Aubrey Hall, June 1817
The fields of Ferryhallow on the Bridgerton lands lay peaceful in the warm summer sun, disturbed only by the light buzzing of insects and some birds chirping in the distance. A little brown mouse crawled up on a long grain stalk and sniffed the fresh breeze, but quickly scurried away at the sudden booming of approaching hooves. The mouse had just managed to disappear into its hole under a small rock as a dark bay horse whooshed past the grain stalk it had just sat on. The small animal peeked up from its hole, but turned back into safety when a chestnut horse soon followed the previous one. On top of the dark bay horse, Viscountess Kate Bridgerton gave out a little squeal of joy as her mount thundered into an even faster gallop over the fields and the air that was rapidly whistling against her face made her eyes tear up. Kate could only come up with a few things that could top this feeling, most of those things involving her naked husband, but racing over a field at full speed on a thoroughbred was without a doubt one of the best things in her life. She had never travelled in a hot air balloon, but she did not need to, this was as close to flying as she needed to get. All too soon, the edge of the forest was towering up ahead of them, so she reluctantly slowed her horse down to a trot, made a large circle to see how far away the other horse was, halted her own with a grin and let it graze on the green grass. Then she leaned back as far as she could, until she was laying flat out on the horse's broad back, crossed her arms behind her neck and enjoyed the sunshine with her eyes closed. She would not have done this with any other horse, but High Flyer was a perfect gentleman. He was pure explosive speed when needed to, but otherwise he was happily munching hay or grass and behaved like a lazy old carriage horse, afraid of neither loud noises, wild animals or anything else one could encounter out in the terrain or at a crowded racecourse.
"Ha-ha, I did not take that long." Anthony huffed when he finally halted Nectar next to High Flyer and Kate, who opened one eye where she lay and cast a smirk at him.
"Yes, you did." She grinned, stretched out her arms and sat up straight in the saddle again.
"Well, perhaps I would do better, if you would not give me this stupid horse who is afraid of his own damn shadow...!" Anthony growled and yanked angrily at Nectar reins when it was about to rear at Kate's sudden movement. The horse was still huffing and puffing while staring at Kate and High Flyer, incapable of understanding what kind of weird wildcat had just laid on the other horse's back. "I despise thoroughbreds, why did I ever let you talk me into this..." He muttered. "It feels like I am sitting on top of a powder keg."
"Stop complaining!" Kate laughed and steered her horse towards the woods. "It is about time you ride something other than your chubby ponies."
"My horses are not ponies, they are most honourable cobs!" Anthony rejected.
"Cob is just a word horse salesmen use to sell slightly overgrown ponies to 'most honourable' and most gullible lords." Kate grinned broadly.
"I will have you -" Anthony began, but was interrupted when an old farmer and his oxcart appeared from the woods, spooking Nectar again so badly that it almost threw off its rider.
"Good day, Mr Brown!" Kate greeted the man while Anthony was still fighting to make his horse walk past the ox and not turn around and flee back home.
"Good day, Lady Bridgerton! Lord Bridgerton." Mr Brown nodded politely to them with a smile. "Fine day for a ride. How is the little lord? Is he walking already?"
"Oh, he is running already. Soon we will be chasing him all around our grounds." Kate smiled warmly at him.
"Yes, be sure to send him back home if he comes running all the way down to your farm, Mr Brown." Anthony stated with a smirk, having finally managed to calm down his mount.
"I shall do that." The old farmer laughed. "You two have a pleasant afternoon now." He tilted his straw hat at them and urged his indolent-looking ox to continue along the cart path. Kate and Anthony replied by tilting their heads at him as well and then steered their horses onto a small path snaking its way deeper into the woods, until they finally reached a meadow and the lake they were heading to. It was the same little lake where Anthony had used to go fishing with his father when he was a young boy. They dismounted, tied their horses to a tree and Kate immediately crawled out of her dress and kicked off her boots, running towards the lake wearing nothing but her thin chemise. At the end of the short pier she stopped and dipped her toes into the water, just as a bare-chested Anthony walked up next to her.
