"Expectations" (Book 2)-- Ch. 1: Their first country morning

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"Expectations" (Book 2)-- Ch. 1: Their first country morning, November 25, 2018 by Gratiana Lovelace (Post #1192)
(an original Regency romance copyrighted by Gratiana Lovelace, 2018 - 2019; all rights reserved); [(1) story cover art, left]

Author's story content and serializing scheduling notes: For the most part, my ratings for the chapters will be PG-13-for romantic interludes and dramatic moments. If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with these ratings, then please do not read that chapter. This is my disclaimer. And I always put the previous chapter's recap at the top of the next chapter. Also, I hope to post weekly on Sundays.


"Expectations" (Book 2), Ch. 1: Their first country morning

Lady Madeline Lucretia Sinclair Blount, the still newlywed and young eighteen years and three months old Countess of Sussex lies quietly dozing in her bed, cocooned within its comfortingly soft bedding linens and blankets. It is a ladies' boudoir of pale green, pink, and lavender silk accents with pale green stripes silk wall coverings-the stripes being a partial concession to mute the feminine room décor for the daily cohabitation with her of her husband, Lord Christian Blount the 7th Earl of Sussex. His adjoining bedchamber of more masculine dark blues and burgundy has been relegated to unused status but for the bedchamber's use as his dressing chamber--since he does not wish to spend a night away from his wife-and his young wife prefers her bed chamber.

Dreaming of my husband, Lord Christian, and our night of love [(2) below) in our temporary new home of the Dower House at our country estate Sussex Hall, my brain still refuses to awaken. And I, instead, stay firmly anchored in a sleepy haze.

But not for long, it seems, as her tall, strong, broad, commandingly handsome husband strides back into their shared bed chamber, without even knocking. Scandalous! Theirs is a love match, after a partially fitful courtship.

Lord Christian: "Madeline, my sleepy Darling. I must go, now." Whispering, I gently kiss the creamy forehead of my beloved wife. Since our preparations this past week for our travel here to our country seat of Sussex Hall in the late Spring of May 1816, her mornings have been plagued with ill health. I can only hope that she will feel better soon, now that we are in residence in our country home-well, our temporary home with my Grandmother, the Dowager Countess of Sussex. The fresh air is certain to infuse my beloved Madeline with renewed health. Otherwise, what good is owning an impressively large and [verdant] country estate-apart from the manly pursuits of hunting, shooting, and fishing, not to mention house parties, and bracing rides across our miles and miles of countryside? The question is rhetorical.

Lady Madeline, the recently minted Countess of Sussex remains inert. Why must he go? My mind ponders-searching for the answer. But none comes. So I must resort to seeking that answer, though I doubt that my unwell and churning stomach at the moment will allow me to focus upon it.

Lady Madeline: "Why must you go?" I ask wanly as the room spins around me.

Lord Christian: "Madeline Darling, we only arrived from town yesterday. And I must consult with my steward about estate matters." She gives me an imperceptible nod-seemingly with even that small movement causing her to feel even more ill, as I notice her almost imperceptible grimace. She tries to mask her unwell state, but as a husband of just three months, I have come to know intimately my wife's feelings and moods. "You still feel unwell, My Love?" My Bride's strange illness comes and goes-it being most virulent in the mornings, then lessening as the day wears on. I am at my wits end of trying to figure out how to make her well. Our marriage started with her being unwell, and I fear that she still suffers some malady.

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