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Colin Bridgerton is the third son of eight siblings in the great Bridgerton family dynasty. He's not the heir and not the spare. He's been wandering aimlessly around the world, looking for his purpose for years, finding nothing to hold his interest. He's come back to London with a mission of figuring out what he is meant to do with his life.
He has a plan.
The plan is to get a part time job to see if it will hold his interest. If the first does not, it didn't btw, he'll get another. And so on. He's not telling anyone about these plans, because they'll think he's crazy. He hardly needed the money, he could live comfortably on his inheritance forever. Especially since he was far more frugal and resourceful than his family believed him to be, while traveling. He picked up the odd job, here and there, just to be part of something.
First, he needs to rent a flat. He hasn't put down roots in quite some time, so he asks his best friend, Penelope Featherington, to help him find a great place. His mother and brothers would be too much to deal with. Pen was perfect, she listened to what he was looking for, and made lots of good suggestions. He actually settled in a flat across from the one Pen shares with his sister, Eloise. They would be neighbors, he liked the thought of being able to pop by whenever he felt like it.
Then, for his first job, he started out as a bartender, but he really didn't like that scene. It was different here in London, than in some exotic locale. He tried a few other things but nothing really stuck out.
Colin had heard about a new bakery that was looking for an apprentice. The bakery was growing a reputation for performing miracles. Intrigued, Colin thought, 'Why not?' and applied. If you know Colin, you also know that Colin Bridgerton loves food. And nothing gets in the way of that. He obviously got the job.
He's been there for 5 weeks, longer than any of the other jobs. As an apprentice at the The Rainbow Breakery he isn't allowed to bake the cakes, but he gets them ready for pick up. He's learned to frost them and put the beautiful decorations on them. He's really enjoyed it so far and is wondering if he should open a bakery.
Meanwhile, his younger sister, Daphne, really wants to have another baby. She's heard about this bakery from her friends, and has ordered a cake with a special request for the miracle of getting pregnant.
Penelope hears Daphne telling Eloise about the bakery and the miracle cakes. She tells her that she ordered a cake from there to help her get pregnant. Eloise, being pragmatic, laughed and thought it was very silly! Pen, however, did not think it was silly at all and decided to order a cake to help her win over her crush.
Surprisingly, both cakes were ready on the same day and were similarly decorated.
Colin was in charge of decorating both cakes, and was positive that he had them marked correctly. The chocolate ganache looked amazing and tasted amazing too. Colin admittedly had sampled a tiny bit that got on his fingers. One was a red velvet cake with strawberry cream filling, topped with chocolate ganache. The other was purely sinful, a dark chocolate cherry cake, with cherries and Bavarian cream filling, covered with chocolate ganache. They looked almost identical.
Almost.
Penelope came in to pick up her order, and took it home and ate a slice. Okay, she ate two. The next morning, when she woke up, she felt weird. As the week went on, she ate a slice of the cake each night until it was almost gone. And she continued to feel funny each day.
One morning, she woke up with a jolt. She could swear, she felt movement in her body. She made a doctor's appointment and found out that she was pregnant. She had no idea how that could have happened since she was still a virgin.
Scared, and a bit mystified, she went to talk to Eloise. When she got there, she heard Daphne telling Eloise that she was pregnant and her heart skipped. It all clicked, could she have gotten the wrong cake? Mind racing, she made her excuses and went to the bakery.
She was shocked to see Colin walking in and start heading to the back as if he worked there. Confused, she called his name, "Colin?"
"Pen! Pe-ne-lo-pe," he said with a sigh, eyes wide and in awe. It was as if Colin were seeing his best friend for the first time. She was absolutely beautiful today. "What are you doing here?"
"I should ask you the same thing, Colin? Are you .. working here?" Pen asked with curiosity, getting the best of her.
Colin was struck speechless, but couldn't figure out why. He was never at a loss for words. He couldn't take his eyes from her face, her eyes, her mouth, her lips. Wow, why had he never seen her this way before? "Ummm…yes, sort of. It's a long story. Why don't you come over later, and I can tell you all about it."
"Okay, I will."
"Why are you here, Pen? Maybe I can help."
"Oh. THAT," Pen said, pulling out her receipt. "I think there may have been a mix-up with my cake."
