"Love is a Choice" by Gratiana Lovelace, 3/15/13 (Completed)

Ch. 18 (PG-13): Lady Charmaine's Continuing Recovery Binds her Family Together

"Love is a Choice", Ch. 18 (PG-13):  Lady Charmaine's Continuing Recovery Binds her Family Together, April 27, 2013 Gratiana Lovelace

(An original story by Gratiana Lovelace; All Rights Reserved)

[From time to time, I will illustrate my story with my dream cast of:  Richard Armitage as Lord Rafe Wingate, Carla Gugino as Lady Katharine Southwick Wingate, Lesley Nicol as Mrs. Plunkett, Emilie Francois as Anna Wingate, Mark Strong as Sir Collin MacGregor, Alan Bates as Lord Charles Wingate, Christian Bale as Stuart MacGregor, Daniel Day-Lewis as Sir Antony Southwick, Michelle Pfeiffer as Lady Charmaine Southwick, Catherine Deneuve as Lady Esmѐ Sinclair, Julian Sands as Sir Percival Southwick, Samantha Morton as Lady Lucinda Southwick, and others, etc.]     [Story Logo 1abcd]

Author's Mature Content Note:  "Love is a Choice" is a story of love and romance set in the early to mid 1800's.  I like Regency sensibilities with regard to comedy of manners, but Romantic period modes of dress.   Ha!  As such there will be some passages in this story involving heartfelt love scenes (perhaps some R rated) and some passages involving highly dramatic moments.  I will label the maturity rating of those chapters accordingly.  Otherwise, the general rating for this story is PG or PG-13 due to some mature situations and topics.  If you are unable or unwilling to attend a movie with the ratings that I provide, then please do not read the chapters with those labels.  This is my disclaimer.

Author's Recap from the previous installment:   Lady Charmaine upon waking Saturday morning--24 hours after her stroke--is starting to recover in body and spirit.  But she still has a memory loss of what transpired during the last eight years--and what created a schism in her family relationships.  To her, she only remembers the happy times--especially with her loving husband Sir Antony.  But Sir Antony honorably tells her all about the unfounded rumor of his infidelity, her belief in it, and the estrangement they have endured--which she promptly put an end to by making love with her husband, creatively (no jostling).  Her Mama, Lady Esmѐ, seems perturbed by her daughter's belief in her husband's innocence--and Sir Antony also notices his mother-in-law's reactions.  Lady Esmѐ also informs  her daughter and son-in-law that their son Percival and his wife, the Lady Lucinda Harriott Southwick--yes, that Harriott family--will visit and Lady Charmaine has her Mama, Lady Esmѐ, invite them for 11:00 o'clock this morning.  Then they can luncheon with Lady Katharine and her husband Lord Rafe, to meet and get to knoweach other.

Meanwhile, newlyweds Lord Rafe and Lady Katharine also have a very loving Saturday morning--twice!  And with ringlet curls preserved.  Lord Rafe also received word from his parents that they and his daughter Anna will travel to London today to open their house and give moral support if needed due to Lady Charmaine's stroke. Lady Katharine suggests that they invite them to afternoon tea.  But first, the doctor is due back to check on Lady Charmaine's condition around  9 o'clock Saturday morning.

"Love is a Choice", Ch. 18   (PG-13):  Lady Charmaine's Continuing Recovery Binds her Family Together

With having greeted Dr. Triton and ushered him upstairs this Saturday morning after his wife's stroke, Sir Antony knocks twice on his wife's bed chamber door.

Lady Esmѐ:  "Entrez-vous."  She calls out in hushed tones while sitting at her sleeping daughter, Lady Charmaine's, bedside.  Upon seeing the two men enter, she places her perfectly manicured index finger to her lips to entreat them to be quiet. 

Lady Katharine, also sits quietly beside her Grandmere in a matching chair--and after having left her husband Lord Rafe to attend to writing a note for his family inviting them to tea when they arrive in London at their townhouse--she smiles at her Papa, Sir Antony.