Bridgerton House, September 1815
It was Kate's first day back at home after their visit to Stanton Manor and the Bassets. Daphne and Augie had joined them on their journey back to London and tonight she and Kate were to accompany each other to Lady Danbury's famous soirée for married ladies. At the present moment, Kate sat in front of her dressing table and winced as Mrs Wilson braided her hair a bit too tightly.
"I'm truly sorry, my lady... I just wish for it to stay in place all evening. Your hair is ever so bountiful." The old Bridgerton housekeeper smiled apologetically.
"Nothing to worry about, Mrs Wilson. You do what you must do." Kate reassured her.
"I understand you feel better in the mornings now?" She asked politely, while fighting to keep Kate's wild hair in a neat braid.
"Yes, praise the gods..." Kate exhaled. "I mean, God." She corrected herself, even though she actually still kept to her own Hindu deities, but there was no point in upsetting this elderly British woman. But Mrs Wilson just smirked at her through the mirror and Kate had a warm feeling that the old housekeeper, who had for so long been Violet's right hand, in fact did like her new viscountess as well. "It is wonderful to feel better, but I do wish I did not have to wait for this child so long..." She muttered and patted her little bump, which was now covered in lilac silks.
"It is most welcome indeed to have a precious little baby in this house, after such a long time." Mrs Wilson sighed longingly. "But these things take time, my lady." She hummed, making Kate turn around in her chair to face the other woman.
"Mrs Wilson... I have requested for my mother, or stepmother, to be present when the child is due, and she was obviously delighted. But I wish for you to be in that room with me as well." Kate declared, although somewhat hesitantly. Mrs Wilson's proud face immediately melted into a heartfelt smile.
"Lady Kate, I wouldn't miss it for the world." She promised, quite emotionally. "I have helped every single one of these eight rascals into this world. And now Lord Anthony is about to receive his firstborn, oh..." She almost broke into tears and had to pause for a while. "I assure you, everything will go just gallantly." She finished, still holding back her tears.
"I am sure it will. Anthony has apparently already booked the best obstetrician in the entire England to stay close by to Aubrey Hall when the child is due..." Kate grunted, a bit disapproving of her husband's desperate attempts to hold sway over a situation that so clearly would be totally out of his control.
"He means well." Mrs Wilson laughed and finished up Kate's hairdo. "I remember that Edmund was also terribly nervous when Violet was going into labour... The poor man fuzzed around her like a lost puppy. Oh, they were so young, and so in love..." She sighed and Kate glanced at her with a sad smile. "Just like the two of you are." The old woman finished with a soft smirk and fastened one last bejewelled accessory in Kate's dark hair. "There you go, my lady. Oh, that reminds me, do you wish for his lordship to be in the delivery room as well?"
"No, I definitely do not. But he insists on it..." Kate muttered as she admired her beautifully done hair in the mirror. "That man's head is incredibly difficult to turn around."
"Yes, it most certainly is." Mrs Wilson chuckled, but put on her usual quite stern face when there was a knock on the door. "Ah, speak of the devil..." She whispered and Kate sniggered as Anthony entered the room.
"Are you ready for your night out?" He enquired with a smile. "I wish to exchange a quick word before you leave." He demanded rather than requested, so Mrs Wilson curtsied and took her leave. Kate stood up and looked at him questioningly.
"Yes, what is it?" She wondered.
"Kate..." Anthony sighed and sat down on their bed, motioning that he wished for her to join him, so she did. "I am so sorry that our stay in London has been dragged out so tediously... I know you would rather be at Aubrey Hall, but I had no idea that there was this much paperwork waiting for me. I am also sorry that I have not had any spare time to spend with you. But you must know that I long for your company every waking hour..." He muttered and took her hands in his.
"Anthony, I knew what I was getting into when I married a viscount. Yes, surely this has been quite the contrast to our honeymoon and our time at Aubrey Hall around the ball, but believe it or not, I actually do manage quite well even without your delightful company." She smirked and brushed his hand against her lips.
