Throughout the journey to Scouthead, Cora had been high on adrenaline and the desperate need to tell Sarah how she felt, but, after what felt like hours later, she had made it to the O'Brien's farm, and she couldn't help but wonder if she had made a mistake. What was the likelihood, really, of Sarah O'Brien feeling the same way she did? She had never given her any indication she did, just the services of a devoted maid who was particularly good at her job and somewhat fond of her mistress, and fondness by no means equated to love. But she loved Sarah, more than she could possibly say, and as risky as it had been to come here in the hopes of being loved in return, surely it would to worth it just to know?
She sucked in a breath as the car vanished around the corner, leaving her well and truly at the mercy of her former maid. The door to the little farmhouse seemed impossibly intimidating, given its rather meager size, for no other reason than for the woman she would find beyond it and the reality of what she had come here to do, but she forced herself to walk toward it, her heart pounding furiously with every step, until she stood before it and outstretched her arm to knock.
The door swung open before she got the chance, and, to her equal delight and despair, found herself greeted by an entirely different woman with eager eyes and a welcoming smile, and an impossibly charming little girl resting against her hip.
"You're her! You're the Countess, aren't you? I 'eard the car and saw you an' I knew it was you."
Cora's lips curled up in a bemused smile at the clear excitement on the younger woman's face. Her title so rarely garnered this sort of reaction anymore, not in the circles she tended to frequent. She socialized with Duchesses, Marchionesses - Susan Flintshire was a notable example, although she preferred to spend as little time with that woman as possible - and all manner of women whose positions and statuses eclipsed hers utterly. Even Sarah no longer looked at her with the awe she'd tried so hard to conceal in those first few months of employment, but this girl looked at Cora like she was the Queen herself and she was extremely happy to indulge her - and if her own ego was boosted by the conversation, well then that was only a bonus!
"Yes I am. And you must be...Julie?"
If it was possible, the other woman beamed all the more. To think that a countess knew her name! Sarah must have told her, and she'd remembered, and she was smiling so beautifully, like she might want to be her friend! That was unlikely of course – no countess would want to be friends with an O'Neill, least of all her – but Julie nodded eagerly all the same, and loosened her grip on her daughter lest she accidentally crush her.
"Julie O'Neill, m'lady; well, O'Brien now that I'm married to our George, but before that I was O'Neill-" Julie broke off, blushing and cursing her runaway mouth. George had always said she could talk for England if she wanted to, but this was a countess and she'd already make a bloody idiot of herself! "'m so glad to meet you, m'lady. Sarah's told us so much about you!"
"Has she? All good, I hope?"
"Oh yes, m'lady. She speaks of you so 'ighly, and when she does we can never get a word in edgewise!"
"I'll be sure to have a word with her about that."
"Oh no! I love 'earing about you, m'lady, an' your girls an' Downton Abbey. It all sounds like such a fairytale."
One thing it wasn't was a fairytale, but Julie O'Brien couldn't be expected to understand that. From the outside, Cora supposed her life did seem rather blessed, and in some ways it was. She had three beautiful girls she adored, financial stability, whether her fortune was her own now or not. And despite it all, she suspected Robert did still love her. But she didn't have Sarah, and her absence had left a hole in her heart she was determined to fill once again, and once Sarah knew she loved her, she would come back.
"Perhaps you'd like to visit Downton some day? I'd be happy to give you a tour myself."
"You...you would? Oh if only George was 'ere m'lady - he's always wanted to see Downton, an'—" she broke off. George had never said anything of the sort; he was a miserable git really but she was her miserable git, and even if he had wanted to visit Downton would he ever get the chance now?
Cora leaned forward and gently covered Julie's hand with hers, giving it a squeeze and Julie, a smile. She could only imagine the other woman's pain; at least Robert was exempt from the war and Sarah was right here, utterly safe in the company of her family. She had no sons to worry about, no brothers she might lose. The only man she had to worry about was Cousin Matthew, and – though it pained her to admit it – she would lose little sleep over his safety. But women like Julie O'Brien had everything to lose, and if a tour of Downton gave her even a minute of happiness, Cora was determined to make it happen.
"Of course! You've already made me feel so wonderfully at home here; the least I can do is reciprocate." She looked to the little girl in the other woman's eyes, peering up at her so curiously but full of patience she didn't remember any of her children possessing at such a tender age. She smiled softly. "And this must be Ivy?"
