11 July 1900
"And we commit his body to the ground: earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust…"
Robert looked down to his hands and let out a small sigh as a few raindrops started to fall. Of course it had to be raining. It just completed the mood. Not even a year before, he had been in this exact same position—watching his wife of nine years being lowered into the ground, alongside the son he would have had if her accident hadn't brought his birth on early.
"The Lord bless him and keep him…"
At those words, Robert looked up to the woman at the front: the Duchess of Norfolk…or he supposed she was now the Dowager Duchess. Cora. He had danced with her during her first season, and he would have married her too if his mother hadn't purposely gone out searching for a properly bred English born girl for him; the daughter of an Earl who had enough money to save Downton.
And there Cora stood now, the woman he would have married, watching as her husband was lowered into the ground. She had one arm around her youngest son, a boy of nearly five, and a baby of no more than five months in the other arm. There were three other boys around her, the oldest looking to be about ten or eleven.
But Robert knew Cora had been the Duke's second wife. He had a son, Philip, from his first marriage of nearly twenty-one. At least Cora's young son wouldn't need to take up the responsibility of becoming Duke of Norfolk so young. God forbid anything happen to him before his time, or at least before he had an heir.
"The Lord lift his countenance upon him and give him peace. Amen."
There was a soft echo of the word before Cora let go of her youngest son's hand, leaving the four boys a few steps behind as she dropped a white rose onto the casket before moving back to them. A few people followed suit and then the service was over, people turning and going back to their cars. A few went home but others, who were closer to the deceased and his family, would give their condolences to the widow when they all arrived for luncheon at the estate.
Robert himself started to turn with his mother and sister when he noticed that Cora remained with her children, whispering quiet words to soothe them as they stood by the grave, despite the sadness that he could see she was feeling.
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk
27 December 1847—5 July 1900
Beloved husband, father, and son
May He Rest in Peace
"It is sad…" He heard his mother say. "It wasn't the poor man's time yet."
Robert took one last glance at the woman, staring at the stone that marked her husband's grave before he saw a woman he remembered to be her mother take her arm and gently lead her away.
So, this certainly will be a Cobert fanfiction. Yes, Cora's husband was a real duke, but I altered the date of his actual death and a few other things just to fit with the story. Henry Fitzalan-Howard did remarry after his first wife died in 1887, but it actually took him more than twenty years, rather than the one it took him to marry Cora in this one. I hope you like the rest of the story, other chapters will be longer, but this is simply a prologue.