Here's a little warning: Towards the end of the chapter, there are some references that might be rated "Parental Guidance".

Spinning

"You look very happy today, Charlotte," Manoel said when she reported for duty at the F&B manager's office in the afternoon. "Has Mr P given you a pay rise after the triumph of the open-day?"

"Not… exactly."

"Such a pity. I think you deserve one."

"I have everything I need," she assured him, and that was true. She had Sidney Parker's heart. Only a fool would ask for more.

"You're far too modest. – But you look different. New make-up?"

"Probably a little sunburnt. I spent most of the day down by the sea."

"I see," Manoel said and did not pursue the matter further. Understaffed and with two-hundred guests to cater for, he did have other worries than the question of why Charlotte Heywood seemed to be floating half a foot above the ground. Or why she kept smiling as if she had won the lottery jackpot. Or why, if one looked very closely, there were a few grains of sand sticking to her temple.

She kept smiling and floating during the whole evening. Never had dispensing champagne glasses been a happier task than when she knew that Sidney's gaze was following her all across the room. Sometimes she looked up to return that gaze, and when their eyes met over the heads of the guests, they could not help but smile at each other and share the same memories of the cove.

She did not mind that she had to work, running about in her black service dress, while he was free to enjoy himself, looking dapper in black tie. She watched him as he invited Alicia for another dance, making his niece giggle and beam as he spun her around in his arms.

They had agreed that with all the bustle and Tom's usual panic before the ball, this was not the best moment to announce the happy news to the Parker family – especially since the news was so fresh and with it, they would only enhance the general excitement. Better to tell them quietly during Sunday brunch or a family clifftop walk. So it was back to lingering looks and secret smiles, but as they were no longer connected to doubt and insecurity, they were much more enjoyable now.

Tom Parker held a speech to welcome his guests, locals and newcomers alike, to the Sanditon Grand Hotel, and to formally declare Regency Row open. The remaining electricity issues had been resolved, the building connected to the hotel's fire protection system and the first guests were expected to check in on Sunday. A new chapter in the long and happy history of the Sanditon Grand Hotel and the Parker family was about to be opened… he drifted off into catalogue speech. Charlotte caught Sidney on the other side of the room winking at her. She winked back, wondering whether one day, she would become a real part of the hotel's history and the Parker family.

"Why does Sidney keep staring at you?" someone next to Charlotte asked. It was Gigi. She had been allowed to join in the evening's delights if accompanied by Mrs Griffiths – who was nowhere to be seen right now.

"Pardon?" Charlotte said, catching her full tray.

"Sidney," Gigi repeated. "He keeps staring at you. Why?"

Charlotte could not help but smile. "Perhaps… he likes what he sees."

"But why would he suddenly like what he sees? He knows you. You look like always. You… oh no." Gigi made a step back, understanding dawning on her face. "That's not true. Please say it is not true."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't got a crush on that shithead?"

"Gigi! Honestly!"

Gigi rolled her eyes. "Right. I take back the shithead. Is idiot okay?"

"Gigi, once and for all, it's not his fault that Otis turned out to be a dangerous criminal. He tried to protect you from her. – Anyway. I should be working, not discussing this nonsense with you."

"You cannot trust a single word he says," Gigi called behind her as Charlotte was walking away with her tray. She chose to ignore her. Nothing and no one could stop her from floating and smiling on this evening. Not even Lady Denham, who was venturing out into society for the first time after her illness. Accompanied by Esther, the only relative she was on speaking terms with right now, she was reclining in an armchair.

"Good evening, Lady Denham," Charlotte said. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better." The lady of Sanditon took a glass of champagne from her tray.

"Feeling better? How am I to feel better if my own family conspires and confers around me? You have seen them every day – did you know about this scandalous affair my heir and my niece were entertaining?"

"I believe there is not so much of a scandal when they are both adults, consenting, unmarried and, in this case, not related by blood," Charlotte said.

"You would make a fine diplomat, Miss Heywood! Painting pink what is black!" Lady Denham shook her head, her discontent clearly visible on her face. "Clara has tricked him! Tricked him into marriage, with the oldest trap available to women, and he has walked into it, eyes wide open. He is not worthy of the Denham title. No, they are both dead to me. - As will be you, Esther, once I have figured out your role in this affair," Lady Denham added, turning to her niece. Esther looked stunning in another green silk dress, but she also looked quite unhappy.

