Chapter Text
Kate Sharma’s first impression of Anthony Bridgerton was that he was interested in just one thing: getting her sister into his bed. In the years to come, she would look back and wonder if this moment, the way she saw him across the room approach her sister as predator does prey, is the one that would have changed everything. She would wonder if she had met Anthony Bridgerton in the light of day, perhaps at lunch at her mother’s house, flowers in one hand, her sister’s hand in the other, the look on Edwina’s face reassuring her that he was worthy of her, him on his best behaviour meeting his girlfriend’s family- maybe she would have liked him or at least tolerated him enough to tell Edwina she approved. Maybe, with her sister’s blessing, Edwina would have married him, had his babies and grown old with him. Kate could not shake the feeling that had she been able to hide her feelings for Anthony Bridgerton, he would have been her sister’s husband and she would have been forced to love him from afar. Forever.
Anthony Bridgerton had many regrets in his life. His strained relationships with his mother and siblings for one, the way he had retreated into work and numbers when his father died for another and the fact that he allowed his brother Colin to drive (and crash) his Jaguar E-Type in a moment of weakness. But one thing he could not bring himself to regret was the demise of his relationship with Edwina Sharma. Not because there was anything wrong with Edwina Sharma. In a different universe she would have made the perfect wife. But in this universe, the one in which Edwina has an older sister that he both cannot stand and cannot stop thinking about, being with Edwina was impossible, bordering on torturous. Which is why his primary emotion when she had ended things between him was relief, followed by guilt that she had had to be the one to end things, followed by a strange pang of grief which he tried hard not to examine but was confident it did not have anything to do with Edwina herself and everything to do with her infuriating older sister.
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According to his sister Hyacinth, Anthony Bridgerton was a busy and important man. Granted, when she said it, her words dripped with sarcasm and ridicule. But he believed it to be true. How could it not be. He had a business to run, a family to care for and assets to manage. He had meetings to attend, paperwork to complete and decisions to make. He did not have time for romance.
He had time for late night rendezvous and someone who could be on his arm at the events he was required to attend. He had space on his private jet for a passenger willing to come on business trips with him and lounge in a hotel spa until he was ready to return to London. He did not have time to meet the family, for dinner and the movies or for sleeping late on a Sunday morning.
He was very clear on what he could and could not offer and for a long time had understood that this would not get him anymore than fleeting entanglements with models and influencers. Women who would be satisfied with someone who would look good on an Instagram post and who would always be brought to orgasm but never to family brunch.
And then he turned 30, having never brought a girlfriend home to meet his family and his siblings had started a betting pool over which one of his brother's would inherit the viscountcy to pass to their first born. The siblings had been split between Benedict and Colin. While Benedict was perhaps even less inclined to commitment than Anthony he was still second born which gave him a distinct advantage over Colin who, seemed likely to father children at some point, if only he'd stop travelling long enough. Only Francesca (who immediately became his favourite sibling) had shown any faith in Anthony's ability to produce an heir of his own.
Anthony had growled at all his siblings for even deigning to participate in such a bet and had sulked in the corner the rest of the evening nursing a glass of his most expensive whisky. His thoughts were plagued by it for weeks. In this day and age, a title, especially one like Viscount, did not hold much material weight. It gained him invites and access and he would not deny that it impressed many a beautiful woman. For Anthony, it was precious because it had been his father's, and his before that it had been his grandfather’s and before that his great-grandfather’s and so on and so forth. His whole life, he had known he would one day inherit his father's title, and he did not remember a time where that connection with his father had not made him feel special. Definitely more special than any of his seven siblings.
Then, when he was 18, his father had died, and the title had been his much earlier than he had ever expected or wanted it.
He shared so many of his father's things with his siblings. Violet had ensured all of Edmund's children had equal access to precious mementos that Edmund had left behind. The title, however, was his alone, and he refused to live in a world where the next Viscount Bridgerton would not be of his own direct blood. The need to pass down the title, to continue his father's legacy, thrummed through him, day in and day out. He started to assess his regular flings for their suitability for marriage and raising children. He considered whether they were someone with whom he could carry on a decent conversation, who would be able to make sensible decisions about their life and their children, someone who would not get in the way but that he would trust to keep things in order at home. He did not, for a single second, consider whether he would be able to fall in love. It wasn't as if he was averse to the idea of love, it just seemed so elusive to him. Like if was looking for love as well as all the other practical requirements, he may as well be waiting for a sunny day in a London winter. No, Anthony needed a wife and he needed a child and the sooner he could make that happen, the better.
This was why, when he spied Edwina across the room at a crowded party in a flat belonging to one of Benedict's friends, he approached her with little hesitation. Initially it was two things that had drawn him to her, firstly, she was beautiful. She had soft wavy hair, big brown shining eyes and her skin was glowing in the dimmed lights. Secondly, she was new. He knew he'd never seen her before because he would definitely have remembered. He'd been dragged to these parties for years and had been part of the London social scene for even longer. He rarely met anyone he didn't know anymore.
This mean that there was a chance she also didn't know of him and his reputation. He could charm her, seduce her, show her all the things his lifestyle could afford her, and if she met his standards, his search may be over.
