"Love is a Choice" by Gratiana Lovelace, 3/15/13 (Completed)

Ch. 9: Anna Meets the Rest of Her Papa's Family and Their Friends

"Love is a Choice", Ch. 9:  Anna Meets the Rest of Her Papa's Family and Their Friends,  March 29, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace

(An original story by Gratiana Lovelace; All Rights Reserved)

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story with my dream cast of:  Richard Armitage as Lord Rafe Wingate, Carla Gugino as Lady Katharine Wingate, Lesley Nicol as Mrs. Plunkett, Emilie Francois as Anna, Mark Strong as Sir Collin MacGregor, Alan Bates as Lord Charles Wingate, and Christian Bale as Stuart MacGregor, and others, etc.]

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Author's Mature Content Note:  "Love is a Choice" is a story of love and romance set in the early to mid 1800's.  I like Regency sensibilities with regard to comedy of manners, but Romantic period modes of dress.   Ha!  As such there will be some passages in this story involving heartfelt love scenes (perhaps some R rated) and some passages involving highly dramatic moments.  I will label the maturity rating of those chapters accordingly.  Otherwise, the general rating for this story is PG or PG-13 due to some mature situations and topics.  If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide, then please do not read the chapters with those labels.  This is my disclaimer.

Author's Recap from the previous installment:   Eleven year old Anna Miller discovered her true parentage, and that her Papa was not married to her dear departed Mama, Fanny Miller--meaning Anna is illegitmate, which causes her much heartache.  She railed against her father, Lord Rafe, whose all too brief  acquaintance with being a father has not prepared him for assuaging his daughter's concerns, nor knowing how to mend her sorrowful heart.  But in the end, Anna's Grandmama, Lady Wingate, reprimands and then consoles Anna.  And surprisingly, it is Anna's Grandpapa, Lord Charles Wingate, who provides the comic relief needed to puncture the tense situation--by his hunger overruling cancelling their dinner party this evening.  So Lord Wingate and Lord Rafe head to their guests in the main sitting room to inform them of a slight delay in dinner, even as Lady Wingate and Lady Katharine take Anna upstairs to change into a suitable gown for the dinner party the Wingate's are hosting for Lord Rafe and Lady Katharine to further celebrate their wedding with close family and friends..

"Love is a Choice", Ch. 9:  Anna Meets the Rest of Her Papa's Family and Their Friends

After entering what will become Anna's bed chamber--Anna's Aunt Louisa's girlhood bed chamber--the Ladies Leonora and Katharine instantly set upon the closet to find a suitable dress for Anna wear at this evening's dinner party.    Anna stands in the middle of the charmingly feminine pink bed chamber done in the French style [(2) right]. Anna smiles as she looks around the bed chamber.  She has never seen such a beautiful room.  

The window valance drapes are a deep pink, trimmed in gold--the fabrics and design also found on the bed canopy, but in pink velvet for warmth on cold winter nights.  And the bed linens are also a pale pink silk trimmed in gold with ornately embroidered flowers trimming the corners with a lovely embroidered pale green vine flowing between the corner flowers and connecting them.  The softly cushioned chairs on either side of the hearth are embroidered with delicate pink flowers and bees--but you have to look closely to see them.

Having a French design for a bed chamber is perhaps not very patriotic of the Wingate family, since Britain is so often at war with France.  But it is a room that was designed for a little girl--the then little Lady Louisa.  And little girls are above politics. 

Finding what they are looking for, Lady Wingate holds up in front of Anna a light blue silk frock with a white linen collar scarf and a pretty blue ribbon sash in front--in a rather similar style gown to what Lady Wingate is wearing [(3) right].