"I have no role in this, aunt."

"Yes, you do. And you better make sure this fine young lordship whisks you away before I find out. – Where is he, by the way?"

"He'll be a bit late," Charlotte said. "He called… Mr Parker to say that he had an errand to run that was holding him up."

"What errand could that be, on a Saturday night in Sussex? He's a knight errant, indeed." Lady Denham shook her head in dismay. Apparently, nothing was going to cheer her up this evening. Charlotte left her, walked over to the banqueting galley and took her time to dispose of the empty glasses on her tray.

When she returned to the ballroom, another round of music had started. It seemed as if the whole room was set into motion by a merry reel: Everyone was dancing to a flute's tune underlaid with drums and strings that were getting wilder with every stroke. Charlotte felt her own feet start moving to the melody when Constable Hankins and Mrs Griffiths passed her in a quick twirl, followed by the unlikely couple of Arthur and Gigi, both of them spinning in ever-faster pirouettes.

Babington seemed to have concluded the errand that had kept him away, for there he was, in the centre of the dancefloor, whirling Esther around who for once and the first time since Charlotte knew her had a real smile on her face.

All is turning out well, Charlotte thought as she caught Sidney's eyes from across the dance floor. He was not joining the crowd, but pointing up to the balcony with this head, a sly little smile on his lips. She nodded in consent, hiding the not so small smile that was creeping on her lips.

"Alone at last," Sidney sighed when she lifted the drapes, immediately taking her hands in his.

"Not so very much alone," Charlotte said and looked over the balustrade down on the dancing crowd.

"They are all perfectly diverted." Sidney pulled her to him and into the shade provided by the drapes. Charlotte leaned a little closer to him, inhaling his scent and enjoying his nearness. How peaceful everything was once they were together. Down on the dancefloor, the music's wild fiddling and drumming were about to reach a climax.

"Do you remember the last time we were up here?" he asked, carefully tucking a few loosened strands from her ponytail behind her ears.

"Of course I do. I expected you to head straight to your brother and make sure I lost my job." His lips twitched.

"Actually, I went straight to the gym and made sure the punching ball got a headache. – I was such a preposterous fool, Charlotte." As if to confirm this statement's correctness, there was a loud crash down on the dance floor. Sidney gazed over the balustrade and sighed once more. "It's Arthur. He's stumbled into Manoel and what looks like a mass supply of champagne glasses. – No," he added, holding her back and shoving them both into the folds of the drapes. "You don't have to go and look after them. Diana and Gigi are taking care of that." And as if to make sure that she did not follow her natural desire to help, he tightened his embrace and kissed her.

Charlotte felt herself and her brain turn into jelly as their tongues met for a dance that was much less innocent than some pirouettes on the dancefloor. "Miss Heywood," she heard Sidney gasp, his breath tickling her ear, his voice hoarse. "Can you imagine that I went for a walk this morning with a funny little bookworm and came back with the sweetest siren that was ever washed ashore on Sanditon's beach?"

"I'm not a siren," she said, slowly returning to reality. They had talked quite a lot down at the cove – apart from kissing quite a lot – but there were still one or two things on her mind that she had to tell him. Yet this was hardly the best occasion to go into such detail.

"You are a siren," Sidney said. "Even without that gold dress. Probably especially without that gold dress."

"Sidney!" Charlotte gasped, feeling her ears go pink. She did not wish to sound prim, but she knew that she did, and it embarrassed her. He smiled her embarrassment away.

"You're right; I better stop behaving like a lovesick teenager in public if I wish to remain in your good graces, Miss Heywood."

"You'll always remain in my good graces, Mr Parker," Charlotte very solemnly said, and, indeed, she found it difficult to think of anything that would make her go off him.

"Come on." Sidney took her hand. "Let's go, find Tom and Mary and tell them the happy news."

"But didn't we agree to wait until tomorrow?"

"I see no point in waiting." His eyes turned dark and serious. "I want to go out onto that dancefloor with you, Charlotte. I don't want to hide behind some dusty drapes as if there was anything wrong about what we are doing. – Or is that too much, too soon?" he added, suddenly looking doubtful.

Charlotte looked up at his dear, handsome face. Sidney's face. Her Sidney's face. Right until this moment, she had had no idea that such happiness was even possible. Reassuringly, she pressed his hand. "It's not too much. It's …" She never came to say what it was. Down on the dancefloor, another turmoil was breaking out.

