Friday morning dawned. It was a hot and sunny day with a slight breeze- a lovely day to be out and about. It suited not only the people of Sanditon, whom you could see buzzing around opening their businesses for the last day of the working week, but the visitors who benefited from the practice of sea bathing.

The bathing machines were especially popular with the ladies today. They were all keen on sampling the calm sea and the warm water as they had to forego their swim the days before due to the choppy water. The gentlemen did not want to miss out either. Therefore, they said goodbye to their ladies in order to enjoy the cool sea water on their own side of the beach.

Sea bathing was also in Sidney's mind this morning. He woke up at six in the morning after a wholesome and refreshing sleep craving for a swim. He realised that he had been in Sanditon for at least a week and he had not been for a swim yet. He was having breakfast with the Heywood ladies –Charlotte's mother and sister- and Lady Susan at eight in the morning. This meant that he had two hours to himself. Thus, he got himself ready and walked towards his favourite place on the beach- the cove where Charlotte discovered him coming out of the sea.

When he got there, he undressed and enjoyed a vigorous swim of thirty minutes around the bay. He relished how the sea water embraced his naked limbs and how refreshing it felt on a hot day. He spent the remaining half hour floating peacefully on the water. After staying in the water for a good hour, he then made his way back to the hotel for a hot bath to wash the saltiness off his body.

The hotel staff had already prepared his bath as per his request. The lavender-scented bath was just what he needed after a good swim and it soothed the exercised muscles of his limbs as he was sore all over due to the lack of exercise.

He thought to himself how delightful it would have been for Charlotte to share this bath or a swim with him. This was of course a far from relaxing thought- though not in an unpleasant way- in fact it was a most pleasurable one. It was a fantasy that he had often indulged in but never dared to admit to himself before.

It had always been kept hidden safely in his subconscious ever since she found him swimming in the cove, though. He now dared to bring it out in the open as he felt more secure in Charlotte's love for him. He felt safe to daydream of a bright future with the woman he loved where he would share this and other fantasies with her sometime soon. He hoped sooner than later!

He wondered whether she had fantasies that she would share with him in time. He hoped so very much. Yet, he knew that his work in winning back her trust was not done. Not yet. She said so herself. He would persevere and use every honourable trick in the book to achieve his goal.

He was a tad miffed about that cousin of hers, Frederick, though. Why did he have to come into the picture? Why now? Yes, Charlotte did tell him that she only loved him and him alone. He both believed and trusted her. He truly did. Yet, one small part of his brain could still not accept that he had a chance with her. This self-doubt made him nervous when new people came in the picture. Especially someone whom she admired in the past.

He concluded that he would give this Frederick the benefit of the doubt and he would see what was to happen next week. All these ruminations made him forget that his bath water was completely cold. He knew by the goose bumps that were spreading all over his body. This prompted him to leave the bathtub in order to get ready for breakfast. He was due to meet the ladies in 15 minutes.

He did not have much time to dress. Yet, today was an important day due to the visit to Lady Denham. At least that was Sidney's superficial excuse. Part of his strategy to win Charlotte's trust was to dress as becomingly as possible. Today he opted for a well-fitted olive-green jacket with a gold-coloured waistcoat. Charlotte, thought he to himself, has only actually seen him in black. It would be good for her to see him in more colourful outfits. He did make sure thought to put all the necessary documents they needed Lady Denham to sign in his jacket pocket before leaving his room.

Despite checking his appearance in the mirror at least twice, he was ready on time. He found them sitting in the hotel's dining room at the table near the window which was overlooking the main street.

His last thought before entering the said room was what Charlotte would wear for the visit. She normally wore her beautifully fitted white dresses, which made her look positively angelic. Would she wear white or another colour? He put those thoughts to rest for now and bid the ladies good morning.

The three ladies appraised his appearance and approved whole heartedly. He looked very handsome in his olive-green coloured jacket. Despite that only one of them voiced their thoughts aloud. It was Lady Susan. She commented, 'You look very well today, Mr Parker. Is this your battle wear to impress the grand lady?'

Sidney blushed beet red at Lady Susan's comment but opted for a quiet thank you and went to get himself some breakfast. He was never comfortable in being the centre of attention unless of course Charlotte joined him in the limelight.

