Work Text:
Penelope Featherington would sometimes have liked to glimpse the future. Not all her future, of course! Although she liked to read the last chapter first, she wanted to keep some mystery around her life, if only to avoid knowing what cruel fate awaited her. But sometimes she imagined seeing only a few seconds of her destiny, a few seemingly innocuous moments, but from which she could have fun deducing what future had in store for her.
Penelope Featherington had always had the strange feeling that as she grew older, she would become an old maid. Oh, it wasn't because of her lack of romantic inclination or disdain for love and marriage like for her friend Eloise. Of course not! Penelope was an avid reader of romance novels and spent whole nights dreaming that one day, without warning, a gust of wind would drag her bonnet to the face of a charming cavalier with whom she would fall immediately and madly in love and who would return her feelings, but unfortunately life was no romance and no teasing wind had ever caused her to lose her headgear.
In fact, thinking about it, she found members of the male sex, at least the one her mother presented to her at these garden parties, more silly than most simpletons. They asked her about her watercolors or her embroidery skills, while none of them seemed to be interested in reading or philosophy. They barely knew the history and legends of other times and their literacy was passable at best. In short, Penelope could not conceive that she could one day appreciate a boy enough to believe herself in love with him.
Yet, if she had had a brief glimpse of her later that evening, she would have seen herself staring at her ceiling, smiling stupidly, her heart fluttering lightly in her chest and her head in the clouds.
Because today was the day Penelope Featherington fell in love.
More or less 14 hours earlier
A radiant sun was shining on Aubrey Hall and little by little, the whole English aristocracy joined the countryside to attend the annual Hearts and Flowers Ball organized by the very charming and very popular Violet Bridgerton. For almost a week, all the Bon Ton gathered on the ancestral lands of Viscount Bridgerton where lords and ladies took advantage of the mild weather and the joy of finding themselves far away from the soiled air of London.
For months, anticipating an awful week when she would be confined to the nursery and unable to participate in household activities, Eloise had begged her mother not to force her to go to Aubrey Hall. Between the bad memories that haunted the house and the loneliness that she would inevitably find there, the 14-year-old girl could not imagine a worse fate than having to pretend to find the country gathering interesting where she would have no one to actually talk to.
This is why, after incessant whining and other lamentations, Elois had not exactly obtained what she had wished for, but rather an alternative which seemed even more attractive to her. Her mother allowed her to take Penelope Featherington with her to the country, and she could not imagine a more agreeable way of dealing with society than in the company of the only person in the world who could follow her line of thoughts.
When, later, she learned that she and Penelope could even participate with the rest of her siblings in their annual game of Pall Mall, she was over the moon. With their Rokesby cousins unable to attend this year, the Bridgerton clan were short of men and what’s better than to add two inexperienced teenage girls to the carnage?
That was how she and Penelope found themselves on the field in front of her brother's mansion, hidden behind some trees, trying to master the ball and the mallet. All attempts to practice before the game being strictly prohibited, they had to secretly practice on the sly, which did not please Penelope at all.
“We're going to get caught!” she whispered, green mallet in hand, while Eloise, armed with the yellow-orange stick, dropped two balls on the ground.
“Stop worrying! What could be worse? Not be allowed to play? That's not the worst! The worst thing would be to see the arrogant expression on Colin's face when he won the game.
“I'm sure your brothers will behave like gentlemen!”
“You're only saying that because you've only seen them two or three times during tea time while mom is forcing them to be on their best behavior!” Eloise replied, trying to hit her ball as her mallet landed hard on the ground. “Dash it! Your turn!”
“I've hardly seen your brother Anthony since mother allowed me to go have tea with you,” said Penelope, hitting her ball so weakly that it barely advanced a few inches.
“It's because he spends his time raking around!”
“What does it even mean?” Penelope wondered.
“I don't know,” answered Eloise. “But that's what Benedict said. That seemed to offend my mama quite a lot. Guess we won't be told until the day before our wedding night!” She pouted, succeeding this time in hitting the ball which rolled sideways across the lawn.”
“Well played! When did you say your brothers would arrive?” asked Penelope, hitting the ball in turn, which, despite a greater force, had barely advanced. “I'm afraid we don't have enough time to train!”