"Esther!" they heard Edward Denham call. "Esther, come out, you miserable creature!"

"Oh no," Sidney sighed, releasing Charlotte. They exchanged a quick glance, then left the balcony and ran downstairs where Edward, clearly drunk, was spinning around the dancefloor that had emptied very quickly after his arrival. "Esther!" he called again to a crowd staring at him aghast as the music stopped playing. "Hide where you will, the world will see you!"

"Whatever is he talking about?" Charlotte whispered to Sidney, who shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no idea, but I have a feeling it's trouble. – Come on, Denham," he added, striding onto the dancefloor. "Whatever is ailing you, this is neither the time nor the place for it."

"Go away," Edward said. "This is about Esther. Where are you hiding?"

"I'm here," Charlotte heard Esther say. There she was, tearing her hand from Babington's and walking onto the dancefloor, a regal beauty with her green silk robe and her wavy red hair, yet at the same time looking utterly resigned to her fate as if she was Mary Stuart on her way to the scaffold.

Edward was staring at her, his bloodshot eyes wide open. "It's all going online now," he said. "The whole world will see what a wild little beast you are. And your shame will be a thousand times bigger than mine or Clara's."

"The man's deluded," someone next to Charlotte said. It was Constable Hankins, still clutching Mrs Griffiths hand.

"Then maybe you should do something about it, Constable?" Charlotte suggested. She was a bit afraid of Edward spinning around in his delusion and striking Sidney down. Despite Sidney's training with the punching ball, Edward appeared taller and stronger to her.

"Do something about it?" The constable was giving her a horrified look. "As a matter of fact, I'm here in a private function, not as a representative of the law…"

On the dancefloor, a representative of a more ancient version of the law took charge of the situation. Lady Denham, tapping her cane on the floor, walked up to her nephew and her niece.

"Edward Denham," she said. "You tell me immediately what is going on here."

"Ask her!" he replied, pointing at Esther, who was inclining her head as if expecting the executioner's blow. Some steps away, Charlotte saw Babington, forcefully held back by Manoel and Mr Parker.

"Esther?" Lady Denham demanded. "If I write your stepbrother and his little strumpet out of my will, you will be my sole heiress. So what is it you are hiding?"

Esther raised her head, silent tears running from her eyes. "Clara has been sleeping with Edward at every opportunity since Easter."

"I knew it!" Lady Denham forcefully tapped her cane on the floor. Esther continued.

"She's been doing it because she hoped to get pregnant, so he would be forced to marry her, and she would gain both the Denham-title and your inheritance."

"I know that," Lady Denham said, clearly impatient now. "I can add one plus one. What is your role in all of this, Esther Denham?"

"Yes," Edward sounded like an evil echo. "What is your role, Esther?"

Esther wiped a tear from her cheek. "I knew it. I found out one evening when I was on the late shift. I wanted to lock the gym and… stumbled across them."

Just as I did, Charlotte thought. Clara has been doing this all over the hotel on purpose. She wanted to be found out. She looked over to Sidney who was still standing close to Edward, ready to move should he turn violent.

"I knew immediately what Clara's intention was. So I confronted her," Esther said.

"You should have come to me," Lady Denham declared. "I would have set them right, both of them. Did you stop them?"

Esther shook her head, looking down on her feet. "I couldn't, aunt."

"Why?"

"Because…" Now Esther's slender hands went to her face, hiding it as she broke out into violent sobs. On the other side of the dancefloor and amidst a silent crowd of fascinated onlookers, Babington broke free from Manoel's and Mr Parker's hold and with determined strides came to her side. "Lady Denham," he said, putting his arm around Esther's shoulders and offering her his hand. "This is a conversation we shouldn't be having in public."

Lady Denham wrinkled her nose, then nodded. "You're right. - Mr Parker," she said, turning to Sidney. "Can I implore on you to make sure Edward gets home and into bed?"

"Of course, Lady Denham," Sidney said, sending a quick apologetic look to Charlotte and touching Edward by the elbow. "Come on, Edward. Tomorrow is another day." Edward, all his fire spent, meekly followed him outside.

As soon as they were gone, Tom Parker signalled the musicians to start playing again and drew his wife onto the dancefloor. "A little family quarrel," he laughed. "Tensions rise, tensions explode, life goes on. – Ha, ha!" Arthur and Gigi were kind enough to follow his example, as were the constable and Mrs Griffiths, and soon enough, the dancefloor was crowded again.

