Part One
"I have everything well in hand mama, don't worry," Mary said. "Nothing will go wrong, unless you miss your train."
"Are you sure Mary?" Cora asked, still saying goodbye to her eldest daughter while Robert was already saying goodbye to Isobel.
"I'm sure mama, please go," Mary said. "And please try and keep the noises you and papa make to a minimum so that you don't scar everyone on the boat."
Cora looked at her daughter, having heard from Robert an account of her conversation with him about their bedroom activities. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that, since I have no time to discuss it right now," Cora said, moving on to say goodbye to Rose quickly as Mary smiled lightly, laughed and shook her head. Her mama and papa were so incorrigible and she did love them for it, though she couldn't count how many hours of sleep she'd lost because of the fact that they were in love. She and Matthew had been in love and she missed him terribly. She was truly glad that the two of them were going to America together because she knew that her mama would have likely felt so empty without the one she loved by her side, because she knew that if she and Matthew had been separated for an unknown length of time, she couldn't have survived it.
She did vaguely remember the last time her mama and papa had been separated from one another for an unknown length of time, when she was younger. The Boer War had caused her mama to become half-empty and half thrown into spending all her time with Sybil. She'd sulk around the house when she thought no one was paying attention, while she clasped the latest letter from her husband in her hand, always looking as if she had been crying. Even vaguely remembering this time in her mama and papa's life upset Mary in a way she could never describe, and she never wanted to see that again in her life.
Cora looked back at her eldest daughter who looked deep in thought as she knelt down to give Isis a big kiss. The dog was a beauty and it was a shame they had decided to leave her in England, but Robert didn't want her being put in the kennels of the ship where there would be other dogs and where something might happen to her. She kissed Isis on the top of the head and ruffled her ears lightly. "Goodbye, my sweet darling. Your papa and I will be back as soon as we can, we love you," she whispered before she stood up and called out one last time, "Goodbye everyone," before taking her husbands hand and getting into the motor. Robert followed her and almost automatically put his arm around her as Mr Stark closed the door for them.
"I don't know who I'm going to miss most," said Cora, settling down in her husband's arms, making sure she was comfortable even though it wouldn't be long before they were getting out of the motor and onto the train to Liverpool.
"I'm going to say that Isis is the one I'll miss the most. But if you were staying here, it would be you my love," Robert said, pressing a kiss to Cora's hair as she smiled up at him.
"And I'd be missing you more than anything if I were staying behind as I technically should be. I'll certainly surprise my mother and brother," she said quietly. "I only wonder how much Harold and America have changed since I've been there last. How long has it been, almost 30 years since we took the girls over?"
"About that," Robert said. "I suspect it's changed a lot more than England has, and England has changed a fair bit if I may say so myself."
"It has," she said. "But now, we'll be off to my homeland and maybe Harold will introduce us to a few interesting people while we're there. But nothing that we deem is improper or anything."
"Well without a doubt, he'll attempt to get us to do something that's completely improper if I know your brother," Robert said, looking at his wife briefly.
"He's the other reason I won't let you go to America without me, because he'd probably try and buy you a woman or two and I wouldn't be able to deal with the thought of that," Cora whispered in reply. She loved her brother, but that didn't mean that she trusted him, did it? He was the type of man who would be with a new woman every 5 minutes if he could, nothing like Robert was. In over 30 years of marriage, Cora had never doubted Robert's loyalty to her and she doubted that she would ever have reasons to. It wasn't that she didn't think her husband wasn't handsome, she knew him to be the most handsome man in the entire world, but she knew that he'd never look at another woman as long as he was alive. It made her happy to think that not all men were like her brother. Not that he was irresponsible and wouldn't provide for any child he happened to have with any of these women, but she didn't like his way of doing things.
It wasn't long before they reached the train station and Mr Stark opened the door for Robert who held Cora's hand as she got out of the motor. Robert went to get the tickets and Cora stood where she was waiting for her husband to return. Once he returned, Thomas and Miss Baxter were already getting their luggage ready to be put onto the train. "Come along darling," Robert said, holding his hand out to her. Cora took it with a smile on her lips that was half nervous and half madly in love with her husband and how he could make her feel with the smallest of gestures.
