Last chapter for this year.
Thank you to everyone who has been with me on this writing journey so far, who commented and liked, you´ve made my year a lot better. This was supposed to be just a short story of a few chapters but somehow I´m already working on Chapter 32 and I would have never made it this far without your support. Thank you!
Harold was nervous, that much was apparent to even the most oblivious of men, among which Robert had to count himself. Robert's brother-in-law had barely been able to stay seated at breakfast and now that they were stood at the foot of the stairs, he was certainly still very much a bundle of nerves. The two men were standing in the entrance hall of the Levinson's Newport mansion, waiting for Cora and Martha to come down and join them.
"Have you told her about today?" he asked, kneading his hat in between his fingers.
"No, I have not. But I will not make a secret out of the fact that it was extremely hard, keeping all of this from her. Until now, I have never managed to deceive her like that. I guess we have to thank her illness for that, for making her feel so fatigued all the time. And this is the only time I will ever say that. This disease is taking the single thing I love the most on this planet from me."
The Earl's American brother-in-law patted his shoulder, understanding exactly what he meant.
Robert had to say that Harold looked quite dapper in his new suit. It was not the suit he had initially intended to wear — the seamstress could not manage that on such short notice, but this was the next best thing and it did suit him well. He just hoped that all their efforts would not be in vain.
"I don't think I have to ask whether you are nervous, Harold. But know that everything will be alright in the end. She will say yes and she will make you the happiest man to walk the earth the moment she does. Your life will never be the same again, but you would not want to have it any other way, trust me. And you have Cora here as well. You are doing the right thing, Harold, and I can never thank you enough for giving her this opportunity, this last memory for her and us all to cherish."
Harold stilled his motions, not shifting his weight from one foot to the other any more. Instead, he turned to face Robert fully, letting the hand holding his hat fall to his side. He looked at the taller man more than slightly confused. How could Robert know the exact thoughts that had been floating around in his head all morning, the night before and maybe even before then?
Robert, who seemed to have correctly guessed what Harold's reaction could mean, added: "You seem to forget that I was also waiting at the altar once, many years ago, unsure of whether your dear sister would walk down the aisle and marry the gold digger I was back then. And there was much more at stake for everyone involved. Madeleine loves you, she crossed the ocean again just to be with you after you both let go of each other. She would not do that if she did not truly love you and would say yes. The world may have changed a lot in the almost forty years that Cora and I have been married, but some things never change. And what you are feeling right now is perfectly acceptable and I daresay even normal for men waiting to marry the woman they love."
Harold seemed to be at a loss for words. His mouth opened and closed again without a single sound escaping. Finally, he seemed to find the words he had been looking for.
"Thank you, Robert, truly. For helping me with organising all of this, for trying to calm my nerves, and for keeping this a secret from your wife. Most importantly, though, I want to thank you for keeping my sister happy and safe for all these years. I never gave you enough credit, not after I found out about your initial reasons for pursuing Cora. You are a very decent man and the best I could have ever hoped for her to find — I am sure that father would agree in a heartbeat. You make her happy and you love her, which is more than can be said about most other marriages in our circles."
Robert's cheeks coloured slightly when Harold mentioned the beginnings of his marriage to Cora. It had taken him decades to finally not feel guilty about it all. In fact, he thought he might have never stopped feeling that way had Cora not been so adamant that she married him fully aware of his motives and the circumstances. She married him despite all that. His Cora always made sure to remind him that he had eventually fallen in love with her, that he shouldn't feel guilty. According to her, their love was all that mattered in the end.
"Not about your imminent one, though," he replied. "I am certain you will be as happy and content in your marriage as Cora and I have been in all these years we got to share with each other."
The two smartly dressed men were interrupted by Martha slowly descending the stairs with Cora on her arm. Both women had to reach for the bannister on either side of the stairs to steady their steps, one due to age and one due to her illness.
Martha had a beaming smile on her face, while Cora just looked confused but still very beautiful, even in spite of wearing a black skirt and blouse. Those were no colours usually worn to a wedding, but this was not going to be a traditional wedding. It did not matter much, least of all to Harold, who was just happy she was there. It was apparent to both men that Martha had managed to keep their plans for the day hidden from her still, despite her beaming with pride and joyful anticipation of the events of the day that lay ahead of them.
"Good morning. I have to say that I am quite confused about this surprise Robert informed me about late last night. You are all dressed so well, what are we going to do and where are we going?" Cora asked after her mother had passed her hand over to Robert, who then bent down and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.
"You will see for yourself soon enough, my dear sister. But we should get going. I do not want to be late," Harold answered after nervously glancing at his watch repeatedly.
It was beautiful; an intimate wedding if Robert and Cora had ever seen one. Apart from them, they were merely joined by Harold's bride and her father — and the vicar who married them in the otherwise empty church.
Still, it was a nice service, followed by a wedding breakfast complete with a string quartet and delicious food. Martha's cooks had gone to great lengths in their preparations, and everyone tucked in.
A while later, Cora was sitting on a plush chair in the nicely decorated entrance hall of the Levinson mansion in Newport. The staff had moved the furniture to the sides and put up floral arrangements while they were at the church — yet another small way to organise everything as more of a surprise for Cora.
"How can I ever thank you for doing this, Harold?"