"But I do not wish for you to simply manage, I wish for you to enjoy your time here. Perhaps you will meet some interesting new friends at Lady Danbury's tonight? I know you are close with Daphne and your sister, but it would do you good to make some new acquaintances as well. Maybe some new friends could help you appreciate London a bit more?" He smiled warily, trying not to offend his wife by claiming that she did not have any friends.
"Perhaps, but if the ladies at Danbury's are as dimwitted as Miss Go – Mrs Dorset, I am unlikely to make any great new friendships there." Kate blurted out.
"Yes, I am afraid the fine ladies of London are quite boring indeed..." Anthony laughed. "That is why I married you, and not one of them." He smirked and let himself fall on his back on the bed, pulling Kate with him.
"No, Anthony, my hair...!" Kate cried out. "Mrs Wilson worked with it for ages..." She sighed, propping herself up on one arm and fixing her hairdo with the other.
"I assure you darling, this shall not go on forever. I will beat that horrible mountain of unattended accounts." Anthony smiled and traced her lips with his thumb, unbothered by the almost ruined coiffure. "To make matters worse, this has been such a dry year, so the harvest was way worse than I had expected and that has caused me even more work..." He sighed deeply. "If it was not for your clever and quite lucrative rental deal with Stanton, I believe we would almost have had to cut down on your expenses at the modiste." He smirked at her. "That reminds me, how was your stay at Stanton Manor? We have not had the time to talk about that, either..."
"Oh, it was wonderful!" Kate gasped with a dreamy look in her eyes. "I have never seen anything like those stables, even the royal stables of India grow pale in comparison to Stanton's. And the horses! Oh, Anthony, you should have seen those horses... Our old friend High Flyer was there as well, in addition to our beloved Nectar, who seemed to be quite pleased with his new accommodations. Ah, if I had a horse like High Flyer, I could start a successful stud farm of my own..." She sighed, still thinking about the magnificent horse.
"Surely the racing business is no place for a lady." Anthony commented with a dry chuckle, realising too late how it came out when he saw how Kate's face turned suddenly resentful. "I only meant –"
"You meant exactly what you said." Kate hissed and jolted up from the bed. Here she had been sharing her innermost dream with him, and he had trampled it down like a weed.
"No, I simply meant that it is a brutal business, mastered by men who have been taught everything about it by their fathers, ever since the day they were born! And their father's fathers before them." Anthony quickly excused himself and stood up as well. But it was already too late, Kate was furious, turning into an alarming shade of red that did not match her lilac dress especially well.
"Oh, so you do not believe I know enough about horses to be able to stand up to those men?" She snarled. "Do I need to remind you that it was me who won that bet at Ascot!"
"I do not doubt your vast knowledge about horses Kate..." Anthony tried to utter in his defence. "But maybe you could settle with taking care of our many already existing horses and ride them again, when you are allowed to..."
"Settle?" Kate spat the word out like it was a toad that had suddenly appeared into her mouth. "You wish for me to settle? Have I ever asked you to settle with anything?! You promised me a life that would suit us both, and this is clearly not it!" She screamed. "This current life of ours, it does not suit me! I do not wish to sit here and wait for you to be ready with your ever so important paperwork! I want to have my own life, along with the life I lead with you and this family. I want to run a business of my own and aspire to achieve something greater in this life, despite being a woman!" Kate yelped desperately, now pacing around the room like a trapped animal. "But I am the one carrying this child of ours, not you, and as deeply as I already love it, it also binds me from not pursuing my ambitions. I am not allowed to ride and apparently I am not allowed to start my own racing business either, so what am I supposed to do, then...?! Start playing a bloody harp or get engulfed in some ridiculous embroidering?! That is not me, Anthony!" She croaked, already sore in the throat from all the screaming. "I will not ever let you, or any man, stand in the way of me reaching for my dreams...!"
"Kate, you are being unreasonable... This is just some silly idea that the damned duke has planted into your head." Anthony snarled, feeling his own patience slowly run out as well and realising he should never have allowed his wife and mother to visit that arrogant man. "And do not dare to talk about our child like he is some terrible sacrifice you will have to make, I thought we both wanted this child into our lives!"
"Of course I want her in my life!" Kate retorted. "But you have to understand that bearing children is a sacrifice I make as a woman! And let us face it, I will probably be constantly pregnant from now on until I am old and grey!"
