Take My Hand [Bridgerton]

[01. The Presentation]

LADY WHISTLEDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS, 1813.

Dearest Reader,

The time has come to place our bets for the upcoming social season. Consider the household of Lord Featherington. Three misses foisted upon the marriage market like sorrowful sows by their tasteless, tactless Mama. Far better odds might exist in the household of the widowed Viscountess Bridgerton, a shockingly prolific family, noted for its bounty of perfectly handsome sons and perfectly beautiful daughters. How very perfect, indeed!

Today is a most important day, and for some a terrifying one, for today is the day London's marriage-minded misses are presented to Her Majesty the Queen. May God have mercy on their souls. It is only the Queen's eyes that matter today. A glimmer of displeasure and a young lady's value plummets to unthinkable depths. But as we know, the brighter a lady shines, the faster she may burn.

"If they take much longer, we shall be late."

Winnie raised an eyebrow at Benedict as he glanced at his watch. It was rather amusing to see him fussing about time management. Usually that worry fell to this older brother while he was more likely to be a few minutes late, at minimum. However, the day's importance could be affecting his anxiety, and Winnie could not blame him for that.

Daphne Bridgerton, and several other eligible young debutantes of the Ton were to be presented in front of Queen Charlotte. It was the start of London's social season and depending on how a young lady represented herself could make or break her options for marriage that year.

As the first daughter of a large family, Daphne Bridgerton was the first in the family to be presented to Her Majesty. As such, everyone was anxious and irritated as they waited for the important event. Even Winnie, who grew up with Daphne, Colin, and Eloise–all of them only a few years apart–was nervous and she had already gone through this the season before.

Compared to her nerves present when she presented to the Queen, she supposed that she was one of the calmer ones in Daphne's corner. Anything is better than nerve-induced nausea and sweating, especially when one's papa is counting on them to change the reputation of one's family.

"Shall I go see if they're ready?" she asked Benedict and Colin, who stood next to her thoughtfully nibbling on a freshly-made biscuit.

"Thank you, Win, but I believe there is no need," Colin nodded toward the grand staircase.

She followed his eyes and saw the three youngest Bridgerton daughters walking–or in Eloise's case, stomping–down the stairs. They were all dressed in various shades of white, peach, and creme, and though Hyacinth was beaming happily and Francesca looked content, Eloise looked disgruntled.

"Ugh!" Winnie was sure that Eloise's groan was much louder than she heard it and though she adored Eloise, she was rather thankful for the single-sided deafness in her right ear. Unfortunately the girl, only a couple of years younger than herself but still one of her dearest friends, had the tendency to talk loudly, especially when voicing her displeasure. "I am already roasting!"