Chapter Text
Tomorrow Never Came
Chapter One
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Thomas had only heard of Sanditon through the tales the nuns would tell him growing up, he was told of its magic healing waters and its uncanny happy residents who held lavish balls much to the jealous eyes of London society. How all the buildings were hand sculpted by one genius man who wanted every town to look like something out of a storybook. But he stood on the hill overlooking the town he had dreamed of for a majority of his life, it didn’t have the buildings of gold or jewel incrusted roadways. It was just a normal-looking town trying to do its best in the depths of a harsh winter. But he wasn’t disappointed by it, this was the only place left to the nuns as any sort of information on who his parents could potentially be.
He was taken in a babe by the church, after being found on the doorstep, with a note that had, unfortunately, got wet while he waited to be found. The words, ‘Thomas’ following with the letter ‘C’ and further down the page was ‘Sanditon’ were all he had to try and find anyone who might’ve known his mother, or perhaps his father. At Sixteen, he was old enough to leave the safety of the church or stay and remain in God's service until he died. The nuns and the church's school were considered an orphanage, but he knew in his bare-bones that he wasn’t some unwanted flake of society.
Thomas’s good nature and handsome features made him a favourite in the large town he grew up in. So, he was never without anything, he had done incredibly well with his schooling and a benefactor was happy to pay for him to go to Eton in the summer to potentially go on to study the Law. But first, he wanted to just find out who he was.
Of whom did his good manners come from? Did he look like one of his parents? Were they even still alive? These were the questions he wanted to find out before he moved to London for school.
He made his way into the village, although cold, he found it amusing that people were walking around on the promenade. Was the sea air truthfully that much of a healing property? Or was there nothing or little else to do in such a town this far from London? He wandered around town, they at least had a theatre and a dozen goods stores that looked to be rather favoured by the town’s inhabitants. Looking through the window of a local tailor, he caught his reflection. Aside from a scar, he had on his cheek, and a cut on his face when he was found, he hoped that someone in this town would at least recognise the similar features that made him a favourite with the young ladies.
Thomas was walking in the street trying to find an inn for the night as it was growing late, and the rest of the town’s residents were scattering indoors from the coming cold night. When he unexpectedly was bowled over by a person walking in the opposite direction, he didn’t make great haste getting up from the wet snow that had cushioned his fall. Instead, he sat up, to see that the person who had so quickly unfooted him was a young woman who looked rather unimpressed with him as his eyes met her blue ones.
“What is it with young men these days owning the footpaths, can’t a woman walk on a sidewalk without men getting in the way,” She sighed as she grabbed a nearby book that she was reading before the collision.
“My apologies Miss,” Thomas cleared his throat, taken a little back by the girl’s abrasive nature. “I am new in town, I was just admiring the town and not looking where I was going.”
Thomas got up, and before cleaning the snow off himself, he helped the young lady up. She didn’t look like the typical society girls he had seen previously. Didn’t even appear to have a chaperone. Her long dark blonde hair looked to be only back in a simple style for the sake of appearances, not like a hairdo that was done for the sake of attention.
“Well young sir, there’s nothing to admire here in town,” the woman said as she wiped the snow off her dress. Thomas noted that the hem of her skirt was about several inches stained with mud. No woman he had ever seen was as unkempt as the one standing before him. “I suggest you catch the late carriage back to London, there’s not much here for anyone with a brain or who doesn’t have grey hair.”
“I am just in town trying to find someone, is there a local person that perhaps you can recommend that knows the town well?” he asked quickly, the woman still had an odd aura, like she could squash him like a bug if she chose to do so.
“Try the Parkers over in the square in the morning. Mr Tom Parker is the one who developed Sanditon over the last two decades, his wife Mary knows everyone in town.”
“Thank you, Miss-“
“Leonora, everyone in town calls me Leo. Good luck with your search but keep your eyes open in case you collide with one of the many older ladies we have here, you wouldn’t want to break their hip.” With that, the strange woman left him in the snow, as she returned to reading her book while reading.
Thomas stood bewildered on the sidewalk, what an odd and uncouth woman.
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The next morning being rather well-rested, Thomas went to the only square in town. A plaque was his morning for it had Parker's name written on it, and it also told him that this Mr Tom Parker was also the Mayor of Sanditon.
He knew it was early, but in his haste, he had hoped his happy nature and good manners might be able to persuade Mr Parker to speak to him.
Luck would have it, as a footman brought him right into the grand home and through to the Mayor’s office, which was decorated with all sorts of architectural bits and pieces.
“Good Morning young sir,” Tom Parker stood to meet this new addition to Sanditon, who had asked for him specifically. “On behalf of Sanditon, we bid you welcome to our township, and hope you don’t mind the cold. Winter this year hasn’t been kind to many along the coast.”
