Against Their Wishes

Chapter 9

The next day came all too quickly, and it wasn’t long before Olivia found herself in the sitting room waiting for the butler to fetch Lady Willington. While waiting, Olivia looked around at her surroundings, taking in the brightly decorated room. Everything was done with wonderful taste, and Olivia could only assume it was Lady Willington’s doing. Although she had long disliked their son, Olivia held nothing but respect for his parents. They had always treated her kindly, and Olivia had, on many occasions, found herself wishing for the kind of love that Lady Willington doted on her only child. Olivia was drawn from her thoughts as Lady Willington entered the room.

“Olivia, darling!” Lady Willington gushed, wrapping Olivia into a quick hug. “I am so very glad you wanted to include me in your wedding! I have long since thought I would never experience the joy with having only one son and no daughters.” Lady Willington paused after realizing Olivia’s mother was conspicuously absent. “Where is your mother, dear?” she questioned.

“She had other things to attend to,” replied Olivia, casting her gaze downwards.

“Oh, well no bother honey. We will get along just fine with just the two of us,” Lady Willington assured. Olivia offered her a large smile in return. Lady Willington turned towards the door as she motioned for Olivia to follow. Olivia was led into the dining room where upon the table sat many different papers.

        “As you can see, I have already started to gather up some things, and I figured that we could peruse them together,” Lady Willington smiled.

        “Alright,” agreed Olivia as she sat down beside Lady Willington.

        “First, we must decide what dress you will wear. Is your mother planning on giving you hers?” she inquired.

        “Not that I am aware, Lady Willington,”

“Oh, stop! Please, call me Beverly. After all, we are soon to be family, and I will not have my own family address me in such a formal measure.” Olivia beamed at her. Olivia felt warm inside as she heard Lady Willington mention her as part of the family.

“All right, thank you Beverly,” replied Olivia. The name felt slightly strange on her tongue, but Olivia knew she would eventually become accustomed to it.

“Okay, well I suppose we’ll just have to go in to town to get you a dress. Madam Gossler will be the best choice, I think, to make your dress. We had best do that really soon so she has enough time to prepare it. She will already be crunched for time as it is, but the whole town is talking about your wedding. With the town this excited, I am sure we will be bumped to the top of the list. We should also –” Lady Willington cut off when she saw the look on Olivia’s face. “Dear, what’s the matter?”

“I don’t know it’s just –” Olivia paused before carrying on. “Everyone is excited about a wedding that isn’t even real! Everyone thinks that we had this great, amazing love and it isn’t true!” Olivia burst out. Lady Willington looked slightly taken aback before answering.

“Honey, this is what you said you wanted. You and Gregory both wanted to keep the circumstances out of public knowledge,” she tried to reason.