Grey, lots of it. Dark grey. Some lighter strands here and there, even white. And yet it all just looked grey. Then she saw the last traces of brown amid all the grey, hinting at what once was, as they were being intricately pinned to her head.
Soft pink skin, very light. Almost too light, maybe, but she couldn't care less. Wrinkles, some etched deep into her face. She could not care less about those, either. She looked at herself with such intent that she did not even notice her maid's hands fixing the last tresses into her coiffure for the night. Instead, her eyes kept going over her reflection in the mirror. It still felt so foreign to her to look at herself like this, at her hair and her face, looking so old.
"All done, milady."
She was transported back to the real world when Baxter stepped away from her after putting some finishing touches on her hair for the night. Through the mirror in front of her, Cora looked at herself once more, this time with less focus on individual things and characteristics, and then smiled gratefully at her maid. Baxter had done a wonderful job once again.
Just before she could express her gratitude at the swift and gentle work in words like she always did, both of them heard the door to Robert's dressing room open to their left. Without even having to look over, Cora knew that he was standing there in the doorway, the handle still in his hand, while he looked at her for a second before finally closing the door and stepping into their bedroom. He always did this and just like any other night, she could count on him as he walked in dressed in his usual black tie, only to stop a short distance away from her behind his usual chair.
"Ah, I am right on time, I see," he said, sounding slightly surprised upon walking closer and seeing that Baxter had just finished her job for the evening. He leaned on the back of the chair with his left arm, smiling at his wife's maid who was already slowly retreating towards the door.
"You are. Thank you, Baxter," Cora replied, turning sideways in her chair to look at him standing there.
Just when the bedroom door closed behind the younger woman, Robert and Cora looked at each other intently for a few seconds without saying a word. A quick glance at his pocket watch before entering had told Robert that they still had plenty of time ahead of dinner and it would surprise him if any of the others were down long before dinner would be served. They were likely all still busy taking baths to wash off the dust and sweat after their long journey back from the French Riviera at the moment.
Breaking their eye contact, Cora tentatively asked: "We should go down, shouldn't we?". Her eyes wandered from his solid frame looming there close by to the door, looking at it with scepticism and reluctance in her gaze.
"We could," replied Robert, trailing off at the end. Slowly, he rounded his chair and let himself sink into the plush cushions as gracefully as he could, already dressed in his evening attire. All the work Bates had done the year before with taking in all his clothes after he had lost some weight with all the worrying he'd done had been excellent, but recently, with Cora finally getting better, he had gained a few pounds again. Especially his pants were fitting rather tight around his middle at the moment. A few nights ago, though, Robert had already asked Bates to try and undo most of his previous work and his old friend had only smiled and nodded at the request. The Earl's favourite day suits were already done and fit him again, but his evening clothes sadly did not.
"However," he went on, still trying to find a comfortable position, "I thought we could stay here for a few more minutes. They will not be down too early tonight, I think. And you could use the few extra minutes of rest because I am afraid we might have a rather long evening ahead of us as I am sure they have quite a few stories to tell after spending weeks in France."
Cora had already stretched out her hand to get her gloves from the dressing table when he spoke, and she stopped her fingers from touching the fabric. His words had the desired effects and his eyes followed her movements as her hands came to rest in her lap again, with a soft smile tugging on his lips. He knew she would never admit to it, but she still needed all these moments of calm and relaxation before dinner, even though they did not stay in the drawing room for too long after. Certainly not like they used to.
"You still haven't opened your brother's letter?" he asked perplexed only a second later. And indeed, the cream-coloured envelope lay there on the dressing table, untouched since she had placed it there earlier in the evening when they had gone upstairs to bathe and get changed for dinner.
Her eyes followed his gaze, running over the fine print facing her. Then, she shrugged her shoulders and said with a humorous glint in her eye: "There is no rush, I already know what he likely wants to tell me, if you remember?"
"You do not need to remind me of the fact that I betrayed my brother-in-law's trust like that," he jested. He pulled the armchair he had always inhabited just a bit closer to her and sat down once again, leaning forward as much as his constricting attire would allow. It was far from being as comfortable as it would be were he wearing his nightclothes, but he wouldn't complain. "But maybe there's more information now that a few more weeks have passed since his visit. They wanted to stop by on their way back to America, maybe he's asking about that?"
Heaving a theatrical sigh while playfully rolling her eyes at him, Cora stretched out her hand again in the direction of the dressing table, this time to reach for the envelope. With nimble fingers, she pried the flap open and extracted the paper sporting her brother's monogram in the top right corner. Robert watched as a soft smile began to play on her lips, getting brighter as her eyes took in the words in front of her, turning into a wide grin quickly. At some point, though, he saw her expression change to one of a more concerned nature and he could not help but feel concerned himself.
"What is it?" he asked as soon as he noticed the slight change.
