"Eloise, I really like you. Trust me, I do. But this - you and I - can't happen. I'm so sorry for letting it get this far but this can't go on. It's one thing running away from an arranged marriage, it's another thing people finding out I'm in love with a girl."
Mabel's words had found a way to haunt Eloise day and night.
Everything that had once seemed so golden and free was now broken and dark.
Mabel had crushed her heart. Shattered it into a thousand pieces so much that Eloise didn't even know where to begin when it came to putting it back together.
And though Eloise was in despair, not having left her bed in a week, she was not just heartbroken. She was angry.
Angry at the world for being so close-minded. Angry at Mabel for letting them win. Most of all, angry at herself for allowing herself a means of getting hurt.
Eloise was supposed to be the independent one. She was supposed to be the logical one, the realistic one. She dug her nails into her palm, knowing that her past self wouldn't have let this happen.
Right now, she was just as much like the girls she'd grown so much to hate: Naive, childish, infatuated.
Stupid.
"It's another thing people finding out I'm in love with a girl."
The words struck Eloise and her ears rang so badly she covered them with her palms.
She rocked back and forth, her arms cradling her knees as she cried into her chest. What had she done to deserve a fate so horrible?
The bedroom door swiftly opened, "Eloise, I've a dress for you to wear to-"
Her mother stopped in her tracks. She dropped the dress and ran to the bed. "Eloise, my dear, what happened?!"
Eloise shook her head, her tears streaming down quickly and unceasingly.
Violet took her daughter into her arms, holding her tight, placing gentle and reassuring kisses on her forehead. "Eloise, please tell me what's wrong."
Eloise looked up and saw the weariness on her mother's face. Her sickness was seemingly gone but its effects remained. Eloise wiped her tears away, telling herself that she shouldn't add another burden to her mother. She had already created so many problems before.
She sniffed, "It's nothing mother, I'm just ill."
Her mother looked back perplexed; she wasn't convinced.
Eloise stood up and patted down her dress, "Mother, I promise I'm fine. Do not worry about me."
"Eloise, you are not fine. Whatever it might be, you can talk to me. I am here for you. Whatever it is, I will understand."
Her mother gave Eloise a look that suggested whatever Eloise had done, her mother would be able to accept it. A look that suspected that Eloise had done something bad, something bad enough that it might incite gossip around the ton, or god forbid, end up in Whistledown papers.
But to her mother's misfortune, Eloise had conducted herself in a manner her mother could never imagine.
Eloise walked to the bathroom, "Mother," she groaned. "It's nothing. I just.....made a mistake."
Violet squinted her eyes in confusion and began to say something. "And I just have a bug," Eloise promptly added for good measure.
Violet's eyes widened and she quickly glanced at Eloise's stomach.
YOU ARE READING
Falling for a Bridgerton : a Bridgerton fanfic
FanfictionFalling for a Bridgerton Dear readers, The season of courting has long come to an end. Many of this season's hopefuls have found their match and have joined their families in holy matrimony, whether it was for love, for money, or worst of all, for...
