"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", Ch. 77 (PG-15, S): Bedtime Stories, August 27, 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, Jeremy Northam as Dr. Miles Houghton, Gerard Butler as Lord Jamie Ogilvy, Juliette Lewis as Lady Thistle Ogilvy, and Helena Bonham Carter as Brigid Gordon, 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. As such there will be heartfelt moments of love and sensuality (S)--as well as other dramatic emotions (D), 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: John and Margaret adopt the baby boy and his two year old sister from the Airlie Castle Orphanage aare rename them Douglas John Thornton and Catriona "Caty" Maria Thornton. And Higgins in meeting them at the train station notices and takes a liking to the children's new and buxome Scottish Nanny, Brigid Gordon. John and Margaret hope to ease their new children through their transition to their family.
"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", Ch. 77 (PG-15, S): Bedtime Stories
So the expanded Thornton family plus three--Brigid and her baby son Arthur, and Higgins--head back to Thornton Manor from the Milton Train Station on this late April 1855 Monday morning--all are glad to be home, with little Catriona and Baby Douglas in their new home. After a few days of settling in--with little Catriona sleeping in Audrey Grace's bedroom at Audrey Grace's insistence so that Caty wouldn't be scared at night, and Brigid tending to both her seven month old son Arthur and one month old baby Douglas as his wet nurse--Thornton Manor begins to settle into its new expanded family routine.
John and Margaret also have a new bed time routine to adjust to. Before they had more children and the need for a nanny/wet nurse, Margaret and John saw to their daughter Audrey Grace's night time routine of bath, story, bed, her not wanting to go to sleep right away, and Audrey Grace regularly ending up sleeping cuddled next to Margaret because of some scary windblown tree branch against her windows in her bed chamber. John found this arrangement less than ideal--especially where romance was concerned.
However when Audrey Grace was still little--until she was just about the age of two--John and Margaret had a system whereby they could then gently remove a finally asleep again Audrey Grace from their bed and place her sleeping in a small cot bed that they positioned at the end of their bed in front of the sette whilst John and Margaret enjoyed some muffled loving tenderness under the cloak of their bed linens and comforter being careful not to awaken their daughter.
Of course, that plan was eventually derailed the first time a two and a half year old Audrey Grace awoke in her cot bed in her parents' bed chamber needing help to use the potty and she climbed over the sides of her cot bed onto the sette at the foot of her parents' bed. Audrey Grace was going to wave at her parents to get their attention. But she couldn't see them sleeping in bed. She could only see the pretty patterned comforter blanket rising and falling. Temporarily forgetting her need for the potty, a sleepily mesmerized then two year old Audrey Grace [(2) right] watched the undulating paisley patterns float up and down for a time--until the movements stopped and the comforter floated down to the bed again and her parents both sighed. That was when Audrey Grace saw the back of her Papa's dark head of hair as he lay on his stomach on her Mama. Then she saw her Mama's face as her parents kissed as they embraced.
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"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", by Gratiana Lovelace (2013-2014) (Done)
FanficJohn Thornton has an eager mind, starved for intellectual stimulation. But what John could not have foreseen was that just as his mind needs nourishment, so does his heart. Mr. Hale's proud, beautiful, kind, stubborn, and compassionate daughter Mi...
