My Dearest Darling

Chapter 14

Excitement was one word that could be used to describe the look on the man's face in front of them, sheer joy and surprise were others. Either way, it was an odd look, or so Robert found.

"How can you be here already? I only sent the telegram three days ago!" the man exclaimed, his arms spread widely and welcomingly.

They stood there in front of the open entrance door, waiting for Cora's brother to come out of the joyful stupor he seemed to be in. To them, it felt like hours passed until he finally walked closer and took the last few steps to reach them. Quickly, he then moved in to hug his sister close and shake her husband's hand.

"What Telegram?" Cora replied quizzically, unaware of the letter her daughter had opened that morning while they had been in the coach taking them from the harbour to her mother's house.

"Right, you can't have read it. Come on in, first. Mother will be overjoyed, I am sure. Come, come!"

It was strange, her brother rarely ever smiled as much as this and he certainly had never shown this rather bubbly and unrestrained side of his personality. Not even Cora had seen him like this, not ever, not even when they had been children. Or at least she couldn't recall that.

Robert and Cora looked at each other with questioning expressions. Both knew they were thinking the same thing, namely that this was highly unlikely behaviour on Harold's part. He was never in such a jovial mood, least of all around Robert or any other Englishman, for that matter.

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"Mother," Harold greeted after he had silently gestured for Cora and Robert to wait in the hall as he went in, leaving the door ajar.

"Yes?"

Cora only needed to hear that voice and was already feeling her emotions well up from deep within her, forming a lump in her throat. Just the simple Yes spoken in her mother's quite authoritative tone was enough.

"I have a surprise for you," Harold went on, not quite able to quell the excitement in his voice.

He didn't reply to Martha's puzzled expression and they saw from their place out in the hall, hidden behind the double doors that were only half-open, that he seemed to wait for her to stand up and turn to him to go on.

"What surprise is it this time?"

They could tell from her tone alone that Martha was already starting to get annoyed at her son. It had surprised them both in the first place that he had been there and not in his own home or even away, like he was so often, according to Martha's letters.

Sensing his mother's beginning agitation as she got closer to him, he turned to the doors, causing her eyes to follow his gaze there as well.

"Cora?"

It was a whisper. Barely more than an exhalation, really.

The elderly woman was leaning heavily on her walking stick on one side and the settee she was standing next to on the other, trying her best not to fall to her knees that had seemingly turned to jelly. Martha was not able to move, feeling entirely too stunned by the view in front of her. She did not trust her own eyes, and blinking rapidly, she asked: "Are you truly here?"

Cora barely managed to hold back the tears as she walked through the doors, pushing them open, almost running to her mother. Going against anything he had ever seen, they hugged and Cora seemed to hold on to her mother for dear life, as far as Robert could tell from his position a few feet behind them. This was nothing like any of Martha's arrivals in England prior to this when it was always just a quick kiss on the cheek, like society deemed appropriate for any greeting. This was different.

Robert hesitantly walked closer as well, not wanting to interrupt this important moment between mother and daughter. No matter at what age, scenes like this one always tugged on his heartstrings. Even at 60, one does not just stop being a child, and a parent's embrace can heal almost any wound, even when nothing else can.

Harold smiled another one of his rare wide smiles at the scene, his eyes wandering from his mother and sister to his brother-in-law and back. "Right, I will call down for something to drink."

With Harold out of the room, things started to become a little uncomfortable for Robert. He was still standing rooted to the same spot, patiently awaiting his turn to greet his wife's mother. Luckily, though, the women parted just as he was beginning to shuffle his weight from one foot to the other.

"And Robert! Come here. What are you even doing here? The telegram can't have possibly reached you already."

Martha smiled warmly and held her arms open, beckoning him in for an embrace as well. The sensation was unusual for him, very much so, but he still greeted her warmly in return.

"What is it with this telegram that everyone keeps talking about? We left Downton a week ago, so I am afraid we never had a chance to read it," Cora asked, sitting down next to her mother on one of the settees in the bright room with the great window front looking out into the garden. Robert was painfully aware that Cora was trying to steer clear of the topic of their unannounced but not unwelcome arrival, at least for a little while. Nobody would want to talk about matters like that immediately after arriving from a rather unpleasant week-long journey crossing the ocean.

"Oh, we have to wait for Harold to return if you want to talk about that. It is his story to tell, after all," Martha smiled with a happy glint in her otherwise quite rheumy eyes. "But tell me about the journey. Was it as horrible as the last time you crossed the ocean on your own, Robert?"

Just then, Harold came back in, followed closely by the butler carrying a tray with cups, biscuits, and sandwiches among other things they could not quite see from their seated position. Not wanting to leave the question entirely unanswered, Robert replied with a small smile: "Well, it was certainly more unpleasant than being at home, that is for sure."

"Now, Harold. This mysterious telegram. What is all that about?" Cora asked as soon as her brother had sat down as well and everyone had a steaming cup in their hands.

"I am getting married," he beamed.

Cora nearly let the cup in her hands drop to the floor, spilling the hot, freshly brewed tea on the carpet — but luckily, Robert had known her too well and reached for her cup right on time.

That was not to say he wasn't just as shocked as his wife, because he certainly was. His brother-in-law had always been a bachelor and they assumed he would always stay that, given he was now in his early fifties and had never expressed any particular interest in one woman, let alone the prospect of marrying.

"I know, it is hard to believe, but it is true. I am engaged to be married, and the planning is already well underway for a ceremony next August."

Coming out of their initial shock, Robert and Cora congratulated Harold, and Robert even patted the younger man's shoulder in acknowledgement.

"Who is she? Is there any chance we know her, or at least I?" Cora asked, a hint of pride in her eyes. But Robert thought he saw something else reflected in her bright blue eyes for a split second. He thought he saw the usual overbearing sadness and hurt return to the forefront of her mind that had been there since Doctor Clarkson had come to the house. Then she blinked and it was all gone again. Maybe he had only imagined it — he certainly hoped so.

"I think you do know her. Her name is Madeleine Allsopp."

"Allsopp? Madeleine Allsopp? Lord Aysgarth's daughter?" Robert stammered, more than slightly confused at this.

"Yes, that's her."

"But isn't she in England?" Cora interjected, sounding just as confused as her husband before.

"She was, yes, but she came here on a trip with her father a few months ago and arrived again just a week before you did. Apparently, Lord Aysgarth is still looking to remarry, this time wanting his bride to be from this side of the pond. Madeleine and I rekindled the sort of friendship we formed years ago when we met during Rose's season. After a few months of correspondence and her visits here, I asked her for her hand. She agreed, which is what the telegram I sent you said."