The night was light, a soft breeze let the trees rustle. The smell of autumn was already noticeable. It was her favourite season. The time of year to lid candles, drink pumpkin spice drinks. Wrap yourself in a blanket en listen to beautiful music.

Together with Harold, they had enjoyed dinner at the café. Robert suggested to go for a walk, Harold had left them alone, so they could talk.
Cora slid her arm in Robert's, and they had now been walking for quite some time. Without saying a word, they enjoyed the surroundings and the comfort of being close to each other.

"I still cannot believe you are here." Cora broke the silence, while brushing with her fingers over Robert's arm.

Robert looked at her and smiled. "I feel the same. But I am very glad that I came. It was one of the best idea's I had recently."

Cora chuckled. "I do not think that your mother agrees with that."

Robert stopped walking, he turned towards Cora and put his hand under her chin. "Let us not think about our Mama's. Let us enjoy this moment that we are together. Whatever lies ahead of us, we are here now, and we are together."

A soft smile played around Cora's lips, while he raised her chin further and pressed a kiss on her lips. It was a brief one. She wrapped her arm around his back and started walking again. "You are right." She inhaled. "Do you smell this too?"

"What do I need to smell?"

Cora laughed. "I guess that you do not smell it. I can already smell autumn."

"I never knew that the seasons had a smell." Robert said surprised.

"Oh, but they do. Summer has a sweet smell, mostly flowers. Winter has a fresh smell, that crisp air you can smell when it is freezing. Spring has the smell of fresh grass. Autumn for me has the smell of falling leaves and mushrooms."

With a chuckle, Robert pointed at the trees. "Darling, they are all still very much green."

Cora poked his side. "I know, but there is already that first smell that belongs to autumn for me. And it is the best smell ever. Although." She took a deep breath through her nose. "I do smell something better at the moment." She stopped walking and pressed her nose in Robert's neck. "Yes, much better." She pressed her lips against his skin.

Robert had used his DIOR - Sauvage tonight.

"You remember the last time we met in the supermarket and went for a drink that same day?" Cora asked.

A bit confused Robert said. "Yes, I do remember that day. Why?"

"You had used a different perfume, and that smell was even better." She had rested her head against Robert's shoulder, he was too tall for her to lay her head on his shoulder.

"Do you mean that? Because I did change my perfume, thinking you would not like that Musky smell I had on that day."

"You are silly." Not far ahead was a bench. "Can we sit down for a minute?" Cora said, while walking towards the bench. Robert did not argue, it would only mean they would stay out here longer.

"Where do you have to go tomorrow?" Robert asked.

"How do you know I have to go somewhere tomorrow?" She moved her hand to his leg, so Robert could take hers. She intertwined her fingers with his.

"I talked with you dear brother, as I told you before. He helped me getting here on time, before you would leave for the next book tour."

Cora had rested her head on his shoulder, she sighed. "I forgot about that. I can cancel?"

Robert put a hand on her cheek. "No, you will not cancel. You and your mother will finish this book tour and then I will take you back home."

"Home?"

"Yes, home. I will take you back to London, the city where you belong."

"I do feel at home in London. But you are not in London?" Cora pouted.

"I talked with my father about that. He is doing a lot better, and he wants to do more in the company again. Yes, of course, in the future I will need to move to Downton and be the Lord of the house and the estate. But for now, I can go back to London and manage things from there. My father even said that the business had thrived with me being in London." Robert wiggled his hand out of Cora's and wrapped it around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. He pressed a kiss on the top of her head. "We said it before: we will make this work."

"Until now we are not doing a good job, are we?" Cora sighed.

"I do not know what you mean." Robert tried to play innocent. "Look at us, sitting on a bench somewhere in a park. Having a good conversation. There is one thing that could improve this situation." He looked into Cora's eyes, and he enjoyed her confusion. Before she could ask what, he meant, he crashed his mouth on hers. She parted her lips, and he found her tongue. Her hand went up to his neck, where she firmly pulled him closer. Her body turned towards him; he could feel her breast against his ribs. The way she tried to crawl into him, made his excitement grow. He moaned, what made Cora break the kiss.

"Did I do something wrong?" She rested her hand on his stomach.

"Dear Cora, please stop being this insecure. You are the most perfect woman I have ever laid eyes on. It is a privilege that I am allowed to kiss you. You just made me very excited, what is an intense feeling."

"Oh" Cora felt her cheeks turn brightly red; she knew that even her ears coloured. It was such a special thing to hear, especially from the man that stole your heart. "This scene is somewhat familiar." Cora smiled softly.

"The music is so lovely; it floats through the air like sunlight or the sweetest birdsong. His hand is warm and safe in yours. Your head is resting on his shoulder as he caresses your hand with his thumb." Robert could dream the words. "Did you ever finish those lines?"

Cora shook her head. "I ripped them out of my notebook because I did not think it was something good."

"You should finish it, make a short poem out of it, or something. You could even use it for your next book."

Cora sat up straight again, kneading her hands in her lap. "I have not written much for the new book yet. It just does not work; I do not know where to start. I am not even sure if I want to write a sequel, or a whole new book."

Robert put his hand on her knee, not sure if she wanted him to do that. She did not pull back, that was a good sign. "I can help you with your inspiration. We know that the café we were this afternoon has a piano." He winked at her.

"You also know that I will not be in New York for the next couple of weeks." Cora's voice got dark, she shifted away from Robert.

Quickly Robert pulled his hand back. "Cora, I do promise you one thing." He turned towards her. "I will be waiting for you. I will be here when you come back and then we will go back to London together. If I had more time, I would even go with you on this tour, so we would have more time already."

Cora felt a tear on her cheek. "Oh Robert." her voice broke.

Softly Robert brushed the tear away. "We are going to find a way. Our way and maybe we will go against our mother's will, but it is high time we are going to make our own choices. Choices based on what we want, and not what our mother's want us to do." He took Cora's chin between his thumb and fingers again. "We deserve to be together."

"We deserve to be happy." Cora whispered, leaning in for a long and tender kiss.