The Cramond Chronicles

[dianahawthorne]

The Cramond Chronicles

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DISCLAIMER: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was written by Muriel Spark. This fanfic is based on the movie which starred Maggie Smith.
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Chapter One: Blackmail

I love her, but I knew that she would never agree to marry me unless she was given no other option.

“You will marry me, Jean,” I told her, “and put an end to this sneaking about, or I will tell Miss Mackay everything.”

She had to accept, of course. How many times had I heard her say, “I am a teacher; first, last, and always”? Yes, of course, I felt guilty at forcing her to accept my proposal, but now Miss Mackay will not be able to dismiss Jean based on our relationship. I am sure she sees the sense in that. And now I can shower her on her all the luxuries she deserves – starting with my mother’s engagement ring. Thankfully, I carried it with me, in case Jean would accept my proposal, and she is now wearing it – as I always dreamt she would.

My blackmailing of Jean does hurt my heart, yet I know that the ends are well worth the means. She is mine now in a way she never was before. She is mine – not Teddy Lloyd’s.
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I never would have believed Gordon would blackmail me into marrying him, and indeed, I almost respect him more for it, and give him a little more of my heart. Gordon has never been able to deny me anything, nor force me into anything, and this turn of events gives me hope that Gordon is as weak in will as I thought. It warms my heart – although I suppose it should harden it – that Gordon wants me so much that he goes to such lengths to make me his.

When Gordon and I announced our engagement to Miss Mackay, her expression was shocked – and her expression was worth almost everything that I will give up to be Mrs. Lowther. Almost worth giving up the love of my prime for the second best.
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Gordon Lowther of Cramond and Jean Brodie of Edinburgh have married on the seventh of June. Mr. and Mrs. Lowther are honeymooning at the Isle of Eigg and in Italy. The Lowthers will return to Cramond in August, where Mr. Lowther is the organist, choir director, and an Elder of the Kirk of Cramond. Mr. and Mrs. Lowther teach at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls.
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We had a gorgeous wedding – although I never wanted to get married, it was lovely. Deacon Gaunt – Miss Gaunt’s brother – married us in the Cramond Kirk on the seventh of June. My girls were bridesmaids – Rex MacUlster, the assistant choirmaster – was Gordon’s best man. Teddy gave me away.

I spent my last night as a single woman with Teddy. As we lay in bed, he asked me, “Why are you doing this, Jean?” I told him how Gordon had threatened to tell Miss Mackay about our affair if I did not marry him.

“And now, at least,” I said, “I’m safe on that front.” Teddy and I made love slowly, gently, for the last time. The next morning, he gave me away, and I became Mrs. Gordon Lowther.

[McGonagallsGirl]

Aw!

I don't like Mr. Lowther!



The Prime of Miss Jean Lowther? Oh, please.


But I like this. It's very nice :-)

[dianahawthorne]

Chapter Two: Adjustments and Expectations


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Jean and I spent our honeymoon in Italy and the Isle of Eigg, where my parents had gone after their wedding. I enjoyed Italy much more than I expected to – just being able to watch Jean as she mingled with the locals filled me with such a contentedness I had never imagined. And her Italian, with that slight Scottish burr, sounded sweeter than any music I had ever heard.

We returned to Cramond after Italy, having first gone to Eigg. We had moved Jean’s belongings into Cramond prior to the wedding – she had left only the bare essentials (sheets, towels) in her apartment. We are renting out the flat, along with the furnishings, to a friend of Miss Lockhart’s.

Life continued much the same once we returned. Jean’s girls still come to visit every Sunday afternoon, but instead of coming all at once, they come in pairs: Mary MacGregor and Monica come one week; Sandy and Jenny come the next. At least Jean has abandoned the “fattening project,” at my insistence, though she does keep our table well-stocked.

It has been difficult for her in some aspects of her life to get used to being Jean Lowther. After all, her girls are still known as “the Brodie set,” not “the Lowther set.” When we were returning from Italy, she practised writing “Jean Lowther” everywhere, to get used to seeing and writing her new name, I suppose.

All in all, however, she has adjusted to life as Mrs. Lowther much more easily than I dared to hope. When the school year began, I walked her to her classroom, carrying her bags, before going to my own classroom. During breaks, we meet in the staff room for tea – she socialises much more now with our colleagues. For lunch, we eat together under our tree if the weather is fair – now that her set is in the Senior School, they no longer share our lunch period, which gives us more time to ourselves. At the end of the day, I drive us back to Cramond.

Having Jean as my wife seems so natural – she and I have made a happy life for ourselves at Cramond. We have everything we could possibly want – how was I ever happy when Jean was not my wife? I suppose I just did not know what happiness was at the time.


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Marriage, while not as bad as I feared, is not as pleasant as it may have been if only Teddy and I had married. Yes, Gordon treats me incredibly well, but he is not Teddy. And sometimes, Gordon can just be utterly boring. It’s just like Teddy once said, “All those boring hours in bed with old Lowther, puffing bravely away.” I slapped him for it, but it was true – too true, I found out after our marriage. Especially as he makes me spend hours of my free time with him and the other staff members, instead of with my girls. All the teachers, except Teddy, continuously ask about life as Mrs. Lowther, while Gordon continuously harps on starting a family.

