Sanditon Season 2: The River and the Man

Chapter 42

Charlotte nodded off by Georgiana laying her head down beside their entwined hand. Looking up bleary-eyed she rubbed at her face and looked out to the street then back to Georgiana who was sleeping deeply.

Touching her head she found it a stable temperature and tucked the blanket back in around her. Charlotte went to the washbasin and washed her face and took her hair out of its messy updo from the long night tending her friend.

She unbuttoned the top of her muslin dress and rinsed herself. The room had been kept warm enough for Charlotte to have sweat a little and she longed for a bath like she would have felt indulgent enough to request at Pessham Place.

Sighing heavily she wondered if it was right that she grow accustomed to such lavish living. Willingden was almost another lifetime it felt to her now. Sanditon and London had filled her senses with excitement and adventure. And though she longed to go home, she could see now it was only fear that made her want to escape back to where she came from. But when she went back home in the fall after Sanditon and Sidney Charlotte knew she had grown beyond her roots.

Would her road ever lead back to Willingden?

Before she left the last time her father had hugged her tight and expressed fear his little girl would not be coming back to him.

In going to London her family believed she would find a husband, she could not tell them that she had no intentions to do so. In fact, she had refused such a path entirely.

'For Sidney?' she asked herself.

'No' she answered internally a moment later. 'For love.' She knew it deep within her, she could not marry for convenience, or money, or even passion. None but the deepest sense of feeling could induce her to ever make that leap.

Mrs. Griffith's entered quietly without a knock. "Sorry my dear Miss Heywood, I just wanted to invite you down for tea. It is nearly the luncheon hour and I have a table laid. Would you come and join me?" she asked with a warm smile.

Charlotte nodded and tried to button up but missed it and it gaped open slightly combined with her hair gave her a fresh disheveled look. She didn't mind, it was only her and Mrs. Griffith's so she grabbed her teal shall and wrapped herself.

After the lunch she found herself wandering the house in thought. Her feet led her to the Parker house study. Opening the pocket door she slipped in and sniffed the air. It smelled of Sidney's smoke and cologne.

She wrapped her shawl around her tighter as she timidly entered the sanctuary of Sidney Parker. She had not dared to enter the space when she had stayed there before. But knowing he was not there made her bold.

Going to the desk she found it tidy save for a single messy pile of papers. She did not dare snoop at the contents she just relished the look of his handwriting for a moment. Elegant for a man with such rough hard edges.

She had thought much the same from the papers she had run across on Tom Parker's desk. Tom had atrocious penmanship but she always equated it to his personality. Rushed.

Looking around her she saw that the desk was surrounded by books. Science, philosophy and to her astonishment, she found a section of novels. Novels were often seen as a woman's pursuit and she blushed as she imagined him sitting with her cuddled into his arms as they lounged comfortably in their bed as they read to each other.

Looking to the philosophy she found his Heraclitus. Stepping closer she made out the words on the spine and fingered them delicately.

Pulling it out she found bookmarks inside with pencil markings.