Ace of Spades//Anthony Bridgerton

❧twenty five

I can hear someone speaking. I can finally open my eyes. I see Anthony sitting beside my bed with Betty in his lap.

"Mama!" Betty shouts.

"Anthony?" I ask.

Betty manages to slip from Anthony's grasp and into bed with me.

"You're awake," Anthony says. I can tell he has been crying. "You are alright. Do you remember?"

"I remember walking towards the street and then everything went black," I tell him.

Tears come to Anthony's eyes. "I am so sorry, Selina."

I grab his hand in mine. "It is not your fault."

"It is," Anthony insists. "It was my fault you ran off. I thought I was going to be the reason our daughters were motherless. Matilda has asked about you every day." Anthony holds back a sob. "And I did not know what to tell her. I thought I had lost you. I have realised that loving you is caring for you so much that I am not the same without you."

I hold back tears, "Anthony..."

"I've loved you at every dance, on every walk, every time we've been together, and every time we've been apart. It is you that I want every day by my side. Giving me children. Growing old with. I love you, Selina," Anthony tells me.

I smile through the tears. "I have waited forever for you to say that Anthony Bridgerton. And I love you to."

Anthony smiles as he kisses me. I can hear Betty giggle. I pull away from Anthony and smile.

Anthony goes to tell our family that I am awake. All of the Bridgertons shove in as well as Campbell and Georgie.

"I was ready to kill Anthony," Campbell informs me.

"I had to hold him back," Benedict explains.

"And Colin had to hold me back," Georgie tells me.

I smile. "Thank you all for caring enough."

"We would do anything for you," Georgie assures me.

I am still stuck in my bed. Though there has been a revolving number of guests coming to visit me. Campbell sits in a chair beside my bed while Georgie sits on the end of it.

"So, what have I missed?" I ask.

"Not that much," Georgie tells me. "Simply that our brother is engaged."

I smile slightly. "Miss Sharma said yes."

"She did," Campbell tells me with a smile. "When you... when you were hurt, I realised that life is precious. I did not want to wait any longer. I did want Miss Sharma to return to India before I plucked up the courage to ask."

"I am glad my accident helped you find your courage," I tell him. I laugh. "And what of you, Georgie? Have you proposed to anyone?"

Georgie laughs. "No. Though I did teach Alice and Joanna to bark like dogs."

"They've not stopped in a week," Campbell tells me.

I smile. "Thank you, Georgie, truly. I so was hoping for my daughters to behave like animals in my absence."

The doctor did not tell me I was cleared to get out of bed, but I do not care. I have been in bed for a week. I need to get up and stretch my legs.

I can overhear Anthony in the study with Gregory.

"Your Latin tutor does not think you are stupid. He thinks I am frightening," Anthony says. "I ask too much of him, and of you. And of everyone, really."

"Am I like him at all?" Gregory asks. "Or was he more like you?"

"Father. He was, um..." Anthony starts. "He was like both of us, really. He had my seriousness, perhaps. He shared your love of a prank."