Lord & Lady Hawkin's Innovations Ball
"Mr. Bridgerton, wherever did you find such courage?" Miss Emily asks Colin.
Looking over her shoulder, he sees her. Penelope. She's looking radiant and oh so beautiful in Bridgerton Blue, causing his heart to stutter. "Well, I believe that…Um… courage is within us all." She's locked eyes with him. The tension is palpable between them. He wonders if she can feel it as well. "As long as we are honest with ourselves and about our feelings, it is possible to do anything."
Penelope gives him the smallest smirk and he sees her nod slightly before turning and walking away. Colin watches her as she walks towards Lord Debling. His heart breaks. Why him?
"Um," he swallows convulsively, "Pardon me ladies." He cannot watch as the woman he has all of these strong feelings for throws herself at a man that is not him. Has she truly forgotten that kiss? It plays over and over in his head. Consuming his every thought.
His chaotic thoughts are interrupted by his mother, Lady Violet. "Colin, have you seen Francesca?"
He smiles softly at his mother. Perhaps she can give him some insight. "I have not. May I ask you a question mother?" He's met with his mother's warm smile and bright eyes.
"Anything dearest." She steps closer, placing a gentle hand on her son's arm.
"As you consider suitable matches for Francesca, what do you hope she finds?" Colin decides it best to use his younger sister as an example to put the pressure off of himself.
"I wish for Francesca the same thing I wanted for myself, for Anthony, for Daphne." She smiles softly. "Passion, excitement, a love that is thrilling." She can see the light leave his eyes a moment as he contemplates what to say next.
"I thought you believed the best foundation for great love was friendship."
"Indeed, I do. It is how your father and I began. But it is rare to begin as friends and for both parties to then feel more." Violet now understands that her sweet, sensitive son is not, in fact, inquiring about 'suitable matches' for his sister, but for himself. And not just anyone either. His dearest friend. The one lady that she knows would be perfect for him. Penelope Featherington.
Colin contemplates a moment as he looks around the ballroom, his eyes settling on his Pen. "Mm. And how did you and Father know it was reciprocated?"
"Because he gathered the courage to ask." A knowing smile spreads across his mother's face.
"Uh… Well…I hope if Francesca finds it, she is brave enough to ask the question."
Violet squeezes his hand before letting go. "I hope she is as well." She watches as he walks away, hopefully in search for Penelope.
Colin finally finds her alone and approaches with determination. Her face lights up as she spots him walking towards her. "Colin. Finally free from your admirers." Her faces takes on a look of concern. Colin is staring at her, he is close. "Are you well?"
He is so close to her that if he just bent a little, he could taste those tempting lips once more. "There is a question I have been needing to ask you."
Penelope starts to look eager to hear the question. What could it be? His lips move, but no words come out. He's staring at her mouth now. Certainly he would not want to kiss her again! And not in front of most of the Bon Ton!
"Colin?"
"I..." he finally starts to speak before they are interrupted.
"Miss Featherington." She looks over to see Lord Debling standing with his hand out. "I believe it is time for our dance."
She looks at Colin. Is he going to ever ask her? When a moment longer than necessary goes by, she acquiesces to Debling's request. "Of course, my lord." Colin sees hellfire as Penelope takes Debling's hand. No! This is not happening. He starts to spiral internally.
"Mr. Bridgerton." The smirk the young lord gives him finally shakes him out of his downward spiral.
"No!" He shouts as he grabs Penelope's other hand causing several gasps to ring out. "Penelope, please. I need to speak with you."
"Col, um, Mister Bridgerton, this is not proper." She begins. He shakes his head.
"Sorry, Debling, but you cannot have that dance. Penelope, I need to tell you something very important." Lord Debling pulls her away from him before Colin tugs her back to himself. "Unhand her!" The other gentleman drops her hand and looks to Penelope.
"Miss Featgerington?" Penelope looks between both men.
"Please excuse me while I see what is bothering Mister Bridgerton, my lord." She says as diplomatically as possible. He nods and steps to the side to wait.
"Colin, what is so important that you are making a spectacle?" Colin takes her gloved hands in his, he brings them to his lips and kisses them lightly causing her to gasp.
