Monday—November 23th, 2020

It started as a mysterious sheet of pink paper, first delivered on everyone's doorstep a year earlier. For two months it was delivered unbidden, every now and again. And then in the third month, every housewife of the tons waited in vain for the deliveries only to discover that the gossip column was being sold for the outrageous price of three dollars a sheet. Problem was by then the tons were addicted. They couldn't live without the juice gossip that Hamptons Girl provided and somewhere some meddlesome woman was getting very rich. After the fifth month, What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About became a digital app, and by the seventh month it had over 700 thousand downloads. That was nearly 80% of Great Hamptons' total population.

It was insane.

What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About was written primarily for women with a curious mix of commentary, social news, scathing insult and the occasional compliment. But what really set it apart was that Hamptons Girl, whoever she was, was not afraid to name the bulls. There was no hiding behind abbreviations and nobody was safe from her spying eyes. If Hamptons Girl wanted to write about someone, she did, with no fear, no shame and, more importantly, no respect. The tons declared themselves scandalized, but they were secretly fascinated; none more than Daphne Bridgerton who had just started a business of her own and had no idea how to keep it aloft.

"The nerve!" Violet Bridgerton hurled her Iphone across her elegant living room aiming for the beige armchair. The three of her daughters that were present (Hyacinth trained Muay Thai every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon) tried to keep a straight face and pretend to mind their own businesses, but they were waiting for the inevitable unleash. "Did you read what she said?" Violet demanded. "Did you?"

Daphne, the eldest girl, eyed her mother's Iphone needlessly for she had her own in her hand. "I was just doing that," she replied, returning her gaze to the small screen.

Their mother was making her scary voice so Eloise, who loved reading What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About, leaped to the armchair and reached for the Iphone. She read it aloud with the seriousness she was known for.

Daphne looked at Violet. "It's not that bad, Mom. It's actually pretty nice when compared to what she wrote about the Featheringtons last week." She turned to Eloise. "And you. Why don't you have your phone? You lost it again?"

"Who's going to want to marry you with her slandering your name?" Violet wailed to Daphne, her arm slicing dramatically through the air.

Eloise made a pig-like sound and Francesca gave her the stink eye; Francesca demanded everyone to be in their best behaviour when in her presence. 

Daphne tried not to roll her eyes. In Great Hamptons, everyone was always counting the time before you hit another milestone. Marriage was the biggest one and there was a lot of pressure to get it right.

Daphne definitely wanted to get married but she wasn't exactly in a hurry. Maybe it was the way she was raised, watching her parents being so utterly in love that made her wish for that and a hundred babies more. But although she sought it, Daphne had a more urgent dream in the making: Daffiness, the clothesline she came up with in college, the self made business that, according to most people of the tons, was correctly named because Daphne was, well, daft.

It started two years ago when Eric Macclesfield broke up with her after Daphne let him do what they had both been dying to do since senior year. Daphne almost had a panic attack thinking of what her mother would do to her if she found out she'd been "deflowered". Francesca came to her assistance. Francesca, at twenty years old, was already a girl who obviously knew how to keep busy while also keeping it classy. She took on the role of older sister that night and told Daphne something she never forgot: "You know what really makes me feel better when a guy's a jerk to me? New clothes, Daff. Let's get you some."

Just so happened that clothes were Daphne's passion. She liked drawing designs and shopping for the right fabric and sewing and making her sisters try on her ideas. She had been currently studying Fashion in Paris, coming home every holiday to see her family and Eric. The dream was born suddenly, a dream that didn't include marrying Macclesfield and having his simpleton babies. It was a dream of her own that was beneficial to herself only. It was selfish and beautiful and so her.

A year later, she had rented the back room of her favorite fabric store, which she kept with the allowance her brother gave her, and was already selling her designs. She started out selling hats (which were her favorite acessories) but soon began to sell clothes, after one particularly chilly day when she wore an old jersey she had made when she was twenty-one and women came to her asking where she had got it.

Daphne wanted to expand her business (it was past time) but she didn't have enough capital to do it on her own. To buy a shop she'd have to ask her brother for assistance and then BCorp would own a percentage of Daffiness which was something she was desperately trying to prevent. Not that she didn't trust her brother, but he already had BCorp. Daffiness was hers. The business was already tied with Bridgerton money since Daphne kept investing in it with what Anthony gave her, and if she had to put more in it... Well, it would feel like a Bridgerton business, not a Daphne business.