"Ouff, it is way colder than I thought!" She complained and pulled up her foot from the water.
"Too bad, because you are going in." Anthony laughed mischievously, scooped her up in his strong arms and approached the end of the pier threateningly.
"No, no, no, do not dare...!! I swear I will -" Kate screamed and desperately tried to cling to his neck, but he ended up tossing her into the cold water nevertheless. "... Zap you, if you throw me into the water...!" She finished in a high pitched voice and gasped for air, as she had resurfaced from the murky lake. Soon the water felt refreshing instead of icy against her body in the summer heat, so she began swimming farther away.
"No you will not. Who will look out for your son then, while you are busy with your precious horses?" Anthony grinned and jumped into the water wearing nothing but his trousers.
"We have a nurse as well..." Kate growled, but her face soon melted into a smile when she saw the boyish grin on Anthony's wet face as he plopped up from beneath the water. She swam back to him and soon he had her pinned against the ladder of the pier.
"Viscountess Bridgerton, how very inappropriately you are dressed..." Anthony purred while he was admiring the thin, now completely see-through, linen dress clinging against her breasts that were delightfully perky from the cold. Kate gasped from the sudden steamy sensation of having his slippery body pressed against her.
"You are correct, Viscount Bridgerton..." She breathed out and kissed him slowly. "Also, I might get a cold from wearing this soaked dress, so it is probably better to remove it..."
"Oh, it most definitely is..." Anthony replied with a smouldering smirk, reached out for her hems floating around in the water, jerked off her dress and tossed it away on the pier.
"Ah, bloody hell..." Anthony sighed contentedly as they an hour later lay sprawled out on the grass underneath an old oak, drying their naked bodies in the warm sun. "I needed that."
"Me too..." Kate admitted with a smile and burrowed herself underneath his arm. With a roughly one and a half year old child and now both Anthony working with his own tasks and Kate with her racehorses, the time they got to spend completely alone was scarce and precious.
"If we just conceived our second child here and it is a girl, we should call her Lea..." Anthony chuckled as he watched some lazy white clouds slowly drag themselves over the clear blue sky. He pulled Kate's body closer to him and kissed her damp dark hair.
"Oh, is that so? Then we should also change Eddie's name into 'Bombay', or more likely 'Mediterranean'." Kate laughed and wrapped one arm around her husband's bare chest.
"Bombay Bridgerton..." Anthony sniggered, reached for his jacket and pulled it over their naked bodies. "In case Mr Brown happens to come back." He explained. Kate smirked, since that possibility had apparently not disturbed Anthony while they were having each other against the pier, the old tree and in the soft green grass where they still lay.
"We have been away for quite long... Perhaps we should start heading back home to Eddie." She finally sighed.
"Eddie is fine, Daphne is looking after him." Anthony replied and closed his eyes.
"Yes, that is why I am slightly worried..." Kate sneered, making Anthony chuckle.
"Well, Simon is also watching the children, so that is why I am not worried." Anthony stated with a broad smile. "But yes, you are right, we should probably head back already..." He hummed and so, half an hour later, the viscount and viscountess had left their fine horses at the stable and were walking through the gardens towards the vast green backyard of Aubrey Hall, where they had spotted Daphne, Simon and the children on a large white and teal picnic blanket. Like Anthony had suspected, Simon was guarding the four children like a hawk, while Daphne was carelessly reading a novel and sipping on a drink. Three-year-old Augie was rolling a leather ball to Eddie and Belinda, while Simon was holding baby Caroline in his arms. Suddenly, Augie threw the ball a bit too hard at Belinda, who fell on her butt and began to cry loudly, making both Augie and Eddie stare at her confusedly. Daphne looked slightly annoyed and turned a page in her book, while Simon tried to comfort their daughter.
