The next morning Robert was awakened by the early light of a white sky full of rain.
A thunder made him jump slightly in the bedsheets before he could open his eyes properly.
He grunted with annoyance and rolled over on his back, just to find Cora at his right, sleeping like an angel, with messy curls all over the pillow, the chin pointing elegantly upwards and her rosy lips slightly parted.
How lovely she looked. Robert thought, caressing her figure with his stare and feeling more and more enamoured with all the little details of her revealed in her peaceful sleep.
He noticed the state of the bedsheets on her side, all wrinkled and twisted. He smiled thinking at Cora's old habit to toss and turn during her sleep. Every time that he had looked at her during the nights of the past decades he had never found her once in the same position. She was active even in her rest, while he used to fall asleep straight away on his back and to stay like that just until the early lights of the morning, before turning on his side trying to go on sleeping for a while.
At night Cora was even very clingy. She always liked to be linked with him in some way: holding his hand, resting her chin on his shoulder, wrapping an arm over his waist or even just curling her calf around his leg. Robert felt guilty about it, thinking back at the early months of their marriage: it was as if – even after all this years together – she was still unconsciously afraid that he would have left her alone at some point.
If she knew how much he enjoyed spending the nights with her – he thought - she would probably have left behind this fear, glowing with confidence instead.
Robert's attention now moved on Cora's white shoulder, popping out from the duvet. He could see half-hidden the thin strap of her ivory nightgown, so light and flimsy even if they were at the end of October. She has always preferred to wear light garments in the night. The covers of the bed must always be filled with feathers and wool to be perfectly warm, but her usual choices in matters of night gowns have always been orientated towards thin fabrics and silky and lacy materials.
"I like it to feel nice" she said every time he inquired why she didn't put on a jumper or a shawl or something, since she kept complaining all the time with him about the cold weather of his country. He called it foolish, but deep down Robert secretly loved his wife's discrete vanity in this regard, especially since it was reserved to his eyes only.
Robert moved upwards just a little, trying to regain a sitting position, but a slight move was enough to elicit a small huff of dissatisfaction from Cora.
With her eyes still closed she murmured sleepily "Stay here..." holding tight on his forearm.
Robert laughed lightly "I couldn't even if I wanted to. Not since you pull at my arm like that, you cuddly lady!"
Cora smiled waking up fully "It's so early! We better stay in bed a little longer, Robert." she said with a hoarse voice.
Robert moved to grab the small watch on his bedside table "Actually it's almost 8 o'clock. We better hurry if we don't want our children to think we are missing for good." he said confidently.
Cora snuggled a little bit closer to her husband, rubbing her cheek on his arm like a cat. "Oh come on Robert! Don't be such a spoilsport! The children are adults now, they can manage!"
"Oh they can definitely manage! It's me who can't manage at all whenever you're in charge of the morning routine!" Robert answered teasingly.
Hearing this, Cora raised her head from the pillow, looking at him with a flabbergasted expression. "What do you mean with that?"
Robert smiled happily to have scored a point with his teasing "What I mean, my darling, is that you can be very very lazy!"
Cora opened her mouth in shock, looking at him with threatening eyes: "Lazy? How dare you?" she said, pinching his arm.
"Oh yes indeed. The prim Countess of Grantham, President of Downton Hospital and lady of the mansion is an incorrigible sleepyhead!" Robert repeated cheerfully, sliding back again with his head on the pillow and enveloping his wife in a tender embrace.
"That's just because you snore all the time!" replied Cora, putting both her arms around Robert's neck.
"I do not snore!" cried Robert pretending to be offended.
"Seriously Robert? And if it's not you snoring what are all those noises I hear during the night?" asked his wife with an ironic and perplexed face.
"They are scary roars I make to prevent any burglar to come and harm you. You should thank me!" added Robert proudly, hiding his head in Cora's neck.
A true guffaw escaped Cora's lips, who felt so happy and grateful for those special moments with her darling man that she could cry at the sole thought.
"Oh what a hero!" she exclaimed finally, indulging him in a long and sweet kiss on his lips.
"An hero, you said it well. Even just for keeping up with such a busy wife as you are!" he replied sarcastically, running his hand on Cora's shoulder.
"Well, in case you haven't noticed...I am not busy now!" Said Cora, with an innocent grin mixed with a hint of seduction.
"That's true, my darling. But it's about time for me and you to wake up and start our day. Since I - differently from you - am very industrious and active in the morning." replied Robert, moving as if to leave his laying position.
Cora though had other plans and hooked her leg between Robert's, keeping him in place.
"Come on Robert, darling" she said, running her hands in her husband's hair and peppering his face with small little kisses. "It's so warm and cosy here, while outside it's all cold and windy and stormy. What harm could do staying in here just a bit more?"
"Cora, sweetheart, that's probably the way in which we started conceiving Edith." Robert said, moving slightly away, even if he couldn't help enjoying for a second the delicious sensation of Cora's sweet kisses on his cheeks " and by the way I know that you're trying to win me out like that just because you want to go back to sleep!"
Cora laughed wholeheartedly, leaving a last kiss on Robert's lips before sitting down in the bed.
"You're a mean man!" she concluded jovially.
"A saint!" said back Robert, with a jolly face.
"A lucky man!" replied Cora, feigning aloofness
"I won't dare denying that, my darling. Not now nor never!" asserted Robert, prodding lightly to kiss quickly Cora's cheek. "Not when my wife is such a funny and beautiful lady!"
"Now" he added, standing up and grabbing his dressing gown at the end of the bed. "Would my wife – my charming Countess - do me the honour of joining me for breakfast downstairs?"
Cora smiled looking at him, full of love and happiness in her heart.
"I can't speak for the charming countess" she said standing up from the bed "but your Cora would be delighted!" she finished, hurrying to give Robert a small kiss before disappearing in the washroom.
That was about to be a beautiful morning. A beautiful morning indeed.