A/N: Thank you all for your reviews and support! I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Chapter 17: Truth or lies?

Kate stood in the garden with Anthony for several more minutes, him still holding her while running a hand along her back as she tried to compose herself. She knew she didn't want to just stand around in the garden crying for the rest of the day, but she also didn't really want to go back to the house and face everyone's awkward questions. She felt stuck in an uncomfortable limbo, and she didn't quite know what to say or do.

"The others are probably gathering for lunch soon," Anthony spoke after several silent minutes. Kate finally pulled away from him, and Anthony let her go, his hands running along her forearms before finally dropping to his sides. "Did you want to join us? It may help if you cleared the air with the others about what really happened between you and Tom."

Kate let out a tremulous smile, wiping away the last of her tears. "That's going to be an awkward conversation," she said glibly, and she sniffled. "If Tom or Edwina are with the others, I think it would probably be best if I just stayed up in my room."

Anthony gave her a firm look. "You did nothing wrong, Kate. You have nothing to be ashamed of – if anyone deserves to hide away in their room, it's Tom. Not you."

Kate didn't say anything to that, but she appreciated Anthony for saying it. "I suppose we should be heading back," she conceded. "Before any ugly rumors abound."

Anthony offered her a smile. "That's the spirit."

They walked together back to the house, neither of them saying anything. Kate's mind was swirling with everything that had happened and wondering how she was going to fix it, but she was still coming up blank.

They walked through the front doors, and immediately they saw Daphne standing at the foot of the grand staircase, talking to Rose the housekeeper. Rose was holding a food tray with two silver cloches on it and a pitcher of water.

"Thank you Rose, I appreciate it," Daphne was saying gratefully to Rose, who nodded before making her way upstairs. Daphne turned at the sound of Kate and Anthony entering the foyer, and she gave a relieved smile.

"Kate," Daphne exclaimed, and she hurried over before pulling Kate into a tight hug. "How are you? I wanted to run after you along with Anthony, but I needed to calm down the situation here first. Tom and Edwina went up to their room – or rather, Tom went upstairs after Edwina. I'm not sure if they went into their room or somewhere else. The others are in the dining room and getting ready to eat lunch, and so I just sent Rose upstairs to give Tom and Edwina something to eat."

Kate couldn't help but feel immensely relieved that Tom wasn't with the others, and she gave a small smile. "Okay."

"Is everyone still talking about what happened?" Anthony asked.

"Yeah. God, Tom is such a massive prick," Daphne said spitefully, shaking her head. "We invited him into our home, and within a day he just decided to lob this verbal grenade on us like it's nothing! What kind of egomaniac does that?"

Kate felt oddly soothed by Daphne's vitriol toward Tom, and she grimaced. "And we still have to work with that arsehole too, don't forget."

"Ugh, I wish I could," Daphne rolled her eyes. "I have half a mind to report him to the board of medicine."

"I doubt that would help me repair my relationship with my sister," Kate said, a note of sadness in her voice.

"Edwina will come around, Kate," Anthony reassured her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know she will. In fact, I have half a mind to kick Tom out for all this drama he's caused us."

"Don't do that Anthony – please," Kate begged him. "That would only further upset Edwina, and I don't want to give her any more reason to hate me."

"She doesn't hate you, Kate," Anthony said. "But I won't throw out that tosser if you don't want me to… even if he deserves it."

"Did you want to go see the others, Kate?" Daphne asked apprehensively. "They're in the dining room right now. Of course, I'd understand if you wanted to be alone right now…"

"No," Kate said, shaking her head. "I want to set the record straight with them, before anyone thinks I'm some sort of boyfriend stealer."

"They don't think that about you, Kate," Daphne assured her. "I've tried to explain your history with Tom to them, but I do think it would be better if it came from you."

"Yeah," Kate nodded, and with that, the three of them began making their way to the dining room, Kate's heart thudding in her chest as they went.

They arrived in the dining room, where everybody was gathered and whispering urgently amongst each other. The moment Kate, Daphne, and Anthony entered the room, however, they all immediately went silent. That did nothing to soothe Kate's anxiety, but she didn't say anything as the three of them moved to sit down in the vacant seats closest to them.

"Kate," Eloise finally spoke, shooting a furtive glance toward Colin, who was also staring at her. "Erm… how are you?"

"Fantastic," she said in a flat voice, causing the others to smile weakly.

"If you're hungry for lunch, Brimsley just made a steak and kidney pie," Penelope piped up. "He'll be serving it up in a minute."

"Thanks, but I'm not feeling very hungry at the moment," Kate said, not bothering to hide how upset she was by the day's events.

"So… did you hook up with Tom behind your sister's back or something?" Colin asked point-blank. Everyone whipped their heads around to look at him.

"Colin!" Daphne chastised.

"What?" he shrugged. "We're all thinking it. We have no idea what just happened out there…"

"I already told you –!" Daphne began heatedly.

"No, I didn't," Kate interrupted firmly, and the others looked over at her. She let out a breath, knowing she had to start from the beginning. "Tom and I… we have a complicated history that Edwina didn't know about, alright? I feel awful for hiding the truth from her, but there it is. After he and I ended things, I found out Tom was fooling around with other women while we were together, and after that I hated him and wanted nothing to do with him. But he and Edwina met a few weeks ago, and Edwina was drawn in by his charms. I kept trying to discourage her from going out with him, telling her what kind of person he was, but they still got together. I never wanted her to find out our past, but Tom decided to tell her the truth today for some reason."

"Tom actually threatened Kate when she wanted to tell Edwina the truth," Daphne added, still looking upset as she glanced over at Kate. "I saw it with my own eyes. He said he would tell Edwina that Kate's secretly in love with him and that was the real reason why she disapproved of them dating."

Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw Anthony clench his hands into fists. He remained silent, however.

"He seriously said that to Kate?" Eloise looked appalled. "That absolute prick!"

"He's really got some nerve," Penelope said, also frowning. "To go to such lengths to hide the truth, and then to just tell everyone anyway…"

"Yeah, what the hell is his problem?" Colin scowled, also looking pissed on Kate's behalf. "I'm sorry, Kate, for asking if you hooked up with Tom behind Edwina's back."

"That's okay," Kate said dully. "I don't blame you all for thinking ill of me. I feel terrible about all of this."

"This isn't your fault, Kate," Simon said seriously. "This is just a really shitty situation and Tom is dragging you in the middle of."

"That's right," Daphne said firmly. "We've got your back, Kate. We'll help you make sure Edwina sees that you have her best interests at heart."

Everyone nodded their agreement, and Kate felt more touched by all their support than she was willing to express. She felt her eyes well up with tears as she smiled at them. "Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate it."

And she did. It truly felt good to be surrounded by friends like this, and she knew she wouldn't have been able to handle this situation half so well if it weren't for them. Like when Anthony was comforting her in the garden earlier, she couldn't help but feel a bit better about the whole situation now.


Anthony was trying his best to hide how angry he was about what Tom did, but it was proving to be difficult.

All throughout lunch, Kate seemed to come back a bit more to her normal self, but the sadness and distress she felt from what Tom had said to Edwina earlier was clearly still eating at her. He wished he could fix this entire situation for her, but he knew there wasn't much he himself could do. He very dearly wanted to toss Tom out on his arse, but Kate asked him not to, and he was going to respect that.

Once lunch was finished, everyone went their separate ways. Eloise and Penelope went up to their shared bedroom to hang out while Colin, Daphne, and Simon decided to pull out the pall mall set to play in the backyard once again. They invited Anthony and Kate to join them, but Kate said she just wanted to be alone in her room for a bit. Anthony said he preferred some solitude as well: he thought about hanging out in his father's old study for the evening, but eventually decided to go for a walk around the property to where his father's grave was.

It was difficult times like these when he missed his father the most.

He headed out to his Edmund's grave, which sat beneath one of his and his father's favorite oak trees. Anthony gathered together a small bouquet of lilies and hyacinths before placing them at the foot of his father's gravestone. He stood there for a while, thinking about his childhood with his father and about everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

He thought about Kate – about when he had first met her, and how since the moment she stepped into his life she had thrown his whole world into chaos. He thought back to when he saw her for the first time at the pub and she had thoroughly chastised him for breaking up with Siena over the phone; when she had come by his office for an impromptu lunch and helped him fend off Cressida's aggressive flirtations; when she was smiling and laughing with that little boy in the hospital; when she had come to The Waldorf with him and chugged down that Irish car bomb before laughing with him, looking absolutely stunning in her little black dress.

Anthony couldn't help but smile to himself. His father would have absolutely loved Kate, he was sure of it.

His smile faded, however, as he thought about how she was stung by a bee this morning, and how she had successfully pulled him out of a panic attack when he had begun spiraling. He thought about the look in her eyes right before he couldn't resist leaning forward and kissing her.

At this point, he knew he was completely and totally gone for Kate. But if she felt the same way about him, he had no idea.

Anthony stayed at his father's grave for a while afterward, just ruminating on his thoughts, before eventually making his way back to the house. It was getting pretty late, and he could see the sun setting over the treetops in the distance.

Once he approached the house, he saw somebody step out of the front doors. He stopped in his tracks the moment he saw who it was, and his blood pressure immediately spiked.

"Anthony," Tom greeted, walking down the stone steps and heading toward him.

"What are you doing out here?" Anthony asked immediately, not bothering to hide the cold disdain in his voice.

Tom shrugged casually, looking unaffected. "Just going for a walk. Is that a crime?"

"You know, you're lucky I haven't thrown you out of the house yet," Anthony said angrily, narrowing his eyes. "After what you did to Kate and Edwina today, you'd deserve it."

Tom shot him a glare, not hiding his own disdain toward Anthony. "I only did what I thought was right, Bridgerton. But if you feel that that deserves me to be thrown out of the house, then nothing's stopping you."

"Kate doesn't want to further upset Edwina," Anthony countered. "So I'm respecting her wishes, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't kick your arse to the curb the first chance I get."

Tom's eyes flashed, and Anthony knew he had touched on something. He gave Anthony a smirk. "Ah, so Kate wants me to stay? Interesting."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Anthony moved closer so he was up in Tom's face, glaring at the other man.

"Nothing," Tom said in a casual voice. "But you obviously know about my history with Kate now, don't you?"

Anthony felt his anger spike once again, though he kept it reined in, his jaw clenched. "I've known the truth about you two for a while now," he stated. "Enough to know how much of a piece of shit you really are."

Tom's face morphed into a scowl. "Careful," he said warningly. "Whatever truth you think you know, you're wrong. And I've known Kate for much longer than you – don't go deluding yourself into thinking that whatever you two have together is special. Trust me, that woman is nothing but trouble."

Anthony blinked, realizing in that moment why Tom was doing all this. He was pissed seeing Anthony and Kate spending time together here at Aubrey Hall. Whether it was jealousy or just his ego being bruised, Anthony didn't know, but that knowledge gave him a strong sense of satisfaction.

Anthony gave Tom a onceover, his expression cool. "I see. Well, I think I'll be the judge of who's trustworthy or not. Incidentally, I don't think someone who's slept their way through half the nurses at St. Bartholomew's has any right to be a good judge of character. Don't you think?"

He didn't wait for Tom's response as he stepped past him and made his way back into the house.


A/N: Ugh Tom… just the absolute worst.

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