This is merely my interpretation of what could have happened, and I have not copied anyone. The characters belong to Julian Fellowes, but as it is my story, I am at liberty to twist their personalities, so don't jump on my back. On that cheerful note, enjoy this short piece!
She lay in bed, letting the darkness wash over her. The tears were still damp on her cheeks; despite it being a full hour after what happened.
She reached out with one hand, stroking the empty space where her husband usually lay. But no matter how many times she smoothed the sheets, he would not come back in. It seemed as though he had had it with her, when he stood stooped over the chair with a hand on both arms, shocked and angry. But she had never wanted Simon in there in the first place, even though it was flattering all the same.
Tears started to form in her eyes again as she thought of Robert, and his warm arms, that would enfold her all night, keeping her safe.
Maybe, just maybe, he was still awake too.
Slowly, she slid out of bed, her nightgown rustling against the quilt as her feet meet carpet.
Padding across the floor, she reached the door within seconds. Her hand reached for the door knob, but as she did so, the door slowly opened, casting the gloom from his room into hers.
He hadn't fully shut it.
She carefully walked in, purposefully. The shape of his body lying inert urged her forward. Cora reached his bed, and knelt. Tentatively, she reached out, and gently shook his arm.
"Robert."
Her eyes filled again, as she realised he wasn't waking. Letting them spill down to dampen her face yet again, she stood abruptly and started out again, feeling loneliness to consume her again.
"Cora?"
She turned, elated suddenly. He sat there, blinking confusedly in the darkness.
"What are you doing?"
She felt her knees give way, and she swayed on the spot, grabbing onto a shelf to keep her balance. A lump gathered in her throat, on seeing him remain on the bed and not help Cora.
"I wanted to...apologise. Though, given the circumstances, I probably should be the one listening."
"I'm afraid we shall have to agree to disagree. You have explaining to do, Cora. Why on earth was he in your bedroom, for heaven's sakes?" He was looking at her angrily, his eyes cold and mirthless.
"I...I don't know."
"Oh come on, Cora! Do you really expect me to believe that? When you've given him no reason to back away, when you've lead him on and lead him on, when you've given yourself up to him, dismissing me in the process? We are not young as we once were, and free with our choices with other people! We are married. We are – well, I thought we were, at least – in love. Doesn't that count for anything? Doesn't that matter to you anymore, Cora?"
For the first time in her whole life with this man, she wanted to hurt him. She didn't care what he would say, what words would follow what she was about to discourse...she just wanted to make him feel the pain he had been inflicting on her for so long.
"You talk of me dismissing you? Robert, I haven't felt comfortable with you for ages! You take me for granted at every turn, knocking me down and belittling me, in the smallest ways possible that no-one but myself could see! I can't see any motivation for stopping him making any advances at me, when you shrink away from my touch and snap at anything I say. I don't see why you cannot just say that you do not care for me any longer. You won't let me be myself; you won't allow me to form my own judgements...what kind of life is that for a married woman? What kind of life is it, where a man and woman can no longer share the same opinions? The world may be changing, but you are not, Robert. You are stuck in the past, and I'm sick of being your china ornament that you can look at and admire from time to time."
She stood there, gasping for breath. All the pain, all the hurt, all the anger had rushed forth, leaving her with nothing to say. She glanced up from the ground, where her gaze had dropped after her outburst. Robert stood there, his eyes brimming. He looked like a little boy on his first day of school; scared, intimidated, nervous.
"R – Robert?"
He stepped forward, and before she knew what was happening, he had enfolded her in a passionate embrace, grasping her close as though he was never going to let her go.
"I'm so sorry, Cora, I'm so, so sorry. I...I never realised how much I took you for granted until now. I – I don't know what I thought. Seeing him in your room was just the last straw. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that...you are not my china ornament. You are my darling wife, and I love you so very much. I cannot make up for all the times I degraded you, intimidated you, took the right to speak from you...and I wish I could rewrite the past few months. I wish that I could have said something before. But...as painful as it is to say, I can see...why – that man – would have made you feel happy. I know that he made you feel respected and wanted, and not undermined as I did continuously. I can see that he wanted to hear your opinions ad you were flattered by that. But...i took it the wrong way. That night you came back to Rosamund's place, and I had a go at you..I was sad and jealous, but I could see why you liked him. He didn't take you for granted...and I wished that i didn't, but I did anyway. Oh Cora, I never meant to stop you from having opinions, I was just...I suppose I was closeting you, trying to hide you from the brutal effects of the modern world. But...I have to let you make your own path. And I'm so, so sorry that I stopped you. Because, in all honesty, you are my life, my love, my only one, and I love you. No-one could ever stop that."
Cora by now was crying openly, her body shuddering with passion and sorrow. "Oh, Robert..." was all she could say, as he moved his head lower to hers, and gently took her face in his hand.
"Can I kiss you?"
"Oh Robert, you don't need to ask..."
"But I do."
"Then...yes."
Never was there such a passionate kiss as the two lovers shared in that moment. They held each other for endless minutes, filling the moments lost during the past few months. And Cora finally realised, how much she had missed this.
And Robert, who was still trying to comprehend the situation mentally, was blissfully ignorant of the watchful moon that peeked in through his open curtains, all-seeing, and all-knowing.