"Did you get a chance to get some sleep, or did Robert keep you awake?" Rosamund asked while they walked towards the restaurant.
Cora felt her cheeks blush. "He woke me up but made sure I could fall asleep easily again."
"I do not think we want to know the details." Sorcha joked.
"Sorcha! It was nothing of that sort."
"Oke, so tell us his secret to get you sleeping. I would love to know and get a good night's rest." Sorcha replied.
Cora tried to find a way out of this without spilling his secret. He put on some calming piano music which worked like magic." She decided to change the subject. "Did you do anything fun this afternoon?"
"Not much to be honest. I spent most of the afternoon researching what to do in Bath since we will be there soon."
"I heard that we should go to Sally Lunn, a nice tearoom in the oldest house of bath." Rosamund said cheerful.
"We should get our afternoon tea there then." Cora smiled. "We could ask Marmaduke and Robert to join us." She looked at Sorcha. "If you do not mind?"
"I thought this was a girl's trip?"
"I can ask Marmaduke to bring Peter with him. And is there someone special in your life you would like to invite?" Rosamund tried to convince Sorcha to agree.
Sorcha snorted. "The only one I ever would want in my life is taken." Her cheeks coloured slightly. "But go ahead and invite them, but when you think I will babysit Peter, you are wrong."
Cora looked at her friend and suddenly realised who she meant.
"I miss my little boy a lot and would love to cuddle him. I understand this is a girl's trip, but being away from my baby for so long is quite hard and yes I also miss Marmaduke."
"I will go for a little walk." Cora said. "Sorcha do you want to join me?"
Rosamund winked at Cora; she understood that she wanted to talk with her friend.
Cora hooked her arm in Sorcha's without waiting for her answer. "It is such a nice evening." She started to walk towards the river. When they were alone Cora looked at Sorcha. "If you really are against inviting Robert and Marmaduke, we will not invite them."
Sorcha shrugged. "If it makes you happy." Her voice trailed away.
"It would make me happy. But seeing you unhappy will erase that happy feeling immediately. I care too much about you, to see you like this."
"Like what?" Sorcha sounded defensive.
"Unhappy. And I am sorry, I did not realise your feelings were this strong."
Sorcha stopped walking and looked at Cora. Her eyes were big and a bit scared. "What do you mean?" She asked unsure.
"Sorcha, I have always loved you as my best friend and I never realised your feelings were more than just friends. If I had known..."
"Then what?" Sorcha interrupted. "Would you have stayed friends with me? Knowing I would want you as my wife?"
"You have joked about hitting on me in the past. I did not mind."
"Joking about flirting is different from actual flirting." Sorcha wanted to walk away, but Cora held her back.
"I am sorry for not being able to answer your feelings." She said softly touching her arm.
"That is alright. I have known from the first day we met that you were straight. But I did not realise how important you would become for me. And I meant what I said earlier tonight, I rather stay single, because nobody can beat you."
Cora did not know how to react. She wanted to pull Sorcha in her arms and comfort her. But what if she did not want that? Then she realised she never had kept back with giving her hugs. She pulled her into her arms. "I do love you."
"As a friend. I know." Sorcha pushed herself back. "And that is perfectly alright."
Cora raised her hand and laid it against Sorcha's cheek. "I do not want to lose you as my friend."
Suddenly Sorcha bent forward and pressed her lips very briefly on Cora's but pulled back the same second.
Confused Cora stepped backwards. "Sorcha?"
Sorcha's face was bright red, and she started to stammer. "Oh no. Oh no, what have I done? Why did I do this? Oh no. I am so sorry. So sorry." She buried her face in her hands. "Now I have ruined everything." A soft sob came from her mouth.
"You think I would ever let you go as my friend?" Cora smiled at her, trying to understand what just happened.
"I had no right doing that. Please forgive my stupidity."
"Sorcha." Cora wrapped her fingers around her arm. "I think I understand what happened. This is the first time in a very long time that we have been together without anybody else around us. And I cannot blame you for trying this out."
"Did you like it?" Sorcha asked surprised.
"I did not say that." Cora's soft reassuring smile was still on her face. "But I can understand that it happened."
"It was worth a shot." Sorcha giggled.
"But please do not try this again." Cora's eyes got a bit harder. "I love you as my best friend, but nothing more. My heart belongs to Robert."
Please, do invite Robert and Marmaduke to Bath. Two weeks with just you and Rosamund is starting to get boring." Sorcha said this with a smile, trying to make the situation lighter.
"Well, that is very nice of you." Cora joked. "Thank you for being this open with me."
"I think that I have to thank you for being this understanding and not sending me away."
"Never. But let us keep this between us. I am not sure how happy and forgiving Robert will be."
"I did not intend to ever talk about this again. It was a spur of the moment, stupid mistake, that I will never make again. Now let's go back to the hotel, it is getting late and tomorrow will be another traveling day."
"We do need our rest." Without realising Cora put her hand on her abdomen.
Sorcha saw the movement but decided to ignore it for now.