Cora was happy it was finally February; the holidays had been incredibly busy. On Christmas Eve, Robert had taken her out for dinner, without the children. He made sure every year they celebrated the proposal. Christmas day going for a brunch with Rosamund and Marmaduke, then having dinner at Violet's with everybody.
On boxing day, they had lunch at Harold's and went on for dinner at her mother's place.
New Year's Eve, they had gone to Harold's home. He lived in a similar penthouse as Robert did and had the best view over the city, to see the fireworks. New Year's day was again filled with visiting Robert's family.
Edith hadn't noticed the busy days she was too little, but Mary was very aware what was happening and was overwhelmed by all the presents and being away from home.
Weeks after she was still unruly, (she) didn't want to do anything when Edith was in the room. Cora had a hard time managing her tantrums, but some days, she was the sweetest child on earth, and Cora could cuddle her all day. It didn't help that Robert was barely at home.
'Abbey Advertisements' was in busy times again. They got a lot of new clients, and new offices to open. The one they were working on right now was in Lisbon. Robert had hired new staff in his London office but was still not able to let go. He wanted to be at every opening of the office. Lisbon would open the beginning of March.
"Darling." Robert said when Cora picked up the phone. "I won't be home for dinner tonight, I will order food. Don't stay up for me, I don't know when I will be home." He had only heard Cora sigh on the other side of the line, before she hung up.
He knew she wanted him home more, but he was the CEO and that meant a lot of responsibility. Violet had told him, he needed to pay more attention to his work. The last year, he mainly focused on his family and the remodelling of their home.
But he was back on track. He attracted new customers inside the UK and outside. The new office in Lisbon was a big step, he also had offers to go to America with his company, he wasn't sure about that step. He wanted his imperium build in Europe first.
It was 12 o'clock when he woke up in his chair. He must had fallen asleep, his laptop was showing a screensaver, the rest of the building was quiet. He saw 3 missed calls and a text from Cora. "I hope to see you tonight, Mary gaveyoua kiss goodnight, she misses you and so do I."
He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms and legs, he felt stiff. Closed his laptop and drove home. The city was never quiet, but once he arrived in Richmond it was deserted. He parked the car in the garage, took out the trashcan and walked up to the house. Cora had left the light on in the hallway. He checked on Mary and Edith, both fast asleep. He crawled in bed next to his sleeping wife, she turned and nestled into him.
Cora woke up to an empty bed, she could had sworn, she felt him last night. She wrapped herself in her robe and got down. The house was quiet, on the kitchen counter Robert left her a note. "Good morning, I am at the office, I will try to be back home before dinner."
Her shoulders sagged; Robert was so caught up in his work again. He hadn't seen the girls for four days in a row now.
Mary had woken up and through the baby phone she heard. "Daddy." Her heart sunk.
"Mama is here darling," Cora said when entering her room. She was a little bit out of breath, she wasn't quite used to the two flights of stairs yet.
"No, daddy," Mary cried. Cora picked her up and gave her a snuggle. "Daddy will be home soon, sweetie. Do you want to take a bath?" Cora knew her words were an empty promise. Cora hoped Edith would stay asleep, so she could give Mary her full attention.
Rosamund entered the office and saw Robert at his desk. "You've changed your clothes, so I can see you went home, but that must have been a short visit. When I left at eight, you were still here?"
"I have slept at home for a few hours. I need to finish these bookings and the contractor needed an answer today. We need that office to open as soon as possible, this way it is costing us money."
"When do you think the office will open?" Rosamund asked.
"Second week of March, and it looks like that's going to work out. I will go there, and Cora can take the pictures."
Rosamund gave him a puzzled look. "Are you sure about that date? And that Cora is coming?"
"Why wouldn't she? She still is our first photographer? I don't want to bring one of the other ones. Cora is the best, you know that. We will hire a nanny for that week."
"Take a look at that date again." Rosamund said.
"We will be back the day before Mary's birthday. I don't see the problem."
"Maybe you need to discuss this with Cora first. Before booking this."
"It is already booked; it will only be cancelled when the contractor will find problems with the building. I just booked the Royal suite in the 'Verride Palácio Santa Catarina'.
"Make sure you are home before dinner tonight, so you can discuss this with Cora." Rosamund insisted.
