The sun was warm on his skin, but at least there was a slight breeze, that made this summer day the first one that was barrable he thought. He walked back to the office after a lunch meeting. Due to the fact that the meeting was during lunch time, he had not had time for his daily walk. He knew how important it was, and also that Cora would be mad if she learned he did not walk today. He had tried bringing up the argument that they could exercise at night, but she had not fallen for that. Even though they had enough fun times, he could not be more overjoyed with how they fitted together. Every time it was as magical as it had been that first night. Cora was getting used to him entering her, he still took it slow and the moment he saw a frown on her face he stopped and finished with his fingers. He smiled thinking of their times together. When he looked ahead, he saw a familiar figure sitting on a bench.
"Ros." He exclaimed. "What are you doing outside?"
Rosamund looked up when he came close. "The same thing you are doing, enjoying a little break."
With a sigh Robert sat down. "Finally, the temperatures are nice enough to be outside again. Ugh I hate this heat."
"Do you not just hate every season?" Rosamund joked.
"Hmmmm." Robert thought about that. "No, I do not think so. I just hate all the extremes that we have. Days on end rain, or freezing colds or like now this heat." He chuckled. "Can I ask you something." He asked after a short silence.
"Of course, something bothering you?" Rosamund looked at him.
"Not so much me, but Cora."
"Oh?" Rosamund turned towards Robert.
"Something has happened on the day you and Cora went shopping for your wedding dress."
"What do you mean?" Rosamund asked.
"Cora is a lot clingier since that day. She touches me as soon as she walks by. Every night in bed, she sleeps against me. Before she would sleep on her own side, but now she wants to be close. As if she is scared of losing me or something. Could this be a late shock to her father's death? Maybe because you are getting married to Marmaduke and our own wedding plans are coming along? Does she realise her father will not be with her and is that why she needs to be that close to me?"
"Have you asked her about this?"
"She says nothing has changed and that she just loves me very much. But it feels different. Her hugs are more intense and her kisses...… Well, that is maybe a bit too much detail." Robert felt his cheeks colour.
Rosamund sight and looked at Robert again.
"Can you go and talk to her? You and Cora have a very good bond and I bet she will tell you what is bothering her." Robert put his hand on Rosamund's.
"I do not have to go and talk to her, Robert." Rosamund answered.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, that I am the reason why Cora is acting this way. Or, well, not really me, but Marmaduke."
Robert fully turned towards Rosamund now and had a frown on his face. "Ros? Dear sis? What do you mean. Why did you say to Cora to feel this way? You know I would never hurt her or leave her."
"Oh Robert." Rosamund chocked up and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Rosamund?" Robert said shocked, he had never seen his sister cry before. He waited for her to gather herself.
"I had hoped we would not have to tell this to all of you before the wedding day. But I guess there is no other way. Marmaduke has cancer."
Robert did not respond, other than staring at his sister. Did he hear this correctly? Marmaduke was ill. Cora must have found on the day they went dress shopping. All these weeks Cora had walked around with this big secret, without anybody to talk to.
"You let Cora walked around with this secret all this time?" He said in disbelief.
"What? Are you serious right now?" Rosamund said angry.
Robert suddenly realised what a jerk he was. He only thought about his Cora and not that his darling sister had a sick fiancée. He wrapped his arms around her and muttered. "I am sorry." When she pushed herself back, he said. "How bad is it?"
"It had been better if we had a summer wedding." Rosamund said cryptic.
"Is it that bad?" He said taking Rosamund's hand in his.
"Stage four with metastases. We may be lucky that he can still stand when he makes me his wife."
"Why did you not tell me? Or mama? or Papa?"
"We did not want to ruin the fun of this wedding for you all. Marmaduke is not that much at family gatherings, so you all would not notice how ill he is."
Robert was still for a couple of minutes, trying to order what was going through his head. He needed to do something. He was going to arrange Marmaduke's stag do right away. He felt stupid for not following Cora's advice on that. She had known on that day, when she said to him to start thinking about the stag do. "What can I do for you?" He finally asked.
Rosamund shook her head. "Let me go on like I am doing right now. Please do not tell Mama or Papa. Marmaduke and I will when we feel the time is right. For now, we prefer the quiet time we have at home together. Just the two of us."
"Why do you not take some time off, to be with him?"
"Mama would ask me why I am taking time off. And I do not want to lie to her. No just let me be, we will be fine. We have to." Her hand went to her abdomen.
Robert noticed the movement and realised he had seen Cora do that when they talked about having children. "Rosamund." He said very softly. "Are you by any change pregnant?"
Rosamund's head shot in his direction, her eyes big from shock. "Why would you say that?"
Robert nodded in the direction of her hand, and she quickly pulled it away from her abdomen. He gently placed his hand on her leg. "Rosamund, you can tell me. I promise I will not tell anybody."
"We were going to have a boy. I reached my second trimester, and we were about to tell the family. But... I lost it, I lost the baby. I lost the only thing that would keep Marmaduke close to me." Rosamund started sobbing uncontrollably.
Robert pulled her close and made sussing sounds. His heart ached for his sister. She was always the strong one, nothing could break her. But now tragedy had hit her, hit her hard. First the baby and Marmaduke would follow soon. According to her words.
"What do the doctors say about Marmaduke's health in 3 months?"
Rosamund dapped her eyes with the handkerchief Robert gave her. "What do you mean?"
"Does your dress need a lot of altering? If not, why not marry right away. I promise you that we will get the SkyGarden at any time you want."
"That will cost us a fortune."
"I do not care about the money; you and Marmaduke need to marry right away and not wait for October. Let me arrange this please? Cora knows all the details about your October wedding, together we will make your perfect day happen as soon as possible."
"Thank you." Rosamund rested her head against Robert's shoulder. "Thank you."