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“I am freezing my tits off out here” Eloise grumbled, pulling her coat tighter around her body.
“What tits?” Penelope shot back, sucking in a laugh.
“Just because you have to spend half your pay on bras, Featherington. Doesn’t give you the right to look down on my girls”
“My apologies” she said with false seriousness, “but to be fair, you would be here, hail, rain or snow to get a glimpse at a certain botanist in his tight little shorts”
“I resent that implication” Eloise scoffed, refusing to look Penelope in the eye.
“Resent it all you like, doesn’t mean it isn’t true”
“Oh, and you don’t like the view?”
“I didn’t say that, I am just appreciative of the full landscape, you know?” Penelope grinned,
Although that was not strictly correct, not that she would ever tell Eloise that. But just like El was there for her ‘friend’ Phillip, Penelope only had eyes for a certain Bridgerton with the initial ‘C’.
“Ugh, do not say that”, Eloise said in disgust, “Three of those that make up your landscape are by brothers, which is all kinds of revolting”
“Your brothers are hot, El, deal with it”
El dry heaved,
“She is right, Eloise”
“Seconded”
A couple of voices said, approaching from behind.
“You are married to them, you have to think that regardless of the truth”
“I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages, Pen” Kate said, hugging Penelope, who then turned to do the same to Sophie.
“I know, I know. Violet may come to my door with a pitchfork if I miss another Sunday lunch. But work has been mad, like headless chicken mad, but it is finally calming down. I will be there tomorrow”
“Good” Sophie smiled, “We need more non-Bridgertons, you know what they are like in numbers, we need backup”
“Hey! I had to navigate that alone for years. You can deal with them by yourself for a couple of weeks,” she laughed,
“Oh…here we go” Eloise said, grabbing their attention as the players ran out onto the pitch.
“You know I have been coming to these things for years, and I still don’t think I fully understand the rules.” Sophie said, watching the ball being passed around, “I mean, I am sure if I tried, I could, but I have absolutely no desire to know”
“I understand” Penelope nodded, “I can see the score, everything apart from that isn’t my business”
Sophie couldn’t help but laugh,
“At least they are winning. Ant gets in a right mood when they lose. I don’t really know how you put up with him, Kate,” Eloise remarked,
“It really isn’t so bad. When he wins, we celebrate,” she said, far too innocently.
“And when they lose?” Penelope said leadingly,
Kate grinned slyly, “Well, I get to cheer him up. Either way, a very pleasant way to spend my Saturday”
“I need to find new friends” Eloise muttered under her breath.
There was a brief pause in play, and Colin looked over to them in the stands. He found Penelope’s gaze instantly and gave a little wave that she returned shyly. She hoped the blush on her cheeks was explainable by the chill in the air.
“So…El, are you going to talk to Phil?” she heard Sophie ask,
“I’m actually getting dinner with him tonight” she said, trying to sound nonchalant.
“You didn’t tell me that!” Penelope exclaimed,
“We only set it up this morning” she shrugged, but was fighting a small smile.
“Well, if it is any indication for later, he keeps looking over to you” Penelope grinned,
“Speaking of looks” Kate probed, leaning into her side.
“What?” Penelope asked, confused,
“Colin hasn’t stopped watching you this whole time. Ben has to keep shouting at him to focus”
“Oh, I’m sure he is just looking to see where we all are; you guys are his family”
“See for yourself” Sophie ordered, and sure enough, she turned back to find Colin looking directly at her.
She had about two seconds of wary butterflies before her heart fell out of her body; she had no time to warn him as a player from the other team was running full pelt towards him, neither of them had seen the other. He was half a second from crashing into him, and then it was too late.
Penelope didn’t know it was possible to hear the crack of solid bone on grass, but it made her stomach twist. In less than a second, she, along with Kate, Sophie and Eloise, ran to him. Ant, Ben and Phil had pushed back the other players to make room for them.
