother had scolded his wife while they were unexpectedly entertaining guests. He had noticed that his mother scolded her more regularly since she was pregnant again. He did not understand why. It should be a happy time. She could be carrying his heir this time. Robert adored his two little girls, but secretly he hoped this time it would be a boy. Especially after the long time it took to get Cora pregnant again. There had been some fall’s alarms. Every time they learned she was not pregnant he saw her shoulders bent a little bit more forward. But now with every month she was standing taller, her bump was showing, and she could not hide it under her dresses anymore. He had insisted she would stop wearing her corsets, but Cora had refused, she switched to special corsets made for pregnant women, but she said she could never appear in public without one. Last night however she had opted for an evening without her corset. His father had said that there would be no guests tonight and Cora took the opportunity to give her body some rest. How his mother had noticed and managed to get guests with such short notice, was a mystery to him. But she had and when Cora walked into the drawing room with her belly even more visible without a corset, she had gotten nasty remarks from his mother Violet. Robert did not know what to do, he felt angry when he saw his wife shrink under his mother’s remarks. He wish he could have said something right away, but it would only give gossip if he did.
He went down for his breakfast and left a note for Cora before he left.
+++
“Good morning, Milady.” Bridwell, Cora’s ladiesmade said, when she saw Cora was awake.
Cora pushed herself up, her belly was getting in the way. With her hand she stroked over her bump, which resulted in a kick as a greeting. “Hello, little one. Are you ready for a new day?” She said in a sweet soft voice.
“Do you want to wear your corset this morning Milady?”
Cora now looked up, her hand still on her belly. “I do not think I have a choice, do I, Birdwell?” She smiled at her maid.
“Are there guests coming today?”
Cora shook her head. “No. Or at least, I do not know. But I do not want to repeat last night, so you better put me in my corset today.”
“There is time for a warm bath this morning.” Birdwell said, when she saw how stiff Cora got up from the bed.
“Are you sure? I do not want to take too much of your time.” Cora looked at Birdwell. She appreciated her ladiesmaid, she was kind and caring and always there for her. Since she got pregnant again she had been even more caring.
“I will run you a bath right away.” Birdwell started to walk towards the bathroom when she stopped and turned around. “Before I forget, Burton gave me this note from his Lordship for you.”
Cora took the small envelope that was handed to her and let her fingers run over the ink. Robert’s handwriting was neat. “Thank you, Birdwell.”
She sat down on her settee, while waiting for Birdwell to run her bath and opened the envelope. There was an even smaller note inside. ‘Go to the breakfast room, before starting your day. R.”
Cora did not understand why he would ask that from her. If he was waiting there for her, he could just send Burton, or Carson, their butler.
When Birdwell finally finished her hair, Cora got up and walked towards the mirror. She had asked Birdwell to pull in her corset a little bit more than usual. It did feel uncomfortable, but anything to not get scolded again by Violet.
Carefully she walked downstairs, towards the breakfast room. She was unsure why, Birdwell brought her, her breakfast upstairs. When she opened the door, nobody was inside. She noticed another envelope on the table, when she walked closer she saw her name on it.
“Enjoy a morning, reading your favourite book. R.”
A smile appeared on Cora’s face, she wondered what he considered her favourite book. She hurried towards the library expecting to see Robert there, but again she encountered an empty room. On the table between the sofas laid a book. Weird she thought, Carson always made sure the librarian cleared everything at the end of the day.
It was ‘Emma’ by Jane Austen. This brought another smile to Cora’s face. Robert truly had an interest in her when he knew her favourite book. She had read this book since she first arrived here in England and loved it ever since. Slowly she sat down and opened the book. Her mother-in-law was not there to tell her to do something else, like her needle work. She figured she could read until the girls would be brought downstairs.
Cora hoped Robert would be back, when they came. Mary adored her father and she would be disappointed if only her mother was there to greet her.
Quickly she lost herself in the book and was only pulled back into reality when the voice of Mary and Edith sounded. She looked up and saw a little girl with blond curls enter the library, followed by a taller, dark-haired girl. The last had the same colour of hair as she had. Nanny was following and said. “Go and greet your mother.”
Cora put down the book and opened her arms to greet Mary and Edith. Edith dived into her arms, while Mary only quickly bent her head towards Cora. She decided to ignore her behaviour. “Did you enjoy your morning?” She asked. Cora saw how Carson entered with a tray, she looked at Mary. “I think Carsons will have some nice things with him you may like. Do you want to take a look?” Cora knew how much Mary adored Carson and she had noticed Mary was disappointed that her father was not present.
About an hour later Nanny gathered the girls. “It is time to go up.” She stepped towards Cora and handed her another envelope. “His lordship asked me to give you this.”
Cora took the envelope and murmured a thank you. What was Robert doing? Why all these envelopes, why today?
“Did you see the field of snowdrops already? You should take a look near the Temple of Diana. R.”
Cora rested her hands on her belly and slowly moved them up and down. “I think we will go for a walk.” She said smiling, Robert had planned this day without her knowing why. Had he thought of this last night, after Violet’s unkind words? She could not imagine he had noticed how much it had hurt her last night. It had been unfair, no guests were coming. Violet should have let her know, so she could have worn her corset. The one thing she had learned was, no more days or evenings without her corset.
She rang the bell and Mrs. Hughes entered. “How can I help you Milady?”
“Can you tell Birdwell that I want to go for a walk?”
“Of course Milady.” Mrs Hughes left, while Cora started to walk upstairs. She should wear a hat when she got outside. It was a cold February day, so she should ask Birdwell to help her into a warm coat.
“Anything else Milady?” Birdwell asked when Cora was standing in her warm coat.
“That will be all, I will ring when I am back.”
