2. Back Home To London
The taxi pulled up in front of the Bridgerton estate in Mayfair; a cool thirty-six minutes from Heathrow airport. The driver opened the door for me then went to pull out my suitcase. I got out, examining the family manor. It felt weird to be back. Six of my siblings still lived here, with my brother Benedict living in Oxford where he's going to school. I begged Anthony to let me attend Cambridge when I graduated high school but he said I was too young to leave home. Benedict wasn't under the same restriction.
Our sisters and other brothers all went to school in here London. To save money- which we didn't really need to do- Anthony had them all live at home while attending school. This caused some friction at first but at the moment there's nothing any of them can do. Anthony controls the whole of Daddy's estate and inheritance, set to divide it up amongst themselves when they're all over the age of eighteen.
Well, all except for the nearly half the Bridgerton's fortune Daddy put in a trust fund solely for me. It was still a sore spot among us siblings that our father left like ninety percent of everything to me and Anthony. Anthony got the Bridgerton estate; I got the lion's share of the cash, stocks, and other monetary assets. Due to entailment, he had to leave the family property to our eldest brother.
But it was clear to everyone that I was Daddy's favourite child, and he made no attempt to keep it a secret, as shown in his will.
Not even a minute had gone by and the front door swung open. "Daphne!" Francesca, Hyacinth, and Gregory all came running to me with arms wide open. "Hi you guys!" I caught Gregory first, quickly wrapping my arms around all three of them tight. "We missed you!" Hyacinth declared emotionally, burying her face into my shoulder. "I know, I missed you too." I then looked up to see Eloise standing in the door frame. She looked less enthusiastic than our younger siblings, though not unhappy to see me. I don't blame her for being more distant since Daddy died; unlike the younger ones, she knew what his will meant for her and the others, and wasn't pleased about it.
"So, you've finally returned," she crossed her arms in a playful, snarky fashion. I straightened up to smile at her. "It's only been four months. Christmas wasn't that long ago." "It is when you only call once a week." "I don't have time to call more! I'm trying to get my Masters done in two years. You know that." "How's Brussels?" Hyacinth then asked me. "Did you have a good flight?" Francesca followed suit. "Did you bring us any presents?" Gregory inquired. "What about that Belgian chocolate you promised me?" Eloise eased up a bit, stepping down to join our siblings. "Yes, I brought your chocolate. Wouldn't leave Brussels without bringing you chocolate," I laughed. "Leave it to you to bring back something like food," we all blinked to see Colin come out.
I grinned up at him, though I don't know what good it would be. Like Eloise, he was not impressed with Daddy's will. He even pressed Anthony into hiring a lawyer to contest it, which I honestly was all for. I thought the will was unfair just like they did- even if it was in my favour. It was Anthony, however, who put his foot down and said the will remains intact. This didn't help the internal relations in the family. Colin was the most salty about it, which was a shame since he's usually so nice and adorable. Daddy always called him the "most eligible bachelor in the family"; something I'd have to politely remind him not to say in front of Anthony or Benedict.
Colin approached me, not extending his arms out for a hug. Sensing he didn't want any physical contact, I gave our youngest siblings another embrace instead while looking at him. "Don't worry, Colin. I brought you some gifts back too; stuff that isn't food-related." He rolled his eyes. "You didn't have to bring me back anything." "I wasn't gonna leave you out. I brought something back for all my siblings. Speaking of which, is Benedict back yet?" Colin's head shook. "Not yet. His train leaves this afternoon; he'll be here before tomorrow." "Oh, great. So he gets to take the train but I have to take a taxi… Wait, what's tomorrow?" I inquired a bit hesitantly. I just got here; I didn't want to go rushing into anything just yet. I wanted to spend time with my brothers and sisters in peace- at least for the first little while. Colin's eyes narrowed onto mine ever so slightly, and I knew what that meant. My heart was already beginning to sink.
"No…." I moaned softly. "Anthony said you're going, so you're going." "Why don't you just ask me before you commit me to stuff like this? It better not be a birthday party or any other stupid formal gathering at the palace." "Hey, think of it this way, sis. You're nobody on the mainland; you're a Bridgerton here. Just enjoy being someone for a little while," he smirked. "I don't want to be someone! I like being no one, living in a country where nobody pays attention to me or cares about every little thing I do. Why do you think I moved to Europe?!" My arms flung violently up into the air. "Well too bad, princess. You're a Bidgerton again," his smirk widened and my eyes rolled yet again.
