"Mama, what do you mean, my flight is booked?"
"I do believe you have ears and that I thought you how to listen. It is exactly what I said, I booked you a flight to New York. We will leave in two days. I already spoke with Christopher, and he is fully into it."
"Why did you call Christopher?"
"He is your editor and publisher, is he not?"
Cora sighed, what had her mother done behind her back? And why was she all of a sudden interested in her writing career? She had been the one cutting her off when she decided to move here.
"I asked you something." Martha bitched.
"Christopher is my editor indeed. You did not answer my question why you called him!" Cora was not going to let her mother bully her around.
"Since your book is such a success here in England and even back home. We discussed how much more fame you could get doing a book tour in America. I booked your flight, together with me back home. We will go on a book tour. Christopher helped with an American publisher; he said it would help with getting you into the more high-end bookstores."
"I do not understand this, Mama. First of all, my home is here in London." She saw her mother raising her eyebrows. "I got the understanding, that me becoming a writer was a bad idea and that therefore you would not pay for anything."
Martha sighed. "Do not be this childish. Imagine your books in the best bookstores in America. People coming in for your autograph. You could even get invitations for talk shows."
"Do I understand correctly that now it turned out I can write that you suddenly support my choice? And on top of that, that you want me to come back to New York?"
"Why would you not come back to New York? The whole idea of moving to London was a crazy idea, you have grown, and you do understand that New York has so much more to offer you?"
Now it was Cora's time to sigh. "I am happy here in London, my book is selling, and I am working on a new one. I do not see why New York would offer me more. I can only see that I will be back in a city that I never truly loved. The reason why I got to write this book was mainly because of London. The calm I find here, I will never find in New York."
"We will buy you a nice house just outside of the city, so you have your calm surroundings."
"That is not the same and you know that. There is something about this city that helps me write."
"Well, we will see about that. But for now, you have to come with me to New York, you are expected at Argosy Book Store in three days for a book signing and little meet & greet. Our flight leaves tomorrow in the afternoon. You need to go and pack your suitcase." Martha looked at the clock. "What time are you normally eating dinner?"
Cora was too stunned to react properly. She stammered that she would have dinner sometime around half past six. That would be in about one hour.
'Robert, are you free? Can we meet somewhere?' Cora texted, hoping Robert would read it.
'We could go to the pub?'
Cora was relieved when his answer came this quickly. She was not sure about meeting at the pub. She wanted some more privacy and quiet around them. 'What about Richmond Green? Maybe a pub is a bit too busy?'
'I will be at Richmond Palace in about thirty minutes.'
Cora quickly checked if her mother was in her bedroom, she was not planning on telling her about this meeting. She hurried towards the park, she could not wait to see Robert and tell him about her mother's interference.
Robert was standing in front of the remnants of the palace. What was so important that Cora wanted to meet him outside. Her mother showing up had surprised him and apparently it had also surprised Cora. Was there something wrong, did she bring bad news? His own mother had left several voicemails he had seen, but he decided to ignore it for now. He would deal with that tomorrow when he would be back at Downton. He already knew that she would yell at him, but for now he did not care. He was going to see Cora again and that was the only thing on his mind.
"Hi." Cora's soft voice came from behind him.
"Hi." He smiled foolish at her. Every time he saw her, he was amazed by her beauty. Her blue eyes were like the sea, there was so much he could see in them. It felt as if she would never be able to hide something from him, because her eyes would tell him the truth. She had her curls up into a ponytail, but as he had seen before, some curls escaped and were dangling around her face. He smelt her perfume; it was still that same flowery scent.
Cora wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek against his chest. A bit confused, Robert put his arms around her and held her close. "Did your mother have some bad news?" He inquired when he realised, that Cora was not going to stop hugging him. He felt her shake her head. He was not sure if she was saying yes or no. "Cora?"
She pushed herself back and looked up into his eyes. She could drown in them. "I need to go back to New York tomorrow afternoon."
"What? Why? What happened?" Robert tried to not sound desperate, he knew he was going back to Downton, but that was closer than New York. Downton was only a couple of hours by car. New York was on the other side of the world, it felt.
"My mother decided that now I turned out to be better at writing than that she had thought that I need to do book tours in America. Only because she wants to show off with me. She realised that she could tell her friends that she has a famous daughter, as soon as she gets me on all the talk shows."
"Is that something you would want too?"
"Be shown off like a price horse? No far from it. I am all for doing those meet & greets we had in a bookstore yesterday evening. It is small and there is time for everybody. What my mother has in store for me, is not me. I do not like to be in the centre of attention. I just want to write and share my stories with the world."
"Can you not just say no?" Robert realised how stupid that sounded coming from him.
Cora chuckled. "I think that you know how hard it is to say no to your mother. I have a feeling your mother and my mother are very much alike."
"Do not tell that to my mother, she would not be happy to be compared to an American." Robert touched Cora's cheek. "She does not know how amazing people from the United States can be." He winked.
Butterflies started to fly around in her stomach. "Oh Robert. Why does everything have to be so difficult. We said that we would find a way to be together, but it feels like it is not meant to be."
Her words shocked Robert was she trying to break up. They did not fully commit that they were in a relationship, but it felt like he belonged to her already. "What do you mean?"
The scared look in his eyes made Cora want to run away. Why does everything have to be this hard. She wanted to be with Robert, but first his father's health got in the way and his responsibility to Downton. And now she was pulled away from the one place she had ever felt at home. And she did not only mean the city.
A droplet fell down on Robert's head. He looked up and saw that it started raining. He looked around, but there was not much they could go for cover. There was the gate house where they could go. "Come we should try and get some cover." The soft rain became heavy rain very quickly and they were drenched before they reached the gate house.
Cora's giggles echoed on the walls, she leaned against Robert. His hair was dripping. She went with her hand through it. "You have curls." She said.
"They are not as beautiful as your hair is." He smiled down at her. His eyes wandered to her blouse. She was still wearing the same clothes as this afternoon in Kew Gardens. The rain had made it see through and he had to admit, that he liked what he saw. He felt heat creeping up and he tried to ignore the feeling. This was not the time and place to get overwhelmed by lust. But he also realised that he could lose her forever.
"Let's go back to my house." He murmured, while he pressed his lips to the skin just behind her air. "I cannot let you go this soon."