He was knocked out cold, his elbow twisted in a funny direction.
“Move back, please!” Sophie called out. It was times like this that having a doctor in the family was exceedingly useful. “Someone call an ambulance, and do not move him!” She barked,
“Colin?” She called out, “Can you hear me?”
Penelope’s heart was in her throat until she saw his eyelids twitch, and she breathed a little better.
“W-where am I?” He asked, scrunching his eyebrows,
“Colin, you took a hit playing rugby. An ambulance is on its way. Try to stay still for me, can you do that?” Sophie said, politely, but also in a way that left no room for argument.
“Sure” he groaned, “Just one thing?”
“Yeah?”
“Who’s Colin?”
The game was called off, and the paramedics arrived soon after. Sophie went with him, while the others filed into cars and followed behind. Someone, presumably Anthony, called the rest of the family. Who somehow managed to beat them there.
An hour or so later, Sophie reappeared to update them.
“He is fine, X-rays came back clear, just a whopper of a concussion and a dislocated elbow, which they have already reset. He will be discharged in a couple of hours”
“Can we see him?” Violet asked worriedly,
“Yeah, if you go a couple at a time. One thing, though. The knock to his head has caused some memory problems; it will fix itself eventually. On the pitch, he didn’t know who he was; that part has come back as well as some other details. Just, if he doesn’t recognise you, relax, it is only temporary amnesia.”
“My dear boy” Violet said sadly, “I will go first….Penelope, will you come with me? The rest of them can pair up”
“Oh…erm…would someone else not want to go in first, family, I mean?” Penelope said quickly
“Nonsense, I want you to come with me” Violet said emphatically. To her surprise, the rest of the siblings smiled and nodded for her to go.
How weird…
But she went, rather gladly if she was honest with herself.
When she stepped through the doors, he was sitting reclined on the bed, eyes closed, with a sling on.
“Colin?”
His eyes opened, a goofy grin on his face,
“Muummm!” he said a little too loudly, before his eyes caught Penelope, grin getting wider “Hello”
“Hi” she said softly,
“I’m sorry, they said my brain was broken. Do I know you?”
Her chest tightened, and she remembered what Sophie had said, but she couldn’t help the stab of hurt.
“I’m Penelope, I’m Eloise’s best friend”
She ignored the look Violet gave her and watched as his brows furrowed, eyes dropping to count on his fingers, incorrectly, but got there in the end, “Number 5?” He asked, and she nodded, “I’m number 3”
“That you are” Penelope nodded, trying to keep her face even.
“How are you feeling, dear?” Violet asked, sitting down on the chair beside him.
“My head hurts and my elbow too. They had to pop it back in” he said with an exaggerated grimace. “Eloise’s best friend, you need to make sure I don’t do that again, it felt terrible” he said seriously.
“I’m guessing they gave him something for the pain” Violet said, chuckling,
“It’s like when he got his wisdom teeth taken out all over again” Penelope remarked, biting down on her lip to stop her own laugh, only to look up and see Colin’s horrified face, the hand on his good arm coming up to his mouth.
“Someone took my teeth?” he hissed,
“It’s ok, Col, they were meant to” Penelope said comfortingly.
He looked around the room, slightly fearfully but cagey, and waved her closer to whisper.
“Is it the tooth fairies?”
Penelope couldn’t help herself and nodded. Making him gasp loudly.
“A-are you a fairy, did you take my teeth?”
“No, Colin, Penelope didn’t take your teeth” Violet said reassuringly,
He narrowed his eyes at her, “Hmmmmm I don’t know. Penelope is a very fairy name”
“Is it?”
“Well, it is more than….more than….” His brows scrunched together in thought, “Mildred or….or….Carol or something”
“I suppose” she shrugged,
“Plus, you're so tiny, I could just pick you up and put you in my pocket” he giggled.
“Oh they have him on the good stuff” Penelope grinned,
“I feel nice” he hummed to himself,
“Sophie says you will be getting home in a few hours. I will send one of your brothers to your flat to pack a bag, and then you are coming home with me, got it?”
