Sanditon: A Sisterhood Forms

48

'If you could take a single memory from our time together-'

'Charlotte, I'm not sure I like where this is going.'

'I know it sounds ominous, but I should like to know.'

'If it doesn't work out for us, you mean.'

'There must be one that stands out from the rest.'

'Undoubtedly, there is one particular memory I revisit more often than the rest, yes.'

'And? Are you planning to leave me in suspense?'

'The night we reunited, in London.'

'So recent. You wouldn't choose an earlier memory? From before?'

'I don't think I could - not when experience has altered my perspective as it has.'

'Is this your roundabout way of telling me you were changed for the better, being apart.'

'Changed, yes. But I find it was more than that. I saw you again that night and it was as if everything had realigned - despite every obstacle in our path, it seemed... possible.'

'And you would always wish for it to feel possible - if we can't continue on.'

'I would, yes.'

'Then... granted. Our reunion in London for all eternity, if you wish it.'

'I might relive that evening for the rest of time, Miss Heywood, and never once tire of seeing you.'

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How does one react when their beloved lay motionless upon the ground - when action might lead to knowing. They watch from afar. For a second, an hour; time has little meaning, now.

"No," Linton murmured, "He was fine."

Charlotte's hand trembled at the sound. She broke her gaze, looking down at the cloth - her hand like ice, frozen as it clung to the last remnants of warmth, the blackened stains ever-present in the diminished lantern light.

"It can't be," Linton arose, staggering from the carriage, unsteady on the ground until he dropped to his knees. The three men outside it stepped back into the light.

"It can't be," she repeated, clinging to the words.

"Do you see what you've done?" Linton looked at each man in turn before hunching over Sidney's lifeless form. "My boy," he wept, trembling as he stroked his forehead, feeling for a pulse at his neck, "you can't go - not before me." His hands moved coat and waistcoat aside, the dark stain visible along his side, now - and the men they had last encountered at The Red Lion hovered, as if uncertain of how to proceed.

"Get up," She looked on as Robert Campion intervened, dragging Linton from the body by his collar.

"It can't be," she said again, breathing deeply, clutching the cloth tighter as she willed his body to move. But Sidney Parker remained still, his complexion growing paler still in the lantern's warm glow.

"Thought you could sabotage our carriage, did you," Robert said through clenched teeth, "cause a little disruption on our journey."

"Let me go," Linton seethed, prying at Robert's arm around his neck, "Can you not see that he is near death. Or do you want to leave here with a man's blood on your hands?"

Robert laughed, "Do you really think I care if he lives or dies? If only I had finished him back at the inn."

Linton froze, his fingertips turning white as they dug into the man's arm, and Charlotte gripped the cloth tighter, clenching her jaw as anger began to overpower the panic coursing through her.