"Oh, yes!" Julie blushed at her own forgetfulness, but it wasn't every day one entertained a countess, and hoisted the girl up higher on her hip.
"I'd be happy to hold her for you," Cora offered gently. "I've had three girls of my own, and somehow I've managed to avoid dropping them."
"Are you...are you sure?"
"Of course! O'Brien is so terribly proud of her nephews and nieces and I am so pleased to be finally meeting one of them, and she's such a beautiful girl too."
Ivy giggled and Julie beamed in pride, and thrust the girl rather suddenly in Cora's arms. She steadied them quickly, adjusting Ivy in her arms – she was heavier than Sybil had been at her age, but her youngest had been a small child from birth, whereas Mary had been big and boisterous and utterly unlike the woman she had grown up to be. Mary was cool and calculated now, and she couldn't make heads or tails of her relationships with Matthew and Richard Carlisle, and Cora found herself hankering for her children when they were Ivy's age – utterly innocent and not running away with chauffeurs.
She smiled down at Ivy charmingly and brushed back a messy lock of fair hair. "Do you know something darling, your dress might be the prettiest dress I have ever seen…"
"I'm gaggin' for a pint," Sarah declared as they neared the house. After a long day at work, it was a welcome sight and she smirked at her fiancé happily.
"Now you're talkin'!" Mickey grinned. "Why don't we take Julie an' the kids and go out as a family for some food an' drinks? I think we've earned it, after all the bloody work we've done today!"
Sarah smirked and nodded in agreement but frowned instead as she heard voices as she came closer to the house. Her sister-in-law of course – she'd be able to hear Julie jabbering on a mile away – and Ivy, but there was another voice too, one she recognized but she hadn't ever expected to hear again, and never here. It was just as musical as before, as perfectly and charmingly odd as it always had been, but what the bloody hell was it doing here in bleedin' Scouthead?
She must be dreaming. She had fainted in the middle of the field and Mickey and her dad were trying to revive her now, because Cora fucking Crawley wouldn't come here in a million years and certainly not when she was covered in dirt and smelling like fucking cow muck!
Her stomach fluttered in anticipation as they drew closer to the back door, and she pointedly ignored Mickey's funny look. Whether he'd heard the new voice or not, he couldn't possibly know what she was thinking, how last night, even lying in his arms, she'd have given anything to hear her voice instead of his, but now she was contemplating running in the opposite direction. She wasn't ready for this, wasn't at all ready to see her sodding perfect face and remember all she had left behind a month ago. Her letters were torture enough, but to see Cora Crawley in person again, and in her own bloody home...
"Are we expectin' company?" Mickey asked quietly from behind her, and Sarah did her best not to meet his eyes. He was already suspicious, clever bastard, and she wouldn't have him privy to the kind of anguish Cora never failed to incite in her these days.
"Not s'far as I know," she shrugged as blithely as possible.
"But you do recognize 'er voice?"
Sarah tried not to scowl at his persistence. "I can't 'ear it well enough yet."
He'd be stupid to believe her though, and one thing Mickey wasn't was stupid. There was only one posh American that would ever have cause to come here, and the likelihood of it being anyone but Cora was small. But why did she have to come all the way out here with Mickey here with her?
She steeled herself as they walked in through the back doors and, just as she'd expected and even more beautiful than before, was the Countess of Grantham, with her bloody niece seated in her lap. Ivy loved her of course, all kids did, and Sarah couldn't help but smile, already as lost in her voice as her niece was, despite the hammering of her heart in her chest that she was sure Mickey must be able to hear. At the very least the blush on her cheeks was unmistakable.
But Mickey faded quickly into the background and she sucked in a breath as the other woman finally seemed to notice her presence. Her story – something about a silly princess meeting a queen for the first time and knocking over a priceless vase that she recognized as the time Cora had first arrived at Downton and met the Dowager Countess – halted immediately and Sarah did her best to smile warmly as her niece whined at the interrupting in the distance.
"Hello m'lady."
This was even more difficult than Cora could have ever imagined, and the sight of Sarah was even more glorious. She looked even more beautiful than she had remembered, with her hair a charming mess around her dirt-smudged face, and her clothes askew and covered in dust. She almost forgot to breathe at the sight of her, and her words stopped dry. She could hear Ivy protesting in the background and she absently stroked her hair to compensate for her abrupt end to the tale, but she didn't think she could keep going now if she tried. The only words she wanted to say were the three she had been practicing since she had left Downton, but she croaked out another two instead.
