The morning fog had cleared as the day had passed leaving in its wake a clear and sunny, if not brisk autumn afternoon. They had been back from London for almost a month now, Rose's presentation complete, a resounding success, and with the Prince himself in attendance a most talked about affair. Cora and Robert had congratulated themselves on yet another teenager presented. Although not their own they very dearly cared for Rose and the life she gave to their house was a breath of fresh air. Cora often suspected Rose was up to more than she knew, but after losing a daughter and a son in law some things just didn't matter the way they used to. It had been on the train back to Downton that Cora had confessed to Robert her conflicted emotions at Rose's coming out being finished. She was pleased it was over, a success, her mother and brother in attendance. However, she knew that this was their last. With no more daughters of their own and no other family needing assistance with their children Rose had signaled the last presentation at court of which they would be responsible. Four times they had done it. Four very different young women and four wonderful if not stressful balls had followed. Cora found herself both relieved and saddened at the same time. More than anything she felt the weight of passing years pressing on her making her feel older, or perhaps just old.
When they were younger Robert would more than likely not have understood his wife's emotions. He would have thought it unreasonable to have two such conflicting feelings at the same time. Experience had taught him, in the form of years passing, that his wife was a complex woman with equally complex emotions. She often made the statement it was because she was American, but he sincerely doubted that was the whole of it. He had come to suspect that much of who Cora was came from simply who she was as a person. American or not, she was always going to be a woman to contend with. One only had to look at the daughters they had raised and the women they had become to realize many of their traits came from their mother, and none of their children were American in the least. It was just who she was. Complex, intuitive, interesting, compassionate, a woman who felt things deeply and earnestly. He had come to realize over the years that she just needed to share her thoughts, that she simply needed to voice her feelings to him and all he had to do was listen. He had practiced listening to his wife these 30 plus years, but something told him this time he needed to act, to show her how much he appreciated her and how most definitely not old she was. How not old they both were.
Cora smiled as she thought of the attention Robert had been showing her since their return from the city. Not that he wasn't usually attentive toward her, but it seemed to her he had been more so since their return. Taking advantage of the clear skies this Autumn afternoon offered Cora had taken herself for a walk, using the time alone to remember the walk she and Robert had shared across the very same lawn several days earlier. Arm in arm, Robert had inadvertently let slip part of the motives for his extra affection toward his wife. He hadn't even noticed the slip but she had heard it and it had made her smile. Cora had been feeling a little older since presenting Rose, she had all but forgotten their conversation on the train back from London a month prior but the fact that Robert remembered it was adorable. Not only did he remember it, he had made it his goal to remind her how much life they both still had in them, and how vibrant she was. Cora touched her fingers to her lips as they formed a smile and she recalled the moment she realized Robert was showing her more attention than usual.
They had been back from London just a day when he had excused himself early after dinner and gone up to bed. Cora had stayed downstairs as it was still early, but had watched him as he had slipped out the door hoping he was alright. He was not one to be struck by illness and she mused while chewing her bottom lip that they truly were past their prime. How old had her father in law been when he had passed away suddenly of a heart attack? How old had Robert's grandfather been when had died? She cold not ever remember hearing much about him, Robert not even being born when his father had become the Earl he always knew him to be. Looking across at Violet she considered the amount of time her mother in law had lived without her husband by her side. Good Lord, it had been 25 years now … or was it more? She could not fathom the thought of spending so many years without her sweet, frustrating husband. Her heart had ached for him when he was in America and that had only been 6 weeks. As the thoughts piled one on top of the other Cora began to feel her heart aching and her hands beginning to wring together as they did when she was nervous.
"You know, I don't feel so well myself." Cora said to no one in particular. Mary's head turned to her mother as her fingers twirled around her necklace.
"What was that mama?" Mary asked as her mother rose to her feet. Violet turned her attention to Cora and spoke.
"Is no one staying to entertain me?" Violet asked with a frown.
"I am sorry mama" Cora explained with a distracted look on her face, "I am not feeling well, the girls will happily keep you company and Tom as well." Cora looked to her children and offered them a smile before leaning in to kiss her mother in law's cheek and leaving the room. She felt quite fine physically, but her heart was pounding and her hands felt quite clammy at the thoughts of Robert being ill, of the possibilities of what could happen to men of his age, from his family. With an extra sense of urgency she climbed the stairs and made for her husbands room. If he was sick he would go to his room to avoid getting her sick as well, she arrived at his door and knocked softly.
"Robert?" she called out quietly not wanting to wake him if he was sleeping soundly. She turned his door handle and pushed into his room quietly entering his room blinking to adjust her eyes to the darkness. "Robert?" she whispered creeping toward his bed. She didn't need to go any closer to see that he was not in there, his bed lay empty, his room uninhabited. Cora looked around and screwed her eyes together. Backing out of the door she closed it behind her and went to her room. Perhaps he had decided to sleep in there after all? Perhaps he was downstairs in his study? Perhaps he was … Cora couldn't finish her thought shuddering at the images of her husband collapsed somewhere in the house. She pushed the door to her room open in one swift motion and entered her room in a panic.
"Robert!" Cora sucked in a breath at the sight of her husband alive and well standing in her bedroom. The relief that filled her was warm and calming and she quickly chastised herself for letting her imagination get the better of her. He was fine. Of course he was fine. He was … good heaven … he was half dressed. As her relief settled over her she looked around her room and took in the scene before her.
"Robert? What? What is all this?" she asked with a smile.