“Ooooh Bossy” he cooed,
“Colin Bridgerton!” She said disapprovingly
He nodded bashfully, “Yes, mum”
“I will go and let one of the others in” Penelope said, making a move to the door.
“Noooo!!” He cried out, “Stay with me, Fairy Penelope.” His eyes started to go glassy, “Stay…please stay.”
“Oh…erm” she hesitated.
“You stay, Penelope. I will send in a couple of the others,” Violet said, squeezing her hand.
Colin made a grabby motion with his hand, pulling her down onto the bed beside him.
“Thank you” he said softly, then added, “Are we friends too? Not just you and Eloise”
“Yes, Colin, we are friends too”
“Yes!!” He cheered, “Could you tell me how we met?”
“It was a while ago”
“Would you tell me anyway? I want to see if it helps. I feel like I should remember you, and I really, really want to”
Her chest warmed,
“I was 8, and you were 10. It wasn’t too long after your birthday, and you got this skateboard and were determined to prove you were the coolest kid on the street.”
“Was I not?” He said disappointingly,
“Wellllll… Charlotte Smith, from two doors down, had a karaoke machine…sooo”
“I feel like I should be offended” he muttered,
“Anyway…..I had just moved into the house across the way from yours, and we were taking some boxes inside. The one I was carrying was too heavy for me. I wanted to be helpful, but then I dropped it, and loads of shoes spilled onto the pavement and right into your path. You hit them and went flying. You scraped your arms and legs terribly, and I felt so bad I burst into tears.”
“Oh no” he fretted,
“It was fine. I was so scared you were going to shout at me, but you just laughed. You were hurt, clearly hurt, but you made me feel better before you looked after yourself. Then I met Eloise, and became the clinger onto the Bridgertons ever since”
“Thank you for telling me, but I know I can’t remember a lot. You are here, my Mum brought you with her. You are more than a clinger onto my family, I am oddly sure of that.”
“I appreciate that, Colin” she smiled, and he squeezed the hand that he had yet to let go of.
Just as planned, Colin was let home that afternoon and into the lovingly stern care of Violet Bridgerton. He had been set up in his childhood room, with no shortage of snacks and drinks, being made his favourite meals, and watching movie after movie. He hadn’t wished to part with Penelope that evening, especially after he had asked her to accompany him home, then to stay just a little longer, then just a little more.
In the end, Anthony had driven her home, and Colin was not happy about it one bit. But finally fell asleep to the knowledge she would be there the following day.
He had been allowed out of bed to join the family for a Sunday Roast, after some careful convincing that it was his elbow that was hurt, not his legs, and that he could sit perfectly well at the table. So he was up and dressed as well as he could be in await for Penelope’s arrival.
“Pen!” He grinned as she came through the door with Eloise. “I saved you a seat”
Eloise gave him a confused look as there was not a single chair at the table occupied.
“Colin, how are you feeling?” Penelope said, disregarding her friend.
“Ok” he smiled,
“And the memories?” She said, sitting in the offered chair, as more of the family began to filter in,
“Much the same” he said flatly,
“Oh, well, the doctor said it could take a few days”
“Maybe you could tell me some memories of us? Help jump start it”
“Ok, what do you want to know….” She said, then immediately groaned, “Sorry, bad question”
“Just whatever comes to mind” he smiled,
“When I was 18, we had our Senior ball at school. El and I were just going to go by ourselves, but then Theo asked her at the last minute, and she accepted. You appeared at home that day from Uni, went mad at El for being a bad friend and then marched upstairs and changed into your suit and came with me instead.
You even managed to get a corsage somewhere, and it matched my dress, well, the other dress.”
“Your other dress?”
“My mum had and still has ten years later an obsession with yellow, so she made me wear this puffy, big-bird-like dress. It was truly terrible. But your mum, the saint that she is had secretly gotten me another one. It was emerald green and sparkly, and I loved it. It is still in my wardrobe.”
