"No, I don't care if there's no one named Jim working for you at the moment! This concerns MY son, who- might I add- has a severe allergy to bees which he inherited from my father! So I won't say it again! If anyone contacts you under that name looking for custodial employment, you throw out his CV without reservation! Do you understand me?"
I had to admit, proving me wrong in every possible way, Anthony took to this parenting thing a lot faster- and arguably better- than I did. Maybe it's because he has a slurry of younger siblings, most of which are still living at home and which he has taken personal responsibility of after Edmund's passing. Becoming a mother- like overnight- was much more of a shock to me and I had no idea how to begin raising a child. But Anthony….. I'd never say this out loud but seeing him in "father-mode" with our son was the sexiest thing I'd ever witnessed. He doted on little Sasha, perhaps to the point of being a little too overprotective. But it was both charming and reassuring for me to see….. At least I know now that our son was in the best of care….. in his original timeline when I wasn't there to look out for him.
Anthony yelled at some poor HR person at the Natural History Museum, irate that our son could be put in potential danger by their uh, "lax supervision" over their exhibits. Meanwhile I sat at the breakfast table far away from the scene with an oblivious Sasha; now I understand why he was told NOT to tell his father about all that. He merrily ate his Froot Loops, drenched in milk, humming to himself and smiling up at me. I, with only a cup of Indian tea in front of me, grinned back at our son, reaching over to squeeze his arm lovingly. Some of the Bridgertons, namely Violet and Benedict, were also in the room with that latter being quite amused by his brother's antics so early in the morning. I guess they were used to Anthony's overreacting- and first thing of the day too.
When Sasha's father was finally done his barrage, he entered into the kitchen, giving a general head nod to the collective. "Morning." "Morning," some of us replied, all while Benedict tried to suppress a grin. Ignoring his brother, Anthony's attention immediately turned onto Sasha, who beamed bright at his dad's arrival. "Hi Dad!" "Good morning," he came over to our son's side, now smiling and wrapping his arms around his small frame. Sasha kissed his cheek, making Anthony lit up all happy.
"Have a good sleep?" "Yup!" Sasha announced before turning back to his cereal. Anthony retracted his arms before glancing at me sitting next to our son. His grin faded somewhat but he still looked intent, clasping his hands behind him. "Good morning," his tone was short but not mean. "Good morning," I replied back, resting the side of my head against my forefinger and thumb casually. After swallowing another bite, Sasha motioned to the empty chair on his other side.
"Come sit with us, Dad!" "Actually, we need to get going soon," he responded and Sasha's head cocked slightly. "Where're we going?" "I've arranged emergency check-ups for you and your mother." "What's a…. check-up?" "It's nothing to worry about. I'm just going to have the doctor look you two over, to make sure everything's ok," Anthony stated with calmness. I, however, perked up a puzzled eyebrow. This was the first I was hearing about any doctor appointment for me, but before I could ask the obvious, Sasha frowned suddenly very, very upset.
"Ugh! Not another doctor's appointment! We've been to like a hundred of them this week! Why do I have to keep going back to the doctor? Mom said I wasn't sick!" "Y-You're not sick! This is just a formal check-up, f-for my own reassurance. I just want to make sure you're nice and healthy. That's all," Anthony placed his hand on Sasha's shoulder, kneeling down to the floor so he was at our son's eye level. Unsurprisingly he was not convinced, crossing his arms defiantly. Heh, I wonder where he learned that from?
"I'm sick of going to the doctor…." Sasha pouted. "Please, just do this for me. This'll be the last time you have to go….. this week," he was wise to tack on, not that Sasha knew why his father did that. Sasha just looked him in the eye, conflicted. "Promise?" "I promise." A brief, considering pause. "Will I have to get any shots?" "Uhhhhhhh….. I-I don't know. BUT if you do this for me, then we'll spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want. You pick- whatever you decide." "Really?!" This grabbed Sasha's full attention as his eyes widened, and Anthony confidently nodded his head, keeping his hand firmly, adoringly on Sasha's shoulder. "Really. It'll be the whole day, just you and me." "And Mom!" Sasha added quickly, making Anthony's expression contort a little. But he soon resumed his kind smile and nodded again. "And….. Mom," he agreed, and our son suddenly took off like a shot, running down the hall all excited for some reason. Smiling like he'd just done something right, Anthony's posture straightened back up and his hands clasped behind his back before he turned to me.
