Covet - Miles Bridgerton's story

Chapter 15 - The Marquis of Gillingham

NOTE: As already mentioned in the introductions to this story, this chapter includes period-typical violent homophobic actions and slurs towards a minor character (= neither Miles nor Geoffrey). Contact me if you need more information before proceeding with your reading!

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Lord Edmund the second's and Lady Amelia's house, July 1841

Far away from London and some days later – on the eighth of July, to be more precise – Eddie Bridgerton had prepared a surprise for his once again pregnant wife at their home on the acres of Aubrey Hall. Their own house had not yet got its own name, although many had been thought upon. Eddie had suggested that it would be called Thunderough Hill, due to the thunderstorm that had first led them to the old barn that the house now stood upon, but Amelia had not appreciated the suggestion.

"What, I did not know there was a ladder here!" She exclaimed when Eddie pulled down a retractable ladder from a hatch in the ceiling on the second floor of their home at the Bridgerton lands in Kent. "And I have lived here for two years..." She added, abashed.

"Well, you have been busy with other things..." Eddie smirked broadly. "Come on, I will help you up." He urged and offered her his hand, as she put her foot down on the first step.

"What bloody mischief have you come up with this time, Eddie Bridgerton..." Amelia muttered, slowly climbing up the ladder while her husband eagerly helped her by having her almost sit on his shoulders. "Oh...!" She gasped when she had at last heaved herself up on what apparently was the roof of their house. The roof was far from empty. Out there on top of it, a blanket had been spread out, covered with baskets full of food and drink, surrounded by dozens of little candles and lanterns. "Eddie...!" Amelia sighed and turned to look at him when he had emerged through the hatch as well.

"Happy second anniversary, my dear." He smiled heartfeltly at her. "I'm sorry that I still have not been able to take you to Paris, so we have to settle for this, again. And, well... This looks even less like Paris than it did earlier, back at my old apartment in London." Eddie chuckled, glancing at the dark forest surrounding their home in every direction. Over them hung a starry night sky and up on the taller hill, a bit further away, the lights from Aubrey Hall glimmered in the dusk.

"This is perfect, thank you..." Amelia exhaled and gave him a kiss before starting to make her way towards the rooftop picnic.

"Careful, in your condition..." Eddie urged a bit nervously.

"Sweetheart... If I fall down from this roof, a terminated pregnancy is the least of my worries." Amelia smirked back at him, but crawled carefully all the way to the blanket.

"So, no wine this time. But we have... Apple juice, orange juice... Lemonade and... Water, apparently." Eddie introduced, picking up the beverage options from a basket.

"Lemonade would be lovely, thank you." Amelia smiled back at him. "Do you think Lavender will be alright with your parents...?" She wondered and took the glass Eddie was offering.

"No, I'm sure my father will drop her on her head, or then my mother will overfeed her and she will be as fat as Galileo the corgi, when we go and get her tomorrow." Eddie said in a serious tone.

"Eddie...!" Amelia hissed and slapped him on the arm.

"Ow, of course she will be alright...!" He laughed. "But they will surely spoil her rotten."

"You are right..." Amelia sighed. "They are wonderful grandparents. Unlike my mother..."

"Hey, Amie. She is trying her best, too... Maybe she will be more interested in forming a relationship with Lavender when she is a bit older and your mother can take her out shopping in London, or something." Eddie smiled encouragingly.