~~Alison~~

I walked into the drawing room where Lady Denham was sipping tea and looking through papers. I tried to hide the grin on my face after the most amazing day of my life, but I failed miserably.

"You look rather flushed. Were you sitting in the sun too long?" she asked.

"No," I answered still grinning. I sat down in a chair and brushed my bottom lip with the tip of my finger still reliving the kiss in my mind.

"I might suspect a young gentleman has had some effect on your demeanor," she said.

I smiled at her and nodded my head a little. "I suppose it's possible."

Mr. Crowe, perhaps?" she asked looking pleased with herself.

"He's asked me to marry him, Lady Denham," I explained.

She seemed positively exuberant. "Did you give him an answer?"

"I think I've indicated my answer is yes. There's still more conversation to be had. He will need to talk to my father, of course."

"Mr. Crowe will be a fine match. He has a nice income," she indicated.

"How do you know about his income?" I wondered.

"I make it my business to know about everyone's finances here in Sanditon. I make it my duty to help young girls I'm fond of find a husband with a good fortune as well. First Esther, now you. I had Mr. Crowe picked out for you the moment I saw the two of you argue at the dinner party. You'll be able to complement each other well instead of being married to someone dull, like my second husband was. I always thought Clara would be a good match for Mr. Sidney Parker, but she messed up that prospect by conspiring with my hopeless nephew. Charlotte is more complicated. I haven't found the right man for her, yet. I know she had her heart set on Mr. Parker for a time, but he's not right for her anymore. He doesn't have the finances like Mr. Crowe does."

"I'm not marrying Mr. Crowe because of his wealth," I assured.

"Sure, you aren't," she said with a laugh.

"Lady Denham, I don't think you understand how little Charlotte and I care about money. It's not something we are after in marriage. We were not brought up to search for wealthy husbands. We were brought up to search for love."

"Are you saying you love Mr. Crowe?"

"I'm not sure I love him entirely, but I have more understanding of who he is after our conversation today. I see myself beginning to have true feelings for him that had nothing to do with money. If he lost all his wealth tomorrow, my feelings for him wouldn't change in the least. I'd still wish to marry him."

"Nonsense!" she rebutted. "Wealth is the only thing to make a marriage worthwhile. Unless, of course, there's a title to be had."

"I find your opinion rather sad," I said angrily. I knew I probably shouldn't have said it, but it came out anyway and she clearly was not happy.

"Go play me something at the piano," she ordered.

I sighed, still angry about what she was implying. But I did as she requested and went to the piano to play. At least playing helped me calm down a little.

"Where might Charlotte be?" Lady Denham asked after a good amount of time had gone by.

I stopped playing the piano and turned around to face her. "She isn't here? I assumed she was upstairs," I said, starting to worry about my sister.

"She left a while ago with Mr. Parker and the Parker children. I assumed she was returning them to Mary. She mentioned something about a picnic?"

"Yes, we had a picnic earlier. But everyone had left by the time I came back up the road," I explained.

Lady Denham called for one of her servants to ready the carriage.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I need to talk to Mr. Parker. I imagine I'll find Charlotte with the Parker family as well," she explained.

"Should I come with you to help look for her?" I asked.

"No, my dear. I'll be fine."

~~Sidney~~

Charlotte's question caught me off guard. Did she really think she could help? Or was she only offering to be polite?

"Right now, there isn't a whole lot that can be done," I answered.

"What did you do?" she asked. It was definitely something I didn't want to reveal to her. I didn't want her to know that I ultimately made myself an indebted poor man who didn't have a chance with her any longer. As much as I wanted to hold onto hope that she would think differently of me with time, even if she did, I couldn't marry her being a poor man with debts.

I smiled trying to hide my fear. "I had a conversation with Lady Denham to see if we could work something out."

"Did she accept?" she wondered.

"She is to give me an answer soon."

"Perhaps I can talk to her and convince her to accept," she offered.

"You don't have to," I said, fearful Lady Denham would ultimately tell her about my offer.

"It's no trouble at all. Lady Denham seems to trust my opinion. If I can help in any way, I will."

"I'd rather you not. I don't want to provoke her." Charlotte watched me curiously as if she didn't understand what I meant. Obviously, she didn't understand, but I didn't want her to.

"Come on, Uncle Sidney!" Henry shouted. I walked a little quicker and scooped up little James who was falling behind his siblings. The girls yelled for Charlotte to come to their side when we reached the river. The children raced their boats for quite some time and even waded in the cool water for a bit before Charlotte and I finally told them it was time to go. The sun was beginning to set, and I was sure Mary was wondering where we were. I carried little James on my shoulders while we walked along the river. Charlotte was silent while we walked, I imagined thinking on what I had told her about my offer to Lady Denham.

