It seemed the line was never going to end. More and more people handed Cora their books for her to sign. She loved that so many people showed up. Many asked about the next one. But she could not say anything about it, since she had not started one.
After she had sent Sorcha to make sure Robert was not leaving, it felt like hours before she finally signed the last book.
Exhausted she leaned back in her chair. "That was unexpected." She sighed.
"The moment I read your book; I knew it would be a best seller." The bookstore owner said. "You should arrange more meet & greet events."
"We will look into that," Sorcha said. "Your editor must have ideas."
"Thank you for tonight." Cora shook the hand of the bookstore owner and followed Sorcha outside. "Is Robert at the white cross?"
"He said that they would go there and wait for us. So, I think he is."
Cora felt nervous butterflies. She had seen Rosamund very briefly before. And she had thought he was having a relationship with her. What would Rosamund think of her, did Robert tell her about her assumption? She hoped he had not.
When they walked into the pub, she saw his figure directly. He was sitting at the same table as he was previous. She noticed that Robert loved his routines. He was so adorable.
"Cora, come, come and sit down." Rosamund said while standing up.
Robert quickly turned around and when he saw Cora a wide smile appeared on his face. He got up and kissed her cheek. "It was amazing to watch you." he whispered, while placing his hand on her lower back.
Cora felt her cheeks colour.
"We ordered champagne." Rosamund said, while sitting down again.
Sorcha sat down next to her, giving Cora no other option than sit down on the bench next to Robert.
"I loved your story about the pianist." Rosamund started. "It sounds so romantic."
Cora chuckled. "The last time I heard the music, I decided to try and find where it was coming from. But unfortunately, I could not find the house. The player stays a mystery to me."
"You could write a book about it?"
Now Cora smiled at Rosamund. "Did you look into my notebook?"
Robert's mind started to wander. She had mentioned that pianist during the meet & greet and he was still not sure if he should tell her about his passion. He was not sure it was his music that had inspired her, but it was too much of a coincidence. When she mentioned that it had been silent for weeks, it could not be anybody else.
"Robert?" Cora's hand rested on his knee. "We can call it a night and just all go home?"
He quickly put a smile on his face and put his hand on top of hers. "We are here to celebrate you; I am sorry for wandering off. It is way too early to end our celebration already." He raised his glass. "On a very successful writing career."
Sorcha and Rosamund joined in, while Cora smiled. She loved the sensation of Robert's hand on hers, she loved it so much, that she almost forgot about Rosamund and Sorcha.
A couple of hours later, Rosamund leaned towards Robert. "Mama is expecting you at Downton tomorrow, is she not?"
"If she is, she will be in for a disappointment. I said to her that I would not be back before Monday afternoon. Tomorrow, I have far better plans." He winked at Cora, who had to fight the urge to pull him close and kiss his lips.
"I do not want to spoil the fun, but it is time for me to go home." Sorcha said.
Cora looked at her watch, it was close to midnight. "It is indeed late. We should all go home." She leaned in and kissed Robert's cheek. "I will see you tomorrow."
Robert was waiting at the entrance to the orangery. It seemed like forever for Cora to show up. He started to get worried. They had said the orangery, did they not? He looked at his phone again, but there was not missed call or a message.
After a while he checked his phone again, still no sign of Cora and not messages.
"You thought I would not show up?" Cora's voice sounded.
Quickly Robert turned around to where he heard her voice came from. He spotted her and felt his heart flutter. Her chestnut brown curls were down. She was wearing dark jeans, white a white blouse on top. It was simple, but she looked amazing. He stepped towards her and pulled her in his arms. Without waiting for her approval, he pressed his mouth on hers. While his hand moved to her neck, he noticed that she was not fully committed to the kiss, and she was even trying to softly puss him away. He stepped back and gave her a confused look. Why did she not want to kiss him, did he do something wrong?
"We are not alone." Cora murmured while looking at the ground.
Robert looked around, there were indeed other people in the garden, but he had not expected her to be bothered about that. "I am sorry, I did not know you did not want to kiss in public."
"It is not that." She still did not look up.
Robert took her hand in hers. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No. But my mum is here."
This made Robert look up. "Here? You mean here at Kew Gardens?"
"She arrived this morning, I did not know she was coming to London. She insisted on coming with me today. She is around the corner."
Robert now stepped back. "I am so sorry for kissing you. I did not know."
Cora grabbed his hand. "You could not know, and I loved it."
"Cora, what is taking you so long."
Cora quickly pulled her hand back, when a woman walked around the corner. "Mama, I am sorry that it took this long. I run into Robert."
"Robert? Who is Robert? I guess it is this guy?"
"Robert is a friend I made here, and I happened to run into him. Mama, this is Robert. Robert this is my mother. We could grab lunch together with the three of us?"
It clicked quickly in Robert's head, and he decided to play along. "If your mother is alright with that, I would love to join you two ladies for lunch."