"Hello, O'Brien."
"Sarah, m'lady," she smiled with a gentle shake of her head. She had called her Sarah back at Downton and she had missed Cora's pronunciation desperately. "'m not O'Brien here."
Cora nodded in acknowledgement, smiling softly and full of warmth, and opened her mouth to respond before she spotted the man behind Sarah, the man sliding his hand onto her former maid's hip and squeezing gently. He was handsome, very handsome in a rather rugged sort of way, and smiling charmingly, ready to be introduced. Cora had been trained to hold out her hand and begin the introductions herself, but the awful reality of the caress struck Cora suddenly and she found it impossible to do anything but gape.
Sarah had moved on. No, she hadn't moved on, because she had never been hers in the first place! She had never been anything but her maid and a friend, and she'd had no right to come here, unannounced and prepared to spill her heart out like the fool she very clearly was...to expect Sarah to love her too. Good lord, she was so stupid.
She forced a smile as she grasped at her background in society to greet the man at Sarah's side, grateful to Julie as she gently took the girl from her lap, and pushed herself up to stand, willing the tears away. There was nothing she could do about the stabbing pain in her heart, but she couldn't let Sarah see her cry. The other woman might not love her, but she had a rather impressive knack for anticipating Cora's moods, and she had seen heartbreak on her face before. But never because of her.
"I don't think we've been introduced," she murmured softly. "I'm Cora Crawley."
Sarah shot Mickey a glare, nudging him faintly. "This is the Countess of Grantham, Mickey."
"Of course, m'lady." Mickey shook her hand immediately. "I thought so but I didn't want to embarrass both of us by bein' wrong. 'm Mickey Briggs, Sarah's fiancé."
Fiancé. How Cora managed to keep the pain from her face in that moment, she would never know, but she'd had rather a lot of practice lately with Robert.
"Fiancé!" Cora beamed. "Well, clearly congratulations are in order. I'm thrilled for you Sarah, although I suppose this means I can't tempt you back to Downton."
"Do you want me back?" Sarah blurted quickly. She saw Mickey glance at her in question out of the corner of her eye but focused her attention entirely on Cora.
Cora swallowed faintly and tears threatened to fall at just how badly she wanted Sarah back, but she had done so well so far and she had to keep going until she got out of this damn farm and back to the safety of Downton.
"Of course! But now you are engaged and I shall have to resign myself to your never coming back!" She smiled as cheerily as she could manage and looked between the two. "Have you set a date?"
"Are you alright, m'lady?" Sarah frowned suddenly.
"Fine!" Cora replied quickly, although it took all of her acting talent to do so. "Of course I'm fine, I'm so happy for you, I...I really just came to say hello, and I've done that and I've met your charming family and your charming fiancé and now I really must get back to Downton. If I stay any longer, Cousin Isobel will have taken over by the time I return!"
"You're leavin' now?"
There was a note of disappointment in Sarah's voice that made Cora freeze.
"You've only just got 'ere m'lady, and…well, I've missed you. There's plenty of room," she ignored her father's brief glance, "an' Mrs. Crawley won't take over if you're only gone a day. Mrs. Hughes wouldn't let it 'appen."
Cora forced a smile. Sarah didn't love her, but she supposed she cared for her and she felt another pang in her heart as she replied. "No, I don't suppose she would. She's become my closest ally really, but she's no substitute for you."
"Oh! This is my father, Mel O'Brien—"
"Melvyn O'Brien, thank you," Mel glared briefly at his daughter. He reached out to take Cora's hand, bowing over it and brushing his lips briefly over her knuckles. Sarah sniggered from behind him but had the good grace to stop after a swift elbow in the ribs from Mickey. "It's an honor to meet you, your ladyship. You're very welcome in my 'ome."
For the first time since she had seen Mickey squeeze Sarah's hip, Cora felt genuine warmth bubble up inside her chest at the gallantry of the old man and this time her smile was utterly real and beguiling. "Goodness, Sarah never told me you were quite this charming!"
"Sarah's never 'ad much in the way of good taste, my lady."
