The Bridgerton Eight

A Voice To Speak & The Courage To Be Quiet

Wednesday—November 25th, 2020

"Someday," Mary announced out of the blue, giving her phone a shake, "someone is going to discover this girl's true identity, and then she's going to be in real trouble."

It was nighttime and few of them were gathered in the Thomas Jefferson Community Center to discuss the campaigning Kate had started to prevent the center's destruction. The group was small for now: Mayor Sheffield, Eddie, Kate, a few of their friends, and then Penelope Featheirngton had shown up with her mother and sisters.

That wasn't exactly surprising. Penelope had, Kate recalled, spent probably even more time in TJCC than Kate had. When she was sick and her mother couldn't afford her hospital bills, the women of the TJCC had stepped in with fundraising ideas to help the Featheringtons.The TJCC had served as a second home to Penelope and her family, and she had spent there almost as much time as in a hospital room.

Kate liked Penelope very much but they weren't exactly friends. God, Kate couldn't recall the last time she had referred to another person as a friend—someone who wasn't related to her. She had trouble connecting to people. She was too driven about her job; nobody else, other than Mary and Eddie, understood her passion.

"Do you really think so, Mom?" Eddie asked. "I think she's been very careful. I don't have a clue who she could be."

"Nothing that big can stay a secret forever," Mary replied. "Mark my words. It's all going to come out sooner or later, and when it does, she's going to have a lot to answer for."

"Well, if I knew who she was," Kate announced, "I'd probably make her my best friend. She's fiendishly entertaining, is she not? And no matter what anyone says, she's always right. Point being issue Nº376."

That post had come as such a shock to Kate. She had never imagined she would be featured so lengthy in one of HG's rants—and in such favorable light! The post couldn't have come at a better time either. People were finally starting to take notice of the TJCC's situation.

Edwina looked at her sister with interest. "Kate," she said, leaning forward, a conspiratory look on her face, "are you Hamptons Girl?"

Kate smiled at her sister's sarcasm. Edwina knew Kate too much to actually suspect her. Kate didn't have the self control necessary to keep herself anonymous. When she called people out, and she did that quite frequently, she liked to make sure there was no mistake who had done it. She didn't enjoy secrets or deceit. Things were black and white with her.

"I'd like to know who she is," Portia Featherington started, "I have a few bones to pick with her."

And so you would, Kate thought. One of Hamptons Girl's favorite subjects was the Featheringtons. And she wasn't exactly kind when she wrote about them. She often pointed out everything that was true about the Featheringtons, all that everyone knew and hated, but nobody had the courage to comment on. For example, just at the beginning of the week she told everyone about a very embarrassing tattoo Philippa Featherington had gotten. And last week she had made a mean jab at Penelope for wearing a yellow dress that washed away her complexion and made her look sicklish. It was rare someone would say something mean about Penelope—she had been the dying girl for so long nobody liked to pick on her. 

"Oh yeah," Phoebe Featherington chuckled. "What was it she called you, Penny?"

"An overripe citrus fruit," Penelope supplied helpfully. Her sisters laughed.

Kate waved her arm and sighed with great drama, "Yes, well, she called me a singed daffodil once." And she winked at Penelope who smiled at her thankfully.