Still a bit unsure, why Robert wanted her to go on a walk, she headed towards The Temple of Diana, one of the many follies on the grounds of Downton. When she came closer she heard music, it sounded like string players. She turned the corner and indeed saw four men playing their instruments in front of the Follie. The ground in front of them was covered in snowdrops. It was a magical sight, those white little flowers and the beautiful sounds of the violins. She stood still, soaking up this moment, when suddenly two arms wrapped around her. She recognized Robert’s scent and she let him pull her against his chest. His hands rested on her belly and he pushed his nose in her curls.
Cora rested her hands on his and moved with him on the music. They stood there rocking for a while, enjoying the moment and each other.
“Happy Valentine my sweet love,” Robert said when he finally let go of her and turned her around in his arms.
“Oh, Robert. You remembered this day.”
“How could I not? Since you came into my life everything has changed for the better and no better day than today to thank you for everything.”
Cora lowered her eyes. She had forgotten what day it was. She did not have anything with her to give to him. She had arranged a small gift, but that was still sitting on dressingtable in her room. “I forgot to bring your gift.”
Robert put his hands on her belly. “You have your gift with you, right here.” He moved his hand over her swollen belly and smiled at her. When he moved his hand to her back, his smile faded. “Cora? Why is your corset so tight? I thought I saw it already when you came closer.”
“Your mother prefers it when I am not showing that much, so I asked Birdwell to pull the strings a bit tighter.”
“None of that.” Robert took her hand and guided her into the Follie. “Come here.” He had noticed that she was wearing a buttondress, he could easily help her out of it. He started to unbutton the dress, but Cora stepped away from him.
“What are you doing?” She said with a scared look in her eyes.
“I am going to loosen your corset. There is no need to hide your perfectly shaped baby bump. My mother is old-fashioned and will need to learn how to behave. I am not accepting her behaviour of last night any longer. Please step back, so I can give you a bit more comfort.” He continued the unbuttoning of her dress and loosened the strings on her corset. Robert felt a sigh of relief as soon as the corset loosened. He waited a little bit before he tied the laces again. But this time, he pulled just enough so the corset would stay in its place. He buttoned up her dress again and stepped in front of Cora. He lowered his eyes and rested his hands on her belly. “This is better, now this little one has room to move again.”
Cora did indeed feel better the instance Robert had loosened her corset. There were three months left, but she was showing as if she was in her last month. With Edith, she had already noticed that her belly popped earlier than when she was pregnant with Mary. Mindlessly she moved her hand over her belly, maybe this was a boy they would call the little one, Patrick, like his grandfather.
“Can you share your thoughts?” Robert asked while stilling her movements with his hands.
Cora looked up into his eyes and smiled. “How lucky I am with you as my husband.”
Robert moved one hand to her neck and pulled her in for a tender kiss. “You made me the happiest man on earth when you married me. You gave me two beautiful girls and we have a third on the way.”
“You think this is a girl again?” Cora tried to hide her fear slipping into her voice.
“I do not care, as long as you and the baby are healthy.” He kissed her again. “Now, let’s go outside again. The string quartet will play some more songs for us and Carson should arrive soon with our lunch.”
“Are we having lunch here?”
“As long as you are not too cold we are. Carson will bring chairs and some blankets. I wanted to do this in the evening at first, so we could look at the stars. Have a simple dinner with candlelight, some music and the stars.
“Oh?” Cora said surprised. “What changed your mind?”
“Well.” Robert took Cora’s hand while he walked back outside. “Stargazing is something you do lying on your back. I was not sure it would be comfortable for you to lay on the hard ground.”
“We will save that for after this little one is born.”
+++
Cora waited for the dividing door to open. She had gone upstairs a little while back, hoping Robert would follow soon. He was taking longer than she had hoped for. Should she go to bed? Or would he come soon? The moment she decided to get up and into her bed, she heard Robert in his dressing room. She was seated on the settee with the little package behind her. It was so tiny, that she was ashamed of it. Robert had made such a big gesture, by hiring musicians and creating a romantic atmosphere and here she was with a small gift.
Finally, the door opened and Robert walked in. He was wrapped in a fluffy nightrobe, the colour matched his pyjama and slippers. He looked rather handsome she thought.
“You are still up?” Robert said surprised.
“I still have to give you, your gift. So I waited for you.”
Robert walked towards her and sat down next to her legs. Cora was dressed in her nightgown, she had wrapped a blanket over her shoulders. Her curls were in a loose braid, tied together with a pink ribbon.
“I hope you will like it. It feels stupid now I am handing it to you.”
Robert took the package in his hand and kissed her cheek. “You have thought about this gift and that is enough for me to like it.” He ripped the wrapping paper and took the gift out. He was holding a small brown dog made of vilt in his hands. The dog had a red scarf around his neck. “Oh Cora, I love this. I can carry this with me wherever I go. And when I am away from Downton, it is something to remind me of you. Thank you.”
Cora’s cheeks coloured. She had not expected Robert to like it this much. “For the real one, we have to wait for a bit longer.”
Robert took Cora’s hands in his. “What do you mean? The real one?”
“The puppy is a bit too young to be taken from her mother. We should wait for another 3 weeks at least.”
“You got me a dog? A real dog?” Robert’s voice went up an octave from excitement.
Cora nodded. “Yes. Yes, I did.”
“My darling. My sweet, sweet darling, what did I do to deserve you?”
Cora tried to suppress a yawn, but Robert noticed. “Time to go to bed.” He said with a warm voice.
Cora let Robert help her into bed, he tugged her in and got in on the other side himself. He scooted as close as he could. Am wrapped around her, his hand resting on her belly. He pressed his nose in her hair, as he loved to do every evening. “You make my world a better place.” He knew Cora did not hear him, she was fast asleep.
Verhalen van Traan 