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Lady Kathani, Viscountess Briderton, was acutely aware that her husband was a stubborn man. She had never, at any point in their acquaintanceship, harboured any illusions otherwise. Anthony was a man of many fine qualities, but he was also a hard-headed, unwielding man who hated admitting to being wrong.
Kate herself was in no position to judge very harshly without becoming a great hypocrite. Anthony had once described her as obstinate, inflexible and unyielding to good, plain common sense. Despite how enraged she had been at him at that particular moment, she internally had to admit he had not been entirely off the mark when he said it. Kate could be as stubborn as a mule if she set her mind to it, something her entire family, both the birth one and the one she had acquired through marriage, would easily attest to. In fact, it had been remarked by more than one of her in-laws that it seemed Kate was perhaps the only person who could rival Anthony Bridgerton's supreme hard-headedness.
In the year since the Featherington Ball and their subsequent marriage, they had found a sort of balance to their harsher points. They still bickered constantly, although there was an open fondness behind their barbs and teases, and they were working diligently on the art of admitting they were not always right. At least to each other, of course, and neither could claim they’d gotten proficient at that specific skill. Moreover, Kate had easily uncovered ways to make her husband see her point. A well-placed kiss or hand did wonders to distract him from his bouts of inflexibility; She could always appeal to his competitive side to settle matters, and sometimes, all it took was a couple of soft words, a pout or a brush of her fingers through his hair to get him to comply. And loathe as she was to admit, Anthony had also discovered very quickly his own methods to make Kate quite agreeable in a blink.
Perhaps it was what made them an exceptional couple. Despite their differences, they were fundamentally similar people, and most certainly Kate would not have it any other way. They snapped and annoyed each other immensely at times, but blast, Kate did love the man to distraction, and she seemed to have a similar effect on him, hard-headness and all.
It did not mean Kathani Grace Bridgerton did not wish her husband were a tad less stubborn from time to time.
One particular thing Anthony did that grated her immensely was the fact that Anthony simply refused to admit he was unwell.
During the first few days they'd been on the ship headed for their honeymoon, he had adamantly refused to admit he was nauseous, insisting everything was perfectly fine, despite the greenish hue his face had turned. The entire family had gathered at Aubrey Hall when they returned from their honeymoon, and little Auggie Basset had given half of them a head cold, Anthony included. Nonetheless, her obstinate husband had pretended nothing was amiss and resumed his scheduled activities as such, despite the very obvious fact that he was in no condition to do anything but lie in bed and rest. On another occasion, he had twisted his ankle at a hidden hole in the garden, and despite every single member of the household's pleas that he'd sit and put his swollen leg up, he insisted on going on about his day.
Anthony was not at all against taking a slow day with her, lounging lazily in bed together for hours at a time on a normal day. Hell, he sometimes was the one to suggest such a plan. Only not when he was unwell. On any day in which Anthony was feeling under the weather in any shape or form, he would try his hardest to prove was doing perfectly fine. It was immensely frustrating.
Illness had been one of the only situations Kate had not yet discovered a way to disarm her husband's stubbornness. She could attempt to plead, seduce, browbeat, manipulate or cajole him and still he would not admit to feeling ill at all, much less slowing down because of it.
That was, until the day the solution blessedly presented itself to her when she was least expecting it.
Kate had been noticing her husband's sluggishness for a couple of days, but she had decided to hold her tongue on the matter until it proved necessary to speak up so as not to startle him into defensiveness. But he had slept terribly the night before, tossing and turning in bed, a dry cough shaking the entire bed. Anthony had woken up drenched in cold sweat, and the circles under his eyes were deeper than they had been in almost a year. He had flinched from the light when she'd pulled the drapes open, his movements slow and pained. And yet...!
And yet, when she subtly suggested they should stay in bed a bit longer, he had refused, donning a morning robe while muttering something about having too much to do.
Thus it had been for most of the day. He had moved around, wincing from the obvious pain his head was causing him, craning his neck uncomfortably as he worked, fighting for his own eyes to stay open.
Violet's eyes had widened as he walked into the parlour where his mother was sitting with Kate for tea, currently ranting about Portia Featherington.
"I do adore Penelope, Kate. Truly, I do, and I am very happy she will be joining the family!" The Dowager sighed.
