Chapter 15

~Several days later~

The doorbell rang. Since Edwina had been alone in the living room watching television, she was the one to go answer it.

It was Anthony. The guy who, at one point, had sent her giddy heart into overdrive – but now the sight of him left her with a cold, dead weight of annoyance in the pit of her stomach.

Edwina leveled him with a stoic glare. "Oh. It's you."

Anthony had the decency to look a bit awkward as he smiled slightly at her. "Hey Edwina. Is Kate home?"

Edwina felt a hot burn of embarrassment and anger clench in her stomach as she resisted rolling her eyes. Of course, he was just here for her sister: Kate was currently upstairs in her bedroom, and while Edwina considered lying and saying her sister wasn't home, she figured that that was too petty. Even for her.

"KATE!" she called, turning away from Anthony as she yelled up the stairs. "Your boyfriend is here to see you."

Edwina tried to keep the disdain out of her voice, but it was difficult. The news had come out the other day that Anthony and Kate were officially boyfriend and girlfriend now: both of them had updated their Facebook statuses to "In a relationship" with the other person, which, to Edwina, felt like twisting the knife in her gut. And it was even worse when Daphne had come over that same day to excitedly congratulate Kate on her and Anthony's new relationship.

"Oh my God, I want to hear everything," Daphne insisted to Kate. They had all been standing in the kitchen, and Edwina was at the counter, determinedly looking down at the cucumber she was slicing for the salad they were making for lunch. "How did he ask you?"

Kate, clearly a bit embarrassed to be talking about this in front of Edwina, explained to Daphne that he had surprised her at Aubrey Farm with a picnic in the woods after she rode a horse out to meet him. After he had officially asked her to be his girlfriend, they ate their picnic while watching the sun set in the distance. Edwina had been sure she was leaving out a lot of details – undoubtedly, all the snogging and cuddling that ensued afterwards – but thankfully Daphne didn't ask for more information.

If it were any other guy in the world, Edwina knew she would excitedly be asking her sister for all the romantic details alongside Daphne. However, the betrayal and hurt still burned inside of Edwina everytime she thought about Kate and Anthony together. She doubted she would be able to get over it anytime soon.

A few moments later, Kate hurried down the stairs, smiling brightly at Anthony. "Hey! I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"Yeah, sorry," Anthony grinned rather sheepishly. "Hopefully not a bad surprise?"

"Not at all," Kate insisted, smiling as a blush stole over her cheeks. "You're the best kind of surprise."

Edwina made a loud gagging sound as she began to walk upstairs to her bedroom. She didn't look back at Kate and Anthony as she went, but she knew they had heard her.

Good.

"Er… anyway," Anthony went on, clearing his throat. "My siblings and I are currently holding a Wii bowling tournament in the games room right now, and the winner gets to choose where we get to order dinner from. Would you like to join us?"

"Oh my God, that sounds amazing!" Kate laughed. "So where do you hope to order dinner from if you win?"

"I want to order Chinese food, but Hyacinth and Gregory both want McDonald's. I think the two of them are going to team up against the rest of us."

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" Kate asked, and Anthony chuckled.

Edwina walked into her bedroom, and her second-floor window overlooked the Bridgerton's house next door. She watched Kate and Anthony now make their way together across the lawn, walking side-by-side while chatting with each other. Whatever they were saying Edwina couldn't hear, but it caused Kate to laugh and playfully shove Anthony away. Anthony stumbled slightly when she pushed him, but the adoring, loved-up smile he gave her was sincere enough to make any girl's heart melt. He reached over to take Kate's hand in his own, weaving their fingers together, and he pulled her closer so their shoulders bumped up against each other. Even from the distance, Edwina could see Kate's wide, happy smile.

Edwina watched them, still annoyed to see them acting so much like a lovey-dovey couple. But, if she were completely honest with herself, she had never seen her sister this happy before.

Edwina wasn't completely heartless: she did feel a small pinch of guilt for constantly behaving like such a brat whenever her sister or Anthony were around. However, that guilt was overshadowed by the anger, embarrassment, and hurt she felt from being led on and lied to by them both. She now knew she shouldn't have been so obvious about her crush on Anthony, but at the time, she had been absolutely convinced that he liked her back.

Judging by the way Anthony looked at Kate, however, Edwina couldn't have been more wrong.

How could I have been so stupid?

When Edwina was crushing on Anthony, it hadn't ever occurred to her that he might like Kate instead. But now that she knew, she realized there had been a ton of signs: his and Kate's shared love of horseback riding, the way he worried over her when she got injured at pall mall, and the way he constantly sought her out whenever they were in the same room together. What Edwina had assumed was his polite interest in Kate had turned out to be much deeper, and what she had thought was his romantic feelings for herself ended up just being indifference.

Edwina was just the dumb little sister of the girl he actually had feelings for, and that realization stung worst of all.

Edwina watched Kate and Anthony walk away until they were out of sight, and she sighed to herself as she turned around and headed back downstairs. Was this going to be her life now? Avoiding her sister and Anthony whenever they were around? That hardly seemed like a solution to her problems, but it was what Edwina felt like she needed to do, at least for the time being.