I had completely forgot about the gazebo along the riverbank, until we got close and the children stopped and stared in amazement.

"What is that, Uncle Sidney?" Alicia asked.

Charlotte gasped next to me and stopped in her tracks when she saw it. I smiled proudly as I watched her take in the construction.

"Where did this come from?" she asked looking at me skeptically. The children went running towards it to get a better look. I put James down on the ground and he slowly traipsed through the grass to follow his siblings.

"You said you wanted a playhouse. We couldn't exactly have one of those built in the short time we had, so I had this built instead… for you," I explained.

"For me?" she asked staring at me intently.

I grinned bashfully and nodded my head. "I've hired a group of actors to come put on a show while the Prince Regent is here."

She smiled and walked towards it to join the kids in their fun. She walked in and examined the construction and touched every post and beam inspecting the wood and design. I stood just outside of it and watched her intently waiting for her approval. "This is breathtakingly beautiful," she said with a huge smile.

I smiled in return and took the few steps inside to join her. The children ran and giggled all around us from one side of the gazebo to the next. "I was hoping you'd like it. I'm sure you had something grander in mind, but it'll have to do for now."

"No," she said with a giggle. "This is even better than anything I had in mind."

Our eyes connected for a moment, which made me, for one minute, think that I had been forgiven for all the lies and mistrust I'd caused. Yet, I was still lying to her. Or rather, avoiding the truth.

"I hope we make a good impression on the Prince Regent. I'm entirely grateful to Lady Susan for convincing him to come here," she said.

"What are you expecting when the Prince Regent arrives?" I asked, curious if she had any opinions on the man.

"I suppose I'm expecting a powerful man who will bring plenty of fashionable people along with him," she answered. "Lady Susan explained how powerful people influence others on where to follow and be seen. We are already seeing an influx of visitors. Just like you said when we were in London. People go to parties to be seen, not for conversation. I would think the same would apply here."

"And do you think it'll help Sanditon at all?" I wondered.

"Well I don't think it'll hurt. I imagine it'll give us an opportunity to show all the benefits of the sea and have influential people bring it up in conversation for years to come. Plenty of people with large incomes and lots of influence will come to Sanditon and fall in love with the place just as I have and so many others."

I nodded my head agreeing with her opinion. "Let's hope it all works out."

I motioned for us to leave and called the children to follow. They were disappointed we had to leave, but they did as they were told and followed us out. The children were exhausted. James had fallen asleep on my shoulder and on a few occasions almost fallen off of me. Thankfully Charlotte had caught his head and steadied him so I could hold on to him with more support. The other children had now taken to walking with us, holding our hands rather than running ahead. By the time we reached Trafalgar House, they were dragging their feet up the steps to the door.

"Sidney, Charlotte, what have you done to the children?" Diana asked dramatically.

I rolled my eyes. "They are only tired, Diana. They've had a busy day."

A nanny came through and took James from my arms and escorted Henry down the hallway. The girls sat down and leaned up against each other while they waited for their turn to be brought to bed.

"Charlotte, would you like to stay for dinner?" Mary asked.

I watched on, hopeful she'd say yes and I could spend a little while longer with her.

"I really should be getting back. I should make sure Alison made it home alright," she explained. "I'm sure she has lots to talk about."

"You'll need to come some other time and spend the day with us again," Mary suggested.

"I'd like that," she agreed. "I miss my time here."

"We miss having you," Mary said coming over to her and giving her a hug. "Thank you for joining us today and taking my children on quite an adventure."

She smiled appreciatively to Mary. "I should be the one thanking you. I needed today. I think I've been doing too much and need to take more breaks."

"Yes, you should," Mary agreed. "You are welcome to come visit us anytime you would like."

Jenny came walking over half asleep and wrapped her arms around Charlotte. "Goodnight, Charlotte," she whispered.

"Goodnight, Jenny," Charlotte said with a smile hugging her back.

"It's getting late. I shall call for our carriage to drive you out to Lady Denham's. Sidney, perhaps you could escort Charlotte?" Mary asked.

"Of course. It would be my pleasure," I agreed with a happy grin. The thought of being with her in the carriage alone, even for a short time, made me excited.

Unfortunately, just as Mary was calling for the carriage to be brought around, another carriage pulled up in front of the house. There was a ring at the door and Lady Denham was escorted in.

"There you are, Charlotte. I was beginning to think the Parker's had taken you hostage," she said.

"Lady Denham, what do we owe this unexpected surprise?" Mary asked.

"I've come to collect Charlotte and have a conversation with Mr. Parker," she explained. My heart began to race. She probably had an answer for my proposition.

"Of course," I said with a pained expression. I gestured for her to join me in the drawing room.

