Teaser Tuesday: Those Ubiquitous Vaughns

The Other DaughterIt has been noted that there is a Cecelia Heatherington-Vaughn in The Other Daughter. Not illogically, the question has been asked: is she one of those Vaughns?

Yes. Yes, she is.

As always, the Vaughns just won’t keep out of the way. They pop up everywhere. In my Kenya book; in my 1927 book; in your Christmas stocking. (Okay, maybe not there. Yet.)

As is usually the case with the Vaughns and their descendants, I flung a character into the mix in the 1927 book, meaning her to be a minor side character, with a cameo role for a chapter or so. Insert hollow laughter here. It wasn’t quite a Lord Vaughn level plot-hijacking (no-one hijacks a plot quite like Lord Vaughn), but my frivolous side character, Cece Heatherington-Vaughn, decided, without consulting me, that it was really only right that she play an integral role in the story, and, while she was at it, become a much more rounded character. And could I please pass that gin fizz?

Just to give you a quick idea of how Cece is related, here’s a bit of Vaughn family history….

crimson-rose-lauren-willig-paperback-cover-artMary and Vaughn’s granddaughter (born early in the reign of Queen Victoria, in 1841), the middle daughter of their son, the Victorian Lord Vaughn, marries a wealthy industrialist, Mr. Heatherington. A granddaughter of Mary couldn’t help but be (a) a bit snobby, but with (b) rather a liking for cold, hard cash, so she squares the circle by adding the Vaughn on to Heatherington, building an opulent mansion in Park Lane, and lording it over all of her acquaintances. Her son (Vaughn and Mary’s great-grandson) marries Lady Frances Standish, daughter of the Earl of Ardmore. Together, they beget Cece.

Long story short, Cece Heatherington-Vaughn is Mary and Vaughn’s great-great granddaughter, but no longer in the direct line.

Ashford PaperbackFor those of you who remember Val Vaughn, from The Ashford Affair, he’s Cece’s second cousin. (His grandfather and Cece’s grandmother are brother and sister.) Unlike Cece, Val is in the direct line, although, being a younger son, he gets all the fun and none of the responsibility, leaving him free to gad off to Kenya and fly aeroplanes.

None of this comes up in the book (for the sake of the plot, it’s Cece’s maternal connections that are more important here, not the Vaughn side), but I thought you might like to know the Vaughns are still going strong– especially since it’s The Seduction of the Crimson Rose month on The Bubblebath Reader!

7 Comments

  1. Sheila on December 16, 2014 at 10:50 am

    What fun! Thanks Lauren. I hope we will here some more about other Pink families, especially the ones who went to America

  2. Georgie Wickham on December 16, 2014 at 11:25 am

    I am a huge Vaughn fan – Vaughn & Mary leapt off the page for me, and I scan every new book in hopes of a little more about them – and, ideally, a scene between them. Their conversation, laced with dry restrained wit, was the highlight of TSOTCR.

  3. Diane on December 16, 2014 at 12:34 pm

    I’d take a Vaughn in my Christmas stocking…

  4. Jane on December 16, 2014 at 1:04 pm

    I, too, am a huge fan of Vaughn & Mary. I just didn’t realize it until rereading all the Pink novels in order in preparation for the last. Great reads all over again and credit to a great author to write books that are good reads over and over again.

  5. AngelB on December 16, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    I love it. We really need to add a Vaughn Family Tree (as well as the Selwick/Dorrington family tree to show the That Summer side) to the Diversions page though. All of the descendents are making my brain spin a bit. 🙂

  6. Betty S. on December 18, 2014 at 10:08 pm

    Love the Vaughns!

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