"I've arranged two doctor appointments for you. They're at separate clinics; I'll have our driver take you there." "Uh, excuse me? Don't I get any say in this?" "No. I want to ensure both you and Sasha are in top health. Oh! Which reminds me, I've also taken the liberty of ordering you both a selection of vitamins; they should be delivered here today." Ok, I'll also admit…. Nobody, let alone a guy, had ever talked to me or treated me this way before. The feminist inside of me was screaming "it's my body and I'll take and do what I want!", but…. I'd be lying if there wasn't another part of me that was…. for lack of a better word "curious". It didn't help that whenever he said stuff like that, my heart beat a mile a minute. I wasn't used to be taken care of and concerned over; it'd always been the other way around for me. I was the care-giver, not the cared-for. It felt weird having the roles reversed for a change. And while I still believed whole-heartedly in bodily autonomy….. It helped that I knew that Anthony wasn't coming from a place of control or desire to control. It was a place of fear and wanting his son to have the best life possible…
Cue more swooning here.
I wanted to hide it though and so pretended to be offended, or at least mildly offended, folding my arms and glaring up at him from my seat. "I don't need you ordering vitamins for me." "I just want to ensure you're healthy. What's so wrong with that?" His voice rose a bit and Violet FINALLY stepped forward, raising her hand up toward her son. "Don't you think that's a bit much, dearest? Kate is a grown woman, after all; she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself." "I know that! I just…. I just to help…. any way I can," Anthony retorted and I shook my head, still trying to look upset.
"And what about my sister? How are you "going to help" with that?" Anthony shot me a look. "You leave that to me. It's no concern of yours," he remarked and I blinked incredulously. "Uh… Edwina's my sister. She's coming back to London this evening, isn't she? How is it not going to be "my" concern when she finds me and Sasha staying here?" "You don't worry about that! Worrying is bad for your health. Just leave everything to me; I'll take care of it," Anthony proclaimed with resolution. Everyone looked at him in a mix of awe and confusion, and that's when the pieces fell into place for me.
Ooooooooh, I get it now. He's worried about me becoming stressed, since stress has been linked to well….. all sorts of bad health outcomes. He's trying to shoulder everything on his own for me and Sasha…. Just like how he's done for the rest of his family up until now. In a weird, twisted sort of way, this is his method of protection. He's protecting me….. In his own bizarre, overbearing, ridiculous, charming way of his.
Realizing this, I hadn't also realized that I was smiling at the moment. Neither did Anthony clock my facial expression, but his mother and brother certainly did, peering from my face back to Anthony's. Meanwhile I stood up and stretched my hand out to gently pat Anthony on the arm in a reassuring, supportive manner.
'Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Just let me talk to Edwina tonight," I calmly told him but he firmly shook his head, after staring back at me for a second. "Absolutely not. I'M handling this. You just worry about you and our son; I can deal with the rest." "I'm not a child, Anthony. I can help you with this; we can be a team on stuff, you know. We do share a son, after all." "Yes, we do…. And I want to make sure that we KEEP sharing our son. And don't you tell me not to worry about you. It's not a choice I make, Dr. Sharma, to worry about you or Sasha." Concealing a grin, my eyebrow playfully arched. "Oh? I beg to differ; there's plenty of de-stressing techniques you can try, Mr. Bridgerton," there was a hint of playfulness when I said his name, which he caught onto. Flashing me a cunning grin and still looking right into my eyes, his own lowered a tad. "Maybe for you, but they don't work on me. Trust me, I've learned a long time ago that there's no "off switch" when it comes to fretting over your family.
I'll never be able to turn my concern for your or Sasha's wellbeing "off", Dr. Sharma."