A COLD FEBRUARY'S WEDDING.
February's weather in England was always very gloomy. Cora had to accept that after Christmas the winter in Yorkshire used to be even more grey, cold and windy. If she went back in her memory to the Februaries spent at home in Cincinnati, she just remembered the light of a pale sun, the light breeze and the nature starting to prepare slowly to bloom again.
Her younger self would have never imagined that her marriage would have been celebrated in February. She's always dreamed to be a May bride, with fresh roses in her tiny bouquet and a shiny sun enlightening her white gown and tickling her face through the embroidered veil.
How many things were different now! Cora thought, opening her eyes at the white light of a winter sunrise. It was quite surreal that she couldn't recognize herself in the young woman who left America almost forty two years before. That side of her was gone for good, as well as her dreams of a spring wedding and of a prince charming as a husband.
She turned on her left side, eyeing Robert still soundly asleep. There he was, her own prince. Not always that charming, very far from perfect, often grumpy and grouchy, but definitely the love of her life. She smiled, adjusting a grey curl standing in attention on his head and felt very lucky to think that her young self could have never imagined that a cold and rainy wedding day back in 1889 would have brought her so much happiness and love.
Her daydreaming was suddenly interrupted by a grunt.
"Forty years of marriage today and you never lost the habit of pestering me while I sleep" he muttered with his voice still raspy from sleep and his eyes still closed.
"Oh what a nice way to wish me happy anniversary, darling, thank you very much" She answered ironically, messing his hair on the pillow. "And, by the way, I never pester you!" she went on in a laugh. "Maybe I should start though!" she said, starting tickling him on his belly.
Robert gave up and sat up in bed. "Ok, ok...I am awake now, you win. Luckily you're very pretty." he said sighing. Than he took her hand in his, coming closer and giving her a loving smile. "And I love you.."
"That's better, Crawley!" Cora replied, caressing his cheek and kissing him sweetly on the lips.
"Happy Anniversary, sweetheart." whispered Robert, his face hidden in the nape of her neck.
Suddenly he held her by the waist, forcing her to lay on her back and started peppering her face with sweet tiny kisses. "my lovely, beautiful wife of forty years..."
Cora was so very happy, so happy that she held him as close as she could. "Happy Anniversary to you too, Robert" she exclaimed. "Can you believe it? Forty years!" she murmured, running her hands through her husband's soft curls.
Robert started slowly to undo the small buttons on Cora's creamy nightgown tracing his nose along the path of his wife's neck, losing himself in the rosy scent of her.
"Mm...if I look at you, It's quite hard to believe that all this years have passed." he said, punctuating his words with a tight hold of his hands on Cora's waist. "You're still delicious. Even more now..."
Cora's body felt tingly under Robert's sweet touch and his words made her feel beautiful and feminine. "Oh my darling..." she whispered, holding on him. "My lovely, darling man. It's silly to think that..." she stopped suddenly, overwhelmed by mixed emotions.
"To think what, dearest?" asked Robert, drawing a trail of kisses on Cora's neck and chest.
"To think that forty years ago I was so scared on the morning of our wedding." she sighed, wistfully. "If I could go back to when I was nineteen, I would say to myself not to worry. Not to worry at all."
Robert smiled, he immediately stopped his teasing kissing game to look deeply in his wife's blue eyes. " I remember that morning very very well too. I was so sure of myself, so serious. I felt as if I held the world on my own shoulders... I didn't know anything of the real life though" he said, rolling his eyes.
Cora caressed his cheek. She still recalled how her husband used to be in his early twenties: so handsome and proud, resolute and devoted to his family. "We were so young, Robert. We didn't know what we were embarking into." said Cora, pinching the dimple on his chin."I just knew that I wanted you. I wouldn't have married anyone else."
Robert raised his eyebrow, proudly. "Not even the dashing duke of Greenwald"
Cora couldn't help but laugh at the mention of her old suitor "Oh, come on Robert!Are you bringing on this story again?"
"That poor chap did all his best to court you! He was very surprised when you turned him down...and at the end you chose me."
Cora kissed him on his lips, enjoying the sweet taste of his kiss. "I most definitely chose you, darling. The most handsome of my suitors. And even the only one who didn't tempt me with love declarations."
Robert sighed, nuzzling his nose on Cora's neck. "Do you know what would I say to my younger self back in 1988?"
"What?" she asked, curiously.
"You're a stupid fool! Marrying the most lovely woman on earth, without not even an hint of romance."
"The romance came afterwards though." she replied, lovingly. "Do you remember our second anniversary?" she asked, rhetorically.
"Of course I do. The morning of thirty nine years ago we were in this same room. In this same bed." Robert said, kissing gently Cora's neck. "I was kissing you like this..."
"And you told me that you loved me for the first time." Cora finished, closing her eyes at the sweetness of this memory.
Robert cradled his wife's body in his strong arms, filling his heart with the amazing sensation of her embrace. "...And from that day I never stopped telling you that."
Cora stole another kiss, gifting him with the loveliest of her smiles " And I stopped feeling cold in February."
They held each other a little longer, turning the caresses into kisses and the kisses into love.
Nobody saw them downstairs for breakfast that day.