I think this chapter sounds a little too much like a Victorian/Jane Austen romance.

Too Soft

Lieutenant Thomas Jones was a widower – too old to be considered a young buck by the twittering ladies of town, but still young enough to be considered a good catch by many.

Distinguished was the word that Sara first thought when she saw him.

Mr. Carmichael had interviewed many of Captain Crewe's cohorts in an effort to find his daughter. Jones had been happy when he heard the news of her return, but business affairs had prevented him until now to visit her.

Jones noticed the grand house, much nicer than his modest country estate. He noticed a couple of foreign objects common to a man who had traveled far. After Sara's greeting, he offered his condolences on the loss of his former crewmate. With him he presented to Sara a bouquet of dark red roses, common to his area.

"The captain was a good officer, Miss Crewe," Jones said with gravitas.

The Lieutenant spoke of Captain Crewe with the fondest of memories giving Sara an insight into the man she had only known for the first eleven years of her life. She thanked him sincerely for his sympathy, and even more so for his stories.

He had also known of a personal loss. He had married a good woman, but she had died young, not long after the birth of his son. Jones had missed his wife so much; he had refused to see his son for several years.

Sara was reminded of Lottie's father. The flighty man had shipped her off to Miss Minchin's Seminary without a single glance back, preferring her to be raised by others than by himself. Sara had heard somewhere that he had remarried, preferring to spend the time with his second wife than with his own daughter.

Luckily Lottie had found a wealthy gentleman, not soon after she had left the school. The man was young and fond of buying pretty things for his pretty wife. If they didn't spend much time with each other, well, the two were perfectly suited with that.

"I had completely forgotten about my son for quite some time, until one day I discovered him in my wife's garden. He was playing with his cousin, laughing and running without a care in the world. He was so grown up. It was then I realized how wrong it was for me to have left him."

Sara smiled kindly at the renewed parent – child bond. She had had such a happy childhood with her father; she thought it was wrong for any parent to remain distant from their own flesh and blood.

"I am very happy for you two," she said warmly. "No child should be without a father."

The man took a sip of the expensive tea. He had seen how Captain Crewe had made something for himself, and provided a future for his daughter too. Jones wanted the same for his young son.

There was one of three ways to go about that:

One

"After we reconnected, I immediately enrolled my son in the best boarding school in the country. I wanted him to be a barrister, a doctor, or a high ranking soldier. He had to be fluent in German, French, and Latin. He should know the sciences, maths, and arts. I wanted him to learn everything, in order to succeed in life."

Sara pictured back in her schooldays poor Ermengarde's red faced look, struggling as she tried to remember la mere meant "the mother" and le pere meant "the father." Her hot temper rose to think of another parent subjecting his child to unreasonable expectations.

The lieutenant took note of Sara's displeased reaction. "I know. I know. It was wrong of me. The headmaster wrote to me a stern letter one day chastising me for placing my son under such stress. The poor boy was refusing to eat or sleep until he had memorized his lessons perfectly."

If Miss Minchin had one iota of compassion in her cold, hard heart, she would have wrote to Ermie's father for the same exact reason. But no, the woman only cared about money and how her accounts looked at the end of the day, Sara thought with distaste.

"I took him home the very next day, explaining he could do whatever he wanted in life, as long…" Here the man gave a rare smile, "… as he received a basic education."

Sara smiled warming up to the man. Though he was a practical man through and through, he loved his child unconditionally. Something nagged at the back of her mind, something that seemed so familiar to her.

Two

"Next I thought why was I placing the entire burden on my son? I should be able to provide for him. It is the right and duty of every father to support his children and to give them a solid financial foundation. He should have a trust fund with an ample amount of money for him to use – if not throughout his life then at least at the start of it. The only problem was that I had not saved a single coin in his name."

There was an old saying, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." All of the lieutenant's wishes and supposes could only take him so far. A man had to take charge of his dreams.

"I have a cousin who has a plantation in the West Indies. He talks of some investment opportunities that seem very promising if I lend him some seed money. It is a risky prospect, but it'll net me a pretty penny in no time." The man's eyes lit up at the opportunity of that much money made from one gamble.

