Hope for the Hopeless

Pretence, Promenades and Ponderings

Or maybe not...

Five days after the Bridgerton Ball, Violet Bridgerton moved out of Bridgerton House to lodgings just five doors down from Benedict on Bruton Street, and Sophie had not seen her fiancee since she'd left Bridgerton House the day after the ball.

He'd promised to call on her but as of yet, he had not appeared. He'd called when she'd been out to sort the papers with Richard but had left and not come back as had been promised.

The news of their engagement was announced in Lady Whistledown, along with the news that Phillip Cavender was seen leaving the party with two black eyes, a broken nose and left London for god knows where and Sophie had felt relief.

Relief that he could not ruin her now.

Charlie had refused to say which part of Cavender he had bruised but from what Kate had informed her, when she'd gone to visit her soon to be sister in law... each of the three men had taken a swing at the man and left their mark.

Kate had vowed that had she had been there she would have torn the man's cock off for attempting to hurt her like that. There was no place in their society for sick men like that and she was pleased that it was all resolved and that they were going to be sisters- in-law. Kate's talk of cocks had made Sophie blush profusely at and Kate just smirked "you'll understand soon enough"

Sophie spent most mornings waiting at home, waiting for Benedict to come and call on her as he'd promised but so far there had been nothing.

Other than a letter to say that they would marry sooner rather than later, Charlie and Anthony were to see the Archbishop of Canterbury to arrange for a special licence to be purchased and they would marry by the end of the following week so to avoid any whispers or rumours, as by then it would be too late, she'd be already married.

So they agreed that just over a week would do, it had been 5 days since their engagement, and in three more days time she'd be a married lady. She'd marry her best friend, the man she'd wanted to marry since she was 14... a man who didn't want to marry her and was in love with another and it was why she assumed he kept his distance.

His disappointment at not being able to be with the woman he wanted and so he could not face her yet... was that it? She had to wonder...

She knew she was to see him tomorrow because both families were to meet at Hyde Park for a picnic and a walk so she would get a chance to promenade with him then but she felt like he was avoiding her.

Even when she'd been to Number 5 to visit Violet and the girls, if he'd been there he left instantly and usually through the staff exit so that he didn't have to see her... and it made Sophie feel horrible.

She had believed him, that everything was going to be okay, that they were going to be okay but this... filled her with dread and the thought of seeing him in the park, with so many people looking at them, where they'd have to pretend to be madly in love, so not to arose too much suspicion about the special licence, for people to believe it is because this had been planned, they just hadn't said anything...

She seriously considered pretending that her courses had arrived and spend the day in bed hiding but she knew her maid would never fall for it, and her father had a rough idea when her courses were due and she'd had them the week before so whilst her father was a man and had little clue about the workings of a female's body, she didn't think that would fly with him.

So she knew she was going to have to go and face the ton and face her fiancee...

Who wasn't avoiding her for the reasons she thought... but for his own stupid reasons.

Benedict had seen the disappointment on the Earl of Kilmartin's face that evening at Bridgerton House, when they'd announced their engagement, though for a moment he'd thought perhaps he had been courting Francesca, he had to assume that his sadness was because Sophie was no longer to be his...