"It's called a surprise darling … but might you close the door before we progress any further?" he laughed at her shocked expression and walked toward her as she closed the door and looked around again shaking her head.
"I assume then that you are in fact not ill at all?" she asked with a stern expression. He had given her a scare, not entirely his fault, but her imagination had been led by his ruse so she felt justified in blaming him just a little.
He smirked like she imagined he might have done to get out of trouble as a little boy and took several steps towards her. "Not even a little."
Cora looked away from his approaching form and despite 37 years of marriage she blushed at the look she had seen in his eyes. Her room had been quite transformed in the almost 2 hours he had been up there. Candles littered various corners creating a harmonious glow, several vases of roses were placed about the room, and there were flower petals scattered across the floor and bed. It was beautifully romantic and Cora felt for a brief moment that perhaps she had forgotten their anniversary. Looking back toward her grinning husband she cocked her head to the side,
"What is all this?" she almost couldn't look at him directly. She had just spent the last hour downstairs running through various scenarios involving his untimely death and the hazards of growing older, yet here he stood, very much alive, very sweet, and very much making her pulse race. He had not changed into his pajamas but he had partially undressed and Cora found the result to be quite arousing. His dark dress pants were still fastened although his shoes and socks were gone. His tie hung loosely about his neck, his white shirt unbuttoned and hanging loosely across his body, untucked and the sleeves rolled up his forearms. Apparently he had done much of the work to arrange this display by himself as his hair was slightly disheveled and he had a certain glow about him. Cora felt her body heat up just looking at him and she knew if she had a fan on her she would be using it most fervently at this moment.
Robert smiled at the effect the room and he hoped his appearance was having on his wife. He had quickly arranged for flowers and candles upon their arrival the day before, but he had wanted to do it himself and had feigned illness in order to have time to do so. He stepped towards her until he stood directly in front of her. "I wanted to surprise my beautiful wife" he said as he picked up her hands in his and pulled them to his lips for a soft kiss.
She smiled at him, "Oh Robert" she gushed, "You had me worried that you were really ill" he laughed and she blushed as he ran his hands along her forearms reaching the end of her gloves before paying attention to one at a time and gently removing them for her.
"No Cora" he said huskily, "I am not ill, but I am sick, so very sick" he grinned as he lowered his lips to the underside of her now bare wrist and placed a delicate kiss there, then another a few inches above, then another, and another as he slowly kissed his way along the inside of her arm before running out of bare skin and wrapping his arms about her waist and pulling her close. "So very love sick over you my darling" he whispered into her ear and heard her intake a sharp breath before his lips found hers and crashed against them passionately. Old? Who in this room was old? All Robert could see were two people in the prime of their lives, in the prime of their marriage, enjoying the gifts they each offered. As he felt his wife's arms wrap around his neck and her body melt against his he increased the intensity in which he kissed her and slipped her mouth open with his tongue eliciting a throaty moan from his willing wife which made him smile and dip one hand down to cup her delicate bottom in his hand. He thanked heaven and earth for the newer fashions and the silky way they slipped across Cora's body, the ease of access it gave him to what lay beneath, the speed with which it could be removed. Gripping her waist tighter he pulled her body flush against his and spun them around as if in a dance so that her back was to the bed and he started backing her up towards it. Her hands had begun to move through his hair as she answered his tongue's pleading discovery with her own and mewled against his lips. When the back of her legs hit the bed he stopped and slid his hands down her dress beginning to slide the silky fabric up her body. Cora pulled back from his kiss and wordlessly turned around in his arms offering her back to him. For a moment he was unsure what she meant, but when she looked back at him across her shoulder he understood and felt his pulse begin to race. He lifted his hand to the back of her neck and gently unhooked the clasp there before moving his fingers down to take care of the rest of her buttons. When he had managed each of them he took half a step back and watched in appreciative awe as Cora let the dress fall from her body and pool on the floor before she turned to face him and sat down on the bed leaning back on her elbows. If Robert had been in charge of the situation before he was most definitely put in his place now. With that one motion Cora had turned the tables on her seducing husband and rendered him quite speechless. He stared at her, the delicate collar bones, the porcelain skin, the way her chemise hung across the gentle curves of her body, her stocking clad legs inches from his body.
"Perhaps you could help me with these?" Cora asked seductively lifting one leg out as she leaned against the bed on her shoulders. She watched her husband swallow hard and nod his head wordlessly before stepping forward and sliding his hand along her leg, slipping along her thigh to meet the end of her stocking and skimming his fingers beneath them. Cora let out a breath at his touch and it filled Robert with renewed purpose. He was seducing his wife, not being seduced. He was trying to make her feel special, alive, sexy, needed … not the other way round. With a quick look at her aroused face and the way she bit her lower lip Robert proceeded to do just that.
Smiling at the memories Cora looked up and saw the object of her thoughts walking across the lawn waving at her.
"Cora" he called out happily. The image of her husband trotting across the lawn towards her filled Cora's heart and she raised her hand waving back at him. Opening her mouth to speak his name she stopped still just before any sound came out, her mouth left open as the horror of the scene before her washed over her. Robert had been moving across the lawn toward her, had gotten halfway there when he had stopped mid stride, looked toward her, grasped his hand to his chest and fallen to his knees. As he fell from his knees to the lush green lawn below Cora screamed his name, once, twice, fear gripping her. Several seconds which seemed like hours passed with her frozen in fear before she shook herself into action, picking her skirt up at the knees and running toward her collapsed husband she screamed his name and prayed with all her might that he was alive.
