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It hadn’t been the plan to ride in Hyde Park in the fashionable hour.
Nor had it been the plan to take Edmund alongside them.
But there are some days that just don’t go according to plan. No matter how much one would like them to.
So now here they were. On the most fashionable path in Hyde Park, in their open carriage, with a babbling and excited baby Edmund on Anthony’s lap.
And the eyes of the Ton upon them.
Cressida Cowper was in Hyde Park to see and be seen. She wasn’t being escorted by a gentleman, rather she was out walking with two other debutantes. If one could be called a debutante when it was not one’s first season out.
Miss Goring and Miss Patridge had been to call at Cowper House and seeing as the weather was so very fine, the three girls, escorted by a maid, had made their way to walk on Hyde Park.
On the most fashionable walk at the fashionable hour.
It wasn’t a good walk. Gentlemen were scarce and what was the purpose of promenading if not to meet a possible new suitor or encounter someone one had danced with before?
It was all a failure.
“Look, Miss Cowper, isn’t that the Bridgerton carriage?”
Cressida looked up from the glove she was fiddling with. She dearly hoped it was the Bridgerton carriage, preferably with one of the unmarried Bridgerton brothers. She knew how unlikely that was, they weren’t known for putting themselves willingly in the path of married minded misses, but one could hope.
Her hopes were destroyed as soon as the carriage approached them.
In it was a Bridgerton brother, that was a fact. But it was the Viscount, the only married one. To make matters even worse he was accompanied by his wife and their young son.
Cressida’s day turned sour.
She disliked Kate Bridgerton, who had swept in from India, snagged the bachelor of the season in a match embroiled in scandal and suffered none of the consequences for it. In fact, except for that one time they had been left dancing alone at the Featherington ball, the Ton had quite easily accepted the Viscount and his new Viscountess.
They had the queen’s seal of approval after all. And they did disappear for six months. Upon their return, their scandalous marriage was old news.
Kate Bridgerton had it all. One of the most desirable husbands in London, financial security, a powerful position in the Ton. And she had a son now. The Viscountess Bridgerton had done her duty, in the eyes of society, by bearing an heir to the viscountcy.
She had all that Cressida desired. Money, security, social status.
And to top it off, Lord Bridgerton was besotted with his wife. It was nauseating, everywhere they went. He never strayed far from her side, danced far too many times than was proper at every ball they attended. Often, he could be found whispering something in her eat, that made the viscountess giggle or blush furiously.
They were doing it again, breaking society’s rules. Out in their carriage, with their baby, no nurse in sight. How unfashionable was that? They looked like a tradesman’s family. Lord Bridgerton was holding the child on his lap, bouncing him slightly as the baby giggled and clapped his hands excitedly.
She didn’t want what they had, Cressida mused, as the carriage passed by them, Lady Bridgerton greeting the trio with a slight nod of her head.
She wanted her own household, security and the freedom afforded to married ladies. Nothing more, nothing less than that.
But she had to admit, seeing them it made her wonder how it would be like to be in Kate Bridgerton’s shoes. Just for a second.
Miss Goring had been the one to point out the Bridgerton carriage. In fact, she had tuned out of Cressida’s incessant talking, which was always overly critical of some poor soul or other and had been looking around. Hence why she was the first of the trio to catch a glimpse of the Bridgerton crest on the side of the open carriage that was fast approaching them.
She had her own reasons for not wanting the Bridgerton abroad the carriage to be the Viscount.
She had been one of the debutants he had interviewed during his search for a wife. There was no other way to put it when he had asked so many questions when he called. She hadn’t been up to his standards, for some unknown reason.
She didn’t quite want to face him now. She always did her utmost to avoid him at all costs.
But such was her luck, of all the Bridgertons (and there were many of them), it had to be the Viscount out in Hyde Park today. And he wasn’t alone.
As the carriage passed her, she could see the viscount, holding his baby son. Grinning as the baby babbled and clapped his hands. Lady Bridgerton was sitting beside him, looking fondly at her husband and young son. She nodded, acknowledging the trio’s presence on the side of the road.
Margaret Goring envied Kate Bridgerton. Not for having managed to take Lord Bridgerton successfully to the altar. Although she was quite jealous, Lord Bridgerton was, after all, quite a handsome gentleman. And titled and wealthy.
