Mr Thornton walked into the Filchington residence and his eyes swept the crowd for Margaret. She had told him she would be attending the party with her husband so he knew she would be somewhere in the the large crowd. He walked through the swarms of people talking nonsense, business or marriage and kept his eyes out for Margaret. The song changed and he saw Margaret and another gentleman make their way across the dance floor into the centre and begin to dance together. He noticed how they stood very close together and how they were both smiling and laughing the whole time as if they had known each other for years. The man was a good head taller than her and looked like the kind of man every woman fawned and swanned over. Thornton felt the jealousy sweeping through his whole body as he watched them dance not one but three dances together.
At the end of the dance he watched the man bend down and whisper something in her ear and by that time he was fuming, his jealousy taking hold of him he looked at the couple one last time and as he did so he saw Margaret turn around and look at him, her eyes looked innocent and big but she obviously wasn't as innocent as he had thought. He wondered how many other lovers she had lined up at her beck and call. With that thought he turned around and angrily marched off out of the main hall, entering the walled garden behind the house where he sat down under a large horse chestnut tree on a conveniently positioned iron bench. He took in a deep breath and looked at his surroundings properly to try and distract himself from Margaret. The sky was an oily blue fading into black mottled with the flickering stars that quivered against their dark sapphire backdrop. The garden was lit up with small candles in glass boxes that illuminated the paths and trees casting spectral shadows across the mown lawn. He sighed in frustration as he thoughts eventually turned back to the cause of his misery, Margaret.
No sooner had Margaret made eye contact with a furious looking Mr Thornton he turned on his heel and began to weave through the bustling crowd in the direction of the doors leading outside. She quickly turned back to face George and excused herself before walking after him. She was stopped by people in the room wanting to speak to her multiple times on her mission to find him and bore the conversations with as much civility as she could muster before she finally managed to escape the confines of the hot ballroom. She wandered through the large garden looking for him but to no avail and she was just about to give up and go back inside when a movement under the large horse chestnut tree caught her attention. She couldn't see very clearly due to the darkness of the night but the outlined figure sitting on a small bench was very familiar to her. She picked up her skirts and walked slowly over before sitting down on the bench next to him. He lifted his eyes to search hers looking for some kind of answer. His hand was lying on the bench just next to her and she went to hold it but he quickly pulled it away from her. Pain flashed across her eyes as he kept his gaze with hers steady and he instantly felt bad for rejecting her and his eyes momentarily softened but then they resumed their hard exterior as he recalled her in the arms of that man. "What's wrong?" Margaret asked trying to keep her voice steady and not let it crack. Thornton's eyes flashed with anger and jealousy, "How many other lovers do you have?" He spat out. Margaret's eyes changed to ones filed with sadness and disappointment as she processed what he had just accused her of, this seemed to give Thornton an answer as he read her expression as guilt. Before Margaret had a chance to reply Thornton spoke again, "How many of them are here tonight dancing with you?" She had never heard such cruel words from him, his meaning though suddenly became clear, he thought that George was her lover. She tried to counter what he had said and tell him who George really was but he continued to hurt her as he called her despicable names .He wouldn't let her speak, he just kept insulting her and refused to hear what she had to say and she'd had enough. She stood up and slapped him across his left cheek which instantly shut him up, "He's my cousin!" She shouted at him almost in tears, then she ran back into the house not turning back when she heard him shout her name.
Thornton's face was full of remorse as her words sunk into his brain. He was just her cousin, and he had gone and insulted her in the most abominable way possible without even trying to understand what had actually happened. He was disgusted in himself. He called out her name but she didn't stop, she kept running until she reached the house and then was concealed within the crowd. He groaned out loudly, he had let his jealousy get the better of him again, he felt a sense of dèja vu as he recollected the night when he had mistook her brother and hers embrace as one between lovers rather than siblings and held it against her without knowing that he was her brother. He sat back down on the bench, he had messed up massively, he deserved to be without her though after what he'd said to her. She would never take him back now, he'd had her and he'd lost her again. How could he have been so stupid to let something as precious as her slip through his fingers so easily. His cheek stung from where she had slapped him but it was right that he should suffer for his callous actions. The look on her face of pure pain was fresh in his mind and he felt his heart crumble knowing that it was he who had caused her that pain.
He had to apologise to her but he didn't think she'd give him a chance to apologise after his abhorrent treatment of her. He wandered back inside to rejoin the party and hastily wiped away the stray tear that had managed to escape his eye at the thought of losing her forever.
Hola all!
So here is chapter 13 as promised, hope you all enjoy it! Thanks again to the continued support from all of you dedicated readers... I recently re-watched the whole of the BBC mini series adaptation of North and South and it just reminded me of my love for North and South - I highly recommend reading Mary Barton also by Elizabeth Gaskell if you haven't read it because it is amazing... And, whilst on the topic of BBC mini series, I can't recommend highly enough their adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, IT IS AMAAAAZING!!!!! Also if you haven't read Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) GO READ IT NOW!!! Love to you all
Milton Girl
xxxx
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Missing Mr Thornton
FanfictionMargaret just misses Mr Thornton at the train station, she ends up marrying Henry Lennox her old friend thinking that Mr Thornton wants nothing to do with her, but they are drawn back together by a series of events, how long can Margaret hold back h...