"Which is why she's marryin' me, I suppose," Mickey chimed in brightly, and fucking hell, Sarah wished he'd just shut up. She bit down on her irritation and turned her attention back to the Countess. "So you'll stay?" She offered Cora a tentative smirk. "I think you'll break dad's 'eart if you don't."
Sarah found herself watching Cora closely as they ascended up the stairs. Cora must think her a royal idiot if she expected her not to notice that something was so very clearly wrong. She'd spent fourteen bloody years with the woman, memorized every expression and learnt every change in mood, and the last time she had seen such misery on her face – or rather, misery she was trying desperately to keep to herself, silly cow – was in the aftermath of the miscarriage, at the garden party she herself remembered so distinctly for the pain that had battered her chest that day.
"This is very…cozy."
Sarah laughed, smirking to herself as she closed the door to her bedroom behind them and placed Cora's suitcase – her surprisingly small suitcase – on the floor beside the bed. Cozy was one word for it, she supposed, but she suspected bloody tiny was a better match. There was space for nothing much more than a single bed and a chest of drawers that contained everything she owned, which wasn't a lot as it happened, but it was certainly more than she'd had before she left. The only thing not stuffed desperately into those drawers was Cora's dress, the chocolate one she still couldn't think of as her own, no matter how long she'd had it. That was far too precious to be hidden away. It had been from her, hadn't it? The only thing she'd had left of her as it happened and she had no intention of burying it in darkness.
But now Cora was here, in her bloody childhood bedroom; she'd come all the way from Downton Abbey to see her and she wished she could give her more than an prehistoric bed that was a quarter of the size of her own.
"It's not much m'lady, smaller than my room back at Downton, but it's home," she said, smiling and doing her best not to show Cora just how sodding nervous she was.
"It's perfect, Sarah."
Cora smiled at the other woman over her shoulder. Here, shut away in Sarah's bedroom, she felt significantly more at home than she had downstairs, and she didn't doubt that had everything to do with his absence. It wasn't Mickey Briggs' fault though, and it was very chivalric of him to bow out and offer her the use of Sarah's bed, the bed they had presumably been sharing up until now.
"Are you alright, m'lady?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Only to me. You forget 'ow well I know you…if you don't mind me sayin'."
"Oh Sarah, we're not as Downton anymore and you're no longer my lady's maid. And for heaven's sake, call me Cora."
"You'll 'ave to give me some time on that one."
She sounded cross, and Sarah momentarily panicked she'd said something wrong. She had never seen Cora quite so tense before, so near to bloody cracking; she had said nothing in her letters about anything being wrong, but Sarah supposed something must be to shake the Countess this much. And she'd put money on it being to do with that great big bloody idiot of a husband of hers.
"D'you want to talk about it…Cora?" The name sounded foreign on her tongue but musical, like it always did in her head.
"Oh no, I wouldn't want to trouble you. You don't have to listen to all of my worries anymore, Sarah."
"Because I'm not your maid?" Sarah asked softly. "'m your friend though, an' I want to help, if I can."
Cora couldn't help but smile ruefully, hesitating before she sat down on the edge of the little bed – she was pleased to feel it was firm, not as thin and flimsy as she'd feared – and hugged her arms around her with a sigh. She couldn't tell Sarah the entire truth like she'd wanted to – she was engaged after all, and there was no place now for a former mistress who'd found herself in love with her – but there was some things she could tell her, things that had nothing to do with what it was she had really come here to do today.
"It's nothing you should concern yourself with. Just the war, the girls…Robert."
The name send a bolt of irritation through Sarah but she covered it rather bloody well and sat down next to the other woman; she wouldn't normally have the gall to be so familiar with Cora, but things had changed now and she'd called her lordship 'Robert' as she'd never done in her presence before. And maybe…taking her hand wasn't entirely out of the realms of possibility anymore? She'd seen her naked on a hundred sodding occasions after all – the memory of her body was even more torturous now than ever before – and so holding her hand when she needed comfort the most was hardly inappropriate, and so she did, reveling in the feel of their fingers entwining and skin and gloriously soft skin.
Sarah quirked up her lips in a tentative smirk. "I don't know if you should tell me. 'm not sure I could stop myself from racin' over to Downton and giving him what for."
"You'd do that?" Cora smirked fondly.
"Of course I would, darlin'," Sarah responded with immediacy and took her hand decisively. "I'd never let anyone hurt you."
