The Bridgertons were a family known for their grace, good looks, wealth, success, and above all, love. Specifically, finding love in the most unlikely of places. Together, Violet and Edmund Bridgerton created the blueprint for what everyone else should hope to achieve. If you weren't a Bridgerton, you wanted to be one or be with one.
There were eight siblings in total, named in alphabetical order--Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth. Colin, being years behind his older brothers and too much of a boy to want to join his sisters, often found himself somewhere in the middle. He was overlooked, lost, forgotten. That's not to say that his family loved him any less than his other siblings, nor he them. It just meant that Colin was different.
Edmund's passing was unexpected to say the least. He went into the hospital for a bee sting, only to find that he was even more allergic to the medicine they gave him. He was gone within the hour, and none of the children had a chance to say goodbye. Poor Violet was nine months pregnant with Hyacinth at the time, and she fell into a deep depression shortly after giving birth. Anthony, freshly graduated at eighteen, skipped out on college so that he could run his father's business and taking care of the children with the help of Benedict and Daphne.
At twelve, Colin was too young for such responsibility and too old to still be coddled. He was once again somewhere in the middle, which is why he made no objections when Anthony told him one day that he was to be sent to boarding school. 'It would be easier for everyone' Anthony had said with a heavy, sullen sigh. Colin made a joke about agreeing to go as long as they had good food, and he watched Anthony's face light up with a smile for the first time in weeks.
It was then that Colin realized what his role was. He was to be the easygoing one, the charmer, the joker, the one to break the tension and keep things lighthearted, no matter how he was suffering himself. He would stay away just long enough for them to finally miss him, then leave again when he worried they had grown tired, or he felt he could no longer keep up the charade. Their family was a cracked and broken version of what it once was, but this was how he could be the glue that held them together.
Colin was twenty-one when he met Penelope Featherington---a short, slightly stout redheaded girl of sixteen. Three days later, she became best friends with Eloise, but he had met her first and reminded them of this often. Even back then, he knew Penelope was special. She fit into the family so easily, bringing a calming light where darkness once resided. He couldn't imagine a time when she wasn't there. She was a constant, steady presence that always reminded him of home. So constant, in fact, the he almost took her for granted.
All the years he spent wandering, searching for a purpose, and all he had to do was open his eyes. He knew where he belonged. Penelope didn't just remind him of home. She was home. She saw right through the charade and wanted him for exactly who he was, scars and all. She helped him heal the broken boy inside of himself, and in turn, find a place in the family that he once believed was better off without him. He would be forever grateful for the day she tripped him in the park.
"Colin?" Penelope called softly, rubbing her eyes as she waddled into their kitchen. She was glowing in the dim light, her pregnant belly visible through the lace of her green nightgown. "What are you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep," he whispered, smiling as he met her halfway. One hand came to rest on her belly while the other traced her cheek.
Penelope mimicked his movements, one of her hands on his chest and the other on his opposite cheek. "You feeling okay?" She asked with concern.
Colin nodded, leaning in for a long, enduring kiss. "I love you. So much."
"I love you too," his wife replied, a look of slight trepidation on her face.
Colin relented. She knew him far too well. He dropped to his knees suddenly, Penelope squeaking out in surprise as he came face to face with her rounded stomach. "Just excited to meet you, my sweet girl," he whispered to their unborn baby. "I know we haven't met yet, but I already love you so much, and I want you to know that you will always be enough for me."
"Oh, Colin," Penelope said weepily, tears running down her face. "Why'd you have to go and make me cry?"
Colin rose to his feet, a devilish smirk on his face. "Oh, I can make you cry another way, wife."
"Is that right?" She asked with a wet laugh. Colin nodded, guiding them backwards towards their bedroom, laughing and grinning all the way. He was a Bridgerton through and through, because he finally found his love in the most unlikely of places.
