So, this is turning into a three chapter fic, instead of two. I hope you enjoy this second installment - more to come!
Christmas Day, 1920
Robert stood in his dressing room once more, frowning down at the two gifts he'd retrieved from under the bed. It was nearly noon, time to be downstairs to have luncheon and exchange gifts.
He and Cora had spent a lovely Christmas Eve "in the spirit of giving and receiving," as she had suggested. And, as there were no small children in their household for them to watch open gifts from Santa Claus on Christmas morning, they'd been deliciously lazy and spent their morning sleeping in and making love. Cora had been somewhat surprised that they had spent much less time on the former activity than the latter, but Robert couldn't stop picturing how she would look in his gift for her.
She had been surprised, yes, but certainly not about to protest.
But now that Bates had dressed him and left, Robert realized he might have a problem. He had thrown the gifts under the bed so hastily yesterday afternoon that he wasn't exactly sure which of the nearly identically wrapped gifts belonged to whom. He had even picked one up in each hand and weighed them, but they felt the same. "Confound it," he mumbled, staring at them as if one might jump up and announce itself as Cora's or Mary's.
A knock came at the dividing door, followed by Cora's voice. "Darling, are you ready to go down? We'll be late if we don't go soon."
"Damn," he cursed under his breath. He called through the door, "Cora, you go ahead down. I'll be there in a moment. I'm just trying to…. trying to figure something out." Which was, unfortunately, the absolute truth.
"Alright, Robert. But don't be too long."
He listened for her bedroom door to close behind her, and sighed heavily, thinking as he stood.
"Well," he said aloud to himself. "There definitely isn't time to unwrap and rewrap even one of these gifts." He continued to stare at them. "I know I took more care wrapping Cora's gift…." He examined each carefully, and decided the one on the right appeared to be wrapped with far more precision. Nearly satisfied that this one had to be Cora's, he affixed a label to it indicating giver and recipient, and then did the same with the box he'd determined to be Mary's.
Taking a relieved breath at having averted disaster, he carried both gifts downstairs and added them to the pile under the tree, joining his family for luncheon. In their Christmas mirth – as well as mediating between Isobel and his mother, in addition to Edith and Mary, neither of whose battles seemed to cease, even for the holiday – he forgot his earlier predicament and relaxed, surreptitiously making eyes at his wife across the table every so often.
After luncheon they all went into the library, where the presents had been placed by a couple of footmen before they had gone down to their own Christmas luncheon. Edith and Matthew volunteered to pass out the gifts, and when everyone had a stack of presents in front of them, they all began to rip open wrapping paper and boxes. Robert, who was sitting next to Cora, kept glancing out of the corner of his eye to see when she would open his gift. Everyone was having a jolly time, holding up what they'd received, expressing delight and appreciation, and praising the appropriateness, utility or beauty of the gifts received by others.
Robert couldn't concentrate properly on any of it.
He had unwrapped only a couple of his gifts and barely heard the snarky comments from his mother about Isobel's gift (a yearly occurrence). He should have been reveling in the fact that all his other painstakingly chosen gifts appeared to be going over very well. Edith could not praise his choice of hat for her enough, Rosamund exclaimed excitedly over her shoes, and even Mama seemed agreeably astonished and visibly moved by the brooch he had selected for her. He finally observed that Cora had nearly gotten to the bottom of her stack, and he realized that his gift was the last one. Mary hadn't opened her present from him either, and he saw that hers was also the last one.
Cora turned to him, perplexed. "Are you feeling alright, my dear? You're not even halfway finished with your gifts."
Robert conjured up a wide smile to cover how nervous he was becoming, having finally recognized that perhaps his gift was a trifle intimate to have given her in this setting. "Perfectly fine, darling. I'm simply too intent upon watching everyone else." He kissed her cheek.
Mary and Cora got to their last gifts at almost the same moment, and Robert told himself he was being silly for being nervous. His wife simply wouldn't hold her gift up like everyone else had. She ripped into the paper, and exclaimed at the Paris labels on the box. Lifting the lid, she picked up the card, ruffling the tissue paper slightly. Just as she was about to open it, Robert noticed through the slight gap in the tissue paper that the garment inside was blue.
Blue.
Robert gasped and laid a hand on Cora's knee, gripping it a little more tightly than he probably intended. Startled, she dropped the card back into the box and turned to him. "What on earth is the matter?" But he wasn't looking at her. He nodded, and she followed his gaze across the room to Mary, who had just opened the card on top of her gift. Robert knew he should stop her from reading it, remembering the words he'd written, meant for Cora's eyes only… but he found himself frozen in place, his voice sticking in his throat.
Mary perused the card as Robert and Cora watched – Robert horrified, his hand still on Cora's knee, and Cora very confused. As she read the card, Mary's eyebrows continued to climb higher and higher, until it seemed to her papa that they would soon touch her hairline. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved or worried that she appeared unembarrassed. Without looking at either her mama or papa, Mary put the card underneath the box and carefully parted the tissue with a little smile. Eyebrows still arched, she rearranged the tissue back over the garment and placed the card on top, replacing the lid.
Matthew gave her a curious look, and asked, "What's wrong, Mary?"
Only then did Mary's eyes meet her papa's, the corners of her mouth twitching as if she wanted to widen her smile into a mischievous grin. "Nothing, Matthew. Nothing at all."
Very coolly, and very smoothly, she stood up and crossed the room to her mother, whose face was a study in confusion. "I think this is for you, Mama." Mary gently lifted the box off her mama's lap, replacing it with the gift she'd opened. She held the box containing the shawl in front of her, looking once again at her father, her eyebrows still very high on her forehead, and merely asked, "This one is for me, yes?"
Robert nodded dumbly, watching her walk back over to her place beside Matthew. He turned to Cora, who had started reading the card he'd put in with her gift. A slow blush crept up her neck, then reddened her cheeks, spreading to the tips of her ears. She kept glancing over the card to Mary, which seemed to make her blush harder, knowing her daughter had read this. After she finished reading, she looked over at her husband, whose expression was so mortified that she couldn't help grinning a little, even as she knew her face had to be red as the bows on the Christmas tree. She parted the tissue paper as Mary had done, and started to giggle in spite of herself, touching the fabric, but wisely refraining from lifting it out.
Cora's giggle attracted the attention of her mother-in-law, whose stare took in Cora's face and her son's expression, which had become difficult to read at this point. "Am I missing something?" Violet inquired. "Is there something you'd like to share with the whole room, Cora?"
Her blush renewing itself, Cora looked over at Mary, sharing a knowing look with her daughter, causing her to giggle again, as she remembered her speech to her eldest about "terrific fun" on her wedding day. Mary's eyes shifted to Violet, who was now looking between mother and daughter, mystified. "Granny, I believe Papa would rather Mama didn't show her gift to anyone else. You'll have to believe me when I say that she is satisfied with it… or soon will be."
Robert's own face turned red at this, looking as if he would be quite happy if the settee swallowed him up, and Cora found herself trying to hide more giggles behind her hand. Matthew and Edith shared perplexed looks, Rosamund rolled her eyes, Isobel seemed amused – possibly without knowing exactly what was going on - and Violet merely shook her head and gave an exasperated sigh, saying, "Really, Mary, you needn't have added that last part."