Downton looks different in the autumn, Sarah muses as she glances outside Cora's bedroom window. The sun hangs low in the sky and casts a ruddy glow over the grounds and through the glass panes. She sees the wind breeze through the trees and whip up the fallen leaves of various colours and hues. There's a slight chill to the air now, just enough to bring up goose pimples on her flesh but not so much that she needs to wear an extra thick layer of clothing. She often comes in from enjoying a cigarette out in the yard with a rosy glow to her cheeks and cool fingers.
Hands and then arms snake around her waist from behind and she allows her body to go with the flow as Cora pulls her back into the embrace. The older woman holds her tightly, but not uncomfortably, and rests her chin on Sarah's shoulder. Now in their autumn years, and a very changed world around them, the two women find the love and comfort in each other that they had both known about but had avoided for years. Robert is long out of the picture and Sarah can't honestly say she is sorry about that, only that the whole terrible affair hurts Cora so much.
As Cora undresses her lover slowly and seductively, Sarah lets her mind clear itself of any maudlin thoughts and loses herself in the moment. She concentrates on the way that Cora's fingertips cause her flesh to shiver and burn at the same time. She loves the way that her lover takes the time to build up their rhythm, drawing out a protracted and intense response. Sarah gasps, squirms and pants her way through the orgasm and wonders why it's taken until the autumn for them to get here. he auth
Sarah reciprocates Cora's attentive lovemaking and watches carefully as the older woman's expressive eyes crease with restraint, go wide with passion and water with emotion. The lines at the corners seem to deepen and the blue of her iris darkens as she comes with the same intensity as Sarah did earlier. Anyone who sees them like this, so open and vulnerable with each other, cannot deny the connection between them. As they lay in each other's arms in post-coital bliss, Sarah realises that it doesn't matter that they have only been lovers a short time and that they don't have dozens of future autumns to enjoy together, but she is grateful that they are lovers at all.
