When the Stars go Blue – Bono and The Corrs
Dancing when the stars go blue
Dancing where the evening fell
Dancing in your wooden shoes
In a wedding gown
Dancing out on 7th Street
Dancing through the underground
Dancing with a marionette
Are you happy now?
Where do you go when you're lonely
Where do you go when you're blue
Where do you go when you're lonely
I'll follow you
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
Laughing with your pretty mouth
Laughing with your broken eyes
Laughing with your lovers tongue
In a lullaby
Where do you go when you're lonely
Where do you go when you're blue
Where do you go when you're lonely
I'll follow you
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
Where do you go
Where do you go when you're lonely
Where do you go when you're blue (yeah)
Where do you go when you're lonely
I'll follow you (follow you, follow you, yeah)
Where do you go when you're lonely
Where do you go when you're blue
Where do you go when you're lonely
I'll follow you
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
When the stars go blue
Just when he was caressing his wife's face thinking of any way they could excuse themselves and start their Honeymoon, the Queen made her entrance. "Her Majesty the Queen."
He watched highly annoyed at the interruption and of his mother-in-law grovelling to the Queen. This should have been Penelope's big day and yet he was relatively certain that the only thing his wife had gotten a say in was her wedding dress.
"Everyone who is not a Bridgerton may go." Now what?
It surprised him when Penelope turned to leave the room. "Penelope. You are a Bridgerton now." He had thought of her as his wife from the moment he had proposed. He held onto her hand as everyone but family and Lady Danbury who was as good as family left the celebration.
"Someone in this room has something to hide. And I shall not leave until they come forward and reveal themselves." He could see the colour leave his wife's face out of the corner of his eye. "The longer you delay, the greater my irritation. Step forward. Confess."
It was to everyone's amazement that Francesca stepped forward. "It is I. I bear the secret." What could his sister possibly be hiding?
"You?" Clearly the Queen had someone in mind and it wasn't Francesca.
"Yes. I am engaged to Lord Kilmartin." That was hardly a secret. His sister had been quite obvious in her feelings for Lord Kilmartin. "I have been humbled by your majesty's interest in my prospects, perhaps so much so that I have not been bold enough in declaring myself. But I love Lord Kilmartin. And I plan to marry him. With .. Your majesty's blessing, of course." That was the longest speech he had ever heard his sister make.
"That is no great mystery, Miss Francesca. Your romantic sensibilities have been obvious for some time. You do not need my blessing to marry." That was a first. Simon and Daphne had to be granted an audience with the Queen before they could marry.
"But that … is not why I am here. I speak of Whistledown." So she was there for Pen. This is what he had been afraid of. "I know she is in this room. I was close last year. Tantalizingly so." Somehow, he doubted that. "And now, only when the Cowper girl publishes lies about this very family, suddenly Whistledown rushes to print." He may not have discovered Pen's secret if Cressida had not been so quick to attack his family. "This is what roused her from her hiding place. And why? Clearly because she is one of you." He tightened his grip on Pen's hand as he felt her move to step forward.
"Your majesty. I assure you if such a thing were happening in my home, I would know of it, and I would have put a stop to it a long time ago." How wrong Anthony was. Pen had been clever enough to keep it undercover this long.
"Very well. Hold your tongue another night. I shall loosen it soon enough." Obviously the Queen was not pleased that no one fell at her feet and admitted they were Lady Whistledown. She left as swiftly as she arrived.
He couldn't stand remaining in the room any longer. The Queen had gotten too close this time. He heard someone follow and he just hoped it wasn't his mother. He turned and found his wife behind him.
"I did not know if it would help or hurt your family if I were to speak." Definitely hurt. The Queen would assume that the whole family had been aware that Penelope was Lady Whistledown all along. And although no doubt Hyacinth would be thrilled to find out that her new sister was Lady Whistledown, the rest of the family who didn't know might not be so happy.
"I am glad you stayed silent. But surely, this is a signal of the right path forward. That it is time for you to give up your column." They were married now. What need did she have for it? "Yes?"
Colin, I …" Did she not see how dangerous this could be for her?
"She will find you, eventually." The Queen had gotten too close already. "And as long as you are Whistledown, forever this lie will hang over all of us."
"Do you know what it is like to have nowhere in the world you can truly be yourself?" Well no. "You cannot possibly know because you are not a woman. You have the choice to be any kind of person you wish to be, while the only choice women have is to conceal the parts of ourselves the world will not accept." He accepted her. Why was that not enough? "I am Whistledown. I will not change that."
"I cannot accept that." Penelope Featherington, now Bridgerton, he loved with everything in him. Lady Whistledown he would prefer to never hear the name ever again.
"Colin, it is our wedding night." And yet the Queen's intrusion on what should have been a happy event left him cold.
"I shall sleep in the sofa tonight." He knew it was unreasonable but it felt as though she was choosing Whistledown over him. "I will find our carriage." Hearing Penelope sob as he walked away made him feel like the worse kind of villain, but he could not shake the feeling of betrayal either.
He did not sleep well and only partly because the sofa was not made to be slept on. It also wasn't made to make love on but that hadn't stopped them. He rose and got dressed and pondered what he would do regarding their marriage over a cup of tea. He would not leave before his wife had risen. It would not be kind to leave her thinking he had left with no word.
"Good morning." She looked so unsure of him. "How did you sleep?" He was hardly going to admit that he had barely slept when it had been his choice to sleep on the sofa.
"Fitfully. I am off to Bridgerton House for breakfast." His family would be surprised to see him this soon after being wed, but they would not turn him away.
"But my mother is coming." Even more reason to leave before she arrived. He did not wish to explain why he was sleeping on the sofa to his mother in law.
"I'll give you and your mother some privacy." There was no need for him to be there when Portia Featherington started to ask questions regarding the Queen's attendance at their wedding breakfast.
"No, you do not have to leave." He could not stay while she still wished to publish as Whistledown. How could his writing ever compete with his wife's. Even though the Ton did not know Penelope was Lady Whistledown, she was a huge success.
"I wish to." He could not stay there when he was obviously making her miserable. Rushing out of the room he almost knocked poor Rae flying. He would apologise later. For now he just needed some peace to figure a few things out.