Work Text:
September 29, 1821
10:30 p.m.
Heyrick Park
Susan Colbourne lingered at the entryway to the great barn at Heyrick Park. The youngest of the estate’s farm workers had just extinguished the torches that illuminated the grassy field outside and cleared away the benches that had been collected for the Michaelmas celebration. Inside the barn, she watched her brother-in-law as he bid good night to each tenant with a hearty handshake.
“Ah, Susan, you are still here?” Alexander said when he caught sight of her at the entrance. “It’s very late.”
“I was truly having a marvelous night, and I lost track of time.”
“Where is Sam?” Alexander inquired. “He left without you?”
“His services were required to shepherd Leonora to bed an hour ago. She was reluctant to leave with Mrs. Wheatley, and she only agreed once Samuel promised to deliver another installment of his pirate tale,” Susan explained. “Augusta went with them.”
“Charlotte stayed a long time, but I know she was tired and needed to see the baby off to bed,” he acknowledged. “Neither of them slept well last night.”
“I know. She made me promise to tell her about everything she missed,” Susan said with a wink and one of her conspiratorial smiles. “You, dear Alexander, are my escort back to the house, then.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Alexander bowed to her slightly, then offered her his right arm. Susan pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders as a shield against the rapidly cooling night air and hooked her left arm through his.
As they walked through the adjoining field toward the path to the house, Alexander waved his thanks to the last group of stragglers.
Susan was honored to be departing alongside the event’s respected host. “This celebration was lovely – high-spirited and joyful, but cozy all the same. You and Charlotte should be so proud of your community here.”
“Truly, this was the work of Charlotte and Augusta,” he replied. “We’ve always celebrated the harvest at Heyrick Park, but it was their idea to mark Michaelmas with a special evening for all the tenant families.”
“Tonight’s festivities will be cherished by everyone. I hope you are pleased.”
“Yes, of course.” Alexander nodded. He looked away to the opposite side for a moment of contemplation. He tried to hide the deep, shuddering breath and heavy sigh that followed. But Susan could hear, even feel, his uneven countenance in the stillness.
She was accustomed to playing the patient listener, especially with Alexander. He needed a few minutes, sometimes, to sort through his thoughts and string together the right words to express himself on matters of importance.
After several more steps, she asked gingerly, “Was there something else on your mind?”
“As I said, we’ve marked the harvest annually, even in the early years when we struggled mightily. And the last five harvests have been excellent. However, I find that celebrating Michaelmas feels vastly different for me this year.”
“How so?” she prompted him.
Alexander let his eyes scan the landscape, which was shrouded in darkness under the clouds and only a sliver of moonlight. It didn’t matter; he was not searching for anything visually. He was simply getting his bearings along the path and allowing his treasured surroundings to shape his thoughts.
“Last year, I came back from Bath with Augusta and Lenora just after Michaelmas.”
Susan nodded. “Yes, I had just arrived then as well, for Georgiana’s party.”
“We did not know of the plans for the party. We did not know of Charlotte’s return either.”
“I remember. You were quite surprised to see her. And her company.”
“Please, do not remind me,” Alexander said with half-rolled eyes over his left shoulder. He turned back to Susan on his right. “Even before I saw Charlotte again, and made your acquaintance, and brought Samuel back from London, circumstances were shifting for me. Augusta has told you, I’m sure, of all the people we met in Bath – at dinners, concerts, the tea room. I spent a great deal of time with Leonora as well. We took very long walks and spent time exploring several gardens nearby.”
“Charlotte was very impressed with how engaged you had become with both of the girls,” Susan said. “She knew it was good for them. She was pleasantly surprised by the positive effect it had on you, as well.”
Alexander inhaled and let out another deep breath. He was getting to the heart of tonight’s deep feelings. “I felt entirely changed, Susan. I returned to Heyrick Park at the start of October feeling content for the first time in a decade. I had found joy in my small family, and in the ways the girls enriched my days. I had put the past largely behind me, and was living in the present with Augusta and Leo. We came back here, to Sanditon, as a family. I reflected on the message the reverend had given in Bath the previous Sunday: that we should recognize Michaelmas by acknowledging our family’s health and prosperity. I was determined to do that.”
“And how is this year different?”
“This last year has brought me a wealth I could never have imagined. Marriage to Charlotte. Our beautiful baby. Having Sam back in my life, and your presence as well. Charlotte’s school as a cornerstone for the Sanditon community. The friendships we have all made.”
“I see.”
“My cup runneth over. Our house is so full. Not just with people. But with laughter, and learning, and discovery. Games. Dinners around our table. Leo and Sam’s questionable, albeit inventive, plays. Augusta’s poetry. The baby’s new faces and sounds each week.”
He chuckled softly while thinking of the last item on his list. “I have never before had so much to be thankful for, and so much to pray for in the coming year.”
Susan squeezed his arm in hers to show her understanding and approval. “It has certainly been a year of change for you. All wonderful new things, I should add.”
“And it is not just the sheer amount. All of these new experiences in my life happen so vividly. They remind me of the colors in this changing landscape … of the autumn season here at Heyrick.”
Susan smiled and nodded at the analogy. Of course Alexander would compare it to his life here, on the land. It had been his spiritual home long before the girls and Charlotte had made the house feel like a sanctuary for him.
“These leaves in the trees and beneath our feet – there are so many varieties. So many rich colors. And each one changes a little more each day. The leaves are falling to the ground now, and fading away. And the new ones that will grow in their place -- all of the flowers and trees and crops here -- are increasingly enriched by the fertile soil that came before.”
“It is the cycle of life in nature. And you are now sensing it in your life as well,” Susan said.
“Yes, Susan. Exactly. For so many years, outside of the bounty of our fields, I did not appreciate the renewal of this season. This year I feel it acutely.”
He paused for a few moments to let that recognition and gratitude take hold. “We forge ahead. And my family’s future will be built upon the gifts of each passing year.”
“It is a joyful Michaelmas indeed, then,” Susan declared.
Alexander moved his left hand across to gently pat Susan’s arm linked through his right. He remained silent. He had nothing more to add to the conversation. Instead, he relished the warmth of friendship and family he sensed from Susan by his side. He savored the quiet night of Heyrick Park coloring his whole world in the most profound of ways, once again. Its beauty never ceased to amaze him. And he was forever grateful for it.