Generations
Robert rolled over, opened his eyes, then he rested his arm across his wife who was lying on her right side facing away. Then she stirred, her small snores decreasing in volume. Robert lay there quietly for some minutes, just relishing this moment; being alone and together. Finally he could not resist and lifting his head, kissed her bare shoulder.
Cora turned her head, looking at him. She raised an eyebrow.
"Uhm, good morning," Robert said quietly.
Cora laboriously rolled onto her back, her large pregnant belly impeding her movements. She rearranged her rumpled nightdress, then slid her arm across Robert's chest, for he was pressed against her left side. "Hello," she said then yawned and took his left hand and lifted to her face where she kissed his fingers.
Robert exhaled deeply.
"Robert?" she asked, as she felt a twinge in her belly.
"Nothing."
"There must be something." She raked her tangled hair out of her face.
Robert pursed is lips. "Just thinking. Are you alright? Feeling okay?" He had not wanted her to feel like he had taken advantage of her last night. It had been exciting and tender, but still making love to one's pregnant wife seemed like gilding the lily.
Cora smiled and kissed his hand again, then began to stroke it. "Robert, I am perfectly fine."
He cleared his throat. "I… was worried… that… I…"
"Oh shush." She scrunched higher on the bed, pulling an extra pillow behind her head. "I'm fine," she told him, but her belly felt funny and her back started to ache.
That is an interesting word - fine, he thought. He looked past her rotund belly and large bust towards the sunlit window. Here in Crawley House the morning sun came straight into Cora's bedroom. He much preferred waking up here than next door in his own bedroom. He eyed her face for it was not just the sunlight he enjoyed seeing in the morning.
Robert rested his chin on her shoulder. "I was just thinking."
"About?" Once again she felt that tightness across her belly, like a tight band side to side. "Oh, Robert…"
He smiled up at her eyes. "How we met."
"Oh that," she giggled.
That summer of the Grand Tour and the summer after she had attended the Season, although all the arrangements had been made, but mother thought it best to play the British game, as she called it.
"That was quite the trip." She intertwined her fingers with his.
"Not the least of which was Pompeii."
She chuckled, but then her expression changed. "You had good timing."
"As did you."
She bit her lip. "I said that the brick under my foot crumbled."
Robert recalled the moment vividly. In his memory she fell in slow motion, or his mind had sped up. Running at full speed he had gotten under her, catching her in his arms. "I… was fortunate."
"An extremely fortunate moment, Robert," Cora told him.
Robert breathed deeply then he kissed her shoulder once more. Out of all the girls in the world he had found this one. His mouth suddenly dry, he added, "I love you."
She peered at him quizzically as her belly got tighter and she almost gasped. "You do?"
"Yes. I truly do."
Cora was surprised. She had loved Robert from the very first; the first time he saw him, actually. Tall, handsome, and he had a nice smile. So now, to actually hear him express his love for her? It made up for two years of a nagging concern that she had been sold off like a brood mare.
Now they had been married for a year, and now very pregnant, plus feeling vulnerable and needy, she had her doubts. But now the man says I love you.
From the feel of her stomach, things were happening she would be a mother this very day. No need to startle anyone, especially at this moment. Help was close by, plus the extra maids. The doctor lived close by and so was the cottage hospital. They had been living in Crawley House since the wedding. She looked at the ceiling. This place felt like home, but there had been discussions that when the child arrived they would move up to the big house, but she would like to stay here.
The house was small enough to manage and there weren't fifty servants bustling about to disturb her American senses. Yes an American and she would be one until her dying day, but this baby, it then kicked hard, was British and from the moment of birth would have a title, just as she did now. She didn't think of herself as Viscountess Downton. She was Cora, Robert's wife.
She rolled to face him, pressing herself against him, wrapping herself around him as much as possible. "Oh Robert, and I love you too."
He smiled and when her lips found his he just wanted that moment to last forever. I do love you, Cora, he thought, and fool that he was, how on Earth could he ever have doubted it?