“They should arrive any moment, but they won't be ready to play right away! Colin will certainly want to talk our ears off with his Eton stories before heading to the kitchen to stuff himself with everything Cook baked.”
“Which one is Colin again?”
“The third one.”
Penelope rolled her eyes before hitting the ball which moved forward a few feet in front of her.
“I know he's the third. I know the alphabetical order, but I have trouble distinguishing your brothers from each other!”
“What can I say? He is the one who is neither the viscount nor the artist! He's insufferable, he eats like a pig and people say he's the most charming of the three, although I don't see where they're coming from!”
Eloise, who was beginning to master her mallet, managed to send her ball to a tree root she was aiming for.
“I think I remember one of your brothers who ate more than the others,” Penelope sighed as her ball went in the opposite direction to the one she was aiming for.
“That would be Colin.”
“Your family is too large to follow everyone!”
“Anthony is the viscount, Benedict is the artist, Colin is the one who attends Eton and talks about it too much!”
“I'm sure you're exaggerating!” Penelope exclaimed as Eloise, more and more skilful, managed to send her ball very close to that of her friend.
“Enough about my stupid brothers,” answered Eloise. “How is your family?”
“My mother is more and more unbearable!” pouted Penelope. “She keeps pestering Prudence to prepare for her debut and all my dear sister thinks about is finding ways to make my life miserable!”
Eloise saw her friend fidgeting. It was rare to see her like this, angry with her family, unable to keep her emotions in check. Yet as Penelope approached her ball, she continued her rant without caring about it.
“No question, of course, of doing anything that could be the least bit constructive! Of course, she has to do everything possible to find ways to annoy me! You know what's worse? She begins to take Philippa in her wake. Soon, I won't have a quiet place in my house!”
“What does your mother do?” Eloise asked as Penelope kicked her ball which flew a little in the air before landing several meters further on the lawn.
“Absolutely nothing, that's the worst part of this story! When I dare to complain about her, mama complains in turn of a headache, and that's when she doesn't shamelessly ignore me!”
“Oh! Look! My brothers are coming!” cried Eloise, pointing to a carriage that was entering the lane leading to the mansion.
“Oh! The worst!” exclaimed Penelope. “The worst! It's when she tells me to develop a greater tolerance for ridicule and teasing. ‘You have to learn to put up with meanness, Penelope! Society can be a cruel place, Penelope!’ I don’t care about society!”
Eloise had never seen her friend angry in this way. She strode through the grass, crushing dandelions under her furious footsteps, shoving her mallet into the ground. At the end of the driveway, a little too close to them for her liking, her brothers were getting out of the carriage, laughing at a joke one or the other had made. Afraid of being caught red-handed during a prohibited Pall-Mall training session, she tried to attract the attention of Penelope who continued her rant not having seen the three men.
“What is wrong with preferring to read a novel rather than lingering over embroidery or the pianoforte?” she continued. “The Lord knows my family has absolutely no talent for music, but who cares if one day in the very distant future, it attracts a suitor! And my sister who keeps telling me to try and lose my baby fat! You know what, Prudence? I'd rather have a plump belly than nothing in the brain!”
Without adding another word, with all the strength that her anger gave her, she hit her ball as hard as she could, which rose in the air towards the three men. Eloise let out a cry of horror in spite of herself. That would probably be the end of her chances of playing Pall Mall! She saw the ball lift, take a perfect curve and head straight for her brothers. Disaster was now inevitable. She shouted, “LOOK OUT! ", But it was too late. Her scream had caught the attention of Colin who had turned towards her and when he raised his hand to greet her, the ball landed directly on his temple with a small thud.
The shock seemed brutal!
Colin held a hand to his head, whispered a little "ouch!" then crashed to the ground like a deer that had just been shot.
“Oh my God!” she had shouted when she saw one of the three brothers fall to the ground under the blow of her wooden ball.
A feeling of horror washed over her. She had killed a Bridgerton! Her life was over! She would be banished from her family! She was going to end up in prison or even worse, in Australia! What was certain was that she would never again receive an invitation to go to Aubrey Hall!
She ran at full speed to join the injured man lying on the ground while his brothers patted his face in an attempt to wake him up.
“Colin,” cried Anthony. “Colin! Do you hear me?”
“Ugh! Let me sleep,” he muttered.