"Yes, that is indeed quite possible..." Anthony grinned amusedly, but quickly remembered to look angry again. "I have no time for this nonsense Kate, I have to meet up with my fellow investors at White's." He declared coldly and left the room like a whirlwind.
"I hope you fall down your ridiculously white stairs!!" She yelled after him so hard that the whole corridor echoed and slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.
***
Kate was staring out of the carriage window into the darkening evening outside. From afar she could see lights of the docks by the Thames, as they made their way towards Lady Danbury's house in Mayfair. She sighed as she thought about when she had stood on one of those piers almost a year ago, ready to set sail with Anthony towards Bombay and their long-awaited honeymoon. The wind had blown in her hair as they had waved their goodbyes to their families from the deck of the ship, before hurrying down to their cabin where they had stayed locked in for three days straight, exploring every corner of each other's bodies and minds. The cabin had not been that grand, Kate was actually quite sure it was the smallest room Anthony Bridgerton had ever slept in, but there was a large enough bed for them to roll around in and a sturdy enough table for them to eat by... And make love on top of.
Kate remembered how, quite the opposite from the trap she felt herself to be in now, she had during those days felt more free than ever before in her life. She was finally free to do everything she had for months desired to do with the man she loved, she was free to return to her beloved India, even for just a few weeks, but most importantly she was free from every restraint the social circles had set upon her for her entire life, both in India and in England. At that moment she had been surrounded only by the vast open horizon, the salty wind in her hair and most importantly her new husband, who was deeply devoted to driving her mad with pleasure every night. And morning. And many times during the day. Everything was new and exciting and Anthony still felt like a fresh white canvas to her. Whereas now they seemed to have come full circle and ended up right back where they had started, screaming vexedly at each other and constantly being dragged apart, not by chaperoning mothers or bethrotals to others, but by this horrifying thought of having to settle, him with his fate of being overwhelmed with work and her with the fact that she apparently was never to become a part of the male-dominated horse racing world.
"Kate..." Daphne smiled at her from the opposite side of the carriage. "I am sure you both will be in a better mood when you get home to each other later this evening." She said in an encouraging tone, like she had been able to read Kate's thoughts. Or, probably just because Daphne and everyone else who had been present at Bridgerton House earlier had surely overheard their fight. "You two have always seemed to argue equally fiercely as you love each other."
"I know, it is not Anthony I am that concerned about..." Kate exhaled and glanced at Daphne. "It is whether or not I am going to find my own place and true calling in this world."
"You do sound an awful lot like Colin." Daphne smirked. "But I am sure you will find it soon in motherhood." She added, smiling reassuringly.
"Yes, I am sure it will be quite fulfilling, but I cannot help feeling that there must be more to a woman's life as well, than simply being a mother... Because there surely is more to a man's life, than simply being a father." Kate muttered and kept staring out of the window.
"And now you sound just like Eloise. You seem to have been spending way too much time with those two... It is a good thing we got you out of the house tonight." Daphne laughed.
"I am indeed happy to get out of that house, I already felt those teal walls falling down on me..." Kate sighed and checked her hair one last time.
"You do know you can redecorate the house, if it is not to your liking?" Daphne grinned, as the carriage jerked to a halt in front of Lady Danbury's house, which was unforgettably familiar to Kate. Daphne stepped out from the carriage first and offered Kate her hand.
"I do." Kate smiled and took it as she descended into the cool night air. "But I am not so passionate about the matter that I would bother to set myself upon such a task..." She added somewhat sourly.
"Come now, Viscountess Bridgerton... I am sure this soirée and its many card games will put you in a better mood." Daphne smirked and led her up to the house, whereof music and laughter was already blaring.
Kate had to admit that Daphne had been right, a couple of hours later she was indeed in a better mood, even if she and Daphne were only ones drinking watered down wine – which tasted like it truly was more water than wine – while the other ladies at their table were already giggling frantically from all the strong spirits they had gulped down, intoxicated from the rush of being free from their husbands. Both Kate and Daphne had been seated at the table that Lady Danbury had dubbed as "The Honeymoon Table", even though Daphne had already been married to Simon for two years. They were accompanied by the latest additions to the married ladies of the ton; Mrs Margaret Dorset, as well Mrs Philippa Finch, nee Featherington, and of course the honourable Princess Edwina herself.
