Cora felt all heads turning towards her. She wanted to grab Robert's hand, but she knew he would not appreciate that. She needed to get used to all these people looking at her. Although it felt differently today, they were not only staring, but as soon as she walked past, she could hear them whisper to each other.
She kept walking next to Robert. They were on their way to the pub, to see how the Watson's were doing.
Robert slid his hand over Cora's back. "You do not need to be nervous." He said softly.
Cora was startled slightly; she was not expecting to be touched by him. She smiled at him. "Thank you dear." She could still hear the people whispering, she tried to ignore it. In the meantime, they had reached the pub.
Mr Watson was standing in the doorframe. "Thank you for coming again."
"We wanted to be sure everything was alright with you two and if there is something we can do."
"The damage in our house is substantial and we are not sure we can rebuild, without having to close the pub." Mr Watson answered.
"Why would you need to close the pub?" A villager asked.
Mr Watson looked at the man who asked the question. "We will need money for it, it seems like we will have to sell the pub." He sighed. "Unfortunately, I know there is a buyer, but he is not from Downton, and I would not want to see a foreigner exploiting this pub."
Cora tried to get Robert's attention, there must be a way they could help. She touched his arm, and he immediately turned his head towards her. He got an alert look in his eyes. "We could help?" She said softly. She saw his eyes soften and he nodded.
"When money is the only reason why you would have to sell the pub, we will help you with that. You could get an interest-free loan from us. That way you will not have to worry about financial problems. We would not want somebody from outside Downton to take over your pub."
"That would be great if that is possible."
"I will ask Mr Murray to make a contract this afternoon." He turned towards Cora. "There is a tea house that I want to show you, do you fancy a cup of tea?"
Cora was surprised by his question. "I would love to." She answered although she would have loved to go back to the house. She was not sure how much longer she could handle the people staring at her.
"Good afternoon, Milord. Do you want a table at the back?" The lady in the tearoom asked with a smile.
"Is the garden open?"
"We have not yet opened the garden, but if you want, we can make a table ready for you and Lady Crawley."
Robert glanced at Cora; he noticed that she was uncomfortable. "We would like that very much."
While they followed the lady to the garden, Cora could hear the whispering.
'She does look good. Does she not?' One woman said.
'I was not expecting to see her in the village again.' A second woman added.
'It is a shame they need to take time to be here instead of being together.' A third woman commented.
'She must be a brave woman.'
Cora slid her arm through Robert's. What were they talking about? Why was she brave?
'They could have been the perfect next Lord and Lady Grantham. Do you think he will find somebody else?'
Cora shivered, why did they think Robert would need to find somebody else?
"Are you alright sweetheart?" Robert's concerned voice sounded.
This made Cora look up and she forced a smile.
"Can you tell me what is wrong?" He said softly while pressing a kiss on her temple.
She brushed over his arm. "In a minute."
Robert understood that she did not want to tell him while people were able to listen in.
"Thank you, we will be alright for now. I will come inside when we need something." Robert said to the waitress. She nodded and walked away. Robert's fingers brushed over the back of Cora's hand and arm. "What happened?" He asked her, while his fingers came to a rest at the inside of her wrist.
"Did you not hear the villagers talk?" Cora moved her arm, so his hand was resting in hers.
"I must admit that I do not listen to their whispers. I try to ignore it." His fingers brushing over her hand.
Cora sighed. "They talk as if you need to find a new wife soon. Do you think somebody at the hospital talked about us?"
"Hmmm." Robert shook his head. "No, I do not think they would do that. But who could do something like this." He rested his hand against his chin, something he always did when he was thinking. Suddenly his head shot up. "What if... I do hope it is not who I think it is."
"Can you fill me in please?" Cora had one in her head, and she desperately hoped it was not.
"What if my mother has been telling people about your condition and they made it worse?" He took Cora's hand in both of his hands and squeezed it. "If I find out it was my mother, we will go back to London immediately. I will not tolerate this behaviour.
Cora put her other hand on top of their joined hands. "Let us not get too far ahead. Maybe it was somebody else, your mother would not deliberately do something like this."
"You underestimated her my darling."
"Maybe, but I like to keep looking at the positive things. Once we find out where the rumours are coming from, we can share the good news."
Robert's eyes went down to her abdomen and back up to her eyes. "Are we telling about the little been?"
With a wide smile, she put her hand protectively on her belly. "This bean will stay our little secret for a little bit longer. No, I meant about my health."
"Good, I love having this little secret with you." The way he looked into her eyes made her melt. "I need to compliment you for this afternoon."
"Oh?" Cora pulled her hand back to pick up a crumpet that was set on the table when the tea was brought.
"When you made me aware that we could help them financially, I realised that I had not thought about that possibility."
"We need to talk," Robert said when they walked into the drawing and saw his parents sitting there.
"What happened my boy?" Patrick said surprised. He could hear that Robert was angry.
Robert took Cora's hand in his when they sat down. "Mama, I need you to be honest with me." He paused, he felt his heart racing in his chest. He was still a bit scared of his mother, but he needed to have this cleared up. If his mother were the one spreading the rumours he would not forgive her. He felt Cora softly squeezing his hand. "We went to the village this morning to see how the Watsons were doing, and we noticed something while we were there." He was not sure how to ask his mother this without her getting angry. He decided to not be too careful. "They were talking about Cora as if she is gravely ill. I need to know if it was you who told people about Cora's condition." He saw his mother's eyes grow big and then very small.
"Are you suggesting that I am airing out our dirty laundry and then also lie about said laundry?" She gave Robert a harsh look. "I do hope that I am misunderstanding you."
"Robert? Why would you think it was your mother?"
"I do not know. Maybe, because from the start she has not welcomed Cora into this family at all."
"That is correct, I did not. That, however, does not mean I would spread rumours about her in the village and it pains me to know you think that low of me."
Cora felt Robert's hand getting wet, she glanced at him and his cheeks were also starting to get red. She rested her leg against his, trying to reassure him.
"I am sorry Mama. When it comes to Cora, I am overprotective."
"It is good that you love her so much and that you want to protect her, but let's be realistic. Your mother would never shame Cora publicly. But we will find out who did."
"We will make sure the village knows that you are doing well and make the rumours stop," Violet said. "Now, it is time to go up for a little rest my dear." She looked at Patrick.
While Violet and Patrick left the drawing room, Carson stepped back inside. "Milord?"
Both Robert and Cora looked up at him.
"I am sorry, but I overheard your conversation, and I think that I know who started these rumours. It is coming from inside the house."
"Who is it?" Cora asked surprised.
Carson scraped his throat. "I am not 100% sure yet, but my suspicion is that miss O'Brien has talked."
"O'Brien?" Cora's voice went up.
"She has a nasty side, and she is the only one I could think of doing something like this."
"Where is she? We will talk with her and if she is the culprit, she has to go look for a new job. She will not be allowed in this house and close to Cora ever again."