"Enough talk! I wanna see what you brought us!" The youngest two pulled my arms towards the front door. "Alright, alright, I'm coming," I chuckled at them. Eloise and Colin followed behind, staying close by. "It better be dark chocolate," Eloise grinned. "It is," I replied back to her.
We went inside to the big sitting parlour on the first floor. I'll admit, I was a tad surprised not to see Anthony already inside waiting for us, but quickly realized he must be elsewhere in the house. Meanwhile our other siblings sat on the floor and gathered around my closed suitcase. They were about to pull open the zipper when my hand stretched out their way. "Wait." "What?" Eloise's head shot back my way. "I still haven't seen…."
"You weren't going to open presents without me, were you?" A smile organically crossed my lips as I spun around- spun around and saw my eldest brother. Anthony descended the staircase, grinning at me the whole way. He was the one sibling I did run up to, holding my arms back from flinging around his neck for a second. "As if we'd ever open them without you, Anthony." He gleamed down at me, reaching the final staircase. "You're back…. You're finally back." "I'm back," I nodded my head. Then I smiled back up at him; I smiled at him and he mirrored my expression. "Welcome home, baby sis." "It's good to be back, big bro," with that we threw our arms around each other, holding one another very close.
Our other siblings rolled their eyes, unimpressed by our intimate show of affection. None of them were really close with Anthony either, except for perhaps Hyacinth and Gregory. The older ones thought he took Daddy's side on the will, which he did. And the fact that he wouldn't let any of them move out of the house was a tense issue too. I think the only one who didn't have beef with the eldest of the Bridgerton siblings was ironically me, which I don't think helped the favouritism.
Anthony held me tight, then gently pulled me back a bit so to see my face. His grin grew in the corners of his mouth. "Look at you. You're even more beautiful than I remember." "Heh, oh yeah. Being locked inside a dorm room working on a dissertation for months is great for the complexion," I jested. He chuckled, tugging me in for another hug. Colin rolled his eyes, already done with all this.
"Alright, we get it. It's great to have Daphne home- everyone's happy. Now come and show us what you got," our brother remarked. Anthony gave him an unimpressed look. "Is that any way to talk to your sister who hasn't been home more than ten minutes?" "Not when there's chocolate waiting," Eloise said under her breath and I laughed. "Fine. It's time for presents," Anthony and I came in to join everyone.
Eloise plunked herself down onto the couch and yanked out her phone while I opened up my suitcase. "Good! And while you're doing that, I'll check Lady Whistledown's page." "Ugh, Lady Whistledown? You still read that thing? You know it's just a gossip account," I spat personally insulted by my sister's choice of whom to follow on social media. "It's all the rage in London now. Everyone in high society follows her on well… everything." "I heard she's even got a YouTube channel, though she doesn't show her face on it," Francesca tacked on. "I can't believe you'd actually listen to someone like that. What a waste of time," my eyes rolled for what felt like the millionth time. "Yes. You two should be more like your older sister and not focus so much on idle chit chat," Anthony came to sit down beside me. "It'd improve your grades," Colin smirked cheekily.
"But she's knows everything about everyone! How are we supposed to stay in the loop if we don't follow the right people?" Eloise pointed out- poorly. "You don't have to be in everyone else's business, Eloise. You should have enough going on in your own life to concentrate on," I stated flatly. She flashed me a knowing side smirk. "You'd know what she wrote about you if you had a twitter account." "I don't care what's written about… Wait, someone tweeted something about me? What an idiotic….! What does it say?"
Eloise giggled, rolling around on the sofa cushion. "It says "Daphne Bridgerton's returned to London this afternoon; surely to attend tomorrow's annual spring social." "How does he even know that?" I blinked in astonishment. "How do you know it's a guy?" "I've seen Gossip Girl. It's a guy," was my response until the wheels started turning in my head. I then gazed out at all my sibling with a dazed, frazzled sort of expression.
"Wait, spring social?"