"Eddiiiiie!" Anthony called out and the little boy's face lit up when he turned around and saw his father. Then he set out in a speedy run with his short legs down the hill towards his approaching parents. Anthony realised once again that the laws of physics were not yet familiar to their toddler, rushed up to meet him since his pace looked way too fast for the quite steep hill and scooped his son up in his arms just as he was about to fall face down into the grass. "Christ, Eddie, not so fast..." He sighed out of relief as he had the child safely in his arms, but the boy was already set on his next target, reaching his little arms towards Kate.
"Hey you, mama's little angel." She cooed at her son and rubbed her nose against his.
"Wet." Augie commented, pointing towards Kate and Anthony.
"Yes, darling. Uncle Anthony and auntie Kate look very wet indeed." Daphne smirked and finally put her book away. "Did you have fun?" She grinned, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand.
"We did." Kate replied with a smirk, while Anthony put Eddie down and he ran back to his cousins. "Thank you for looking after him." She smiled softly, mostly to Simon.
"It was no problem, Eddie is such a happy and pleasant child." Simon smirked back at them.
"Eddie, you are going to have a little brother or sister soon! Yes you are, mommy and daddy just made sure of that." Daphne jested, snatching Eddie into her arms and tickling his belly.
"Daph, you cannot say such things in front of children...!" Simon scolded her. Kate laughed and sat down on the picnic blanket, meanwhile Anthony rescued their screaming and laughing son from Daphne's claws. "When are you leaving for London?" Simon asked, in order to change the subject.
"Ah, tomorrow, unfortunately..." Kate sighed and grabbed an orange from the basket the Bassets had brought with them. "Anthony has some meetings in the capital and I promised Violet that I would take over and look after Francesca, so that she could travel back to Stanton Manor." She muttered and began to peel the fruit.
"Oh yes, our dashing debutant!" Daphne grinned. "Has she had any proposals yet?"
"Not any acceptable ones at least..." Anthony growled.
"Is Eddie coming with you?" Daphne wondered.
"Of course!" Kate and Anthony replied in unison, since leaving him here with the nurse was certainly out of the question.
***
Bridgerton House, June 1817
"Kate, I am so bored...!" Francesca complained, after she had shut the lid of her piano in the drawing room of Bridgerton House. "I am a debutante, I should be out there and not be sitting in here like an old spinster!" She whined, still sitting on the piano stool. Kate was seated by the table, feeding Eddie his pureed lunch, and cast a look at the clock on the wall.
"The Grand Picnic does not start in a few hours, but I guess we could already go for a stroll in Hyde Park, if you want to. Eddie needs to take a nap anyway." Kate suggested and scooped up the last of her sons mashed potatoes and carrots. Francesca gave out a happy little squeal and jumped up on her feet, while Kate left a message to Anthony that they had already gone to the park, where the rest of the family would follow later. Then, Kate made sure that she had everything with her that Eddie would need and tucked the boy into his stroller, which was waiting in the entry hall, while Francesca was checking her appearance in the large hallway mirror. Finally, she looked satisfied enough and off they went. It had rained in the morning, but luckily the clouds had cleared away and the sun was now shining brightly in the sky when Kate and Francesca crossed Grosvenor Square and headed towards the park. Eddie had a hard time falling asleep since he was not used to the racket of the capital, but soon they made it to the park where it was a lot more peaceful. A few servants had already begun to set up marquees and spread out the blankets for their households, while only a few lords and ladies were sauntering through the park next to The Serpentine. "So, did you enjoy the ball yesterday?" Kate asked Francesca when Eddie had finally fallen asleep.
"Nah, it was alright. Not the best one so far." Francesca replied a bit absentmindedly, trying to scan the park for possible husband candidates.
"How about that nice young man you danced two times with?" Kate grinned and steered Eddie's strollers around a pile of horse manure in the middle of the road.
"He was pleasant enough, but there were not any... Sparks." Francesca sighed.
"Oh yes, the sparks are important." Kate smirked. "You should be experiencing fireworks every time you see him, then you know you have met the right one for you."