Colin took her receipt and went in the back. He looked at the date and the cake order and realized that if there had been a mistake, it had been his mistake. He looked in the computer to see what she had ordered and what the other cake had ordered. Oh, dear God. The other cake was for his sister, Daphne. She ordered a cake and wanted to get PREGNANT. If there had been a mix-up, then that would mean that Pen may be …. He was sweating … Pen.. his Pen … and it would be his fault. But she's a virgin. It couldn't be. He was pacing now, breathing heavily and his mind was racing.
His beautiful Penelope could be pregnant with a baby and it would be his fault. He had to do the right thing. He had to marry her. Once that thought came into his head, he realized that it felt right. Not just the right thing to do, but that it felt right. Wait. He thought about their easy conversations, the way she always knew what to say to make him feel like he mattered. She's the one he always wants to see when he comes home, the one he thinks of constantly on his travels (Pen would love this or that) my goodness, he was in love with her.
He'll talk to her about this when she comes over that night. But first he had to deal with this mix-up. Taking a deep breath, he walked back to the front of the store, a slight reddening in his cheeks. He looked guilty. At least that's what Pen thought she was seeing on his face. He gulped and then looked up at her.
"It seems that you received the wrong cake." Colin said, feeling nervous. "It appears that I…uh…I might have mislabeled a few orders that day."
Pen blinked as realization hit her. Colin had been directly involved with her cake. Did he know what miracle she wanted? Did he know that he was the one she wanted to win over? She could feel her face redden and hoped that he didn’t know. How could she explain? What if he wanted to know who it was after when they talked at his flat later that day? She felt her nerves tingle in anticipation.
"I…oh. I-I see! Um…" Pen said, unable to form words. "W-well, it's no problem! I uh…the cake was really good."
After a few awkward moments, she excused herself and made her way home, feeling completely exasperated by her revelation. Colin, on the other hand, was warring with himself. He went to his family's house to try and clear his head but was caught off guard by Daphne's bulging belly. The words "pregnant" and "baby" seemed foreign to him. Wait. If Daphne was pregnant, then how was Penelope pregnant? He was confused but then it hit him. Pen never said that she was pregnant, he had just assumed she was. Maybe he didn't need to feel so guilty after all!
That night, Penelope had nervously knocked on the door to his flat and when he answered, he was starstruck by her beauty. How was it that she was having this effect on him again? He was frozen in awe and had to be drawn out of it. This happened when Penelope blurted out those foreign words at him again.
"What?" He blinked in confusion.
"I'm pregnant, Colin. I know you know that already, but I…I just had to say it out loud! I haven't even told Eloise yet. I don't know what she's going to say but I know that she'll be-"
Colin cut her off with a kiss. A mind blowing, passion-filled, full force kiss that left her mind reeling. He had not been able to hold himself back. The idea that she was pregnant on top of the amazing beauty that she seemed to radiate had felt so right that he couldn't help him. Before she could say anything, he blurted out his own truth.
"I want to be the dad!" He said before he knew what he was saying. But it was true. "I mean….it is my fault that this happened. But I also….I am in love with you, Pen."
She was speechless. The mess of what had just happened made her feel more than flustered. She got stuck on the words "I love you". They kept echoing in her head. Colin was still rambling on about the baby and had started apologizing for putting her in this situation. He said something about mixing up the frostings on each cake that it was probably the reason that this happened to her while also still giving Daphne her wish. He was just asking her what her wish had been when she kissed him in the same way he had just kissed her.
"I love you too, Colin! I always have." She said, her heart pounding. In her mind, she thought about her cake order and how well that it had turned out. When another movement in her stomach happened, she looked at Colin and said, "You are going to have to quit that job. I'm not sure that I want you getting more girls pregnant! I'm enough."
He smiled and agreed, sheepishly. He felt that he would be fine with that. The bakery was fun and all, but now that he was going to be a father (as he already self proclaimed himself to be), he knew exactly where his place was. He leaned over and kissed her again. Eloise walked in then, a plate in one hand and a fork full of cake in the other. She looked at them in awe while they stared at her in horror.
"What?" Eloise asked.
"Do NOT eat that cake!" Colin said at the same time Penelope exclaimed, "Drop the fork now!"
But the tales of that mishap are for another day. In the meantime, it is important to note that Colin and Penelope had become the best parents they could be and their daughter, Agatha Bridgerton, looked just like Colin. Penelope had gotten her wish and Colin's life felt fulfilled. The two had gotten married a short time after the bakery incident and they now lived happily ever after.
