Lessons to Learn
Chapter 11
A/N: It has been much, much longer than I thought it would take until I post this chapter and I am very sorry that I kept you waiting for so long. I can only say life is busy and I am looking forward to summer when I can hopefully be more focused on this story. This chapter is also a little shorter than usual and is more of a filler chapter. Reviews are still very welcome and I hope you enjoy this little update! Thank you so much for your patience and support!
With his arm around Cora, Robert directed his look at the guests as well. Rosamund left the driver's seat with her sunglasses still on despite the absence of any ray of sunlight. She spun her car key around her index finger while assessing her appearance in the reflection of her phone screen. Marmaduke who had already left the backseat of the car now opened the car door for Rose in the front, and Robert could see how the young girl nodded at Marmaduke gratefully. When she turned towards the awaiting family, he noticed the big delighted smile on her face. A teeth-exposing grin showed on her face as she took in the welcome committee. She quickly waved her hand and her demeanour sprayed with excitement. Robert had to chuckle inwardly at this young girl's spirit. He was relieved to find she seemed nothing like his nagging cousin Susan and he could tell that within the first seconds of her appearance. That had to mean something.
"Here we are," his sister's voice sounded. She strode towards her nieces and hugged each of them before making her way to the front door. Rose didn't need a prompt to follow her and bounded to the girls as well.
"Hey!" she greeted. "It's been a while but I am so glad to see you again!" She first approached Sybil and hugged her without giving it a second thought. Sybil who seemed a little taken aback at first returned the gesture after a second and Robert could hear a giggle that he made out as one of Sybil's.
"You didn't change a bit," Sybil chuckled as Rose released her.
Cora shifted a little next to him and Robert turned his attention back to his wife. She leaned forward to greet Rosamund with a kiss on the cheek and wriggled entirely from his arm to enter the house with her sister-in-law. She turned to him one last time and sent a soft smile his way. Rosamund had started chatting already but Robert understood what Cora's look conveyed without words. She would head to the kitchen to retrieve the meal like the responsible cook and hostess she was.
"Hello, cousin Robert!" He turned around at the clear voice of Rose.
"Welcome, Rose! But please, no cousin nonsense. I'm Robert," he responded and shook her proffered hand. Rose chuckled.
"Alright," she grinned at him before peeking into the house curiously.
"Come in!" Robert gestured for the girl to enter the hallway. Rose stepped inside nimbly and his daughters followed her slowly, sharing amused glances. Marmaduke was the last one outside and he finally ascended the few steps to the front door. He patted Robert's shoulder and Robert nodded at him in response. It really was a bunch of girls that had to be entertained this evening. Although, Robert had no doubt all the girls would have no difficulty keeping things busy themselves.
When the two men silently entered the dining room everyone else was scurrying around the table, eyeing the content of the bowls of food and looking for a place to sit. Robert made a step forward and pulled out a chair for Rosamund who eyed him surprised without interrupting her stream of words. She sat down and the men took a seat on each side of her.
"Yes, Rose arrived well. You said you had a pleasant journey, right dear?" Rosamund addressed the question Cora must have asked.
Rose nodded. "Oh yes! It was nice Daddy allowed me to do it all on my own. Mother said I couldn't handle it and that someone had to bring me and how much effort and trouble that all means. I am glad Daddy did overrule her. She is never making a valid point," Rose's lively chatter grew quieter as if she didn't feel like she was asked to tell the whole story she apparently had in her mind.
"Oh, I am sure you managed the train ride splendidly," Cora said to Rose with her sweetest voice. Robert enjoyed his wife a lot in moments like this when she embraced – without much effort – anyone who needed the soothing support she gave so easily. "Did you had to change trains?"
"Yes, but only once and I had enough time, so it was no problem."
The three Crawley girls had already prepared helpings of dinner for the guests and started filling their own plates. They partially listened to Rose's narration while whispering in a way Robert had observed them doing when guests were present, replacing their usual animated chatter. It was surely meant to be considerate, to not bother the guests but Robert thought they had to learn to whisper more subtly. Their hissing always started to get agitated quite fast, which did not really make it any less improper than a loud discussion.
"Bon appétit!" Cora announced and Robert only absentmindedly grabbed his cutlery, for his attention was still directed at his daughters, that were engrossed in their personal conversation.
Edith turned away from her sisters with a huff and Robert was happy to see that she directed her attention to Rose now, cutting off the private discussion between the sisters. It had started to grow to a substantial conflict and they didn't need that today.
"Rose?" Edith's voice carried across the table and her face held an attentive smile. She really had made progress in not letting things bother her too much over the last few years. It was nice to see her coming out of the self-centred pity she had wandered in for a great deal of her youth. Robert hadn't been really good at dealing with her in these moments. He didn't like it and he didn't like that he had often decided that letting Cora do the comforting was the easier way for him.
