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Two days later. Parker House, Sanditon, Sussex.
One seldom hears of a January wedding. It certainly doesn't sound romantic. But I'm sure you can imagine how this one might have been. Our lovers were in Sanditon, the spot of their hasty marriage, in the house Sidney had built with Eliza. As it was the winter, the time of year he was in residence in London, it was precisely the sort of place that had few servants, and plenty of privacy.
Charlotte lay, half asleep, in the expansive bed in Sidney's bedroom. She wondered if she was the first woman to spend the night here.
Sidney traced his hand over her torso, mapping the freckles and moles from her breast down her hips like he was piecing together a constellation. He picked up her left hand and kissed each finger, leaving several on the third one that bore a thin gold band.
"I never knew I could find a finger so enchanting." He whispered.
Charlotte giggled and pulled her hand away, only to rest it in Sidney's hair, as he laid his head upon her belly.
"Sidney, really?"
"Really." He looked up at her and grinned.
"And the rest of me? Do I measure up to expectation? Fingers and toes and all?" She asked.
"No, no I'm afraid not." Sidney replied with a shake of his head.
"Excuse me?" Charlotte said with surprise.
"I find you exceed my imagination and expectations."
Charlotte only smiled in reply. It was good to be in love again.
The newlyweds continued their nuptial pursuits until dawn, intermittently talking, sleeping, rousing themselves again. Once the winter sunshine broke through the windows, Charlotte sat up and began to dress.
"Where are you off to?" Sidney asked, bemused.
"To begin my day as Lady Parker, of course."
Sidney smiled, hearing her use his name and title.
"And what must you do today?" He asked, jokingly. He was surprised when Charlotte responded in total sincerity.
"Well, first of all, I imagine our children and families will be arriving soon to admonish us. I'd rather they find us a picture of dignity rather than carnality."
"Just a moment, how would they know we are here?"
"I left a note in my bedroom when I was packing my bags. Didn't you?"
"Of course not!" Sidney laughed, incredulous. Charlotte looked concerned.
"You mean to tell me that you ran off and got married, and did not do your daughters the courtesy of telling them where you were going and why?"
Sidney was silent, feeling guilty. It had not occurred to him, truthfully. But he also thought that running off with no explanation was highly romantic and out of character for him, and his carefully planned life.
"Anyway, there is that. And moving my things into the lady of the house's room."
"No." Sidney replied.
"No?"
"Not her room. Share mine. I don't want another marriage with a shared door locked on both sides."
"My dear, nor I to be sure, and that is not the purpose. Of course we will share this room in reality. But I will require my own space, to dress and rest and stay during my courses." Charlotte replied.
It was becoming apparent that the two of them had radically different first marriages. Sidney, for one, had never slept in this bedroom with Eliza. Any congress between them had occurred in her bedroom, and they'd never spent the night together to simply sleep. He did not even know a wife should care for her own space during times of illness or female delicacy, as he'd never stayed that long in Eliza's bed.
Charlotte, on her part, had rarely not spent a night in James' arms. They'd maintained separate bedrooms only when James had inherited his earldom, as before they had neither the space nor the means, and even when they had separate bedrooms, Charlotte's had functioned primarily as a dressing room and private study, and where she had delivered her children and took to bed during her menstruation. She'd always been afflicted with deep abdominal pains and nausea during her time of the month, and preferred that space. Once it was over, she always returned to James' bed.
"I understand. These things were done differently before, as I'm sure you can tell."
"Of course. We've a great deal of learning about one another still."
"Indeed." Sidney replied.
"Which brings me to my next point; learning. If we are to take up residence here, in London, or in Yorkshire, we should begin your religious instruction soon."
"Religious instruction? Whatever for?"
"Yes. So we may be married in the Catholic Church."
"Charlotte, darling, we are already married, and by the local vicar here. We need not marry again."
"Yes, but that was only our legal marriage." She replied.
"Only? I quite remember making promises according to God's holy law."
"That was true, but as a Catholic, none of our marriage liturgies are legally binding here in England. Every Catholic, even non-Christians must first be married in the Church of England, as they are the only legally binding unions. Then, Catholics and others, marry according to their own rites so they may be spiritually binding. When I married James, we had a short, private ceremony with the vicar in Willingden, then traveled to London where the priest who baptized and confirmed him, then married us."
"I understand the laws my dear, but I should find that Our Maker and the purpose of holy matrimony is the same whether a vicar or a friar joins us together."
"I think you'll find that I do not agree." Charlotte said flatly.
Tom Parker's Residence, that same day.
It was pure pandemonium.