Edith was in her baby carrier; she was fussing since she woke up this morning. Mary played on the kitchen floor with her toys. Managing to be in Cora's way the whole time. Mary's mood changed the moment Edith had woken up. She was hanging on Cora and tried pushing Edith away, when Cora sat or laid her down, so the best place was in the carrier. This way Cora had her hands free, Edith was close to her and Mary didn't have a chance to push her over. Cora was setting the table, dinner was almost ready. She had texted Robert earlier, he hadn't responded, she just hoped he would show up.
She put down glasses and a pitcher of water on the edge of the table and turned around to look at the stove. She heard a loud noise and Mary started crying instantly.
The pitcher was in 1000 pieces on the ground. Mary had managed to reach for the handle and pulled the pitcher off the table.
"Are you ok? Oh darling, that was scary." She brushed the water of Mary's face, grabbed a towel and dried her hair. Mary's body was shaking, from the shock. Cora couldn't tell if the pitcher hit her, or that it was just the water. "Come we will change your clothes for dry ones."
Cora took Edith out of the carrier and laid her in the playpen and put Mary on her hip. Now Edith was crying too, but Mary needed dry clothes.
Robert opened the door and was welcomed to a choir of cries and the smell of something burning. He found Edith all worked up in her play pen. He saw that the potatoes were burnt, took the pan from the stove and turned down the heat of the other burners. He almost slipped on the puddle of water. He picked up Edith and tried to calm her down. "Where is your mummy, darling." He rocked her body and she settled down.
From upstairs he heard the voices of Mary and Cora. He ran upstairs and found them in Mary's room. Mary standing there in just her underwear and Cora trying to put on her clothes.
"What happened? There is water on the floor, a broken pitcher and the food is burnt."
Cora just gave him a look with her eyes full of fire.
"Daddy." Mary exclaimed and ran towards him, leaving Cora hanging with her shirt in the air.
"Look who we have here, the lost dad." Cora said sarcastically.
Robert cuddled Mary, soaking up her smell. "Cora it is busy at the office, you know that. Lisbon is almost opening, in two weeks we will go there."
"We? Wait, you really mean we? When will we be back?" Cora frowned
"We will leave on the 16th and will be back on the 21st of March. I need you there with me. You are our best photographer and I just need you next to me."
"You are kidding me right now, please say you are joking?" She raised her eyebrows.
Robert stuttered: "I, I just booked the hotel. Why? What's wrong? We will be back home on Mary's birthday."
"So, you don't think I need to prepare for her birthday. Who will do the grocery shopping? And decorations of the house?"
"We can order the groceries. And we can ask Maja to decorate?"
"You haven't thought this through, did you? Work was more important than family." Cora pulled down Mary's shirt over her head and pulled up her pants. "I am going downstairs to clean up and fix something for dinner, as it is ruined. These girls need to be fed." She stormed out of the room, leaving a stunned Robert behind.
Cora was at the brink of tears cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. She saved some of the vegetables, threw chicken nuggets in the oven so Mary would have something to eat. For herself and Robert she made buttered toast. Edith could drink a bottle of milk tonight and have some bites of her toast.
She heard Robert walk into the kitchen. He put Mary and Edith in their highchairs. Cora brushed him aside and gave Edith her bottle and helped Mary with her dinner. "Your toast is on the counter." She said.
Once the girls were finished eating, she took them to bed. Mary was protesting, she wanted daddy. "Robert, you need to put Mary in bed." She called out. After tucking in Edith, she cleaned the kitchen and sat down on the couch with a book. She knew she wasn't going to read a word but didn't want to talk with Robert.
Robert sat down next to her. "Can we please talk about this."
"What is there to talk about? You already booked the hotel?"
"Darling, I didn't think this would be a problem. We are back home in time for her birthday, aren't we. Rosamund wants to watch the children."
Cora turned around and looked him in the eyes. "I know how important your work is for you, but you aren't coming home for four days in a row. And now you are booking a hotel, without asking me?"
"I slept at home. And you liked it before when I booked hotels and surprised you with it."
"That was before we had children." Cora sighed "Our girls need you at home, I need you at home. The days you are coming home, you are very late or leave very early, you don't see the girls awake a lot."
"Darling, you need to understand, how important this office in Lisbon is. I can't work less at the moment." He touched Cora's hand.
She jerked away, "Maybe you can put down a bed at your office. Good night." She got up and stormed to their bedroom.