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Eloise walked through Phillip’s greenhouse after managing to tire Oliver and Amanda enough to get them tired. The woman looking after them thanked her like six times, if one children at the age of six is exhausting to deal with, two of them are a challenge I still have trouble facing, she had told Eloise. I do not know how you do this, Miss Eloise, but please keep going while you’re here.
Oliver and Amanda weren’t bad children by any means, but they had gotten too used to pranking without any consequences. Eloise assumed that it could partly be due to Phillip being a little too permissive with them. He treated the twins like his own children but they were still his brother’s kids at the end of the day and she could tell he hesitated a lot about his own parenting.
Eloise felt like she could read Phillip’s mind every time they spoke about the twins. Do they see me like a real father? If they do, would they stop viewing me as such if I’m too hard on them? Will they think of me differently at any point in the future? How do I help them after their mother’s passing, should I keep comforting them or will that feel overwhelming for them, giving their age?
The way Phillip acted around his children was heart-warming to see, if Eloise was honest with herself. Both of her parents were quite affectionate, but she knew that wasn’t the norm, especially among men. She was glad to see other men being the good fathers they should be, apart from her own father and her brothers. And he was quite handsome, she wasn’t going to deny that.
“Eloise,” Phillip caught Eloise’s attention then.
“Sir Phillip, I had no idea you were here.”
“You should drop the formalities if we a to wed,” Phillip smiled widely at the view of Eloise sniffing some daisies.
“You have not accepted my proposal for a practical marriage yet,” Eloise reminded him.
Eloise came to the conclusion that escaping her mother’s never-ending attempts at matchmaking. While she knew Violet was coming from a good place, Eloise was exhausted. Daphne married, Anthony married, Benedict married, Colin married, Francesca married, Hyacinth and Gregory were still too young in Violet’s eyes; that only left Eloise for her mother to try to matchmake.
It was during one of Penelope and Colin’s visits to Romney Hall after Marina died when Eloise met Phillip Crane for the first time. While she secretly thought that her brother and best friend were sugar-coating Phillip’s image at first, her prejudices were proven wrong when she met him. The man was kind, gentle, understanding and incredibly involved with both of his children.
Eloise and Phillip began getting closer when he noticed she spent most of her time in his house’s library. While most of Phillip’s books were about botanic knowledge, he had also indulged in literature more than once. Wollstonecraft’s works were among Phillip’s non-plants related books, which caught Eloise’s attention. Their first long conversation was about precisely that.
As time went by, Eloise began considering an arranged marriage to get out of Bridgerton House just so her mother would stop bugging her about getting married. Penelope knew a lot about marriages of convenience after her years of writing as Lady Whistledown. A practical union, one that would benefit both parts and didn’t involve feelings and often, the need for heirs.
Phillip was the first one who came to Eloise’s mind. A pleasant enough companion, one that would treat her as an equal and respect her and who shared her ideas and would. Giving she considered Oliver and Amanda as his own children, Oliver was already his heir, so there was no need for him to have more children. And he was close with Penelope and Colin, who he saw quite often.
In Eloise’s eyes, Phillip Crane was the perfect candidate.
Once Eloise told him about getting married, she was honest about her reasons and what could Phillip gain from it. While she wasn’t the image of a gentle mother like Violet, but Amanda and Oliver were oddly fond of her and had plenty of fun every time she visited Romney Hall. Perhaps because she matched their mischievousness, having grown with older and younger siblings.
“It is quite odd, to see the woman propose to the man,” he let out a chuckle. “In a positive way, do not get me wrong.”
“I have always found that to be outdated and unfair,” she shrugged, turning to face him. “Women are not possessions for a father or brother to be handed to another man, we should choose who we share the rest of our life with for ourselves, if that is our wish.”
“I could not agree more,” he spoke while walking closer to her. “Besides, that saves me from asking your older brother who very obviously still despises for your hand.”
“Anthony may be intimidating sometimes, but he does not despise you,” she rolled her eyes.
