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Gregory had been home from Eton a week already, and Benedict had yet to find time to get him shaved. Not that Gregory needed anyone to teach him how to shave, as he now had a valet to do that for him.
Still, a boy's first shave felt like an important moment, a transition from boyhood to manhood, and his brother, or ideally brothers, should be a part of it.
Since the death of Edmund, the task had fallen on Anthony’s shoulders. In the absence of the viscount, Violet expected her other sons to step up, but so far they hadn't.
As Gregory stroked his chin scruff proudly, his mother began making plans. Colin and his little family were coming for tea that afternoon so she would arrange for her sons to spend some time together.
Several months ago, she had trouble getting Benedict to stay near Bridgerton House to do anything for his siblings, but that had changed since he got back from My Cottage. For some reason, he had been keen lately to spend all his days near the family and had even taken up drawing again.
Violet feared that Benedict’s change of heart was not because he had embraced his responsibilities or remembered how much he loved his family. Instead, he seemed to be hovering near their new maid, Sophie, quite a bit. Another problem for another day.
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The family, including Benedict, had already gathered in the drawing room when Colin and Penelope arrived for tea. Violet scooped Elliot from her son's arms, pecking kisses all over the baby's head and cooing at him.
"Do not get comfortable, Boys," she warned after a few minutes. "Gregory, your valet is waiting for you in your room."
"Mother," he protested, embarrassed and annoyed with her fussing. He was a grown man, old enough for facial hair and didn't need to be told what to do anymore.
She raised an eyebrow at him and pointed out the door. "No whining. Upstairs, now," she ordered.
Benedict and Colin snickered at the droop of his shoulders and the way he dragged his feet.
"You, too, Boys," their mother added, jostling Elliot on her hip and smiling at him playfully before turning her piercing gaze back towards her older sons.
"He does not need us when he has a valet," Benedict reminded her, reluctant to leave the room where Sophie was serving tea.
"Upstairs, now, Benedict!" his mother commanded, giving him the look he knew well, the one that made him want to stomp his feet and huff like a five year old boy.
He glanced at Sophie, who had her lips pressed together as she held in a giggle. Imperceptibly to the rest of the room, she made a tiny motion with her finger to urge him out of the room.
"Yes, Mother," he said sarcastically, heading out the door.
"You too, Colin."
"But, my wife," he complained, wrapping an arm around her waist as if she were a toy he did not want to stop playing with.
"Penelope will be fine until you return," Violet promised him, struggling between annoyance and affection that he was so attached to his wife. He reminded her of his father.
"Gregory needs to know he is in your club," Penelope said, gently prying his hand from her body.
"Your father's whisky is waiting for you as well.” Violet acknowledged she was offering a bribe, but she also knew the importance of the ritual for her sons. “Drink together and remember him."
Edmund Bridgerton’s twenty year old Scottish whisky had become a sacred object to his sons, brought out on special occasions to mark times when they wished their father was still alive. Colin’s engagement to Penelope. Anthony’s pregnancy announcement. Benedict’s acceptance into art school.
The brothers appreciated the ritual and the connection to their father and each other. Colin suspected his mother had a servant refill the bottle after every brotherly toast, but the magical, endless supply became part of its legend.
Colin kissed this wife, baby, and mother and bound upstairs like a puppy, enthusiastic about participating in another important family moment.
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Gregory sat in a tall leather chair in the men’s retiring room with a towel draped around his neck. His valet handed him the shaving tray to hold and began frothing up the soap in a small bowl.
“He looks like Elliot when Penelope feeds him mashed peas,” Colin joked as he entered the room.
“A-h-h-h!” Benedict cooed mockingly. “He is adorable with his little bib!”
“Gory!” Colin added, calling his brother by the nickname Hyacinth used with she couldn’t pronounce Gregory. “Such a big boy, Gor Gor!”
“Shut up, you two!” their youngest brother snapped, forcing his voice to sound lower, which made it squeak.
“Please, Mr. Bridgerton!” the valet begged, pulling the straight edge razor away from his master to keep him from getting cut. “You must sit still!”
“Alright, Gregory,” Colin conceded, putting his arm up in surrender. “We’re done.”
“Yes, time to be serious,” Benedict said sternly, squaring his shoulders and looking frightening like Anthony. “Shaving is dangerous, and you must not move while your valet is working.”
“A little blood is a good sign, though,” Colin quipped as the valet glared at him. “It shows you are alive.”
“You never could sit still, could you?”
“Nope. Penelope loses her mind some days with all my pacing and fidgeting. She got so mad when she was pregnant with Eliot that I thought she would kill me in my sleep.” He said it like a funny anecdote, but Colin had been very concerned for her sanity.
“The teachers still tell stories about your behavior at Eton,” Gregory commented, automatically turning his head to see them as he spoke. “Your ability to charm your way out of trouble is legendary.”
“No talking!” the valet yelled, scrambling away from his charge to regroup before putting the blade to his skin again.
Colin laughed. “Penelope frequently wonders aloud if I was ever punished as a child.”
“Did you tell her about the time you tracked paint all over Mother’s floor?” Benedict asked, chuckling. “I thought Mrs. Wilson was going to exile you to the stables.”
“I still do not understand why there is a giant bee in our ballroom! Eloise, Penelope, and I were playing a chasing game, but they were clever enough not to run through the fresh paint.”
“Then, you smiled and somehow managed to talk both women into letting you take the girls for ices instead. I remember it very well, because I got stuck chaperoning you!”
“That was the day I discovered that Penelope prefers lavender ices instead of lemon,” Colin finished with the soft smile that he always got when thinking about his wife.
Benedict shook his head. “You are so besotted!”
“Yeah, but I am not the brother who was changed the most by marriage.”