“He is alive!” Anthony sighed in relief before looking up at Benedict. “Go tell Wickham. We're going to need a surgeon! The wound doesn't seem very deep, but it's bleeding profusely!”
“I'm sorry,” exclaimed Penelope, running up to Colin. “I did not want to hurt him! My ball went in the wrong direction…”
She immediately stopped talking. On the ground, the most fabulous pair of eyes, a powerful emerald green, stared intently at her. She gasped.
“Am I dead?” he asked, looking at the teenager. “Am I in heaven? Are you an angel?”
“You were hit by Pall Mall in the head,” explained Anthony, taking his handkerchief to apply it to his injured temple. “You lost consciousness for a few seconds.”
Suddenly, Colin's eyes lit up and he burst out into a deep, contagious laugh, astonishing everyone around him.
“But he's crazy!” cried Eloise as her brother continued to laugh.
“It was not very well done of me, was it?”
Suddenly, Penelope found herself melting on the spot. He laughed. He laughed! And it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard! Anyone would have been angry after being hit so hard with a wooden ball. She could have killed him for Heaven's sake! But, as he sat up, still laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, he raised inquisitive eyes to Penelope as his brother warned him to take it easy.
“I know you! You're the Featherington girl, aren't you? The one who always hangs out with Eloise.”
“I'm sorry, Mr. Bridgerton. I swear I had no intention of hurting you.”
“No hard feelings!” said the seventeen years old, raising his hand as Anthony helped him to his feet.
He was tall! Very tall! Much taller than her. Granted, she might not have completed her growth, but he seemed to be several heads higher than her, and she feared she would look like a child in front of him.
She did remember him now. She had always liked him. He constantly had a cheerful look on his face, always smiling. She must not have seen him for almost a year - which made sense since he had probably spent most of the last months within the walls of his college, but she remembered a somewhat pimply teenager, with funny patches of beard growing here and there on his much smaller and clearly less attractive face. He usually greeted her, but then went to sit directly next to his brothers. She couldn't blame him. A teenager like him probably revered his older brothers and surely wanted to be part of their little gathering.
But it was no longer a boy in front of her. It was a man. His face, now clean-shaven, had found an angelic air and he had certainly gained almost a foot since the last time she had seen him. His shoulders had widened, his arms had regained a size proportional to the rest of his body, and there was something about his jaw that separated him from the other teenagers she had met.
He was still laughing as he was led inside the house, Lord Bridgerton having decided that it was better not to stay under the hot July sun. Penelope had followed them without thinking, unable to separate herself from her victim. Maybe she was hoping to play nurse with him? She had never been very fond of the sight of blood, but perhaps today she could make an exception and help heal him.
However, she continued to apologize profusely. She wouldn't have peace of mind until she knew her awkward act had been forgiven.
“I'm so sorry, Mr. Bridgerton!”
“Please, you just split my skull with a Pall Mall ball, it would be the least of things if we could go without formalities and address each other by our first names. Please, call me Colin.”
"Only if you call me Penelope," she replied with a poise she didn't recognize.
Colin was put in the kitchen, his room having been deemed way too far away to risk having him walk over there. A servant had taken Anthony's place at his brother's bedside and Penelope followed them. There was definitely something she could be useful for. Certainly the sight of blood made her nauseous and she had never known what to do when someone she knew was injured, but Colin was wronged by her fault and she could not sit idly by while he suffered in pain. When a valet reassured her that they had things in hand and that it was certainly not the first time that Master Colin had needed to see the surgeon, she allowed herself to relax and sit down next to him in order to wait for the doctor.
“I must admit that I am curious as to why the house staff acting as if you needing medical help is the most normal of occurrences,” she joked while the valet, with confident, almost professional movements, changed the handkerchief that was soaking up Colin's blood.
“Let's just say that my country's games have rarely been complete without having to call Dr Murphy at some point. Usually, however, I have time to set foot in the house before I end up here!”
“I can't apologize enough for hurting you, Mr. Bridgerton.”
“Colin!” he interjected.
“Colin.”
“Tell me,” he teased her, “do you often cheat at the Pall Mall or is today a special occasion?”
Penelope felt herself blushing from head to toe. She knew, from the moment she understood that Colin would be fine, that Eloise and her innocent cheating would once again become the topic of the hour. So she looked down, a little ashamed to have been caught in such a compromising position while Colin, next to her, burst out laughing.
