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“Mummy?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Could Manda come over on Saturday?”
Penelope looked over, and standing in the doorway of the kitchen, with her big blue eyes, messy red curls, and a perfected look of pure innocence, was Agatha. She was only 6 and had already mastered the ability to wrap anyone she wanted around her little finger.
“Who is Manda?” Penelope smiled,
“She is my best friend. And her name is Amanda, but I call her Manda, and she calls me Ags. It is best friend things,” she shrugged.
“First week of your new school and you already have a best friend?”
“I am very likeable, mummy” she said with great confidence.
“That you are” Penelope laughed to herself, “I will ask her Mummy on Monday and see what she says, ok?”
“Erm…” she said, looking down at her feet,
“What’s wrong, Aggie?”
“Manda doesn’t have a Mummy anymore, she went away” she said sadly, “She overheard her grown-ups talking about it.” Then added in a tiny voice, “She just left one day and never came back”
“Oh, darling” Penelope said, sitting down and pulling her onto her lap as she cuddled in.
“Are you going to go away ever?”
“No, never. You will always have me, even when I am very annoying,” Penelope said, kissing her head.
“You aren’t annoying”, she protested seriously,
“Oh, I can’t wait to remind you of this when you are a teenager”
“What?” She asked, tilting her head in confusion,
“Never mind” Penelope said, “So does Amanda have a Daddy?”
“Yes, and she had lots of Aunties and Uncles. Like 40 of them or something”
“40? Really?”
“Well, maybe not that many, but a lot. And guess what?”
“What?”
“Miss Francesca, our teacher, is her Auntie”
“No way!” Penelope exclaimed,
“Way!” Aggie giggled excitedly,
“Ok, so I will ask her Daddy then if she can come over”
“You are my favourite Mummy”
“Yeah, yeah. That will last until Granny Portia comes over with presents”
Her ears pricked up, “Presents?”
“Well, not just now” Penelope laughed, tickling her sides, “Right off you go and wash your hands for dinner, and then your Dad is calling in an hour, ok?”
“Yep” she said, hopping down and scurrying off to the bathroom.
The following Monday at the school gates, Penelope waited hand in hand with a bouncing Agatha,
“There!” She screeched before taking off and throwing herself at a brown-haired girl who had just arrived in the other entrance.
“Aggie” Penelope called out, before cutting her losses and just following her.
“Mummy, this is Manda!”
“Very nice to meet you, Amanda” Penelope smiled at the young girl, who was basically vibrating as much as her own daughter.
“Nice to meet you too, Mrs Aggie’s Mum”
“Nice to meet you” a dark-haired man said, holding out his hand,
“You as well” she said, shaking it, “Penelope Featherington, you must be Amanda’s Dad?”
“Ugh gross” the girl scoffed, “That isn’t my Daddy, that is my Uncle Ben”
“Amanda, be nice” he laughed, “But she is right, I am Benedict. She stayed over at my house for the weekend, for the monthly cousin sleepover, so I get Monday morning school run while my wife looks after the younger ones”
“Monthly cousin sleepover?”
“Yeah, there is kind of a lot of us, which means even more kids” he laughed, “I am one of 8, including Amanda’s dad. And we have….” He paused for a moment, counting silently, “11 kids between us and two on the way”
Penelope grinned, “Your mother must be thrilled”
He threw back his head in laughter, “Oh, you have no idea”
“This is Aggie, by the way”
“I guessed that Amanda had spent the whole weekend talking about her new bestie, Ags, with hair like fire”
“I have been getting the same, about Amanda” Penelope smiled, “She wanted to have her over on Saturday to ours, say 11am? Would you ask your brother if that is ok? I haven’t met him to ask, but Aggie was adamant”
“Of course, no problem. I can tell you now that it will be fine, but I will ring him later”
“Thank you, Benedict”
The girls let out a little cheer before they barrelled on into the classroom. Benedict and Penelope waved them off.
“Do you have some paper, and I will take your number. I may or may not have forgotten my phone, or I would give you Amanda’s Dad’s. But I could message you or pass it on to him?”
“Sure”, she dipped into her handbag and pulled out a notebook, writing her number down in the corner before tearing it off and handing it to him.
“Perfect”
“I will see you both around, I am sure”
“See you later” she smiled.
Penelope didn’t hear anything since, although according to Aggie, Amanda was definitely coming on Saturday, and Aggie had given Amanda the address to pass on when there was no other way to get in contact.
