April 1913

It was a beautiful day. That was the first thought Robert had upon waking. The maid had come in to light the fires and pull back the curtains and let in the sunlight to wake the Earl and Countess of Grantham. The both of them mumbled and shifted at being woken.

Robert waited until the maid had left before he rolled over to see Cora. She was curled up towards him—away from the window—and he could see the sunlight on her shining dark hair. It was bright already. A rare sunny spring day in Yorkshire. Beautiful.

Also beautiful was his darling wife. He reached out and gently stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers. She hummed and smiled at his touch. "Good morning, darling," she mumbled hoarsely as she blinked her eyes open.

It struck him that perhaps he loved her best just like this. Eyes sparkling as she smiled, everything warm and soft and slow as they first woke. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Good morning, my dearest. It looks to be a nice day outside."

Cora liked hearing that. She liked having Robert be beside her in bed, having him talk in that low, sultry voice of his. He probably did not intend it to be sultry, but she always felt he could seduce her with nothing but the sound of his voice if he wanted to. But she liked even better that he was close, that he kissed and caressed her so sweetly. There were so many times over the years when the world outside her bedroom was full of complications and worries. None of that existed here with Robert beside her.

But the magic of their first waking had to end. Robert kissed her once more and got up. Cora stretched herself out across the empty bed. He watched her flex her arms and back and make little noises, reminding him of a contented cat with her lithe limbs and satisfied little smile. She made her way out of bed and into her dressing gown to call for O'Brien to bring her breakfast on the tray. Robert made his way to his dressing room to call Bates to dress him for the day.

As was usual, Robert went down to breakfast by himself. He was the first to arrive, and he took some time to kneel down and give Isis some affection. She was just barely fully grown. Losing Pharoah had been difficult, as was always the case when he had to say goodbye to a dog, but this sweet Labrador puppy had cheered him immensely. And she was very smart and easily trained. She sat beside his chair during breakfast and followed at heel all around the house and the grounds.

"Good morning, My Lord," Carson greeted.

Robert smiled at the butler, standing up from petting the dog. "Good morning, Carson. I think I'd like the car this afternoon, if the weather stays nice. I have some meetings in the morning with Jarvis, but if you could please inform Mrs. Patmore that I would like to take Lady Grantham out for a picnic today."

"I shall ensure Mrs. Patmore has a picnic luncheon ready for you, My Lord, and that Branson is ready with the car," Carson answered with a nod.

After serving himself breakfast and sitting down, William came to pour the tea. Thomas brought the newspapers. Soon thereafter, the girls came to join him.

Edith took a place on his left, Mary on his right, and Sybil over next to Edith. Other than Robert at the head of the table, there were not usual seats for anyone at breakfast. Mary tended to sit right beside him. Sybil and Edith were less regular with how close they wanted to sit to him or, more likely, how close they wanted to sit to their eldest sister.

"Anything interesting in the paper this morning?" Mary asked.

Robert hadn't gotten to anything yet, but a headline halfway down the page he happened to be looking at caught his eye. "It seems the new Baron Bolton has arrived in England."

"What do we know about him?" Edith asked.

"Not much, I'm afraid," Robert answered, skimming the article. Nothing of note other than the baron's arrival. He looked up to speak directly to his daughter. "Just what everyone else knows. He's a somewhat distant relation from Australia, if you can believe such a thing. He has a wife who's arrived with him."

Mary's brow raised in disdain. "Australia? My my, I wonder how they'll adjust to the life of a baron."

"I'm sure we shall see soon enough," Robert answered.

Sybil leaned forward to ask, "Papa, may we host a ball to welcome them?"

"Talk to your mama about that, Sybil. I should think that we can invite them to dinner first. They'll be making the rounds of the county, of course, and we don't want to overtax them. And besides, we will be going to London for the season before you know it."

Mary cheered at that statement, though Edith and Sybil visibly soured. Well, Edith soured. Sybil never had a sour expression. She just looked a bit disheartened. Robert didn't blame them. Mary was a beautiful young girl, and she had been very popular in London with invitations in the last three years since she had been presented. Edith had been presented two seasons ago, and she had not been nearly as popular as her elder sister. Edith tended to get lost in the shuffle, though she did very little to try and prevent it. Mary ensured that people took notice of her. And Sybil would not be presented until next year, so she was not permitted to partake in all of the events in London just yet. The youngest Crawley girl was one who did not like to be left out in the least.

Meanwhile, Cora finished her breakfast in bed and called for O'Brien to help her dress. Robert had been correct, it was a beautiful day outside. She was eager to go out to the grounds and take a walk with her husband. She might take a book outside in the afternoon, if it did not get too warm. Cousin Isobel was coming for tea for something or other—probably to complain about Mama and their rivalry over things at the hospital—but there was plenty of time in the day before that for Cora to enjoy the pleasant weather.

Much to her surprise, Robert came into the room while O'Brien was fixing her hair. "Hello, darling," she greeted happily to him through the mirror. "I was just getting ready to come down and meet you for a walk."

"I'm afraid I can't today. I'm meeting Jarvis to look over some of the cottages and their renovations. But I was hoping you might be free this afternoon for a drive. I thought we might have a picnic together for luncheon."

"Just you and I?" she asked excitedly.

"I thought so, yes. I didn't ask the girls if they were busy, but Mary mentioned wanting to go riding, and Sybil has one of her charities later this afternoon," Robert said.

"A picnic just the two of us sounds wonderful," Cora agreed. "Isobel is coming for tea later, but we'll be back in plenty of time."

He nodded in agreement. "Good. I'll have Carson choose a nice wine for us."

"Is there a celebration I don't know about?" she asked, surprised he wanted to have wine at lunch and a nice one at that.

Robert smiled. "I should think that any opportunity for us to be together calls for some celebration."

Cora felt as though her heart might beat right out of her chest.

"I also wanted to warn you that Sybil might be asking you if we can host a ball sometime soon."

She frowned. "Oh?"

"The new Baron Bolton and his wife arrived in England today. I thought having them for dinner would be a good start to welcome them to the county, but Sybil thought we ought to host a ball."

Cora chuckled. Of course Sybil wanted them to host a ball. Her youngest daughter loved a party. "These are the Australians?" Cora asked Robert.

"They are. So probably best to test them out at dinner first before we parade them in front of the whole county."

She quite agreed with him on that.

"And now I'm afraid I must go, but I'll see you later," Robert told her as he left the bedroom once more.

O'Brien then finished pinning Cora's hair. "All finished, My Lady."

"Thank you, O'Brien."

"Shall I prepare a different frock for your picnic outing?"

"No, I think this one will be fine," Cora answered. "Though perhaps have one ready for tea, in case this one gets dirty during the picnic. I don't like the idea of having to change before Isobel arrives, but it might not be able to be helped." Cora did not say it out loud, but she knew very well that there was quite a good chance that she would have to change after the picnic. If she and Robert were going to be alone in some secluded area, she imagined that she might get a bit messy. There had been such occasions in the past where her hair had gotten quite untidy from his hands in it or from it rubbing against the grass when Robert laid her down to kiss her passionately. On two such occasions, she had gotten wine spilled on her skirt when Robert had knocked over the bottle while making love to her in the shade of an oak tree. She had no idea if that would be the case today, but she did like to be prepared anyway.

She stood up from her dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror. She thought she looked quite fine, actually. Cora glanced out the window to the bright blue sky. It was certainly going to be a beautiful day.