“Just jesting, Penelope. This plan couldn't have been anything other than my little sister's scheme and I'm not at all surprised that she managed to drag you into her wake. What I'm surprised about though is how hard you managed to hit the ball! You're strong, Miss Featherington!”
"I'm sorry," she apologized for the tenth time. “Your sister asked me how things were going at home and I got a little carried away.”
“Is it so bad?”
“Well, let's just say I'm not lucky enough to be a Bridgerton.”
“Too bad,” he whispered.
She had been warned that some men had the ability to tell women exactly what they needed to hear to seduce them, but she would never have believed that she would be the recipient of such a remark. She should now admit that she had been told the truth when she had been warned that Colin was a real flirt. He was very good at it!
She had to change the subject and quickly! Colin's beautiful eyes, his teasing smile, his melodious voice and sweet words were dangerous. She felt something happening inside her that she didn't understand. Every time his smile reached his eyes, she felt something fly in her stomach and a warmth rise to her face.
“What are you going to study when you enter Cambridge?”
“Who knows?” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I like everything! Ancient cultures, history, geography, philosophy, literature.”
“I love literature!” exclaimed Penelope. “I know it's not the most ladylike source of entertainment for a young girl, but there's nothing quite like getting lost in a novel.”
“What do you mean, not ladylike?” Colin protested. “Who wants a woman who has no culture? I would a hundred times prefer to converse with a cultured woman than with one who never stops talking about her embroidery or her watercolors!”
A shy smile appeared on Penelope's features. This boy really had the skill to melt her heart like snow in a spring rain.
“What are you reading at the moment?” she asked.
“The Odyssey, of course.”
The Odyssey. The great adventure of Odesseus who returns from the war to his wife Penelope.
“You're jesting with me! You are not really reading the Odyssey.”
It was Colin's turn to smirk and look at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Fine, I'm not READING the Odyssey, but it really is my favorite book. Hence the fact that I really like your name Miss Featherington. But there is only one problem.”
“Which one?”
“I talk about this book so often that we will end up mixing Odyssey’s Penelope and real life Penelope.”
“You really talk about this book so often?”
“I'm afraid so. You know what you need? A nickname.”
“It is already inappropriate for you to call me by my first name, Mr. Bridgerton…”
“…Colin,” he cut her off.
“… Colin. I'm afraid it would be very frowned upon for us to have nicknames for each other.”
“Hang society!” he replied, rebellious. “I don't care about the remonstrances of old people who only have their habits to entertain them. I will call you Pen and those who are not satisfied with this go to He…”
“COLIN!”
“Sorry, did I say something?”
It was then that Penelope noticed that his pupils were huge, almost as big as his irises, a small layer of sweat was gradually beading on his forehead and that his complexion had lost all its color.
“Colin, are you well?” she asked, suddenly worried.
“Couldn't be better,” answered Colin immediately with a slightly silly smile. “I feel like the time Benedict gave me a little too much brandy!”
“Is he always like this?”
Penelope had looked up at the valet who was tending to him. The good man, a Mr. Dunwoody, also put on an anguished expression and shook his head sharply.
“Mr. Bridgerton is generally much more reserved, or at least more subtle in the compliments he gives to women. He is normally a true gentleman.”
Penelope bit her lower lip. She knew very little about head injuries, but had heard horror stories of people who had fallen from their horses never to be able to get up again, people who had been hit in the head and who had their personality completely changed. What if she had made one of Eloise's brothers stupid? What if she had just alienated one of the largest families of the English aristocracy? Her mother had warned her to behave exemplary while she was at Aubrey Hall, that the Bridgertons were very important people and that an alliance between their two families would ensure a better future for hers, no matter what that meant.
It was now over. She was going to end up with a distant aunt somewhere in Ireland. She would never see Eloise again. She would never have her début, she would marry a poor, smelly man, and never have kids!
She turned back to Colin, holding back with difficulty the tears that welled up in her eyes.
“I'm sorry, Colin.”
“What are you sorry for, Pen?”
He was so kind and his gaze so tender. Of course, he was still plagued by the blow he had received in the head, but no one, let alone a member of the stronger sex, had ever looked at her that way. He raised a hand which he placed on her cheek and crushed a tear with his thumb.
