A Bountiful Season (Bridgerton Season 3 Rewrite)

Tides of Change

Mid-February 1815

Featherington House, Mayfair

Portia sat and looked over the ledgers. It was a fine morning, and while the sitting room may not have been the conventional place for accounting, Portia had not been able to bring herself to the office. Between Jack and her late husband, there were too many bad memories associated with the place. As temporary Lady of the house, she would conduct her business wherever she pleased, and it was in the sitting room that she felt most comfortable.

Mrs. Varley rushed in, without the cream and sugar Portia had requested for her tea; the housekeeper looked frightfully anxious, "There is, um, a gentleman here to see you, ma'am."

A smartly dressed gentleman entered the room, and bowed politely to the still sitting Portia, "Lady Featherington, I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Good day, mister?" Portia did not know what to expect from this stranger. It was too early for calling hours, and he did not look like a man of the ton.

"Walter Dundas, Esquire. I work for the crown, responsible for ensuring that the lines of succession run smoothly within our great families."

"I see." Portia stood up and clasped her hands together tightly, an estate lawyer was not the kind of man she wanted to see in her home. Especially not with the looming threat of the forged inheritance document. "And to what do we owe the visit?"

"I have been made aware that your cousin, Jack Featherington, recently left town with your entire fortune." Dundas feigned sympathy as he spoke.

"Yes sir, my cousin Jack, the swindler. That man was a terrible liar."

"I have in my possession, a document he signed granting the estate to one of your daughters once she produces a male heir." He set down the document on Portia's table.

She peered over it as if the paper was unfamiliar to her. It wasn't, she had overseen Varley's forgery and as such knew the paper very well. "Ah, yes. That document. That document is valid. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, is it not?"

Dundas chuckled politely, "It is an unusual situation you have found yourself in. Are any of your daughters with child?"

"Oh, I do hope to receive the news any day now. With two married daughters, I am sure an heir is not long off." So, no. None of her daughters were with child.

"Well, currently the crown is unaware of another living male heir." He wandered around the sitting room and inspected the art pieces. "It would be quite the task, transferring the estate to another family. A great deal of upheaval for the Featherington tenants, and society, and, frankly, me. But should I find that this rather convenient document is, in fact, forged before one of your girls has an heir, the upheaval may indeed be necessary."

Portia knew a threat when she heard one but was sure to give no indication that he had rattled her, "Well then, it is a good thing the document is not forged, and that my girls do so love their husbands."

"A very good thing, indeed. I expect to have news on the matter shortly; I shall pay you another visit very soon." He paused to look around the house, "Such a beautiful home. Good day."

Portia's smile fell as he left the room, this was not good. Varley was an excellent forger, but the Royal Courts would be far more scrutinising than Miss Thompson had been. She did not know if the document would hold up. The only silver lining was that the legislature took ages to get anything done, and so her daughters should have ample time to cook up and birth a baby. Nine months, that was all that they needed. Assuming that her girls were performing their duties as wives, anyway. The Featheringtons needed an heir; Portia would not lose her family's honour to that smarmy lawyer.