The House of Hastings (Bridgerton Fanfic)

03

Were you at Lady Danbury's ball last night? If not, shame on you. You missed witnessing quite the most remarkable coup of the season. It was clear to all partygoers, and especially to This Author, that Miss Daphne Bridgerton has captured the interest of the newly returned to England Duke of Hastings.

As for Lady Sarah Basset, she was seen dancing with two out of the three Bridgerton brothers. The Basset siblings left the ball just after supper. Not that this author thinks there is something wrong with a widow remarrying but the Bridgerton men have all the ladies of the ton pining after them. Why must they settle for a mere widow?

LADY WHISTLEDOWN'S SOCIETY PAPERS, 30 APRIL 1813

"Lady Sarah, it's wonderful to have you back in London," Mr Granville said as he kissed Sarah's gloved hand. Walking her into the drawing room of his residence on Pall Mall Street. The butler had informed Sarah that Mrs Granville was visiting a relative in the countryside, who had been unwell for weeks.

"I had to, Simon was coming to handle some official matters, and since I had been staying with him at Clyvedon Castle I decided to come too. Furthermore, I am yet to decide where to take up residence after Edwin."

The mention of Edwin caused Mr Granville to look away. His eyes focused on the tip of his boots. "I'm sorry about Edwin, you lost him far too early."

Sarah stood up and sat next to Mr Granville on the sofa.

"I am sorry too,"

Mr Granville shifted his gaze back to Sarah's face. His eyes had started to glisten with tears threatening to escape. Sarah took his hand into hers.

"You lost him too. The love you too shared did not disappear after I fell for him. It was still there when he proposed to me at a gathering in this very house. No matter how much he loved me, Edwin never forgot about you. I am truly sorry we could not stay nearby after the wedding."

"Do not feel guilty on my account. I could see the way he looked at you, the same look that he gave me the first time I saw him after he came back from the grand tour. How could I stop him, you clearly were in love and you could offer him a life I never could...:

Sarah offered Henry a weak smile. Edwin had told her about Henry a few weeks after they met in India. He was overseeing his father's business in Calcutta, where Sarah had been living with her cousin whose husband was now the governor-general of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal.

Sarah saw Edwin again when they were both in London for the season. It was Sarah's third season in 1806. A ball led to another and by the early house of the morning Sarah had managed to get away from her chaperone and at a party at the Granville house, hotels by Mr and Mrs Granville.

"...he was scared, scared he would break my heart. But I knew I had to let him go. I saw the future you two would have, growing old together in some country estate. Surrounded by the laughter of your children. Oh how much Edwin wanted a family."

Sarah could feel a warm streak run down her cheek. Hearing Henry talk about Edwin was something she did not know she needed. Henry at that moment knew what Sarah had felt in the last three years. They both had lost the man they loved, but Henry had lost him twice.

"The only thing I could never give him..." Sarah whispered.

Henry gasped as he realised what he had said, "Sarah, dear I never meant to hurt you. I was so deep in my thoughts that I did not realise what I said. Forgive me, you had always been like a sister I never had, I never meant to cause you pain"

Sarah leaned her head on Henry's shoulder, for the first time in years letting all the pain and hurt wash over her. Forcing in breaths through her tears. It had all been too much, losing Edwin, and then hearing about her father's demise not even a year later. Though she had never felt a shred of love towards her late father, it had been emotional to realise that the man that tormented her very soul was gone.