"I was wondering if you were looking forward to particular things here in London," Edith asked when Rose's head spun around swiftly at the mentioning of her name.
"Oh, there are so many things one can do here!" Rose exulted and her meal seemed forgotten when she started listing everything, she could think of that would be fun to do. It was no wonder this list was long. Robert heard a quiet groan from his left and he unwillingly had to grin as he took in the irritated rising of his sister's eyebrows.
"What is it, Ros?" Now her irritated look was directed at him. "Is Rose too eager for you? I thought you wanted to know what she would like to do?" he teased.
"Yes, but somehow I foolishly assumed she would ask for one or two things and the rest of the time she would be occupied with herself. I cannot entertain a girl 24/7!" Rosamund brought out through gritted teeth.
"I don't think she expects you to do everything she's talking about. Let me say as a father of three demanding daughters, she is just a dreaming young girl. Look at how happy she is just to be here." Robert pointed his head at young Rose who now gestured wildly with her hands as she compared the London shopping miles with the stores at her hometown. Her impression of the ever-same clientele she knew from home evoked amused laughter around the table and Robert thought to use the moment to address the questions he had for Rosamund.
"What I wanted to ask you all day was what you thought of the different options we have for the accounting settings of the system."
"Oh, really? Now?" Rosamund looked at him challengingly and the grip on her knife tightened as she cut the next piece of her chicken fillet.
"Well, I couldn't get you at work and I want to sort this out quickly to not delay the whole setup," he explained. He hadn't had to justify his care for the company in front of her. She knew his responsibility and she was as least as ambitious as he. He chewed his forkful of salad forcefully. But after a second, he added placatingly, "I know family dinner isn't ideal for work talk but I just need your quick opinion on this. I don't want to have you against me when I already ordered to apply certain settings."
"Very wise, brother. You better not have me against you," Rosamund admitted. Even though she didn't look at him Robert could watch the subtle smirk that pulled at the corner of her lips. "Okay, so just that you know, the 'premium' setting is absolute nonsense," she stated briskly.
"Why so?"
"The only extras compared to the other sensible options or just hollow decorations."
"So, you would go all frugal with the basic settings?" Robert inquired.
"No! Not the basic settings, Robert. Do you want to take these?"
"I only assumed you were preferring them with your economic argumentation," he clarified.
"Yeah, you know that I value economic investments but one can also save the company to ruin. I tell you, Robert, the basic option will annoy you after less than a week. It misses crucial options and will therefore mean a lot of unnecessary additional work that we would have to cover with different programs or so."
"Yes, I agree. This wouldn't be a good choice."
"The question is," Rosamund acknowledged him with a piercing look. "Do we go with the foolproof option or the more freely customisable one?"
"You have no distinct position on that one?" Robert inquired.
"I'm not quite sure yet." He nodded and chewed thoughtfully. "But after all, everyone at the bank has to be able to work with the system, right?"
"Sure. But with the customised settings we can also create some settings everyone can handle and I think it is not too much to ask from the staff to attend some courses to understand the handling of the new system if we can assure much more opportunities and efficiency," Robert now argued. Now it was Rosamund's turn to nod thoughtfully.
Everything seemed to run smoothly and Cora allowed herself to let out a long breath when everyone was somehow included in conversations. Edith and Sybil talked shop with Rose vividly and as expected, Robert had engaged Rosamund in some work talk that needed to be sorted out. Even silent Marmaduke changed some words with Mary between bites of his chicken. For a moment Cora wanted to make out what he and Mary were talking about but she soon realised she was much happier about the opportunity to not strain her mind than to follow the dinner conversations.
She gulped a big sip of her drink to wash down the slightly too big piece of meat she swallowed. She was a little avid about dinner lately. The whole day she didn't get a chance to have a proper meal and she had to admit to herself that often it just wasn't on her mind. She forgot to eat and as soon as she stood in the kitchen in the early evenings, preparing dinner, her intestines constricted as if to show her how little space they actually needed if she didn't provide them with anything nourishing throughout the day. So, it was successively that she found herself ravenous at the dinner table, bolting down helpings more extensive than was customary for her. But after all, it had to make up for the lack of the entire day.
Today she did not only dig in animatedly at dinner, she even ate the chicken filet with the greatest appetite when she usually only took a bite of chicken here and there. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt such a desire for meat. She did not know if she, in fact, had ever longed so much for it like today when she had prepared dinner.
"Mama?!" Mary hissed beside her, her tone already exasperated.
"What? I'm sorry," Cora responded.
"Could you please pass the salt? Don't let Marmaduke ask multiple times!" she chided her mother.
