AN: I know this is a short chapter for The Scene We've All Been Waiting For, but I promise I won't shortchange it; I'm continuing it into chapter 10. However, I really thought Robert and Cora's first conversation here should be its own chapter.

Robert found Cora alone in the drawing room, a small bit of needlework in her hands. He stood silently in the doorway for a moment, studying her. She looked deceptively peaceful as she concentrated. His dearest Cora… He closed his eyes briefly.

"Cora," he said softly. Cora, Cora, my darling Cora…

"Robert." She looked up and did not smile. Would she ever smile again?

Without a word, he crossed the room and took a seat on the sofa. He was determined not to frighten her, and thus he left room for a third person between them. Slowly, so that she could anticipate his movements, he laid a hand on her embroidery. "May I?" She released it, and he set it on the table behind them.

Hesitantly, she met his eyes, and he studied how strange hers had become. There was fear in them, and a nervous desire to dart away, and pain, and the deepest of grief. They were nothing like the eyes of his wife.

"Cora," he said quietly, "I have spoken with Baxter. She's told me." His words hung heavy in the air, and he wished he could snatch them back, snatch all of this back. He watched as her haunted eyes filled with tears.

"That was not her place," she said, almost bitterly, and stood.

Robert reached for her but pulled his hand back. He should not grab her arm to force her to stay; it would frighten her. He felt as though he were approaching a skittish newborn deer. "Darling, please." He made no effort to keep the begging from his voice. "Please sit down with me."

Slowly, she sank back onto the couch, but she did not look at him. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "She should not have told you."

"Don't be angry with her. I gave her no choice." He was not proud of it. "I believe she cares for you deeply."

Cora said nothing and still did not look at him.

"Oh darling, why couldn't you tell me?" The words burst from him before he could formulate another sentence.

"I wanted to spare you," she said, her voice higher as she fought her tears. "I wanted to spare you the pain of knowing. And I…I waited so long for your love when we married, and…I couldn't go back to that world."

Her last sentence made so little sense that he merely stared at her, not comprehending. "What on earth does this have to do with the first year of our marriage?"

"Because I knew what it was to live without your love, and I didn't think I could do it again! And I knew if you knew I'd been ruined…oh, I wish to God she hadn't told you!" She covered her face with her hands.

"Oh, Cora." He forgot his intention to let her have her space and quickly closed the gap between them. "Oh my darling, beloved wife…" Finally, she turned—stiffly, he noted, feeling another flash of rage—to face him, confusion on her face.

Robert laid his hands on her shoulders, wanting to pull her into his arms but afraid to force her. "You could never be ruined. You will never be anything less than my perfect, flawless angel. You are every bit as pure as you were the day I married you, regardless of what that…beast has done.

"Nor will you ever have to live without my love. I will love you till I draw my last breath, and there is nothing that could ever happen that would ever change that. Nothing."

She began to sob, and at the slight movement as she began to reach for him, he pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her carefully, afraid he would hurt her, as she buried her face in his chest.

"Oh my dearest," he murmured, placing a kiss to her hair as he cradled the back of her head with his hand. "Oh Cora." But he could not tell her not to cry, or shush her tears, because his own were flowing as well.