A Life Together - A North and South Continuation

Chapter Fourteen

The days slipped away like sand through an hourglass. Though it had felt a thousand years away when they had set the date for the wedding, it really wasn't very far away at all. Margaret quickly felt overwhelmed with the number of tiny details that went into organising a wedding and wedding breakfast, even a simple one.

"Does it really matter so much about the table decorations?" Margaret had asked John's mother and sister one day.

They were sitting in the drawing room of the house at Marlborough Mills one sunny Wednesday morning. Fanny had come equipped with a notebook and quill, and for the first time ever Margaret actually saw her write something down. The arrangements were being settled for the wedding, though as Hannah had lamented several times everything had been left to rather the last minute.

"Of course!" Fanny said firmly. "It is most important. Mine were very simple, but beautiful of course. Elegant. Fresh roses. And we must decide on your cake!"

Margaret did not really care about a wedding cake; she had never been fond of fruit cake, and the idea of eating a cake that had been sitting out for days did not appeal to her. She had never had much of a sweet tooth.

"I do not mind." Margaret said. "It will just get eaten, surely it does not matter what it looks like?"

Fanny shook her head, her mouth open. Margaret thought of Fanny's wedding breakfast and remembered her elaborate three-tiered cake covered in pink roses made from icing.

"Most of it shall, of course. But the smaller cake will be put away to be brought out again on your twenty fifth anniversary." Fanny told her, as though Margaret had not been to a wedding before.

"I know that. Though why anybody would want to eat a cake that is twenty-five years old escapes me. What about white icing with a few yellow flowers?" Margaret asked, thinking with a small smile of John's Helstone rose.

"Yellow? Are you sure?" Fanny asked, wrinkling her nose.

"Yes, yellow." Margaret insisted.

"It is Margaret's wedding, Fanny." Hannah said wearily. "Let her have some say in the matter."

"Fine." Fanny huffed. "Though pink is so much more traditional."

"Yellow is a fine colour." Hannah said. "Margaret must decide her own colours."

She was busy embroidering, something Margaret noticed she did almost constantly. Sometimes it was practical things, sewing rather than embroidery, fixing sheets. Margaret noticed her current project was a blanket stitched with white flowers.

"Those flowers are very well stitched, Mrs Thornton."

"It is a tradition that has been passed down in my family." Hannah explained, not looking up from her work. "Each baby that is born must have their own blanket, stitched by someone in the family. I thought I would start now."

"Mother, I have told you I can just buy one. Save yourself the trouble." Fanny said.

Margaret looked down at the blanket; she thought how much she would love to have her mother to make her such a gift. Fanny was thoughtless and materialistic, but she wasn't to know the ache that Margaret felt at her words.

"I think it is lovely." Margaret said.

"Thank you." Hannah said with a glance her way, continuing her stitching.

Hannah Thornton was fiercely maternal, protecting both her children like a mother goose. Margaret had seen more of her nature in the weeks they had spent together. Though she was still hard and occasionally sharp, Margaret hoped that her future mother-in-law was warming to her at least a little. They sat in companionable silence often, occasionally exchanging small talk. That was enough for Margaret, it was a sign that (hopefully) she would be welcomed back to their family home once the knot was tied.