Real love, harsh commitment

Chapter 43

Anthony and Simon sat in the gentlemen's club. Both had a beer in their hands.

"Just right." Simon sighed. "Don't get me wrong. I love a good brandy. But sometimes, nothing'll do but a beer."

Anthony rolled his eyes. "Would you just get to the point?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Simon took a drink out of his beer.

"Yes, you do."

"You're correct. I do." Simon nodded.

"Just like I know that you've obviously made a considerable error with my sister." Anthony remarked sitting in his chair, he leaned forward on his knees and gave Simon a curious look.

Simon retreated into his own chair, another sip taken, "How, may I ask, can you infer that I was the one to make the error?" He asked.

Anthony gave him a look and sat up, "Well, I know my sister quite well. And while she is an unusually capable woman, she is not capable of messing up this seriously."

Simone frowned, "Do you ever get tired of pretending to be so perfect? I bet Delilah gets a front row view of angry Anthony Bridgerton."

"It's just exhausting watching you." Anthony chuckled. He took a sip of his own beer. "We may not be perfect, but at least we keep our promises."

"You know nothing of keeping commitments. I'm trying to be a man of my word." Simon argued.

"I am trying to keep-"

Simon cut him off with a sigh. "I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"What do you mean by that?" Anthony asked.

"I mean that you leave a litany of broken promises behind everywhere you go. Your duty to protect Daphne from Nigel Berbrooke? What about your own reckless affairs, when you were seeing that opera singer you believe no one knows about?" Simon spat.

"Well it's a good thing I am no longer seeing her right. I have kept my commitments to Delilah." Anthony glared at his friend in front of him, "You judge me, yet you can't understand the responsibility of heading a family, because you've never had one."

"Delilah is my family, and Daphne is now my family. There is no changing that. Though it is unfortunate that I shall never quite reach the lofty ideal you have demonstrated." Simon replied.

Anthony shook his head, "What is most unfortunate is the fact that your father was so absent, he never gave you a proper example of how to lead a household."

"Well, you certainly make it look difficult." Simon mumbled under his breath.

"I beg your pardon?" Anthony asked.

"With your constant struggles. You cannot manage it, can you?" Simon asked.

"Hastings-"

"At least not alone you cannot, I have seen Delilah correcting simple mistakes. Your responsibility. You, fulfilling the promise that every firstborn son makes to his father before he dies." Simone continues. "Do you think he is looking down on you now, ashamed? Mortified at what you have done? I wonder, what would the former viscount say?"

Anthony lunged. First a punch, then a block. The two men rolled along the ground, others panicking around them. The two most sought out men of the ton fighting in the gentlemens club. The boys were finally separated. Anthony and Simon both breathing heavily, neither willing to apologize just yet.

-----

Later Delilah is sitting in front of Simon. He came home and as Daphne is still mad at him for a reason Delilah cannot quite tell, she was asked to help her brother.

"It seems I have become a little too rough training with Will." Simon says quietly.

"Should I call for Jeffries?" Delilah askes.

"No." Simon grunts as he tries to bandage himself.

Delilah takes the bandages from his hand. "Let me. With the Bridgerton boys, you cannot imagine the nasty cuts I have tended to over the years."

The two laugh. But Delilah quickly got lost in thought.

"Why will you not unfold yourself to her?" She asked carefully.

"Delilah-"

"A child would be a blessing. Why are you so adamant to hold a grudge against your father?"

Simon sighed. This is one of the things he didn't tell her, but knew that someday she would find out. That was always the worst and best thing about Delilah, she always found out.

"Because I swore a long time ago that I would never sire a child." He said.

"Just to spite him?" Delilah asked.

"My father cared more about the continuation of the Hastings line than anything in the world. You know that Lily, he cared more about the line than my mother. More than me. And so I made a vow that his efforts would be in vain and that the line would die with me." Simon explained.

Delilah scoffed to herself, "So this all, because of a vow? You made a vow to Daphne too. Or has your wedding day slipped your mind."

"I told her-"

Delilah shook her head, "You told her you could not have children. You did not tell her it was some broken revenge against a man, who is deceased may I remind you."

"I swore to him on his deathbed." Simon muttered.

"And in doing so you lied to your wife." Delilah replied. "But let me be certain the reason Daphne will never be a mother, and you will never know the joy of a child because you have promised your father you would not?" She asked.

"I-" Simon stuttered.

"Say it." Delilah prodded. "Say it."

"It cannot be undone." Simon whispered.

Simon stood in silence, he was hearing it coming back to him at the same time it was leaving him. He was holding Daphne back in being a mother, because of his father. But, his father was a menace. His father did not care, what made Delilah think he would be any better-

"I thank you for your elucidation, Simon. If your hatred for your father out ways any affection that you might bear towards Daphne then you are right. It cannot be undone."

Delilah got up and began to walk towards the door of the room, "Her courses are due within the next few days. You will know which vow you have broken, and how you are to spend the rest of your life with Miss. Daphne Bridgerton. Miserable together, or perfectly happy apart."