Seven Days

When Charlotte woke up on Sunday morning, the sun was shining brightly into her room and she was alone. She needed a moment to collect herself and to understand that Saturday had actually happened – that lovely, lovely walk with Sidney, Esther's revelations at the ball, the fire, and then again Sidney and everything they had shared during the night. What a cruel sense of humour fate had that it placed both utter misery and absolute happiness so close together!

Charlotte crawled out of her bed and walked over to the window. Her old friend, the herring gull, was gone for once, but someone had shifted the shells on the windowsill and rearranged them in the shape of a heart. She smiled to herself. Somewhere beneath all those jaded layers of Sidney Parker, a person of very deep and romantic feelings was hiding, and she could not wait to discover more of that person.

But not yet. For the moment, the aftermath of the fire was more important. She had a quick breakfast, took a shower and went down to the office. The door was closed, yet even so, the shouting of a violent row could be heard.

"It's Lady Denham," Phillida said, for once not checking her phone, but fearfully staring at the door. "She's been uttering the most horrible threats at Mr Parker. Do you think they still deport people to Australia?"

"No," Charlotte said. "That's definitely nineteenth century. And it's not as if Mr Parker has laid fire to Regency Row himself, is it?"

The door was flung open, making both of them jump. Lady Denham, coming right off the 1066 battlefield judging by her looks, marched outside, wielding her cane like a broadsword. "Miss Heywood! Been eavesdropping?"

"I have only just arrived, ma'am." Charlotte did not add that eavesdropping was not necessary, given the volume level of the conversation.

"Ah! Charlotte!" Mr Parker called, following Lady Denham to the door. Behind him, the rest of the Parker family became visible: Mary, Diana and Arthur, huddled together, holding each other by their hands, all three of them looking pale and tired, and Sidney, clenching his jaw yet softening around the eyes when he noticed her. "My dear," Mr Parker said. "Don't shy away. We have just been discussing the current state of affairs with Lady Denham."

"State of affairs!" Lady Denham cried. "State of your empty promises, more like! No, Mr Parker, I have had enough of your mollycoddling. I want my investment back, and I want it back right now. I will inform my lawyer accordingly."

"Lady Denham!" Mr Parker's mood changed immediately. "I implore on you… this is just a momentary distraction… if you withdraw your investment now, we will be finished by the end of next month."

"And do you think I care about that, Mr Parker? These past two-hundred years the Denhams have been prudently guarding their wealth, ready to chip in when another Parker madness threatened to lead to universal misery. – But these times are over now, these times are over. You made sure of it when you fixed the fuse in the show apartment yourself."

"What?" Charlotte cried, horrified. "But that's a specialist's work!"

Mr Parker shrugged his shoulders. "It wasn't me, it was the gardener," he said, not meeting her eyes. "He said he knew what he was doing. He did all the electric works in Lydia's apartment in Brighton."

"But Mr Hillier is not an electrician either! He's a bloody gardener!"

Lady Denham shook her head. "And now you have your own trainee yelling at you, Mr Parker. – I'm sorry for you, Miss Heywood. I really have no idea what you are supposed to learn here, apart from how to ruin a business through sheer recklessness."

"But Lady Denham …," Charlotte said, still in shock but determined not to give up that easily. "Surely there must be a way to resolve this without hurting so many innocent people?"

"Innocent people?" Lady Denham echoed. Charlotte felt Sidney's gaze on her, and his brothers', and Mary's, and Diana's and Phillida's. Certainly, the reception was not the best place for this discussion, so she walked back into the office, and waited until Lady Denham had followed her and taken a seat again behind Mr Parker's desk, tapping her cane with impatience.

"If you withdraw your investment now," Charlotte explained, "it's not only the Parker family that will be hit but everyone in the hotel. Everyone will lose their jobs… the Beaufort girls, Kamila and the chambermaids, Manoel and all the service staff, the kitchen brigade…"

"And you, Miss Heywood," Lady Denham added.

"Yes. But my contract is time-limited anyway, and I'm young and flexible and only at the beginning of my career. If things don't work out here, I will just pack my bag and move on to the next place. But many of the hotel staff have been working here for years, even generations. They don't deserve being thrown out because someone else has made a terrible mistake. Wouldn't you agree, Lady Denham?"

"Ahem," Mr Parker said. Lady Denham shot him a look that made him shut up immediately. Then she eyed Charlotte thoughtfully.

"You are a fighter, aren't you, Miss Heywood?"

"Anyone should fight for a good cause, ma'am."

"And you believe this hotel is a good cause?"

"It's a part of Sanditon's history and tradition. And it's a place that many people love. So yes, I believe it is a good cause."

"Very well," Lady Denham said, pointing her cane at Mr Parker. "Seven days. I will give you seven days, and if by next Sunday, you cannot present a feasible solution for the mess you have created, I will withdraw my money and it is over for you and your 'fresh breeze for two-hundred years'."

"Thank you, Lady Denham." Mr Parker folded his hands under his chin and made a subservient bow.

"Don't thank me yet," his business partner said and marched out of the office. As soon as she had left, Mr Parker turned around, his face a weak shadow of his usual optimism.

"I knew we would talk her round. How does the saying go? Dogs that bark don't bite." He gave a nervous laugh.