“Do you remember how prickly and controlling he was during Daphne’s season? Our poor sister!” Benedict moved to where he could see the progress on Gregory’s face.
“Anthony is hardly recognizable any more! He has gotten squishy!” He took his brother’s silent directions and stood on Gregory’s other side.
“Before Kate, he would have pounded me into the ground for compromising Penelope before our wedding, but I do not recall him even raising his voice during my entire courtship.”
Benedict raised his eyebrows in surprise at Colin’s admission and as a warning that their little brother was watching. “A few kisses before your wedding is normal and not as ruinous as before the engagement,” the older brother explained for Gregory’s instruction.
Colin thought back to the carriage where he had given into his desires for Penelope and smirked. “And, sometimes it leads to the engagement.”
Benedict was surprised to hear that the brother he had always assumed to be naive and gentlemanly about sex and romance was now bragging about his exploits. “You are lucky the viscount has softened so much, then.”
“I wish he was here today,” Gregory commented sadly as the valet washed the shaving soap off his face.
“He should be here,” Benedict said emphatically. “He and Father watched me get my first shave- it is only right that he is here for yours.”
“Father had already died when it was my turn, but Anthony and Benedict were with me.”
“I remember that day!” Benedict exclaimed, smiling crookedly. “Anthony was trying so hard to be the viscount that he forgot how to be your brother, insisting he did not have the time. Mother handed him the bottle of Father’s whisky and a new tradition was born.”
“We know we are poor substitutes, Greg,” Colin admitted, patting his brother’s shoulder, “but we are proud of you.”
“Welcome to the club, Little Brother,” Benedict enthused, mussing with Gregory’s hair. “I think you will be the best Bridgerton of us all.” He nodded his thanks and dismissal to the valet, who gathered up the supplies and left the brothers alone.
"We will make all the mistakes in love, so there will be none left for you," Colin began. "For example, if your beloved tells you her biggest secret, do not use it as a weapon against her, no matter how confused your emotions are in the moment.”
“You did that to Penelope?” Gregory asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.
“Yep. I am an idiot.”
Benedict put his hand on his younger brother’s shoulder. “We are all idiots about love, Col,” he admitted, thinking about his conundrum related to Sophie, the maid. “I fell head over heels with a woman at Mother’s masquerade, and I do not even know her name.”
“At least neither of us are afraid of love like Anthony!” Colin added, smiling and shaking his head with a laugh. “His stubbornness nearly ruined our family.”
“Was Father an idiot, too?” Gregory asked, always eager for whatever information his older brother’s could share with him about the late Lord Bridgerton. Gregory had only been a toddler when their Father died and didn’t remember anything about him.
Benedict smiled softly at his little brother. “According to Mother, they were friends for years before he realized he loved her. She had nearly married someone else before he intervened.”
“I had not realized our stories were so similar,” Colin commented, his throat tight with emotions. He swallowed hard. “She told me that he finally got up the courage to ask if she loved him as well.”
He put his hand on Gregory’s shoulder. “Being honest with the woman you love is the hardest thing you will ever have to do, but it is also the most necessary.”
“There is so much I still do not understand.” Gregory’s face displayed so much despair that the older brothers had to stifle their laughter. “The boys at Eton talk about girls all the time, but mostly they ask questions.”
“That is very normal,” Benedict reassured him. “You will hear all sorts of things and will soon learn enough to discern the truth.”
“Is it true that women have three holes between their legs?”
Colin and Benedict looked at each other, a mixture of shock and pride on their faces. They hadn’t thought about needing to have those types of conversations, but they appreciated their little brother’s boldness about the subject.
With a smirk on his lips, Benedict replied, “Yes, they do,” as Gregory’s mind tried to comprehend the placement and purposes of such places. Benedict laughed good-naturedly at his brother’s confusion. “I will explain it all to you another day.”
“He drew pictures for me,” Colin explained to Gregory. “They were very helpful.” He pulled up his eyebrow suggestively a few times towards Benedict.
“Another day,” Benedict affirmed, uncharacteristically strict. “For now, we should toast our Father before Penelope sends out a search party.”
“I have been away from her for an unreasonable amount of time,” Colin replied, looking towards the door longingly.
“You are pathetic!” Benedict teased, pouring whisky into four glasses.
Taking the drink from his brother, Colin jabbed back. “Says the man who carries around a lady’s glove like a knight’s favor!”
"I think it is romantic!” Gregory argued stubbornly. Having grown up surrounded by sisters, he had absorbed many of their ideas about love, chivalry, and romance and was eager for his turn.
Benedict handed his youngest brother a scant swallow of whisky, mindful not to overwhelm him with his first adult drink. “This is Father’s bottle,” he explained, pouring out a shot for the late Lord Bridgerton, “and we brothers always drink it during times of celebration to remember him.”
"Father called you his little prince. It felt only natural after giving the world three princesses.” Colin smiled weakly, his eyes pricking with tears. “He put you in my arms on the day you were born and told me that I was your older brother. I was so excited to have a little brother of my own after being the younger brother for so long.”
Benedict threw his arms around both brothers. "You will always be my little brothers."
The brothers teased and jostled each other for a moment before Colin raised his glass. "To many more brotherly moments."
"To our Father, our example in love and life," Benedict added.
"To Anthony, the best older brother."
"Hey!" Gregory’s brothers complained as he laughed.
"To the Bridgertons," Benedict toasted, downing his shot of alcohol. His brothers repeated him and drank their own whiskey.
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<><> NOTES <><>
- Shaving cream wasn’t invented until WW1, so the silly fight we get in the show, while adorable, would not happen for over one hundred years. Instead, men used bar soap and a stiff brush to make a lather. The soap bubbles didn’t last very long, so they would only apply it to the section of the face where they were shaving. You can see a historical straight edge shave on this video.