Cora's heart fluttered and she ducked to head to hide her blush but the warmth in her heart soon turned to pain as she recalled the reason she was avoiding Robert in the first place.
"I'm not sure that he loves me anymore," she whispered. He certainly loved Jane, but she didn't want Sarah to know that yet.
"If that's true, then he's a bloody fool."
Sarah's words echoed those she had spoken at Downton Abbey, and Cora wholeheartedly agreed, but hadn't she driven Robert away? Wasn't it her fault? Besides, "I'm not sure that I love him anymore. At least not like I did."
She smiled weakly, and Sarah's brow creased in confusion. She couldn't remember a time when the Countess hadn't been so in love with his lordship it made her sick, but perhaps it was true what everybody said about the war changing people. If Cora could fall out of love with Lord Grantham then anything was possible.
Not anything, she thought, shivering as Cora's thumb drifted over her knuckles. Not the one bloody thing I want most.
"You know you can stay 'ere for as long as you like, don't you?"
Cora forced a smile. Her heart felt immeasurably light at the statement but heavy too, weighted down by the reality of Sarah's engagement and the impossibility of what she wanted most of all. She'd fallen out of love with a man and fallen in love with a woman, and she had subsequently fallen in love with somebody else practically the minute she'd left her. It was all so horribly laughable really; if only it was a joke.
"I couldn't deprive Mickey of your company for too long," she murmured with all the warmth she could muster. "I've already ousted him from your bed."
"I'm so glad you're 'ere, m'lady," Sarah responded bluntly. She didn't ever want Cora thinking anything of the sort, even if she could never know how readily she really would oust Mickey from her bed for her lady. "Please don't ever question my wantin' you 'ere. You could stay forever if you wanted it."
Cora took in a deep breath. It was terribly sweet of Sarah to say so, but of course it wasn't true and it was a fantasy. She quickly changed the subject.
"Did Thomas tell you Sybil is in love with the chauffeur?"
"With Branson?"
"Mmhmm," Cora smiled ruefully. If nothing else, gossip had always cheered her up. "She very nearly eloped; thank the lord Edith and Mary had the good sense to bring her back. They were on their way to Gretna Green!"
Sarah smirked. "I can't imagine 'is lordship liked that much."
"No," Cora conceded. "But then everything is changing, O'Brien – the world, and all the people in it. I hardly recognize Robert anymore…I hardly recognize myself."
"You 'aven't changed a bit m'lady," Sarah murmured softly, meeting her eyes. "Not to me."
"You have," Cora replied, smiling at the momentary flash of confusion on the other woman's face. "Oh, not in a bad way, don't worry. You're…softer somehow. Lighter. No doubt it's Mickey—"
"It's not." Sarah nearly blushed at the swiftness of her response, but she saw something in Cora's eyes that was only there for a second, but there all the same, that spurred her on and she squeezed her hand gently. "'e makes me smile, but 'e doesn't make me feel 'alf at home as I did—"
"Sarah!"
"Dad," Sarah explained remorsefully. "No doubt 'e's rustled up some lunch for you." She smiled as best she could despite the pounding of her heart; whatever had been in Cora's eyes was gone now, but she surely hadn't mistaken it. She could read her every mood like the page of a book, and for a moment there had been relief, and maybe even a little hope. "'e thinks you're too skinny an' frankly so do I."
Cora's lips curled into a small smirk. "Anna doesn't do things quite the way you do. Forgive me for being difficult, but I've grown rather fond of my napkins being folded into flowers."
"You mean she doesn't do that for you?" Sarah assumed an expression of faux-outrage.
Cora giggled. "Lord knows what they're teaching lady's maids these days. She can hardly find the things I ask her to fetch."
Sarah pretended to shake her head in disgust. "Now that's just shockin'."
Cora grinned. She had almost forgotten just how funny Sarah was, but the amusement soon vanished and she looked down to their tightly clasped hands in a moment of doubt.
"Did I ask too much of you, Sarah?"
Sarah's brow creased. Where the bloody hell had she got an idea like that? "Nothin' I wouldn't do for you in a heartbeat, m'lady."
"Sarah Jane O'Brien!"
Cora breathed in quietly in an effort to stem the flow of emotion to her chest and forced a smile. She couldn't imagine sitting through dinner with this woman and her fiancé but she had become something of a remarkable actress over three decades and she would do precisely that now; act.