"As am I." Kate agreed promptly.
"Yes." Violet sighed again. "I am so happy Colin finally opened his eyes to what had been in front of him this entire time, but Portia will... Oh ." The complaint died at the older woman's lips at the sight of her eldest son, who'd just stalked slowly into the room, his feet dragging on the floor and his back slightly hunched. "Dearest, are you well?"
"Very much, thank you, mother," Anthony replied huskily, despite being glaringly obvious he was anything but. He approached the settees slowly, and his hand felt clammy as it fell to Kate's shoulder. "And yourself?"
Violet opened her mouth, probably to point out it was very much clear he was most certainly not very well when Kate intervened. "Your mother was just talking about what a nightmare Portia Featherington has been with the wedding planning." She shot her mother-in-law a pleading glance. If she pushed the subject, Anthony would simply storm out, claiming there was nothing out of the ordinary and that his mother was fretting for nought again.
"I do not think this is a surprise to anyone." Anthony chuckled, absentmindedly brushing a lock of Kate's hair.
"I am just relieved Madame Delacoix assured me Penelope's dress will most certainly not be yellow," Violet commented ruefully, her eyes still glued to her son's sickly complexion. "Why she insisted for so long on dressing her child in a colour so ill-fitted for poor Penelope's complexion is beyond me."
"She did look so much better in those new gowns this season. "Kate muttered as she moved to stand next to her husband. She raised her hand, brushing her fingers against Anthony's cheek, only to find them as clammy as his hand had been. "Will you join us for a cup of tea?"
"Not today, I'm afraid." Anthony pressed his dry lips gently to Kate's exposed wrist. "There is a contract and a couple of letters that demand my immediate attention, and I must get back to it. I just stopped to see how you were doing."
"Have a sandwich at least," Kate demanded. "You know you sometimes forget to eat when you are buried under your work, and I would rather you did not spend the day without any sort of nourishment." Anthony rolled his eyes, but took a small bite of the sandwich his wife offered and brought to his lips. "You will eat the entire thing."
"Of course." He agreed, taking it from her hands.
"I am serious, Anthony." Kate huffed as he kissed her cheek. "Eat the entire thing."
"I already said I will, wife." He grinned cheekily as he left, even if it had felt hollow without the crinkling of his tired eyes. "Mother."
Anthony left with the sandwich she knew for a fact would sit on his desk for the rest of the day untouched in his hand.
Stubborn, hard-headed mule of a man! Truly, if Kate had not been so worried about him, she could just throttle him.
She stared at the door for a few moments after he disappeared back to his office, before she sighed, returning to her seat across from her worried-looking mother-in-law.
"How long has he been like this?" Violet asked with a frown.
"A few days." She sighed, rubbing her eyes with the tip of her fingers. "I am trying to think of a way to get him to rest without actively pointing out he is sick." Violet raised an eyebrow at him. "You know how he is; if someone says he is ill, he will be hellbent on proving he is not."
"Yes, that is quite like him," Violet set down her teacup on the side table. "I have never really found a way to get Anthony to stop and rest. But if someone can do it, I am certain it will be you."
"Anthony?" Kate knocked on her husband's study door as she pushed inside. Anthony lifted his head from the paper he had been reading, wincing at the sudden movement.
"Has my mother left already?" He asked, pushing his chair a few inches from the desk as she approached him.
"Some minutes ago." Anthony's arm wrapped itself around Kate's waist, pulling her close. "She had some business to attend with Frannie."
"I see." He hummed. "And how are you? Is the little one giving you any trouble?" His hand rested at the small swell of her stomach, and his pained eyes filled with so much love it made Kate, in her blasted emotional state, want to weep.
" He is your son," She scoffed without any bite behind it, brushing her fingers soothingly through his soft hair, enjoying the little chuckle Anthony left out at her certainty that their child was a boy. " Of course he's giving me trouble."
The way Anthony's eyes suddenly filled with worry, his fingers clutching her tighter, gave Kate an idea. Perhaps if she... "What is wrong?"
Kate put all her effort into making her sigh sound as drained as possible. She was sure her unborn child would not mind her using him as an excuse to get his stubborn, sick father to rest. "It is nothing, it's just..." She shrugged.