So it wasn’t a total surprise when the doorbell rang at exactly 11 am on Saturday, but what was surprising was the fact that it was a woman was standing there.
“Hi” Penelope said, “Hi to you too, Amanda”
“Hi there, I’m Eloise. Amanda’s dad got called into work for a last-minute emergency.”
“Oh, of course, no problem” but Penelope still looked mildly confused,
“Oh, sorry, I am one of the many aunts.”
“Right, got it” she nodded, “Sorry, where are my manners, come on in”
The girls immediately took off towards the toys in the corner of the living room, while Penelope and Eloise watched from the kitchen.
“You’re a reader?” Eloise asked gleefully, noticing the overstuffed shelves lining the walls
“Nearly constantly, and when I’m not, I am the one doing the writing”
“Oh! Anything I would have read?” She asked, eyes lighting up
“Erm, maybe” Penelope said, plucking a book off the shelf and handing it to her
“You’re Lady Whistledown!?”
“Yup” Penelope nodded,
“Oh my god!” she hissed, “Oh my sisters are going to be so jealous. We love your books, like nearly too much”
“Thank you, it really does mean a lot”
“This is crazy” Eloise said, turning the book around in her hands, “I would love to ask some questions if you have the time”
“Sure, go ahead” she smiled.
Three hours later, when Eloise had seemingly gone through every one of her books chapter by chapter, they had lunch and were now sitting at the kitchen island, coffees in hand.
“Can I ask you something?” Penelope said, making sure the kids were out of earshot,
“Of course”
“Aggie told me that Amanda said she doesn’t have a mum anymore. I just wanted to ask about it, if it isn’t too personal? I would hate to say something that would upset her”
“No, of course. It makes total sense. Especially as they are going to basically be joined at the hip.” Eloise took a sip before continuing, “My Brother had a girlfriend, Amanda’s mum, Marina, she was…” She hesitated, “She was not a very good person; she was awful to my brother, but he loved her. She cheated on him, more than once, but always came crying back to him, and he always opened the door. The cycle just always continued. Except one day she came back with a scan photo, she was 15 weeks pregnant. Anthony asked him to do a paternity test. To say he wasn’t thrilled was an understatement, but then the results came back, and he was going to be a dad. I truly never saw him so happy the day she was born.”
Penelope couldn’t help smiling as she thought of the day Aggie was born,
“I think maybe two weeks after that, he took Amanda over to see us all at our Mum’s house. Marina wanted to stay home. Completely understandable, she had just birthed a whole human. But she told him to go on ahead, that she could use the peace and quiet for some sleep. A couple of hours later, he went home, and she was gone, all of her things were gone, just a note. She did apologise at least, but she basically explained that she had planned to leave the first moment she could when she found out she was pregnant. She didn’t like kids, didn’t want to be a mother, and wanted to be completely free. That she was glad he was her father because she knew he would take care of her.”
“That is awful”
“He took it hard, but he had Amanda and all of our lives are better for it”
“Thank you for telling me” Penelope said softly, “I can’t imagine”
“What about you? Is Aggie’s dad at work? Or?”
“Erm, yes, technically he is, but he doesn’t live here. We got divorced last year. He works away most of the time and is only back for ten days every three months or so.”
“Oh, I’m sorry”
“It’s fine, really. We were friends for years before, and we are friends now; some things just don’t work out. He loves Aggie, and Aggie loves him. He is so good to her when he is back, and always on the phone when he is away. I moved here a few months ago to be closer to my family, and my work can be done from anywhere, so it made sense. Thankfully, she adjusted to her new school very well,” she laughed,
“Well, if you are in need of some new friends, I will volunteer, as would all of my sisters and probably some of the brothers too,” she laughed,
“I would love that”
“You just need to remember we were friends first, we are very competitive that way”
“Got it! So what about you? Partner? Kids?”
“I have a husband, no kids. Not sure I want them, but I do love being the favourite Aunt,” she said cheekily, “What about you? Any romantic conquests?”
Penelope laughed,
“I have been dating this guy, we met at a bookstore, reached for the same one, asked me out, picture perfect, very cliche”
“Oooh! So things are going well then”
“He is really, really great. Like, I feel like I have to pinch myself sometimes.”
“Well, if you ever need a babysitter, you let me know”
“I might need to take you up on that”
“Ags” Amanda whispered to her friend as they sat in the classroom’s small library corner when they had some free time.
“Yeah?”
“Does your Mummy have a boyfriend, since your daddy doesn’t stay with you anymore?”
