Balance: Benedict Bridgerton's Tale

Chapter 14: Fate

There had been considerable consternation. Shelly Watson had strongly disagreed and had interfered. Said that if Alina wanted to work so badly she could do so in the bakery as they were short of 'hands'. But the bottom line was that she, now a married woman, should focus on having children and that 'her son earned enough to support them. Alina tried to say nicely and clearly that she liked to keep working, that she was needed at her place of work and that she couldn't just quit but Shelly Watson kept going and going until Tommy suddenly interfered.

"That's enough, Mother," he had said in a raised voice, something Shelly was not used to from her son who normally always listened nicely to his mother. Her surprise was clearly visible on her face.

"If she wants to keep working then that's fine by me. You have given your opinion but we both want her to keep going to Madame Delacroix. ".

Shelly's mouth twisted into a thin line, and she looked at both her son and Alina in a way that was hardly concealing.

"Fine," Shelly conceded with a disapproving look, nonetheless.

"I won't say anything more about it" she had said in a tone that did little to conceal her anger and she had then stood up, mumbled a 'goodbye,' and left. Alina was happy with 'the victory' and grateful that Tommy had stood up for her, but this did not bode well. She had the feeling that they had taken the battle but not the war, not that she wanted a war with her mother-in-law, not at all, but the beginning... of the relationship was not very hopeful.

She had slept badly that night, something she had done more often since she had married. It was strange to share a bed with someone after not having done so for a long time. She had to get used to the space he took up in the bed and his tendency to want to keep turning at night, touching her unintentionally and waking her up, startled and waking him up again.

They did not have the space for a large bed, there was hardly any space anywhere in the small house anyway. Tommy had assured her, with an apologetic look on his face, that he wanted to move to a bigger house, not now, but later for sure, after they got back from their wedding. Alina, in turn, had assured him that she was content with the living situation now and in response he had smiled in relief at her, bent down and given her a small kiss on the mouth. From there, things had moved on and the two had ended up in bed.

He had been sweet, she couldn't deny that, and very shy, which was very touching, but it felt... it felt... somewhat strange... She didn't know what it was. It hadn't been unpleasant but when he buried his head in her neck her hands went to ruffling it like they used to, until she realised that Tommy was bald, and that her fingers were searching for brown strands of hair.

She searched for brown, soft strands, a soapy scent, sweet brown eyes and a smile, his smile that lit up his whole face and his mouth that claimed hers, fierce and unrelenting. The realisation broke her heart and she felt tears well up in her eyes and slide down her face. He didn't notice luckily and a few moments later Tommy soon reached his climax and their first time sleeping together as husband and wife was over.

They had decided to postpone the idea of children for at least the first year, there was no room for them anyway although Shelly Watson had 'remarked in passing' that 'a baby didn't need that much space' and that 'Alina had to consider that she was not twenty anymore'. Tommy told her not to worry about it, but it did sting.

It took some time for her to settle down as a married woman but at some point she got into a routine. Alina was happy to go to work as Shelly would drop in all the time, even in the evening and comment on how 'clean' the house was, among other things. It annoyed Alina to no end but out of respect she said nothing, for now but fortunately she would soon not have to deal with her meddlesome mother-in-law anymore.