No, what Margaret truly envied Lady Bridgerton for was her marital bliss. No one could look at the viscountess and say she was anything but blissfully happy in her match. Lord Bridgerton was a truly besotted husband.
She still recalled the matrons at one ball or another gossiping how they were dancing too many times together. She had thought it romantic. She wanted that. A husband who enjoyed her company so much he wished to escort her to society functions and dance with her. Not because it was expected of him but because he truly wanted it.
Margaret was no fool, she knew the world she lived in.
But a small part of her thought that if Kate Bridgerton had managed to get it all, the husband, the lover, the financial security, the position in society, why shouldn’t she try to accomplish that as well?
Never hurts to try. Not that her mama would agree. Mama would call it all fanciful notions and dangerous thoughts.
She knew her mother only worried because she wanted what was best for her, she wanted Margaret to have a secure future, to not have to worry about money ever in her life.
Looking back at the small family in the carriage, she saw Lord Bridgerton lean in and kiss his wife. In plain sight of all the Ton. After all this was Hyde Park in the fashionable hour.
Sometimes, when she was feeling more fanciful, Margaret thought she would rather be poor and have a husband that adored her like that than be rich and have a cold, indifferent marriage like her parents.
Well, one was allowed to have passing fancies.
Miss Patridge had been quite happy when the idea of a walk was suggested. Her father was a mere country squire, and her mother was always saying that it was important for her to be seen in good company.
Cressida Cowper, the daughter of a baron, qualified as good company. After all, what mattered was one’s social standing. Not one’s personal qualities.
So here she was, walking in Hyde Park and listening to Miss Cowper go on about criticising someone or other, when Miss Goring exclaimed that she had seen the Bridgerton carriage.
The moment her mother had been the most proud of her during her debut season wasn’t the presentation at court. It was the day Lord Bridgerton called on them after having danced with her the previous night.
It had all come to nothing. After an embarrassing amount of questions, Lord Bridgerton had lost interest and never called on them again. She had been quite indifferent to the fact he was handsome but nothing more than that.
Her mother had been happy that she had managed to catch, even if only briefly the interest of a viscount.
“Where one gentleman goes, others are sure to follow.” Were her mother’s words at the time.
Not many had followed or she would have been married by now and not walking with Cressida Cowper and Margaret Goring in Hyde Park.
As the carriage drew near she got a clearer view of who was inside. Lord and Lady Bridgerton and their young son.
How lovely and how unusual. Ton parents usually didn’t spend much time with their kids. From Lord Bridgerton’s questions she had gotten the impression that he adhered to that philosophy that having children was a duty.
A man, specially one with a title, must sure heirs.
How wrong she had been, Cordelia Patridge thought now as she looked at the viscount holding his baby son on his lap, looking delighted at the boy who was clapping his hands enthusiastically. That wasn’t someone who thought children a mere duty.
That was someone who had completely embraced fatherhood. Who enjoyed his child’s presence
It didn’t seem like the same man who had sat in her drawing room asking questions.
A laugh ran through the air. Lady Bridgerton’s laugh before she leaned down and kissed her husband as if they weren’t in the middle of Hyde Park, with the Ton’s eyes on them.
Theirs was a love match, everyone said.
And Cordelia believed it completely. For who would risk the scandal they had risked (even though they hadn’t suffered much from their scandalous actions) for anything less that true love.
Cordelia had been there at the Featherington Ball. She had watched them dance by themselves, all the other couples having left the dance floor and all she had thought was.
“ I wish I could inspire feelings like this.”
For there was no doubt in her mind that Lord Bridgerton behaved the way he did because his wife was Kate Bridgerton. Any other woman and he would have been just like all the other husbands of the Ton.
Doing the bare minimum required of him. Definitely not escorting her on a carriage ride with their child in the middle of the day.
How lovely must be a marriage like that? Knowing your spouse truly enjoyed your company, wished for it. Took you to balls and didn’t leave you to go and gamble the fortune away or drink with his friends. A husband who would rather be with you than whiling away the time at White’s
She wanted to follow Lady Bridgerton’s example and inspire a man to be as devoted a husband as Lord Bridgerton was.
It was only a dream.
But sometimes dreams were all one had.
In their carriage, Lord and Lady Bridgerton took little notice of the trip of girls besides a small nod of acknowledgment on Lady Bridgerton’s part. They were in their own little world, of which their little boy was the centre.
Famously besotted with each other indeed.