Unexpected romance / Benedict&Anthony

Sake of your sanity

I have not been to the theatre before and I am sure as soon as I enter that I do not care for it. It is beautiful, I cannot deny that, but I begrudge anything where I must sit for hours on end in silence and watch someone else do something. That is why I do not enjoy sports or opera, if I wished to see someone knocked out then I should find my brother, or perhaps the viscount, and I should punch them to my hearts content. Alas, I must attend and I must just deal with however boring it shall be.

I go with Lady Danbury who has her own box. At least that way, no one shall be able to see me either falling asleep or yawning constantly. I see Daphne and she does not appear to be accompanied by anyone other than her mother, and so she rushes freely to talk with me. "Lady Delilah, it is so lovely to see you once more. I have heard you were at our house earlier, I can only apologise since I did not see you in order to greet you."

"You know Daphne?" Lady Danbury asks me, tilting her head slightly. "Well I suppose that an invitation is in order. Should yourself and your mother wish to join the pair of us in my box tonight?"

"It should be an honour." The poised women who I assume is their mother smiles gracefully and nods both to myself and to Lady Danbury. "You must be Lady Basset, I have heard much of you from three of my sons."

"And I do suppose that not all of that shall have been quite so positive as the rest of it. Please, Lady Bridgerton, I must insist on asking you to call me Delilah, or at least Lady Delilah. I cannot bear to think of myself as a lady, it makes me feel quite old." I glance at Lady Danbury, who raises an eyebrow at me as though I am suggesting this makes her old. "I am merely twenty years old, I do not wish for everyone to have to spend so much longer addressing me than is completely necessary. I am sure that it shall knock years off my life if I insist on each person I meet greeting me as Lady Delilah Basset of Hastings."

"Indeed. Delilah thinks herself revolutionary." My London guardian raises an eyebrow once again, before it turns into a harsh smile. "I shall lead the way." Lady Danbury lifts her stick for a moment, jolting her head to one side quickly to indicate that we must follow her to the left, as we make our way through the small crowd that has formed in the foyer area.

"I saw that you had plenty of callers when I arrived earlier. I hope your brother did not scare each and every one of them away?" Daphne stays close to my side as we must walk with haste to keep up with Lady Danbury. She may be slightly older but she is anything other than slow and she should hate for anyone to think that of her. "Was there anyone in particular you found yourself simply enamoured with?"

"My brother seems to deem only one man appropriate and that is Lord Berbrooke. Do you know of him?"

"Unfortunately he is one of the few lords that I do know of." We reach the box and myself and my friend sit at the front with our elders behind us. As I look at the stage and the gathering of people below, I am glad that I shall have some company during what I am sure shall be an incredibly dull performance. "Your brother truly wishes for you to marry the bumbling baron berbrooke? He clearly does not see your worth. Is the man blind? Although it would make sense if he was, it should explain his inability to shave those horrible creatures that grow on the side of his face."

"I am not too concerned. Mama shall not allow him to force that marriage onto me. Anthony is a good man, he is simply under such a dear amount of stress since our father passed all those years back. He has been the head of the family for a long time and I fear that has had too much of an impact on him. He has always been rather... well... stern. But he has never before been so serious all of the time." Daphne shakes her head, lowering her volume so that she might continue to talk whilst the performance is ongoing. "He shall see that the Baron is not appropriate soon enough, I am sure of it."

"I do indeed hope so, if only for the sake of your sanity." I give her a slightly pitiful smile, which she does not fail to notice.

"Do not pity me. I shall be quite alright. Anthony shall see reason, I know he shall. He must see reason." She nods, with quiet confidence. The kind of quiet confidence that is so quiet that I am sure it is hiding the dread inside her that she may actually end up married to Lord Berbrooke. "He was quite outraged at your arrival this morning, he did not stop speaking of it over dinner. But then again, neither Benedict nor Colin had a single bad word to say of you... you have made quite an impression on the Bridgerton family, I must say."

"Well that is quite wonderful to hear." I poke my head out over the decorated balcony so that I might see if there is anyone else here that I recognise. "Do you read Lady whistledown?"

"I tend to read the scandal sheets, yes. They are a rather guilty pleasure, I must say." She follows my lead, extending her neck so she can follow my gaze. "And who might we be looking for?"

"I read of a Marina Thompson, and Featheringtons? And of yourself of course. I wondered who was who, if you might be so kind as to point them out for me?"

"Of course. The Featheringtons are always an easy spot. Their mother, Lady Featherington, she has what we call a rather unique fashion sense. If you see three young ladies in bright and unfashionable dresses then you shall find the Featheringtons. Just there." She subtly indicates to the three girls, and I instantly know what she means. They are quite hard to miss.

"And by unique, you of course mean positively hideous. I have never seen anything as garish as that yellow dress before."

Daphne laughs, which gains us a rather unimpressed glance from our guardians, and so we refrain from speaking for the rest of the performance.

At the end of the night, I say farewell to her and climb into the carriage with Lady Danbury. She seems to have a smug look on her face, as though she has achieved something that she wishes to tell the world about but her pursed lips tell me that she shall not say a thing of it, even if I ask. "Delilah, you do not have any plans for tomorrow evening that I do not know of, do you?"

"Not that I know of either."

"Good. You and Simon shall be going to the Bridgerton household for dinner."