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Colin sees red, standing in his 16-year-old daughter’s empty room. It was just past midnight, and last he remembered she gave him a kiss goodnight and went to bed early.
Then it clicked for him. She never went to bed all that early. Usually, they hear her up on her phone with her friends or at the very least scrolling through TikTok and playing music until he has to stick his head in and tell her to get to sleep.
But tonight that never happened, and now he finds himself standing in her empty room, looking at the half-opened window and staring at her pillows meticulously placed to look like she was bundled under the covers.
She is clever as hell too, another way she is just like her mother.
Penelope is more annoyed than anything. He is worried. And yeah, maybe a little pissed, but he has also learned it comes with the territory when you have teenagers.
She reasons with him, “She’s probably with Amanda. Let me call Eloise.”
Eloise must answer right away because her conversation is hushed in the background while Penelope waits for Eloise to stick her head in Amanda’s room. They checked on the other kids first, all still asleep in their beds except Jane, who still insists on sleeping between them half the time, tonight being one of them.
Amanda must be gone too. He hears Eloise yelling at Philip to wake up through the phone.
If they snuck out to go see that Fife and that other kid, he is going to lose his mind.
“I thought you checked on her,” Colin grumbles, standing in her empty room and motioning to her bed.
Penelope throws her hands up, covering the end of her phone. “I stuck my head in and it looked like she was curled up in bed.”
He side-eyes her. The pillows looked perfect and she was too quiet. He had a feeling after she asked if she could be let off punishment early to go out with her friends and they said no, that didn’t mean no to her.
“You know she gets this from you,” Colin complains. She rolls her eyes at the reference because he had no problem with her sneaking out at night to see him when they were teenagers.
“I’m calling her,” he decides, stalking into the kitchen to unplug his phone from the charger.
Jane appears between them, sleepy and confused. “Mama, can I have some water?” Her thumb is still in her mouth, a habit they’re trying to break her from. Yet he knows he might miss seeing it more than she’ll miss doing it.
Penelope looks down warmly, smoothing out her head full of crazy sleep hair. She’s in her pink little mermaid pajama shirt and barefoot.
At least one of them is still good.
“Come on,” Penelope pulls her a cup down from the cupboard.
Thomas stumbles in, rubbing his eyes and pulls a cup down for himself to get some water. “Guessing Agatha wasn’t allowed to leave with Oliver’s friend tonight.”
Penelope eyes him. “What do you know?”
“That’s all. Just saw them running away from the house.” The last thing he was going to say was that he caught her stuffing pillows under her blanket but she promised him a cover-up when he needed it if he didn’t tell, so he didn’t.
Both parents eye him, knowing he’s lying. Penelope pulls his cup from his hands and puts it in the sink. “Go to bed. Take Jane back to her bedroom.”
Thomas groans and holds out his hand, Jane smiles as he pulls her behind him.
Colin pencils away a rant to Pen about how things are going to start changing in this house.
Then he dials Agatha, and when he pulls up her name, it shows him his favorite picture he has saved as her contact photo—her asleep in his arms on the couch. She couldn’t have been older than Jane is now and she was passed out cold in his arms after a day of pall mall and games with the cousins and aunts and uncles.
He longs for those days back…before she decided to be a rebellious teenage girl that they sometimes have no idea how to handle.
When it rang three times and she didn’t answer, it set him off, and he took a deep breath when her voicemail greeting played:
Her recorded voice clicked on: Hang up and text me.
That’s it. He inhaled, counted to four, and let it rip.
“Agatha Bridgerton, if I have to tell you one more damn time to answer that phone I pay for, you’re done. You fooled everyone in this house with that pillow trick, looking like you were in your bed, but you didn’t fool me. Who do you think are, leaving this house without letting your parents know? Your arse better get back here right now because guess what? You’re losing that car, that phone, your bed, I’ll take your damn pillows, your blanket, and your glasses right off your face. Say goodbye to having a door on this bedroom because that’s gone too. You better be home in 10 minutes. I don’t care if you’re 30 minutes away, you better figure it out and get here, little one…and Amanda better be with you.”
He ended his recording, hanging up and grunting more to himself than anyone.
12 minutes later
They hear a car door slam and footsteps up the front path. The door opens and there she is, her head down, eyes wide, clearly aware of the trouble she’s in. Amanda trails behind her, looking equally guilty but slightly less so than Agatha, as if perhaps her parents won’t figure it all out.
Colin feels a mix of relief and frustration. He wants to scold her, but seeing her safe and sound takes precedence. Penelope steps forward, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of relief and something else.
"Go to bed. We'll talk in the morning," she says firmly but kindly. "Your parents will collect you in the morning, missy, but don't think we haven't talked to them."
Amanda gulps and Agatha nods, glancing at Colin with a face of full remorse. "I'm sorry, Dad," she whispers.
Colin sighs, his anger dissipating slightly. "We'll see about that in the morning. And we'll also talk about that hoodie so enjoy it tonight." He raises an eyebrow, noting the oversized sweatshirt she has on. "Now go."
As Agatha and Amanda head upstairs, Colin and Penelope exchange a relieved look. He sees the same worry and relief mirrored in her eyes. But there's an additional glint in Penelope's gaze, one that he recognizes well. Especially when he’s putting his foot down as Dad.
"You handled that so well," Penelope says, stepping closer and resting a hand on his arm. Her voice drops slightly, a familiar tone that sends a shiver down his spine.
She makes a mental note of her own to tease him about that voicemail she heard him leave later. They were not removing her door. She had to draw the line somewhere. That, and maybe her glasses, she chuckled.
Colin shakes his head. "I just want them to be safe. But this parenting thing... it’s not easy."
Penelope smiles, her eyes darkening with desire as she leans into him. "You're a good father, Colin. And watching you shift into dad mode like that ...incredibly hot."
Colin feels a rush of warmth and pride, wrapping her in his arms "Is that so?"
She nods, biting her lip slightly. "Absolutely."
He wraps his arms around her, feeling the tension of the evening melt away.
Tomorrow would be fun. Unless you’re Agatha.