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Daphne Basset, the Dutchess of Hastings, was spending time with her son in the nursery. She had dismissed his nurse, originally planning on spending the day with both her son and her husband. Simon unfortunately was called away on work and Daphne, who was expecting again, found herself growing rather exhausted trying to wrangle the high energy toddler all by herself. By the end of the afternoon she knew it would be smart to rest, for herself and their unborn child.
Daphne called Miss Colson into the nursery and asked her to fetch August’s nurse, the older woman disappeared down the hall with a curt nod.
Daphne let out a rather unladylike groan when she finally collapsed into her bed. Her feet were killing her, her back was killing her, she ached all over and desperately missed spending more time with her family.
The duchess took a short nap, waking naturally a little bit before dinner. Rose helped her redress and she made her way downstairs, Simon would be returning shortly and she wanted to check a few things off her task list before he arrived.
Daphne called out towards the kitchen, “Rose! Are there missives for me today?”
Her ladies maid appeared in the doorway. “Yes my lady, I’ve left them in the foyer for you.”
Daphne smiled to herself, skipping along towards the entry way. She loved letters, it was something she had in common with Eloise. Writing letters, sending them off, receiving them, the whole process brought her great joy.
Clyvedon was so far away from her family back in London, it was always a delight to hear their voice, even if it was just in ink form.
Daphne flipped through the envelopes, she had quite a few to sort through today. She set aside a small stack addressed to the Duke from villagers, she would review those with Simon later. Much to her surprise there were several letters from her family as well.
Eloise had written her, no surprise there, her sister wrote her more often than not. Among the stack there were letters from her mother, Anthony, and… oh?
“Well how curious?” She mumbled to herself.
She examined the letter in her hand, it had a slight weight to it, indicating a sizable amount of information inside. The most curious thing of all was the senders name.
Or should she say, names.
Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington
How peculiar!
It was not peculiar for Colin to write to her, they were the closest siblings in age and possessed a rather strong bond. Addressing the letter with his longtime friend though, well, that was a most peculiar thing indeed.
She hastily ripped the envelope open, not even bothering with a letter opener. Two pieces of paper floated to the ground, as well as what looked to be an invitation of some sorts. She picked up the papers, noticing that both sides were completely covered with writings. She made a mental note to read it more thoroughly later. She scrambled to read the invitation.
__________________________________
Together with their families
Colin Bridgerton
and
Penelope Featherington
invite you to join them in celebrating the union of their marriage
__________________________________
Daphne gasped and clapped her hands exuberantly. She couldn’t help but exclaim, “oh how exciting! How absolutely wonderful!”
She could hardly believe her eyes, there was another smaller invitation as well for the engagement ball. She read over Colin and Penelope’s letter with an ear-to-ear smile. They described how their union came to be and how excited they were. By the end of the last page they expressed their great wish for the Duke and Duchess’s presence, but assured that if they could not attend there would be no sour feelings.
Daphne knew her and Simon would not miss such an event for anything in the world. It was a well known fact in the Bridgerton household that those two would marry someday, it was clear as day to anyone except Colin and Penelope. Violet was more certain than anyone, and her mother was rarely wrong.
Daphne carefully tucked the contents of the missive away in a desk drawer, hoping to surprise Simon with the good news over dinner.
Not long after she went through the rest of the mail did her husband arrive home. The butler took his coat and Simon greeted his wife with a kiss.
The couple had little time to converse before dinner was ready. Daphne could hardly contain her excitement once seated. She pushed her food around on the plate as Simon described his intended solution to a crop problem one of their local farmers was having. Always wanting to be a supportive wife she listened, her foot tapping away beneath the table with anticipation. He never dallied on the boring details of his noble endeavors. No more than five minutes later did he turn his attention to her.
He finished chewing a large bite of potato before meeting her eyes, “enough about me though, tell me Daph, anything exciting take place after my leave?”
Daphne set her fork down, that same massive smile returning, “you are not going to believe the invitation we received today. We will need to make preparations for Hastings House at once!”
Simon paused his bite, “consider my curiosity peaked, please continue?”
Daphne eyes were shining, “in one week we are to attend the engagement ball for Colin and Penelope! Isn’t that just marvelous?”
Simon quirked his head, “an engagement ball? That is most odd, do you not think?”
All the previous excitement and energy drained from Daphne, “what ever could you mean?”
Simon shrugged his shoulders, “Oh! Were they not able to host one at the beginning of their betrothal? I guess I do find it amusing, them making up for lost time.”
Daphne had gone from disappointment to downright confusion. Her mouth hung slightly agape as she stared at her husband.
The Duke looked completely unbothered as he continued to devour the lamb chops on his plate.
Daphne blinked, “Simon, what in God’s name are you talking about?”
Simon furrowed his eyebrows, clearly not understanding where her confusion was coming from, “You mean to tell me it is not odd? To host an engagement ball so far into one’s marriage? I personally have never heard of such a thing?”
It finally clicked in her head, Daphne took a deep breath, “Simon dearest, Colin and Penelope are not married.”
Simon froze, his fork in mid air as he narrowed his eyes at his wife. “What do you mean they’re not married? Of course they’re married?”
Daphne couldn’t hide her giggle. “No they are not! They only just became engaged a few days ago.”
Simon’s eyes darted to his lap as thoughts raced around in his brain, “Daphne, you honestly expect me to believe they are not already married?”
Daphne shook her head no as she put a hand over her mouth, not wanting to laugh in her husband’s face at his bewilderment.
Simon placed his cutlery down. “This is preposterous! She addresses him by his first name, even worse he address her by a nickname. They do so in front of the entire ton, no one bats an eye!”
Daphne seemed to ponder this a moment, “I suppose-“
Simon cut her off, “-besides that they run off together unchaperoned constantly. I have spotted them returning to a ballroom alone, or emerging from a library by themselves. Others noticed as well, but no one besides myself seemed to care!”
Daphne opened her mouth to speak, but Simon continued to bulldoze right over her speech.
“He dances with her at every ball, at the very least two times, but often than not more. He never even signs her dance card, he just whisks her away to a waltz or quadrille or whatever the orchestra may be playing. When they aren’t dancing they are off in a corner talking and laughing. These are not the actions of an unmarried couple, surely!”
Daphne pursed her lips, “I- I see your point.”
Simon slumped back in his chair, his arms crossed. “Honest to God they are not married?”
The corners of Daphnes lips began to twitch into another smile, “I assure you, this upcoming union is the first for them.”
Simon returned to eating his food, not without shaking his head. “Absurd that they’ve gotten away with these actions for so long then. I’ve always thought Colin to be quite besotted with the girl.”
Daphne giggled at that. “Oh, I’m certain he is. She has been quite enamored with him as well, since childhood I suspect. My dear brother can be rather dense sometimes. Let us just be glad he finally came to his senses and made it official.”