February 1815

Dearest readers,

The ton has been invited to a joyous occasion; I am told. The son of Viscount Bridgerton will be christened in Salisbury Church next Sunday. From what I know, many guests from London's society will be invited and the whole thing will be celebrated with a festive meal.

I believe that with this event, many sceptics will be silenced forever because it will become clear to them what has been clear to me for a long time. That the Viscount's marriage is based on love; and truly dear readers, is that not all that matters in this fragile, unpredictable life of ours.

Love.

Until next time,

Lady Whistledown

Penelope Featherington stared at what she had written. Often, she tended to rewrite things differently, but this was perfect. She then picked up her invitation to the christening and laughed briefly. They would never know, of course, but she of all people; the nondescript, mousy, Penelope, the Penelope that no one ever noticed had played a big part in Anthony and Mara getting together.

The advantage of being a wallflower was that she was never watched; and could easily observe things.

For example, she observed the way Anthony Bridgerton had looked at Mara; with interest and a certain... look that men who were attracted to someone wore. He probably hadn't realised it, but she had; Penelope had seen it. She had also spotted how Mara; timidly made her apology that day and spent the rest of her visit to the Bridgertons watching the door of Anthony's study to see if he walked out.

So... she decided to help them out a little and soon she had an excellent opportunity to do so. It helped that she was friends with Eloise; who had told her; even though she had not been there herself; that Mara, said Violet Bridgerton; had stormed off the table at some point; towards the garden and that Anthony had followed her. A small mention of this... meeting inn her small yet impressive publication had done the job and the two were married within a week.

She had always liked Anthony; but more so after he had put the odious Cressida Cowper in her place at last year's ball at the Bridgertons' country estate.

Cressida had been her lovely self; but this time she had not only taunted her; together with the equally vile Basil Grimston, they had mocked Penelope's looks until Anthony had intervened. He had then escorted her to the dining room, much to Cressida's annoyance and shock; a privilege reserved for the highest-ranking woman, which Penelope was not. Yet Anthony had not cared and had just snapped at Cressida, saying he didn't remember including her in the conversation.

She had made a mistake, Penelope confessed; no, she did not regret having arranged for the two to marry, but she did regret writing about Henry Carrington's divorce.

As a writer, she was and is autonomous, but her publisher had insisted on talking about Henry and his connection to the Bridgertons, as the Viscount and his wife were a hot topic in London; the publisher knew that too. The more she wrote about the couple the more magazines she would sell; he persuaded her.

He had not agreed with the first version of her writing and had wanted her to rephrase it just if she had, to her regret; published something she did not agree with.

Penelope had refused to write about the Rosso scandal and had even; to her irony; wanted people to stop gossiping about Anthony and Mara, in one of her most recent writings.

Fortunately, everything had turned out well and she was now invited to little Edmund's christening. She had felt compelled to attend the ceremony for several reasons; the most important of which was the fact that she had been invited to the... was seeing Colin. Colin had recently returned from his trip to Greece but, to her disappointment, she had not seen him often and had not run into him during her visit to Eloise. The possibility of seeing him again made her heartbeat faster and the anticipation grow.

He did not know, of course. He didn't know she was in love with him, and he would probably never know. To her horror, she realised that Colin's return meant that he would be going to balls again in the coming season; where he would no doubt be accosted by many a young and handsome debutante, whose mothers would be trying to start a friendship with Violet from the side-lines; to make a good impression. She did not want to think of the possibility, but now that Anthony was married, Benedict had been seen in the company of some mysterious lady; it would not be long before Colin would have to marry too.

This realisation: that he might marry someone else; made her heart sink to the bottom of a proverbial ocean; weakened her already uncertain disposition and brought about another unpleasant realisation... That she would ever have to marry someone who was not Colin. She could not and would not think of it; instead she consoled herself with the notion that no one would want to marry her anyway. She was reaching spinsterhood and had been on the marriage mart for several years without having 1 offer.. However; she didn't mind this at all for Penelope wasn't interested in any other man.. than Colin but he also did not want her.

While he had apologized profusely for his cruel remark; that "he would never marry her" something she overheard; it did not mean that she had forgotten. And somehow; still; even after what he had said; she had continued to love him; against her better judgment perhaps.