Her younger brother stood next to her with a beaming expression seemingly etched onto his face. He slowly tore his gaze away from his new wife, who was talking to her father, dancing with him on the polished wooden floors of Harold's and Cora's childhood home.
"There is no need. It is me who has to thank you. I am incredibly grateful that I got to share this special day with you. I can't say that I have been waiting for it, because I haven't. I never thought any woman would ever want to tie herself to me forever, but now, here we are. Today, I married a wonderfully marvellous woman and got to share that day with my family. I got to share this day with you, even though you have been living on the other side of the ocean for decades, and I will never take that for granted. I want you to know that I will cherish this day and the last two weeks you spent here with us forever."
"Oh, Harold," Cora said, fighting the tears stinging her eyes. "I only wish Daddy could have been here to see this day. He would be so incredibly proud of you, I just know it. He would be so immensely proud to see his only son finally find the happiness he deserved all his life and with such a beautiful bride."
Cora beamed up at her brother from her seated position, angling her head upwards to look at him with barely repressed emotions. Her light blue eyes were already glistening with unshed tears when she eyed him from under the brim of her hat.
"What makes you so sure about that?" Harold asked, seeming quite surprised. His eyebrows were raised so high they might have disappeared in his hairline — had he not been balding for years now.
"Do you remember how you used to tease me about being so much like him when we were growing up?"
Cora waited while her brother tried to think back to their youth, eventually nodding slowly.
She then went on: "Harold, I know for certain that he would have been proud of you, because I am so immensely proud. I am so incredibly proud of the man you have become. You have changed – a lot, especially in the last few years. But I can finally see the happy young boy you used to be. After so many years, I see the boy who used to run around in the gardens, squealing in delight having one of the footmen chase him around, or the boy annoying everyone with his incessant questions about literally any topic he found himself interested in during the time. Forgive me for being this sentimental, but I truly missed that version of you, the happy Harold I recall from our childhood. I am just so incredibly grateful that I got to see him one last time and not the hard business you turned into as you grew up and older."
Cora reached for the handkerchief Robert had handed her during the ceremony to dry her tears. She had been emotionally overwhelmed when her brother had tied the knot with the young woman formerly known as Madeleine Allsop.
While she had sat there in the church, watching them both recite their vows to each other, she could not help but think of her own wedding day. She knew she must have had a similar look on her face when she had stood in the church, facing her darling Robert, as he slipped the gold wedding band on her finger on that cold day in February 1890. Cora knew it would be hard for Madeleine to adjust to what her new life would be here in America and she certainly sympathised with her. After all, she was doing the same thing as Cora had 40 years earlier. Both of them had left their homeland behind and moved to another continent to be with the men they loved, living in circles so different from the ones they were brought up in. But she was beyond happy for her brother, who had finally found his love match in Madeleine. And she was certain that her brother would do his utmost to give her the life she wanted.
Talking to her brother had her all emotional again, all this sentimentality was something she was not used to feeling.
Both siblings remained still, glued to their spots, as they were seemingly lost in their thoughts.
The music playing in the background changed from an upbeat tune to a slow waltz that sounded oddly familiar.
Suddenly, Harold asked: "Will you dance with me? You know, for old time's sake?"
He stretched out his hand for her to take, which, after some slight hesitation, she did. She already felt drained of almost all her energy after the ceremony and the following wedding breakfast. But when she looked up at him and saw his gaze, almost pleading with her to grant him this wish, she knew that she had to. This was likely going to be the last chance she would ever get to dance with him and she would not pass that opportunity up, she could not deny him or herself that. Especially not after he had gone through so much trouble to make this day possible on such short notice, solely for her.
Her brother carefully guided her to the small makeshift dance floor in the middle of the grand entrance hall of their home, slowly swirling her around to the slow waltz the gramophone was playing from its place near the grand staircase.
As they danced slowly, she remembered that one time their mother had made them practice dancing together when they were younger. It was a few weeks before she left America for her first season in London, and her mother wanted to see if her dancing would be sufficient for the grand ballrooms filled with potential sons-in-law. Her father had been away on some business that needed to be settled ahead of their trip that would take them to Europe for several months. Back then, there had been nobody else around she could have danced with, not even a hall boy. And so, little Harold had to step in after being shown the most basic steps, as his elder sister tried her best to guide him across the dance floor. His movements had been clumsy and he had stepped on her toes quite a few times, but it was one of her fondest memories with her brother, still engraved in her mind after so many years. Luckily, he had become a much better dancer in the decades since then.
And then, suddenly, she realised why she remembered that particular scene when she was in her brother's arms. The music they were dancing to was the same as all those years ago. That was why he had said for old time's sake.
He must have remembered this moment between them as well. He must have recognized the beginning of the piece and thought back to that moment over forty years ago when she had still been about a head taller than him and he had barely managed to keep his hand high up enough to dance with her properly. She couldn't help but smile widely at this.
And so Cora danced with Harold, not just to grant him this wish on his wedding day, but also for old time's sake.
Neither of them realised it, but the photographer they had managed to hire for the day tried to take a picture of them dancing upon Robert's request. Robert only hoped that the photograph would turn out alright. He knew that Cora would cherish a moment like this, captured in a single frame, forever — however long that might be.