Robert stretched his arm expecting to touch Cora, but all he felt were sheets. He opened his eyes and saw that the bed was empty. When he pushed himself up, he saw her sitting in the window seat. She had curled herself up on the bench with a blanket, she was reading a book he noticed. She had her hair down; two locks were pulled back and a clip was keeping them together. This way her hair would not fall forward. He loved her long dark brown curls, especially when they were down.
Robert put on his housecoat and walked towards her. Cora did not look up from her book when he scooted next to her. She got spooked when he kissed her shoulder. “I am sorry,” Robert started. “And I do not only mean for scaring you just now.”
Cora put down her book and snuggled against him, her arm wrapped over his tummy. With her head on his shoulder, she said. “What do you mean?”
“I have disappointed you, and I am sorry for that.”
Cora tightened her grip and said: “I truly do not understand what you mean. Did you have a bad dream?”
Robert brushed with his thumb over Cora’s arm. “Last night I did not perform, and I know you wanted more than cuddling.”
Cora moved her hand over Robert’s chest. “Robert, you were in pain. I will not lie and say I was not hoping for more. But when I saw your pain, I knew this was not the night.” Cora kissed his neck. “Do not beat yourself up, we have so many days and nights ahead of us. I can wait.”
Robert sighed, why was Cora so patient and kind. He did not deserve her kindness.
“Why would you not deserve it, my dear.” Cora asked.
This shocked Robert, he had not realised he was talking, instead of thinking. “I love you, Cora. I love you so much.” He turned towards Cora and lowered his face so he could kiss her soft lips.
“Can we have breakfast in our room?” Cora said when they finally broke the kiss. “I do not want to stop snuggling and kissing you.” She pressed her lips on Robert’s again. Her hand had moved to his face and her fingers were now playing with his hair.
“We can order room service, but I had hoped to go out with you today and see the beautiful surroundings.”
Cora turned her face to look out of the window. “Hmmm, it is a beautiful day. We will go downstairs for our breakfast and start the day, but only if you promise me one thing?”
“What is it?” He tugged an escaped curl behind her ear.
Cora smiled when he did that. “You will stop blaming yourself for not being fully recovered oh and one more thing.”
“I will try, I promise I will try,” Robert answered. “What is the other thing?”
“I want another real kiss.”
Robert briefly touched her lips. “You mean like this?”
“No” Cora pouted.
Robert pressed his lips a little bit longer on hers and pulled back. “Like this?”
“Stop teasing me.” Cora squeezed his side.
Robert smiled and then pressed his lips on her again. His tongue found hers and he felt how Cora let him discover her mouth.
+++
“I booked a spa treatment for this afternoon. I first thought of going horse riding with you.”
“What!” Cora exclaimed.
A cheeky smile was on Robert’s face. “Not a good idea?”
“I like the spa treatment idea.” Cora winked.
They were walking arm in arm, in the garden behind the castle, Cora had suggested they should go out for a walk. It was a beautiful day, and Robert needed his exercise.
Robert stopped, picked up a daffodil, and handed it to Cora. “We should go back and change, we do not want to be late.”
Cora squeezed his arm a bit tighter. “I love that you made a special weekend out of this spontaneous idea.”
“I will do everything to make you happy.” Robert smiled at her, and he received a radiant smile back.
+++
“Your driver is waiting, My Lord.” Cora had been amazed the staff in this hotel knew that Robert was an Earl. But in places like this, they probably knew all the names, she figured.
“Our driver? Robert, where are we going?” Cora was expecting to go back to their room and have a cosy evening in front of the fireplace. When they came back this afternoon, Robert had suggested to have an afternoon nap. Cora thought he had been tired and wanted a quiet evening after dinner. But now they were going out?
“It is a little surprise. I think you will like it.” He stroked with his fingers over Cora’s hand and stood up. “Milady?” He offered her his arm.
Cora put her hand on his arm and followed to the car. The door was opened, and they stepped inside.
“It will be an hour drive.” The driver informed them.
“Where are we going at this time of day? It is already dark outside. Darling, you gave me already a very special day today. You do not have to do more. Truly!”
“I know that you are happy with small things. I know that. But you brighten my world, like the stars in the dark sky. And you deserve the world.”
+++
“I brought you comfortable shoes,” Robert said when the driver stopped the car. “You will not be able to walk on the grass with those heels.” He pointed at her feet.
Cora was wearing high heels under her gown. Robert could not take his eyes off her during dinner. She looked stunning and he counted his blessing that she was in his life.
“Are you going to tell me where we are going? Why are we here?” Cora looked at her surroundings. It felt as if they were in the middle of nowhere.
“Will you trust me, when you see, you will like it? Robert helped her in her coat. He had brought her a thicker one, it did not fit her evening gown, but she was glad about the warmth the coat gave her. Spring was almost here, but the evenings were still chilly. She slipped out of her heels and in the sneakers, Robert brought her. Her gown was long enough to hide them, she noticed. Robert was wearing a backpack, which surprised Cora, she decided not to ask, he would not tell here a thing.
“This is the spot.” Robert stopped and took off his backpack. He started to spread a blanket he took out of it. “Please sit down, my love.” He reached his hand out to Cora, who was watching him in disbelief. What was he doing? She thought but took his hand and sat down next to him.
“Look up.” He said and she did. Cora inhaled deeply when she saw the sky. It was pitch black with a thousand stars, sparkling through the night.
“This is mesmerizing.” She breathed. “What a beautiful sight, how did you know about this place?” Cora looked back to Robert and squealed when she saw that Robert was not seated next to her anymore. No, he was kneeling, and he had something in his hands.
“My dear Cora. We had a weird start, I know. There was only one thought on my mind when I first saw you and that was: when would Miss Pretty Face go back to America? I quickly learned that behind your beautiful face were a lot of brains. I could also not deny that you were a kind person. Soon I started to realise that I had feelings for you, something I tried to ignore, and I started treating you horribly, I cannot apologise enough for that. I am glad that I came to my senses, with the help of Rosamund. There is nothing more I want than to give you the world and everything that is in it. You deserve to be loved and cherished. When you look at me with your blue eyes, I feel loved, I feel seen. I have never found somebody that listens to me like you do. You give me the feeling that I am on top of the world and with you next to me, I can do anything. I called your brother Harold and asked him for your hand since I cannot ask your father anymore. My sweet Cora, do you want to give me the honour and let me marry you?”
Cora stared at him for a couple of seconds. Slowly she started to nod her head and softly say: yes. She then realised Robert could not hear her and she repeated: “Yes. Yes, my dear one, I want to marry you.”
Robert got up and took Cora’s hand, he put a beautiful ring on her finger with a big stone. “This ring belonged to my mother until now. Every male in our family history has used this ring when they proposed. I wanted to continue that tradition; I hope you like it. Please say if you do not, we will go together and buy you a new ring. You do not have to pretend you like it. I can understand when you want a new one. The history of our family is…
Cora stopped Robert’s blabbering by putting her lips on his. “Stop talking, I love the ring and the meaning behind it.” She kissed him again.
“We should go back to our hotel, future, Mrs. Crawley aka Lady Grantham.”
Cora kissed his cheek. “I would love to lay down here and enjoy some more of that beautiful sky together with you, my future husband.”
Verhalen van Traan 