In their very first conversation, Edwina had mentioned her sister Kate, motioning across the room in her direction. Anthony had given the sister a cursory glance and see a pair of dark eyes shooting daggers in his direction. He made a mental note to charm the sister at some point and returned to his conversation. By the end of the night he'd learnt some important facts about Edwina Sharma. 1. She had moved to London one month earlier. 2. She'd never heard of Anthony Bridgerton before this evening. 3. She was about to start a new job as a schoolteacher and 4. Her phone number.
He took her on three dates before he made his decision. The first was coffee, squeezed in between two meetings on a Thursday morning around the corner from his office. The second was as his date to some insipid cocktail party for some charity. The third was dinner at a very exclusive and very expensive restaurant where he'd officially and publicly declared her as his girlfriend. Edwina was intelligent, beautiful and seemed to have a solid head on her shoulders. She would make a very suitable wife.
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Kate Sharma didn’t hate many people. In fact, she could really only think of one person she knew who she could genuinely say she hated; Anthony Fucking Bridgerton.
It started the very first time Kate laid eyes on Anthony. They were in a crowded party in someone’s posh inner London flat, and the look on his face as he stalked across the room towards her sister could only be described by one word- predatory.
Kate hadn’t wanted to come to this party. It was more Edwina’s scene than Kate’s. But Kate was a big sister and they’d only been living in London for a month and she knew Edwina wanted to increase her social circle. So when Kate had received the text from her old university friend inviting her, the sparkle of excitement in Edwina’s eye had been too much and she had agreed they could go. She spent most of the night keeping a watchful eye on Edwina, hoping to keep her out of trouble. Unfortunately, even Kate’s stern glare was no match for Anthony Bridgerton’s charm and by the end of the evening, Edwina was in love.
Kate tried to like him, she really did. It was just unfortunate timing that less than a week later, after hearing from Edwina all week about Anthony and how kind and sweet and handsome he was, she had seen him in a quiet corner of a pub, cosied up to someone who decidedly was not her sister. When she gently broke the news to her sister later that evening, Edwina had not been dissuaded. “It’s the 21st Century Kate and I’ve known him for a week. It’s not like we are exclusive or anything” she’d said, rolling her eyes. But Kate had seen a flash of disappointment in her sister’s eyes and couldn’t help but hate (if only a little bit) the man who was responsible for it.
Two weeks after that, Kate had tagged along with Edwina to that very same pub for drinks with Anthony and his siblings (of which there were too many to keep track). By this time, he had officially ordained Edwina as his ‘girlfriend’; a title Edwina was wearing with pride. Kate had reluctantly agreed to go, reasoning with herself that maybe she just needed to see what Edwina saw and surely being with his younger siblings would bring out a gentler, happier side. Instead, she found him surly and rude. He barely acknowledged her or Edwina, he was unreasonably gruff with his siblings and in the end he left early and alone. The unmistakable look of hurt on her sister’s face was the final blow. It was decided. Anthony Bridgerton was not the right man for Edwina Sharma. Kate in fact doubted that he was the right man for anyone.
Edwina and Anthony’s relationship lasted 8 months and 3 days. For 8 months and 3 days, Kate pulled out every trick she had in her big sister playbook to gently persuade Edwina away from the match. In the end, in what was a surprise to nearly everyone, Edwina was the one to call it off.
She called Kate in tears, as she had done a number of times over the past few months. Kate was ready, as she had always been, to carefully toe the line between supportive sister and puppet master. Always saying just enough to leave seeds of doubt in Edwina’s mind, but not enough that she could ever be accused of being unsympathetic. She had not been prepared, however, for the words about to come out of her sister’s mouth.
“It’s over Kate. I’m done. I really, truly am”.
Kate struggled to find her words.
“Oh, uh, wait, what? Are you sure? What happened?”. She held the phone to one ear as she grabbed her bag from her drawer and swiped her security pass from her desk. “Where are you?”
“St Pauls. In the gardens. We met for lunch, or at least we were supposed to..” Edwina trailed off.
“Stay there. I’m coming”
“Thanks, Kate”
She heard a tiny sniffle that broke her heart.
Twenty minutes later, Kate found Edwina sitting with her back against a tree, eyes close, face turned up into the weak London sunlight. She sank down next to her and grabbed her sister’s hand tight. Edwina didn’t open her eyes but Kate heard a loud exhale and saw her sister’s shoulders relax. Edwina leant her head against Kate’s shoulder. “You were right, Kate. He’s not right, it wasn’t right. I just kept trying to make it work but I just couldn’t be the only one who cared about us anymore.”
Kate’s stomach clenched. She didn’t like Anthony, but she also didn’t want to see her sister hurting like this. “I.. I’m so sorry Edwina. I really am”.
Edwina looked up at her with a rueful smile, tears still welling in the corners of her eyes. “Are you also a little bit relieved?”
Kate took a deep breath, “you know I love you more than anything right?” Edwina nodded. Kate continued “and I’m not going to lie and tell you I liked him as a boyfriend for you.”
“or at all” Edwina snorted. Kate ignored her, “but I also really don’t like seeing you upset. I can feel both things.”
“You are a complex, modern woman” Edwina smirked, in spite of her tears.
“You know it” Kate murmured. “As are you, and that’s why you can do so much better than Anthony Bridgerton”.
“Yeah, maybe. I’m going to miss that private plane though.”
Kate snorted and the two sisters dissolved into fits of giggles. Kate squeezed Edwina into her side, relieved in the knowledge that she was one of the strongest people Kate knew and she was going to be just fine.