A few weeks later.

Cora woke up because of Ava, who was crying. Carefully she stepped out of bed. Robert didn't wake up. She was amazed how he could sleep through it. Cora walked into Ava's room and when she noticed Cora, she started crying even harder.

"Sssst, it is alright. Are you hungry darling?" Cora picked her up and latched her on her breast. Ava settled down immediately and started drinking. She sat down in the rocking chair and started singing a song.

Swing low, sweet chariot,

coming for to carry me home.

Swing low, sweet chariot,

coming for to carry me home.

Cora knew the affect her voice had on Ava, she loved singing. When she was living with Daniel, she was scared to use her voice, but with Robert everything was different. She could be who she really was. One day she was in her atelier, softly singing when Robert entered. She stopped abruptly and felt ashamed. But Robert had encouraged her to go on. Cora was singing Dance with me from Beabadoobee.

Robert had taken her paintbrush out of her hand and took her hand to dance. His hand rested on her lower back, pulling her close. "I love your singing voice, and I really like you too." Answering on the lyrics she was singing. They slowly moved around the atelier. Cora never had felt safer than that moment and she knew Robert was the right man for her.

Ava had stopped drinking and had fallen back to sleep, Cora laid her down and got back to bed. She crawled closer to Robert and buried her face in his neck. Sleepily he wrapped his arm around her. "I love you." Cora said very softly, Robert made a low sound.


"Cora! Can you please do something about that crying?" Robert walked into the kitchen. Where Cora had Ava in her wrap carrier, close to her body, rocking her around.

"Darling, don't cry, sssttt, don't cry." She murmured to Ava. Cora looked up to Robert. "What's wrong, you don't look good?" She stepped towards Robert and touched his forehead. "You are burning up!"

"I am alright, but please do something about Ava. I have a headache and this doesn't help."

Cora gave him a concerned look. "I don't know what is wrong with her, she isn't hungry, I just cleaned her. I will give her a warm bath. Are you sure you are alright? You do sound strange."

Robert tried to hide a cough, but failed miserably. "I can't hide it from you, so no, I am not alright, I feel rather sick." He started coughing again.

"Oh dear, please go to bed, hopefully it is just a cold."

Robert wanted to protest, but saw his wife's face and knew better. Cora made a warm bath for Ava, and that seemed to settle her down. She finally stopped crying.Hopefully, she isn't getting sick as well.Cora thought to herself. She put her into her crib and Cora went to check on Robert. He was awake and Cora saw his body shaking from the suppressed coughing.

"Darling, how long have you been hiding this cough for me?"

It took a while before Robert could answer. "A couple of days, I didn't want to worry you."

Cora put a cold wet cloth on his head. "You donk, please don't do that again. I will make an appointment with the doctor for tomorrow, your cough sounds horrible, and I don't like it that your temperature is this high."

"No, don't. I will take my rest and I will be fine, this is just a cold." He touched Cora's cheek. "I promise, I will be alright."


Robert had indeed not gotten worse. He was still coughing, but his temperature had gone done. Cora made sure he got enough fluids. Both were scared Ava would catch the same cold, but she stayed her happy little self.

Cora sat on the settee with Ava. "I can't thank you enough for bringing my girls to London, when this little one was born." She caressed Ava's back. "It was so special to have them with me right after the birth."

"Darling, I know how hard it is, that you are not with your girls. So, whenever I can, I will make sure you meet up.

Cora got up, still holding Ava in her arms, and walked over to Robert. She bent down to kiss him. He wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close. Cora almost lost her balance. "Be careful." She chuckled.

She put Ava down on Robert's chest and got next to Robert in bed. Wrapping her arm over Ava and Robert. "We have our own perfect world here, I am happy I came back to you."

Robert's hand was playing with Cora's curls. "To bad you needed 24 years to realise it." When he saw the look in Cora's eyes, he kissed her. "But you are here now, and that's important." He pulled her closer. His hand moved to her hip. "Would you be up for a second one?"

Cora got up a little. "Robert! Ava is just 6 months, and don't you think we are getting too old? You are turning 45 in a couple of weeks. And I am 43. I love you very much, but you are asking too much."

"Maybe you are right." He squeezed her hip. "But you are beautiful pregnant."

Cora gave him a puzzled look. "You are saying, now I am not?"

Robert hadn't realised what he said until Cora said that. "Oh my, no, I didn't mean it that way. Dear Cora, you are beautiful. The most beautiful woman I ever laid my eyes on. You just had a special glow over you when you were pregnant."

Cora chuckled. "I was only joking. Come, I will take Ava to bed and then we will go to sleep too."


Robert came home from work finding Cora and Ava in the living room. Ava was trying to crawl, she was growing up so fast. She was 9 months already. Cora was encouraging her to crawl towards her when she spotted Robert going into the kitchen, she called out to stop him.

"Why can't I go into the kitchen?" Robert asked.

"Come here first, I want a kiss." Cora said, standing up with Ava on her arm.

Robert gave her a passionate kiss. "Is this better?"

"Much!" She gave Ava to Robert. "Wait here a second" and walked into the kitchen.

She returned with a yellow bundle in her arms. Robert almost dropped Ava. He put her down and walked over to Cora. "You didn't????"

"Come and meet Isis, your new dog." Cora said with a big smile on her face. Handing over the little Labrador to Robert. She quickly picked up Ava before she could grab her coffee cup. "Isis is your late birthday present."

"Hello little one." Robert said with a high voice. "You are coming with me." And he walked over to the terrace and sat down with Isis to play with her.

Cora watched the scene with so much love in her eyes. She walked over with Ava and sat down next to Robert.