Chapter Text
Edmund loves his children, he’s loved them since the first time they were placed in his arms, all red and squishy with lungs larger than their entire bodies. He loves them so much he would do anything for them, no matter how absolutely crazy or dangerous or downright boring. If one of his eight kids asked him anything, anything at all he would move heaven and earth to give it to them.
All that was good and true, but the moment he held his grandson in his arms, he realized that he would sooner use one of his kids as a shield to protect him than let harm fall upon that little soul. So he was on a mission, even though he knew that his wife’s plan to use their country estate to quarantine all together would end in absolute disaster that he alone would be left back to pick the pieces of, and like that he agreed. Which was how he found himself calling his eldest son, who had very masterfully avoided all calls from his mother to get him to, well inform him really, of his mother’s plan to have them all quarantine together. And he wasn’t above using a little emotional manipulation to get there…
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Anthony groaned as he turned to the bedside table, his phone ringing again he knew before he even turned his phone around that it was his mother calling, again. He slams his phone down with a groan and turns back to his new wife burying his face at the top of her chest, humming softly while her hand is running through his hair, gently pulling the small hairs at his upper neck.
“She stopped” he said relieved when the ringing stopped. Kate pulls gently on his hair. He raises his eyes to look at her, “It might have been something important Ant. What if something happened with your dad? Or Greg, or Hy?” she says.
Anthony couldn’t help it but roll his eyes. “Daph would have been the first call, and she would have called me, Daph’s not calling, so no medical emergency.” It almost shocks him how easily he found himself reasoning to logic these days. He remembers a time, years back when the mere sound of his phone would send him into a panic attack, a state he lived in for far too long, ever since he was sixteen sitting in a cold waiting room his mother, six months pregnant sitting next to him, her hand clutching tightly his, her other hand on her stomach where the still unborn Gregory has, unaware of the chaos that happened all around them. The worse and at the same time the best time of his life when he met the woman gently kissing his neck right now.
“Who are you and what have you done to my husband, demon!” she says chuckling, pulling him out of the memory of the cold hospital waiting room and back into the warmth of their bedroom.
He sees the mischief clear on her deep brown eyes “Ha. Ha!” sarcasm dripping, Anthony shakes his head trying to clear all thoughts from his head, his eyes closing as he leans back down to hide his face on her chest.
The shrill sound of his phone ringing broke the peaceful silence of the room. Anthony groans as he reaches over the bedside table behind him, cursing under his breath when he saw his father’s picture on the screen.
“Is that?”
“My dad. Dammit!”
“Answer it.” Kate tells him with a smile, “They aren’t going to stop if you don’t.”
“Fine!”
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“Mom, I doubt Gregory and Hyacinth would like to spend a month with a teething baby, Simon and I barely want to spend a month with a teething baby and it’s our baby.” Daphne says softly, she can hear Simon from next door trying to calm down Augie, his steps although mutted by the thick capret in the nursery, still echoing through the stone walls of the old manor they are fortunate to call home. She was just about to let his deep voice lull her to sleep when her phone started vibrating on her bedside table.
“Daphne, dear, we have a rather large house, we can house you, Simon and dear Augie farther from the kids and even your siblings if Augie happens to be especially unsettled.” Her mother was trying for the last five minutes to convince her to get Augie and Simon and go to Aubrey Hall for the month-long quarantine.
“It’s not just that mom, it’s just…” Daphne wasn’t exactly against quarantining with her family, and deep down she knew that with as many siblings as she has, plus two quite young grandparents Augie would not only be extremely well taken care of but she and Simon could finally rest, and maybe just maybe she’ll be able to shake off the everlasting tiredness that seemed to plague her lately.
“Daphne dear, it would make me feel so much better to not only have all of you here with us and safe, but to also have someone with medical knowledge in the house at all times.”
“I’m on maternity leave mom.” She says chuckling.
“You’re still a doctor dear.” Daphne closes her eyes. “Not to mention your father and I would be ever so happy to babysit Augie so you and Simon get a break” her mother says softly finally making an offer Daphne could absolutely not refuse.
“Fine, I’ll talk to Simon.”
XXX
“I’ll get it!” Sophie called out to Ben when his phone rang for the second time in the twenty minutes he was in the shower.
“Thank you love!” she smiles and walks to the bedroom; Ben’s phone was left on the dresser. “Hello, this is Ben’s phone.”
“Sophie! What a lovely surprise to hear your voice. How are you today my dear?” Sophie smiled hearing Edmund Bridgerton’s joyful voice from the other side of the phone. Ben’s father, although a viscount and a lord of the peer was probably the most humble and loving man, she had met in quite some time.
“I’m well sir.” She says hearing the man sigh from the other end. “How many times will I have to ask you to call me Edmund?”
Sophie smiles “At least once more I guess.”
“Very well. Where is Benedict? I did call his number, didn’t I?”
“He is in the bathroom; do you want me to tell him to call you back?”
“Well, I suppose it’s not that important, Violet and I wanted to invite you over at Aubrey Hall for the duration of the quarantine. We will both feel so much better to have the entire family with us rather than have to communicate through skype and zoom.” Sophie felt her stomach drop at the words from the viscount, of course Ben would want to quarantine with his family. Although they had not talked about it she wanted to believe that the two of them would just hunker down in his apartment (well, theirs now since she had moved in with him), but now that he had an invite to be with his family, of course he would pick them.
“Oh, well I’ll pass the message to Ben when he gets out of the shower.” She says, trying very hard not to let the overconsuming disappointment she felt.