“Don't cry, Pen!”
She didn't understand what was happening to her. She felt completely bewitched by the teen's green eyes and couldn't do anything but tilt her face into his hand. She knew it was horribly inappropriate. Young women from good families did not allow themselves to be touched by gentlemen, let alone ungloved fingers on a wet cheek.
It was a cough from the valet that woke her up and shaking her head slightly, she pulled back a few inches and pursed her lips trying to regain some control over herself.
Just then, the door opened and Anthony was followed by an old man she didn't recognize, but who she assumed was the notorious Dr. Murphy.
“How is he?” Anthony addressed Dunwoody without paying attention to Penelope.
“The bleeding has stopped, but I think his mind is a bit fuzzy,” he started before leaning down to whisper in Anthony's ear. “He flirted with Miss Featherington.”
She saw Anthony's eyes pop slightly out of their sockets and realized that despite her assumption that Colin was an inveterate flirt, she might have misjudged him. The eldest turned to her and bowed.
“Please accept my apologies for my brother, Miss Featherington. He obviously lost a lot of blood.”
He grunted those words between his teeth, silently accusing his brother of being inappropriate with a young lady who was under his protection.
“I'm fine,” muttered Colin as the surgeon approached him.
“Hello, Mr. Bridgerton.”
“Hello Dr. Murphy.”
“When I learned that Aubrey Hall was being prepared for your country gathering, I expected to be called for you at some point, but I would have thought that I could loaf around a little bit longer before my presence would be necessary. So, what am I here for today? A broken arm? Has one of your brothers forgot the knob on the point of their blade and almost pierced your lung again? Did you go riding in the woods, hit a tree branch and fall on the ground while your horse went on his way like last year?”
“I'm not even sure he had both feet on the ground when he was hit by a Pall Mall ball on the head. He has quite a large cut on his temple,” said Anthony.
“It's all my fault,” complained Penelope, ashamed.
“Don't worry about it,” Anthony muttered sternly, “Miss Featherington, my brother would have needed Dr. Murphy's services sooner or later.”
“Don't be so hard on Pen, will you?” Colin protested. “She has nothing to do with what happened!”
“I don't think I said anything inappropriate to Miss Featherington!”
“Your tone of voice is inappropriate.”
“Knowing Mr. Bridgerton, anyway, he probably threw himself into the trajectory of the bullet,” grumbled the surgeon accustomed to the Bridgertons. “You will need stitches. I'm going to ask the women out of the room now!”
“NO!” cried Colin, clutching Penelope's hand. “Pen stays!”
“Colin! Your conduct is unfit of a gentleman. Let go of Miss Featherington’s hand.”
“I want her to stay!”
He had exclaimed with such violence that the wound, which had stopped bleeding a few minutes ago, started to flow again. Quickly, the surgeon applied a clean handkerchief to it and turned back to the head of the family.
“Lord Bridgerton, your brother probably has a concussion! If he wants Miss Featherington to stay, she can stay! If he loses his temper, we might have worse than stitches to sew! You don't want him to hemorrhage or go into a state of absolute rage, do you? If she feels fit, Miss Penelope can assist me while I operate.
Penelope felt herself turn pale. She had never been very comfortable with the sight of blood and the mere thought of knowing that the doctor was going to sew up Colin's skin made her dizzy. Nevertheless, Colin's hand squeezed hers so tightly that she couldn't see how she could refuse him anything! So she decided to stay, hoping not to purge her breakfast on Colin, the doctor or his instruments.
“I don't know how useful I will be!”
“You will keep Mr. Bridgerton immobile while I operate on him.”
Penelope swallowed her saliva. She was not particularly known for her agility or manual skills. She had more than once found herself on the ground for no reason other than she had just tripped over her own feet. She felt her body quiver at the mere idea of having to keep Colin static.
However, she decided to nod with an uncertain expression on her face. It was she who had hurt him; it was the least of the things that she contributed to his healing, was it not?
She looked up at Anthony, who was staring sternly at his brother. She wondered how such a young man could look so fatherly. He kept his hands on his hips, his lips pursed, his eyebrows furrowed and scrutinized Colin from head to toe as if the kid had bad intentions towards her.
