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“Maybe Hyacinth will shut down the wifi, and Mother won’t see this until someone brings it to her.”
Daphne Basset had a double life on the internet. Her personal pages were casual photos with her kids showing off just washed hair mohawks, and strange sandwiches they had invented in her very dirty kitchen. She also had a professional page that operated as her portfolio for the interior design business she had launched after her kids were a bit older. She loved motherhood, but it didn’t take up all her time. She believed she was a happier example for the family because she had other interests. Anyone who wanted to see her cultivated business presence could follow a link to see her business Instagram. She was always dressed well and standing with her best posture in pristine homes that were not her own.
She was married, which shut down speculation about romances. She was busy enough she didn’t attend most events, though she would dress up for the major ones. Her face did not sell photos for the paparazzi, but they wouldn’t skip over her. She was very conventional, in both her work and her lifestyle. The best she could do for scandal was marrying so young.
Colin’s life was different. He wasn’t needy for internet attention, but his work demanded he keep active posting. He promoted his articles and his photos. He didn’t like to quash comments, because his fans were gravitating to him when he was open and talkative with them. When he did videos from a location, he was presenting himself just as much as the local sights. He scripted his information, but otherwise he was just talking the way he would to anyone who asked him about his travels.
“Is it Colin? Again?”
Simon, her husband, loved his big set of siblings he’d married into. He didn’t understand all of them, or the Bridgerton way of throwing themselves into dating like skydiving without a parachute. He was an orphan, and Daphne had to sell him on the idea her love for him was worth risking his regimented life. He leaned over her hunch on the sofa arm, looking at the phone she was covering to hide Colin’s shame.
“It’s awful, Simon! He lives with her and now they go on dates all the time. They’ve started borrowing babies to take them out to movies in the afternoon,” Daphne said darkly. “Someone is going to get hurt.”
Violet Bridgerton could never blame Colin for any trouble he got into, though her brave face often faltered when he was comforted and had gone back out into the world to cause more trouble. It was his siblings who helped her make sense of his modern dilemmas like the photo he posted that showed his bare thigh and hip when he forgot to crop it. His internet life was not really all of him, but there were inklings that his followers could use to figure him out. He’d had to stop posting favourite restaurants and bookstores because he couldn’t go there peacefully. He was apartment hunting because his fans had found his previous flat.
Simon looked at the post, taking a moment to recognize it was Colin and Penelope shot through a not very clean shop window. He tilted his head. “Did Colin and Penelope elope at a fish and chips shop? It’s quick, but it’s not really that quick for them. I thought they were dating for the first year we were together. He goes about ten minutes between mentioning Pen when he’s in town. It falls to about twenty minutes when he’s gone,” he said. “Is that tonight?”
“It was an hour ago, and there had to be people watching for him. He didn’t post anything,” Daphne said. “Anthony is going to end up trying to hire a bodyguard.”
Her husband blinked, and stood up straight. “Love, it might not be that deep. He’s in a tuxedo and she’s in what could be a wedding dress. They’re not blending in at the corner chippy. Someone was going to spot them. Colin is catching fries in his mouth that she’s throwing in the air. They have attended every family party together for months,” he said.
Her brother’s actions did not add up to his goals in certain moments. He always wanted to keep Penelope nearby, but that didn’t connect to dating her when they were teenagers. Daphne was glad Colin seemed serious, but that he had waited was an impenetrable error if he was in love with his friend.
“Is this a manly trait I have missed somehow,” she asked. “Some ‘blokes over birds’ principle that could be turned on the friends of sisters? Is it that he doesn’t know how he looks at her, or that he can’t follow through with a relationship once that chemistry gets to burn for a while?”
Simon chuckled, and rubbed her neck under her hair. “I think Colin grew up in a house run by a strong woman raising strong women. He’s terrified of disappointing any woman. Now connect that to the way Penelope looks at him when he’s freshly back from his work trips. He’s trying to be a level of sure that might not exist outside a wedding,” he said. “Though he might have skipped to the wedding. Is she wearing the incredibly expensive necklace that normally doesn’t leave the bank?”