Cora looked up from the page in her hands, now a frown on her face, handing him the letter from his brother-in-law.
Curiosity getting the better of him, he did not ask her again and instead took to reading the words scribbled in black ink while she once again set about putting on her gloves.
My dear Cora,
A few weeks have already passed since we stayed with you in your marvellous home, weeks we have put to good use travelling the continent as much as we could. Or rather the more Mediterranean parts of it. But that should come as no surprise to you, you know how much I despise dull and rainy weather, especially during the summer months.
Madeline and I both thought that now was the right time to tell you about our rather big news — even though I have little actual doubt that you don't already know. I would be more than surprised if my brother-in-law managed to keep quiet about this for this long.
We think that it is now safe enough to tell you that Madeline is expecting our first child, and by the time you will read this will be well into her seventh month. We would be more than delighted if your health would allow for you to come and visit us in Newport in November when the baby is born. Actually, we would love to have all of you come and stay with us for a while. The time we spent with your family at Downton earlier this summer was so lovely that we would love to share the joy of having a lot of family in the house with Mother once again. Life has become quite monotonous for her in recent years since she stopped entertaining close friends and acquaintances of hers, many of whom have sadly already passed away, and you know how much she always loved doing that, having lots of people around.
On another note, I am saddened that I have to say this, but we will not be stopping at Downton on our way back to America. In fact, we are cutting our trip short by two weeks and instead go home immediately. I have just been informed this morning that Mother has taken a fall down the stairs. Nothing major happened, or so I have been told, but I still would like to go back there as soon as possible. I do hope you will consider visiting us, though, if you can.
Please give everyone our best,
Harold
He let the paper he had been holding up to his face sink into his lap as he looked at her. The concern he had seen before still had not passed as she eyed him cautiously.
"Let me guess, you are concerned about your mother?"
"Well, yes. Of course, I am," Cora said, her eyes wide as she looked at him handing her the letter back. "She is 84 years old, a fall down the stairs is not to be taken lightly, and Harold going home immediately does not put me at ease at all."
Robert got up from his seat and extended his hands for her to take. "Darling, I am sure that he would have sent a telegram by now if there was any cause for worry. I just think he wants to be there for her as she recovers, like Mary did for you. You should not read too much into this. Maybe we should instead focus on the bigger question."
Hesitantly, she reached out, took his hands, and let him help her up.
Smoothing over the creases in her dark blue dress, she asked: "Which would be?"
"Do you feel well enough to once again make your way across the ocean in a few weeks?"
"With you by my side, I do," she smiled at that, lovingly gazing up at him.
He beamed proudly down at her before leading her out of their bedroom, down the stairs and into the drawing room just when Parker announced that dinner was about to be served.
The clatter of cutlery echoed around the room otherwise filled with companionable silence as they all enjoyed their dinner. It had been a while since they had all eaten here together, least of all because of the younger generation, as Robert had taken to calling them, visiting Sybbie's villa in France for 7 weeks. Originally, they had planned on only being gone for four weeks but kept sending letters postponing their subsequent return. Cora loved being able to look around the table and see them all gathered here around the dining table together.
Rosamund sat next to her as usual and the place to Robert's right, the one that had always been Violet's, was now occupied by Mary. Right next to her oldest daughter sat Tom, together with Lucy and Maud. A bit further down the table to her other side sat Edith opposite Bertie. They all looked quite sun-kissed, which was to be expected after their arguably quite long trip to the Riviera during the warm summer months. And of course, they had also invited Isobel and Dickie at the very last minute to this impromptu welcome home dinner.
Right as Parker instructed Albert to remove their plates, Cora decided to speak up: "I have some news from Harold to share with you all. He sent me a letter telling me that he and Madeline will sadly not come and stay with us before returning to America. But he also said that they were expecting their first child, so I think they are forgiven for going back on their promise."
Her words, partly spoken in jest, were not met with as much surprise as she had anticipated. Slightly confused, she looked first at Robert and then at Mary, who chuckled lightly to her surprise.
"Mama, we already know," she said softly as everyone just smiled knowingly.
"You know? But how?" interjected Robert even before Cora could inhale, his eyebrows knit together in confusion.
Still sporting a mischievous expression, Mary retorted: "How do you think his letter got here without a postmark?"
Cora looked around and saw everyone else amused at the exchange. As if they were all in on a joke only she and Robert were oblivious about. Well, the two of them and Isobel and Dickie. Even Rosamund looked as if she was aware of whatever it was.
Her amusement only thinly veiled, Edith joined in: "Mama, we know all about it because Uncle Harold stayed with us in France for two weeks before we returned. He and Madeline were the reason why we kept postponing our return."
"Uncle Harold gave me the letter when we were back in England and they made their way further to Southampton to go to America. He thought it would be faster this way, and I daresay he was right."