“Baxter?” Cora called out when she passed her office. Baxter had gotten her own office since she was not only working with Cora anymore.
Baxter stepped inside. “How can I help, Mrs. Levinson?”
Cora smiled at her; she knew she had trouble not addressing her with Milady. She was not married yet, so there was no reason to call her that and she would also try and talk that out of her head. She stopped saying Milord, towards Robert for a while, but for reasons unknown to Cora, Baxter had started with that again. “I was hoping you were free next Friday.”
“What do you mean, Mrs Levinson?”
“Can you please call me Cora? I do not care that we are back in the office again. When we were working in Dower house you called me Cora and I prefer that.”
“You are my employer and I do not want Mrs. Crawley to have a reason to fire me.”
Cora raised her eyebrows, what did Violet say that Baxter was scared to be fired? “She will not be able to do that, I hired you. I meant to ask if you are free next week on Friday evening?”
“I will need to check my agenda, but as far as I know we do not have any appointments that evening.”
“And you personally? I know it is a Friday evening, it could be that you and Molesley would go and do something fun.”
“Mr. Molesley is busy next Friday. Do you need me for something?”
Cora frowned, Mr Molesley was busy, which gave a slight complication. She would go to Robert directly after this conversation. “I need you to not talk about this with anybody, not even Mr Molesley, but I want you as a photographer that day. The entire day from the morning to the late evening. I cannot tell you exactly why and for what kind of event. We will pay you your normal salary and some extra.”
“Will I know what it is, before the day starts? It is helpful when I know what I can expect during that day.”
Cora nodded. “As soon as everything is arranged, I will tell you what we are doing. But for now, I can only tell you that it is very important, and I am grateful to you for wanting to help me out. Thank you.”
“Your welcome, anything else?”
“No, no, you can go on with your day, thank you.” Cora gave her a radiant smile. When Baxter turned around, Cora took her phone out of her handbag and called Robert.
“Hi dreamy.” His voice sounded.
Cora smiled; Robert had started to call her all sorts of things. He had used honey bunch, angel,
beloved, dear, the apple of my eye, my treasure, dearest, dearie, my true love, sweetie, the light of my life. She did not like all of them, and she had protested the moment he said: my heart’s desire, it gave her the irks.
“Are you in the office?” She asked.
“Maybe. Why?” Robert said in a cheeky tone.
“I need to talk to you, are you in?”
“We are already talking. And I am always in for it” He joked.
Cora smiled, she loved him so much, that it was almost scary. “That last part will have to wait for tonight.” She heard Robert’s disappointed sigh. “Are you alone in your office? Or is John in?”
“He is.”
Cora looked at the clock, it was almost lunch time. “Can we go and grab lunch somewhere? We need to discuss next week.”
She could hear it clicking in Robert’s head and he quickly agreed to go out for lunch.
Cora waited at the elevator for him when Robert took her hand and pulled her towards the stairs. “I need to exercise more, you constantly say.” He poked her side and then pulled her close for a kiss.
Cora let him kiss her, she leaned against him. “I am glad you are listening to what I say.”
Robert quickly walked down the stairs; Cora tried to follow but she was wearing heels. When Robert reached the first floor, he turned around, the moment Cora came close, he put his hands on her hips and lifted her up. With a twirl he put her down next to him, while pressing a kiss on her lips. “You look beautiful today.” He murmured.
Cora brushed her hands over Robert’s chest. “You do not look that bad yourself.” She felt Robert’s hand on her bum pressing her against him. She lifted one leg and wrapped it around him, kissing him full passion. “This way we will never get to the lunchroom.”
“Kissing you, is so much better than being at a lunchroom.” Robert said while he kissed her neck. A door above them opened and Cora lowered her leg quickly, straightening her skirt. She tried to fix her blouse, but it would not go back in the waistband. She was wearing a high raised skirt, and she knew she needed to unzip it to get her blouse neatly back in. Robert saw her struggle. “Let me help you.” He stepped behind her and zipped down the zipper, stroking with his fingers over the fabric of her underwear. Quickly Cora put the blouse straight and Robert pulled the zipper up. The second Robert stepped back next to her; Patrick appeared on the landing above them.
“Why are you two hiding in the stairwell?” He asked with raised eyebrows.
“We are not hiding. We are heading out, but Cora lost her shoe while we were walking down. We will be out for lunch; I will let you know when we are back in.” Robert answered his father.
He gave them an understanding smile.
“He did not believe you.” Cora said embarrassed when they finally left the building.
“Would you believe a story like that?”
Cora chuckled. “I guess not.”
+++
“Baxter agreed to be available next Friday.” Cora said, while she put her fork down. She had ordered a salad for lunch; Robert was enjoying a beefsteak sandwich.
“Did she ask for what event she is needed?” Robert said, while he was still chewing.
“Please do not eat with your mouth full.” Cora reprimanded him. “She did ask, but I did not tell her. But, and this is why I asked you out for lunch…….”
“Ah there was a reason behind this. And here I was hoping you just wanted to be together with you.” Robert said with his napkin in front of his mouth.
“Hiding your mouth still does not excuse you from talking with your mouth full.” Cora reprimanded again. “I always love being together with you, but I think we will have a slight problem for that Friday.”
Robert swallowed. “You sound like my mother, when you scold me like that.” He pouted. “Why would we have a problem? Baxter agreed to take the photos. We have a venue, a wedding officiant, Rosamund has her dress, Marmaduke has his suit. What else do we need?”
“That is the thing, we do not have a wedding officiant.” She ignored his remark about his mother.
“We do not? How come? I asked Molesley and he agreed.”
“But miss Baxter said he is busy next Friday.” She paused, it slowly dawned on her. “Wait, I think I know what is going on. You already asked Molesley and told him that he could not talk about that day with anybody. Like I did with Baxter.” She laughed out loud now. “And here I was worrying we would not have anybody to marry them.”
Robert reached out his hand and covered Cora’s. “I am very happy with this little incident, because now we are here eating out together. We could decide to not go back inside. Do you have a lot to do, or can you escape the office for this afternoon?”
Cora turned her hand, so she could wrap her fingers around Robert’s. “You told your father; you would be in this afternoon?”
“I said to him that I would let him know when I was back in. But if I never go back in, I do not have to tell him.” Robert winked. “We could go to Kew Royal Botanic Gardens and spend the rest of the afternoon together?”
“Sounds as a perfectly well spend afternoon.”
Verhalen van Traan 