The Parker and Dryden households had been in a state of constant uproar since they had awoken the day before. At Leyburn House, Reed came screeching into the breakfast room where Caroline, the children, their aunts, uncles, and cousins had just begun their eggs and toast. Not even bothering to tell the matriarch the news first, the maid announced the situation to the whole room at the top of her voice, having found the note Charlotte left behind in her bedroom. After two hours of calming children who were screaming and crying, and then their younger cousins (who wanted to be included in the hysterics) also screaming and crying, Caroline dispatched her youngest and most level-headed daughter, Charlotte's sister-in-law Frances. Tasked with informing the Parker family, she came upon a similar situation to their own family breakfast, Sidney's daughters at tea with their Uncles and Aunts, cousins, and so forth. After similar screaming, crying, and fainting from Arthur Parker, Tom agreed to call upon Mrs. Caroline Dryden that evening, for a summit. To determine that great question: What is to be done?
Tom arrived at Leyburn House, in a square of St. James's he'd never graced before. He swore he saw the Duke of Norfolk's coat of arms on a carriage as he approached the great green door and brass knocker. It swung open before he even touched it, and another woman, middle-aged and noble looking, answered carrying a candlestick.
"She'd expecting you, Mr. Parker. I am the eldest daughter, Mrs. Margaret Blundell. Follow me."
The woman turned on her heel and led him through a house lit only with long tapers, up the stairs down a dark foreboding hall. They turned into a room, where behind a desk sat an older, dignified woman all in black. The walls were covered in religious art, crucifixes, icons, and again, only a few tapers. It was eerie.
Just as Caroline, ever theatrical, intended.
"Ma'am." Tom greeted her, bowing respectfully.
The woman gestured to the chair in front of her desk. Behind her, stood Frances, the daughter who had come to his house. She too, dressed in black. The one who'd answered the door, Margaret, joined her. It was a formidable sight.
"Mr. Parker, thank you for joining us." Caroline intoned.
"I appreciate the invitation. I hope your anger towards my brother will not affect our dealings."
"They've made their choice. Charlotte had the good sense to tell us, at least," She was cut off by Tom
"Lady Leyburn, in Sidney's defense–"
"I am only Mrs. Dryden, thank you, and let me finish. As I was saying, they've done it. There is no turning back now, but they must face the music. And when I say music, I mean a choir of voices they cannot ignore. Their children."
They spoke for some time, outlining their plan. In due course, Tom left the meeting, which had felt more akin to a lecture, and knew he had to tell the girls. They would leave for Sanditon in the morning. Bonnets at the ready!
Which brings us back to the present, our current setting, the stables at Tom Parker's townhome. Where the pandemonium was reaching new heights. This was not to be a confrontation of efficiency, according to Caroline Dryden's plan, but one of ostentatiousness. Not a member of each family was to be spared; everyone would journey to Sanditon. Diana, Arthur, Tom and Mary and their children, Marianne and Annabella, all crammed into two coaches. They were met by a fleet of the Leyburn clan; Caroline, her two daughters, their husbands and children, and Charlotte's four. Upon their arrival at the Parker house for rendezvous, Annabella and Marianne exchanged hardly concealed mutterings.
"Ugh, Catholics."
"Do they ever cease their breeding?"
Upon hearing this their Aunt Mary, seated across from them in the carriage, promptly wrapped their knuckles with the fan she had been using to cool Arthur's "fever" moments before.
The journey to Sanditon seemed an eternity. The four Dryden children shared their carriage with their Grandmother, who was determined not to speak ill of her daughter-in-law. For these children only had one parent, and if she were to openly question their mother in front of them, it would cause irreparable damage to her relationship with Charlotte. Especially when Charlotte had practically given up her own family to marry Caroline's dear, departed son.
"You can't possibly approve of this." Anty poked at his Grandmother.
"It matters not, dearest boy, for they are already joined in marriage. It is forever." She replied
"Surely not. They can't have been married by a Catholic priest, as Sir Parker is an Anglican. And the first ceremony is only for legality." Anty countered.
"And besides, she is no longer of the Church of England. They could have the marriage annulled under their canons based upon fraud." Theresa jumped in.
"Someone listens in catechism, I can see." Caroline replied, secretly proud of her grandchildren's grasp of the religion and its principles.
It was true that there was no true marriage for Charlotte until it was recognized by the Roman church. But Caroline could not approve of the Anglican annulment, for if the relationship was consummated, but no Catholic rite undertaken, Charlotte was in a state of mortal sin, which weighed heavily upon this mother-in-law. To make it right would mean confession, penance, and a Catholic ceremony.
Besides religious convictions, Caroline was a romantic. She was happy for Charlotte, to throw off sadness and seek partnership once again. It had been something she was too afraid to do when she was widowed.
"Grandmother did you hear anything I just said?" Junia called her attention back.
"What's that dear?"
"I said, we don't want a new father, and we don't want those Parker girls as our sisters." Junia repeated, sounding older than her years.
This was the real obstacle. The children couldn't accept the change to their family, and they'd already been through so much since James had died. This was why they ALL had to go to Sanditon. To show the happy couple the truth: that their bliss had hurt others. And it would be a long road to harmony for all. Love looks different than in the novels, especially love found a second time. A lack of fortune is a very small obstacle indeed, when you compare it to a grieving child, desperate to hold onto the memory of their mother or father.