Wooing Lady Whistledown - A Bridgerton Story

Chapter 8: Waiting for the Rain

Patrick proposed by the end of the week, ending the doubts of everyone in the Featherington house of his intentions.

As Lady Featherington (who served as a not-so-silent witness to the moment) told it, Patrick had quoted an indecipherable few lines of poetry before finally asking Penelope if she would marry him. He had stood up from his seat, grasping her hands gently until she joined him standing. Eloise could not manage to grasp the details of the proposal itself, as Lady Featherington built up to hysterics every time she attempted to tell it, which she had done four separate times to Eloise alone by the end of the day. Eloise only managed to catch that Penelope had answered 'yes' on the third retelling. Phillipa had been thrilled for Penelope, her younger sister marrying her own fiancé's younger brother both ensured Phillipa would have friend upon arriving in Manchester and that she would maintain a higher status than her sister in their new family as the wife of the eldest brother. Prudence had been quiet since Penelope's engagement; the eldest and now only sister with a chance of making a proper match was perhaps already feeling the weight of the importance of a future engagement. Lady Featherington was happy for her younger daughters for certain, but Prudence was certain this was in part because her mother believed that Prudence would find a man with a title to marry, with or without a fortune like the Twining's.

After Patrick had gone, red-faced and grinning (and holding onto the brim of his hat tightly, this time), the household celebrated in earnest for Penelope's engagement. Everyone drank, Portia most of all, who had put aside her respectability for long enough to begin several dances that required no music at all. Eloise joined the Featheringtons in their jubilation, finding a chair in the corner of the room and drinking from what at some point become her own jug of wine as she watched the women dance.

Eloise had neither exclaimed in excitement nor wept in horror at the news of Penelope's engagement. She felt rather strange, as if she was watching an opera of which she was not a part: an opera she had seen before and knew the ending by heart, confined to the audience when she wanted so badly to leap onto the stage and change the final aria, grabbing the young ingénue and telling her of the grave danger that was to befall her once the orchestra had quieted. But Eloise made friends with her cushioned chair and wine, smiling and shaking her head each time Penelope invited her to dance to the tune of Portia's drunken soliloquies. When all four Featheringtons were distracted by Prudence and Phillipa's reenactment of the proposal (directed by Lady Featherington, of course), Eloise slipped away to Penelope's room, her head aching from more than the wine.

Penelope, to her credit, thought the familial celebrations a bit absurd, and was only giving in because no one save the kitchen staff could see her mother's drunkeness. That being said, she could not help but be joyful. Not only was she engaged to a man who was kind and who could provide for her, but the mother who had seemed to be weighed down by her and the sisters who did not understand her were drunk off of her success, her celebration. She pushed her judgements aside long enough to learn her mother's dance, and clap enthusiastically at her sisters' all-but-humiliating reenactment of Patrick's proposal.

Penelope noticed Eloise's disappearance soon after the latter had retired from the living rooms. Penelope tried to push down the bubbling feeling of resentment as soon as she felt it in her chest. Eloise, despite her polite little smiles, was clearly unhappy. Her drinking was not in celebration, but in distraction. Penelope tried to ignore the nagging thought, the little voice that asked her why Eloise could not forget herself long enough to think of just Penelope, at least for an evening. But if Eloise could not forget herself long enough to celebrate, Penelope knew it was because her friend saw the engagement as her own loss, rather than Penelope's gain, and thus attempted to rid herself of the bitter taste in her mouth with another sip of wine.