Hyacinth and Gregory were already outside setting up fairy lights at the front of the house. Their mother wanted the whole estate to sparkle for Francesca and John, much to Francesca's dismay, who had hoped for something more understated.

Violet (and, by extension, Hyacinth) had compromised; a small ceremony with only family and close friends, and then a reception for the wider circle. Francesca and John were fully intending on leaving early.

When the youngest Bridgertons heard the car on the gravel, they turned their heads towards them and Hyacinth almost leaped to the car as it came to a halt.

“Penelope!” She exclaimed and enveloped her in a hug while Gregory waved still holding the fairy lights with one hand. “I'm so glad you're here. Finally someone with sense. Mum and I definitely needed reinforcements.

“I'm glad to see you too, Hyacinth.” Penelope smiled.

“Hyacinth, I think Penelope should be able to leave her things and settle in before you jump at her like,” Colin raised his eyebrows, and Hyacinth rolled hers in response.

“I'm just so excited- Greg!” She suddenly yelped. “The bottom is all wonky!” Then in a lower voice, she said to Penelope, “I'm working with amateurs; it's exhausting.”

“I'll help you in, Pen,” Colin smiled and opened the boot to retrieve her stuff. “I can still take you back to the train station if you want,” he whispered jokingly. “Save yourself.”

“Unfortunately, Francesca and Eloise might never forgive me if I abandon them.”

“I tried to save you,” he smirked complicitly, grabbing her suitcase and putting it gently on the ground.

And it was the intimacy of his gaze that caused Penelope to retreat. She didn’t smile back. Colin frowned.

“Are you well?”

“Yes, I’m fine. And don't worry, I can make my way in.”

Before he could do anything, she grabbed hold of her luggage and disappeared.

“What did you say to her?” Hyacinth accused from afar. Nothing went past her if she had interest.

“Nothing, I-” Colin was stuck in place, confused.

“Right…” Hyacinth eyed him suspiciously.

“Is anybody going to help me with these lights?” Gregory shouted.

Colin went inside and left her youngest siblings fighting over the spacing of the lights.

As he made his way through the hall, he heard Eloise's voice from the study. Colin found his sister writing table names in beautiful cursive on pastel pink paper. Penelope stood across from her, backpack over her shoulder and her left hand holding her small suitcase.

“So yeah, that happened,” Eloise said. She looked down at the paper with a frown before Penelope could react to whatever she said. “I don’t think I can write the seating plan yet again.”

“Complaining again, Eloise?” Colin folded his arms leaning against the frame of the door with a smirk.

Penelope seemed to tense when he spoke, grabbing her suitcase a little bit tighter.

“I’ve had to re-do two of the tables already,” his sister lamented. “She keeps changing her mind about where Ms Danbury should sit.” She narrowed her eyes at Colin, “How about you do it?”

“My writing is atrocious.”

“That’s not true,” Penelope remarked and Eloise gave her a cynical look. “I have seen your writing in birthday cards and stuff, it’s fine,” she mumbled.

“Yeah, ‘fine’,” Colin agreed with her with a small smile, happy that he had received praise from the person who was angry at him for unknown reasons. She was a smart and honest person, she didn't say things she didn't mean. “Definitely not as good as Eloise’s.”

“No one is as good as mine, apparently, so I’m stuck with this. Of all the skills I've learnt, which are not many, the most useless one stuck.”

“Not useless now, ” Penelope pointed out.

“Oh!” Colin exclaimed. “Very good point, Pen,” he smiled with mischief.

“You know what,” Eloise stood up unexpectedly, “I think I deserve a break now. Come on, Pen, I'll go with you to your room,” his sister gave him her best unimpressed stare as they left the room. Penelope looked ahead and didn't meet his eyes.

So Colin made his way back out to the garden where he had left his family before going to pick up her sister's best friend. They were all still on putting fairy lights on, which seemed to be a never-ending task, but his mum thought it was better if he got started putting together the tables in the marquee.

To fit the many guests coming after the ceremony, the marquee was large to hold the nine tables and a dance floor as well as a DJ booth and a couple of extra tables where coffee and tea would be served after the meal. He thought it was unconventional to have so many joining them after the main event but he understood Francesca wanted that moment of love to be intimate. Now, the space was eerily quiet with only the voices of his family coming in muffled through the plastic.

Colin looked around gauging the amount of work and the time it would take.

Once he got into the flow, it was surprisingly fast to fasten the legs. It was helpful to have something to do and blank his mind to concentrate on the manual work. Before he knew it, he was on the last table, and that's when he heard the rustling of the marquee’s plastic signalling someone coming in. He peered over the table he was working on and saw Penelope’s surprised expression when she realised he was there.

“Hey,” he greeted her with a wide smile, “coming to help?”

“Yeah.” She smiled tightly and pointed behind him. “Chairs.”

He turned around briefly, clocking the stacks of chairs a few feet behind.

“I’m almost done with the tables, so I can help you. Teamwork makes the dream work.” He joked.

Penelope barely smiled back and made her way towards chairs. Each stack had six chairs and was just about tall enough to be a challenge for her height.

As Penelope moved through the task, he stole glances at her, which distracted him from his own responsibility. He was so confused. They had shared a moment in the car, and now she was annoyed. No, angry even. What could he have possibly done in the space of ten minutes?

He noticed her struggling with a new pile. This one had eight chairs, which made it taller than the rest. Silently, Penelope attempted to shimmy the highest chair out of place with an unsteady grip. Colin moved quickly to stand

behind her and grab the chair before it could tumble down. But his hands were on top of hers, and he could feel her warmth.

Conscious of their position, he moved his hands away to have a better grip on the chair and set it down.

She turned around and looked at him surprised. He smiled shyly in return.

“I had it under control.”

He thought of making a witty remark, but all that came out was, “I thought I could help.”

“Thanks.” Her voice was small.

Her lips parted as if to say something more, causing him to focus his gaze on them. He waited but whatever she was going to say died before she uttered any words. The moment was broken and Penelope closed her mouth firmly and yanked the chair from him.

“Penelope,” he said, “are we okay?”

“We are fine,” she walked towards the next table.

“I haven't seen you or heard from you in months,” He said. “I always look forward to your messages, more than anybody else's. I missed you.”

“You missed me.” She smiled with a hint of mock in her eyes. “You miss me but you would never sleep with me.”

“What?”

“I heard you.” She interrupted him. “At your last little leaving do. How you would never have sex with me.” Penelope spit out.

“You heard?”