Can such a strange friendship turn into love? He never realized she was so lovely. She never noticed how charming he was. Miles Bridgerton and Vanessa Everleigh have known each for over a decade and both of them had never really given the other much...
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Vanessa Everleigh | b. 1819 | 27 in 1846
Vanessa Everleigh was orphaned at a very young age. Her father, a mere Mister William Everleigh, brother to the elder Richard Everleigh, had died of influenza leaving his beloved wife alone, who was with child. And as tragedy would have it for young Nessa, Mary Everleigh died shortly after her birth, clutching her newborn and praying for the world to be kind to her daughter as her life left her.
Not wanting to abandon his dear brother's daughter, Baron Leigh took his only niece in as his ward. She had a good childhood for the most part, learning how to be a proper lady as best as she could. The Baron and Baroness were not young, they had trouble having their own child, and thus they loved Vanessa and treated her as their own. When Nessa was 7, the 36 year old Baroness had finally been able to give her husband a child, a son. But, as the world was certainly refusing to be kind to young Nessa, she once again lost the woman she considered her mother to childbirth.
The baron mourned his beloved wife, who did not have the strength to live through childbirth at the age of 36. Baron Leigh worried for Nessa. He worried that she could not withstand losing yet another parent in her life. But then he saw her, sneaking into the nursery and looking at his son Henry with so much love and hope. It was then that he was determined to live and breathe until the day that he knew he had secured a happy future for both his niece and son. Although one cannot surely know the definite future of a newborn, the Baron was less concerned about Henry; he was his son, and would inherit his title. Ultimately, life in English society was always easier for a man. He focused on ensuring that Vanessa would have a good and respectable husband.
The baron had planned to have Vanessa enter society as soon as possible so she might enjoy an early start in the marriage market at 18. However, maturing into a rather stubborn girl, she insisted on waiting a couple of years so that she may enter society with her friends, Charlotte Bridgerton and the younger Violet Bridgerton. The Baron refused initially, but Vanessa proved herself to be rather convincing when she brought up how much joy it would give her to explore what society truly had to offer with her friends. So then, in 1841, Vanessa debut into society at age of two and twenty. And 5 years later in 1846, at the age of 58, Baron Leigh was beginning to worry that he might not see the day she would get married. Violet had long gotten married, Charlotte was finally engaged, and dear Vanessa had absolutely no callers. Not even one proposal in 5 years.
