Hi everyone! First of all I'd like to thank all of you very much for your support and my wonderful beta granthamfan for her patience and for her precious time.

There are going to be 2 final chapters after this one...so if you are bored of this ff, don't worry we are close to the end :)


Robert woke up very early in the morning. The big day had arrived and he was so excited he couldn't sleep anymore. He tried to disentangle himself from Cora without waking her in the process, and he was quite proud of having successfully succeeded in it. He left a note on Cora's vanity and left the room to get ready and go down for breakfast.

Since the preceding days had been very tiring, he had already told Cora the night before that she should go and relax herself and have a massage while he would have done the same. But that was not completely true. While Cora was away, he would check the last details of his plan. Their day had to be perfect! And so, after having given the last suggestions to the servants, he was pacing the streets of Paris in search of a very specific shop.

He had seen Cora the day before stop in front of a shop window, staring at a dress and then shaking her head, muttering something intelligible which sounded to him like "You're too old for that". He had tried to memorise the exact location of the shop, but today it had taken him several attempts to find it. And there it was. He looked at the sign which read "M. Vionnet". Yes; that was exactly the right place. The dress was still there: a sleeveless white silk evening gown with dark embroidered sparkling stars. The stars were more copious on the upper part of the dress and then, just below the waist, they began to become more sparse. Cora would surely look breathtaking in it and so, noticing that the shop was empty, he decided to go inside, even if it was already a bit late.

The woman inside the shop was very gentle and polite and, thank God, she could speak decent English. His French had become a bit rusty as of late, but now she was definitely asking him too many questions. "Milord, I understand you've never bought your wife a dress before, but how can I know if it would fit her without knowing her sizes?"

Robert was losing his temper, his palm passing through his hair. "Miss Mouchard, I understand your position, but I need that dress and I need it ready for tonight."

"As I said, without knowing her size I can't help you, milord. Could you at least describe her?"

At Robert raised eyebrows the woman immediately added "It's only to try to guess if the dress we have here is going to be alright, or if we need to make some adjustments."

Sighing in relief Robert started describing his wife. "Hmm, well she is beautiful, and has the most wonderful eyes I've ever seen and..."

"Milord" she interrupted "ehm... I would need to know how she is...physically." She gave him a knowing look, gesticulating with her hands as shaping the form of a body in the air.

"Oh, yes. Right."

Sensing his discomfort, she tried to explain. "For example, how tall she is."

"Ah...well, more or less like this, with her shoes." He supposed she didn't care how Cora looked like in her bare feet.

"Very well. At least we don't have to adjust the length. And then how about her hips and waist?"

Robert suddenly turned bright red, thankful for the fact that there was no one around except the two of them. "I beg your pardon? We are talking about the Countess of Grantham!"

"I'm sorry, Milord, I didn't want to be rude or inappropriate. But if you could just remember..."

"Of course I can remember; she is my wife!"

After another long sigh, he continued. "Well, her waist is very tiny. I can almost encircle it with my hands...let's say more or less like this..." he held his hands in an oval shape in front of him. Flashes of the previous night immediately washing over him as he tried hard to push the memories away. He could almost feel her soft skin under his palm, smell the scent of her perfume while he had buried his head in her neck, his hands on her waist, her eyes shining in adoration and the little nod of her head giving him silently her permission...

"Milord?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry I was... I was...never mind. Anything else?" How his wife could possess his mind in such way, he would never know.

"Just one more thing, Lord Grantham. What is the size of her bust?"

"Her b...What?! Good Lord in heaven. What sort of question is that?"

Robert thought he had never been more embarrassed in his life. The only thing he wanted to do was to run away from the shop and never come back. But thinking of Cora wearing that dress and hopefully later imagining his hands running on her bare skin, gave him enough strength to go on, whispering.

"She is very thin, and so it isn't big...I mean...oh Lord, help me."

Again trying to figure out Cora's breast with her clothes on was quite the challenge. He had traced them one million times; he knew every inch of her by heart, every blotch, every pore. But how could he explain it? To a stranger? He suddenly remembered the picture of Cora he always took with him in his breast pocket to keep her near his heart. Why didn't he remember it earlier? It would have been all less difficult!

"Would this photograph be helpful?" he asked, hoping the woman would stop asking him the most embarrassing questions he had ever had to answer.

The woman nodded, taking the photograph in her hand and looking at it carefully.

"This is the lady I saw yesterday who was looking at that dress, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. That's why I want to buy it."

"Oh, well, you should have said it before. Now if you'll let me speak frankly, milord, your wife is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. It's quite difficult to forget her, and the dress you've chosen seems perfectly tailored for her perfect figure."

"Very well then. If you could also make a package, it would be perfect. Thank you."

Moments later he was leaving the shop with a large box in his hands, and was taking a cab back to the house. Looking at his pocket watch, he realised he was late; terribly late.

When he finally reached the building he started looking for his wife, but she was nowhere to be found. She was neither in the sitting room nor in the library, and so he decided to go upstairs to have a bath and get changed. After all, this was "their night", and he couldn't be more excited at the thought.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror he had to admit that, despite his hair being streaked with gray, he still had some appeal in his evening suit. He had waited for this night for so long. Taking a deep breath, the box in his hands, he opened his door and, trying to be very silent, he peeked inside Cora's bedroom. Noticing that it seemed empty, he stepped inside and placed the box on the bed with a satisfied smile on his lips. He moved to the door and was still halfway across the room when he heard a very familiar and very angry voice calling his name.

"Robert?" She was calm, but her voice was determined. This was not a good sign.

"Yes, darling?" He was trying not to upset her more.

"Where have you been all day?" Her voice was low, and she was articulating the question lingering on every single word.

"I went out and..."

"Oh, well, you went out. You went out! What do you think, Robert? That I haven't noticed that you haven't spent a minute with me today?" Her face turned red; she was furious.

"Cora, I'm so sorry. But, I had to...I had...some business to attend to, and I lost track of time."

She was rolling her eyes, and he knew the storm was coming.

"So this business was so important that you left me alone this morning. I woke up alone, Robert. Alone! You leave me a vague message on my vanity, you don't telephone, you don't come back for luncheon, you don't come back for tea. You went out doing God knows what with God knows who, and...and you… YOU said this was OUR trip, Robert...OUR trip, and now what do you expect? That I act like the loving wife? Waiting patiently for my husband to come back and carry on like nothing has ever happened? And when you come back you sneak in my room dressed like...like this, and... I'm not stupid, Robert!"

Her body was all tensed, her hands closed in fists. She was completely out of control. He tried to cover the distance between them. He wanted to embrace her, to say that he did nothing wrong, that he was simply planning her surprise. But as he approached her, she gave him a look he thought she could have burned him right there if she could.

"My dear, if you would just listen..."

"Don't call me "my dear", Robert, and just leave, please...leave me alone! There is nothing more to say."

"But, Cora..."

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

Robert, with his head bent, left the room and as soon as he closed the door he heard Cora sobbing loudly. He had ruined everything. He had put all himself into this, and now what was the result? His wife was crying in their bedroom alone, and what he had planned to be their perfect night had turned into a dreadful nightmare.

Now, as he descended the stairs, Cora's last words still ringing in his ears.

"Get out of here!"


TAAADAAAA...please don't hate me!

A/N: those of you who would like to see how Cora's dress looks like, can click on the following link: media/1042728338852059046_1751660164

credits to "thecorsetedbeauty" for the picture