"It is funny that this table of ours is called The Honeymoon Table, since I actually arrived here straight from my honeymoon with Mr Dorset!" Margaret laughed, as she slapped another card on the table and swallowed down some more punch.
"Yes, I can smell that." Philippa sneered and Margaret exploded into uncontrollable laughter. Edwina giggled as well and Kate smirked at her sister being noticeably tipsy already.
"Oh, but the honeymoon is such a wonderful time, is it not, ladies?" Margaret smiled coyly.
"It sure is, I just wish I would get pregnant already, like the two of you." Philippa grunted and waved her wineglass towards Kate and Daphne. "Maybe Mr Finch and I are doing it wrong, it has been a year already..."
"I believe it is not such a complicated task." Edwina smirked and Kate raised an eyebrow on how surprisingly direct her sister was. "But I too hope to be with child soon!"
"So what is the secret, you two?" Philippa turned her drunken gaze towards Kate and Daphne. "Any particular position one should try out?"
"I have heard that if you want to have a girl, you should be under the man, and if you want to have a boy, you should be on top!" Margaret sniggered. "How was it in your case?" She asked Kate and Daphne innocently. Kate tried hard to ponder upon which the situation had been in their case, but she had to admit that she had no idea which one of their countless acts of intimacy had actually conceived the child. Apparently for these poor women, the case might be another.
"I – I do not remember... But I believe it is less the position itself and more the amount of times completing these scenarios that gets the job done." Kate smirked, trying to achieve a big sisterly tone. "And obviously there are more and less fruitful times during the month, which I suggest you learn about if you do have problems with conceiving." She continued, mostly addressing Mrs Finch.
"Really?" Philippa wondered with her mouth gaping. "I have never heard of that!"
"I thought so..." Kate muttered to herself. All the young ladies of London seemed to be terribly unknowing of these quite natural things.
"But I guess it must be an easier task to conceive with a reformed rake, such as Viscount Bridgerton or the Duke of Hastings, beg your pardon." Philippa continued, not in a pardoning tone at all. "And your husband should not be that different from them either, from what I have heard." She nodded towards Margaret. "The three of them seemed to be quite the wild bunch back at Oxford. Whereas my dear Albion is... A more cautious type." She exhaled loudly. Margaret had started to giggle hysterically again, she was clearly as new to discussing these matters with others and she was to actually doing them with her husband. Edwina was blushing and sniggering as well and Kate sighed discreetly due to her naive table company. "Oh, the things some men must have learned!" Mrs Finch continued her monologue, as the other women tried to focus on the card game at hand. She lowered her voice before continuing to the next part. "Can you believe it, I heard from one of my maids, something unthinkable... I heard that it is actually possible for a man to... Can you believe it..." She had to stop for a giggle. "To kiss you, down there, you know. You know where...! How macabre, it must be something only the commoners do to their wives, promiscuous women such as my maids...!" She squealed and Kate nearly choked on the watery wine she had just sipped.
"Oh, I am so sorry..." Kate wheezed out, after having survived some violent coughing. "I simply..." She started, but the other women, including her sister, stared at her both wonderingly, suspiciously and a bit judgingly. "I just thought of it as being such an unthinkable macabre thing, like you said, Mrs Finch." She finished, containing her urge to scream at these silly girls that they had just the same right to enjoy the marital act to its full potential, as their husbands surely did. Only Daphne shared an amused and meaningful look with Kate that revealed the fact that she understood what had truly caused Kate's reaction.