Daphne gasped and zoomed in on the image. “He always says he wants her to have the best of everything,” she said. “He used to hate her building until he ended up living there for a month, and now he has Anthony plotting to buy it for renovations.”
She cringed. That was meant to be a secret. The interfering nature of Bridgertons was not a mystery to Simon. He had survived his own moments of their insolent advice he hadn’t asked to receive. He had a healthy critique of their methods of loving control. Colin was in London more of the time, but he wasn’t settled there. He hadn’t even corrected his problem of having to abandon a flat for security concerns.
“Anthony is going to buy Penelope’s building without telling anyone? And I suppose there’s a plan to knock down walls and make a penthouse to move Colin in,” he said doubtfully. “So we’re no longer waiting for Colin or Penelope to consent to being a couple and just ticking the box for them? That seems unfair to someone.”
Daphne thought Penelope loved her brother. She was sure he would be happy dating his Pen. They didn’t need to plan a wedding that year. Even she had dated Simon before she knew he was the man for the rest of her life.
“No one will force them to get together,” she said firmly. “We aren’t trying to give Colin away! We just know right now he’s attached to that building and it’s worrying how little buffer it has between all of London and Penelope’s home. We worried about the building even before Colin was living there. We have properties. He could have a new flat very quickly. It’s obvious he’s working out something in her space.”
“Daphne, it’s good to worry about your brother. I’d never complain about that, even though you know he hates it. It doesn’t give you the right to plot out his life for him,” Simon told her. “Even worse if you’re enlisting Penelope to be the second astronaut to Colin’s mission in her space. I see what you do when she’s his date to everything, but chemistry doesn’t always lead to permanence.”
Colin had girlfriends he didn’t love, but they were never around the family like Penelope was. Daphne had met some of his flings, and she had to conclude they weren’t chosen to be with him for long. He wasn’t mean about it, but he was operating on a level that didn’t cut anywhere near the level of his heart.
“I want Penelope’s home to be safe for her, especially because Colin seems to want it to be his home. He does understand he can’t just invite himself in like a mouse who splits the groceries. We’re not sure he knows what to do next,” Daphne said.
Simon cocked an eyebrow at her. “He invited her out in a white dress and had her wear a ransom around her neck. There are family rings he knows how to find, if he can sign out that necklace. Maybe he’s just trying to find his own way into it.”
“Everyone says Colin is so charming,” she said. “His recent hobby of going anywhere with babies so he and Penelope can pass them back and forth is demented if he isn’t falling for her! Mother is tormented watching it.”
Simon took her phone and made her stand up to be hugged. “There is much torment in being on the Bridgerton guest list. Your mother is coping. She would feel terrible if Colin’s choice of woman fled the scene because of all the pressure of joining up. Charm does not override the very real descent into chaos one sees pitching underneath them. Great love is transforming. You have not forgotten how I fought my change until you cracked me.”
Daphne sighed. “I know, but you were never as charming as my brother. It is diabolical in friendliness. We could put him in a tiger cage at the zoo and he would just have new cats. I felt at times your shell was indestructible.”
He smiled. “It was meant to keep everyone out, but you made me so intrigued,” Simon told her softly. “Imagine my horror to realize I loved you, and you loved me back. I was in danger of heartbreak. I was going to need you with me to protect me. Then you insisted we must grow the family and bring down inventive mischief for the rest of our days.”
She tapped his admittedly cheerful expression, despite his lamentation that she had nearly forced him into marriage and fatherhood. It had been an equal terror that they could not escape. They would not be happy letting what they’d found go for the sake of freedom and uncertainty.
“There is no prouder father than you, Your Grace,” she said.
He huffed at his proper title, particularly in a world where even Kings and Queens largely were for show. There were lands to manage and tenants, but most of the estate business was the same as being a city landlord getting emergency plumbers out to the right house.
“I have no regrets. I am very grateful, and I applaud the individual responsible for unbending my negative impressions. Not every family ends up like my first one, and even that gave me Agatha. I was very wise to change my mind. And you were mostly on time for the wedding, so I appreciate it!”
