Chapter Text
'Can you believe it?' Eloise screeched, lifting Edwina clear off the ground in her excitement.
'Hardly at all,' Edwina grinned, feeling giddy with their luck and the speed at which Eloise was spinning her.
'I never, ever thought we'd actually get anywhere!'
'Right? I thought for sure we stuffed it with that last round.'
'Oh my god, my mum is going to freak. Now I've finally done something she can boast about at the yacht club.' Eloise sobered a little at that thought and Edwina pulled her to the bar.
'Oh who cares, let her have her moment. This is exciting and I'm not letting anyone ruin it for us!'
'Wait, wait, what if we win the whole thing?' Eloise was screeching again, and Edwina couldn't help being caught up in the wild fantasy of it. She opened the email on her phone again to read the invitation to the finals event.
'Oh shit!' She gasped, grabbed Eloise's arm. 'It's the same dates as the cruise!'
'Bloody hell, I knew we shouldn't have booked that.'
'Who would've known we'd win?' Edwina grinned, feeling not at all sorry that they would lose their money on the non-refundable cruise they had impulsively booked for the week after exams, the same week they would now need to travel to Munich to pitch their national award winning youth innovators business idea.
'No you're right. This is far better than being stuck on a boat with grey-haired cruise fanatics.'
'You were the one who convinced me to do it!' Edwina cried.
'And why would you ever listen to me?' Eloise chuckled, her face bright with joy that was extinguished the moment her phone began to buzz on the bar in front of them.
'Ugh, how does he always know when I'm having fun?'
Eloise snatched the phone up and headed back outside, indicating with a roll of her eyes and a flash of two fingers that she'd join Edwina soon. She was bound to come back in a slightly less bubbly mood—speaking to her eldest brother always did that.
Edwina wasn't quite sure what the beef was between the two of them because to her Anthony seemed like a perfectly ordinary older sibling. She had one of her own: an over-achieving perfectionist with a tendency to think they were the boss of everything and everyone. Sure, Anthony was a little crankier and strict than Kate, but that was only because he had a billion younger siblings harassing him 24/7. And these weren't your garden variety siblings either, Edwina had seen them play volleyball once and had been genuinely afraid for her life. Kate should count herself lucky there was only one of Edwina.
'Ugh, he's so annoying.' Eloise slid back onto her stool at the bar, scooping up the drink Edwina had ordered her and immediately taking a long sip.
'Is he planning Christmas already?' Edwina asked jokingly.
'I wish! He's onto me about deciding what I'm doing next year, so he can organise a house. We've got ages to work it out!'
'Oh my god, I was trying to tell Kate this at the weekend. It's like if something isn't planned at least five years in advance it's too late. Like hello, some of us like to keep our options open!'
'Right, what is so fun about knowing exactly what you'll be doing every day of your life, forever?'
'It's easy to do when you know you'd just be working,' Edwina smirked.
'Obviously. What else is there to life? Do you know he hasn't taken single a day off work since he started at the company? That's …' Eloise counted up on her fingers, 'TEN years!'
'They could be twins, I swear. Kate was supposed to have the whole day off last Saturday so we could have a girls day but every time she thinks I'm not looking she's on her phone. And I know it's not dating apps! You know she hasn't been on a date since Thomas? And she's so gorgeous, she could get a date like that if she wanted to.' Edwina snapped her fingers and downed another half-glass of her cocktail.
Occasionally it felt really really good to get all this off her chest to someone who wouldn't judge her for it. It wasn't that Edwina didn't appreciate everything Kate had done for their family, she just wished it didn't come with a load of guilt and entitlement to have an opinion on everything she did.
'Ant's the same, he's turned into a total hermit. He used to date all the time but I don't think he's seen anyone since Siena last year and look, I do not say this lightly because the last thing I want to think about is my brother's sex life, but boy does he need to get laid.' They both giggled as Edwina poked her finger in her mouth dramatically. Foul. While undeniably good-looking, Anthony's pernickety personality made Edwina wonder if it was genetically possible for a human to be half cactus.
'They'd actually be perfect for each other,' Edwina said offhandedly, 'they can lecture each other about the joys of responsibility and stop annoying us.'
'Oh my god, I have an idea!' Eloise shouted, half-standing and leaning right into Edwina, her grey eyes sparkling with frightening intent.
'No way, Kate would never agree to a blind date,' Edwina blurted out pre-emptively.
'No, no, better than that. We send them on our cruise together!'
'Are you kidding? Neither of them is going to agree to a holiday at all, let alone to be trapped on a ship with a stranger for over a week!' Edwina hooted at the idea of it. What would Kate even do on a cruise ship? Take over the engine room and steam them back to port three days early, probably.
'That's why it's so perfect! They will be trapped, they can't run off or no-show … you never know what could happen!'
'A homicide?' Edwina guessed.
'That would solve all our problems, so either way,' Eloise declared triumphantly.
'How would we get them on the cruise without knowing, because there is no chance Kate would go if she knew Anthony was going to be her room-mate.' Edwina imagined her sister's face curdling at the very idea of being anywhere near Eloise's brother.
They had met exactly once, when Kate had come to pick Edwina up from a house party Eloise had dragged her to when they were fifteen. She'd had a bit too much punch and ended up puking everywhere, called Kate in a blind panic. She didn't remember much from that night, but the heated exchange of words between their two eldest siblings stood out like a beacon.
Any mention of Anthony since that night nearly a six years ago still elicited a derisive snort from Kate like clockwork. Edwina had often wondered why Eloise's reputation had escaped untarnished yet not the brother's, but she wasn't about to provoke a no-doubt lengthy explanation by asking.
'It's really very simple. We just don't tell them! I'll get Daph to help, she has a way of making him do anything.' Eloise waved her hand with a magician's flourish.
'There's no way they'd fall for it!' Edwina laughed anyway, it was a very tempting idea.
'But think how funny it would be.'
'Anthony might cut you out of the trust.'
'He can try, Daph and Ben have to agree,' Eloise smirked and raised her glass. 'Come on, don't you want Kate to unwind and relax a bit, before she's too decrepit to have fun?'
Edwina lifted her glass hesitantly. The moment she clinked it with Eloise's, her friend would take that as endorsement of the scheme. Any Bridgerton with a mission was formidable, Eloise was a whole other level. But maybe this was the only way to get Kate to actually take the break that she deserved. Even if the Anthony factor turned foul, she knew her sister would relish hating him as much as anything else ... what the hell.
She pushed her glass into Eloise's. 'To a transatlantic blind date.'