"Hold me close so I can finally... breathe"
Marriage wasn't something Carina Bridgerton looked forward to. And true love was not something she dreamed of. She had declared it very clearly to her family that no marriage shall ever be expected from he...
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Carina grew restless in her bead, tossing and turning all around for hours, yet, sleep still seemed to evade her. Deciding some milk might help, she walks to the kitchen when she runs into Daphne, who had been holed up in the library, and invited her along.
Going down the stairs towards the kitchens, she hears Anthony call out to them, "Sisters? Whatever are you two doing?"
They both jumped up, not expecting anyone to be up and turned around at an instant, "I could not sleep. I thought a bit of milk might help matters." Carina replies after settling from the scare, "Ran into Daph wandering about and decided it might do wonders for her too."
"Should I ring for a servant?" he immediately questioned. "No. No, do not wake them." Carina immediately shuts him down, "Would you like to join us, instead?" Daphne questions.
Thus there they were, standing in front of the stove, as Daphne and Anthony tried to prompt each other to light it up while Carina enjoys seeing them at loss of words and sense, drinking her cold milk, exactly how she prefers it in the summertime.
"We should light it." Daphne starts, "Excellent idea." Anthony offers, ever so helpful . "Well, go on." she retorts. "Me?"
"I should not know how to do it." Daphne told him as if he was stupid, which he sometimes was but still. "And you believe I should?" He answers back, Carina had trouble keeping quiet.
"Cold milk, then." Daphne decides. "Most refreshing, given the heat." Anthony immediately agrees. And Carina just laughed out, "Oh, move over!" She says, as she goes ahead, lights the stove, grabs the milk from Daphne's hands and puts it in a pot on the stove to heat it up.
All while her siblings stared at her open mouthed.
Finally paying any heed to their curiosities as she turns to face them, she speaks up with a sigh, "Baby Gregory and new born Hyacinth would often wake at night due to hunger, and mother was barely in any condition to breastfeed. Not to mention Eloise and Fransesca were all but just toddlers. I did not like waking up the servants each night, so after a couple of weeks, I decided to learn how this thing worked and do it myself."
They all fell silent for a while, just sipping their milks after Carina served it to them. All Anthony could do was feel the immense guilt for not seeing it any sooner, for letting his sister go through it all alone, and then making matters so much more worse for her with the Nigel situation.
Daphne thought back to the night she could not sleep due to Anthony and Carina's shouts. She thought back to all the things she had heard and the talk Carina had with her and Eloise the other day.
She felt so grateful to her elder sister she could not even dare to describe it in words, all she knew was, she could never lose her.
"Can I ask you a question, Brother?" Daphne spoke up after a good while. "So long as it has nothing to do with the inner workings of that thing. You might have to ask Carina." he says as the three of them chuckle.