"It's alright," he appeased and Cora found a much softer and understanding expression in her brother-in-law's face than in her daughter's as she handed them the salt shaker.
"I am sorry. I was lost in thoughts."
"As was obvious," Mary commented.
"How is school?" Marmaduke asked.
"It's alright. It's a lot but it's alright."
He nodded knowingly. "But you have holidays soon, right?" She had to think for a moment. Holidays weren't on her agenda yet. Yes, sometime in the near future there would be a couple of days off but that was not her focus. Her plans didn't go that far and even if they did, these days would barely mark a huge distraction from work. It looked as if they would be over in the blink of an eye while she did some of the abundant paperwork that stacked up on her desks, both at school and at home in her study.
"Yes, in some time there will be holidays. But I actually am too afraid to really think about the exact count of weeks. There is so much still do to till they start," she explained.
"Is it about your change in job?" Mary inquired.
"You have a new job?" Marmaduke asked.
"Well, not really. It is just a little change in my responsibilities at school." She hoped Marmaduke wouldn't inquire further. He had a very attentive way of asking about what was concerning somebody and even if his reaction would certainly be much more supportive and understanding than how Robert had expressed his opinion indirectly lately, she felt too tired to give account of her life and work at the moment.
"What exactly does that mean?" he asked nevertheless and Cora closed her eyes for a moment while inhaling deeply.
"Just a little more administrative tasks and a little less teaching." Luckily Marmaduke only nodded in response, foregoing his question about how she felt about this change, she was sure was sitting on the tip of his tongue. He probably sensed her weariness and she felt bad for not portraying better manners and being a better hostess.
"Mama? Can Rose come over tomorrow?" Sybil's voice sounded across the table. She leaned slightly forward, her cutlery unoccupied in her hands with her wrists pressed to the edge of the table, her look expectantly. When Cora didn't immediately manage an answer Sybil continued, "We just want to bake some chocolate chip cookies, since we found out we both have no one to bake them with usually."
"Of course, Rose can come over. But Sybil, we both bake together sometimes. It's not as if you have no one here at home to do this with," Cora replied. Images of their countless mother-daughter-evenings spiralled through her mind.
"We hardly do this anymore, Mama," Sybil gave back, and the shortness of her answer hit Cora more than the truth of her daughter's words. It has been many, many months since they had last baked some cookies or done anything else close to a mother-daughter-evening. But the way Sybil seemed to have accepted this and turned to Rose without much difficulty instead bore more painfully under Cora's skin than she thought appropriate for the situation.
Distantly Cora perceived how Rosamund – seemingly having finished her discussion with Robert – made plans with Rose as well. She and Marmaduke settled some trips with the girl and it appeared that Rose had a time as good as she hadn't had in a while.
Cora sensed eyes on her as she scooped fork after fork of salad into her mouth. She knew it was Robert whose attention wasn't on his sister anymore. Cora chanced a look at him. He was bringing his glass to his lips while fixating Cora with a gaze more intensive than she had received from him in days if not weeks. She couldn't help the colour rising her cheeks and chest at the twinkle in his eyes. It seemed he had no clue what was going on around the table and hadn't listened to any conversation apart from his private talk with Rosamund. But right now, he didn't miss a movement of Cora and it made her slow down her hasty eating. It nearly seemed as if Robert had further plans for the evening but Cora thought he surely had to be aware of the circumstances with their guests that meant he and Cora were still expected downstairs for quite a while after dinner. Cora knew that whatever Robert had in mind was not an option tonight. She was already tired as it was and as much as his deliberate looks sent a rush of warmth through her she knew that they wouldn't be up to anything passionate when they would eventually be on their own.
When the discussion wandered more and more and it was obvious that she and Robert were not really part of it, she indulged more freely in his provocative looks, which were – clearly to her – attempts at undressing her before his inner eye. Now and then she directed a soft grin at him and delighted in the resulting flicker of his eyelids that hid his dark eyes for a second.
His great mood could only be the achievement of a successful discussion with Rosamund, Cora thought. The new system at the bank occupied Robert in an encompassing manner just as expected and if there was something he was itching to deal with, his attention could not be redirected at anything personal or intimate or domestic. It was not that Cora was suffering from his distraction. Of course, he could be more present at home – mainly mentally – but she was not sitting there idly waiting for him to entertain her. She was occupied and busy all the while as well – to her it seemed much more actively than he was actually (but that didn't really matter since occupied was occupied) – and she felt no immediate neglect.
His intensive glances at the moment could only mean his head was free of worries concerning the bank and this was a nice change. Cora enjoyed the momentary flirting. It was nice that there was the opportunity of silent banter in their relationship, a banter that existed just for the sake of enjoying each other without bigger intentions.