Penelope sighed deeply; feeling hopeless, it took a moment before she forced herself to stop and think. As soon as she did, she looked at the clock and saw that she would be late; late to her publisher if she did not leave now. Her sisters and mother were at Madame Delacroix's. Fortunately, Penelope did not have to go with them this time, as her measurements had been taken last time, unlike Prudence and Philippa.

Penelope hurried to the entrance and quickly put on her coat in which she had her note indeed and intended to have the coachman call until she heard the bell ring. She looked around but the butler was nowhere to be seen; much to her annoyance; and then opened the door herself.

Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of the visitor; several times and more when he smiled at her in his typical; charming way.

"Colin"... she said in a shaky voice; completely suprised to see him.

"What, what are you doing here?" she managed to follow up with even though words and the possibility to speak were trying to evade her at the moment.

"Hi Pen; how are you?" he asked her kindly, but she could only stare and say nothing...

"Erm" and Colin investigated the corridor for a moment...

"May I enter?" he asked. This made a startled Penelope regain her senses and with a blush she stepped back opening the door and mumbling something like "come in".

She then quickly closed the door and fixed her gaze on him in curiosity, wishing to ask o what the the reason for visiting was but before she could say anything he had asked her something.

"Am I disturbing you? Is this a bad time? I think you were just about to leave," Colin said, pointing to her coat, which Penelope had not yet taken off.

"Oh no, oh no... I just got back" Penelope replied and quickly took off the coat and hung it on the coat rack while in her mind millions of questions went through her head. Why was he here? Oh God... Surely, he hadn't come for Philippa or Prudence; he didn't want to see them? To court one of them. No, no! The thought of losing him to some unknown debutante was far more bearable than losing him to one of her sisters... She couldn't handle that. Years of having to watch him be happy... with Philippa or Prudence; it would kill her. It would.

Her voice cracked when she spoke; she did not want to speak; but she had to do it anyway. Her hands were trembling and began to fidget with the flower of her 'belt' that held her dress in place; a dress she vehemently hated as it was an awful looking yellow again and just now, Colin had decided to come along in the dress she so detested and which she felt did nothing to her complexion.

"If you're here to see Philippa or Prudence. They're not present at the moment. They've gone to the modiste" she stated with difficulty and damn why had she sounded so pathetic when uttering the sentence... She couldn't look at him, so she glanced at the floor.

"Actually Penelope" he said in a cheerful voice which made her look up at him; out of curiosity when she heard her name a second time.

"Actually, I am here to see you" he said with a big smile and at that moment it seemed as if a thousand butterflies flew up from their hiding spot inside her.

"W... Why?" she uttered with difficulty.

"I'll be happy to explain that to you... how about tea in the drawing room?".

Technically the two should NOT be alone but she didn't think her mother or anyone else for that matter; would find it improper for them to be. She was a friend of the family, Eloise's for one; and.. only that. Nothing more. A friend. So there was no need in Penelope's eyes to call for a chaperone for they had known each other for years and she was certain there was no 'alternative' motive for his visit; even though somewhere deep down, she hoped there was.

"I am famished" he continued and it was a statement which Penelope suspected was untrue as Colin was someone with a continuously large appetite and known for eating throughout the day.

"Of course... Of course... Tea. Right. Tea" and she began to walk; if he would follow her, but something stilled her in her movement. Colin stilled her movement by reaching for her arm, interlocking it with his, looking at her sweetly.

"Shall we?" he suggested after the two of them had been staring at each other for a minute and had found something in both their eyes. Something of a promise; something of a mutually wordless confession and Penelope knew at that moment however premature the thought; however incredible it was; however, bewildering; that Colin Bridgerton was to be her husband.

WRITER'S NOTE.

Mighty tempted to write a "POLIN" story but that will have to wait for another time. If you are interested in reading more Bridgerton fics of mine, check out "Balance" (about Benedict) and "Composure" a modern era setting story about Kate Sheffield/Sharma and Anthony.

As for these last chapters; you might have noticed similarities/references to 'The Viscount Who Loved me' where I drew inspiration from.

Lastly; just wanted to say... two things.

First: Sorry for the late update; I felt discouraged to write due to a certain issue with A03, but I will not go into that.

Secondly: from the bottom of my heart.. Thank you very much for reading, voting and for your lovely comments.

They mean the world to this shitty fanfic writer; you have no idea how much they do.

Thank you.