Paige Featherington, the youngest of the Featherington four, had always promised herself that she wouldn't get married until her older sister Penelope had married first. Yet this didn't seem like a difficult plan, not when her family had prevented h...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Paige never thought that she would be the one who Penelope begged to accompany her to the modiste. Not in the ambition to get herself a whole new wardrobe. Part of Paige felt the desire to ask her older sister where the money she was intending to spend was coming from. But she considered perhaps her sister was just spending the family money, the one their mother kept going on and on about. And Paige liked going to the modiste, she like feeling the fabrics which were hung up for the clients to chose from. She liked the feel of the expensive silks, the soft satins, the cosy cashmeres. She liked to pick through the lace, planning out the most beautiful and expensive dresses possible, ones she could never afford as long as she remained in the Featherington household. That was not something their family could ever afford.
Therefore, when her sister moved onwards to be consulted by their modiste Paige allowed herself to brush through the fabrics on display, paying little attention to the conversation happening a little further away. She was sure her older sister would at some point clue her in to the reason as to why a new wardrobe was a desperate necessity. Of course Paige could understand that the colour system their mother had put into place was not flattering to any of them, Penelope the most with the outlandish yellow dresses their mother made her wear.
"Miss Paige please come and help your sister pick colours." The voice of the modiste called Paige over and she begrudgingly moved from the expensive laces and towards where her sister was getting measured. And as Paige flicked through the different colours on display as option, she paid half attention to the conversation going on near her. She wished to not eavesdrop, she felt as though she was above doing so, she believed her sister to trust her and therefore, Penelope would tell her.
"I cannot live at home anymore. It's been hard enough living under my mother's rules. But my sisters..." Penelope paused and Paige turned quickly to make direct eye contact with her older sister. She hoped that Penelope was not going to say something mean about her, but it wasn't hard enough to make sense of what her sister was saying. After all, Paige knew what her mother had promised their older two sisters, that whoever gave birth to the first son would gain the title of Lady Featherington. And therefore, would be in charge of the household. Something, Paige wasn't sure about. But she also knew it was unlikely her mother intended for either of that to relate to either of her two youngest children.
"To live at the whim of either the most cruel or the most simple person I know. I must take a husband before that happens. It is time." Paige didn't exactly like the words Penelope shared with her sisters, sure Philippa was not the smartest sister out of the four of them and yes Prudence was not the most welcoming, but Paige did not think either of them would be terrible as Lady of the household. But she imagined her sister had much different opinions on how the household should be run and other meaningless matters.
"I see, and does my lady have a certain suitor in mind?" Paige fought to answer the question on Penelope's behalf, she for sure knew that there was a person Penelope did wish to marry. But after some sort of altercation it was not possible. Or at least that was what Penelope had told her over the summer. Plus Paige was not sure she could marry someone who was so well travelled, she was not silly or young anymore she knew what these men got up to when they travelled the world. She was sure Colin Bridgerton was no different.