"Charlotte, please wait in the carriage," she ordered.

"I'd rather not, if you don't mind," Charlotte disputed.

"It's not a request. Mr. Parker and I have some business matters to discuss that do not pertain to you. I need you to wait in the carriage."

As much as I could tell Charlotte didn't want to leave and was very confused why Lady Denham was being authoritative with her, I knew whatever it was Lady Denham was about to say wasn't something I wanted Charlotte to hear either. I nodded my head, giving Charlotte permission to leave us. Charlotte walked out of the house hesitantly, still looking back and questioning what was happening.

I followed Lady Denham into the drawing room and shut the door. She hesitated and paced around the room. "Do you take me as a fool?" she asked.

"Surely not," I responded.

"I'm not blind to your affection for Charlotte. I assume you think scandalously breaking off your engagement with Mr. Campion and then paying me not even half of what you agreed to pay, will grant you the ability to marry Charlotte," she conceived. "You plan to marry her under false pretenses and ultimately force her into a penniless marriage."

"I'm under no illusion of what I have done. I know I can't marry Charlotte being penniless," I assured. "It won't last forever, though."

"Yet you still pursue her?" she questioned.

"We took the children down by the river to race their boats. That is all."

"You expect me to believe you aren't going to keep her dangling on your every word?"

"Charlotte is always free to do as she pleases," I assured.

"It may take many years to pay off the debt your family owes me. You won't ask her to wait for you?" she questioned. Of course, I wanted Charlotte to wait for me. But I'd never ask her to.

"No."

She sighed, observing me with questioning eyes. "If you don't expect her to wait for you and you refuse to marry a wealthy woman to higher your position and ease your family's financial troubles, what is your purpose?"

I dropped my head and sighed. "If there's one thing Charlotte has taught me, loving someone is far more important than being loved in return. I love Charlotte. I imagine I always will. But I refuse to marry another and ultimately break her heart merely for wealth. I don't care if I'm indebted to you for life or even if you choose to send me to debtor's prison. I won't hurt Charlotte any more than I already have."

She hesitated for a while, staring at me with intimidating eyes. "You'll agree to my terms if I accept your terms?" she asked.

"Do I have a choice?" I wondered.

"I'll accept your offer on a few conditions. I do not have the time to take on a London company. I expect you to continue to run your London business only receiving a laborer's wage to live off of. I also expect you not to enter into an engagement with Charlotte, nor will you ask her to wait for you until the debt is paid in full," she explained.

"You can't do that!" I shouted.

"You just got done telling me you had no intention of asking her to wait for you. Are you saying that was a lie?" she questioned.

"I can build another company. I've done it once; I can do it again. I can continue to pay you in yearly installments while I build enough wealth to offer Charlotte a comfortable life."

She grinned maliciously. "You have it all worked out, don't you? Yet, what happens when you have a child and another child and another after that? It would mean more expenses while the amount you're able to pay me becomes less and less. No. I won't have it. Until the debt is paid in full you are not to enter into any engagement with Charlotte. She deserves better."

My heart sank. As much as I thought this would work, I should have known better than to expect Lady Denham to approve. "Is there any way out of this?" I asked, hopeful, knowing it was futile.

She gave me a devious look while she straightened her sleeves. "I suppose the only way out of it is if you marry a wealthy woman. I imagine it'll take you a good ten years to pay the rest of the debt in full. Charlotte may be happily married by then. Is it really any different than if you marry someone wealthy now? You could let her go for good so she can move on and find someone more worthy."

This woman who stood in front of me was gutting me with every word she spoke. I wanted her to leave. I needed her to be out of my sight. I opened the door and gestured for her to leave. "I'll accept your terms," I agreed angrily. "But I'll pay it off in two years. I promise you that." I was determined. There was no other option.

She scoffed. "We'll see."

She left the house and entered the carriage with Charlotte while I fell to the ground unable to see a way out of any of this. Damn Tom! He should be the one taking care of all this, not me. Why was everything being put on my shoulders?

Mary and Diana came in and kneeled down beside me to offer some form of comfort. "We'll figure out a way. I promise you, Sidney. I won't have that woman take everything from our family, that includes Charlotte," Mary assured.

NOTES:
I know everyone wants Sidney to catch a break. The poor guy is getting slapped in the face everywhere he turns. Trust me, though. It's all leading up to a great reveal. Plus, I think it's only giving Charlotte and Sidney more of an opportunity to get to know each other and truly deapen those feelings.

Don't hate on Lady Denham too much. She is a jaded woman whose only experience at love is heartbreak. She thinks she is doing right by Charlotte and Alison and sees them as the daughters she never had. She doesn't see things the same way they do. They will soften her to their way of thinking with time.