I arrived in time, arms full of flowers and anxious to find a vase, when a knocking began at the front door. It was later in the evening but the sky was quickly turning black; the tell-tale sign that a thunderstorm was on its way. The knocking persisted at an impatient speed.
"Lady Danbury? Lady Danbury!" She must have already been in the parlour awaiting me by now. With a huff I set down the make-shift bouquet on the nearest table I could reach. My hands straightened out my dress as I weighed my opinions of racing to locate her ladyship or speaking through the door to see who it was. Judging by the harshness of the bangs against the wood of the door I quickly elected for the latter. "I'm coming, I'm coming," my lips uttered underneath my breath. I had only taken two steps forward before a familiar, stern voice drove my feet to a halt.
"Miss Bridgerton! Come away from the door," I spun on my heels to see a firm Lord Basset descending the staircase. His eyes were fixed onto me and not in a happy way. I didn't really see the need to explain myself for the situation seemed quite obvious, and I wasn't feeling particularly tense or frightened either- oddly enough. But I thought I might say something for his grace's benefit. "Someone's at the door," I told him. He approached me, keeping our usual distance of five feet or so. His gloved hands clasped behind his back upset. "Go upstairs," he commanded. I blinked in surprise but not shock. "My lord….." My mouth began but didn't really know where to go from there. "Now!" His voice raised, albeit not by much.
Seeing no sense in staying to argue, I did as I was told and went up the staircase. Lord Basset watched me go, waiting until I had disappeared down the hallway before opening the front door. There was another male voice speaking back to his lordship. I couldn't make out what the men were saying to each other but I knew I'd heard that voice from somewhere before. It became clear to me who the visitor- or should I say messenger- was when Lord Basset soon joined Lady Danbury and myself in the parlour bearing an envelop in his hand with the Cowper wax seal.
I was currently at the piano setting up to play a melody. Lady Danbury was in her usual chair working on her needlework. We both turned to Lord Basset as he marched into the room and took his usual seat; his eyes were glaring right at me. Something her ladyship detected immediately, blinking at him perplexed. "What's wrong with you, boy?" Lord Basset ignored her question, addressing me first.
"What were you thinking just now? Were you going to open the door by yourself?" "No, of course not! I always speak through the servant vent with the door securely locked." "Always?! You mean this has happened before?" Lord Basset gasped scandalized. I rolled my eyes. "Just one other time. That very first letter I left outside your room; it was brought by a messenger in livery- on an afternoon much like this evening actually," I glanced at the oncoming black sky through the window.
His grace let out a sigh, sitting back in his chair and running his hand along his face. "It must have been the same messenger. He just came from the Cowper estate." "Really?" My carer visibly perked up. She held her hand out for the envelop which Lord Basset surrendered without hesitation. I silently observed Lady Danbury open the letter, pull it out, scan it over, and send a disapproving frown his grace's way.
"You can't avoid this forever, Simon." "We won't know unless I try," his lordship flashed her a grin which Lady Danbury did not appreciate. I had to stifle a smile at the look she was currently searing him with. "Don't mock me, boy. I've had to keep them in the wings on your behalf while you were abroad. It's time now that you start acting like a man and the rightful Duke of Hastings and write Miss Cressida Cowper back."
Lord Basset paused, looked at me, then at the letter in Lady Danbury's hand, then back in my direction. His face betrayed his contorted emotions, which a clearing of the throat accentuated. "I do not wish to discuss this in front of Miss Bridgerton," he didn't sound as confident as I think he wanted to. Lady Danbury blinked surprised. "Why not? There's nothing to hide; we're just arranging a marriage." "Because…! B-Because I do not want to make Miss Bridgerton uncomfortable," he cleared his throat again. As was her way, her ladyship waved her hand dismissively at him. "Oh, nonsense. Daphne has no opinion on this. Humans can't even get married legally." "Why is that?" I asked Lady Danbury, curious by her statement. I knew this to be true but never really understood why. Maybe that's because no one ever bothered to tell me before.
Her ladyship glanced at me, a bit taken aback by my query. "Why, because the sole purpose of marriage is the procreation of offspring. It would be pointless for a vampire to marry a human since you can't have children." "Can I have children with other humans?" I asked after considering it for a moment. But my carer simply stared me dead in the eye. "You think vampires wouldn't take advantage of that if you could?" "Good point," I nodded understanding. Then I thought about everything for another minute. "So… Vampires only marry when they want children?" "What other reason would we have for marriage? Love? Ha! Vampires don't fall in love with one another like you humans. No, it's for passing on the family name, which is why your father arranged this engagement before he died, your grace," Lady Danbury shot Lord Basset a look with her final sentence. His lordship was scowling, keeping his arms defiantly crossed and not meeting her gaze.
"You're going to have to give the Cowpers an answer sooner or later. And going off the frequency of their letters, it'd better be "sooner"," her ladyship told him with firmness. He still refused to look at her. "What if I don't want to have children? Father never asked my opinion on the matter." "You think your opinion matters? You're too spoilt, Simon; no one gives a damn about your "opinion". You're a duke- it's your job to sire an heir to inherit the family name and your title after you. That's all you have to do." "But what if I don't "want" to do it? What if I don't want to get married? I don't appreciate being strong-armed into all this," Lord Basset's arms flung up into the air irritated. The mood in the room was growing more tense by the minute. Lady Danbury's eyes sharpened onto him intensely; she was clearly not impressed by his reluctant attitude on the subject. "Listen here, boy. Your father left you a small empire. His only wish was for you to marry a respectable young woman and sire a son. He expects that of you and society expects that of you. Staying a bachelor is not an option for you- not in your position."
Lord Basset fumed, saying nothing in response. Her ladyship rolled her eyes, shook her head in exasperation, and looked in my direction. "You're so lucky you can't marry, child. You avoid all this stress and aggravation." My shoulder gave a shrug. "I shouldn't mind getting married, if it was to someone I loved…." But she merely waved me off. "Oh, that's just ridiculous. No one in their right mind would get married if they could avoid it. Why, my father had to arrange my marriage behind my back while I was nursing humans in Newcastle. That's just the way it is for us," she said with a wistful sigh. I took it that she sympathized with Lord Basset but couldn't let him off the hook. My eyes slowly wandered back to his grace, who was still sitting there with his back pressed up against his seat's cushion and his arms grimly crossed. I thought it best not to disturb him- he clearly wasn't in a good mood. Not that I blamed him.
Lady Danbury wiped her brow with the back of her gloved hand. "Ah, never mind all that, dear child. Your brother will have delivered you to London before the wedding is even announced, so luckily you'll miss all the drama accompanying it." She said this and for the first time in a while Lord Basset and I looked at each other. Both of our eyes betrayed us; neither was particularly happy with her ladyship's comment. It's not that she was wrong, more so the fact that it reminded us just how little time I had in Hastings- even though she originally told his grace that it may take years for Anthony to find me safe lodging. But combined with the fact that the duke had returned early and was set to be engaged, it made sense that my brother would come fetch me sooner than expected. I didn't like it, but it made sense. I didn't want to leave the manor so soon. Lord Basset and I were just blossoming into fertile friendship.
I felt so lucky to have a friend like him.
As if to be reading my mind, Lord Basset smiled at me. He leaned back in a more relaxed pose and uncrossed his arms, setting them gently down onto his knees. "Why don't you play something, Miss Bridgerton? Play a song for me, er us!" He hastily corrected himself. Grinning back his way, I then turned to face the keys. "Very well, my lord; I'll play something.
For you, I'll play anytime."