No marriage is happy ever after - On VERY temporary hold!

The Journey

This path was at intervals lined with tall, graceful birches. There were twenty three in total. Louisa had named them all. There had once been twenty four, but one old tree, Jehoshaphat, had fallen during a storm seven months back.  A new one was to replace it shortly after her wedding. She would not get to name it. When they passed one tree especially close, Louisa reached out a hand and let the new, green leaves slide through her fingers. "Goodbye, Shiphrah," she mouthed. Her heart stung when the leaves left her hand.

Louisa let herself wallow in bitter thoughts once again as she looked around the lawns they were passing. She remembered running around, playing pirates with her brothers. She had always wanted to play a pirate instead of the kidnapped princess. She had far enough of being a lady in real life. She and her older brother, Tristan, had often persuaded or even forced their younger brother, Arthur, into being the princess as there of course ought to be a princess to be kidnapped.

The memory put a small smile on Louisa's face. Tristan and Arthur had so often treated her like a second brother and not a sister, much to the vexation of their mother who had endeavoured even harder to turn her daughter into a proper lady. Louisa had obediently followed the lessons given by her mother, but the little pirate had never vanished and she was as much a feisty boy by heart as she was a grown lady on the outside.

She wondered what it would be like to see them at the wedding. Both Tristan and Arthur had been opposed to the marriage, but as Tristan was still only an heir and not even living in the manor as he was studying at Oxford, and Arthur still nothing but a mere boy, they had not had any say in it. Tristan was still unmarried with no experience in the state of matrimony, so they were all on unfamiliar ground.

"Louisa!"

Louisa started slightly and turned her head. Lydia was waiving a hand at her. "Please come back to us, Lady Wightwick." The girl completely ignored the restricting hand, Emily had placed on her thigh.

Louisa managed to pull a small smile and turn her attention to her cousin before her. "What is it, Lydia?"

The girl looked at her with large, eager eyes. "Is it true that Lord Hiddleston has an American mistress?"

A sharp gasp escaped Emily and Mary alike, but Louisa kept herself composed. She had hardly expected anything else from the vain gossiper, even on her own wedding day. Her thin mouth did however draw in to a slightly thinner line. With one look she silenced Emily who was about to scold Lydia for her impertinence.

"We might as well get this over with," Louisa said while she sat up as straight as possible. At least her height gave her some sense of authority that kept girls like Lydia and Mary at bay. At least for a while. "It is true that Lord Hiddleston cares for another woman than I. As you all know, this marriage is arranged by our parents and not on our own parts. I do not know much about her, but I know her name and that she comes from America where her father has built himself a vast fortune. Why Lord Hiddleston's parents have chosen me as his wife over her I do not know."

The last sentence she said while looking straight at Lydia to prevent the question being asked. However, Emily apparently knew that particular answer and was willing to share it right away.

"They want to strengthen their position more than their wealth. The Hiddleston family is rich enough to be able to choose and you do not bring a small fortune yourself, Lady Hiddleston." She did not say this as a part of the gossip but merely as a matter of fact. But Louisa also noticed how Emily used the name that was soon to belong to Louisa for the rest of her life. It unsettled her a bit and she glanced out the window and tried to keep her emotions at bay.

Lydia opened her mouth again, but Emily held up a gloved hand with a stern look on her face. She would tolerate no more evil gossip and for that, Louisa was glad. She was already fighting to look happy about today. The mere thought of being tied to a husband who would never appreciate her was disconcerting enough, but being tied to a husband already having a mistress even before the wedding... Louisa shuddered on the inside while struggling to keep her composure and tried to think of it no more. The journey toward the church seemed endless and yet Louisa did not want it to shorten by a second.