The ladies knew that his outfit was for Charlotte's benefit. There was no need to reveal to him that they knew exactly what he was up to. They would keep their thoughts to themselves for now. They were simply glad that he was making the effort to impress her. Charlotte deserved that and more.

They were all hungry and they concentrated in consuming a large portion of eggs, bacon and beans along with enjoying the perfectly brewed tea. They then made their way to Trafalgar House early- each of them for reasons of their own.

On the one hand, Lady Susan wanted some time with Alison and Mrs Heywood to find out more about their cousin. She liked nothing better than meeting new people especially ones who were meant to be handsome. She wanted to extract every juicy detail from them. She also wanted to confirm her suspicion whether it was the same Frederick of her youth. The one who got away. The one whom her parents did not allow her to wed.

On the other hand, Sidney wanted to spend some time with Charlotte before the visit to Lady Denham. His senses were heightened by both his swim and his bath. He craved to kiss her good morning before he exploded from anticipation. It was good for him that his poker face did not betray these thoughts as his future mother-in-law and Lady Susan would have started teasing him again. Not that he minded, but one could only be teased so much.

They reached Trafalgar House and found the place in a state of noisy disarray. They entered the front room to find three children whose excitement was literally bouncing from the walls. They were rushing their father, Arthur and Diana to rush otherwise they would lose the best spot on the beach. Tom looked sleepy and disgruntled- he was never a morning person at the best of times, Diana looked amused and Arthur became one of the children and started goading Tom and Diana to rush as well.

The children only stopped for a moment to rush to Sidney and the ladies to greet them. They hugged their uncle Sidney first and then each of the ladies, even Lady Susan. She even let them. She liked the Parker children as they were carefree, artless and affectionate. They liked her very much as they said she was pretty and that she looked like a princess every time they saw her.

In only ten minutes' after the group's entrance in the house, Mary managed to calm her children down and get them to leave with the adults. She gave Tom a picnic basket and Arthur two blankets for all them to sit down. She made sure to give Tom a kiss on the cheek, which she knew would get him out of his bad morning mood. A gesture which made Tom very happy indeed and got him grinning at his wife widely in an instant.

Mary sighed a sigh of relief when they were out of the house. She even voiced it aloud to everyone's surprise, 'Finally, I thought they would never leave!' All of them laughed at Mary's exasperation. Sidney asked Mrs Heywood whether he would be able to have a bit of time with Charlotte before the visit which she agreed. She went to fetch her whilst Mary took Lady Susan and Alison to the sitting room. Mrs Heywood was to join them in a moment. Mrs Heywood true to her word came down with Charlotte walking behind her. She gave her daughter an affectionate hug and left the two lovebirds alone in the front room.

Mrs Heywood entered the sitting room with a smirk on her face. Alison understood and asked her mother, 'How are those two doing, mama? Are they still as smitten as teenagers?'

Mrs Heywood giggled aloud and answered to everyone in the room, 'Yes, they are. It was a delight to see.'

Lady Susan did not want to waste this opportunity so she asked the Heywood ladies, 'Will you tell both Mary and myself about your cousin Frederick. It would be good to know something about him before his arrival next week.'

Mrs Heywood wondered at Susan's -they were in first-name basis, she called her Susan and Susan called her with her first name, Jane in private- explicit interest in Frederick. He decided to indulge her curiosity.

'We come from a long line of Wentworths based in Liverpool. My parents and my two uncles, James and David, are the only remaining family members from the Wentworth line. I am an only child.

On the one hand, my uncle James has two sons and one daughter. The eldest is Tom, who is a vicar in Somerset and the younger one is Frederick. He is a naval officer who has just become a captain and has made his fortune. It has not been confirmed, but my uncle James mentioned that Frederick received around £25,000 worth of prize money.

My cousin, Sophia, has been married to Admiral Croft for the last 15 years. She is happily married to him. He was present in the battle of Trafalgar, then assigned in the East Indies and holds the rank of Rear Admiral of the White. They currently live at Kellynch Hall.

On the other hand, my uncle David, who is currently travelling in the East Indies, never married. We have not heard from him for a while, which is a slight worry. I hope Frederick brings us some news of him. He has always been one of my favourite uncles and one of Charlotte's as well. They got on like a house on fire. She used to love hearing about his adventures in the Indies.'

