The Proletarian of Mayfair

Chapter Fifteen

"What if I fall and she does not? What if I don't know how to let go when she's gone?"
The Secret Journal of B.T.

Olivia walked home with the company of Anne and the letter promising she would always have a family to come back to. They would never leave her high and dry. As Amber put it, "[she] never had to worry about not finding love in London as long as they were all alive."

"Are you looking forward to going home?" Anne asked as they passed the invisible gateway that separated her new life from her old one.

"I am. I did not realize how much I missed my family until a few days ago." She felt like she was a million miles away from the people who would love her until the day she died. "They have always been around, even if they did not understand me and what I wished for in life."

She wondered who had taken her role as the eldest—she doubted it was Amber, who preferred to do her own thing and sometimes break the rules. Perhaps it was George. As the eldest boy of Theo and Eloise, it would be the likely next step, but he was quieter than a mouse most days. Frederick, the youngest, had the most leadership qualities and charisma like their papa.

"This is where I leave you. Is seven o'clock still an acceptable time to go home? I do not wish to go home in the dark if it is not necessary." Olivia nodded at the ladies' maid to confirm the time.

She hoped ten hours would be long enough to reconnect with her family after so long away.

"Hello? Mama?" She walked inside to a silent and still printing shop. It did not sound like home with nothing happening, but it did smell like home. Her fingers brushed the edges of drying parchment of a story she would likely never read.

The walls are too high to climb alone, Olivia reads on one of the pages. Despite not knowing the context, she cannot help but agree with the statement.

Her life has been a series of walls that took her far too long to climb over alone just to face another that was higher than the last.

"That is mine, you know. You have missed quite the change in us all with you gone," Amber said in a tone Olivia did not recognize. She had grown up in these last few weeks and Olivia was disappointed she was not there to witness it.

"I will admit I did not read much of it, but what I did read is tremendous. You are more like mama than I will ever be." Olivia gave her a hug as the remainder of her family showed up.

"Olivia! You arrived earlier than we all anticipated," Eloise said. "You were to arrive at nine."

"Mama, it is past nine." They all laughed off their mama's inability to keep time, a typical scenario in the Bridgerton-Sharpe household.

They all hugged her tightly for far longer than usual, not that she could complain. It felt good to embrace them all after being away from home for so long. Then, they brought her upstairs, where a lovely breakfast had been prepared.

"You did not have to make this all for me," Olivia said as her cheeks reddened. Her family made her feel loved in ways she had not felt from them in a long time.

"It is partly for you and also to celebrate Amber's engagement." Olivia had no idea Amber was seriously suiting anyone. She was aware of Amber sneaking out to see someone, but there was a difference between sneaking to see someone and planning to become engaged with them.

She would know; she hoped to become engaged to Ben very soon.

"I did not hear about your engagement, Amber." And Olivia intended to know everything about her younger sister's intended.

It was odd to think her sister was the first to be betrothed of their family when she had devoted far more effort and time to finding a husband of her own.