***
Meanwhile the man who performed such unthinkable acts on Lady Kate was enjoying a cigar at White's Gentlemen's club, where his fellow investors had insisted that they should go. Anthony himself preferred Mondrich's nowadays, as did Simon, Benedict, Colin and many others he rather spent his time with than these wealthy idiots. Mondrich's was also a more decorous place, since the retired boxer's wife was working there as well, so it was not frequented by harlots like White's was. Not that Anthony would pay any mind to them, knowing what a woman beyond compare to any other he had waiting at home, but he was already tired from chasing off the unwanted attention from those prostitutes, who thought him to be just like all the other married men who had grown tired of their wives a month after their wedding. The investors he had arrived with were engulfed in some boring financial conversation and Anthony had slumped down alone in an armchair a bit further away, enjoying the small consolation his expensive cigar gave him in this tiresome situation. That was when he realised that one of the improper ladies who had just entered the room was none other than a certain opera songstress, Miss Siena Rosso.
"Oh, bloody hell..." Anthony cursed between his teeth and was just about to quickly get up and flee the room, but Siena had already noticed him and now she plopped down on the empty armchair opposite him with a surprised grin.
"Viscount Bridgerton! I haven't seen you here in a while." She teased and had a sip of wine.
"Miss Rosso." Anthony put up a smile that was not even meant to be pleasant. "I have been away on my honeymoon." He said venomously.
"Yeah, I read that in the posh papers." Siena smirked at him over her wine glass. "I believe congratulations are in order. Apparently you are to be a father as well."
"Yes, that is correct." Anthony muttered and glanced at the door, which seemed to be so close, but still so hopelessly far away. "Thank you." He added, a bit more politely.
"You look well." Siena smiled. "Less hair on your face. Suits you."
"I do not feel so well, I am quite exhausted with piled up paperwork. We were away from London for over six months." He grunted, careful not to return her compliment. "So that is why I must –" He started and was about to stand up, but Siena quickly leaned closer to him, blocking his way and filling his glass with more wine from a bottle she apparently had been carrying with her. Anthony swore not to touch that glass, God only knew what horrid poisons the woman had poured into it.
"No, stay and have a drink, Viscount Bridgerton! The evening is still so young." Siena smirked and sat back down in her armchair, staring boldly at Anthony. "Aren't you going to ask me how I've been? It would only be polite to do so."
"How have you been, Miss Rosso?" Anthony sighed. "And why are you even here, did you not have a gentleman friend who provided for you?"
"I did, but he found a wife as well." Siena exhaled with exaggerated sadness and drama.
"How unfortunate for you." Anthony commented dryly.
"Indeed. I do feel like I am running out of bachelors soon, so now I have my mind set upon a most wealthy married man instead..." She grinned and looked insinuatingly at Anthony.
"Siena, enough." Anthony spat out and jolted up from his armchair, so vexed by her arrogance that he forgot to call her 'Miss Rosso'. Siena simply burst out in laughter.
"Relax, Anthony." She teased him. "You still hold yourself in way too high regard... It is not you I have decided to sink my claws into." She chuckled and mimicked a feline attacking its prey with her hand. Anthony sighed and sat back down in his chair, pulling out his pocket flask since he was surely in need of a drink, but he was absolutely not going to touch the one served by her. He gulped down a large amount of his scotch and there was a long silence during which she studied him confidently and he glared at her from the corner of his eye. She still looked the same as she always had, in her auburn hair and burgundy dress.
"I saw you with her, in the streets, a few weeks ago." She suddenly said, breaking the silence and making Anthony finally look straight at her. "I was just going to meet my good old friend Genevieve Delacroix, when she came out from the boutique with Miss Eloise and you met them outside. She is quite beautiful, your wife."
"She is." Anthony agreed.
"Of course you did not notice me." Siena continued. "You only had eyes for each other." She hummed with an empty smile. "You never looked at me the way you looked at her, outside the modiste's shop. Not once. Surely there once was affection between us, you cannot tell me otherwise, but that look you two shared..." Siena pondered with an almost dreamy stare somewhere into the distance. "It was like something out of Genevieve's silly romance novels, or something I only sing about, at the opera. I have not yet experienced it myself. Not with you, not with any man. A look of such... Devotion, such utter certainty that you two belong together, from this moment until the end of days. I have never felt such certainty myself, but it is that look between you two that I am thinking about when I sing my aria as Juliet, the one where I declare my love to Romeo." She finished, still gazing somewhere into the wall. "You should come and see it with Viscountess Bridgerton, you shall be my honorary guests, as you two have been such an inspiration for me! That aria always receives the biggest applause I've ever had, even though it is quite modern. I believe this is the first time anyone has ever made Romeo and Juliet into an opera, but it has been quite popular." She went on and glanced back at Anthony, who had a look of confusement and mistrust on his face. He had no idea how to react to Siena's surprising words, surely she had seemed honest enough, but Anthony did not at all understand why his former mistress sat here praising the looks shared between him and his wife.
