When she heard the shower being turned off, Cora started with the orange juice. Molesley had apologised profoundly that there was no cook to make them breakfast this morning. Cora had tried to reassure him that it was no problem at all. They had been standing on the doorstep unannounced, Molesley did not seem to be reassured, and he had been in the kitchen when Cora entered this morning.
‘I promise you Molesley, I do make my breakfast in London myself.’
‘But you are now with Mr. Crawley, and I should provide the staff you need.’ Molesley had protested.
‘Do not be silly. It is perfectly alright. We did not announce our arrival, and I do not mind. Please do not feel guilty or ashamed. His Lordship does not mind either.’ Cora had smiled at him and said jokingly. ‘As long as there is breakfast, he does not mind.’ When she had seen Molesey’s face she had quickly added. ‘I am joking Mr. Molesley. In his own London home, he has to make his breakfast. We both do not have a butler at home. It is a luxury that we have you here.’
When she entered the kitchen this morning, she was relieved that Molesley was not there himself. It seemed he had accepted that Cora would make breakfast.
It took a while before Robert finally came downstairs.
“This smells like heaven.” He said, while he turned on the coffee machine to brew himself one.
“Are you alright?” Cora asked concerned when she saw him making the coffee.
“I am.” Robert said surprised. “Why do you ask?”
Cora took the eggs out of the frying pan and put them down on a plate with the toast and beans. “You never start you day with coffee. You rarely drink coffee at all. So, I am a bit surprised you are starting this day with a coffee instead of a cuppa.”
Robert sat down on one of the chairs. “I did not sleep much, so I hope this will wake me up.”
Cora sat opposite of him and put the plate down in front of him. “I am sorry, I did not notice.”
“You were snoring as soon as your head hit the pillow.”
“I do not snore.” Cora replied.
Robert pulled up one eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?” his mouth pulled in a cheeky smile.
“Maybe a little.” Cora said timid.
With twinkling eyes, Robert stretched out his hand and touched Cora’s. “You are cute when you sleep, do not worry about it.”
“Only when I sleep?” Cora winked at him. “I will try not to worry about my snoring, but I do worry that you did not sleep. Especially after the long walk we did.”
After the meeting with Jacob, Robert drove Cora around the area. Once they reached the far end of the estate, she had asked if they could go for a walk. On the grounds she had seen that there were several beautiful gardens, they had walked through the Rose Arbour on to the Wildflower Meadow. It had been a long walk, but Cora did not mind walking. Especially not with her arm linked in Roberts. She could vision them walking through the gardens with little ones running in front of them. Or even in their old days, needing each other for support, wanting to enjoy the beauty of life.
“What was keeping you awake, honey?”
“Dad send me an email about Mr. Bricker last night.”
Cora had just brought her fork to her mouth, but she froze midway. “From ‘Advertisements by Mr. Bricker’ That Mr. Bricker?”
“Simon Bricker indeed.” Robert looked at her, there was a worried wrinkle on his forehead. “He is insisting that there will be another meeting between you and him.”
“But how does your father know about that? I am sure Mr. Bricker would have contacted Harold about this, and not your father? It does not make sense.”
“Harold has been the one who send the emails to my father.”
“That still does not make sense Robert.” Cora sounded annoyed. “Why did Harold not send them directly to you? What is going on?”
“Simon has found out that you are Cora Levinson and not MacLaine. He also knows you are my fiancée.” Robert grinned. “I still love saying that.” Once more he stretched out his hand to take Cora’s in his. “Next year I can call you, my wife.” He brushed with his thumb over the back of Cora’s hand.
Cora smiled back. “I love you, but can you please tell me why Mr Bricker is still contacting Harold. I thought Harold had taken care of that business. I still regret going there.”
“You got all the information we needed from him, so please do not regret it. As Papa said, you did amazing that day and gave us so much inside in what to do and where to go.”
“But this business is keeping you up at night. That means something went wrong, as I suspected.”
“Cora please.” Robert squeezed her hand. “There is nothing Papa cannot solve about this. It is just me who is worrying. It is not only this business with him, in the middle of the night I suddenly realised that if we do not find a contractor fast, we will not be able to have our wedding here next February.”
Cora let out a soft, ‘oh’ “We will find a contractor. And otherwise, we will find a solution. Maybe we should reset the date to the year after?”
“NEVER” Robert yelled, he continued on a softer tone. “I cannot wait another year to be married to you. Please do not suggest that again. Another year will also mean Marmaduke will not be able to be there with us.”
“Sweetheart.” Cora started carefully. “Marmaduke will probably not see another Christmas. That was why you rushed their wedding day.”
“It will also add another year before we can try to start our family.”
A warm smile appeared on Cora’s face. “We do not have to wait with that, do we?”
“If we are still marrying this February, we will have to wait. You do not want to be heavily pregnant on your wedding day or having morning sickness either.”
Cora now laughed out loud. “We should pay your father a visit as soon as we are back in London. I do believe we made a mistake with my visit.”
“Cora, trust me when I say that it will all be alright.”
“That is why you have not slept, because everything will be alright.”
Robert let out a deep sigh. “Mr Bricker is insisting on meeting you again and that is what is bothering me. Papa will make sure the business will not be affected. He already mentioned buying ‘Advertisements by Mr Bricker’. I hope we can find a way to keep him away from you. When you told me he had a weird look in his eyes I knew he would be trouble. And I promised to keep you safe and protect you.”
“More reason for us to move up here to Downton as soon as the building is finished. We will be far away from him.” Cora said. “Now, let us clean up this mess and then we will have to go back home.”
“Do we have to go back?”
“I am afraid we do. Baxter and I will have to finish the advert we are working on by Tuesday. I also promised Rosamund to pay her a visit tomorrow.”
“Do I have to come to?”
“I only promised I would go; I know how you are with sick people.”
Robert looked down. “I feel ashamed, and I promise I will pay Rosamund and Marmaduke a visit, but I find it hard.”
This time it was Cora who took Robert’s hand. “I know my dear. I know. Rosamund also knows and she does understand. As long as you promise to make that visit very soon. You will not forgive yourself if you have not and it is too late.”
Verhalen van Traan 