She crossed her arms and stared at him, feigning speechlessness. He pretended to look behind his back to see who was irritating her.
“I have given you wonderful children and all my affection,” Daphne said.
“And I let you do that with only some initial squirming away, Dear. You’re welcome.”
She shook her head as he embraced her and kissed away her annoyance. “I despair of men!”
“Indeed, Colin is quite slow. But he appears to know he wants to date Penelope. She is a redhead. They are known for being headstrong,” Simon told her, chuckling as he repeated the ginger stereotype.
“That is not how personality forms, and you know it!”
Her husband leaned back to look down into her face seriously. “Daphne, she has spent almost two decades in Colin’s mixed messages and she is still glad to see him coming. Penelope is a good person, but part of that has to be bloody-mindedness.”
Daphne sighed and slapped his big arms around her. “It is loyalty, not stubbornness.”
They called a ride home in deference to the wilds of London streets and the very unsuitable way they were dressed to take on street violence. Pen kept a hand over the necklace in the car, as if she could not bear anyone seeing it away from the event. The opera was an amazing idea for a date, because it was different than their other times of going out for a show. It was more elaborate. It was an investment of time and fashion. It stopped implying she was with him and said it quietly.
It was a tasteful announcement that Colin was not single. He knew people suspected as much, but he would have corrected it in an interview. It was the sort of question it was always better to avoid, but he could justify some obfuscation for privacy. He wasn’t a married man, so he was technically single. He might have a woman he was exclusively seeing, but he did not have to tell the world. Men who had to tell everyone he was not looking seemed to be defensive of their ability to be faithful.
He followed Pen in the flat, her hands finally coming off her neck as the door shut behind him. She leaned on the wall and slipped her shoes off with a smile. “Humiliation avoided another night,” she said. “I never believe I can walk in heels all night without toppling. It doesn’t help that I’m top heavy with your family fortune.”
Colin shrugged. “If it was the family fortune, I would not have access to it. I’m not sure Kate would be out of the house wearing it,” he said. “It is an investment piece. It is insured, and it has some sentimental value. But if you imagine it is from yon historical bequest of King Richard to Sir Gibbs Harcourt Bridgerton upon the bestowing of a title, you are mistaken. It is expensive, and the jeweler is famous for a certain era, but it is only seventy years old. That is infancy for a necklace.”
She did not lose the rueful twist of her mouth, but she walked into the living room with less tension.
“You know the next time I am offered the loan of something pretty from the Bridgerton vault of treasures, I am going to make sure it is costume jewelry,” Penelope told him. “This necklace feels far too real on me.”
It was heavy, and he didn’t want them to waste the rest of their night trying to pretend they were entirely comfortable in formal wear. A good suit and a fitted dress would make it less taxing, but it was not the same as pajamas or stretchy sweatsuits.
“I can take it off for you, and your neck can stop being on guard duty. No one was paying it any mind, even to think it was real. I saw you speaking with an actress who wears a ring worth four million dollars. She was shaking hands!”
“She had a bodyguard with her,” Pen said tartly. “He looked very square and gun-toting. I didn’t know I was protecting something worthy of being added to the crown jewels.”
Colin touched the back of her neck and opened the clasp smoothly. He watched as Penelope gathered the necklace down to her chest like a newborn baby, both arms underneath it. He laughed.
“It’s metal and stones. It can’t feel anything, and diamonds don’t break when you drop them on the floor,” he said.
A scuff could be fixed, and there was an inspection of the collection each year to preserve it. They had an expert who took a week off the museum to polish gewgaws and report back that they were still shiny. Colin brought the box up and held it steady as Penelope put the necklace to bed gently. She even closed the clasp, as if an object could feel immodest for being left open. He fastened the lid and put it down on the kitchen counter. There would be a bank assistant and a car stopping by for it tomorrow, per Anthony’s plans that no one in the family should be directly transporting it unless it was being used.
“Perhaps the old girl liked being out for the night,” he suggested. “Not many parties in the bank vault, and she’s not special in there with all the rest. I thought it would be nice to have it out in the living world for a night. You wore it very well, and no one thought it was odd you were dripping in diamonds. It seemed very reasonable to me.”