Aggie just shrugged, “I don’t know”
“Do you think she is lonely? I think my Daddy is lonely, and I think he should have a girlfriend, like my Auntie Hy and Gareth. They laugh all the time”
“My mummy and me already laugh all the time.”
“But what if your mummy was my daddy’s girlfriend? That means one day we could be sisters. Like when Timmy got a little brother when his mummy got married”
Aggie dropped the book, eyes wide with excitement,
“Do you think we could?”
“Yes!”
“How do we make them? Could we just ask?” Aggie asked her.
“My Granny says they just need to go on dates, that is what she keeps trying to do with my Uncle Greg and her friend’s daughters”
“We could keep asking to do things with each other, that way they have to spend time together”
“Oh like the movies and the zoo!” Amanda grinned,
“I love the zoo”
“So do I” Aggie squeaked,
“See! We are already sisters!”
“Girls, are you ok?”
“Yes, Miss Francesca” Aggie smiled, “We were just excited”
“That’s alright, I am glad you are having fun”
“Daddy!” Aggie squealed as the doorbell rang, and Penelope opened the door.
“Hi Pumpkin” he said, scooping her up into a tight hug, “I missed you”
“I missed you too, Daddy” she said in a little voice while squeezing his neck,
“Aggie, why don’t you go and get your bag and then you can go with your Dad to Grandma’s house?”
“Ok!” She said, running upstairs, leaving the two adults alone.
“Hey, Pen” he said, giving her a hug in greeting,
“You ok?” She asked, noticing the strain in his voice.
“I hate that I am making her so sad” he said regretfully,
“She isn’t sad, she just misses you when you're not here. She is the happiest kid I have ever seen, don’t worry. It isn’t forever”
“Yeah, but that won’t make the next four years go any quicker”
“How is the research going?”
“Slowly” he sighed, “But we are getting good data”
“Well, that is positive”
“Yeah” he nodded, “You look nice, hot date or something?”
“Erm, yes, actually”
“Good for you!”
“What about you?” She grinned,
“Oh, definitely, between the old professors and penguins, I have no shortage of options”
They both burst into laughter,
“Ok, ok, I get your point”
“Ready!!” Aggie said, coming down the stairs with two backpacks, 3 teddies and a tennis racket.
“You are only going for a couple of days, Bug. What is all that for?” Alfie laughed,
“To be prepared, Daddy” she said emphatically,
“Yeah, don’t be silly” she said sarcastically to Alfie, “You never know when you will need a quick game of tennis”
He shook his head, “Right then, lets get you in the car. See you later, Pen. I will drop her off on Sunday, and I am still ok to do the school runs next week?”
“Yep, of course. Especially if that means I miss the traffic”
“Bye Mummy!! Love you!” Aggie called out, hugging her waist tightly before running out the door.
“Byeee!” She said, waving them off, before heading back inside. She just had time to fix her makeup and hair and tidy up the kitchen a little before the doorbell rang.
She took a breath, a small smile appearing on her lips as she opened it.
“Hey” she said softly,
“Hi, you” he said,
“Come in”
He stepped inside and kissed her gently before closing the door behind him.
“I have dinner, Italian” he said, holding up a bag, “and I may have gone slightly overboard, so I hope you're hungry”
“For pasta? As if that is even a question”
“Good”
“I have wine in the fridge, a movie ready to go and a completely child-free house for the weekend”
“A perfect combination” he said, kissing her cheek before following her into the kitchen.
They ate and drank, legs brushing against each other under the table as they chatted about their weeks.
“Pen…” he said, taking a large gulp of wine,
“Yeah?”
“I really, really like you”
“I really, really like you too,” she grinned,
“I wasn’t completely honest, since we met really…I was scared to tell you, and there is no excuse, I just….I”
“Why don’t you tell me what it is first, then we can talk about it?” She said soothingly, sensing his guilt.
“I have a daughter”
She actually laughed at that, “Why did you think you couldn’t tell me? In case you forgot, I also have a daughter.”
“I know, it seems so silly now. But my ex was a nightmare, and I get so worried about how anyone I start seeing will affect her. This is my first time dating since we split up and I…I have never felt like this before, how I feel about you. I was scared I was going to mess it up.”
“You couldn’t” she laughed, “well, technically, I suppose you could, but a child? Would never do it. Ok? I’m pretty level-headed, don’t be scared to tell me things”
“Ok” he nodded, she noticed his eyes going misty,
“Hey…what’s wrong?” She said softly, coming to stand in front of him, rubbing her hands over his shoulders, in comfort.
