The Blossoming of Penelope Featherington | A BRIDGERTON Fanfic

Chapter 10

Penelope knew that after the letter reached her, it won't be long til he follows as well. She decided against writing a reply, knowing that he might be long gone when her letter arrives, as much as she wanted to write to him all on her own. Nonetheless, the pounding of her heart kept disrupting her days whenever she let her mind wander back to his letter and impending arrival.

"He's bound to arrive by the end of the week, I believe," Eloise was saying. They had just finished their Monday afternoon tea, and she and Eloise were left in the drawing room while the rest of the Bridgerton ladies had retired elsewhere.

"So he is," was Penelope's only reply. She started feeling butterflies roam her stomach, her eyes dazedly staring at nothing.

When she looked up, her friend had her brow raised at her. "Did you know already?" Eloise looked down at Penelope's hand that gripped the table cloth tightly, prompting her to release her hold ever so slightly. "I don't remember anyone mentioning any specific date for Colin's return a while ago."

Penelope bit the insides of her cheeks. Eloise had been making a lot of pointed remarks and throwing meaningful looks at her whenever her brother was mentioned. She was not sure if she was starting to lose touch with her ability to keep everything bottled up, or that Eloise was simply becoming more discerning.

"I think I heard Hyacinth say something about it."

"Did she now?" she said wide-eyed. "That nosy little prat! She was supposed to read it after Fran!" Eloise was waving her hands at that point as if she was conducting an orchestra at the Royal Opera House. "I knew something was amiss when I pulled my drawer for a brush this morning." She clicked her tongue at the door probably imagining that Hyacinth was just at the other side eavesdropping.

Penelope bit the insides of her cheek. She felt bad pulling Hyacinth into the matter but it was not like she truly lied. Although she has been expecting Colin's return for a while- close to measuring the snow outside even- she did overhear Hyacinth tell Felicity yesterday afternoon about her brother returning but to not tell anyone, and that if she did, it did not come from her. It was a good thing that their mother wasn't anywhere near her sister's bedroom or the news would have already spread before Lady Whistledown could even dip her pen in her ink pot.

"Aren't you used to it already?" Penelope interjected her friend's tirade on Hyacinth's sticky hands. "And she's bound to read the letter, anyway."

Eloise sighed. "That is true. Still does not make Hyacinth less incorrigible," Eloise huffed.

"I'm sure you know where she got it from," she remarked pointedly. Eloise was known to be one of the most meddlesome of the Bridgerton bunch to the point of being accused of writing about the ton under the guise of London's most infamous gossip columnist.

"Oh, darling," Eloise shook her head regrettably, "no one is as meddlesome and exasperating as Hyacinth. No one."

By the time Saturday morning came, Penelope was shaking in anticipation. She was so obviously fraught that her mother practically pushed her out the door to shop or do whatever so that she could put her "feet-tapping outside" outside. Her mother! Portia Featherington! The biggest gossip of London! It was not surprising where Penelope got her pointed ears from.

Penelope sighed. There was no point waiting for news of Colin's arrival when the Bridgertons would surely prefer to welcome the prodigal son privately. So off she went with Felicity, her maid in tow, to shop or whatever as long as she keeps her mind occupied enough to keep her out of this senseless frenzy.