About Last Night: A Downton Abbey Prequel

Chapter One

Rule number one of surviving a London season was not to let the excitement and endless parade of parties go to your head like your first glass of Cristal champagne. Cora, unfortunately, learned that lesson the hard way because Cristal was delicious. Somehow that particular type of champagne hadn't made it to the new world, not that her mother ever let her drink except for her 18th birthday at the beginning of the year, on New Year's Eve and perhaps during the holidays on either Christmas Day or Hanukkah. 

One month on her Mother's trip to parade Cora around like a show pony amongst the fashionable society of the Old World, and Cora wasn't sure if she had the stamina for the rest of the summer. Far better for her would be being at home with her best friend Gloria, her dog and her horse. Many happy summers had been spent that way to date, and despite her Mother's incessant goal of constantly bettering Cora, she thought things were good enough since she was happy. 

By comparison, the stuffy Belgravia ballroom she was currently navigating was as overdone as a croquembouche. It dripped in candlelight, jewels, heavily perfumed air and, depending on what old Lord she was dancing with, alcoholic breath. Still, she had been trained from an early age how to paste a permanent smile on her face, thanks to her mother's exhaustive training. Always smiling through uncomfortable situations or dull conversations was one of the easier lessons for Cora. Especially compared with her Mother's other torturous ideas like spending the day with a rod tied to her back to improve her posture. There was nothing Martha Levinsohn wouldn't do to prove to the world that Cora was the perfect partner, daughter and potential Lady.

Around her, the music swelled and added to the overwhelming sensation this evening's ball, given by Lady Chalmers, was giving her.

"My dear, you look like you could use a drink, or some air. Probably both!". Francesca, her new - and only - friend in London appeared before her having just finished a quadrille with the not-so-good-looking but very well-to-do Viscount Hastings.

Cora smiled genuinely at her.

"Three balls in three days, plus the day's activities at Henley are all catching up with me. But please, don't let Mama see me look peaked. She's always so over the top about these things."

Francesca laughed, "You Americans. There's not much I could do to provoke my mother to be over the top about anything. Shall we have some punch?"

The two girls crossed the vast room and found the table and punch bowl, enjoying two heavy crystal glasses and a moment of quiet to assess the gossip and success of the evening so far. Cora's outsider status meant she had a lot of catching up to do with the who's who of London society, and how the many intricacies of British peerage all fit in amongst each other. The silver lining was that as the new girl, and the new girl with plenty of money, it didn't take long to get interest. Francesca, known to most as The Honorable Francesca Bromley, having grown up between London and Paris had the advantage of knowing the family histories of most guests, as well as being one of the most sought-after heiresses of their season.

"Did you see how Lord Armiston trod on my foot in the middle of the quadrille before? I honestly struggled to keep going!"

"I saw that." Cora smiled, "I had to stifle a laugh because Viscount Dudley was talking my ear off about his latest horse or something like that. Honestly, as if I didn't hear enough about it last week at Lady Colston's soiree. Why do British men only ever seem to want to talk about their dogs and horses?"

"It's true. I find with a well-timed nod, and a 'hmmm how fascinating' you can get away without contributing much to the conversation but they love you for being so interested"

This was one of the many reasons Cora loved Francesca as a friend. Aside from the fact her presence felt like a life ring in a sea of new faces and daily social events, she always knew how to have the right amount of fun at every occasion, and tonight was no different.

"I walked past your Mama earlier", Francesca continued, "I could hear her talking to the Countess of Grantham, and Lady Calthorpe -"

"Oh NO" Cora gasped and grabbed Francesca's wrist, horrified. While Lady Calthorpe had become something of a family friend during their time in London, the Countess of Grantham was a notoriously brittle bird who did not look on Americans with anything close to affection.

Francesca smirked, alluding that Cora's best guess as to how the conversation went was right. "Yes, she was enthralling them with a tale about Cinc-Cinc-Cin-satty is it?"

"Oh, Cincinnati. Ohio," she explained

Francesca turned around, looking for whoever Cora was greeting, "who are you saying hello to?"

"No. Ohio, it's a state. That's where I was born? It's in the Middle West."

"Oh, it sounds... fascinating. Anyway," she continued, "did you see Lady Grantham's son is here tonight as well? I heard that he and Arabella have gotten very close. At Lady Colston's last week, they danced four dances together!"

"Have I met him?" Cora had met too many people this month to be able to remember everyone by name, she'd stuck to giving the familiar faces nicknames in her mind

Francesca feigned dramatic shock, "Well yes dear, don't you remember meeting Lord Thirsk a few weeks ago at the Opera we were at? I thought he was paying particular attention to you but you never mentioned much since."

"Oh of course, I can be so thick-headed sometimes." Cora's self-deprecation was another one of the side effects of her Mother's neverending training and improvement lessons. No matter how good something was, it never quite satisfied her, and she never felt perfect. "He certainly was very complimentary. But not my type I don't think, he seemed too nice and not nearly dashing enough."

"Cora is looking for a devil may care, pirate-type husband. I'll have to remember that one for the Bellfries Ball in two weeks, it's so big that you'll find him there!"

"I hope so, Mama is putting the pressure on thick. I don't think she wants to come back next year for another season if I don't receive any proposals, or at the very least attachments, by the end of the summer."

"Will you be back to New York then?"

"Oh no, it'll be Paris with Mama. She always has to stop by Worth's for new winter clothes of course, and then we'll go on to Switzerland afterwards. Mama loves the mountains in the Fall. Of course, if I'm not engaged then I think we'll return to New York before Christmas."

"That sounds heavenly Cora. One does get so bored of the grey skies in London-" Francesca stopped short with a small smile, prompting Cora to turn and see what caught her attention. "Cora, he's not a pirate type exactly, but allow me to introduce the charming Lord Robert Crawley."

Cora took in the watery blue eyes, boyish look and nonchalant attitude of the man before her and had never missed home - and the man she loved there - more.