"I need to know how you feel about me." Her eyes widen in shock. "Because, Pen, if you're feelings are as loud and consuming as mine are, I beg of you. Do not dance with that man." He's got tears swirling in his eyes. Her heart is beating so hard.
Is this really happening? "And what is it that you feel, Colin?" She asks in a quiet voice as her breasts begin to heave.
"That you are my dearest friend. You are mine. I cannot think straight. I can hardly eat because the anxiety of not knowing if you have feelings beyond friendship for me. Because Penelope Anne Featherington," he wraps her in his arms no longer caring that the whole of Mayfair society can see them, "I am in love with you."
Courage is a powerful tool. And that evening, they both showed it.
"Oh, Colin!" She looked up into his sincere eyes, "I have been in love with you since I knock you from your horse when we were children." He couldn't stop himself. Propriety be damned. He kissed her. And then she kissed him back. Shouts and gasps could be heard all around them, but they did not care. They were in love.
The next day, courage came from Penelope once more. She had asked for a private audience with Colin and requested Eloise as chaperone. Eloise seemed like she wanted anything but until a look between the two ladies was exchanged. They sat in the upstairs' drawing room.
"Colin, if we are to court, I need to tell you something. Something that may change the way you feel about me. It is why Eloise," she motioned towards Colin's younger sister, "has been so cross with me." Taking a deep breath, she let out her secret. "Colin, I am Lady Whistledown."
He looked shocked and confused. "No. No, you're not. Pen?" He looked at his sister and saw her looking into her lap. "El? You, you knew? And you did not tell me?" His sister looked up then.
"It was not MY secret to tell, Colin! And I was too distraught and heartbroken to say anything. She wrote about me. About Marina. You loved Marina and Pen ruined your chance at happiness!" Penelope started to cry silently.
"I didn't love Marina." They both looked at him in shock. "I simply believed myself in love, but it was nothing like what I feel for," he stopped and looked straight into Penelope's azure eyes. "You, Penelope." He day down next to her and took her hand. "Tell me why and how you do it."
So she did. She told them how she felt invisible and how nobody ever really looked her way. She told them how her father's solicitor found her scribbles from her first society event and found them so clever, he asked to see more of her writings. "That's when he came up with the idea of the gossip sheet. I came up with the name and he put me in contact with a friend of his that owned a printing press. The printer gets 5% of the profits and 5% goes to the delivery boys."
After explaining why she wrote about Eloise, Colin was convinced that Penelope was the most impressive woman in his acquaintance and more than likely all of England. "You're brilliant, do you know that?" He pulled her close and leaned in to kiss her.
"Hey! I'm still here!" Eloise shouted as she ran out covering her eyes. They both chuckled as the door closed with a snick.
"Where were we?"
Just over a year later, they were gathered in the Featherington drawing room after the christening of their son, Elliott Colin Bridgerton, the new Lord Featherington. They had married three months after their courtship. Their son was born eight months later. You do the math.
"Of course you had the first boy." Prudence teased as she adjust her daughter in her lap. Penelope simply smiled as she rocked her 8 week old son in her arms. Looking up she saw her husband staring at her with a soft smile. He walked over and bent down to kiss her chastely on the lips.
"Can I?" They looked and both of their mothers smiling at them waiting to hold their grandson. Penelope handed him off to her mother, Portia. Their mothers had become close friends since the announcement of their marriage. Planning the wedding together, working together, even supporting each other when Penelope was unmasked as Lady Whistledown.
"My wife." Colin said as he took his wife in his arms.
"My husband." She kissed his jaw.
"Mother of our child." He pulled her even closer. Nobody even paid them any mind any longer, so used to their antics.
"Father of our child." She tipped her head back and smiled at him. "Gregory is now planning his first tour after he finishes Eton. Your book was his inspiration, he says." Colin Bridgerton was now a published author. His first book was put out with raving reviews, and there were five more planned books to follow over the next ten years.
"Thank you for believing in me." He said as he leaned down for a more languid kiss. "I love you."
"And I love you, Mr. Bridgerton. It was your courage though that made all of this happen."
And it was. For without the courage to stop her dancing with Lord Debling and confessing his feelings, none of this beautiful life would have been possible.
The End
I hope you all enjoyed this alternate version
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." Nelson Mandela