"I think your father's beginning to lose his patience, and lady's don't keep gentlemen waiting." She forced a teasing smile. "Shall we…Sarah Jane?"
As much as Cora so desperately wanted to hate Mickey, she couldn't help but like him. She had never laughed so much during dinner, had never enjoyed the company of strangers more. The O'Brien's quickly proved themselves splendid hosts and Julie, bless her, had insisted upon serving dinner as if she were a footman, practically stumbling over herself just to make Cora happy, and what she had been so sure would be a thoroughly miserable evening had so far been nothing short of wonderful. Of course it had helped that Sarah had sat next to her rather than her fiancé, and that the table had been so much smaller and narrower than the one at Downton that she'd spent the entirety of the meal with her thigh pressed splendidly against hers, and despite the pain still lingering in her heart she found herself relaxing with Sarah and falling immediately back into the ease of the relationship they had enjoyed before.
"She can pour 'erself a drink, y'know Julie."
Julie flushed. "I won't 'ear of it – a Countess serving 'erself? Not in this house! Not when I'm 'ere!"
"Dear Julie, I wish you'd call me Cora." Cora reached the pat the other woman's hand soothingly and with her most charming smile. "I feel I've already made a true friend in you."
Sarah smirked to herself. It never failed to amaze her how quickly Cora could wrap someone around her finger, even when she wasn't bloody trying, and if it made her sister-in-law – her favorite sister-in-law – happy then why not? Besides, she was no better herself for falling for Cora's charms, in fact she was probably the worst of them all because there wasn't a sodding thing she wouldn't do for her.
"Sit down, Julie. You'll give us all indigestion movin' around so much."
Cora chuckled quietly. "Come sit down next to me, Julie. I think its high time Sarah did something, don't you?"
Sarah arched her brow, doing her best to suppress the grin that was fighting to break free. "Oh really, m'lady? An' here I was thinkin' I didn't work for you anymore."
Cora giggled. She leaned in closer, mirroring Sarah's expression and propped her chin up on the table. "Did you really think I would let you off that easily, dear O'Brien?"
"As if," Sarah smirked. "I might as well 'ave signed a contract in blood when you first took me on if you're bossin' me around in my own house!"
"I apologize," Cora drawled, quirking her eyebrow. Her eyes flickered almost unconsciously to Sarah's lips and she fought the urge to close the distance between them. "I'm used to getting precisely what I want, I'm afraid."
Across the table, Mickey shifted uncomfortably. Jesus, the air was practically electric and he felt his heart begin to sink in response. "Won't Lord Grantham miss you, your ladyship?"
Cora started, pulling back from the table and smiled with all the warmth she could muster for the man whose fiancée she had been rather shamelessly flirting with for the majority of dinner, but felt none of the guilt she really should. "He has rather a lot on his plate with the hospital, and his heir's engagement."
"Mr. Matthew is engaged?" Sarah asked curiously.
"Not to Mary, I'm afraid, but I can't help but like the girl. Her name is Lavinia."
"Oh, that's such a beautiful name! I'd love to call a daughter that—"
"An' so you should," Mel interjected from the corner. He spared a small smile for the daughter-in-law who had been so brave for so long. "When George gets back I expect two more grandkids at least. We need to fill this 'ouse up again so it's fit to burst."
Cora smiled. "And you can bring them all to Downton, of course. Little Lavinia must meet her namesake after all, and she's the future Countess of Grantham."
"Fancy that!" Julie breathed in nothing short of wonderment. "My little girl named for a Countess!"
Sarah arched a brow as she cradled her pint glass, chancing a glance to the woman at her side. "If that's what you want, you'd be better callin' her Cora."
"Nonsense Sarah; that is the last thing Julie should do."
"An' why not?" Sarah challenged warmly. "Cora is a beautiful name an' my future niece couldn't 'ave a better namesake than you."
Mickey fought the urge to close his eyes in misery at the unadulterated love in Sarah's voice, and knew then there would be no winning her back. She had been lost to him from the start. "Does anyone want dessert?"
Cora looked reluctantly away from the woman grinning at her side to shake her head. "I'm not sure I could eat another bite, Mickey, but thank you."
"Me either," Sarah said, with almost indecent haste as she pushed away her plate and focused entirely upon her lady. "'ow about I show you to your room?"
