The pair entered the Bridgerton House and walked toward the drawing room where the family typically gathered in the morning. Benedict removed his arm from her shoulder and took her hand, kissing it before letting go. She followed him into the room and Violet looked up as the two entered.

"Well there you two are! The cook is just getting breakfast ready, are you hungry?" She gave them a warm smile and Benedict shook his head.

"Mother, there is something we need to speak to you and Anthony about." Violet noticed the seriousness in Benedict's tone, which was quite rare, and nodded, standing up.

"Colin, please take your brothers and sisters to the dining room for breakfast." She gave him a stern look to let him know this was not a request and he sighed, nodding. He did not enjoy being left out of serious matters simply because he was the youngest of the three older brothers, but he counted on Benedict filling him in later.

"Come on then, up you go." He gestured to his siblings, corralling them out of the room and closing the door behind him. Anthony had put down his newspaper and was now focused on the two as they sat on one of the settees.

"What is it, dearest? Is everything well?" Violet asked, her voice laced with concern as she sat across from them. It was a rare sight to see Benedict as serious and solemn as he was, so she knew there was something afoot.

"Madeleine's great uncle has come to claim the estate and all of its belongings against her will. Lord William Alaister."

Anthony's eyes widened a bit at this and his eyes darted to the girl. "William Alaister is your uncle? The William Alaister?" He greatly admired the man's business success, but he had a feeling he would feel such admiration toward the man no more. Madeleine nodded, picking at her nails anxiously.

"Yes, and he is a cruel man. We walked in to him removing everything from my mother's room and when we tried to stop him, he threatened to destroy your family's reputation if we got in the way." Anthony's nostrils flared in anger and he stood up, straightening his waistcoat and getting ready to confront her uncle. Violet quickly stood also, grabbing his arm and telling him to wait.

"No, Mother. I do not care who this man is, nobody will threaten my family." He seethed, his voice laced with anger, but she did not let go of him.

"I agree with you entirely, dearest, but we must think about this before storming over in a fit of anger." She raised an eyebrow sternly and he hesitated before he nodded, sighing and sitting back down.

Together, the four began to devise a plan. Violet and Anthony would go straight over and speak to the man. Madeleine was quite shaken from the previous interaction and Benedict refused to leave her. They would tell her uncle that they had no problem bringing this to the royal court if he did not cede. Anthony was confident that this threat would scare him enough to back down. She knew Anthony was not one to back down from his promises, let alone when it concerned his family. As she watched them leave, she felt a bit of hope that this might work.

Madeleine's leg bounced up and down as the two sat on the settee, anxiously waiting for Violet and Anthony to return. Benedict placed his hand on her leg, stopping her movements, and tilted his head to catch her eye. She looked over at him, fear written all over her face. He placed his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, pulling her into his side. She slowly relaxed as Benedict ran his hand up and down her arm soothingly.

The two sat there waiting, Madeleine watching the clock as each moment ticked by agonizingly slowly as half an hour passed. Neither one spoke, both running through all of the possible outcomes of this situation in their heads. Madeleine was about to question what was taking so long when the door to the drawing room swung open. Anthony did not look happy and Madeleine's heart dropped. The two stood up and Anthony put his hands on his hips, exhaling a deep breath.

"He refuses to comply, that insolent man. We are going to submit a request to the royal authorities immediately and we will take him down, I assure you." He looked at Madeleine and she nodded, biting her lip nervously. Violet walked over to the poor girl and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back softly.

"It will all be okay, darling. You are a part of this family now and we defend family with all of our might." She whispered and Madeleine smiled softly, the woman's words easing her worries slightly. She pulled away and Violet gave her a warm smile before turning to Anthony.

"We will need to call your father's lawyers, Anthony. If we are going to do this we must do it right. Come on, we must get started straight away." She put a hand on his shoulder and guided him out of the room, the two going into Anthony's study. Madeleine collapsed back into the settee and covered her face with her hands, groaning in discouragement. Benedict looked down at her and tilted his head, pondering how to cheer his friend up.

"Come on." He held out his hand and she cracked her fingers, peeking through with one eye to look at him. She sighed and stood, taking his hand, not bothering to question where they were going. She did not care at this point as long as it was not here. He kissed her hand and called the maid to get them a carriage and he walked away from Madeleine for a moment to tell the maid something she could not hear. She raised an eyebrow and he winked at her before offering her his arm and bringing her out to the carriage.

He helped her inside and a few minutes later, they started moving. Madeleine looked out the window as they neared the lake after about ten minutes, and she turned to Benedict with a quizzical look.

"The lake? Why are we going to the lake?" He rested his hand on her knee and shushed her, making her give him an irritated stare. He only laughed at this, and once the carriage came to a halt, he got out and offered his hand, helping her out. The footman on the back the carriage handed him a basket and he took it, holding Madeleine's hand with his other.

"We are going to have a picnic, my dear. On a canoe, on the lake, just the two of us. No scary uncle, no angry brother, no well-intentioned mother. Just us." He led her to the dock and she smiled softly, looking up at him with surprise.

"I always knew you were a romantic but this is rather unexpected." He laughed at this and squeezed her hand before letting go and kneeling down to untie one of the canoes. She smiled at him as he helped her in before getting in himself, placing the basket in between them and beginning to row. The sun felt wonderful on her face and the lake was almost empty so it really was just the two of them. Once they got far enough away from shore, Benedict stopped rowing and opened the basket, revealing plenty of blueberry scones, her favorite, and a bottle of champagne with two glasses.

Madeleine gasped, looking from the basket to him in awe.

"How did you manage to put this together in the five minutes since you concocted your master plan?" He chuckled and handed her a scone, popping the champagne open.

"I cannot take all of the credit. The maid put this together while we waited in the carriage." He smirked and handed her her glass, holding his up.

"Oly."

"Stubbs." She giggled softly, holding hers up as well.

"Here's to us. To our past, our present, and most importantly, to our future. Our wonderful future together, away from all of the horrid dramatics in this society." She blushed and smiled at him, the two clinking their glasses before taking a sip.

"You are rather wonderful, do you know that?" She smiled and he smirked in return, a playful glint in his eyes.

"Well everyone knows that." Madeleine laughed out loud at this and shook her head at his feigned arrogance. They began to dig into the food and talk about random things, mostly about their future. They talked about living on a farm, far, far away from here. Setting up a library for her and an art studio for him. They talked of having no maids, and learning to do all the cooking and cleaning themselves. And, for an hour, Madeleine forgot about all of the drama with her uncle. She felt happy, the both of them more content with each other than they had ever been.

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A/N: Sorry, this chapter is a bit short! I have a twenty-five page research paper due tomorrow but I couldn't resist throwing in a cute lil boat scene 😌 Not to worry, there will be plenty of drama in the next couple of chapters. Thank you all again for the support!!