Mary

Mary, a character in the Desire & Decorum series, was Your Character's mother and the love of the Earl of Edgewater's life. She is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Mary's appearance is dependent on which of the four character models is chosen for your character. In Chapter 7, you discover that she is from India (first character model), Europe (second character model), Africa (third character model) or China (fourth character model).

Personality
She was witty and sharp like you. Madam Lemay says that Mary pretended to be mild and meek when she was younger, but could do impressions of people that were hilarious (similar to Miss Parsons's impression-making skills). Meeting your father made her a better singer because she finally understood what the lovestruck heroines were feeling.

Background
When Mary was a child, one of the ambassadors on the Macartney Mission heard her voice and convinced her parents to send her back with him to London. There she trained to become an Opera singer, a soprano, with the troupe at Opera St. James; and that was where Viscount Vincent fell in love with her. After their short marriage was annulled by Bishop Monroe, she settled in Grovershire where she worked as a seamstress and raised you.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: The Journey Ahead
 * Chapter 2: Ties That Bind (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 3: Threading the Needle (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 6: An Intimate Affair (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 7: Opera St. James (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 12: In Sickness and In Health (Determinant)
 * Chapter 13: A Better Place (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 16: Season's End (Determinant)

Book 2

 * Chapter 4: Back to the Beginning (Mentioned)

Book 3

 * Chapter 3: A Mother's Touch (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 8: The Price of the Past (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 11: The Game is Afoot (Mentioned, Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 15: With This Ring (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 16: A Joyous Union
 * Chapter 18: 1817 (Mentioned)

Desire & Decorum: First Winter

 * Chapter 2: All I Want for Christmas (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 4: Sleigh Ride (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)

Your Character
Your Character is Mary's daughter. In Chapter 1, Mary tells you that your father is alive. She had written to him in the last week, and he has expressed a desire to see you. She asks you if you will go to Edgewater for her, and you promise her you will as she takes her last breath. You receive your mother's wedding ring from your father in Chapter 12. In Chapter 13, you find the letters that she wrote to your father telling him about her pregnancy, your birth, your first birthday, and you asking about him. She did not want anything from your father, but just to share the news with him. In Chapter 16, if you listen to Bishop Monroe tell you his story of their annulment, you find that Mary was willing to risk everything and go on the run with Vincent. She said she could bear it all as long as she had him. However, Vincent couldn't. He could not live with himself with the threat of Mary's life (as well as your life) hanging overhead as he feared his father would do the unthinkable to separate them. That is why they signed the annulment papers.

In Book 2, Chapter 4, you find a letter from your mother left near the dresser in your old home in Grovershire. In the letter, Mary tells you that she loves you with her entire being and that she is sorry that she cannot live longer. She says that she does not regret having you as a daughter.

Vincent
Vincent fell in love with Mary the first time he saw her performing as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at the Opera St. James in 1794. In the premium scene of Book 1, Chapter 11, you are able to read the letters he wrote to Mary and learn he planned to marry her despite her being of lower rank. In Chapter 12's premium scene, he describes his first encounter with Mary to you. He tells you that he never enjoyed opera until Mary took the stage. She knew his station by the clothes he wore and the air about him, and told him that she would not be his charity case or his exotic play thing. He told her that he was looking for no such thing, and was looking for a special woman to share his secrets with. He persuaded her to allow him to get to know her better by complimenting her wits and sharp mind, and he would go to see her every performance, bring her flowers, and walk her home. Mary made him realize that there was more to life than lands and titles. She introduced him to a whole new way of life and made him realize a part of himself that he didn't know was there. She could make him laugh like no one could.

The only holiday they were able to spend together was during Christmas in 1794. He returned to London to whisk her away for a few days. In 1795, they eloped in a small country church with the help of Bishop Monroe, but Rupert had the marriage annulled a few weeks after they had wed. It was like his heart had been torn in two. Vincent was unaware of Mary carrying his child and the letters she kept writing him thanks to Rupert, as well.

Rupert Foredale
Rupert was Vincent's father. He strongly discouraged Vincent from pursuing Mary, and when he found out they married nonetheless, he forced Vincent to annul the marriage (through then-priest Monroe) by threatening to ship Mary back to her homeland and to a long life of suffering. When Vincent agreed to his demands, Rupert hid letters from Mary to his son and only wrote her once to demand her to cease writing.

Dominique
Dominique is Vincent's mother. She could not interfere with what Rupert did to your parents but she regrets not saying anything in the past.

Henrietta
Henrietta is Vincent's wife. In Book 1, Chapter 2, it was revealed that Henrietta scammed her way into marrying him, meaning that it most likely wasn't a loving marriage. Mr. Harper and Briar confirm this from the gossip of the servants. In Chapter 13, you and Briar find the letters your mother wrote to your father hidden in Henrietta's room. They had all been intercepted and hidden by Rupert and Henrietta.

Trivia

 * She shares the same first name as Mary Zilberg, a character from The Senior.
 * The name Mary is of Hebrew, Latin, and Greek origin, which means: Bitter, beloved, rebelliousness, wished-for child, marine.