Marigold Edwards

Marigold Edwards was a rabbit who hailed from San Jose, California, and Serena's late husband. He was also the father of James Falconeri-Edwards.

Early Life
Marigold was born as the last of nine children. His parents, who already had eight sons before him, wanted a girl as their last child, and had picked out the name "Marigold" for their daughter; when he was born, they simply decided to name him Marigold anyway due to the dark gold hue of his fur. He was subjected to a lot of teasing as a child, earning the embarrassing nickname "Goldilocks", as well as being treated unfairly by his father and mother for not being the girl that they wanted, but he carried on the best he could. Out of his eight brothers, he was closest to Lumière and Isaiah. He later got a job as a window cleaner to help support his family, which was struggling to make ends meet, but his meager earnings weren't enough.

Romance with Serena and Marriage
In his teenage years, he met Serena Falconeri, a female rabbit who, coincidentally, was also the black sheep of her family. Despite laughing at his name and calling him "Glittering Goldie" to make fun of him, Serena took a liking to the earnest, hardworking Marigold, and he was attracted to her; it was mentioned that he was the only one who put up with her rebellious antics, and sometimes even joined in.

His parents didn't fully approve of the romance, but Serena's parents especially didn't want their oldest daughter marrying into a family from the "wrong side of the city", despite Marigold's kindhearted nature. He still offered to marry her anyway, which caught fire with both families. Marigold was ready to give up on Serena, only for her to show up on his doorstep, claiming that she was leaving her family to marry him no matter what. Refusing to cave into his family's demands, the two ran away together and got married in the state of Nevada; following their honeymoon, his parents personally disowned him for his actions. He eventually took over the town's general store following the owner's death. A year later, he and Serena had a son named James Falconeri-Edwards.

Later life and death
For eight years, both Marigold and Serena enjoyed a comfortable life until a fire in the towns' livery stable destroyed his store. Undeterred, Marigold planned on rebuilding the store, although he had to take out some large loans to do so. He managed to reopen the store a year later, but when the bank came after him demanding payment, he considered selling it to pay it off. Serena got involved, and using her shrewd ways, managed to con people out of their money to pay them off. Marigold didn't approve of this, and in fact, was furious when he found out, but kept his complaints to himself as his only other option was to sell the property and risk facing starvation; asking either of their families for help was out of the question, and his parents had personally disowned him.

Serena's strategy did pay off, but soon both Marigold and his son would face the repurcussions of her actions. In 1857, while Serena was away in town, an outlaw known only as "Savage" came to their home, demanding to see the man of the house. When James refused to let the coyote in, Savage forced himself inside, and shot the fleeing James in the face. Marigold attacked the coyote in blind fury, but only managed to leave a few scratches on his muzzle before Savage clawed his eyes out, and then shot him in the head twice, killing him. His body was found by a neighbor who'd heard the shots, and the news was given to Serena when she came home. Because her son was missing, it was assumed that James had been kidnapped and possibly killed by the murderer.

Aftermath and legacy
Ricochet Rabbit, a sheriff hailing from Texas, was called to investigate the crime, but after a week on the trail, he was ultimately unable to track the killer. James was never found, either, leading a devastated Serena to believe that he too had been murdered and left to the cruel mercy of nature.

Marigold was buried outside of their Nevada homestead, and an additional marker was made for James, despite his body never being found. Serena left the state not long afterwards, taking only two keepsakes: a garnet necklace that he'd given to her, and James' brown neckerchief. Twisted by grief, bitterness and hatred, Marigold's death became the final breaking point for Serena, as it drove her to become one of the most ruthless outlaws in the West.

Marigold was survived by his son, James, who miraculously survived the attack on his life, and was adopted by Serena's brother, Alfonso Falconeri, Jr., who had broken away from the family estate to see his sister and stumbled across the boy. It would be years before Marigold's family would see justice as James and his uncle Lumière would seek the outlaw who was hired to execute their family.