First Impressions // A Bridgerton Story

Chapter 22

Amelia smiled at Lady Danbury as she walked around the table to follow her dear Mama out of the room.

Lady Danbury could not help but smile and shake her head fondly after Amelia, remembering the bubbly little child she was, and seeing the grown, cunning woman she is.

"Anthony", Violet called out, walking down the stairs after her son at the Danbury house.

He did not stop, continuing to walk down the purple carpeted marble stairs.

"Anthony", she called out again, and finally he did stop almost at the bottom of the stairs.

He turned back and looked at her, pocketing his Father's watch.

"Is this plan going to be a problem for you?", Violet asked, suspicious.

Her son appeared the imagine of calm, contained and put together. But she knew him better than that.

"Mother-", he began but she interrupted.

"I only ask because the Princess Amelia will be in attendance at the ball we are hosting. And the last time you found yourself in such close proximity to the Princess, the situation did not turn out quite as we thought it would", Violet explained.

Anthony listened obediently, without interrupted, knowing that what his mother said was the truth. As much as he wished it was not.

"We'd not be in this situation if-", Violet continued and Anthony knew what she was about to say. So he interrupted her, not wanting to hear it.

"You have nothing to worry about", Anthony assured her. "I will play my part".

He walked down the rest of the stairs, content that the conversation was over. But nothing was ever over for his mother.

"And then?", Violet asked, following her son down the stairs. He slowly turned to look at her. "This plan... well it is a temporary solution. If it is successful of course the rumors of scandal will die. Yet no matter what, it still leaves you with no one to marry".

Anthony of course knew that. He had thought of that a great deal.

"Unless, of course, your designs of this season have changed?", Violet asked. And Anthony realized that she wanted him to say that yes his designs had changed. That yes he wished to marry for love and wait now, instead of marrying now and not wait.

But he would never say that. Because he never held that opinion.

"You do realize it is still possible for our family to endure whether I decide to marry or not?", Anthony began, lightheartedly. "The line does not end with me".

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say but it was a truth one he had realized and held dear to him. His need to wed and bed and breed a woman he hardly knew and hardly cared about stemmed from the wrong issue. His duty did not lie in procreating and continuing the line, as he had come to realize.

His duty lay in protecting the line. He had brothers, and those brothers would marry and have children eventually, if it so pleased them.

Anthony had options. Many other lords didn't.

"No", Violet agreed quickly. "No it does not, but-... Are you to rely on your brothers then as your solution?".

"Do you need me to admit that I made a mistake? Is that what you want?", Anthony asked, raising his voice. "To tell you that I should never have asked Miss Edwina for her hand? That I never should have taken things this far? I realize. I realize that I have indeed failed in more things than you and Father will ever realize".