“Jean,” he says, “what do you think of Charles for a boy’s name, after my father, or Margaret for a girl, after my mother?”

I have tried to tell him that I am not ready to have children, but he always replies,

“Well, we do need a child to keep Cramond in the family.”

It is not so much that I do not want children, but rather I do not want children with Gordon. Hugh and I had always planned on children, and after Hugh’s death, and I met Teddy, I dreamt of children with him as well. But now, I suppose, I must resign myself to the fact that I am Gordon’s wife, and any children I have will be his.

[dianahawthorne]

Chapter Three: Giving In


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Jean has finally stopped avoiding the subject of having children.

“We can start trying now, Gordon,” she said today, one year after we were married, “I’m ready.”

I do not know what made her change her mind so suddenly – surely it is not just the end of the school year, even though it was her last school year? Perhaps she just realises how empty our lives are without a child. Last week, Teddy Lloyd came into the staff room and announced the birth of his seventh child. There was such a longing present in her eyes, one that I have never seen before.

I cannot wait until we have a little one of our own. Neither, it seems, can Jean. She always was reluctant to try to have children, because she knows that once she gets pregnant she will have to stop teaching. However, she has resigned from Marcia Blaine at the close of the school year. Ever since Mary MacGregor died, she has been more withdrawn. Her girls have stopped visiting every weekend. I think that Mary’s death has made her realise her own mortality. I think that she is finally ready to stop moulding her pupils and ready to start a family.


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Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Lowther of Cramond are pleased to announce the birth of their son Charles Hugh Lowther, born on the twenty-first of March at the Lowthers’ estate in Cramond. Mr. Lowther is the choir director, organist, and Elder of the Cramond Kirk. He teaches music at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, where he and Mrs. Lowther first became acquainted.


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After Teddy’s wife Deirdre had their seventh child, and after Mary died, things changed. My remaining girls no longer came to Cramond every weekend. Then my girls graduated from Marcia Blaine, and not one remained in Edinburgh. Monica, who had apprenticed at a theatre during the past two summers, was offered a role in a London production of “Twelfth Night” as an understudy for Viola. Jenny had travelled to Florence, at my recommendation, where she became a model at one of the art schools. And Sandy had left to study psychology at St. Andrew’s University. My life, which had once been so full, was now so empty. I finally stopped avoiding the subject of starting a family with Gorton. I had resigned from Marcia Blaine at the end of the last term after my girls had left the school. There really was not anything left for me there. I was tired of fighting Miss MacKay, when my girls were no longer under my care. I had nothing to fight for anymore. My girls had gone, and I rarely saw Teddy. He had needed to spend more time at home helping to raise his children. There was nothing there for me, so I just gave in – to Miss MacKay’s wish for my resignation and to Gordon’s request to start a family.

I became pregnant in July, only a month after we began trying, and in March, on the vernal equinox, I gave birth o a beautiful baby boy, whom we named Charles Hugh Lowther – Charlie for short.

He is now just a month old. Charlie has my hair and eyes, but Gordon’s nose and smile. He is such a darling child – I never thought that I could love some one, let alone a child – this much. Although he is Gordon’s son, he is mine, too – he is a Brodie just as much as he is a Lowther. And while I do miss my girls, I do not miss them as much as I did before Charlie was born. Nor is my longing for Teddy as sharp as it was – it is still present, mind you, yet more tempered. I can fill my days with my son and that keeps my longing for Teddy from my mind. I am finally able to enjoy life in the present – my child, my son, has given me that gift, and it is one that I would not exchange.

[kissofdeath]

YAY! Another Jean Brodie fic. sry, i just noticed this fic.

Its pretty good. Kind of sad though since its Lowther and Jean instead of Teddy and Jean.

[dianahawthorne]

Chapter Four: Reunion
A/N: I know that the Jean/Teddy ship is called HMS Ravishing Jean, but what about Jean/Gordon? Maybe HMS Music and Mussolini? Let me know if you have any ideas! Please review!

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It is a family tradition to have a portrait painted and hung in the library after the birth of the first child, so, to keep with that tradition, I hired Teddy Lloyd to paint Jean and Charlie. Although he and I had competed with each other over Jean’s affections, she is my wife and the mother of my child. In the three years of our marriage, she has seen him only a handful of times and rarely ever mentions him. After giving birth to Charlie fifteen months ago, she has settled and become more comfortable as a mother and wife. She no longer wistfully reminisces about Marcia Blaine or her girls – and I doubt that, even if she still worked at Marcia Blaine, she would go around collecting funds for dictators.