She was brought back to the present by Eloise who was now touching her hand. Daphne looked at her sister and knew Eloise knew what she'd been thinking. Eloise always knew what everyone was thinking—she was the smart Bridgerton. Eloise was the most emphatic person who had ever lived. She understood everyone. And every man wanted to date her but she refused all of them. Eloise had a dream of her own—med school—and she would never let anything distract her from it.

"I'm sure whatever this Hamptons Girl wrote won't influence anyone when it comes to you, Daff," she said kindly.

"Easy for you to say," Daphne muttered.

"Yes, Hamptons Girl has only been publishing for a little more than a year," said Francesca as she braided her hair. "I don't see how you can lay the blame at her door, Mom." She stopped and glanced at Daphne. "Sorry. It sounded less mean in my head, I swear."

Daphne's fingernails bit her palms as she willed herself not to make a retort. Francesca was what Hyacinth called an "occasional bitch". She meant no harm—she just had no filter. She liked pretty things, comfortable things and, especially, she liked herself. Daphne often half expected to find Francesca kissing her own reflection in the mirror. 

Violet pressed a delicate hand to her chest. "You don't think she casts aspersions on your parentage?"

"Aspersions?" Francesca made a face. "That's a big word, Mom. Was that your word of the day?"

"Perhaps."

"She doesn't," Daphne said, focusing on the topic at hand. "She said there can be no doubt that we're all from the same mold. She's hinting that someone in the tons is hiding something."

Francesca ticked her tongue. "Don't say tons, Daphne. Say Hamptons."

Everyone decided to ignore her.

"I wonder who she meant," Eloise mused. "Which family is hiding an illegitimate son or daughter?"

"It isn't nice to speculate, Elo," Violet chastised. "It is none of our business. It's none of her business either."

"She writes gossip, Mom," Eloise said. "It is literally her business."

"Well, who does she think she is?" Violet added angrily. "Uh?" She planted her hands on her slim hips. "Hamptons Girl! I doubt she's even from here. She can't be one of us. We have good families here. People who grew up together, who have known each other their whole lives. It's like she's trying to pit us against each other. Who would want to do that?" And she looked at her daughters, one at a time, as if trying to get them to admit to being Hamptons Girl.

"I agree," Francesca said, standing up and going to check herself out in the nearest mirror. "Women should support women, not bring them down."

"But of course she's one of us!" Daphne exclaimed. "How else would she know so much about the tons? Do you think she hired someone to peek in windows and listen at doors?"

"Please, stop saying tons! I hate it."

Francesca was, again, ignored. 

"I don't like your tone, Daphne Bridgerton," Violet said, her eyes narrowing.

Daphne bit back a smile. That was Violet's standard answer when one of her children was winning an argument. "I wouldn't be surprised," Daphne insisted, "if this Hamptons Girl was one of your friends, Mom."

Francesca gasped like that was unthinkable. Eloise grinned and shook her head.

"Bite your tongue, Daphne," Violet said. "No friend of mine would ever be so... so..."

"Honest?" Daphne suggested. "I'm certain it is someone we know. No interloper could ever get the information she's getting."

Violet crossed her arms. "I should like to put her out of business."

"The best way of doing that, Mom," said Eloise, handing the Iphone back to her mother, "would be by not subscribing to her work."

"And what good would that do?" Violet demanded. "Everyone else is reading it. My puny little embargo would do nothing except make me look ignorant when everyone else is chuckling over her latest gossip."

"It's true," said Francesca. "Everyone else is completely hooked on What Everyone Sees But Nobody Talks About. Even the boys."

"I'm not," said a male voice from the living room's door. The four women watched as Anthony made his way toward his mother to kiss her on the cheek.

"Where are you going, darling?" Violet asked, eyeing his gray suit with interest.

"I'm going to meet a friend. He's recently returned to the tons."

"Ha!" Daphne shouted, startling everyone and giving Francesca a winning smile. "See that? Even Tony says tons."

"Because he's a man and a brute," Francesca argued.

Anthony grinned as he placed a hand over his heart, pretending to be wounded. "Oooh. Fran, don't bite the brute that feeds you."

The girls laughed and even Violet allowed a half a smile. She wished her son a good day and he gave his sisters a kiss before leaving.

Francesca seemed thoughtful. "Wouldn't it be fabulous, though, if Anthony's new friend would date you, Daphne?"

"Oh yes, fabulous, Franny," Daphne agreed with mocking pleasure. "Fabulously unlikely."