George and Charlotte's engagement was an unusual one. It seemed their courtship had occurred all out of order and the only new benefit they discovered was an increased tolerance for occasional slips in propriety. They were now granted numerous moments alone with one another, though these rarely lasted more than a few short minutes and were never so long as to allow much beyond a stolen kiss or two away from watchful eyes.
The couple continued to take every opportunity to be in each other's company, chaperoned and unchaperoned and spread their continued courtship throughout the many streets of London as they delighted in pleasurable pursuits. They ventured to Hyde Park several times over those weeks where they would wall or ride or sometimes simply sit and talk and watch as the world passed them by.
George took Charlotte to the Pot and Pineapple which was a confectionary parlour in easy walking distance of Berkeley Square where she had her first experience of iced creams. They had prowled the aisles of Hatchards in discussion over their preferred books and authors, viewed the talents of artists at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition and enjoyed a visit to the National Gallery. Charlotte and her Viscount also spent many hours in Vauxhall Gardens, forming countless fond and secretly kept memory of their escape into the darker walkways.
A very great deal of Charlotte's remaining time during those three weeks was taken up with wedding plans.
A wedding dress had been commissioned with Lady Howard's favoured dress maker at the elder Mr Heywood's expense and he would arrive the Saturday prior to ceremony when he would settle the accounts during his visit.
Charlotte had spent many hours debating over fashion plates and fabrics and trimmings to create a gown that befit a day of such personal import but that would not go to waste with only a single wear. Having chosen to obtain the fabrics themselves through her brother's businesses, where she happily enjoyed discounted prices, the ladies ventured forth, several for the first time, to the younger Mr Heywood's warehouses that were located but a short distance from his home.
Such was the variety of choice available to them that it took a second visit to determine the fabrics that would best suit Charlotte's colouring and were of appropriately excellent quality.
It was eventually decided that Charlotte would wear a two layered gown with an underdress of light coloured teal silk with embroidered silver vine patterns and a sheer overdress with a long train and dark teal embroidery down the length of it in the same pattern though it began with sparsely scattered leaved with slowly gathered into vines as they move toward the hem. The dress would be secured at the waist by a pearl studded sapphire blue sash.
She had initially been inclined towards more golden colours but was persuaded otherwise by Lady Howard, though her reasons were not divulged. Charlotte purchased a simple bonnet trimmed in a light blue velvet of similar colour to her underdress and trimmed with a navy ribbon to which some flowers from her bouquet of bluebells, white sweet peas and ivy could be added, choosing to forego a veil. New gloves and shoes were not needed for she had several pairs of cream and white evening gloves and a lovely pair of shoes in warm navy velvet.
Charlotte did not intend to wear any significant amount of jewellery and was content to make use of what was already in her possession over purchasing anything new and had already in mind that she might wear a simple silver cross she had had since childhood and would likely pair well with whatever ring the Viscount presented her with on the day. The final garment that commissioned was a simple cream pelisse with golden knotwork trimming on the hem and shoulders. After all, one never knew what weather was in store and this was never truer than in the month of May in England.
The wedding garments themselves were not the only items ordered from the modistes and milliners and shoemakers. The Ladies, and most particularly her soon to be mother-in-law, had been insistent that she was in need of several new day dresses and evening gowns. What she presently had did very well for a country gentlewoman of independent means but finer things would be needed after her marriage for those times when she entertained and was entertained by more august circles.
So it was that as many as seven new day dresses, four evening gowns, three pelisses and spencer jackets, two riding habits, two travelling cloaks, and all the undergarments and hosiery that were necessary had also been ordered amidst Charlotte's protests at the expense. However, she could not deny that the new contents of her wardrobe were very lovely indeed.
They had quickly settled upon a date and would be married the Monday following the third Sunday of May and the final readings of the bans. The couple were to be wed from St George's Church where the bans would be read for the parish in which the Viscount resided while in London. The bans would also be read at the St Marylebone Parish Church as the church which Charlotte attended while living with her brother. The two churches would communicate whether the bans had been challenged and the result of that challenge following the final reading.
The bans were read each week without issue as the date of the wedding drew ever nearer and was awaited with great anticipation. Charlotte had written the invitations and sent these to a small group of their friends and family. The Viscount's immediate family would be in attendance at the ceremony along with Lord and Lady Granville and their eldest daughter, Lady Susan and the Babingtons.
Charlotte's father was expected to give her away and would bring with him her sister Anne, who would stand as the bridemaid and witness while George's brother Frederick would stand as best man and the second witness. Charlotte's guests would be completed with Justin and Madelaine and young Reignette who would take on the simple duties of the flower girl.
The engagement had become more widely known following speculation in the society pages of the papers the day after Esther's ball but was not formally acknowledged until the first reading of the bans on the first Sunday. It was celebrated not with a large dinner party or ball but on more intimate terms just days before the wedding itself with a supper shared by family and friends at Carlisle House.
It was in fact through the speculations and subsequent announcement in the papers that the Parkers of Sanditon learned of Charlotte's engagement and marriage. Tom and Mary Parker received a copy of the Times from London every day, though it was not unusual for their learning of the events of Town to be a few days delayed than those who were presently residing in the city.