"Miss Heywood!" Lady Denham ordered Charlotte by her side. "You seem sensible enough. Where can we finish this conversation without interruption?"

"I'll show you to the office," Charlotte suggested and led the party consisting of Lady Denham, Esther and Babington downstairs to Reception. Babington was still holding Esther by the hand. Esther did not protest.

Charlotte switched on the office lights and wanted to close the door behind her when Lady Denham called her back. "You stay with us, Miss Heywood. I need a voice of reason in this madness."

"But…" she started, then saw Esther silently nod at her. So she stayed.

"Now, Esther," Lady Denham said, presiding on Mr Parker's chair behind his desk. "What is it Clara is holding over you? What does your stepbrother mean by going online?"

Esther sobbed, but after accepting a crisp white handkerchief from Babington and wiping her nose, she managed to look up. "It's a film. It was … it was after the hotel's Easter Egg Hunt in April. We had a… little party afterwards at Clara's place. Just the girls. You know I don't drink much, aunt, but at the party … looking back, I think Clara set me up for it. However. I got drunk, I was the last one to go home, and before I left, she suggested I tried the toys from her bedside table, and she filmed it."

Charlotte found herself and Babington staring at Esther open-mouthed. Only Lady Denham appeared outwardly composed. "Her toys?" she asked as if she had to make sure. Esther had closed her eyes in pain but opened them for the final confirmation.

"Her sex toys," Esther said. "Look, I… I don't wish to make excuses for my behaviour… I…"

"You don't have to make excuses, Esther," her aunt said. "And what you're doing in your private time is nobody's concern as long as you don't harm them. – So. Clara set you up for this little experiment, filmed you and afterwards blackmailed you into not stopping her from what was going on with Edward."

"Yes."

Lady Denham shook her head. "What a cunning girl she is. – Well. We will not have to worry about Clara Brereton. The likes of her always tend to end up in a lifeboat when the rest of us are drowning. – You look rather shocked, Miss Heywood. Didn't I tell you that there are no more shining knights about?"

Charlotte was too much in shock for an answer. How could a day that had started in such a lovely way end so terribly? She felt as if she was trapped in a reality show, with intrigues and conspiracies that left her spinning. All she wanted was to have Sidney back, to have him look at her as if she was the only person in the world, to have him kiss her and whisper some nonsense about sirens into her ear. "I'm so sorry, Esther," she said. "I knew you didn't get on well with Clara, but I had no idea…"

"You couldn't, Charlotte," Esther quietly said. "You're far too innocent."

"So this is it." Babington, who had silently followed Esther's revelations, looked up. "This is why you wouldn't let me come close to you. You were ashamed and afraid of what else Clara would do with that dirty little film?"

"Babington…" Charlotte saw the tears return to Esther's eyes. "You deserve someone better. You are a good man."

"No, I'm not. Do you honestly think I spent the last years paying pious courtship to devout women?" It was such a strange idea that Charlotte had to smile, and even Esther bit her lip. He picked up the seagull from its place on the desk. "Do you remember what I told you when I gave you this?"

Charlotte did, and after clearing her throat, so did Esther: "You said that love never sees the ugly in the beloved, only the beauty. As you saw in me."

"As I see in you," Babington confirmed, returned the wooden Esther to her place and nestled a little parcel out of his pocket. "I saw this at a jeweller's in Brighton a few weeks ago. Took a little detour tonight to get it. I hoped you might like it better than your wooden namesake. It's also easier to carry around."

It was a silver brooch in the form of a seagull spreading its wings, showing every minute detail of the feathers. The bird's eye, however, was a tiny sapphire. "Babington," Esther said, holding her breath. "You are mad."

"Not much more than any other man in love. Can I finally hope for a reply, next time I send you a message?"

Esther wiped the last tear from her eyes. "Yes. Yes, you can," she said and stepped into his embrace.

"Ahem," Lady Denham said after a while, and Charlotte, moving discreetly towards the door, added: "I better get back to work. Just switch off the light when you are leaving."

At this moment, a deafening sound went off.

"What is that hellish noise?" Lady Denham asked, clutching her hands to her ears.

With two steps, Charlotte was by the fire protection panel.

"It's a fire alarm… good God, it's in Regency Row!"