"Oh, this is absurd!" Cora heard Robert exclaim as she approached his dressing room. His sedative had warn off and, while he had his wits about him again, he was also in pain, hungry, and cranky. He had missed both luncheon and dinner and knew he that feeding himself would be a tricky business with only the use of his left hand, but that wasn't his biggest concern. "Do you mean I have to live alone for six weeks?"
"Not at all," Dr. Lenox replied. "You just can't share your wife's bed. No intercourse for six weeks and you should probably sleep apart for at least two weeks, if that isn't already your usual procedure, until I've examined you again to see how you're healing. "
Cora stopped in front of her husband's dressing room. She didn't think this was the time to go wandering in. As she stood waiting for the topic of conversation to change, she found herself paying closer and closer attention. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on her husband's private discussion with his physician, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Six weeks without the physical aspect of their marriage seemed not to sit well with him. After the night they'd shared a few evenings before, she thought it might be difficult for her to bear as well.
"How is exile suppose to promote my healing?" As Robert complained, Cora heard footsteps coming down the hall. She wasn't ready to enter the conversation so she quickly and quietly slipped into her dressing room and stayed silent as she crouched by the door that connected her room to her husband's. She heard Lord Richard enter his son's room and listened as the three men discussed Robert's new sleeping arrangements at length. " I can't sleep in here any more. I just lie awake. I don't know what it is about this bed, Father, but it's too cold no matter how many blankets I use. It isn't comfortable. Cora's bed is very comfortable." He paused and tried to keep thoughts of a nightgown-clad Cora out of his mind. "Warm. Soft. Inviting."
"Are you still referring to the bed, my boy, or the lady that shares it with you?" Richard asked with a smirk.
"Papa!" Robert grumbled and proceeded to go on about the sheer inadequacy of these solo sleeping arrangements until his father finally lost patience with him, which was a very rare occurrence indeed.
"Both mattresses are the same make, from the same company, and were both purchased at the same time just prior to your marriage," Richard rumbled as his voice got increasingly louder. "The only difference between the two is the lace edging on the linens for the bed next door and the fact that when you get into the one on the other side of this wall, Cora is there beside you. Have you given even a moment's thought to whether it's your wife's embrace and not just her bed you'll be missing? Maybe this hiatus will make you appreciate what you have in her."
"Now isn't the time for this, Papa," Robert said coldly as Dr. Lenox cleared his throat. Cora was stunned. She was too engrossed in what she was hearing to even feel guilty about eavesdropping any more. She waited breathlessly for the talk to resume.
"I'll leave you now," Richard said. "Keep what I said in mind. We'll continue our discussion later." Cora heard her husband's dressing room door open.
"Papa," Robert called, "if you see Cora, could you ask her to come up here? Tell her…" Cora held her breath. "Tell her I need her."
"You need her, Robert?" Richard repeated in surprise.
"Yes, I actually might need her more than I first thought." Robert replied more to himself than anyone else as his thoughts became more focused on Cora and the nature of his need for her.
"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that," Richard said.
"Wait, don't tell her that last part!" Robert called realizing what he'd said and what he'd very nearly said.
"Of course, my boy." Richard said. "You'll have to tell her that in your way."
Cora heard the door to her husband's dressing room close and her father-in-law's footsteps going down the hall. Her heart was soaring and she couldn't stop smiling. Tears of joy ran down her face as she sat on the floor by the door to her husband's dressing room. She gave herself a few minutes to bask in the glow of knowing she was something more to her husband than the fine print in a contract. She didn't know what she was to him, but he needed her now and, for the time being, that would do. She went to her dressing table to check her hair and put on a touch of perfume before she went downstairs to be "found" by her father-in-law.
A/N - It's about time Cora has something to smile about, isn't it?