“I am sure you were very beautiful, green dress or not”
She was caught off guard by the sincerity of his words, but kept talking,
“I think that night turned out to be one of the best of my life, you know. I had so much fun.”
“It was a good ball?”
“God no, it was awful. The dinner before was disgusting. There were far too many of us crammed in that one room; it was so hot, and the music was terrible. We ducked out early, went to a chip shop for some chips and took them up the lookout point we always went to as kids” She didn’t see his dreamy expression as she listened to her. “It was almost like…never mind,” she stopped herself in the nick of time
“No, what were you going to say?” He urged,
She shook her head, “It’s nothing, really, I promise.”
He couldn’t argue any further because, at the same time, Violet swanned in with the roast chicken and ham, followed by the others with the sides. Colin moved to fill Penelope’s plate before his own. It wasn’t totally uncommon; he had done it before, but he seemed more excited than usual.
They ate happily, chatting away. Although Penelope could not help but feel the sting that she seemed to be the only one he couldn’t remember.
“Would you like some ice cream, Pen?” Colin asked, snapping her out of her thoughts some time later,
“Sure, thanks,” she smiled,
Later in the evening, with half the family in some sort of food-induced coma, Colin tapped Penelope’s arm.
“Would you help me for a minute? My arm is killing me, and I was just going to head upstairs to get it propped up in a comfortable place”
“Of course” she smiled, following him up.
Colin sat close to the middle of the bed, Penelope helping slip a pillow under his injured arm to take the pressure off.
“Better?”
“Much, thank you”
“No problem” she grinned, “Do you need anything else?”
“Would you like to stay here and watch a movie with me?” When she didn’t respond straight away, he added, “You don’t have to, whatever you want”
“No, I think that sounds nice, but I cannot be held responsible if I fall asleep. I am blaming you for piling my plate too high”
“That’s fine, as long as you don’t tease me if I end up snoring too”
“Deal!” She laughed, climbing onto the bed beside him, although she was awkwardly perched on the edge. Colin noticed immediately and pulled her closer with his good arm around her shoulders. She froze for a minute, but then relaxed into him.
“Can you tell me something else? A memory?” He said softly as the TV lit up with the opening credits.
“There was the time you surprised me with a trip to Paris for my 25th birthday?”
“I did?”
“You did” she smiled at the memory, “We spent the whole weekend eating incredible food”
“I do have excellent taste” he grinned,
“Drinking the very best wine”
“Naturally,” he agreed.
“We went to the Eiffel Tower, museums, the Louvre, it was…perfect. We also ate our body weight in pastries, which is always a bonus, oh and the macarons,” she gave a pleasurable sigh.
He nodded in agreement,
“And you bought me this” she said, pulling a dainty gold coloured necklace with a tiny blue pendant out from the neckline of her jumper.”
“I thought it suited you” he said, running the chain between his fingers, the closeness making her breath hitch.
“I don’t take it off” she said softly, looking away before the moment became too much and turned her attention back to the screen.
At some point, as the scenes flickered past, they relaxed fully. She was still tucked into his side, warm and comfortable and soon, but she couldn’t say when, her eyes got heavier and heavier until everything faded into total darkness.
The second it was out of his mouth, he didn’t know why he had said it,
“Colin, how are you feeling?”
“Ok”
“And the memories?”
“Much the same”
Much the same, what a liar he was. To give himself some credit, the amnesia had been real. Definitely at the start, when he couldn’t even remember his own name, but faded within a couple of hours, and was half gone by the time he had made it back to his mother’s house. When Penelope had walked into his hospital bay, he had trouble placing her name, but he knew she was important. He remembered, unfortunately, the entire hospital conversation, a little embarrassed at himself. But when the first dose of extra-strong painkillers wore off, he felt a lot more like himself, and his memories had returned in full force.