Edwina went back to the living room so she could continue watching the reality show she'd had on before Anthony showed up. She sat watching the TV for about fifteen minutes before the doorbell rang again.

Edwina frowned to herself as she got up off the couch and walked over to answer the door.

It was Daphne. Edwina could hardly contain her surprise at seeing her on the threshold. "Daphne?"

"Hey Edwina," Daphne said, smiling kindly at her. She was holding a Tupperware container of chocolate chip biscuits, just like she had done a few weeks earlier when Kate was injured. "How are you?"

"Er… I'm good," Edwina said, gazing at her curiously. "What are you doing here? I thought you and your siblings were holding a Wii bowling tournament in your games room right now?"

"Oh. That," Daphne laughed, rolling her eyes. "I didn't really want to play – I'm rubbish at Wii bowling. And besides, I don't really care where they order dinner from since I'm meeting up with Simon later."

"Oh," Edwina said, not really sure what else to say.

"May I come in?" Daphne asked, almost hesitant as she held up the container of biscuits. "I baked you these."

"Oh, thank you," Edwina said, surprised yet flattered as she stepped aside, allowing Daphne to enter. "That's really sweet of you, but you didn't have to do that for me."

"I know," Daphne shrugged. For some reason she looked a bit embarrassed. "But I wanted to. I just spoke to Anthony earlier today, and he told me… well…"

She hesitated, and Edwina suddenly understood. "The misunderstanding," she said simply, looking away. Of course, Daphne had to know about the embarrassing situation she had gotten herself into.

"Yes," Daphne said, looking deeply apologetic. "He explained it all to me, and I'm afraid that I just made it all a whole lot worse when I came over to speak to you a couple weeks ago. I just wanted you to know I'm really sorry for whatever problems I had caused."

She held out the container of biscuits in her hands, and Edwina accepted them. As upset as she was about this whole situation, she couldn't bring herself to be angry at Daphne about it. "It's not your fault, Daphne," Edwina said truthfully, walking over to set the container on the kitchen counter. "It's just an awful situation. I feel like such a fool."

"It was an honest mistake," Daphne said compassionately. "I know that my brother and Kate don't hate you for it."

"No. They just feel guilty that they lied because they wanted to hide their feelings from me," Edwina said sourly, crossing her arms as she looked away.

"I can tell you're still cross with them," Daphne said, grimacing uncomfortably. "I noticed you seemed a bit off when I came over the other day and brought up Anthony to your sister. I went home and asked my brother if something was going on with you regarding Kate, and he told me the truth."

"Am I really that obvious?" Edwina grumbled, not meeting Daphne's eyes. She distracted herself by taking the lid off the Tupperware container and plucking out a biscuit.

"It was nobody's intention to make you feel like a fool, Edwina," Daphne said. "Not mine or Anthony's… or even your sister's."

Edwina clutched her biscuit, staring at a point on the countertop as she tried to work through the lump of emotion in her throat. "I know," she finally said quietly.

And she did know. Deep down, she understood that her sister, Anthony, and Daphne had no cruel intentions toward her, though that didn't necessarily make her feel any better.

"You know, Simon and I have been together for about a year now," Daphne suddenly said, and Edwina looked up at her. "He was my first real boyfriend."

"Really?" Edwina couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah. I'd been crushing on him for weeks before he finally asked me out," Daphne said, and she smiled. "I remember I had these really romantic ideas in my head on what being with Simon would be like – I was convinced love was like a fairy tale, and that he was going to be my knight in shining armor. And when he finally asked me out, I thought all my dreams were coming true… but that turned out not to be the reality at all."

"How so?" Edwina asked, feeling very curious as to what Daphne was going to say. Was she not happy with her relationship?

"In a lot of ways, Simon is wonderful," Daphne said sincerely. "And I love him more than I ever thought possible. But there have been many challenges in our relationship, especially in the beginning, and some of those issues I had thought we would never get past. They really forced me to realize that our relationship wasn't the fairytale I had initially thought it was, and that I truly needed a reality check."

Edwina blinked before frowning slightly. "I'm sorry you had to deal with all that, but what does that have to do with my situation?"

"I was humiliated when I realized my relationship with Simon would never be perfect," Daphne explained. "It was devastating, thinking my relationship was going to end because I had been so stupid to believe a perfect love was out there for me. But I realized I had to risk humiliation when it came to Simon: that's the gamble everyone makes with love. That's the gamble you made too, with Anthony."

"I was humiliated," Edwina agreed. "But it's not like he and I can work things out like you and Simon did."

"No, but this experience can give you the same lesson I had to learn," Daphne said. "That relationships are never going to be how they're built up in our heads. And that's okay."

Edwina blinked, realizing she was probably right on the mark. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I know you're feeling embarrassed right now, but things will get better over time," Daphne said confidently. "You just have to believe that."

Edwina couldn't help but smile back at Daphne, feeling a bit lighter than she had felt in days. "I'll try."

And she would.

A/N: Well, we finally got some Edwina perspective. What did you all think?

I appreciate all the likes and comments!