"I think we can all agree that it was Charlotte who talked her round," Sidney said, causing Charlotte to blush. Would he tell them now that… no, of course not. This was not a moment for romance and happy announcements. They had only just begun the fight for the survival of his family's business. Sure enough, Sidney continued: "And we are far from safe. Or do you have any idea how that feasible solution might look like that Lady Denham is expecting, Tom?"

As his brother only blushed deeply but made no reply, his wife stepped in: "But you must have an idea, Sidney? You're in the finance business?" Sidney groaned and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I am advising wealthy investors on how to increase their wealth. I have no experience with reckless hotel owners playing Russian roulette with electricity." He met Charlotte's gaze. "But yes. I will do my best to help you. I'll make some calls and go to London tonight."

"And I'll start reshuffling the reservations for Regency Row and contacting the guests," Charlotte suggested.

"Excellent," Mr Parker said, but it was just a shallow echo of his usual outbursts of enthusiasm.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Diana asked, large-eyed and clearly terrified at the prospect of losing her home.

"Have the punching ball ready for me," Sidney said. "And Arthur, make sure Charlotte gets an unending supply of Strawberry Secrets." Arthur looked from his younger brother to his elder brother's trainee and nodded.

"Anything you want me to do, Sidney?" Mr Parker sounded like an overeager schoolboy.

"Yes, Tom," Sidney said, looking his brother square in the eye. "Leave us alone and go, play with your children."

Mr Parker gasped. "I'm still…" he started to say when Mary took him by the arm.

"I think Sidney's right, Tom. It's out of your hands now. And you know that Sidney will do all he can to help us survive."

"Right," Mr Parker mumbled, staring at his feet. Mary and the Parker siblings filed out of the office, leaving only Sidney with Charlotte. He leaned against the closed door and shook his dear dark curly head.

"It's worse than I had expected, Charlotte," he said, holding out his hands to her. She took them, fighting the urge to throw herself into his arms. They were still in her boss's office, after all. "I had no idea how dependent Tom is on Lady Denham's investment. And if the fire was caused by his own recklessness, there is no hope for any insurance covering anything. On the contrary, he'll be lucky if he doesn't have to face legal charges."

"And Mr Hillier?" Charlotte asked. "The gardener?"

"Do you think he'll ever admit to carrying out electrical repairs at Tom's request? – And even if he did… it wouldn't pay for the reconstruction of Regency Row." Sidney sighed deeply. She could not help but move closer and touch him. She so much wanted to help him, to share his troubles and lift the weight of responsibility from his shoulders. He kissed her on the forehead and gave her a sad smile. "At least we managed to sort ourselves out before all that," he whispered. "I'm so glad you're with me, Charlotte." And so was she.

"Anyway," he said after a moment, returning to business. "I'll disturb some of my contacts during their Sunday rest and try to set up appointments in London for tomorrow."

"I wish I could go with you," Charlotte said. He gave her another sad smile and with his thumb, brushed over her dimple before placing a soft and tender kiss on her mouth.

"Yes. I'd wish that too, my dearest Miss Heywood. But I fear your good senses and your lovely smile are needed here right now."

They enjoyed a few more sweet moments of each other's company before Sidney released her. "Let's get to work, Admiral Heywood."

͡ ͡

Charlotte spent the next few hours alone in the office, calling up guests and trying to relocate their bookings from an apartment to a hotel room, offering upgrades, discounts and free cancellations along the way. It was a frustrating job to do, lightened up only by the company of the wooden Esther sitting on her desk and by Arthur sneaking in and placing a plate with three Strawberry Secrets on her desk. Otherwise, she was left alone until Sidney came in once more.

"I'm off to London now. I thought you might like a private good-bye better than the big family send-off."

"Did you reach all the people you wanted to?" she asked, trying to be professional, not emotional.

"Some. It's going to be a busy few days, but there is some hope." He smiled and leaned next to her on the desk. "I've been through the tax reports of the last decade. We've always had one or two difficult years in between, but in general, the hotel used to be a healthy business. It was only when Tom started the Regency Row project in order to add his name to the long list of Parker men shaping Sanditon that things took a turn to the worse. And then Mary leaving the accounting to him before Jamie's birth… that was the final straw."

"It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us," Charlotte said. Sidney took her hand, playing with her fingers.

"It is indeed. How very wise you are, Miss Heywood. And it looks as if too many people will have to pay a price for Tom's vanity."

"Did you…" Charlotte cleared her throat, blushing a little. "Did you tell them about us?" He twitched his mouth, but in a way that was sad, not enervating.

"Very nearly did, but – no. Didn't seem the right thing to do: Look, Tom, Mary, Arthur, Diana, you might be losing your home, but I'll be off over the rainbow with Charlotte."

"I like that image." Charlotte smiled despite a very, very small pang of disappointment. "Over the rainbow."

"When I come back," he said, gripping her hand very tightly now, "we'll find a good moment to tell them. A happy moment."

"Yes," Charlotte agreed as he proceeded to make the present moment a little happier.

"You gave me a fright with what you told Lady Denham about being flexible and packing your bag and moving away to another place," he said, gathering her very close to him.

"That was just in theory and for the sake of the good cause. I don't intend to move anywhere unless it's because you are waiting for me there."

"Good," Sidney said. "We'll have all the time in the world," he promised before kissing her one last time. "Good-bye, Charlotte," he finally said, slowly letting go of her.

"Good-bye, Sidney."

A few minutes later, she heard the Aston Martin's motor roar up on the gravel outside, and he was gone.