“If he says or does anything inappropriate towards Miss Featherington, she will have to leave, is that understood doctor? Colin, do you understand?”
With a roll of his eyes and a dramatic sigh, Colin nodded at his brother's request.
“I promise you that Colin will behave like a gentleman, Lord Bridgerton,” she told shyly keeping, her gaze fixed on Colin's who was smiling foolishly.
She felt Anthony's stare travel between her and Colin and he nodded.
“All right, but I expect exemplary behavior from you, understood Colin?”
“Yes, sir,” answered Colin with derision.
Rolling his eyes in turn, Anthony gave the doctor some instructions and left the room.
Without waiting, Dr. Murphy hastened to open his satchel and take out his work instruments as well as a small bottle of which he poured a few drops into a glass.
“Mr. Bridgerton, you know the routine…”
“Absolutely,” he said, grabbing the glass almost enthusiastically. “Laudanum, I missed you, my old friend!”
“Don't take a liking to it, Mr. Bridgerton, this drink could ruin your life.”
“Have no fear,” he said, swallowing the few drops before grimacing. “There is no worse brew in all of England.”
“Are you familiar with laudanum, Miss Featherington?”
“I don't think so, no,” answered Penelope a little apprehensively.
“It is a drink that is used to calm pain, but it can have strange effects on the mood of those who consume it. Mr. Bridgerton here tends to lose what little genius he has when he swallows concoction, doesn't he, Mr. Bridgerton?”
“You know me so well.”
“If I didn't have to sew you up two or three times a year, I might know you less well. So, as I was saying, Mr. Bridgerton’s mind might wander a bit in the next few minutes. You need to keep it calm and steady. Even with laudanum, the procedure can be quite painful.”
“I've been through worse,” tried to reassure Colin, while his eyelids seemed to become heavier and heavier.
Penelope busied herself with performing exactly the movements the doctor had prescribed, trying as best she could to avoid looking at the needle with which he was piercing Colin's skin. There were much nicer things to look at anyway. From this angle, she could see through his green eyes golden reflections and others almost turquoise. She had never noticed the patterns that might be in the back of someone's irises, but for a few minutes she seemed mesmerized by the colors and shapes she found there and wondered if she would ever see something as beautiful as the irises of Colin Bridgerton's eye.
“Oh…” Colin sighed, raising his hand to touch Penelope's chin. “You are so beautiful!”
Penelope turned sharply to look at the doctor who seemed focused on his task, sewing two pieces of Colin's skin together.
“Don't move Miss Featherington!” he warns before taking a more lenient tone. “It is only the laudanum that speaks.”
“No, no, no,” Colin fidgeted, his eyes widening, his fingers caressing the tip of Penelope's chin.
“Mr. Bridgerton,” admonished Doctor Murphy, “do not move.”
"...it's not the laudanum," he mumbled as a silly smile appeared on his lips. “It's love! I'm in love!”
“Don't worry, Miss Featherington, he won't remember anything by tomorrow morning.”
“…I'm going to marry you, Pen! Will you marry me, Pen? Do you want to be my wife?”
Of all the things Penelope expected when she went to Aubrey Hall for a few days, receiving a marriage proposal was certainly not one of them! Motionless, fearing to complicate the work of the surgeon, she turned her eyes towards him who seemed to find the situation more than amusing.
"As I told you, Miss Featherington, he won't remember anything at all in a few hours, you might as well accept his request or he might get upset."
“Yes, I will marry you, Colin!”
“Hooray!” he exclaimed, his pupils so dilated that his irises were slowly disappearing.
“DO NOT MOVE!”
“You'll see, I'm going to buy you a wonderful house,” he expressed enthusiastically, “and we're going to have ten babies and three dogs and we’re going to have sex every day.”
“Mr BRIDGERTON!!! I promised your brother that you would behave like a gentleman with Miss Featherington. If you don't change your attitude immediately, I'm going to have to ask Miss Featherington out. You wouldn't want to be separated from your fiancée so quickly, would you?”
“Of course not!” sighed Colin looking at her. “My apologies, Pen. We'll discuss that later.”
“Or rather not!” exclaimed the doctor, who, with the smallest pair of scissors that Penelope had ever seen, cut the last thread of the stitches. “I'm done,” he continued, turning to pick up his instruments. “I don't think you're going to have a big scar, Mr. Bridgerton, but if you want to keep your lovely pretty face, you should take more care of yourself.”