"I –" He started, still not sure on how to continue. Luckily he was right then saved by a footman who brought him a letter. He quickly opened it and read the single line written in Simon's handwriting. Are you at White's? Come to Mondrich's instead, this is where the fun is at. "I am sorry but I must leave, my brother-in-law needs me." He excused himself and stood up. "And I... I guess I should be glad if Lady Kate and I have accidentally been of some sort of... Assistance, for your career. Good luck with all that." He stuttered, before putting on his top hat and slightly tilting it towards Siena before hurrying off.
"Adieu, Romeo!" She yelled after him with a grin.
***
"... And then that thing about which position you should be in, as if that would change the outcome whether it is a boy or a girl!" Kate giggled, as she and Daphne had finally late at night returned to the privacy of their carriage and were on their way back home.
"I know, how silly!" Daphne laughed. "And how can those poor girls even remember on which time their child has been conceived, I have absolutely no idea which of the many times it was!"
"Me neither!" Kate cried out, and they both laughed for a long time until they were completely out of breath. "Poor things, especially Mrs Finch seemed like she could count the times she had slept with her husband with the fingers of one hand." She sighed and Daphne grinned mischievously. "Daphne, you do not have to answer my question if you feel it is too audacious, but... Regarding that matter which Mrs Finch deemed so 'unthinkable and macabre'. Um... Surely Anthony is not the only one who does that...?"
"No, he is not." Daphne replied boldly and grinned even broader.
"Good." Kate smiled back at her, in a slightly wily manner. "I believe we did get quite lucky at the marriage market, if you look at all those other young ladies..."
"Yes, we did. It is easy to forget and almost take that for granted sometimes. In contrast to what our mothers made it look like, it is neither simple nor common to find a true love match. And perhaps Mr Finch does love his wife, he did court her for an awfully long time, but maybe he just does not know what to do with her." Daphne pondered with a smirk.
"Oh, so you are trying to get me to finally admit that reformed rakes do make the most excellent husbands, as everyone seems to think here in London?" Kate laughed and let her head fall back against the wall of the carriage.
"Well, do you not agree?" Daphne grinned.
"Perhaps, but I also want to believe that couples like Mr and Mrs Finch can learn all the secrets of love, together. If they do put their mind to it..." Kate speculated.
"If they do have any minds at all to put into it." Daphne huffed, as arrogantly as Anthony sometimes behaved, which made Kate laugh more to that familiar manner than to the actual words her sister-in-law had uttered.
"Duchess, that was very rude of you!" Kate sniggered, as they halted in front of Bridgerton House, where Simon informed Daphne that he would be.
"Pardon me, viscountess..." Daphne giggled and curtsied at Kate when she had jumped out of the carriage. "Your company does make me rather spirited." She smirked while Kate stepped out from the carriage as well, following Daphne to the house. "Where on earth are they..." Daphne muttered, as the entire house seemed to be dimly lit and no voices could be heard from upstairs or from the drawing room. Suddenly there was laughter echoing outside from the private garden behind the house, surrounded by tall stone walls. Daphne grinned again and lifted her index finger to her lips, signalling for Kate to be silent, as they tiptoed into the obscure garden. Still it was not as dark as Kate had expected, since there was a full moon shining eerily beautifully in the sky, casting its strange light over the view. Slender clouds passed the otherwise perfectly round form of the autumn moon, making it look as something straight out of a gothic novel. Apart from the moonlight, the infamous gazebo up ahead was also lit with numerous candles. She could hear Anthony's drunkenly loud voice echo through the night as they sneaked up closer to the gazebo. The full moon had apparently also inspired the story Anthony was amidst of telling to Simon.
