Chapter Text
Kent, 1793
Mina Baek stood outside her mistress’s study, stealing herself for the conversation ahead. Her employment at Aubrey Hall as the housekeeper these past 13 years had been a blessing, and she was not eager to leave it. Yet, there was nothing for it. The Viscountess, Lady Violet Bridgerton, had already given her a generous leave to care for her daughter during the final weeks of her pregnancy. Tears pricked in her eyes, as she rehearsed the words in her head. To say it outloud was almost too much to bear. Her daughter, Anna, had passed during childbirth, and now she must leave her employment in order to care for the baby, Sophia. She had left the infant with Mr. Baek, Mina’s husband and the estate’s groundskeeper, in their cottage. Lord and Lady Bridgerton had kindly supplied for them a small dwelling on the edge of the estate where they maintained their privacy as a married couple.
She rapped on the door. “Come in!” Lady Bridgerton replied, looking up from the correspondence she was writing at her desk. “Ah, Mrs. Baek! You have been sorely missed. Tell me, how fares your daughter and the baby?”
Mina couldn’t help it, she burst into tears. While the Bridgertons were highly respected in society, their employees knew that they were not so high and mighty to not eschew propriety when it came to matters of the heart. Violet rushed to her housekeeper’s side, taking her in her arms to comfort her. Mina found herself telling her mistress the whole story. Her daughter’s employment to the Earl of Penwood, their affair, and the result, Sophia Mina Baek. And the heartbreak that followed, as her daughter died on her birthing bed.
Once Mina’s tears had lessened, Violet let her go in order to look her in the eyes. “Mrs. Baek, I will not lose you. Nor will I abandon you after such a tragedy. You and the baby will remain here.”
“But my lady, I can not continue my position and care for the child.”
“We have staff to care for children. She’s only a half year younger than Colin. Bring her here each morning, and the nursemaids will care for her when you work.”
“That’s too generous, my lady. I can not accept.” Mina said, yet her resolve was quickly disappearing as she saw the kindness in her mistress's eyes.
“You have been steadfast at my side since I became Viscountess. As I said, I will not lose you, nor your husband. Besides, I think it’s about time we had a girl in the nursery.” She lifted her hand from Mrs. Baek’s shoulder to rest on her stomach. It was too early to tell, but Violet had a feeling she was already on the nest again. She was so hoping for a girl this time.
“But the Viscount, surely he can not agree to have his sons brought up around someone of Sophia’s birth…”
“The Viscount will agree with me. You and Mr. Baek are too important to us. Besides, she is the daughter of an Earl, whether or not he acknowledges her. She will be brought up in a manner that suits that station here. Does the Earl know?” Violet had seen the Earl, Richard Gun, a few times at society events. He was a few years younger than her and had not been on the marriage mart at the same time as her. From what she remembered he was soft spoken, but from all accounts well-liked.
“Anna did not tell him. She left his employment and did not wish for him to know… I am not sure what is right… to respect her wishes or to write to him. If he could help the baby…” Mina’s breathing quickened as she remembered her daughter’s words.
“There, there” Violet gently patted her back. “Do not worry, Sophia is safe now. We will discuss her father another time. Take the rest of the day off and be with your granddaughter. I will speak with Edmund. And tomorrow, you will bring Sophia to the nursery when you begin work.”
“I do not know how I will repay you for this kindness, my lady.”
“You do not know what a help you already are to me, Mrs. Baek. One week gone, and the house is amok without you. Come, we will speak no more of it, lest I succumb to my emotions as well.” Violet had held back tears their entire conversation. Surely this was another sign she was pregnant again.
As Violet predicted, Edmund had no quarrel with the proposed arrangement. He found his wife’s idea rather practical, in fact. The Baek’s had been in his employ since before his father had passed and he became Viscount. He could hardly imagine running the estate without them. Plus, he had always imagined having a rather large family. What was one more child tumbling throughout the halls? He liked the idea of a girl as well. Especially after he had just spent the day out in the garden with Anthony and Benedict enduring bout after bout of play sword fighting with sticks. Perhaps a girl in their midst may lead to some more civilized play.
Mina returned home and told her husband, Noa, the good news. He was not surprised at his employer’s kindness, he had after all, been employed by them for over a decade. Yet he was still taken aback by it all, how quickly everything could change in a few days. The next day, as Lady Bridgerton had instructed, Mrs. Baek brought Sophia to the nursery. She was struck by how angelic she looked placed in a plush bassinet in Aubrey Hall’s nursery, the Viscount’s third son slumbering nearby. It was not what she could ever have expected for a grandchild of hers… but the daughter of an Earl? She shook her head, putting the matter of Sophia’s birth out of her mind. For now, she had work to do.
When asked about the arrival of Miss Baek to the Bridgerton household many years later, Anthony would say that he hardly noticed. “There were so many babies in those days, I hardly took note of another one,” he told Hyacinth. Benedict, being four years old at the time, was surprised to find that he did remember. Amongst his earliest memories were of playing in the garden with his father and Anthony, his mother reading him stories in her sunny blue sitting room, and the excitement of the arrival of the first girl to the Aubrey Hall nursery. He remembered her large brown eyes, how she was quick to smile, and how he called her Sophie, since he couldn’t pronounce the A at the end of Sophia, and soon everyone else did too. “I remember her smile. She was always smiling,” he told his youngest sister.