Thomas looked at Mixx Baxter as she went about her work, but she did try to keep her head down as much as possible. She had never been to America and she wanted this to be a positive experience, not full of Thomas pestering her and trying to determine what she knew about upstairs life because she knew very little other than the fact that Lord and Lady Grantham were rather like a pair of rabbits, though all the servants knew that already. She ignored him and the two of them ensured that Lord and Lady Grantham's cases were all on the train without speaking to one another until the time came for the two of them to board the train, unfortunately for Miss Baxter in the same 3rd class compartment as Thomas. She looked at Lady Grantham as she got onto the train, clutching her husband's hand gently, the two of them wearing smiles that could only mean that they were looking forward to the time that would be spent on the train together.
Once they were both aboard, Robert looked at Cora who was sitting across from him and he opened his arms, hoping his wife would want to continue the slight physical intimacy they had been engaged in whilst on the way from their lovely home to the train station, and maybe venturing even further into kissing. Maybe something that was even more stimulating than kissing, if his beautiful wife felt up to it. Cora stood from her place and sat back down on her husband's lap, Robert wrapping his arms around his wife, glad that she wanted to drop the level of propriety that held them back so very often (though not often enough, as his mama and eldest daughter would likely comment), and allowing him this intimacy that he loved so very much. He pulled her slightly closer to him, making it so that the only space between them was their clothing which he had a feeling would remain on during their journey. Cora smiled at her husband and gently pressed her lips to his once again, blindly removing his hat to put her hands in his hair. She had neglected to put on her hat, since she had secretly planned on an intimate train ride. Her fingers gripped Robert's hair tightly, making him moan pleasurably into her mouth, spurring her to move against him. She wouldn't do anything that would put them in a compromising situation on this trip. They wanted no gossip about their behaviour, since so many of their friends likely saw them as show-offs for always being so affectionate and happy. It was a rare treat in the aristocracy, especially at their age, to be happy with one's spouse.
Robert tried to decipher Cora's hints with her kissing and hair pulling, but it wasn't getting anywhere due to the distraction that Cora's hands in his hair and her lips on his caused. To think that she could have possibly read his mind and started them off on an intimate train ride to Liverpool was high on the short list of possibilities, but his mind was going blank and ultimately stopped working when Cora's hand dropped down and grasped him through his trousers. Robert's hands moved as he felt her hand on him and they found their way to her chest to touch her through her dress, hoping that she would feel his hands as much as he could feel her's. She broke the kiss and looked at him, her unoccupied hand going and grasping his, moving it against her more. "You know I love that, right Robert?" she asked, breathless from their kissing. "I love it when you touch me like that darling."
Robert's lips found her's again as he moved his hand against her chest, alternating how he moved it so that he kept the element of surprise in the equation. After he had done everything he could do, Cora stilled his hand and looked into his eyes, completely breathless. "I don't think we need this to finish before it's even truly begun," she whispered, pressing her lips to Robert's gently with a slightly rough streak added into the mix, expressing her eagerness for him to rip their clothing off of their bodies and take her right there. It had been so long since they had made love to one another on a train, this would not be new, but they might need a small amount of time to adjust.
Cora got up off her husband's lap and moved across the compartment, unbuttoning her blouse as she sat down, facing him and giving him the most alluring look Robert had seen since his birthday. Once it was unbuttoned, she pulled it off and dropped it to the floor, neither her nor Robert breaking the gaze they held with one another. Upon a closer look, Robert could tell that she was not wearing anything under her chemise. He raised his eyebrow at her and discarded his suit jacket, his waistcoat and his tie before moving to join her, unbuttoning his shirt in the process. Cora laid down on the seat and continued looking at her husband, her eyes following him as he settled down on top of her. "My beautiful wife," Robert whispered, his hand touching her face softly before his lips met her's in a more passionate embrace than anything else than they had shared that day.