Lady Susan held his breath throughout Mrs Heywood narration. It was the same Frederick! The very same one whom she fell in love with when visiting her uncle in Liverpool. The one whom her parents refused to allow her to marry due to his lack of fortune despite the fact that both Frederick and herself were hopelessly in love with each other. It was right after this unfortunate romance that she met Lord Worcester whom she really liked, but never fully loved. He was very good to her- he was no Frederick though.

When she found out about Charlotte and Sidney's romantic troubles, she hastened to help them. This was due partly because of her affection for Charlotte and partly because she could not bear another person suffer the heartbreak that she herself had suffered after not being able to marry Frederick. Knowing now that she helped one member of his family was one of the most satisfying feelings that she has had for a while. She was elated!

She was both nervous and excited about seeing him again next week. What would he do? Would he still remember her? She knew that she still loved him despite everything. She would really need to keep her nerves intact next week otherwise she ran the risk of being as lovesick as Charlotte. Oh, the anticipation of it all- she could still feel her heart thumping in her ears! She made the effort to calm down and refocus on Mrs Heywood's narration.

Lady Susan regained her wits at the point when Mrs Heywood finished her narration. Luckily none of the other people in the room perceived her inattention.

Whilst Mrs Heywood was enthralling her audience with a bit of family history, Sidney was stunned on how beautiful Charlotte looked this morning. She opted for a delicately patterned dress in white background colour and gold poppies. It was in fact the same gold colour of his waistcoat. The dress flattered her in the right places and showed off her curves to perfection. Her hair was also down- exactly how he liked it. She had sparkling eyes and her cheeks were a lovely red colour.

Charlotte was not unaffected either when she saw him. It was the first time that she saw him wear any other colour apart from black. The gold waistcoat matched her dress perfectly as if they had pre-agreed the colours. The green fitted jacket fitted him perfectly and it emphasized his powerful broad shoulders. He looked like Adonis incarnate only clothed.

They kept staring at each other mutely for a couple of minutes before Sidney snapped out of his trance state enough to take her hand gently and lead her to the study. He closed the door for some privacy and took her in his arms for an embrace.

They hugged for a moment or two without saying much. To start with, they wanted to savour each other's presence. Then, Charlotte felt Sidney's arms pull her tighter to him. She saw him stare at her lips intently and he leaned down to give a brief but thorough morning kiss. Only then did he whisper in her ear, 'Good morning, my beautiful Charlotte.'

She looked up at him with glazed eyes and responded, 'Good morning, my prince charming. You look very handsome today. Is this for Lady Denham's benefit or mine?'

He gave her a grin, 'Lady Denham? Of course not. It is all for you, my love. However, if it helps our case with Lady Denham, then this would be a bonus, would it not?'

She responded, 'Why, of course, Sidney. I must admit though that I find the thought of it being just for me a tad more appealing. Did you know that I dreamt of you last night?'

He looked at her in surprise and asked in a teasing voice, 'You did? What was the dream about? Will you tell me?'

She blushed before saying, 'Well, it was when I saw you at the cove. Only with a different ending from me running away from you. In my dream I stayed.'

He sat down on the settee and sat her on his lap. He brought her close and asked, 'What happened when you stayed? What did we do?'

Charlotte looked down as if embarrassed and stated matter-of-factedly looking straight at him, 'We swam together.'

There was no blush. She looked serious. Yet, the change in her pupils told him another story. She was sharing something that she wished for them to do together in her own unique way.

He simply said, 'That sounds like a wonderful dream. Would you like it to come true? I know I certainly would. It is in fact one of the things that I would like us to do together. You see I had the same thoughts this morning after my morning swim.'

She did not respond to him in words. She leaned and captured his waiting full-bodied lips giving him a full kiss. Her boldness caught him unawares. It took him a moment to start kissing her back. When he truly got into it, he did not want to let her go. She tasted delicious. He could still taste the citrus from her tea on her tongue. If it wasn't for the visit, he would rather stay with her in the study kissing her amongst other things for the duration of the day.

They broke the kiss as they needed to break for air. Once he had recovered his breath, 'We will do that then.' Charlotte nodded and smiled at him widely.

They did not have much more time after their kiss as Mrs Heywood knocked on the door to tell them that the carriage had arrived to take them to Lady Denham's house. They exchanged a soft kiss, straightened their clothing and joined Mary, Mrs Heywood Alison and Lady Susan in the front room.