Jean has changed, and I trust her completely. I doubt that she would encourage Lloyd’s affections now anyway. I once overheard the Kerr sisters talking about how “extreme” she is – and it was true. She did everything to the best of her ability. I doubt that they would call her “extreme” now. I also doubt that Lloyd would behave inappropriately to her. He needs the money, now that he has seven children; and he is the best portrait painter in Edinburgh. And why shouldn’t I help a colleague? Best of all, he wants Jean and Charlie to pose at his studio – Jean always loved the old part of Edinburgh. She has always wanted to show Charlie the city. This just seems too good an opportunity to pass up…


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Gordon wants me to have my portrait painted with Charlie. “It’s a family tradition,” he said before showing me the portrait of him at one year with his mother, for what must be the thousandth time. He told me that Teddy is painting my portrait, and I am to pose for him in his studio. Oh, Teddy! I never thought that I would be posing for him again – this time, of course, with my son. I never dared to dream it after the last night we spent together on the eve of my wedding.

Charlie and I are to take the tram in and walk to Teddy’s studio – this way I can finally show my son the old city of Edinburgh, where my girls and I spent many weekends, and where my darling Teddy has his studio. I have not been able to see Teddy alone since my wedding three years ago…

I am just so chuffed that Charlie and I are posing at his studio, because that means that Gordon will not be hanging about, watching my every move. Gordon said that Charlie and I should be painted in one of the places I love the best – and while the old part of Edinburgh certainly is one of my favourite places, it cannot hold a candle to being in Teddy’s arms.

Charlie and I are to begin posing tomorrow. Oh, how I wish the hours between now and then would pass quickly!

[dianahawthorne]

Chapter Five: Elations of a Man and Woman

As I look at Jean lying in my bed, her crêpe-de-chine slip thrown over the back of a chair along with her other clothes, I am glad that we have escaped the war and settled in South Africa. Charlie, Jean, and I have a happy life here in Muizenberg, South Africa. I never would have imagined that being hired by Lowther to paint Jean and Charlie’s portrait would end up like this, but I am glad.
I never would have suspected that Deirdre would have an affair – and least of all with Gordon Lowther. However, that is what happened. The real reason that Lowther was so keen to hire me was because of Deirdre – I would be occupied, and so would Jean and Charlie, so he and Deirdre could have some time to themselves at my house. And when I came back from the studio early, because Charlie had gotten sick and Jean had taken him to the doctor’s, I find my children taking their afternoon naps while Lowther and my wife are sleeping together.
After notifying Jean, I confronted them both, and, when Jean arrived, pulled her aside.
“Jean – Deirdre and Lowther both want a divorce so they can marry each other. We can marry and go away from here, go wherever you like, start anew! This is our chance, my darling – our chance that we have always hoped for!”
Her eyes were shining as she reached up and touched my cheek with her free hand. “Really, Teddy?” she asked.
“Yes, my darling – yes.”

Less than a month later, Jean and I had signed the forms that Gordon and Deirdre had filled out months before. Deirdre had gone behind my back and gotten an annulment – and they had even set a wedding date. Supposedly, they had planned to break the news to us the evening I discovered them – and Jean and I were both glad of it. It let us begin our lives together that much sooner.
Gordon had provided Jean with a large cheque as compensation for being divorced. We used some of that money to buy tickets to South Africa. While Jean and I had considered Italy, the threat of the war had dissuaded us. Jean did not want Charlie to grow up in a place where he was considered dangerous because of his nationality. We chose South Africa after Jean spun a globe and Charlie put his finger on the surface to stop it. He landed on Cape Town, so we bought tickets on the R.M.S. Olympia and set sail in August of 1939.
The captain, a Scotch fellow named William MacNab, married us aboard ship on the 19th of August. We arrived in South Africa on the 31st of August, after an easy journey down the eastern coast of Africa. When we arrived six years ago, we bought a lovely house in Muizenberg, a small town just outside of Cape Town. We have lived here ever since. Our daughter, Margaret, whom we call Maggie, was born five years ago.
I teach at the small private school in town. When we first relocated to South Africa, Charlie and Jean frequently visited my classes. Now that Charlie and Maggie are in school, however, Jean assists me with the class. Although there are much fewer students here then at Marcia Blaine, there are both boys and girls in my classes – and Jean’s help is always appreciated in solving disputes amongst the students!
I never would have predicted this outcome – but I am glad that it came to pass.

I never would have thought that Gordon would break his marriage vows, but I am glad that he did. Teddy and I were able to divorce our spouses so they could marry each other; then we moved to Muizenberg, South Africa. I am glad that the War prevented us from moving to Italy – South Africa is wonderful. We have started a life for ourselves here away from everyone we had ever known, and it is spectacular. Charlie, who is now seven and a half, has so many friends and loves school – but especially loves teaching his five-year-old sister, Maggie, everything he knows! I help Teddy with his art classes – although I had missed teaching, I wanted to spend time with my family – and I love it.
I have never been more grateful that Gordon blackmailed me into marrying him – without that, Teddy and I would never have had the life we have now. I am so grateful that this all turned out the way it did.
THE END