The carriages finally entered the town and stopped in front of the hotel. It was at that same time that Mr Heywood was coming out of the carriage that he was spotted by Mr Tom Parker, Diana and Arthur.

'Mr Heywood, what a surprise. It is good to see you sir.'

Mr Heywood smiled at his former guest and took his hat off to greet him. 'Mr Parker, that is a fortuitous meeting indeed. How are you, sir?'

'Very well, very well. Allow me to introduce you to my sister Diana and my brother Arthur. Arthur is holding my son Henry, Diana my daughter Alicia and I am holding my daughter Jenny. We have spent the day at the beach and they got tired.'

Mr Heywood bowed and greeted Diana and Arthur, 'It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Diana and Mr Arthur Parker. May I introduce my companions? This is our cousin Mr Frederick Wentworth and his fiancee Miss Anne Eliot. I believe that you already know Mr Thompson.'

Tom Parker was stunned at seeing the family solicitor here in Sanditon, but tried his best to hide it. However, Mr Thompson who knew his client was not deceived. He made a mental note to contact Mr Sidney as soon as possible. 'It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Wentworth and Miss Eliot.' Diana and Arthur also expressed their pleasure at the introduction.

Mr Heywood then called his children and they were introduced to the newcomers. 'Mr Parkers and Miss Diana, these are the rest of my children. He then presented Emily, Christian, Thomas, Mary, Michael, Laura, Ben, Gina and Beth, who very politely bowed. The younger ones then were collected by the nurses and that left only Emily standing next to her father.

The Heywood children

Charlotte- 20 years old

Alison – 18 years old

Emily- 17 years old

Christian – 15 years old

Thomas- 13 years old

Mary- 12 years old

Michael – 10 years old

Laura – 8 years old

Ben – 7 years old

Gina – 6 years old

Beth – 4 years old

Emily was as tall as Charlotte and Alison with the same Heywood features and dark hair. However, she had inherited her blue eyes from the Wentworth side of the family, which made her a very beautiful lady with stunning looks and even better manners.

Arthur was struck at her beauty and kept staring at her like a fool. He suddenly understood what Sidney meant when he spoke about the first time that he saw Charlotte. It seems that the Heywood family has just claimed another Parker man. He was determined to speak to her and get to know her better.

Diana was flustered. He knew that Dr Levinson was handsome but the Adonis in front her was a revelation. Mr Wentworth was a sight to behold. His blonde hair and blue eyes on his chiselled and handsome face took her breath away. The fact that his clothes fitted him extremely well added to the whole effect. It seems that she was not the only one. All the ladies of the town seemed to be ogling this extremely handsome man, who took it all in his stride and gave his fiancée his sole attention.

Tom somehow recovered from his surprise and invited Mr Heywood, his companions and Mr Thompson for tea at Trafalgar House. Mr Heywood asked Emily to fetch the children as they would be keen to see their sisters and mother. Emily was no less keen, so she literally ran to get her siblings and their nurses. They arrived promptly and the whole group set forth for Trafalgar House.

Sanditon was stunned by this entourage. The rumours spread like wildfire when it was said that this was Miss Charlotte's family. What a handsome and well-behaved family it was! No wonder Miss Charlotte, Miss Alison and Mrs Heywood were so refined. The family had no false airs either. What a lovely addition to their town.

They reached the house in a matter of minutes. The nurses came to get the Parker children to the nursery and one of the maids went to fetch the mistress and the Heywood ladies.

The reunion of the Heywood family was noisy. The moment Mrs Heywood, Charlotte and Alison were told who was downstairs, they rushed to meet them. The younger children swarmed around their sisters and mother vying for their attention. Mrs Heywood had tears in her eyes from the joy of seeing them all again. Charlotte and Alison were suffocated by hugs from their siblings.

Mr Heywood waited patiently until their children quietened down a bit. He knew that Charlotte and Alison would keep them busy so that their parents would greet each other. Mrs Heywood approached her husband and gave him a radiant smile, 'Oh, Mr Heywood, how have I missed you! This is the loveliest surprise!'.

He responded by kissing his wife's cheek and whispering in her ear, 'I have missed you more than you know, my lovely wife. We can talk later.' She blushed at that comment. A fact that did not escape neither her husband nor any other adult's attention in the room.

Charlotte and Alison then joined their parents. Mr Heywood had tears in his eyes when he beheld his eldest child, 'Oh, Charlotte, how good it is to see you again. Are you well, my child?'

Charlotte hugged her father and said, 'I am papa. They have taken good care of me.' He then turned his attention to Alison and greeted her as well.

Only then did the ladies realise that there were more people in the room. The noise of the introductions meant that the Mr Sidney Parker, Dr Levinson and Lady Susan ventured from the sitting room with Mary standing next to them. Tom, Arthur and Diana were also in the room as well as their cousin Frederick and a lady whom they have not met yet.

Mrs Heywood, Charlotte and Alison greeted their cousin and were introduced to Miss Eliot. All three blushed fiercely when Frederick spoke to them and complimented them on how well they looked. The sight of Charlotte blushing at the presence of another man, made Sidney mad with jealousy. He knew that she was his, but this did not reassure him a lot. He would need to get to know this Frederick.

Dr Levinson was not so pleased either. His Diana was blushing like a schoolgirl at the sight of this newcomer.

Lady Susan was stunned and could not say a word. Here he was at last! Her Frederick! She begged him in her mind to lift his eyes and look at her. He did and he locked eyes with her for a full minute. This did not go unnoticed either by Anne or by Charlotte. Anne tried to get Frederick's attention, but when he did, he sounded strange and he was mumbling half responses to her. She would ask him about it later.

Charlotte decided to break the deadlock by introducing Mary, Sidney, Lady Susan and Dr Levinson to the rest of the group. Sidney was petrified just looking at Charlotte's father and Mr Heywood looked with interest at her daughter's suitor.

A red-cheeked Mary, who had just been introduced to Frederick, invited her guests to the sitting room for tea. Tom saw her reaction and he also knew why she reacted like that. She used to do that when they first courted. He was cursing this Frederick whoever he was.

Sidney made his way over to Mr Thompson and introduced him to Lady Susan. Mr Thompson then found his chance to briefly mention his concerns about Tom. Sidney asked him to come to Trafalgar House at nine in the morning and that all would be explained. This verbal exchange between Sidney and Mr Thompson for once was noticed by Tom. He knew now that something was going on. His wife, Diana and Arthur were not surprised by Mr Thompson presence either. They were hiding something from him.

The ever-efficient maid had the tea all laid out at the sitting room and all of them repaired to that room.