Regardless, every morning when the papers came, Mary took the society pages while Tom perused the sports, business and politics contained within. It was as they were undertaking this daily ritual that Mr Parker heard his wife let out an astounded gasp.
"What is it Mary?" Mr Parker enquired of his wife.
"Tom, our Charlotte is engaged to be married!" Mrs Parker divulged. "It says it right here in the society pages" She tapped her finger against the notice in question.
"Charlotte?"
"Yes, Tom. Miss Heywood, surely you haven't forgotten!" She despaired.
"No! Of course not, my dear. But Charlotte? Engaged? How wonderful for her. But to whom, does it say?" Tom questioned in his usual enthusiastic and energetic manner.
"Well it is only speculation not an official announcement but it mentions a Viscount Morpeth as being a most devoted suitor and that the society in town anticipates wedding bells before the season is out." Mary recounted skimming the section to check her understanding was correct. "But, oh dear, do you think we ought to tell Sidney? Surely you remember how attached he seemed to have become to Miss Haywood when she stayed with us that summer." She worried.
"I know not if that would be for the best, dear Mary. My brother has had a difficult time these past years and I think it is only since our little nephew was born that his heart has started to open itself up once more." Mr Parker mused in a rare moment of seriousness. "Given the current state of things between Sidney and Eliza, perhaps we'd best not mention it yet."
Mary looked like to argue her husband's thinking for a moment but then ceded to his uncommon display of sense. He was right. It would do no good to raise something which was only a rumour to his attention when the good will between her brother-in-law and his wife was presently so tenuous.
When the wedding announcement featured in the papers three weeks later, this conversation was much mirrored then, though Sidney Parker was to learn of it himself in due course, regardless of their interference or otherwise.
Back in Town, Mr Heywood had arrived and that family were seated in the pews of the St Marylebone Parish Church as the final bans were read in advance of the sermon by the priest. It was with no little relief that Charlotte departed the Sunday service with brief words to the priest and curate and final parting goodbyes to several of their friends in Town who she was not likely to see again in some months at least.
Mr Heywood had settled the accounts with the modiste and other businesses they had frequented in preparing for the next day and only a few final touches remained. Her new bonnet needed to be trimmed with flowers in preparation for the chance of rain, though that would be done in the morning before she dressed, and the numbers and menu for the wedding breakfast following the ceremony needed confirming and a note sent to Carlisle House to that effect. The most pressing work yet to be done, however, was the packing of her wardrobe.
What little of her clothing that had been left behind at Willingham had been sorted through by her mother and sister and sent to her brother's house or to Walcot hall. The division was largely that her clothes and many of her less immediately necessary effects went to Walcot Hall while any jewellery, some books and other similar items had been sent to Town with her father and sister.
Fortunately, these things had been safely stored away in a single chest and did not presently need worrying over. It was the great many gowns and accessories and undergarments and bathing odds and ends that concerned her now. For how was she to pack it all in a single afternoon?
The entire household thanked the very heavens that Alyona and her brother's household staff were efficient in their duties. They had spent the morning before attending services determining which of her dresses and gowns she was likely to need soonest after the wedding during the first few days in her new home at Morpeth Terrace and then during the time they were due to spend on their honeymoon travels.
The difficulty Charlotte had with this was that she had not been made privy to Lord Morpeth's plans for their trip, knowing only that she should ensure her clothes provided warmth and comfort and that they would not be leaving until the Friday. In the end the two women had settled on a combination of her older, more serviceable gowns and a number of her new gowns which had arrived at Fitsroy Square earlier in the week while what remained to be completed would be sent directly to her new residence.
Her favourite of her new day dresses was made of a lovely blue and cream striped material with cream ribbons adding decoration to the hem, sleeves and waist. She also very much admired a dress that reminded her a little of the pictures she had seen of old medieval and renaissance gowns in purple, cream and gold. There were other day dresses in greens, browns, creams and yet more blues.
The evening gowns were a good deal more elaborate than most any other she owned. These had been acquired in a range of vibrant colours such as golden orange and yellow as well as more subtle natural colours. The riding habits were a bold green and blue with the pelisses and spencer jackets and cloaks in several shades from grey to red to purple to amber.
It can hardly be surprising that the rest of that day passed with much activity and business with little time for sadness at everything she would leave behind. Which is not to say that there were not tearful reminiscences in the evening hours during dinner and before the family retired to bed. There was in truth a great deal of this in those short hours they had left to spend together, for things would not remain the same. Charlotte would be mistress of her own homes, a wife with responsibilities that far outnumbered any her mother or sisters had faced in their own marriages.
And in time she would also become mother to children of her own and her responsibilities would grow then and yet again as she transitioned from Viscountess to Countess. There would be comparatively little time to spend visiting with her family and, though she would not stray from the path she had found herself on for all the riches in England, she would be sorry to lose any of the closeness with her parents and siblings and her sister especially that she had so enjoyed in her life.
