Chapter Seventeen: Lady Danbury Always Gets What She Wants

✦ Author's note ✦

Dearest, Gentle, Engaged Readers,

I have just noticed that my story has more than 600 votes, 11 K reads and is constantly in the top 5 in Benedict Bridgerton rankings. Wow... just wow. It's been a while since I wrote anything more than a drabble and when I saw Bridgerton and fell for Benedict something just clicked in me and I decided to start this story to brush up on my English and hoping that I would get a few reads. And I did, not a few, and once more I'd like to thank you all for all the attention and energy you invest in my story. I have immense fun writing it and interacting with you. And, as always, special thanks to Kayla for being my proofreader.

I hope you'll find this chapter to your liking, it features my two favourite female characters + Franny, of course. And then the next chapter will be just Benedict and Franny with some ;).

Enjoy,

L.H. 

➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖

✦

Franny sighed deeply upon finishing the latest Whistledown issue, which left her shocked and uncomfortable. She wondered what had possibly transpired between Colin and Marina. Rest assured, Colin was smitten with her and courted her all Season, but he was also famous for being a charmer and flirting with plenty of young ladies. Maybe this time it was different, possibly Colin has met his match and decided that he wanted to settle down. And yet, Franny could not help but feel something was amiss about Marina; the way she looked at them at the rather awkward scene in the Bridgerton study had been carved into her mind. Not to mention, it was rather selfish, she knew, but Colin's engagement and Whistledown's constant nagging of her and Benedict getting married tipped Franny over the edge. She was panicking. She rather liked Benedict, that much was certain, and she was not ashamed to admit that he has awoken desire in her. But was she in love? She should know when she was in love, shouldn't she? Not that she has given much thought to it, but she imagined that love could not be ignored, that it was impatient, and it demanded to be felt. That one day she would wake up with this all-immersing feeling in her guts and knew that she was hopelessly, irreversibly and painfully in love, and nothing would ever feel that same. And surely, one must marry for love... Albeit, and more importantly, children were an unavoidable consequence of marriage. And even if Franny wasn't sure she was ready to marry Benedict, she was one hundred per cent convinced that she was not ready for having children.

Her aunt, who had a special talent for reading people from the corner of her almond-shaped eyes while maintaining an impeccable smile and a careless countenance, has finally decided to voice her concern, "What is on your mind, Franny dearest?"

"Do you not miss having children, Auntie?" Franny asked, out of the blue.

Lucy, who was usually equipped to answer any of Franny's unruly questions, this time choked on her tea, but somehow managed to do it gracefully.

"One visit to the Bridgerton's and you are already thinking about children. Mrs. Bridgerton is certainly good," Lucy remarked while regaining her composure and putting the missing pieces together.

"Mrs. Bridgerton talked about how wonderful it is to have a large, loving family. And I was wondering whether you ever miss that."

Lucy suspected that her lack of children wasn't exactly what occupied her niece's thoughts but decided to answer the question the same.

"Why would I miss having children? I have my hands full with my two children: they call themselves artists, but in practice, they are just big children," she replied playfully without hesitation.

Franny continued to glare at her aunt.

"First of all, I am still young, I could have children if I decided to. Second of all, and more importantly, no, I do not miss having children. I am happy and content with my life," Lucy replied in a more serious tone.

"I thought that a woman can only be content with being a mother."

"Having children is a noble pursuit, it requires an immense amount of love and patience, as well as selflessness. I have the utmost respect for Mrs. Bridgerton for giving birth to and bringing up eight wonderful and charming human beings, and I applaud every mother. Albeit, for some women, having children is not their life pursuit, and that is okay as well. The point is that we should support each other regardless of the decision we make."

"So, you are saying that my life can be full even without having children?"

"Franny, having children can be a blessing. But for many, it is simply not: some cannot have children while others desire not to have them. That does not mean that their lives cannot be happy or fulfilled. I have a husband I love, a marriage full of laughter and understanding, my freedom, and even a bothersome niece. There is nothing else I need or lack."

"But Auntie, there are very few ways for a woman to be content. We are not allowed to attend school, to make money, to have a career, and we can rarely be accomplished artists. I wonder what is there to fight for? I feel this great sense of injustice, for, I have a mind, I have ambition and I have talent, and yet only my body and at most my heart matters. Why is it that women cannot aspire more than to be wives and mothers? What if I wanted something else?"

"Then you must find out what it is that you want and fight for it with all the courage you have in you. And you have an immense amount of courage. I do believe you will find your own way Franny, after all, you have never run away from a challenge."

Franny beamed at Lucy lovingly. There was nothing like a motivational speech by auntie in the morning.

"And, if you were to find someone who would support you on that journey, let us say a fellow artist, that would not be intolerable, would it, hmm?"

Franny bit her lower lip, and nodded slightly, "No, it would not be."

"And," Lucy continued, "Henry and I if you permit me to say so, we consider you our own."

"Of course, Auntie. But I am already grown-up."

"My favourite kind of children."

For a few minutes, they sat in silence, Lucy sipping her tea patiently, while she watched as her niece shifted in her seat and fiddled with the hem of her dress, sensing that they were not quite done yet.

"Auntie," Franny sat up, and Lucy instinctively sensed she was about to ask something important, "I want to know how babies are made."

"To have one?" her aunt replied, without missing a beat.