I think that there will be one more chapter after this. Thank you all for your continued engagement and support!
It was cold that morning, the chill in the air better suited to late January than early November. Cora shivered as she watched the first hint of dawn push through the drapes. She snuggled closer to Robert, her naked body pressed against his. They had fallen asleep last night long before either of them had any thought of redressing. Robert radiated heat, the way he always did, and did not stir as she nudged her freezing toes between his calves. She was glad to feel the steady puff of his breath against her hair; he deserved a restful sleep on his last night home.
They had known for some time that a war in Africa was forthcoming. The news they heard of the Boers set Cora's teeth on edge, if only because she knew what it meant for her family. There had never been any debate as to whether Robert would fight, merely a question of when. He was young and fit, the Earl and Lord-lieutenant. And so today, barely a month after the Boers declared war on Britain, he would board a train to begin the journey that would take him thousands of miles away from her.
Cora's chest tightened painfully whenever she tried to imagine what it would be like without him. She thought of the girls. They had celebrated Edith's seventh birthday just two weeks prior. Robert would surely miss Mary turning nine, but Cora allowed herself to hope that he would be home in time for Sybil's birthday. It was foolish to think that the war would end so quickly, yet her heart sank at the thought of explaining to their youngest why Papa was not there to watch her blow out the candles on her cake.
But now was not the time for such thoughts, she scolded herself. Now Robert was in bed beside her, breathing softly and holding her in his sleep. She did not care to think about how long it would be before he was with her like this again. A glance at the clock on his nightstand told her that they had better than an hour before they needed to start their day, and so she tried to quiet her mind and settle into Robert's embrace.
This was a short-lived endeavor, for soon Robert began to stir. He murmured quietly, scratching at his nose. Cora craned her neck when she felt him fidget against her, resting her chin on his chest to watch his eyelids flutter open.
"Cor?" He blinked slowly, his eyes still heavy with sleep. She loved him like this.
Sliding her hand across his stomach, Cora kept her voice low. "Go back to sleep. It isn't time to wake up yet."
"Can't sleep," he murmured. "You're thinking too loudly."
"I'm sorry, darling. I can go lie in the dressing room if I'm disturbing you."
"No. Tell me what you're thinking." His hand was firm at the small of her back, holding her in place.
Cora hesitated. She wasn't about to spoil their last few hours together with tearful rambling, but she wouldn't hide her thoughts from him either; a decade of marriage had afforded them far more ease than that. She settled for a fraction of the truth. "I'm thinking that I have my work cut out for me while you're away, managing the estate and your mother."
Robert wheezed a surprised laugh. "I'm not sure that Mama can be managed, but if anyone's up to the challenge it's you, my darling."
"I'm quite sure that I'll have her whipped into shape by the time you come home," Cora teased, scratching lightly at his side.
"And here I thought I was the one going into battle."
Their laughter faded a bit more quickly than it might have otherwise. The air between them grew heavy, though it was not an unwelcome change. His hand was on her back again, lazily stroking her spine.
"I'm thinking that I'm going to miss you very much," Robert said softly. Cora felt her throat constrict and she pressed her lips to his bare chest, reminding herself that he was still solid beside her. "I love you, Cora. If anything should happen to me, you have to know how much I love you."
His words sent her into a panic. She could not hear him speak like that, could not even entertain the possibility of the future he was suggesting. Pushing herself up, she swung a leg over his waist so that she straddled him. She braced her hands on either side of his head and lowered herself until her dark curls fell around them like a curtain. "I love you too, Robert, but I need you to come home. Do you understand me?"
Robert nodded, the movement bumping their noses together. He studied her face intently at this close range and she knew he was trying to memorize her, just as she had tried to catalogue every inch of him from the moment they received his summons. His smile was sad as he stared up at her, but somehow it calmed the savage ache in her chest. He had a way of doing that for her. She opened her mouth to speak but then he was kissing her, rolling and taking her with him as his arms wrapped around her waist.
It was better this way, she thought, to say goodbye with their bodies rather than their words. There would be months and months of words, letters with as many pages as they could possibly cram into an envelope. But there was only now to feel the thumping of his heart beneath her palm, the press of his skin against hers. Cora felt suddenly desperate for him to have her, the raw, visceral her that was his alone. Then his lips were at her throat and her anxious thoughts slid away until there was no world beyond their bedroom, only the sacred, glorious limbo of Robert's arms around her in the early morning light.