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

Goodbye, Lady Wightwick

To fight off too many eager eyes, happily awaiting any mishap to turn into the gossip of the week, Louisa raised her head high and put on a great smile. She looked around at all the people standing in the courtyard, locking her eyes with a selected few older ladies, the ones most prone to gossip, and sent them a most genial smile in order to keep their tongues tied for the day. Though not customary to acknowledge any guests on the way to the carriage, Louisa took this one liberty in order to rest in relative ease for the rest of the day.

Then she put her foot on the step and grabbed hold of the carriage door with a hand before hoisting herself into the cabin, closing the door behind her.

Lord Hiddleston sat at the further side of the cabin, his elbow resting on the window sill and his chin resting on his enormous hand, gazing into the forest on the east side of the courtyard of the church. He payed not the slightest interest to Louisa as she settled herself on the opposite seat.

Louisa decided to follow his in all manners uncivil example and stare out the window in her side of the carriage. She looked back at the church where people were already huddling together to wish the newly-weds a pleasant journey. Louisa had to draw on all her willpower and all her acquired skills as a lady not to create a scene and scream to them that there would be no need to wish them anything, that they were mere participants in an abominable charade to take away any chance of happiness from not just two but three persons.

However, being the cultivated woman she was, Louisa refrained from such childish and futile attempts to change the minds of the family and guests. Before this entire congregation of witnesses, she had been bound to Lord Hiddleston by name, by faith and by law. No person could change this fact now. Any person who might have had the power to prevent this union had not stepped forth when asked by the clergyman before the vows were given.

Suddenly the carriage started moving. Louisa felt the slight, well known shift as momentum dragged her slightly to one side before she righted herself again. She glanced briefly at Lord Hiddleston who looked as set in stone, not having moved in the slightest.

As the carriage turned to the broad road back to Midgrove Manor, Louisa caught sight of something moving on the edge of the forest. Right there, on her left, Louisa saw the woman.

Even though she had never beheld the American woman before, there was no mistake that she was the one walking briskly in front the slowly moving carriage, her pace an evident explanation to her reaching this far in such a short amount of time. Miss Gardner was clad in a deep, dark green dress, making her almost one with the undergrowth beneath the trees if not for her bright red hair arranged on her head after the latest fashion. Her face was small and elfish with a small nose and small chin. She was a true beauty and as she looked eagerly for the man sitting inside the carriage, her sparkling green eyes met the dull ones of Louisa's.

When the women locked eyes, Louisa could see how the eyes of Miss Gardner went large for at short moment, surprise and shock written on her face. But it lasted for the briefest of moments before her eyes narrowed into two slits, her face darkening.

Louisa retracted into the carriage with a start. Never in her life had she beheld as great and violent hatred as the one portrayed in that beautiful face of the personified creature of rejection. Louisa shook her head, trying to rid herself of the burning sensation the stare brought inside of her, but to no avail. Even as she squeezed her eyes tight, the burning, hateful face danced in her vision.

Louisa had never comprehended so much hatred in her entire life. Never before had she so keenly felt the wrath of another person directed towards her. Why yes, the anger her mother had shown only this morning was but a mere irritation in comparison to how Miss Gardner had looked.

To Louisa it felt like a physical blow. At the very same time she felt struck by a cold vice, pinning her down and yet she felt the blood rise to her head, singing in her ears with mortification.

Once again she shut her eyes tight for a brief moment before she stole one more glance out the window. She felt a bizarre need to see if the beauty was still outside, to ascertain that she had not been a mere vision created by the already haunted mind of Louisa.

Yes, she was still there, but now she was falling behind the carriage. Louisa noticed how the woman hitched up in her vast skirts, billowing around her legs, in order to walk through the undergrowth of the edge of the forest, desperately attempting to catch a glimpse of the man she loved, hate still evident on her face.

Louisa retracted back into the seat of the carriage, considering whether to draw the attention of Lord Hiddleston to the woman outside.

But the man sat at the other window, already ignoring the exaggerated movements of his bride, looking so grim, so detached from this physical world that Louisa dared not utter a word to him, even if it was to direct him towards Miss Gardner.

Instead Louisa closed her eyes and put a gloved hand over her rapidly beating heart as if she could physically touch it and calm it. With her eyes shut tight she imagined how the carriage steadily left behind the woman who ought to have taken Louisa's place, wearing the wedding gown and receiving tender glances from the man in front of her, until she was but a mere spot in the distance. Oh, how wretched Louisa felt.

A/N:

So, no turning back, now they are married!

I really looked forward to write the part where Louisa sees Miss Gardner outside the carriage. I might change it until I think it's absolutely perfect because this incident is where she truly realizes how much she is in the way.

So, next chapter is going to contain some more dialogue and I'm about to wrap up this day as it has already stretched over six chapters and we are not done yet.

Thanks for reading.

Yours sincerely,
LillyLouMJ