So he surprised himself when he pretended in front of Penelope that he was still in his semi-amnesia-ridden state.
He knew why he did it; that much was overly clear to him. When he remembered her staying when he asked the day before and sat with him on his hospital bed, when she had come home with him, when she stayed as late as she could, he liked it. Liked it too much, not really for the attention, although that was a part of it, he supposed. But he mainly enjoyed the fact that in these instances, and right now, it was just the two of them. No Eloise with the best friend role covered, no Hyacinth with boy troubles, no Benedict with jokes, just to name a few examples.
There was also the whole ‘he was in love with her’ thing. Small detail, really.
It started about ten years ago, when he came home from University to surprise her before her Senior Ball. In reality, he was going to play it off cool, pretend that he was just home for a random weekend, and what were the chances that it was the ball weekend? It seemed unnecessary to mention that he had managed to get the colour of Penelope’s dress out of his mother's without either of them knowing, and had specially ordered a corsage weeks previously to match that he was just going to happen to have for her. Then he made the mistake of walking into the house and saw her standing there in her green dress, and he nearly keeled over. She was stunning. He knew his actions were not those of an indifferent man up to this point, but in this moment, the haze faded, and he could name what he felt, undoubtedly.
He was in love.
They were both still young, he knew that. But no one made him feel like she did. When Eloise arrived down the stairs, saying that Theo was on his way, he saw the flash of sorrow on Penelope’s face, and he was enraged. He waited until she stepped out of the room, but was sure she could probably still hear him as he went off on El about abandoning her. Later, he would apologise, thank, and buy Eloise many books of her choice, because her questionable decision had led to one of the best nights of his life.
The fact he now knew Penelope thought the same…well, that was a tremendous feeling. When she had stopped talking, cutting off what she was going to say next, a little flicker of excitement came when he thought she was going to compare to a date. That was what he had wished it was anyway, what he had wished he dared to ask.
As he got older, his love for her only strengthened; they became closer, true friends in their own right. He spent time with her at every opportunity, despite the normal presence of another one of his siblings or in-laws; he cherished every moment.
He decided enough was enough two years ago. He was going to plan the perfect Birthday trip, and he was going to tell her how he felt. It ended up being his favourite trip he had ever been on; he never wanted it to end. There was even a moment when they were on their hotel balcony, looking out onto the darkened city, he could have sworn her gaze flicked to his lips. He was about a second form leaning down, giving in to his dreams and kissing her, when a stray cat let out a yell that had them jumping out of their skin.
That close call stopped him from admitting a thing to her, not wanting to put a damper on some of his favourite memories if she turned around and said she didn’t feel the same.
So he bought a necklace, one with a delicate chain with a pendant in his favourite colour. Every time he saw her wear it, it gave him a little thrill.
So here he sat on his bed in the early morning, a cold grey sky peering through the badly closed curtains, and he felt nothing but warm joy as Penelope rested her head against his shoulder, breathing softly.
Colin felt Penelope stir, blinking up at him,
“Morning,”
“Morning, Pen” he grinned,
“What time is it?” She blinked up at him,
“Nearly 6 am”
She groaned, “I don’t want to go to work”
“Call in sick, or say you have to help me. My arm hurts less when you are here. Agatha won’t mind, I’m her favourite Bridgerton”
“We both know that isn’t it is your mother, clearly, followed by Hy”
“I’m wounded” he said with false outrage.
“Ben and Frannie are up there too, Kate, Sophie…Sorry to break it to you, you might be dangerously near the bottom of that list”
“That doesn’t give me much hope then of keeping you around today” he said sadly, jutting out his bottom lip.
“Well…I would need to go home and get my laptop, but I am allowed to work from anywhere, I could use a day not in the office”
His entire demeanour changed,
“You wouldn’t even have to leave. I could get El to drop it off on her way to work”
“She won’t do that if you ask”
“She will if I pay for her Uber.”