"But what if I do not meet anyone...?" Francesca exclaimed in a worried tone. "Daphne, Anthony, Colin and even Benedict have found their love matches, but what if I will not...!"
"Do not be silly, Fran." Kate said with a soft smile. "Of course you will find a love match, you are a Bridgerton, after all. It clearly runs in the family." She grinned and peeked under the canopy of the strollers to make sure that her son was still asleep.
"If you say so..." Francesca sighed even deeper than a moment ago. "Oh look, there is Miss Rosso and Lord Fife!" She suddenly whooped and pointed towards an approaching couple.
"What, truly...?" Kate blurted out, straightened her back and looked in the direction where her sister-in-law was pointing. True enough, there Siena was strolling through Hyde Park like a proper lady, holding on to Lord Fife's arm. "Sie - Miss Rosso!" Kate called out. "And Lord Fife, of course." She curtsied, when she got their attention.
"Viscountess Bridgerton!" Siena smiled broadly as they stopped next to Kate and Francesca. "I have not seen you in London for a while. And greetings to you too, Miss Bridgerton."
"Oh, I thought you would not remember me...!" Francesca exhaled and blushed.
"Obviously I remember you, you're one of the most talented pianists I've ever sung with." Siena winked her eye at Francesca, who turned into an even deeper shade of red.
"Lady Bridgerton. I assume you are spending most of your time at Aubrey Hall with your husband, now that you have children." Lord Fife smiled and Kate replied with a happy nod. She could not believe that this man her husband disliked was brave and kind enough to take his paramour out into the eyes of society. But then again, everyone who passed seemed to cast contemptuous looks at them and Kate got slightly worried over how this could affect Francesca's reputation, but luckily the girl had spotted some of her debutante friends and had run up to them instead.
"Well, let us look at the future viscount then." Siena smirked and stepped closer to Kate.
"Here he is, our little Eddie..." Kate smiled softly and tucked down the canopy. "But I am afraid there is not much to look at, he is -" She paused and took a deep sigh as Eddie was staring back at her with his observant little eyes that were growing darker every day. "Was asleep, apparently..." She muttered, not looking forward to the scarce sleep she would undoubtedly get this night due to his much too short nap. Eddie no longer slept in their bedroom but in the adjoining room with a nurse, but Kate nevertheless woke up every time she heard him crying.
"Oh no, the poor thing looks just like Anthony!" Siena laughed when she and Lord Fife had gathered around Kate to admire the child.
"Siena, stop it..." Lord Fife grinned. "He is wonderful, Lady Bridgerton." He smiled at Kate.
"Well... He has your eyes at least, viscountess. I have never seen a baby with such ridiculously big eyes." Siena smirked in a jesting tone. "No, I spoke too soon. Definitely Anthony's eyes as well." She added when Eddie puckered his brows at her and glared at her sternly. Kate chuckled and pulled the canopy back down to shield the boy from the sun. Some old lord had stopped to exchange a few words with Lord Fife, so Siena scooched over even closer to Kate. "How is everything? I have not heard from you in ages."
"I know, I have been terribly busy..." Kate sighed deeply. "I did try to come and see you at the opera last time I was in London, but they told me you do not perform there anymore?"
"Yes, well..." Siena smiled happily with a little blush and tugged away her glove from her left hand. "There is an apparent reason for that." She grinned and showed a beautiful golden engagement ring on her finger. Kate gasped quite loudly, grabbed a hold of Siena's hand and pulled it closer to her own face in order to examine it better.
"What...?" Kate breathed out. "Did he actually propose to you...?!" She shrieked in a hushed voice, so that the conversating lords would not hear them. Siena nodded excitedly.
"It will be in tomorrow's paper." She smiled blissfully. "You might want to warn your husband in advance, so he won't choke on his crumpet, croissant or whatever you people eat for breakfast."
