TWO ALONG THEIR WAY ┃a. bridgerton

3: sisters

To be called a 'prickly beast of a spinster' by this new and well-regarded Lady Whistledown was only somewhat amusing to Anna. Well, Lady Whistledown was new to her, but she'd apparently been a staple of the ton since last year's season.

Thankfully, no comment beyond that was made about her, for which she was glad. Whistledown could say all she wished so long as the topic of Lord Buckthought or Henry did not come up. It was a known part of the Buckhtought-Sheffield-Sharma history, but the years beyond it when they'd all but faded from society were still up for debate. First, they'd retreated to the home of her maternal grandparents, and then they'd left the country entirely, revelling in freedom and drowning in grief at the same time.

Maybe losing Henry and her birth father so only in life had prepared Anna for the loss of her second and true father later in life. All things considered, she'd handled it well enough. Life continued, even when death kept a hand on her shoulder like her birth father once did, ready to hand her over to doom.

But it did not much scare her anymore. As a child, death seemed scarier than being trapped in an unloving marriage, but now she knew for certain that was not true. Anna was unsure if there was an afterlife. To her, death was just an end while an unhappy life went on forever and ever.

That was why she was so willing to be picky about Kate and Edwina's suitors. The older of the two was a little more outward with her want to choose solely for herself, and Anna made sure both had the choice, but Edwina was more receptive to her suggestions. Was that a bad thing, to tell her sister who was good and who was not? Deep down, she knew it on some level echoed the way her birth father once treated her.

But Edwina would be the one to eventually decide who she chose, and it would be someone she truly loved and cared for.

At the end of another day of observing conversations between Edwina and her prospects, and two who had come to see Kate too, Anna retreated to her room with a quiet farewell and a cup of tea. She sat in the window seat, watching the world grow darker and darker outside with each minute that went by. In her lap, Boudica was curled up in a fluffy ball, purring contently and providing her loving human with a much-needed sense of calm.

The door opened, and in stepped Lady Danbury. "Your tea grows cold," she remarked. As she walked around the table and closer to Anna, her cane wobbled only from her hands moving it around it circles. Anna liked the way she did that. It made her appear older and less able than she truly was, and then when her words reveal the true Lady Danbury beneath, it was a bit of a shock. Amusing for those who were not on the receiving end of it. "My horses do not. Do you intend to ride again tomorrow morning?"

"Probably," Anna answered honestly. "I know you do not wish to hear it, but I doubt there is a reason for me to be dishonest now."

"Correct," she replied. "I know all that goes on in my home. You were not as discreet as you thought you were, Miss Sharma. To leave unchaperoned is-"

"I see no issue," Anna sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I understand that it is unseemly for unmarried women, but I believe I am somehow beyond the label of 'unmarried'."

"But you are unmarried," Lady Danbury pointed out. "And, at present, you are within my care. I ask that you show some respect to the rules of my household, if not to the rules of the ton."

Despite the scolding tone, it was laced with a motherly softness that made Anna smile a little. She took the cat from her lap and rested her instead on a pillow, then made her own way across the room to sit on the chaise. "For what it is worth, Lady Danbury, you have incredible horses in your stables."

"That they are!" she replied enthusiastically. "Your mother tells me you breed and raise your own horses back in India."

"I purchased a stable," Anna answered fondly. "I was there a lot in the beginning, getting my hands dirty. It was very unladylike, but I enjoyed the work, and it kept our coffers supplied well enough in the absence of our father. When I had enough to put back into the business, I hired more stable hands and only attended the markets. But I did love it. It was better than..."