“It was my fault this time,” argued Penelope. “He didn't see the ball coming. He was barely out of his carriage.”
“In a few days, he will be as good as new!” commented the surgeon before addressing Colin. “I'll leave some laudanum to your brother. You are likely to feel the effects for two or three days after which you will not feel anything. I would advise you to be quiet while you are at Aubrey Hall, Mr Bridgerton, who knows what repeated blows to the head can do to a young man like you?”
“Did I introduce you to my fiancée, Dr. Murphy?”
“Why do I bother talking to you?” he wondered, rolling his eyes. “You will now go to bed, Mr. Bridgerton. I'm banning you from playing Pall Mall for at least a week.”
“Not Pall Mall? I wanted to show Pen all my tricks!”
“Nothing will prevent you from doing it when you are better. Now to bed, mister!”
“Only if Pen follows me!” he grumbled like a kid being denied a treat.
“Mr. Bridgerton, it is not appropriate for you to go to bed with your fiancée before your wedding!”
before your wedding!
The surgeon was about to give up and just walk away without asking for more when Colin's face flushed with irritation and the bloodstain on the bandage he had just placed over his wound began to widen. Obviously the young Bridgerton was not going to let go of his fantasy like this, each member of this damn family being more tenacious than the other. If he couldn't calm him down soon, he would have to start his work from scratch.
“I'm going to talk to your brother about the possibility for Miss Featherington to accompany you to your room…”
“Yes!” Colin exclaimed as Penelope's face took on a panicked look.
Her mother had been very clear with her that she had to be very careful not to find herself alone in the same room with a gentleman, especially an unmarried one. That was how reputations were ruined.
“… accompanied by a chaperone.”
Someone had closed the curtains, lit a few candles, and in this cozy atmosphere, she calmly followed Colin to his room on the arm of his mother and his brother Benedict who kept teasing him about his besottedness.
She didn't quite know what she was going to do. Lady Bridgerton had assured her that she would stay with her at all times, if only to preserve her reputation. Colin had continued to vehemently demand Penelope's presence, although he seemed to be falling asleep little by little.
She had to admit to herself that she didn't hate her current situation. In her life, no one had ever wanted her presence with such fervor and even if she did not know what to do with all this attention, she particularly appreciated Colin. Even in his inebriated state, he was kind to her, smiling affectionately at her, and showering her with compliments. She had never had any real compliments before today. She was even almost happy to have hit Colin in the head.
They slid him between his white sheets and laid him on his bed, his head raised by pillows as the doctor had prescribed. Then, Penelope was invited to sit by the bed.
“I'm sorry, Penelope, for the turn of events,” Violet apologized profusely. “I suppose you didn't expect to find yourself at the bedside of an injured person on your way to Aubrey Hall.”
“Since it was I who caused the injuries, it is the least of the things that I assist where I can.”
“Don't worry about it. Colin is used to injuries and as the doctor says, in a few days everything will be fine.”
“Mother, stop monopolizing the attention of my fiancée!” Colin growled gently.
“You are still convinced that she is your fiancée!”
“Of course, she accepted my proposal, right Pen?” he said, yawning.
"Indeed, my dear," Violet said, shaking her son's hand.
“I brought you some books,” whispered Penelope shyly.
“I don't think I'll be able to read anything tonight,” replied Colin. “When I look ahead, things tend to move on their own.”
“So, I'll read to you,” suggested Penelope, opening the book. “How about the Odyssey.”
“I love the Odyssey,” smiled Colin, looking at her lovingly.
“I know,” told Penelope, smiling. “Here it goes: ‘Tell me, O Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered full many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy. Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose mind he learned, aye, and many the woes he suffered in his heart upon the sea…’”
When, a few hours later, Penelope would reflect on the events of the day, she would have all the difficulty in the world to find fault with this man with whom she had just fallen madly in love. Certainly, the next day, he would only remember the nickname he had given her, he would remorsefully apologize for his behavior towards her, he would insist on developing a friendship with her that would last a long time, but he would no longer wish to marry her, he would no longer want her company all the time, he would no longer look at her as if she had brought all beauty on Earth.
She would have to be satisfied only with his friendship. She was only 14 after all.
For now…