“Please do your best to convince him my dear, Violet and I have missed you both so very much. And we would feel so much better to know that both of you are here with the rest of the family rather than alone all the way to London. I have read in the paper that the spread is quite large over there as is. I can only dread to imagine how worse it will get.” She feels a lump raising in her throat “I’ll…” a small cough covering the sob that almost left her lips “I’ll make sure we’ll come, sir.”
“Sophie!” Edmund groans bringing a smile on her lips, his antics so much like Ben’s.
“I’ll work on it, I promise.”
“Oh well, at least you stopped calling me Lord Bridgerton, I’ll count this as a win.”
XXXX
“Who was it?” She looks to her boyfriend, spoon in his mouth one hand against the counter, the half-empty tub of ice cream in the other. His hair curling to all directions. He looked positively adorable.
“My mother.” She says pouting slightly, “Ah.” He says adorable confusion lacing his features, “And?”
“She wants us all in Kent, for the quarantine you know.”
“Alright.”
“That’s the point where you’re being a good boyfriend and give me a way-out Phil.”
Philip drops the spoon in the sink before he throws the now empty container in the recycling bin and turns around shrugging. “Sorry but my only alternative is spending the month with my brother’s family. Which by the way includes two babies under the age of two?”
Eloise groans remembering the terrible weekend she spend with George and Marina just last month, the twins, while adorable with bouncy hair, large gummy smiles and bright blue eyes like their father and uncle, were, to put it mildly, nightmares.
“Yeah, sorry, no offence to your brother’s kids but I’d rather actually catch COVID.”
“Exactly.”
“You do realize I’m dragging you with me, right?”
“I would expect nothing else, El”
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“Fine!”
“All I’m saying is that-“ Edmund stops pacing, his son’s agreement almost knocks the air from his lungs. If he was honest Colin was, after Anthony, the child he thought would give them most trouble. Especially since ever since he turned eighteen, taking a gap year, he has not spent too much time in one place, even in college he would find ways to travel every weekend. “I’m sorry did you just agree?”
“I can see reason dad!” Colin protests, Edmund shakes his head, even though Colin could not see him, “No, no! it’s just I had to spend two hours to convince Anthony, not to mention three hours to reach him, it just seems too easy”
“Well it is.” Colin says but his pause makes Edmund worry that there’s a but coming and he’s not sure he wants to know. And lo and behold not a minute late Colin speaks again “Just one condition.”
“Name it?”
“Pen is coming with me.” Edmund chuckles, Colin’s single condition was not one at all really if he is honest.
“I would seriously consider disowning you if she wasn’t.”
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“Just let me talk about it with Michael. We were talking of maybe going over to Scotland to his family, alright?” Frannie can feel her father’s disappointment radiating through the phone when she mentioned Scotland. “It’s not a promise dad, do not take it as one. I’ll talk to you soon.” Michael looks up from his papers to his girlfriend, she was nervously pacing about, biting her nails almost absentmindedly, and he is sure he heard her lying to her father about going to Scotland as well. “Love you too dad.”
“What is it?” he asks her as soon as she hangs up the phone.
“My parents want the entire family to quarantine together.” She says dropping next to him in the couch, “Me too?” the excitement in his voice all too clear, the Bridgertons although a large and rather rumbustious family were the first family he has had ever since his only cousin died from cancer three years ago leaving him just aged twenty-two with an earldom and a set for life job as a peer of the land.
“Yeah.”
“Awesome! I’ve been itching to get back at Anthony for cheating at the last game of billiards!” Fran smiles a little, her hand cups his cheek, the warmth of her skin a welcome distraction from all that is going to hell around them.
“Mikey, my family can be a bit… much.” She chuckles, “Actually, they are the definition of too much”
“Fran, love, it’ll be perfectly fine! Your family is indeed a bit too much but I can hundred precent handle it. Philip did it and the poor guy looked one step away from vomiting throughout the whole wedding.”
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
XXXX
Violet was getting ready for bed, her hair safely secured in a low ponytail as she finished applying her night cream and mask before turning in for the night, her husband walked in their bedroom with a jovial, almost, look on his face, his white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, soft specs of hair visible from the opening, his hair mussed, curling widely the same way their eldest son’s seemed to when he was younger and was in his ‘no haircut’ phase. There was a mischievous glint in his hazel eyes, the light in the room making them look all the greener this evening.
She turns in her chair, smiling widely at the man she spend the last thirty six years with, first as next door neighbours, then as college sweethearts and eventually as husband and wife, parents, viscount and viscountess, partners, soulmates. “Well?” she asks hopefully.
“As a US president who shall remain unmentioned said: Mission Accomplished” his smile brightens the whole room around her as she gets up from the chair and crosses the room to her still standing husband, “Hopefully successfully.” She jests.
“I just got a text from Frannie, she and Michael are the last to agree.” He pulls out his phone showing her the last text he received from their third daughter.
“I’m once again amazed at your ability to emotionally manipulate our children into anything.” She says giving her still smiling husband his phone before giving him a small kiss on his cheek and getting out of his arms.
“You used your heart condition again, didn’t you?” she said as she pulled the covers over her lower back, looking back at the man slowly undressing on the other side of the room.
“So what if I did?” mischievous smirk on his lips.
“You, Edmund Bridgerton are very lucky that I consider you to be what our younger children call a dilf.”
“What on earth is that supposed to mean?”
“A daddy, I’d like to fuck”