It was day six on the Lucania and it was finally time for Robert to put his surprise for Cora into motion. The last several days had passed rather uneventfully. Cora had recovered after the first night, and they had spent their days quietly wandering the ship with Mary or in the on-board library, reading while she napped in one their laps. But they were all getting a bit anxious to be on land again, and he could tell Cora was quite excited to see her Mother and be in the house where she had spent so many childhood summers.
Robert was somewhat anxious to get off the ship, but knowing what he had planned for the evening ahead, he was not quite ready to come ashore just yet. He was very ready to spend some time alone with Cora, though. It had been a long six days; seven if he included the last day at Downton, and he was ready to rectify that. Robert did not consider Mary to be any sort of burden, nor did he normally consider himself to be an impatient man; but after six—or seven—long days, it was all he could do to restrain himself around his wife. Everything Cora said and did seemed to ignite a stronger desire in him. Even simple things like watching her pour her tea in the morning or unpin her hair at night had become taunts of what he could not have—and what they could not do presently. Yes, all that would be rectified very soon though, as it was just about time for the grand plan to begin.
The three of them had spent the afternoon in their room, and it was just approaching evening. Robert was sitting on the bed already dressed for dinner, sorting through some letters he wanted to send once they made it to New York, and Cora and Mary had been sitting on the floor for quite a while brushing her doll's hair. Taking a quick peek at his watch, Robert sat up; it was indeed time to set everything in motion.
"Mary," Robert called. "Would you like to take a walk on the deck with me? We can give Mama some time alone to change for dinner."
Mary frowned for a moment, annoyed that Robert had interrupted her playtime, but before she said anything, she remembered what Papa had told her earlier that day, and hopped up eagerly.
"Ok, Papa!"
That morning, Robert had woken Mary up before Cora had gotten up and he took her for a little stroll around the ship. He told Mary she could play with the Webster girls that evening if she wanted to. When she paused with a frown, saying she only wanted to play with him and Mama, he shamelessly offered to buy her a doll in New York when they arrived if she would go play with the girls. She again hesitated, but Robert quickly added that he would buy her two dolls, so long as she did not mention anything to her mama. Smiling at the prospect of two new dolls, she agreed and they had returned to the room where Cora was still sleeping.
So, remembering their little agreement, Mary said nothing to her mama, and bounded out the door with Robert, presumably for their walk on the deck. Cora gave him a puzzled look but said nothing as he waved and followed Mary out the door.
"Be back soon!" He called over his shoulder before the door clicked shut.
Since it was their last night aboard, Cora decided to get a bit more dressed up than usual. She took extra care as she pinned her hair up into an intricate style and clipped back the stray curls with her most delicate hairpins. She put on one of the new dresses that she had ordered before they left. It was a beautiful peach color with a neckline that dipped slightly lower than her mother-in-law would approve of, and it draped gracefully down to the floor. She put on her pearl necklace and earrings and fiddled with her hair for a few moments. She inspected herself in the mirror before applying some lavender perfume to her wrist and neck, knowing it was Robert's favorite. She smiled, pleased with the results of her efforts, though she knew unfortunately she wouldn't get to be alone with Robert until the reached Newport. And even then, they would be in a house with her Mother and countless servants. Nevertheless, she hoped he would be pleasantly surprised at the effort she had taken to get ready for their last dinner. Even if they could not 'fully' enjoy one another's company, they could at least have a lovely dinner.
Cora sighed to herself as she sat on the edge of the bed waiting for them to return and began wondering what could be taking them so long. Robert rarely missed a meal and so he must have been distracted by something, Cora thought with a slight chuckle. So, to pass the time, she picked up the book off her bedside table and began to read.
Meanwhile, Robert and Mary had walked down their hallway and taken a right, stopping once they reached the correct door. Knocking, they waited a moment before Lady Laurel Webster answered the door.
"Hello Robert. We were wondering when you two would be arriving, we were just heading out for dinner, ourselves." She said.
"Ah, of course. So sorry, I do hope we are not too late." Robert replied apologetically.
"No, no. And I am sorry to hear Cora isn't feeling well." She said politely, "but of course we are happy to have Mary spend the night here with the girls. Our governess, Miss Woods, will take good care of her and it's lovely for the girls to spend time together. We don't often have other children at our home." She explained quietly, smiling faintly down at Mary.