"The facts and figures of it, however, are another story." He gave a chagrined look. "I can run my own household." Seeing her sparkling green eyes gave him pause, "Well, I organized my household to be run efficiently by others. Surely, I can make decisions on a couple of business transactions. All I need is some solemn, good advice."

Sara was at first laughing at his honesty, but his last words made the laughter catch in her throat.

It couldn't be…it was impossible!

"No!"

Her shout rang out clearly in the quiet room, with extreme agitation shown on her face.

"Madam! Miss Crewe!" the man stood in alarm. Oh! He had made a terrible blunder. "Please calm yourself. I shouldn't be discussing business with polite company such as yourself. I've always gone to others, male or female, for advice on financial matters, but if you do not wish to hear it, I'll cease immediately."

Sara waved off his concern with a delicate hand. At least Lieutenant Jones treated the opposite gender with more courtesy that her first suitor, but her distress was not due to the reasons he thought it to be.

"Please sir! It's not that. This entire time something felt familiar about you, and now I know why. Those were the exact same words my father said in his last letter to me, just before he passed away from brain fever. He had taken a great financial risk in procuring some diamond mines, all to provide for me."

"I…I didn't know," the astonished man uttered. He had expected Captain Crewe to have died in the line of duty, not for something as silly as money. The father had provided for his daughter, yes, but at the cost of his life.

Sara wanted to reassure him, "I'm not saying anything will happen to you, but my father had no head for numbers, and he probably should have never taken the risk in the first place. We didn't need the money." She raised tear filled eyes at her audience. "I would trade every single one of the diamonds I have now in order to get my father back."

Jones caught his breath. Did he truly need the money? Was he acting foolishly as Captain Crewe did? A lot of time had been spent merely talking about the terms of the contract. Was this a brief taste of more to come? He was honestly not looking forward to any of it.

"Lieutenant Jones, take the name of my solicitor, Mr. Carmichael. He has a great deal of experience managing my money and any risky ventures that come up. I wish… I wish he would have been there for my father."

Reseating himself, he nodded cordially. "I am most grateful, Miss Crewe. Again, forgive me for causing your distress." He could still take on the proposal without any of the headaches (literally and figuratively), and his son would not be in any danger of sharing Sara Crewe's fate.

But speaking of proposals…

Three

Sara had calmed down sufficiently after a few sips of her tea. She still remembered the wonderful first taste from the cup she had with Becky the day the Magic had come true, and the soothing liquid continued to be a balm to her worries.

The man took note of the woman seated across from him. She was not unattractive with her lithe figure and expressive eyes. He greatly admired her more for her calm manner and sage advice. Sara would make a good officer's wife. She was familiar with the roles of an enlisted man, and would keep a stiff upper lip whenever he had to leave to perform his duties. It was evident she was good with children too. If he brought Sara home, surely his son would not think of her as an evil stepmother like in fairy tales!

The woman, however, read the man's intentions before he could voice them.

"It would seem, sir, that you must get your house in order before you can pursue other goals."

Jones accepted Miss Crewe's subtle remark with grace. After all, he had told her of his lack of attention, then smothering of his son, and his tenuous financial situation. Any woman, wealthy or not, would not want to take over the chaotic affairs of an unorganized household especially for her first marriage.

After receiving her solicitor's information, he thanked Sara graciously for her time. Though the girl was young, the look in her eyes was world weary. He was sad to think that he benefited from her troubles.

Sara watched him go in a paid taxi with a lighter heart. If she had to suffer, at least others could be helped.

Her dearest friend set a warm bun beside her, and taking the liberty only granted to her, sat beside Sara at the fine table. As she nibbled on the treat, Sara mused that she always wanted to help others – not just by tutoring her schoolmates Lottie and Ermengrade, not just by rescuing her fellow scullery maid, and not just caring for one father and his son.

The bun…oh the bun! Thank goodness for Becky!

Sara had managed to help a whole district of starving people using the baker woman and Anne. Surely she could find a way to make other people's dreams and her own come true.

Where Jones mentioned finding his son in the garden was a reference to Burnett's Secret Garden. The opening scene and Sara's thoughts of him being distinguished was inspired by Austen's Sense and Sensibility.

One last chapter after this one.