"Yes, thanks for the heads-up..." Kate laughed and fought the urge to excitedly hug the air out of Siena, since two elderly ladies were just passing them and muttered something about 'the viscount's harem' loudly enough for Kate and Siena to hear. Siena cast an amused smirk at Kate and quickly put her glove back on before the old vultures would spot that as well. "I am so happy for you." Kate smiled instead, as the hug was out of question. "You truly deserve this."
"I guess so..." Siena sighed. "But it won't be easy, we are in for a complete war of gossip."
"That is unfortunately true... Many will probably not accept it." Kate muttered, while Lord Fife returned to them. "So, when is the wedding?" She enquired with a grin.
"Oh, Siena told you..." Lord Fife smiled, a bit abashed. "At the end of July, most likely."
"How wonderful, congratulations to you both! And best of luck with the gossipers..." Kate smirked encouragingly, just as Francesca came hurrying back to them. Lord Fife and Siena nodded politely to Kate and continued with their scandalous walk through the park.
A couple of hours later Kate sat smiling under the white and teal Bridgerton marquee, looking at Anthony who was relaxedly laying on his side next to her and playing with Eddie. Benedict, Colin, Eloise and Francesca had scattered off somewhere, most likely to talk with some of the many members of the ton, who had gathered in the park this sunny Saturday. Hyacinth and Gregory were a bit further away, feeding the ducks by the water with their friends. Many had stopped at the Bridgerton camp, admired the little future viscount and presented Kate and Anthony with their congratulations, if they had not seen the boy already last summer. The Grand Picnic turned out to be one of Kate's favourite events during the social season, as it was much more casual and enjoyable than the countless tiresome balls. But now, her mood was slightly clouded from the fact that she had to somehow break the news of Siena and Lord Fife to the blissfully smiling Anthony.
"Where did Mr Thompkins go?" He grinned and hid the old toy behind his back. Eddie looked confused and stood up to see where his favourite toy had disappeared. "Aha, here he is! Oh no, he is attacking your belly!" Anthony laughed and Eddie giggled even harder when his father kept bumping the toy gently but vigorously against his chubby belly.
"Anthony..." Kate began.
"Yes?" He replied with a smile.
"Eddie should probably eat something." She blurted out, not yet wanting to ruin the happy moment. Anthony sat up, grabbed the picnic basket, placed Eddie on his lap and expertly put a bib on him to protect his fine clothes from the food. Kate thought it was ludicrous to have such expensive clothing on a messy toddler, but apparently it was the way of the peerage.
"Here, have a taste of this." Anthony smiled at his son and gave him a slice of apple, which he heartily put into his little mouth. Eddie had never been one to shy away from food.
"Anthony..." Kate tried again.
"Yes...?" Anthony replied with an amused smirk, realising that there was something she was struggling to tell him. He took a sip of tea, which soon proved to be a bad mistake.
"Siena and Lord Fife are getting married. They are engaged, we just saw them in the park earlier with Francesca. It will be in the papers tomorrow." Kate let the words rumble out from her mouth at a very fast pace, somehow thinking it would make the ordeal a bit easier. Anthony's face turned white and he spat out the tea, which flew all around the blanket and on top of poor Eddie, who got scared and began to cry loudly.
"Oh no, do not cry darling... The tea was not hot anymore, it had already been in papa's mouth..." Anthony fussed and dried up Eddie's head with a napkin, before turning his both confused and angry eyes towards Kate. "Could you please repeat that?" He said quite venomously.
"I believe you heard me the first time." Kate replied matter-of-factly. Anthony took a deep sigh and kept caressing Eddie's fluffy dark hair until the boy had calmed down.
"Unbelievable, it is unbelievable..." He muttered when his son had finally stopped crying. Eddie gave out a demanding whimpering noise and reached towards the picnic basket, so Anthony gave him quite absentmindedly another apple slice. "And here I was thinking that you were about to tell me we are expecting our second child..." He sighed with a sad voice.
