After the night at the opera, the next big event to happen is the ball at Daphne's tonight, for me at least. Benedict attends a boxing match with his brothers that I do not wish to go to, and so I stay at the bridgerton home and I am delighted when violet invites me to keep herself and Eloise company. "Peaches, I heard that the queen has asked you to paint the ceiling of the palace, that is such wonderful news."
"She has only heard such because Benedict has told every man, woman, child, animal and inanimate object that he has come into contact with over the past day." Eloise laughs a little as she looks up from her book, raising a gentle eyebrow. "It is romantic, I suppose. That he is ever so proud of you. Although I think he also seems proud of himself for getting the placement for you, he has always bee rather full of himself. You have married a strange man, my brother-"
"Eloise! That is quite enough, dear. Benedict is proud of his wife and that is indeed lovely. That shall be the modiste. She shall have lowered your hems by now and you must try them on." Violet takes a sip from her tea and looks to me. "I have it on good authority that there may be something arrived for you as well, my dear."
"Me? Oh, I have not ordered anything."
"If you should believe it, Benedict has. He said he was aware how much you despised purple and felt awful that you had had to continue to wear them at the tea and at the opera." Violet rises as the lady walks in and places boxes down onto the table that contain dresses for myself and for Eloise. "This one is for you, my dear."
She slides a white box over to me, smiling as I open it. Inside is the prettiest dress I have ever seen, and it is stunning and it is all for me. It is a light blue, with a sheet of lace flowing on top of it, with intricate little lilac and baby blue flowers intertwined. The lilac of the dress that I wore, the only one I had ever worn that I had liked and the bridgerton blue. I cannot help but simply stare at it, holding it to my chest and tearing up. "It is the most beautiful... the most gorgeous dress I have ever... oh... oh. For me? You are sure it is for me?"
"I am sure. I believe that Benedict asked madame delacroix specifically for every fine detail. The blue and the purple flowers... the colouring and the fit. He is a wonderful boy, is he not?" Violet gives me a heartwarming smile at my reaction, nodding a little. "You must try it on this very moment, I cannot wait any longer to see how it shall look on you, Peaches."
I dress out of the sight of my mother and sister in law, I am not so comfortable with the two of them just yet. The dress is a little tight around my chest and stomach, madame delacroix probably used the measurements she already had of me and I must admit I have been eating more cakes and sweets than usual since arriving at the Bridgertons. But still, I look at myself in the mirror and I have never felt as pretty as I do in that moment, and so I am more than excited to attend the ball this evening.
"You look stunning." Benedict tells me as I dress later. "I do hope you do not mind that I went to visit madame delacroix. Eloise came with me, you do not need to worry that anything shall have happened between us." He stands behind me as he straightens his collar, resting a hand on my shoulder. "I love you and you only."
"You do not need to reassure me. I did not expect that anything shall have happened between the two of you!" I laugh and roll my eyes, kissing his hand. "I cannot thank you enough for this dress. I adore it. I wish to wear it every day for the rest of my life, I wish to never take it off."
"I hope you shall change your mind on that matter. I am unsure that wearing the same dress for so many years will be a good impression on the ton. Not only if we are to talk of fashion but also I am aware of how awfully you needed a bath when we visited Gretna green!" He laughs, tucking my hair behind my ear. "You do look just perfect in it, though. We can have many more identical ones crafted if that is what you shall like. Or similar ones, at least. You like the blue and the purple?"
"I adore it. I adore it! And you know what I meant." I wrap my arms around his shoulders, facing him and kissing his lips. "I am enamoured with the dress and I am enamoured with you. I adore it and I adore it more because you did it. You are thoughtful and you are kind and I am so lucky that I have found someone who is utterly perfect for me. I am so... so lucky. I am so lucky! I'm so lucky!" I squeak and wrap my legs around him, pushing him into a kiss and stroking the back of his head, giggling and trailing my fingers down his back. "I cannot wait until it is only you and I alone in Aubrey hall and we shall spend all of our time together and we shall go wherever we like and we shall do whatever we like in whatever room we like and... oh, I cannot wait, I cannot wait, I cannot wait!"
"Neither can I." This all causes him to grin with that big beautiful grin, and he kisses my lips between every phrase. "We shall go to the beach... and we shall eat dinner together... and we shall spend all night alone, only the two of us... we shall paint... we shall read... we shall kiss and we shall do whatever my darling should like to do."