“Sorry” he said, trying to hide his face from her,
“Remember what I said, don’t be scared to tell me things”
He swallowed with so much force she heard it before his eyes locked on hers.
“I love you, Penelope” he said assuredly,
Her eyes sparkled,
“I love you too, Colin”
**Incoming call from Alfie Debling**
“Hi, Alf”
“Hey Pen, Amanda’s dad wants to know if she is ok to join them for a trip to the zoo on Saturday morning”
“Yeah, of course. If is fine with me, and if it’s fine with you too. They are pretty inseparable these days. It is very sweet.”
“They asked you to come too. I am assuming it is just strength in numbers and all that, but would you mind if I went as well as or in your place?”
“Go for it! You will certainly know more about the animals, and I know how much you like sharing it with Aggie. And actually, I have a conference thing on anyway, so I couldn’t go.”
“Perfect, I will let him know”
“Make sure to take lots of pictures”
“Like I would forget”
“Bye!”
“See you later”
“I thought your Mummy was coming” Amanda asked,
“She had to go to work” Aggie replied,
“That’s boring, the zoo is way better”
“I know” she sighed, “But my daddy does know all about the animals”
“Why does he like the penguins so much? Does he know giraffes exist?”
“I know! or elephants or zebras”
“Daddy!” Amanda called out as he and Alfie walked over to where they were sitting watching the sea lions, “What is your favourite animal?”
“Ohh, they are all good, but I love red pandas”
“That is a good answer” Aggie gasped and nodded seriously,
“Why, thank you” he said, almost laughing at her seriousness.
“We need to do more” Aggie whispered to her friend, “Maybe I could just ask my mummy if she wants a boyfriend?”
“Maybe….and it is my birthday soon, so you will have to come to my party, so they can meet then” Amanda replied,
“What are you two whispering about?” Alfie asked, smiling,
“Nothing!” They said at the same time, but small smiles tugged at their lips.
“Mummy?” Aggie asked, one afternoon on the way home from school,
“Do you want to get married?”
“Huh? Where is that coming from?”
“Nowhere….erm….we were talking about it at school, I just wondered?”
“I suppose maybe someday, yes. But it wouldn’t be anytime soon”
“Who would you marry?”
Penelope could feel her cheeks pink under the interrogation, even if it was from a six-year-old.
“I’m not sure”
“You need a boyfriend first, that’s how it works, isn’t it?”
“Erm…sort of, there is a lot of parts in between.”
“Like what?” She asked curiously,
“I will tell you when you're older, it is boring grown-up things”
She sighed, “You always say that”
Penelope rolled her eyes lovingly, “How was school today?”
“It was so good, we got to colour in, and it was pasta for lunch, and Amanda gave me an invite for her birthday party.” She said excitedly, “It is in two weeks, can I go, Mummy? Can I please?”
“Of course, baby”
“She said that the Mummy’s and Daddy’s can come to”
“I will be there too,” she assured her, “I mean, you could hardly drive yourself”
“Exactly, that would be silly” she agreed.
Private Message from Penelope Featherington to Eloise Crane
Pen: Hey El, any chance I could cash in on that babysitting offer if you're free?
Pen: I am meeting the bf’s Mum tonight at dinner, and my mum was meant to be watching her, but she is sick and can’t.
El: Of course, I am already up one kid. Amanda is already here; my brother had some work thing.
El: Drop her off whenever you want. And we are having pizza for dinner if you need to sweeten the deal for Ags.
Pen: It’s you and Amanda. I think she would eat as much broccoli as I asked her to if she got to go.
Pen: And you are officially my favourite person and personal lifesaver.
Pen: Do you accept payment in freshly baked cookies?
El: Say no more, Featherington!
“You must be Penelope”
“I am, it is lovely to meet you, Mrs Bridgerton”
“Oh, please, call me Violet,” she said, hugging her, “You are stunning”
“So are you” she beamed back,
“I have heard so many wonderful things about you”
“Really?” She asked sceptically,
“No” she laughed, “Basically nothing at all if I am honest, he is infuriating in that way”
“In my defence, secrets do not exist in my family. I was trying to stop the crazy deep dive anyone would do when they got so much as a whisper of a name,” Colin said, attempting to save himself.
“Regardless, I am very glad I am the first to meet you.”
