metanoia // bridgerton.

•part forty-six•

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Hastings House, 1813.

Concealing a scandal is a difficult matter. The one at fault must find a good enough way to strain the ton's eyes somewhere else or at least to find a valid enough reason to make a new name for himself.

However, in many cases, scandals have solutions. Something I cannot yet quite say about Miss Thompson. Mothering a fatherless child, if the child proves to have no connection to Mr. Bridgerton, which is becoming true, the young and still unmarried girl continues to carry a burden of having no future whatsoever.

Unless the duchess of Hastings, distantly reminding many of the Miss Thompson herself, finds a good reason to support the girl. If she does not choose a reason to defend her family first, which we all know she does care about enough to return from her own seemingly spotless marriage.

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CLARA stood in the drawing room of her husband's one of many houses, feeling rather nervous even if she wasn't the one to face a man she loved. Colin, her usually upbeat twin brother, stood in front of a window without even a sound, his hands behind his back moving anxiously, which gave Clara an idea how more nervous he was compared to her.

Miss Marina Thompson had yet to enter the room, and Clara surely had rehearsed what to tell the girl, who had tried making a fool out of her brother. But then again, the ton was already throwing hypothetical stones at her, and she was with child. Nevertheless, nobody knew the real reason of her pregnancy or what had happened. Perhaps, it wasn't so different from Clara herself, the duchess worrying even more when she realized something very odd and shocking about her.

Her courses, which she had initially thought would come four to five days later, actually had to begin a few days ago. Clara had miscalculated her own courses amidst all of the ongoing problems, realizing that she definitely could've been already with child. This frightened her, made her pace around the room and practically bite onto her nails, however, she still hoped her courses were a tiny bit late. Every moment she'd rejoice when she'd feel something between her legs, only to get disappointed when the joy to see blood would turn out to be her own imagination.

Clara's courses were late and she tried to come up with many suggestions answering why. When the most clear one was lingering right in front of her nose. Nevertheless, she kept herself incredibly occupied, waiting alongside an anxious Colin until the door finally opened and Jennie allowed Miss Thompson to enter the room.

Clara stood straight and watched Colin turn to face the woman he thought he loved. Marina looked like Clara expected her to - distraught and ashamed of such matters, glancing at Clara, who only clasped her hands in front of her, not knowing how she should've acted with Marina. Surely, she had hurt her brother, had played him, almost made him father a different man's child, but on the second hand, Marina seemed to have been a victim of her own, nobody truly knowing what had happened to her. Perhaps, and God forbade, she was raped, or perhaps, she loved someone but couldn't get married. Maybe Marina even wished to live a free life Clara robbed herself of.