Chapter Text
The thing with me was that I was always alone for most of my life and never had anything I wanted. Everyone in my family died because of a brain tumor and then I married into a family where everyone had heart attacks and died immediately after. I loved Mark all my life, and then we had a child, but he died the second morning that we had him. His name was Theodore and he died because of a brain tumor. Three weeks after Theodore died Mark had a heart attack and died and that broke me to pieces.
A year after I started working for people whose spouses go away on trips or the person needs someone for company, but it wasn’t the hardest thing that I had to deal with, and the worst part of it was the employers. Sometimes they were rude, didn’t pay me right, or just treated you like you were nothing more than a person with no feelings. But that is in the past now. I work for the Bridgertons, one of the most distinguished families in all of the land. No one in society had talked bad about the Bridgertons because people were afraid to deal with Violet’s raft. I think that people had a bad idea of who the Bridgertons truly were as people.
At first I was just assigned to Colin Bridgeton, but overtime I became assigned to Gregory Bridgeton, but I’m getting ahead of myself again. Colin was nice. He didn’t seem like the type to be mean to someone, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Walking into the Bridgeton's house was a culture shock to say the least. The house was humongous and impossible to find any room and it’s like walking in the street with no sense of direction. Mrs. Wilson was the head of the Bridgerton’s maids and was the only nice headmaids that I’d had
I had my own room, but most times I just stayed in Colin’s room. The first thing that I did when I got there I started writing a letter to Mark. It was a silly thing that I did, some part of me thought that he was alive even though I knew that he was dead. There was a knock on the door “come in” I said. The door opened and it was Colin Bridgerton “writing home to a loved one” asked Colin “yeah” I said, not looking up “I didn’t get your name” said Colin “Eleanor Rose Thorndale, and you are” I said “Colin Bridgerton” said Colin. I looked up from the letter and saw in all his glory Colin Bridgerton, I never had seen any of the people that I was working for look this kind and genuine, or maybe that was just wishful thinking
Colin left the room and a part of me was happy that he didn’t question what the reason was for me writing. Most of the past employers were very nosey and always went through my stuff, and would accuse me of stealing things. I finished the letter, sealed it with a wax seal and put it in the bottom of my chest. I only had a few things in my trunk, every letter that I had to Mark, a teddy bear that was once Theodore, writing supplies, and the locket that Mark gave me on our second date.
I took the locket out of the trunk and put it on me and teared up a little. Something about putting the locket on again made me realizes just how much I actually missed Mark. I walked out of my room and decided that maybe I should get familiar with the house. As I walked around the house a man that looked older than Colin, but not that much older. He noticed me and waved at me. I waved back and he walked over to me “are you new” he asked “yeah I am” I said “which one of my siblings are you surviving” he asked “what do you mean” I asked “I have a lot of siblings, as the eldest I just want to make sure that you’re not serving Benedick, he can be a lot” said the man “oh no I’m serving Colin” I said “oh good he’s one of the easier people in the house to work for, also I didn’t get your name” said the man “Eleanor Rose Thorndale and you are” I said “Lord Viscount Anthony Bridgerton” said Anthony
Anthony seemed nice, but to be fair everyone that I had met has been nice and maybe it was just the welcome kindness or would this kindness stay the entire time. This was something new to me and I didn’t know if I liked that. I ran up the stairs trying to get away from everything that had happened. I got into my room and slid down the door, so that I was sitting on the floor. I started crying
I don’t know how long I was crying for, but someone knocked on my door “Eleanor it’s Colin can I come in, I heard you crying and I wanted to make sure you were okay” said Colin I moved away from the door “come in” I said. The door opened and Colin entered my room. Colin saw the tears and pulled me into a hug, I clung to Colin like my life depended on it “it’s okay let it out” said Colin. I pulled away from the hug and wiped the remaining tears away from my face “do you want to talk about it” asked Colin “I’m just missing a loved one more than I thought I would” I said, sniffling “you can write to them” said Colin.
Hearing him say that made me cry even harder “oh sorry I didn’t mean to make you cry harder” said Colin “it’s okay he passed away a long time ago” I said “oh I didn’t know” said Colin “that’s fine” I said “if you want to talk about it you can” said Colin. I wanted to talk about Mark, but something in me didn’t want to have to explain the fact that he died because of his families condition or family curse “not right now, but maybe another time” I said “that’s fine, but when you’re ready I’ll be here to listen” said Colin “thanks” I said “anytime I’ll give you some space for now, but if you need anything let me know" said Colin.
Colin left my room and I was grateful that someone was looking out for me, but a part of me thought for a second that Mark was in my room trying to calm me down. I knew that he was dead and there was nothing I could do to go back in time. I wanted nothing to do with any of the Bridgertons, but something in me wanted to know why Anthony had warned me about Benedict.
I walked out of my room and saw a man that looked younger than Anthony, but was older than Colin. He was standing in front of another room that was closer to mine. He saw me and walked over to me “are you a servant or a guest” said the man “a servant” I said “good then maybe you can help me with something” said the man “oh I am obligated to only helping Colin out with things sorry” I said “oh I wasn’t aware I just thought that you were a house maid, not assigned to one family member” said the man “yeah” I said, turning around to go back in my room “wait I didn’t get your name” said the man “Eleanor Rose Thorndale and you are” I said “Benedict Bridgerton” said Benedict.
I walked back into my room and locked the door, because Benedict was still out there and it was giving me the creeps. Now I understood why Anthony had said that Benedict could be a lot, I don’t even know how he put up with him all of his life. I didn’t know how long I would be with the Bridgertons, if they paid well, or if they were as kind as they had been when I got here. I took off the clothes that I had on, changed into something comfier, and laid down on the bed trying to get some sleep
Tomorrow would be different and actually be not crazy and be calm as possible and maybe Benedict wouldn’t be creepy and think that he had access to me because I was a maid. I felt like maybe I should open up to Colin about Mark, but that was for another time and I wasn’t ready to share that at all.