“We start with Mum, then I will introduce you to the most normal of the siblings and go from there”
“Which one is the most normal?” Violet questioned, already chuckling,
“Maybe Fran? Other than that…difficult to tell”
Penelope looked at them both, “I look forward to it”
“Hurry up, Mummy!” Aggie said, fleeing out of the car as fast as possible,
“Wow” Penelope muttered under her breath as she took in the sight of the very large house. She did well for herself, but this was something else entirely. She lifted the present out of the boot and headed to the door.
“Penelope, nice to see you again!”
“Benedict, how are you?”
“Mildly sticky from sugary little hands, and I have about thirty sticks shoved in my pockets, but apart from that, great, come in” he said, letting them through the door.
“This is for Amanda” she said, handing him the present.
“Thank you, I will put it with the others. Aggie, they are all just through there in the kitchen. You are one of the first to arrive”
“Thank you!” She shouted and ran to find them,
“All the adults are in there too, come on, and I will introduce you. El has been singing your praises, and they can’t wait.”
She was passed from person to person, seemingly meeting the entire family in one go. Then she looked up and saw a familiar face.
“Violet?” She smiled, accepting the tight embrace from the woman “What are you doing here?”
“This is my house, dear. Why are you here?”
“Pen, how do you know our mum?” Eloise chirped in.
So much confusion swirled around them until the one thing to answer all the questions walked through the door.
“Colin?”
“Brother?”
“Son?”
“Daddy!!” Amanda said excitedly, running towards him as he scooped her up, “Where did you go?”
“I had to change my shirt, someone…smeared some icing on it”
She grinned cheekily before he kissed her head and set her back down. Only then, noticing all the eyes on him,
“Wha..?” He began to ask until his eyes fell on Penelope. “Pen?”
“Mummy, could I have some water, please?” Aggie said, appearing at her side, but Penelope was frozen. Thankfully, Francesca swooped in and redirected the girls.
“You’re Amanda’s Dad?”
“You’re Aggie’s Mum?
They both nodded, then began to laugh.
“What are the chances?” He said, running a hand over his face.
“How have we managed to miss each other for so long?”
“I think it is honestly impressive”
“Sorry?” Ben butted in, "What is happening?”
Penelope looked to him,
“Well…erm…Penelope and I have been dating for the last six months”
“Yay!!” Amanda and Aggie screamed, escaping Frannie’s watch to run over to them.
“Oh” he breathed, “I didn’t think they could hear me”
“It was going to happen sooner or later, I suppose, it was getting to that time where I wanted you to meet her” she said softly, “But I guess she already has”
“Right back at you”
“Question?” Anthony said, “How did you not know….?”
“Well, no one actually said your name” Penelope laughed, turning to him, “it was always ‘my brother’ or ‘Amanda’s dad’”
“Same here, actually. And I honestly just didn’t put two and two together with the names. Aggie was ‘Agatha D’ in school, not Featherington”
“Yeah, her name is still Debling. I changed mine back,” she remarked, “and I only knew Amanda by an initial ‘B’, I didn’t even question that it could have been Bridgerton, it isn’t a common name. I knew El was Crane, and Francesca was just Miss Francesca, even though I knew she was her aunt. And I was never speaking to Benedict long enough to get a last name. Then we just must have missed each other at the school pick-ups”
“How did you coordinate all those playdates?” Phillip asked,
“Through El or Ben, or my ex-husband”
“Right….I had your number after that first, but I kind of lost it,” Benedict said, wincing, “I was meant to pass it on; that would have cleared things up much faster, sorry”
“It’s fine…really, there isn’t any harm done”
“It worked, Mummy!” Aggie grinned,
“What worked, sweetheart?”
“Mine and Manda’s plan.”
“Oh my god” Eloise started hysterically laughing,
“What?” Colin asked, bewildered.
“The night, well, actually, in hindsight, it was the night Penelope was meeting mum. Amanda and Aggie were asking me a lot of questions.”
“About?” Penelope asked,
“About how Phillip and I got together, and what kind of dates we went on and how long it took for us to get married. Those two little masterminds were trying to set you two up”
“This is amazing” Kate cheered
“And it worked, Daddy!” Amanda giggled,
“Is this why you made such a big deal of the zoo?”
She nodded, looking up at him with a cheesy grin, “but we thought Aggie’s mum would be there too,” she shrugged, “but it was still fun”
“I’m glad” he laughed,
Amanda waved him down to her level, whispering something in his ear that had tears forming in his eyes.
“Can we be sisters now?” Aggie asked, blinking up at all the adults in the room,
“Oh sweetheart…that’s…”Penelope faltered, not wanting to upset her daughter, “Can we talk about it later? It’s Amanda’s birthday, we should celebrate her first, ok?”