“I’m not quite sure of that,” Phillip loosened his tie and swallowed remembering Anthony showing up with Benedict, Colin and Gregory hours after Eloise angrily showed up at Romney Hall unannounced to speak to him about the marriage proposal. Though Colin wasn’t angry at all – he only tried to stop his brothers and spoke of he hated to be separated from his wife.
“I do know him since I started having memory, so believe me,” Eloise smiled. “Apologies for causing you trouble that time, I did not imagine they would take it that far.”
“I cannot blame them for being worried,” he took a look at the flowers Eloise had been sniffing before looking back to her.
“Being worried is not an excuse to come here threatening to beat you,” she crossed her arms. “Some men are always so quickly to turn to violence, brainless idiots.”
Phillip let out a small laugh. “I will not be denying that truth,” he took a deep breath before speaking again. “The thing is, I had been thinking about the proposal.”
Eloise got even closer to him. “And…?”
Phillip carefully ripped a daisy from his garden and delicately put it behind one of Eloise’s ear. “I accept,” he met her eyes, who showed satisfaction. “I will become your husband, Eloise.”
Eloise felt like a weight had been thrown off her chest. That, and an odd feeling at feelings closeness. Penelope had told her multiple times that all that insistence to spend time with him might mean that she had developed certain fondness – the romantic type, for Phillip. Though Eloise refused to admit that. “That is,” she paused. “Good,” another pause. “Very good.”
“Oliver and Amanda will be thrilled to hear this,” he let out a small laugh.
“I better learn their pranks from memory so I do not fall for them again, giving I will be dealing with them every day,” she hummed mostly for herself.
Though Phillip heard her loud and clear. “You said you were not especially fond of children when we first met, how come Oliver and Amanda like you so much?”
“I grew up with four older siblings and three younger ones, pranking and getting pranked was an everyday thing for me when I was a child,” she explained proudly. “And I have three nieces and three nephews as of now so I cannot escape dealing with children now either.”
Phillip smile at the image of a little Eloise around her siblings. “I suppose you make up for what I lack when it comes to that.”
“Were you not like that with your brother?” Eloise immediately regretted her words. “I– uhm, apologies,” she awkwardly cleared her throat. “Bringing that up was not a good idea.”
“It is quite alright,” Phillip assured. “Our father’s tough upbringing did not allow us to become affectionate with each other, like you do with your siblings. I did not hate him by any means and I still remember him as a kind man, but we were never especially close either.”
“Oh,” Eloise blinked, not needing more details to understand what Phillip meant. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you,” his lips curved into a reassuring smile. “I have put all of that behind now.”
“Right,” she cleared her throat again. “Good,” a pause. “We can talk of something else. Any suggestions?”
“I was thinking,” Phillip started quite timidly. “That if you wished for it, we could practice our public displays of affection for the future, like holding hands, walking arm in arm or kissing. If we want our match to be believable and for others to not think I married you just because you ran away and I compromised you, we should at least be affectionate in public. Though we can avoid the kissing part if you do not feel comfortable with that.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Eloise nodded while towards Phillip until she was in front of him. “I think I can work with that. The kissing thing included, I mean. Ready?”
“Now?”
“The sooner the better,” she shrugged. “We can wait though.”
“Now is fine.” Phillip’s nervousness showed despite his attempts to act composed.
Eloise was the one who initiated it, keeping her hands behind her back and leaning in slowly, giving him time to move away if he wanted – he didn’t. She didn’t know what to expect but the sensation of his lips against hers was better than anything she could’ve ever imagined. His lips were soft and perfect against hers and she didn’t protest when Phillip’s arms moved around her waist.
Feeling her temperature body raise when Phillip brought their bodies closer, Eloise moved her hands from the back to his shoulders, keeping them there when she moved away. It was just that, the touch of his lips against hers – and yet she found herself wanting more than that. Though she didn’t say that out, wanting to bring her thoughts to Penelope before anything else.
“I should–” Phillip coughed, as flushed as she was. “Check on on the children.”
Eloise knew there was no need for that since they just went to sleep, and so did Phillip, And yet, she found that a perfect excuse. “Right,” she awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “See you later, then.”