"Well, that could also be possible news..." Kate admitted with a slight smile, trying to remember when she had last bled. Surely it must have already been over a month ago. Or two? Maybe even three or four? Dash it, she had indeed been tremendously busy this spring... "But let us keep to the subject, what do you think will happen now?" She wondered.
"They will ruin the Fife name." Anthony replied bluntly.
"Surely it cannot be that bad..." Kate hummed. "I have understood that it is far less scandalous for a man to marry 'underneath' him than it is for a woman."
"Yes, but we are not talking about some marquis marrying from some less wealthy family in the countryside. This is a mere baron marrying a harlot." He growled unapprovingly.
"Anthony!" Kate scolded him and got a sudden need to cover Eddie's ears. She definitely did not want 'halot' to be his first word. "And you should not speak about her like that...!"
"Well, that is the truth. And that is how the ton feels about her, no matter how much they might have enjoyed her performances at the opera. Actresses and songstresses, they are all... Prostitutes, in their eyes." Anthony stated quite coldly. Kate felt an ice cold hand grab a hold of her heart. Here she had been hopeful that she and Siena could finally be friends now that she was about to be a fine lady as well, cheerful over the fact that Siena had at last found happiness and security for the rest of her life, but apparently the brutal English high society would never accept her as a part of it. "If for some reason Lord Fife's parents do not discard him and take away his title, the two of them will nevertheless probably have to spend the rest of their lives at the Fife estate, somewhere in the countryside near Norwich. Everyone will practically spit at them in the ballrooms of London, or at least give them the 'cut direct' everywhere they go." He continued his dreadful presentation. Kate blinked her eyes furiously to chase away the tears that had gathered in them. Oh, how she sometimes hated this bloody world she was living in... At that moment she wanted to spit every single member of the ton straight into their disparaging faces. "I cannot believe Fife is this stupid..." Anthony concluded with a sigh.
"Or in love." Kate pointed out and quickly dried her eyes before he could see her tears.
"Be that as it may, he is ruining both his own life, his family's life... And Miss Rosso's." Anthony declared and gave Eddie a strawberry instead of an apple slice.
"Lady Fife's, soon." Kate corrected him.
"Lady Fife..." Anthony repeated with a huff and deep sigh, like he could not believe what was going on in the world nowadays.
***
Later in the evening on that same day, just when Anthony had tucked Eddie in for a night's sleep, he was startled by a loud knock on the nursery door. Luckily the boy did not wake up, but Anthony stomped nevertheless vexedly forward and yanked the door open, finding their butler behind it.
"Have you got no common sense, man?" Anthony spat out. "I just got my son to fall asleep!"
"I... I am so sorry, my lord..." The old man stuttered, looking a lot less poised than usual. "But... It is about Miss Eloise... And it is quite urgent." He uttered in a grave tone.
"What? Where?" Anthony gasped and tensed up.
"Downstairs, by the servants' entrance." The butler replied and Anthony did not waste a single moment to rush down there as fast as he could. When he finally got to the servants' floor below the family's living quarters, where he usually never went, he stepped out of the door that led to the backside of the house and found Kate already standing in the dark little paved backyard with a shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She was not alone, but talking to Eloise and some young man with dark brown hair and eyes in the same shade. Quite shockingly, Eloise was clinging to his arm and carrying a large travelling bag in her other hand.
"What the hell is going on? Who is this man?" Anthony snarled and pinned his arms against his hips, glaring at the stranger that judging by his clothes was certainly not a member of the peerage.
"My... My name is Theo Sharpe, your lordship." Theo hesitated and made a little bow.
"Yes, this is Theo. My fiancé. We are eloping since there is no other way for us to be together and there is nothing you can do about it, brother. So... Farewell. Thank you for having been the most wonderful sister-in-law for me, Kate." Eloise blurted out, dried her eyes and turned around on her heels, trying to drag Theo away with her.
"Eloise, wait..." Kate breathed out and grabbed her upper arm. "Anthony... Please, is there nothing we can do...?" She asked in a pleading tone and turned to look at him instead.
