Chapter Text
Portia Featherington was very proud of her daughters, and of herself.
See, Portia Featherington was an Omega. She had, however, been untitled when she came of age and entered the London scene.
Her father was wealthy, and her family had been wealthy for at least a few generations, but they were never titled and landed, and that presented a challenge to Portia’s prospects until about the late-80s, early-90s. In youthful revolt to the elitism of the current Tory government, and Thatcher in particular, as well as a view towards the new millennium, the idea of class separatism was starting to be overtaken by an idea of love conquering all. Portia saw and seized an opportunity to rise through the ranks by enthralling a little lordling.
A lot of the better options had already been secured—it was all over the tabloids that Violet Ledger, upon coming into her Omega, had absolutely floored the 14th Viscount Bridgerton, Ed Bridgerton, whose star she had been following since their childhood days in the country. Partyboy Ed Brought to His Knees by Childhood Sweetheart Violet Ledger, went the article titles, coupled with blurry photographs of the moment Ed Bridgerton had proposed. Nevermind the fact “Partyboy Ed” had not been acting like a man with a childhood sweetheart in the five years between his and Violet’s presentations—there were blurry photographs of all of that too.
The 15th Viscount Bridgerton, Anthony Alexander, was born eighteen months later, in January of 1992—alongside his littermates, Benedict Bradley and Colin Christopher. Bridgertons Learn Their ABCs was the exclusive segment that aired on Channel Four Daily.
Along with Ed Bridgerton, the heirs of the Lords Lumley, Fife, Cho, Harcourt, Goring, and Cowper were all snatched up in quick succession. Where Ed Bridgerton went, his pack of sycophants followed, even down the aisle.
By the time Portia was set to launch her campaign, only Archie Featherington was left standing. This was both good and bad for Portia—on one hand, Archie was an easy target, but on the other, Archie Featherington was so easy a target because he was a Beta.
Portia knew that marrying and mating with Lord Featherington was a bit of a risk—very seldom did Omegas and Betas manage to conceive, they almost never produced multiples, and the children had an insurmountable roughly-1-in-18-million chance of being anything other than a Beta. Still, the title of Lady Featherington was too much for Portia to pass up.
She and Archie were wed in August of 1992, and in May of 1993, Portia led the headlines for the first time in her life.
Portia Featherington Gives Birth to Twin Girls. Philippa Abigail and Prudence Amelia were the stars in Portia’s sky, shining examples of Portia’s singularity amongst the other Omegas. If she could produce multiples with a Beta, she could do anything.
The Bridgertons took some time before having their next litter—they were quite open about their use of birth-control, a stance which multiple religious leaders denounced as being against God’s wishes, against nature itself. “Believe me, the amount of energy and patience Violet has—to manage to keep these three pups fed, clothed, and in-line—is nothing short of divine,” Ed Bridgerton had joked when approached for comment. Their bravery was lauded in more progressive media. Portia was absolutely, putridly green with envy when Violet and her little pack of cubs were invited to Kensington Palace to have a playdate and photo-op with Diana and her twins as part of the Princess’s campaign of progressive ideas like heat- and birth-control usage.
It wasn’t until July of 1995 that Violet gave birth to her second picture-perfect litter—three little girls to match their three little boys. Daphne Diana, Eloise Edmée, and Francesca Florence were always dressed to match, and the eight Bridgertons had an entire issue of the Daily Mail devoted to their troop upon the girls’ first birthday.
Portia Featherington garnered her second front-page headline in 1996, but she never saw it—she avoided the news for over a week, and she had Archie send members of their household staff out to buy all of the papers from all of the news agents in Notting Hill. Their butler burned the newspapers in their back garden while Portia and Archie were still in hospital.
Portia Featherington Loses One Child in Birth, Delivers Baby Daughter Penelope Anne had been the headline.
Penelope Anne Featherington had come into the world on April 28, 1996, and her mother tried her best to love her, despite seeing her as a reflection of her greatest failure.
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Penelope’s childhood had been one of solitude. Her sisters, as twins, felt that she was other than them, and treated her accordingly. Coupled with this maltreatment, Penelope’s mother had suffered an extended period of post-partum depression which left the girl in the custody of her nanny and then later her governess until she was around ten years old.
Penelope would come to long for these days before her mother became more active in her life, but that’s getting ahead of programme.
The only member of Penelope’s immediate family that she felt any kinship to was her papa. Lord Featherington allowed his youngest girl to take solace in his office while he worked, provided she was quiet and didn’t disturb him too much. When she was younger, Penelope had entertained herself by brushing her doll’s hair or making beaded bracelets. Very Pretty, Archie would always tell her when she placed a finished bracelet on the edge of his desk for his appraisal. She would also color or draw, and while her papa never displayed these artworks, she would later find all of them in a file folder in his desk after he passed.
Penelope learned how to read at the age of five, and then she occupied her time in her father’s office by escaping to Narnia and Middle Earth. She read every Magic Treehouse, then every Percy Jackson, every book by Gail Carson Levine—Ella Enchanted was her favorite—and every other book or series she could get her hands on. When she didn’t understand a word, she would ask her papa, and if he didn’t recognize it either he would pause his work and look it up in the dictionary for her.
Her papa wasn’t perfect, and Penelope knew this. She couldn’t remember a time before she knew that he argued in harsh whispers with Mumma—or, when they thought their girls were asleep, in loud shouting matches. Penelope knew her father sometimes didn’t come home at night, or he came home smelling like cigarettes and murmuring to her about how he’d had bad luck that night.
She always stayed up until he came home, and he would scoop her up and take her to her room when she fell asleep on the couch in his office, waiting for him. When she grew too old for Archie to carry her, he would drape a blanket across her before slumping down in the armchair beside her and falling asleep.