“North & South: John Thornton, Love Lessons”, Ch. 26: Wedding Planning Dresses and Such, February 3, 2014 Gratiana Lovelace
(An original fan fiction copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace; All rights reserved; Based on the Elizabeth Gaskell novel, North & South and its 2004 BBC adaptation; No copyright infringement intended)
[I will illustrate my story using my dream cast from the 2004 BBC production of “North & South” and other actors for additional characters: Richard Armitage for John Thornton, Daniela Denby-Ashe for Margaret Hale, Lesley Manville for Mrs. Maria Hale, Tim Pigott-Smith for Mr. Richard Hale, Sinead Cusack for Mrs. Hannah Thornton, Jo Joyner for Fanny Thornton, Brendan Coyle for Nicholas Higgins, and Graham McTavish as Dr. Cameron Ogilvy, Holliday Grainger for Angharad Ogilvy MacIntosh, Simon Woods for Baird Ogilvy, and Emma Ashton as Mrs. Dillard, John Light as Henry Lennox, Tim Faraday as Watson, and Gillian Anderson at Carlotta Quint Watson, etc] [(1) story logo]
Author’s Mature Content Note: “N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons” is a story with mature themes of love and relationships set within a period drama of the 1850’s and beyond. As such there will be heartfelt moments of love and sensuality (S)--as well as other dramatic emotions, including some violence (V)--and I will rate those chapters accordingly. If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide, then please do not read that chapter. This is my disclaimer.
Author’s Recap from the previous chapter: Thwarted in trying to find his banker to close the Thornton loan transfer to his control--in hopes of forcing Fanny Thornton to marry him--mill owner Watson visits his much neglected mistress and mother of his child the widowed Carlotta Quint. Seizing this opportunity of seeing him again after a two month absence--and her creditors hounding her door--Carlotta Quint plaintively puts her case for marrage to Watson again. She has born him a now 9 month old daughter and is pregnant with his second child, which she hopes will be a boy. Smarting from Fanny Thornton’s rejection and buoyed by Carlotta Quint’s adoration of him, Watson marries Carlotta and moves her to his mansion in Milton. Whereupon, it turns out that Margaret Hale Thornton realizes she was acquainted with the new Mrs. Watson when she lived in London with her cousin Edith. So Margaret resolves to help Carlotta assimilate back into society--though the husbands, John and Watson, remain frosty toward one another. And John and Margaret turn their attention to his mother’s upcoming nuptials to Dr. Cameron Ogilvy and John’s sister Fanny courting the good doctor’s son Baird Ogilvy.
Ch. 26: Wedding Planning Dresses and Such
The Thornton Manor household no sooner resolves its financial difficulties--with the the Marlborough Mill’s Loan now safely within Dr. Ogilvy’s charge--then wedding planning fervor takes hold of all the ladies of the house. Hannah the bride, Fanny her daughter and maid of honor, and Margaret her daughter-in-law and matron of honor are all involved in the planning. With this Monday, the third in February devoted to dresses.
And sitting in a quiet corner of the Thornton manor parlor with the Thornton ladies, Carlotta Quint Watson looks through dress maker patterns--here to use her knowledge of fine gown couture dressmaking and assist in estimating the feasibility for the length of time it will take to have Hannah’s and her attendants’ gowns made once Hannah settles on the designs. Though Carlotta’s own second wedding to Mr. Watson was a rushed affair with only the parson and the verger and no wedding finery, Carlotta is not averse to assisting other people having traditional festive weddings.
Carlotta just needs to stay out of Fanny’s way on that score. In the intervening weeks since her marriage to Watson, Carlotta and Margaret have struck up a friendship with weekly activities together. And whereas Margaret warmly welcomes Carlotta’s presence, Hannah is initially reserved and Fanny is unsettled given her history with Carlotta’s husband.
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"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", by Gratiana Lovelace (2013-2014) (Done)
FanfictionJohn Thornton has an eager mind, starved for intellectual stimulation. But what John could not have foreseen was that just as his mind needs nourishment, so does his heart. Mr. Hale's proud, beautiful, kind, stubborn, and compassionate daughter Mi...