Aggie nodded and then went back to play with the other children, taking Amanda with her. Penelope had never been so grateful that her daughter accepted the explanation.
“Well, this isn’t complicated at all” Gregory said, laughing.
“Hey Amanda!, Uncle Greg was just telling me just how much he wanted to have his makeup done, do you think you and your friends could help?”
“I hate you”, he groaned, unable to refuse his niece, who was now dragging him over to the corner.
“Your own fault, Greg” Colin grinned, before looking at the other adults, “Would you excuse us for a moment?”
He took Penelope’s hand and went into the living room away from prying ears.
“So…”
“So…”
“This has been quite the day” Penelope smiled,
“I am still struggling to believe it to be honest”
“What do we do now?”
“I know what I want” he said cryptically,
“Which is..?” She grinned, taking a step closer.
“You” he said simply,
“And…?” She giggled,
“Everything else that comes with that, including Aggie, if that is ok with you”
Penelope’s eyes misted,
“Yeah, well, Amanda is pretty great and is a credit to you; she is such a lovely girl. And I think Aggie is rather attached to her”
“And me?” He asked cheekily,
“I suppose you're ok” she shrugged as he threaded her fingers through hers. “Does all this make it more complicated?”
“Actually, I think it makes it easier; the girls are already so close. I don’t think it would be right to try to separate them now, because of us, that is”
“That is true”
“So there's really only one option then?”
“Hmm…you are right, guess you're stuck with me for life” Penelope remarked,
“Oh, thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to beg,” he sighed
“I don’t know, you still could”
“Do you want to know what Amanda whispered into my ear earlier?”
“I was going to ask, it seemed to upset you” she said gently,
“It didn’t, not really anyway, not in the way you would think”
She tilted her head,
“She wanted to ask you to be her new Mummy, and she wanted to know if I was ok with that”
Penelope’s eyes filled with tears instantly, “God” she choked out,
“I know” he agreed, “I was fighting for my life”
She let out a breath,
“And now I want to ask, would you be ok with it?”
“You would want me to?”
“Pen, I have been trying to hold it in to not freak you out.” She huffed a laugh. “I love you, one day I am going to marry you, Amanda, and I can move into your house, or you and Aggie into mine, or we can just scrap it and get a new one for us all. I want a life with you, and if that means Christmases with Alfie and being the best stepdad I can be, then I am all the more excited, especially if we ever want to expand in numbers. We could give them another sister; they would be thrilled.
“They would”
“I want as much or as little of that as you do”
“Colin, I want it all, I promise. Every little bit. I’d say I would need to talk to Aggie, and I will, in fact, we should probably all talk as a group, but the fact that they have been hatching their own plans gives me my answer”
She tilted her head up and kissed him,
“I’m all in”
“I’m all in too,” he said, kissing her again.
Six weeks later, Amanda called Penelope mummy for the first time. They all cried, Colin most of all.
Six months later, they were engaged, and Aggie had gotten sick of calling Colin by his name, opting for Daddy Colin in addition to what she called Alfie, stating with great clarity, ‘It just makes sense, Mummy’
Six months after that, they had bought a new, bigger house and were planning the wedding.
By the end of that year, they were married
And by the end of the next one, the pair of sisters became a trio.
Jane Eloise was born a few weeks before Christmas and was officially the best gift they could have imagined.
“Where did the ‘Jane’ come from?” Eloise asked, rocking her namesake,
“Do you remember that day when I told you about the day in the bookshop, the day we met, the book we were reaching for, it was Pride and Prejudice?”
“Jane Austen, I like it” she turned to her brother, “What on earth were you going to read that for?”
His cheeks pinked,
“Well…I may have seen a pretty girl reaching for a book and decided to reach for it too,” he shrugged, “Best decision I have ever made, it started off our own story”
Penelope melted at that, but Eloise just made a face,
“Just so you know, if I weren’t holding the baby, I would gag. You two are disgusting”
“We haven’t filled in the birth certificate, we could still opt for Violet or something else for a middle name” Colin shrugged,
“You wouldn’t dare!” Eloise scowled, pulling Jane closer while they just laughed.
“She is right, we are a bit disgusting” Penelope said, leaning into Colin’s side.
“I know…I'm pretty sure disgustingly in love was part of the vows. I’m only doing what I promised.”
She smiled at him,
“I never want you to stop”
“Wasn’t planning on it”