The Bridgerton Eight

I Don't Like Your Tone But Please Continue

Monday—November 23th, 2020

It started as a mysterious sheet of pink paper, first delivered on everyone's doorstep a year earlier. For two months it was delivered unbidden, every now and again. And then in the third month, every housewife of the tons waited in vain for the deliveries only to discover that the gossip column was being sold for the outrageous price of three dollars a sheet. Problem was by then the tons were addicted. They couldn't live without the juice gossip that Hamptons Girl provided and somewhere some meddlesome woman was getting very rich. After the fifth month, What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About became a digital app, and by the seventh month it had over 700 thousand downloads. That was nearly 80% of Great Hamptons' total population.

It was insane.

What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About was written primarily for women with a curious mix of commentary, social news, scathing insult and the occasional compliment. But what really set it apart was that Hamptons Girl, whoever she was, was not afraid to name the bulls. There was no hiding behind abbreviations and nobody was safe from her spying eyes. If Hamptons Girl wanted to write about someone, she did, with no fear, no shame and, more importantly, no respect. The tons declared themselves scandalized, but they were secretly fascinated; none more than Daphne Bridgerton who had just started a business of her own and had no idea how to keep it aloft.

"The nerve!" Violet Bridgerton hurled her Iphone across her elegant living room aiming for the beige armchair. The three of her daughters that were present (Hyacinth trained Muay Thai every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon) tried to keep a straight face and pretend to mind their own businesses, but they were waiting for the inevitable unleash. "Did you read what she said?" Violet demanded. "Did you?"

Daphne, the eldest girl, eyed her mother's Iphone needlessly for she had her own in her hand. "I was just doing that," she replied, returning her gaze to the small screen.

Their mother was making her scary voice so Eloise, who loved reading What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About, leaped to the armchair and reached for the Iphone. She read it aloud with the seriousness she was known for.

Daphne looked at Violet. "It's not that bad, Mom. It's actually pretty nice when compared to what she wrote about the Featheringtons last week." She turned to Eloise. "And you. Why don't you have your phone? You lost it again?"

"Who's going to want to marry you with her slandering your name?" Violet wailed to Daphne, her arm slicing dramatically through the air.

Eloise made a pig-like sound and Francesca gave her the stink eye; Francesca demanded everyone to be in their best behaviour when in her presence. 

Daphne tried not to roll her eyes. In Great Hamptons, everyone was always counting the time before you hit another milestone. Marriage was the biggest one and there was a lot of pressure to get it right.

Daphne definitely wanted to get married but she wasn't exactly in a hurry. Maybe it was the way she was raised, watching her parents being so utterly in love that made her wish for that and a hundred babies more. But although she sought it, Daphne had a more urgent dream in the making: Daffiness, the clothesline she came up with in college, the self made business that, according to most people of the tons, was correctly named because Daphne was, well, daft.

It started two years ago when Eric Macclesfield broke up with her after Daphne let him do what they had both been dying to do since senior year. Daphne almost had a panic attack thinking of what her mother would do to her if she found out she'd been "deflowered". Francesca came to her assistance. Francesca, at twenty years old, was already a girl who obviously knew how to keep busy while also keeping it classy. She took on the role of older sister that night and told Daphne something she never forgot: "You know what really makes me feel better when a guy's a jerk to me? New clothes, Daff. Let's get you some."