"Yes, well, as I said this morning, Cora has just had an awful time with the seasickness and its really gotten the best of her. I want her to rest up since it is our last night aboard. And, as I mentioned earlier, you all must come up to Downton after the summer! I know Mary would enjoy that very much." He said brightly, knowing Laurel would love nothing more than an invitation to the estate of an Earl. He normally did not like to use Downton as a pawn in social games, but he felt the situation had been rather desperate that morning when he had asked Laurel if Mary could spend the night with her daughters and their governess. He had come up with a plausible enough excuse, but it was not exactly proper to ask to borrow someone's servant. So, he had shamelessly used Downton as a bargaining chip, as he knew the evening would not go exactly the way he was planning if Mary there.
"Oh, that would be lovely. You know we just love getting out to the country." Laurel said, smiling widely. "Well, Miss Woods is in the adjoining room with the girls for the night, so you can just pop over there and leave Mary with them. I will have her bring Mary back to your room in the morning?"
"Wonderful. Thank you so much." Robert said, barely able to suppress an enormous grin.
"Alright, then. Do give Cora our regards. I hope she feels better tomorrow."
"I daresay we will both be refreshed come morning!" Robert replied with a small smile.
Once Laurel Webster shut her door, Robert walked Mary to the next room where the Webster's governess was occupying the two little girls. Mary looked tentatively at Robert for a moment before seeing the pile of toys the girls were playing with. Happily, she released his hand and ran into the room with a smile, waving goodbye as she ran in. Robert thanked the governess profusely before shutting the door behind the already giggling girls. Perhaps, a night away would do Mary some good too, he thought as he nearly skipped down the hallway. She did not often get the chance to play with other children, either, and it would be good for her to have some playmates her own age.
As he trotted down the hallway, it was time for the next part of his plan. Robert walked briskly down a hallway toward the main dining room. As he approached the entrance to the hall, he saw just the man he was looking for. He smiled at the young steward standing by the door who was holding a covered basket. The young man looked around to make sure none of his superiors were around before he nodded slightly at Robert and handed him the basket. Nodding back with a smile, Robert took the proffered basket and quickly turned and headed back toward their room.
A few hours earlier, Robert had told Cora he was going to the library, so he could get out and execute this particular part of the plan. He had wandered around for a long while before locating the young man he was looking for. He had seen the boy waiting his table each night at dinner, so he knew he would be able to do what Robert was going to ask. He offered him five pounds to put together a basket with some food, along with a bottle of wine, and to do it without anyone else finding out. The boy had jumped at the chance to earn some extra money and he agreed to have everything ready an hour before the regular dinnertime.
Now, returning to their room—basket in hand—Robert could no longer contain his excitement. He opened the door and as he entered with a wide smile Cora looked up from the book she had begun reading while waiting for her family to return.
Robert completely forgot what he had planned to say as he paused in the doorway admiring her. Cora looked absolutely lovely, and more relaxed than he had seen her in days. He sucked in a deep breath as she looked over her book and smiled widely at him, and he felt so incredibly happy, it was all he could to to walk into the room completely and close the door behind him. After a moment he realized Cora's gaze had fallen to his basket, and she looked a bit perplexed.
"Robert, what is that?" She asked, eyeing him and the basket as he stood in the doorway. When he didn't answer, except with a smile, she frowned and questioned him once more.
"Where is Mary?" She asked as she put her book down looking slightly alarmed upon realizing that Mary was not behind him.
"Not to worry, all is well, Darling. Mary has gone out for the evening." Robert explained, still grinning madly.
Cora was confused but also curious, and since she knew Mary was certainly somewhere safe if Robert had indeed left her somewhere, she decided to play along with his little game. After all, he did seem to be enjoying himself very much, whatever he was doing.
"And, where pray tell has she gone?" She inquired, raising her eyebrows.
"Well, she received an invitation to dine out this evening, so unfortunately it will be just us tonight." He replied, matter-of-factly.
"Oh, has she? Alright then. Shall we go to dinner?" Cora asked with a chuckle, still wondering why on earth he was grinning so widely and what exactly was in the large basket he was holding.
"We shall."
As Cora got up off the bed though, Robert held up a hand gesturing for her to stop. He placed the large basket on the floor before unfolding the blanket that was on top of it and spreading it out across the floor with a flourish. Then, he took the candle holder off of the bedside table and lit it, setting it in the middle of the blanket. Finally, he pulled out a bottle of wine from the basket, along with two glasses, and removed the cork before pouring some into each glass. He then sat down on the blanket and removed his shoes, tossing them to the corner of the room. Looking up at Cora's stunned expression, Robert smiled softly at her before holding up one of the wine glasses to her and motioning for her to come sit.
"Well, shall we?"
