My Maggie,

XIV

The Bridgerton family all sat on the left side of the table, all perfectly lined up facing the fewer Nighthower children. At each end of the table sat the two mothers, each subtly peaking at Ophelia and Benedict who sat opposite to one another, tweeks of smiles gracing their features. It was silent, the only noises were the catering of cutlery against the china of the plates in front of them. Don't look at him Margret kept telling herself, yet it was hard when Colin Bridgerton had practically raced over to sit infront of the girl. "So," Violet Bridgerton said breaking the silence, "Ophelia what do you do my dear?"

Ophelia somehow managed to sit even straighter, she let out a small cough to clear her throat, "well I love to promenade, and love to play the piano-"

"You play? who's your favourite composer?" Daphne said excited to have some sort of talking point that wasn't the duke with somebody. 

"Well I love Beethoven yet my favourite composer a French composer named Ignaz-"

"Pleyel" Daphne finished, both girls let out a chuckle and smiled at one another, "I love Pleyel his-"

"Daphne," Violet inturppted, after all if that girl would talk about Music like if she stopped her heart would, and nobody could get a work in edgeways. Violet readjusted her focus on Ophelia and beacond her to continue. "Go on my dear."

"I love needlepoint and-"

"My dear I don't want you to tell me what you want me to hear, tell me something you like to do that isn't influenced my society." All eyes turned from Lady Bridgerton to the eldest daughter of the Nighthower family. 

"I bake, a lot I love it." 

"What do you bake?"

"I wish I could say something like scones or eclairs but I bake cookies, and I bake pies, nothing all that extravagant but I love it, and it provides a good release, and my family don't complain about them much."

"There delicious, the cookies are all gooey in the middle, bloody hell I love em."

"Angelica!" Tobias disciplined although he wished to laugh, that language may be said around the house but not in anothers. 

"Its quite alright," chuckled Lady Bridgerton. "They should marvellous my dear, you may have to bring us a batch if that alright?"

"I would love to Violet." 

The two ladies smiled and nodded their heads to oe another, a silent agreement. 

"Angelica my dear what do you do?"

"Well..." she pondered the question after all she did a lot, "a paint a lot, but I like climbing trees, its the best viewpoint, you see everything yet often nobody sees you, quite thrilling really."

"Climbing trees?"

"You can sketch whilst your there its really beautiful, the best tree is the beautiful oak one in regency park me and Margret climb it all the time."

"Well I will look out for it next time I am at regency park." Assured Violet. 

Violet turned her head towards the brunette girl closest to her. "And you Margret?"

Margret finally let her eyes leave the yellow mash potato that was o her plate, "Me?"

"What do you do my dear?" 

"Well... I..." er mind went a blank, what the hell did she do. 

"She's a lovely reader." Tobias said from his seat beside her.

"She reads to me every night," continued Angelica, "and she reads in the tree." 

Violet eyes never left the brunettes, "why do you read Violet?" she whispered quietly. 

"Entertainment?" Anthony responded from his seat.

"No its more than that isn't it Margret." Violet stated observing the girl. 

Margret looked back at the girl. 

"Colin," Elizabeth said from the other end of the table trying to divert the attention to somebody else. "I hear you are quite the adventurer, where do you plan on going next?"

He cleared his throat, "I was thinking of starting in Berlin and making my way around Europe. I would travel up." 

"How lovely." Elizabeth said, "Benedict-"

"Why Berlin?" questioned Margret from her seat, her eyes glued to the potato.

"Pardon?" questioned Colin looking at the girl with a grin.

The girls eyes went straight to Colins, a challenge, don't break his stare she told herself "Why are you starting at Berlin, surely if you would like to see all of Europe, one should start from Paris, and voyage up from there."

"Paris can be bleak when alone, after all its the city of love."

"Surely one can enjoy the view and atmosphere of a city despite its title of the city of love, and even if you can't then perhaps you need to learn to love yourself."

"A bit self absorbed to love oneself isn't it?" questioned Anthony from his seat. 

"Not at all, after all I beleive you can't love somebody else unless you love yourself first." 

"Well seems like a first class ticket to becoming a spinster to me." Anthony said whilst taking sip from his whiskey.

"I think Spinsters are incredible woman." A deafening silence consumed them, all eyes snapping to the third born Nighthower.

"Im intrigued please go on my dear." 

"Margret-" Tobias tried to stop but stopped himself, after all he kind of wanted to hear this as well.

"Well those woman learned to love themselves so much they learnt to not need a man, they learnt to live all for themselves, they created incomes, some wrote books, made a home, made a life for themselves without the financial and dependancy of a man, I believe their extraordinary all in the ways one can be extraordinary."

"Hmmm" Violet hummed, "interesting. Ophelia what do you think?"

Ophelia mind was ablank, she had never thought really of spinsters except for the fact she did not want to be one. "I believe Margret raised some interesting thoughts." Ophelia stated calmly, whilst her insides were screaming with alarm. 

"Do you have anything you wish to add?" 

Ophelia stuttered: "I-i-i s-suppose... well..." A deafening silence. 

"Excuse me," Margret inturpted trying to divert the attention off her stuttering sibling, she scrapered her chair and dismissed herself out of the room and in search of the lavatory. 

She turned down corridor after corridor in search of one until she finally found one tucked away under a stairwell. 

"Bloody hell this is boring," she said to herself whilst observing her reflection in the large framed mirror above the basin. "Of course he's a Bridgerton aswell, and hey maybe we will finally get dance at my sisters fucking wedding." Margret complained. "He's probably a dick, lets be honest most men are dicks Margret, just forget him. You don't know him, you can't feel anything for him, I man you perfect strangers." She kept telling herself, unaware of the brown haired third born Bridgerton boy listening on the other side of the door.