“She does love a bribe”, Penelope laughed
“Well, that’s it settled then”, he smiled, relaxing back into bed, Penelope still at his side.
“So…” she began to say.
“So what?” He asked carefully
“When did it come back?”
“When did what come back?” He said innocently,
“Colin”, she said with a raised brow,
“Penelope”, he said, echoing her tone
“You remembered that Agatha is my boss”
“Oh right…it’s a miracle” he said with the very opposite of enthusiasm.
“So when?”
“Must have been just this morning” he replied, not looking at her.
“Hmmmmm” she shrugged,
“What?”
“Well, you did put my favourite movie on last night”
“Coincidence” he deflected,
“And you brought me my favourite ice cream last night.”
“Lucky guess”
“You made up my plate perfectly at dinner. You didn’t give me any carrots, but gave me double broccoli, and only the tiny little potatoes. You even scraped the mustard topping off the ham because you know I don’t like it”
He couldn’t explain that one away, his mouth opening and closing aimlessly,
“And you said my necklace suited me, in the past tense, like yesterday wasn’t the first time you had seen it”
“Pen…”
“So when?”
“Not long after I came home on Saturday” he said, dipping his head, “I’m sorry”
“I just don’t understand why?” She said calmly.
“Because it felt nice…having you just to myself, and then reliving some of our memories. I shouldn’t have lied, I know that, I just…I’m sorry, Penelope”
“That makes no sense, Colin. We see each other all the time. If you wanted to ditch your family for an evening or two, you could have said. And we could have reminisced any time you liked. So what is the actual reason?” She said, eyebrows raised, “You can tell me”
Their eyes met once more,
“Because…I didn’t have to pretend as much”
“Pretend what?”
“That I don’t want to spend every second holding your hand, that I don’t just want to be talking to you and no one else, that the night of your ball, all I wanted to do was kiss you. And that feeling never went away”
She stared at him, barely even breathing,
“I’m in love with you, Pen. I know we are friends, and that is why I pretended I couldn’t remember who you were. I couldn’t ruin what we already had, and if you thought I was acting weird, it could be blamed on the amnesia, and then I could recover, and it would all be forgotten. That doesn’t make it right”
“You love me?” She asked timidly,
“Have for a while, actually” he smiled sadly, “Don’t worry about letting me down easy, we can pretend this never happened. I couldn’t ever lose you, Pen.”
“You mean so much to me, Colin, like you cannot even begin to comprehend” she sniffled, “why didn’t you tell me before?”
“I planned to once, in Paris. I set the whole thing up with that aim. Then there was that night…”
“On the balcony?” She asked, and he nodded, “I thought I was going insane” she chuckled, “You spent all that day just staring at me, like longingly. I thought I was imagining things”
“I nearly just said screw it all and kissed you right there and then”
“You should have” his eyes widened, “I wanted you to”
“You did?”
“Yeah, and can I tell you something else?”
“Of course”
“I still want you to”
“Really?” He asked as if he couldn’t quite believe it,
“Colin, just kiss me already”, she shot back in fake annoyance,
She heard him mutter, ‘Thank God,’ before his lips crashed into hers, his hand firm on the back of her neck to make sure she didn’t try to pull back. She would have laughed if she weren’t so lightheaded from joy. He tried to urge her closer, but disturbed his arm slightly, making him pull away with a yelp.
“Are you alright?” She asked, concerned,
Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips kissed enticingly pink, meaning that Colin was struggling to find words, so he just nodded.
She couldn’t help but find his similar appearance rather endearing and combed her fingers through his already messy hair.
“In case it wasn’t clear, I love you too.” She wasn’t sure if tears had sprung to his eyes because she couldn’t make them out through her own. “And I don’t know what your ‘a while’ is but I can guarantee mine is longer”
He leaned in, kissing her gently a few more times before speaking,
“Oh, really, ten years isn’t long enough”
She was slightly surprised at that, if she was honest, but she still had him beat.