Cora had given it all up - her family, her childhood home in the river city in Ohio with the Latin name of Cincinnati, attending baseball games, strolls through Eden Park and ice skating in the Winter, hearing lectures at the Society of Natural History, having dinners at the Bellevue House overlooking the Ohio River and the city, and now… here she was in a strange land, living with an Englishman for Heaven's sake, and pregnant by him. And all at the expense of a considerable fortune her father had settled onto Downton Abbey; to save the place from ruin and dissolution.
Her money was now firmly entailed to the estate and to his male heirs and Robert and the rest of his family was eternally grateful, but it was not something they discussed after the signing and witnessing of the legal documents.
Robert pulled his face slightly to look not her eyes, then he kissed her once more.
Love happens, it just happens. The turn of a head, a face, fine lips, a tall figure, and not the dowry the bride bright bring or the position or title of the groom. Robert used to think though that he had a choice in the matter – perhaps a chance to make a bad choice – but here he was, with a woman that he loved. Cora , the American girl.
Cora lurched a bit, squirming under his embrace. "Sorry Robert. I… I…"
"Sorry. Cora?"
She tousled his hair. "Oh dearest Robert, I think we'd better call the doctor. I think…" she bit her lower lip, "I'm pretty certain that your child is about to be born."
"Oh my God! Now?"
She laughed. "No, Robert, not this minute… but…" she had to pause and take a deep breath as another contraction started. It got harder and harder, her belly tighter. "Well… arrrgh…" she had to stop and pant, "maybe. Calling the doctor, would be a very good idea."
Robert started to move away in a panic, but then he turned back to her and kissed her tenderly. "I love you."
"I know you do." She sighed. What a journey this has been so far. She smiled into his eyes. "I love you Robert. Now go. Quickly."
That afternoon, while the household seemed to be filled with people, Robert stepped out into the garden to get some air. The underbutler brought him the tea he had asked for and just as he accepted the cup, he heard a baby's cry. The cup and saucer fell to the pavers with a crash as he ran back into the house and then he heard Doctor Turner announce, "It's a girl."
An exhausted Viscountess Cora, the former Cora Levinson, smiled at her husband as he stood dumbfounded while staring at his first child, their daughter.
"Mary," Cora managed to say. "I think Mary is a very good name, don't you, Robert?"
Surprised by the birth of a daughter, Robert gulped but then nodded. "Yes, Cora, that is a very good name." He breathed deeply for a new generation had arrived at last. He smiled down at his squalling daughter held by the midwife, then he faced his dear wife.
Marvelous, he thought. What new adventures awaited them next?
= Finis =
Author's notes:
Living near Cincinnati for most of my life, other than five years in Michigan, I was very surprised and delighted when Downton Abbey was shown on TV here in the States and hearing that Cora was from here.
Two books in particular were very helpful to get my head into the late 1880s.
"To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age" by Gail MacColl; 2012
"Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle" by Fiona Carnarvon; 2011
I must also mention:
"Below Stairs" by Margaret Powell; 1968
This last book, it is reported, influenced Julian Fellowes to pen the long running production of "Downton Abbey."
I also read a plethora of informative websites about England and America of that time, as well as the history of the City of Cincinnati, Worth and his gowns, the rise of wheat taxes and the effect of cheap American wheat, how American money reinvigorated the British economy from 1880 to 1895, and so forth.
Also a rather interesting piece about how the well healed and "old money" upper crust of America snubbed "new money" families, hence driving them to Europe in search of suitable husbands for their rich daughters; literally 'Cash for Coronets.'
Thusly, Cora was one of many women sent abroad to sink or swim. In Downton Abbey, it appeared that Cora swam very well, unlike many.
In closing, for my long absences from the keyboard and such a delay in finishing this tale I apologize profusely. And as an American, and not an English Major, any errors of storytelling, customs, language, titles etc. are strictly my own.
Thank you for reading! Cheers!