The Unlikely Queens

Chapter 2

I went home to my family during Christmas time.

Right away, my mother brought up the topic of George.

"His mother came to visit me," Mother told me before I even settled in, "And she brought a letter from George to her about how lovely he finds you and how marrying you would be most agreeable."

My mother went on to tell me how I would mostly likely agree to the marriage and how George's mother and father were going to talk to him about the appropriate time to propose to me.

The holiday season always excited me. The green and red decorations, the joyous moods, and the gifts.

But that year, with the possible engagement, I was more excited than ever. Until then, I never realized how much I wanted to be married. I yearned to live in my husband's house and give him children and settle into a peaceful life, like my mother and father.

My mother is a beautiful woman. She is petite, with equally small features. Her hands and eyes and nose resemble that of a young lady's instead of woman of almost thirty nine years.

I get my petite frame and dark brown hair from her.

My father is unlike my mother and I. He is tall and robust and blond. He is very handsome.

My parents had been married twenty years, when my mother was nineteen and my father was twenty. A year later, I was born.

They fell in love before they were wed, which is uncommon since marriages are usually arranged by one's family.

On Christmas Day, my mother gave me two new dresses and my father gifted to me a collection of plays by Shakespeare. I held it to my heart and promised to cherish it forever. And I gave to my parents a joint present. Their love story (as it was told to me by mother) written down on the exquisite stationary I borrowed from Duchess Eleanor.

My mother cried when she received it.

"Oh, Phillip, look what our daughter did for us." She cried happily.

"Louise, dear, don't cry." My father said softly as he patted her soothingly on her back.

"I'm going to have this framed at once," Mother gushed, "Thank you, Cecelia. This is beautiful."

"Thank you, my dear." Father kisses my forehead.

"You're welcome." I smiled.

I spent the rest of the holiday eating my mother's delicious fruit tarts and reading my new book.

When it was time for me to go back to Duchess Eleanor, mother pulled me aside and gave me a pearl of wisdom. Well, her definition of a pearl of wisdom.

"George Warrington's family is important in our circles," She said as she anxiously fussed with my hair, "You know his brother, Albert, is the Baron of Pelham. If you marry George, our family will be elevated."

I knew my mother thought telling me this would make me work harder to earn George's love, but it only made me more afraid be in his company. Even though his mother already sent a letter telling of his desire to marry me, his mother could of embellished how much he wanted me to be his wife. If his quiet nature was any indication, his mother definitely embellished his feelings.

~

In the month that followed, George and I were engaged. We both continued to work in Duchess Eleanor's household until our wedding a few weeks later. My mother dressed me in her old wedding gown and George and I knelt at the altar. He looked as handsome as ever, dressed in white as well. I still remember the uncharacteristically warm smile he gave me before the ceremony. Our parents threw a party afterwards and we danced together for most of the night, our parents gleaming as they watched us. We barely spoke through all of this, but we could tell the other was happy.

At the party, George introduced me to his older brother Albert and his wife Johanna. Johanna was unlike anybody I had ever met. She said what was on her mind, even if her opinion was unpopular. She favored telling people the truth over sparing feelings.

We became very close over the five years George and I were married. And I needed Johanna more and more each year, for George had become ugly and bitter towards me. In the beginning of our marriage, he was so kind to me. He always made sure we ate every meal together and brought me fresh flowers every Monday morning. He was a great husband to me. Then suddenly the flowers became scarce until George stopped giving them to me all together. He would barely look at me and when he did it was with disdain or boredom. The only thing that was consistent with George is that he always told me about his day. He still worked in the Duchess's household while I stayed home. And me staying home would of been more useful if we had children for me to take care of.

We would of, if George had ever wanted to consummate our marriage. On our wedding night, he simply said goodnight and gave me a kiss before falling asleep. My mother told me not to expect a fairy tale wedding night, that it would be very awkward. So I was relieved I didn't have to go through that just yet. But the five years past and George had never done anything beyond kiss me. I constantly wondered if I had done something to repel him or he was insecure.

Towards the end, I devoted all my energy to trying to figure out why George suddenly disliked me. I'd spend hours going over what I could of said or done to get him to hate me so much.

And then George came home one day and told me he had fallen in love with another woman. He was divorcing me and he was sorry, but it was going to happen. When he went about all the legal business to divorce me, he couldn't possibly let it be known that it was his fault. So the reason he cited behind our separation? I was not a virgin when we married.

Which was of course couldn't be further from the truth.

We separated, I moved back into my parents home, and George married his mystery woman. Despite me not being her sister in law anymore, Johanna and I stayed best friends. And I thank God for that every day because she is the only person who knows what kind of man George Warrington really is.