“Well, do you remember around the time we met?”
“Since then, Penelope…how….?”
“I don’t think I knew what it was. But the feeling never disappeared, only got stronger. And you didn’t help by the way, being sweet and kind and looking like you do”
“And what is that?”
“Searching for compliments, really? Now?”
“Sorry” he said, although the grin stretched across his face suggested otherwise.
“The night of my Summer Ball was the breaking point I think. I knew how I felt before that. But to be honest, it felt like a date, and that night has still stuck with me vividly all these years later”
“It was the night I realised that my feelings could be named, I wanted it to be a date and to ask you on another one, I wanted to tell you I liked you. I wish I had”
“I think younger me would have died on the spot”
“And what about current you?” He asked hopefully,
“Well, why don’t you find out?” she replied coyly,
“Pen, would you like to go out with me sometime?”
“I would like that, yes” she grinned,
“Great! How about breakfast then?”
“That quick, huh?”
“In case you missed it, we have already wasted too much time.”
“I am really going to have to call in sick, aren’t I?”
“I think that is necessary, yes” he nodded vehemently,
“So what should I say? Cold? Flu? Migraine?”
“How about lovesick?”
“Gross!” She cried out, throwing a pillow at him, careful of his injury.
“Or…you can say you are having your heart taken care of?” He said sweetly,
She narrowed her eyes at him, “Better, still a bit cringy though”
Penelope’s phone dinged from her bedside table, and she started to laugh as she read the messages.
Private message from Agatha Danbury to Penelope Featherington
Agatha: Violet has informed me of your developments this morning, apparently, the walls of Bridgerton House are thin, or she just has hearing like a bat. A side effect of having 8 children, I would assume.
Agatha: You are now off for the next three days. Consider it your time owed after working so much over the past few weeks.
Agatha: Take care of that boy of yours. We both know how whiny he can get
Agatha: Also, Violet may give you some money for me, leave my winnings on my desk for me on Thursday, if you would.
Penelope: One, thank you, I won’t argue with the days off.
Penelope: Two, your winnings?
Agatha: Yes, she owes me £200. She said after Christmas, I said she was crazy.
Penelope: What was happening, or not, I suppose, after Christmas?
Agatha: You and that 3rd Mr Bridgerton finally wising up to what has been there all along
Agatha: I am very happy for you both
Penelope: Thank you, Agatha.
“I told you I was her favourite” Colin argued as he read over Penelope’s shoulder.
“I think what we have established, if anything, is that I am her favourite”
“Fine, I will concede if it is you, but I will die before I let Greg overtake me in her rankings”
Penelope rolled her eyes,
“Three whole days off, what should we do?”
“Anything we want” he shrugged, “but do remind me to name our firstborn after our own Lady Danbury, for allowing us to figure out what that ‘anything’ is”
“Oh, we have children now?”
He beamed,
“Well…yes, approximately 20, in fact, maybe we should make a start on that as our plans for the day”
“Down, boy!” She swatted at him, laughing, “You are going to take me to breakfast, then we are going back to my flat, and we can figure the rest out, but maybe we should pack you a bag”
“And we can’t just skip to the good part here?” He said, jutting his lip out,
She shook her head, “Thin walls, Colin”
He suddenly jumped out of bed, moving at rocket speeds, his arm and head miraculously recovered, as there was no consideration for the pain as he dressed.
“Where do you think would be open at 6 am for breakfast?”
“Eager?” She laughed,
“I thought we agreed not to waste time?” He countered,
“Well, in that case, my apartment has cereal” Penelope offered,
“Done and Done!” He explained, pulling her off the bed, “We will be late!”
“What?” She laughed, “What are we going to be late for?”
His gaze softened, his eyes brightening with glee,
“For the rest of our lives, I don’t want to start a second later than we have to”
Her eyes glistened,
“What, too cheesy?”
“No…that one was perfect”
He took her hand in his,
“Then what are we waiting for?”