" What ?!" He insisted, his eyes inspecting every single part of her. It was a rather brilliant idea, honestly, and Kate felt silly for not thinking of it before. Anthony had always struggled with asking for help or admitting to any sort of weakness, but he excelled at caring for others. If he would not take care of himself, she could trick him into it by thinking he was taking care of her.
"I have been feeling rather dizzy." She muttered, trying to make it sound as if she was attempting to downplay the issue. "And I've been uncommonly tired this afternoon. Your mother has assured me it is perfectly normal to feel like this." She spoke up quickly before her husband could rush away in search of a doctor for something she was not actually experiencing. "It is just rather frustrating. I am not really used to feeling so tired after doing so little. It will take some getting used to, I suppose." She sighed again, perhaps a little too loudly, but her words seemed to have done the trick.
"You should lie down." He told her, that adorable little worried frown taking over his features. "You're growing a new person, that's bound to drain your energy."
"I suppose so." Kate looked down at Anthony's worried eyes, feeling slightly guilty for tricking him. And then he coughed again, and she was reminded that the reason for her deception was his own hard-headedness and her resolve hardened. "Could you join me? It is only that I do not like feeling weak, and I really did not wish to be alone right now." She added quickly. "I'll understand if your work is urgent and you cannot." She offered Anthony a tiny little understanding smile. "Truly, I can go on my own, or I'll take up one of those chairs here..."
"Of course I'll join you." Anthony huffed, looking vaguely offended as he pushed himself gingerly from his chair, needing a minute to steady himself. She never for a second doubted his answer would be any different, yet she knew she had to insist just a bit.
"Honestly, Anthony." Kate stepped closer to him with a shake of her head. "You said it was important, I do not want you to..."
"There's nothing," he growled. " Nothing , more important to me than you and our child. The work can wait."
Kate felt a strong surge of love for the ridiculous man, who refused to admit to feeling even the slightest ill and insisted on going on with his day despite suffering from obvious pain and discomfort, and yet, would drop anything if she so much as sneezed or told him she was feeling sad.
"I love you," Pushing a damp lock of hair that had stuck to his sweat-damp forehead, Kate brushed their lips together, trying to pour all the warmth and affection flooding in her chest into the soft kiss. She was lucky, she knew, that, despite their rocky start, she had found the soul which matched hers perfectly. Lucky that she had encountered a man who loved her so deeply, sometimes it felt she could not breathe from the feeling. He would be such a wonderful father, loving and nurturing the way he already was with Gregory and Hyacinth, and Kate truly could not wait to see it, the way their child would be so deeply loved.
And if her husband was a hard-headed, obstinate man who refused to admit to being weak in any shape or form... Well, she would find a way to care for him, just as he did for her every day of his life.
"Hm, I love you too." Anthony pressed his forehead against hers, swaying a little in her arms as he closed his eyes for a moment with a deep sigh.
"Come along, then, my love," Kate whispered to her husband. "I wish for a cuddle before supper. I'm sure that will restore me immensely."
They climbed the stairs to their room together, their arms wrapped around each other's waists. Kate was still unsure if Anthony had managed to convince himself, in his own denial of his own condition, that he was doing it only to support her, since she has claimed to be feeling dizzy, or if he was well aware he was in no condition to be up and about but was too prideful to admit he required help.
Just as Kate had predicted, once they settled into bed, it had not taken a full quarter of an hour for Anthony to fall asleep, his ragged breath rattling in Kate's ear as she lay with her head against his chest, his arm curled protectively against her midriff. The poor man should not have even left the bed that morning; he was most certainly exhausted after spending the entire day pretending to be fine.
But now, at last, Kate had found a way of getting him to settle down in such situations. Sure, it involved trickery and some lying to get it done, but it was a harmless lie, something easily forgivable considering the purpose it was being implied. Besides, she was perfectly content to feign some discomfort if it meant Anthony would finally settle down and have a proper rest.
Kate smiled at her husband's slumbering form. Silly, obstinate man, her Anthony. So intent on caring for others, while so adamant on trying to prove himself indestructible. But it was as their families had often remarked. Kate was the only person who could rival Anthony in stubbornness, and by God, she knew exactly how to get her way when it came to him.
And she wouldn't have it any other way.