She is putting lotion on her hands when he walks in and sits upon the settee, sighing. Her long hair – somehow still the same beautiful chestnut brown, despite his own ever-greying and ever-thinner locks – is pulled into it's customary thick braid over her shoulder. And as usual, he can't help but want to reach out and immediately undo the work of her maid, to feel the smooth locks run over his fingers as they have a thousand times before.
"My, but I'm worn out." He's glad to note her lady's maid already gone. He can speak as freely as he likes now. "How are you, darling? It's been a long day, hasn't it?" he adds, knowing that it's truly been a long day, a few long weeks, a long few years.
She normally greets him with a smile in her bedroom, always polite, his Cora. But as he kicks his shoes off and makes the briefest of eye contact with her in the mirror, he notices her biting her lip and her furrowed brow. For a moment he feels a sort of panic and thinks quickly over the events of the day, wondering if he'd said anything that might be construed as an insult. But he feels certain he didn't do anything "Donk-ish" today – a word Mary has jokingly invented. In fact, they had all been so busy with the arrival and arrangements, he can't think of much significant time they'd spent together at all that might give chance to warrant such a greeting.
"Cora?" he asks, cautiously. "Is something the matter?"
She looks back into the mirror and makes thoughtful eye contact with him, weighing something in her mind. She caps her lotion and turns slightly in her chair to face him, but does not raise her eyes to his when she finally breaks the silence and asks quietly, "What did you mean today? When you said something about someone trying to unload a niece?"
He barks a laugh, almost in relief at her question. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. "I almost remember saying that but I think I made that remark today to someone who wasn't you, darling."
"I was right behind you, and I heard," she offers quietly.
He shrugs. "Yes, well. I mean . . . that was all so long ago."
"It's only I've never heard about it, and I find it odd that you didn't mention anything when we knew we were coming up here."
He stills at her words, pausing for a moment before responding. "Well, no, you wouldn't have known about her."
"And why not?" she turns to look at him now and he sighs heavily as the blue eyes he's always loved so much search his.
"To be honest, because she was the closest . . . that is to say, she was the most likely . . . candidate for me, that is until - " he fumbles awkwardly.
"I see," she interrupts primly, looking back down at her lap. In the few beats before he can decide if he should keep talking, she looks up at herself in the mirror and rubs her neck self-consciously. "I guess I find it strange that after all these years, there are still things we might not know about each other. Things I don't know about you."
He chuckles nervously, not liking the turn in the conversation. "But Cora, can it truly bother you when it was so long ago? You didn't even know her –"
"But you clearly did. And if you have never mentioned her to me before now, knowing you spent significant time together in this place, I can't shake the sneaking suspicion that she meant more than just some random girl you met at a ball."
He sits back against the settee, eyes clenched in confusion before opening them to reach for her hand. "Darling, what has brought this along? You're speaking of something that happened over 35 years ago –"
She swats away at his arm. "So I'm right? Something did happen? Who was she?"
"Cora – "
"And why have you never mentioned her before?" she adds, the forced calm in her tone belying the emotion he can sense underneath.
"I can hardly see how that would have ever been a helpful conversation," he pushes back. But she is on a roll of some kind now, and continues, not seeming to hear his rhetorical comment.
"Come to think of it – despite all you made me tell you about the men who courted me before we became engaged, I don't know much at all about the women in your life before - "
"Really, now, is this necessary?" he tries.
"And I'd simply like to know if I am about to stumble upon some memorable place, or goodness, memorable woman of your past, and so – "
"Cora!" he interrupts, sharply, making her turn to face him from her table. The look on her face is so unreadable, but he sees her chin trembles and the nearness of tears in her eyes, so he continues more softly. "What is this about?"