"I... I am still trying to figure out what in God's name is going on here..." Anthony exhaled and rubbed his temples with his forefingers. "Wait a moment... Are you the political radical that Eloise was associated with a couple of years ago?" He suddenly realised, making Theo look mortified while Kate let go of Eloise.
"Theo is not not simply a 'political radical', he is a hardworking man who has just got the chance to buy his own printing house! Together with me, might I add, because I am using my dowry to purchase half of it and be his business partner." Eloise snapped and squeezed Theo's arm even harder.
"I do not think there will be any dowry if you elope..." Kate pointed out in a hushed voice.
"Precisely, there certainly will not be...!" Anthony yelped. "How... How did this happen...?"
"We, uh... We wrote letters to each other last year and since this spring we have met in secret here in London and... Believe me brother, we have both tried our very best to fight this feeling, but it is simply overpowering... We love each other tremendously and we cannot imagine a life without each other any longer." Eloise said in a voice that was at the same time somehow both cautious and certain. "You know me, brother... I could never have ended up as some boring baron's little missus in the countryside, this is the life that I want. I want my own printing house, with Theo." She continued in a bolder tone, fixing her eyes determinedly at Anthony's.
"Anthony, please..." Kate whispered and carefully took his hand in her own. Anthony did not look at her, but kept staring into Eloise's grey-green eyes. Christ, first Siena's engagement and now this? Where indeed was the world going, Anthony pondered. At last, after what felt like a tense eternity for both Kate, Eloise and Theo, he let out a deep sigh and lowered his gaze towards the ground.
"So, Eloise... You are telling me that you want to marry this Mr Sharpe, who is... One might say... A prosperous merchant or business man?" Anthony spoke in a low, emotionless voice.
"I, uh... Yes, one might call him that...?" Eloise replied slowly, a glimmer of hope igniting in her voice and eyes.
"That is what we are going to call him. And that is what Lady Whistledown is going to call him, when we announce your engagement. She surely owes us at least that much..." Anthony grunted, making Eloise and Theo look at each other in happily surprised disbelief.
"Oh, Anthony..." Kate exhaled with tears in her eyes and gave his hand a squeeze.
"I cannot guarantee that the ton will accept this, but there will be no eloping and you shall have your dowry and do what you please with it, dearest sister." Anthony concluded and straightened his back, looking every bit a formidable viscount, but sounding more like an affectionate older brother.
"Th - Thank you, Anthony..." Eloise blurted out in shock, now in tears too. Although, she did not know which one she should actually direct her thanks to, her oldest brother or Kate.
"Thank you, my lord, truly..." Theo breathed out as well, looking like he might faint soon.
"Enough with the formalities, young man. You are apparently a part of the Bridgerton family now." Anthony chuckled with a slight smirk. "My wife and I certainly want to get to know you better, so get inside from this chill evening, both of you." He added and tilted his head towards the door, while Kate was beaming next to him with a welcoming smile.
"Is this really happening...?" Eloise wheezed out as she and Theo followed them inside, still with incredulous looks and unsteady legs.
"Have you not figured it out by now, dearest Eloise?" Kate laughed in relief. "You are a Bridgerton, which means that anything could happen, but especially true love and happy endings." She smirked elatedly and closed the door behind them.
_______________________________________
NOTE: You have reached the end of "Aspire - Kanthony's continuation story", dearest gentle reader! Allow me to take this moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is the first fanfiction I have ever published and I am still blown away by all the wonderful feedback I have got! You have seriously brightened my days with all of your lovely comments!!
Luckily, this is in fact not the end... I wish you have enjoyed the story so far and will return for "Burn - Edmund Bridgerton II's story", the second part of this four-part series. Next week I shall take a respite between these two stories, so "Burn" will launch on November 2nd 2023 with continuous updates every Thursday. Please join me then, to meet all the familiar characters from this story, as well as several new ones!
Hope to hear from you again,
Miss Islemeadow