She blushed. “That is kind, but I do mean it about family heirlooms. I’ll take the old loveseat if your mother wants it gone, but anything that’s worth more than my life should stay in the bank. I’m so full. I can’t believe I ate fish and chips in this dress! I feel like I should write it an apology,” she said.
He pulled his jacket off and opened the last few buttons of his shirt. It was a bit chilly outside, so his display of chest had to be minimized until they were at home. It felt like a night to sleep without a shirt. Penelope had let her hand rest on his abs when he put it there. They were breaking all sorts of personal records. Eventually he’d be able to tell her just how many miracles he was seeing, because Penelope seemed to think she was rather ordinary. If he could express how wonderful she was, she would likely have a nosebleed from the stress of the praise. They were too British for blurting it out like that wasn’t daft.
“I think we should change out of the fancy stuff and wash Hyacinth’s cosmetics off,” he said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to comb your hair for you. Just leave it up, and I’ll do the rest.”
He was hoping she would put on the skimpy pajamas with the shorts instead of long pants. He was planning to strip to his boxers and stay that way if Penelope seemed fine with it. She reached up and touched her hair.
“You don’t have to.”
He didn’t have to do anything for her. She was imminently capable of doing for herself, but that wasn’t any satisfaction for him. They had shown up for one another in ways that no one could request. They were something special, and he would not let nerves muddy that for him.
“I want to. I love your hair,” he said. “I know you’re secretly class, but you know I’m happier in jeans with a paper cup of coffee and a big pastry. I want to make sure you don’t forget scruffy Colin. You get more of him than this posh gent. I have to earn my keep.”
Penelope let her arms fall down at her sides, her face going very serious. “Colin, I like all versions of you, and that includes the future evolutions. You don’t have to earn your keep. The diamonds are not required. The posh invitations can stop entirely. If it’s just you and I in jeans drinking coffee, that’s the keystone of who we are together. You can comb out my hair for me, but only if you want to. It’s more work than you might think.”
He nodded. The heat pump clicked into a new cycle, bringing the room up to the comfortable temperature since they were back home. Penelope’s landlord had installed timers, and things snapped into activity with the goal of saving some energy. He wasn’t sure it was worth it, because the little noise startled Pen out of her moment of intense gazing right at him. She didn’t want the posh facade he could put on and drive like a too-large vehicle. She wanted his young, sloppy, spent-it-all and living on coffee self.
Penelope liked him as much as he thought she did. It wasn’t counting invisible chickens when he could see feathers floating in the room around them.
“I’ll get changed first. I cannot get water on this dress after saving it from the fried food,” she said, ducking into the bedroom and leaving him pleasantly tickled.
No one was nervous like they were without sexual tension between them. Colin was going to be cautious, because his friendship was not a trade for a girlfriend. He wanted to keep the steady ground under them and build a lovely, romantic tower where his princess could let down her hair and let him swim in Titian bliss.
He wasn’t sure about the full story of the opera they’d just watched because of the language, but it was a love story, and it had a happy ending. Colin was running on vibes, and he felt sure of himself. It was real. They were their own thing, and he had never imagined having such good company at one of his events. A red carpet entryway was no aisle up the middle of a chapel, but marriage was too big a leap.
Starting with the quiet service of helping her unwind from a big night out felt like driving fast and feeling every bend of the road tolerate it gracefully. He might be in danger of being hurt, but the imagined rejection had been doing that anyway.
Colin took off everything but his boxers, draping the monkey suit over the chair. He could hear Pen moving behind the closed bedroom door, and he didn’t want to have any dramatic moment of nudity. They slept in the same bed, and skin touched. It was a better version of the same night they usually passed together.
Maybe he’d even get the balls to kiss her on her lips instead of settling for her pretty cheek or the velvet skin of her throat. If she kissed him back, he’d float off to Heaven and need an ambulance, but that seemed a fair cost for everything he’d ever craved.
He glared once at the noisy heat pump behind its partition, and grumbled on the way to the bathroom. He wasn’t going to taste like fish when he kissed her.