"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", by Gratiana Lovelace (2013-2014) (Done)

Ch. 58 (PG-13): Margaret has a Plan

"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", Ch. 58 (PG-13):  Margaret has a Plan,  May 20, 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 Ogilvy, Jo Joyner for Fiona/Fanny Thornton Ogilvy, Brendan Coyle for Nicholas Higgins, 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, Gillian Anderson at Carlotta Quint Watson, and Jeremy Northam as Dr. Miles Houghton, etc] [(1) story logo top right]

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:  Margaret Thornton is on the cusp of entering the confinement [(2)] period of her pregnancy--with her feeling huge and unattractive.  But her loving husband John pampers her most adoringly.  Such that her spirits brighten and she feels  ever so much better.

"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", Ch. 58 (PG-13):  Margaret has a Plan

Three weeks of adoring pampering by her husband John has Margaret Thornton feeling quite blessed and cheerful in June as the Summer truly begins--despite the cumbersome nature of her being seven months pregnant,  and with her estimated August due date still two months away.  And Margaret Thornton has a plan--she just has to get her husband, John, to agree to it.  She wants them to travel to London for a week and join her parents, the Shaw-Lennoxes, and Baird and Fiona for The Great Exhibition [(3) right top and bottom]  that opened last month in May 1851.

Then after London, Margaret and John and Baird and Fiona--along with Baird's sister Angharad Ogilvy MacIntosh and her family--will all travel to Angus, Scotland by train the next week for John to oversee the machinery installation at the new Ogilvy-Thornton Scottish Mills and for everyone to enjoy the cool Scottish countryside and to take in the Highland Games [(4)] in that area.  Margaret is trying to get everything done before she is truly confined during the last month or so of her pregnancy in July and August.

John and Margaret and her parents take the Friday afternoon train June 6th from Milton to London where Baird and Fiona Ogilvy meet them at the station and spirit them to their townhouse for a quick tour over tea before they repair to the Shaw-Lennox manor for their week long stay.  However, quick is not in Fiona's vocabulary.  They are her first real visitors--even if they are only family--and she is going to make the most of them.  Although, Fiona acquiesces and lets the senior Hale's beg out of the tour so as not to tire out Mrs. Hale. 

But Fiona Thornton Ogilvy as a bride of six weeks must have her due--and attention--from the younger members of their extended family, John and Margaret.

Fiona:  "And here in the kitchen, we have the latest marvel--pre-heated water!"  Fiona says gleefully as she points to a large vertical copper cylinder adjacent to the cooking stove [(5) right].