Stunned into silence by the scene in front of her, Cora took the proffered glass and took a long sip before sitting down and removing her shoes. She took them off and carefully placed them beside her before looking back at Robert, who was now sitting eye level with her and still smiling. She felt as though she had fallen down the rabbit hole into Wonderland, and she was not sure what had gotten into her dignified English husband. But looking at him now, shoeless, with his adorable grin and large basket beside him, she couldn't remember ever loving him more than she did in that moment.
She took another sip of her wine before realizing Robert was still looking at her, waiting for some sort of response.
"Robert, I don't know quite what to say. When did you manage to do all this?"
"Well, are you pleased?" He asked gently, inching a bit closer to her.
"Yes, of course!" She replied, reaching over across the blanket and taking his hand.
"Well then, all the other details don't matter, Darling." He lifted her hand up and kissed it softly before taking a sip from his own glass.
They sat in silence for a moment, sipping their wine, before Robert felt a slight grumble from his stomach. It had been quite a while since he had last eaten. Though he didn't want to break the romantic moment—he was still holding Cora's hand, after all—he assumed she was hungry too. Gently letting go of her hand, he turned his attention to the basket, and rummaged around to see what exactly was in there.
"You must be famished, Darling." He said as he continued his rummaging.
"Actually, no. I'm not hungry," she answered quietly.
"Not hungry? But I had this whole basket prepared..."
He looked up from his basket with a confused and slightly disappointed frown. He had gone through quite a bit of trouble to procure the basket, with the assumption that it would be just the sort of romantic gesture Cora would enjoy. Apparently he had been mistaken. But when he looked up and his eyes found hers, he saw an unmistakable flicker of desire reflected back at him, and the mischievous grin that was always his undoing, was pulling at her lips. He couldn't help but smile as he realized just what was behind her lacking appetite.
"You're not hungry?" He repeated slowly, making sure she was implying what he thought she was implying.
"No, I'm not hungry at all."
After repeating herself, Cora set her wine glass on the floor beside her before looking back to Robert and smiling a most alluring smile. Since they were both sitting on the floor already, Cora crawled over to the other side of the blanket where Robert was seated. Kneeling on the floor beside him, she placed her hands on either side of his face before kissing him with more passion than either of them had allowed over the past several days. Feeling his tongue pressing against her lips, she sighed happily and ran her fingers against the curve of his jaw.
Cora finally leaned back and smiled wickedly before taking the wine glass he was still holding placing it beside him. Their eyes locked again as she climbed onto his lap and kissed him again, this time allowing her hands to rest behind his head, and her fingers to gently rake through his hair. All it took was one last flirtatious smile before Robert lost any trace of self-control he had left. His arms weaved around her waist and locked behind her, pulling her more firmly to him. His lips found their way from her lips, to her cheek, and then down to her neck where he very slowly peppered kisses down to her collar-bone and back up again.
"Oh, Robert…" She groaned into his neck as she felt his hands wandering over her back, unbuttoning the tiny buttons on her dress.
They made themselves more comfortable on the floor, and rolled around sharing long kisses and whispering giggles and other sweet sentiments to each other as they slowly discarded the rest of their clothing. Piece after piece made its way to the floor as the night wore on and the candle slowly melted down farther and farther. The candle flickered gently beside them as they finally joined together and they held close to one another, each following the familiar movements of the other and finally releasing the desire they had suppressed over the last several days.
"Oh, God…Cora…" Robert moaned against her neck, trying to suppress a louder groan, but it was no use as each noise Cora made in response only served to heighten his own responses. She opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on him as she murmured his name once more. This was his undoing, and he cried out once more with Cora following a moment later.
After he moved off of her Cora rested her cheek against his chest, feeling for the steady rhythm of his breath. They lay peacefully on the floor for a long while, murmuring quietly to one another. And as he absent-mindedly ran his hand up and down her back, he felt better than he had in weeks. Not only because of what they had done moments earlier—though it had been quite enjoyable—but because for the first time he felt as though he, and they, could truly have it all. He could have a loving and passionate relationship with his wife; they could care for their child without hovering servants and nurses; and they could be happy, whether it be at Downton or hundreds of miles away, drifting along in the middle of the ocean on a ship. Cora hummed with pleasure again and murmured something about needing to go on picnics more often. They shared quiet laughter and hushed whispers for several moments until they both quieted, lulled by the very gentle sound of the water outside their window.
Life was blissfully peaceful in this moment.
Robert looked down at Cora and saw that she had fallen asleep on his chest. Not having the energy or desire to move, he too closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep holding her close.
A/N: Stay tuned for part 2!
Also, "Antigone": you'll have to stay tuned :)