"And do you remember that time when I told Berbrooke the story about the werewolf haunting the campus and he got so scared that he actually pissed himself!" Anthony roared out in laughter and Simon too laughed so hard he almost fell down from the sofa he was sitting on. The men had wrapped heavy woollen blankets around themselves, even if it was an unseasonably warm September, it was still clear that summer was slowly giving in to autumn. In one hand they were both holding cigars and in the other a glass of scotch.
"Yes, yes I remember...!" Simon wheezed out. "You gave out such a chilling howl that the poor bastard could not sleep for days." He laughed, before letting out a loud wolflike howl at the moon. Anthony joined in as loudly and wholeheartedly on the animalistic choir and somewhere in the distance a couple of dogs barked back at them.
"What the devil is going on here?!" Daphne shrieked and jumped up from behind the bushes, startling the husbands so badly that they jolted up on their feet in quite an unmanly manner, more like scared little girls, spilling their scotch on the stone floor. She exploded into laughter when she saw their horrified faces and Kate could not stop herself from bursting out in laughter as well, since Simon and Anthony had so quickly turned from wolf-like alpha males howling at the moon into cowardly little lap dogs crouching in a pretty flower-clad gazebo.
"Daphne, you scared the living hell out of me...!" Simon laughed out of breath and slumped back down on the sofa, relieved that the beast who had jumped on them from the shadows was none other than his wife. Daphne sat down on the sofa quite close to her husband, still laughing. Simon wrapped his blanket around them both with a fond smile.
"Damn you, Daph..." Anthony sighed and sat back down on his sofa opposite to them. He smiled a bit cautiously at Kate who just stepped up to the gazebo, lifting his other arm and inviting her to enjoy the warmth underneath the large blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. Kate snuggled up tightly against his body and he closed his arm around her.
"I am sorry, about earlier today..." She whispered into his ear.
"I am as well... Do not worry, we will sort it out." He murmured softly back to her, looked into her big beautiful eyes and kissed her on the forehead. Simon and Daphne stared at them, both curiously and affectionately, but Anthony just fixed the blanket more tightly around them so that only his cigar-hand was sticking out from underneath the warm wool. "Daphne, you truly are a menace to humankind... It was my dear sister's favourite hobby one summer to scare the wits out of everyone at Aubrey Hall. Family members, guests and staff alike were all equally tormented." He explained to Kate and Simon.
"It was not just me, it was also Colin!" Daphne protested.
"Nevertheless, it was not funny. You jumped at my horse from behind a tree and it bolted off, nearly killing me! And poor Mrs Wilson is still scared to go up into the western tower."
"Oh no, poor woman..." Daphne giggled, a bit ashamed. Kate sniggered as well.
"What are you two even being so giggly about? You know that you should not be drinking while you are pregnant." Simon pointed out in a worried tone.
"We have not been drinking, we just had such a hilarious time at Lady Danbury's soirée." Daphne grinned. "We were apparently still newcomers, even I, so she seated us at this so-called 'honeymoon table', along with Mrs Finch, Mrs Dorset and Princess Edwina. Mrs Finch especially was quite jealous over our rakish husbands, having not yet been able to get pregnant with her husband."
"No wonder, that sad fellow probably would not know where to put it, even if someone drew him a map..." Anthony guffawed.
"So, therefore we realised that we should actually be quite grateful for our most competent husbands. Not all girls are this lucky." Kate smirked at Anthony.
"Oh, you absolutely should be grateful..." Anthony smiled seductively back at her and gave her a few tantalisingly slow kisses.
"Enough with that, go to your bedroom if you wish to proceed!" Daphne grimaced.
"But this is your bedroom, we have done it right here." Anthony smirked and waved towards the floor with his cigar.
"No...!" Daphne yelped and immediately pulled up her feet from the floor.
"Ha! That should teach you not to jump up on innocent people and scare them senseless." Anthony chuckled, seemingly pleased with himself.
"Apparently not that innocent..." Daphne sneered at Anthony and Kate, who were once again leaning into a kiss. Anthony decided that this was clearly not the right night or occasion to mention to his wife that his former mistress had approached him at the gentlemen's club.