My Dearest Darling

Chapter 48

"Hello, my darlings!" Cora greeted enthusiastically as they reached her, each hopping onto the settee on either side of her.

"Where is Donk?" Caroline asked almost immediately, looking around the library as if her grandfather was merely hiding somewhere. He had done that once before, much to Cora's surprise, and the children had all loved it. She could not blame her youngest granddaughter for thinking he would do that again.

"You will have to make do with just me today, I am afraid. Donk has taken your Mama all the way down to London for some important business, and to meet Aunt Rosamund. They left very early this morning."

"Oh, that is alright," said George quickly, sounding not at all as if it was alright, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. The boy was quite bright for his age, especially when it came to reading people. "Do you want me to pour you a cup of tea, Granny?"

Cora had known he would ask, he always did. Barely suppressing her amused smile, she nodded gratefully. Upon that, her grandson all but bolted up and quickly poured her a cup, adding a tiny splash of milk, just the way she liked it. It had taken her quite a while to get used to this peculiar mixture of ingredients, but she had taken a fancy to it once that initial shock had worn off.

While George was busying himself with placing a slice of cake on the plate, Caroline got up as well and walked over to the shelf containing the several photo albums. At random, the little girl picked one of the hefty tomes and carried it back to the settee. "Can we look at some pictures today, Granny? We haven't done that in a while!"

Taking the cup and saucer from George with a smile, Cora turned to face Caroline and replied: "Of course, my dear. Let me have a sip of tea first and then we can go through that. Come, settle down, the two of you."

The young girl nodded her head excitedly and climbed back up onto the plush settee, settling into her grandmother's side while waiting patiently for her to put the cup down. George, however, was not as patient and snatched the thick, leather-bound book from his younger half-sister's tiny hands and opened it on the very first page.

Chancing a first look at the album Caroline had chosen, Cora's breath hitched momentarily and she was glad she had already swallowed her sip of tea or else she would have likely choked on it.

Whatever it was she had expected was far from this. Unbeknownst to her, Caroline had chosen the oldest album on the shelf. Cora had no idea who had compiled them all and put them in this tome — it contained photographs from their early years as husband and wife. Even some rarities from before then were to be found in there if she was not mistaken.

The three of them were looking at an old photograph, worn and faded as it was. "Granny, is that you?" wondered George as he pointed at the young woman smiling brightly back at them from the page.

She had not seen this photograph in years, maybe decades even. Mindlessly, her finger traced the edge of the photograph as her gaze and mind began to wander.

"Yes, George. That is me; many, many years ago. This photograph was taken on the day I got married to your Grandpapa," Cora said, suddenly feeling very nostalgic as she thought back to that day almost four decades ago. "As you can see, this was very long ago, I was only 21 years old, and your Donk 24."

"Donk had dark hair, too?" Caroline asked surprised, inching even closer to her Granny to get a better look at the image.

Cora couldn't help but huff a laugh at the childish innocence behind that question. Laughing, she said: "Yes, your Donk had dark and sometimes curly hair when he was young. But that was a long time ago now. When people get older, their hair starts to lose its colour, though, and it turns grey or even white. Remember Granny Violet? She had grey hair for longer than even I can remember." Cora winked at her grandchildren as they all laughed.