"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", by Gratiana Lovelace (2013-2014) (Done)

Ch. 89 (PG-13): Epilogue/End--Ten and Twenty Years later, Love Lessons Learned

"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", Ch. 89 (PG-13):  Epilogue/End--Ten and Twenty Years later, Love Lessons Learned,  October 12, 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, 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, Helena Bonham Carter as Brigid Gordon, and Steven Waddington as Major Reginald Monckton, 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:  Lord Jamie Ogilvy was on the mend from his Christmas Day 1860 sledding accident saving John Thornton and his young son Douglas from sledding into the river and he was starting  to walk again the following Spring.  Also in Spring John and Margaret welcomed their fourth child, a son they named James Richard Thornton in honor of Lord Jamie. Though John worried throughout Margaret's pregnancy--since she had such difficulty in giving birth to their first child Audrey Grace nearly ten years prior that they they had adopted their now seven year old daughter Caty and her infant brother the now five year old Douglas five years ago--baby Jamie came a little early and swiftly, his slightly smaller size being a blessing for Margaret.  With their children around them greeting the new baby, John and Margaret could not be happier than they were at that moment.  But, the best is yet to come.

"N&S: John Thornton, Love Lessons", Ch. 89 (PG-13):  End/Epilogue--Ten and Twenty Years Later, Love Lessons Learned

With their four children's ages spread over a ten year gap, it seems that John and Margaret were continually with little ones about. And they would have had it no other way.  The older children, Audrey Grace, Caty, and Douglas were and are close friends with each other--the girls more so with each other, them being girls and only two years apart in age.  And though Douglas is five years older than his younger brother Jamie, once they were at Eton together when Jamie was eight and Douglas was thirteen, they really bonded.  Being older, Douglas had been taken in to see the workings of Marlborough Mills much earlier than has Jamie.  That was really best, since Jamie's sensibilities tended toward helping people who were ill and he wanted to grow up and be a doctor--like his Grandpa Cameron Ogilvy Lord Airlie. 

But as often happens when boys get together at private school, they compare their circumstances and their potential inheritances.  And with Douglas being one of only a handful of sons who were adopted who are being educated at Eton, the distinction between Douglas being his parents' real child versus being their adopted child--the rights of a first born son--weigh heavily upon Douglas' shoulders.  It is during the Summer break of Douglas' sixteenth year in 1871, when the other boys had talked about London Seasons and hoping to secure a bride with a handsome dowery in exchange for them bestowing a title or their own wealth in the future, that Douglas begins to feel uncertain about his place in the world and in his future.  These feelings might be natural for any adolescent young man on the cusp of manhood.  But for Douglas Thornton, as the adopted son of John and Margaret Thornton, his concerns are greater.