“Thank you, sir, my name is Thomas,” he bowed, “This town is all I heard of growing up, and to see it in the flesh is like something out of a dream.”
“Why thank you for your kind words, sir, if I can ask? What brought you to Sanditon at this time of year? I am afraid the Theatre doesn’t return until spring.” Tom rather liked the appearance of the young man before him, if there were many of his types in Sanditon, then he would be comfortable knowing it would draw far more ladies to the coastal town for the upcoming season.
“I am trying to find someone, I grew up on the other side of London far from the coast. But I was left with the church as a young child, and I am here trying to find someone who may know who I am.” Thomas said as he was invited to sit at a chair opposite the Mayor and given a hot cup of tea by the footman who showed him in.
“Can’t say I’ve had someone come to Sanditon to try and find someone, usually everyone just comes here to escape from someone,” Tom made a joke and laughed, the poor boy in front of him certainly wasn’t even old enough to leave school let alone travel by himself to Sanditon. Tom’s heart felt sad for the boy, who was simply an orphan trying to find his parents.
“I am afraid, all the children I know of in the last near twenty years have been accounted for… do you have a surname?” Tom asked, fearing that he cannot help the boy who came to him in the first place.
“I’m afraid the only letter after my name was C, as I was left out in the rain and the letter left with me was ruined,” Thomas said, as he passed the fragment of the letter over to the Mayor who wasn’t exactly looking hopeful to be able to help.
Tom looked at the note, it was on an expensive bit of paper, certainly not a parchment commonly found in the working class. But he couldn’t see anything worthy of note, it was too water-damaged to see anything that might've been beneficial to the boy. “I’m sorry to hear that my boy, growing up not even knowing your last name, that is something no child should have to endure,” he said.
Thomas smiled in politeness at the comment, “I had a good childhood, the church and the school gave me an extensive education. I’m here to at least find something before I go to Eaton in the summer. However, I fear, I’ve already put a bad taste in someone’s mouth, I knocked over a young lady yesterday as I was admiring the town-“
“-Let me guess, she had a book, blonde hair” Tom interrupted Thomas, “and a temperament that made you feel like you were being scolded?”
That description was the young lady Thomas had the luck of running into yesterday, “Yes? Do you know her? I wish to apologise for my actions.”
Tom chuckled, “My boy, don’t worry. That was Leonora Colbourne, she is a fickle creature if the town gossip has any truth to it. Unfortunately inherits her father, Mr Colbourne, cold and often unwelcoming demeanour, most villages tend to avoid her,” he said.
Thomas’s ears picked up a surname worthy of making a mention, “Colbourne? With a C-
“-I wouldn’t trouble yourself,” Tom injected. “A courageous handsome like yourself wouldn’t be related to the man who has scarlessly off his estate, Heyrick Park, for some odd thirty years. His daughter Leonora proves to be unwilling to get married and will inherit his estate once that sour man finally dies.” It was no great secret that Tom had disliked Mr Colbourne for many years, first, he tried to ruin Sanditon and keep it a backwater township and then to hurt his governess in such an ungentlemanly fashion, that man could die and rot at his estate for all the Parkers could care for.
“In any case, I would wish to convey my apologies. I may have damaged the book, Miss Colbourne was reading,” Thomas persisted, it was the first surname with a C he had come across, and he was rather curious about the strange woman with the tiny book.
“As you wish,” Tom quipped, he can’t order the boy not to “Though I give you a warning. A door being slammed in your face is quite common. The estate is on the south side of the village, it’s easy enough to find,” he pointed to Heyrick Park on a nearby map of Sanditon.
“Thank you, sir,” Thomas chuckled in excitement, perhaps this means he was just a little bit closer to finding out who he was.
“I tell you what, come to dinner here with us tomorrow night,” Tom suggested, “All my children are now married, or have moved to London. My wife and I would love the company of a new guest,”
Tom Parker knew that a good meal at a dinner table with kind people may be needed if the curious and ambitious looking boy met the same bitterness that vexed most people who dare to call upon Heyrick Park. He may even invite his brother, Arthur, as the young boy looked to be rather a kindred spirit to his kind and compassionate brother.
“It would be an honour sir,” Thomas got up to leave, excited to be invited to a gentleman’s table in less than a day of being at Sanditon.
“And I mean it Thomas, Heyrick Park isn’t for young people with kind manners. Just be wary of Mr Colbourne, he has quite the mean temper as I’ve heard from a governess who use to teach his daughter and niece at the estate,” Tom had to press that Heyrick wasn’t welcoming to anyone, let alone a young boy looking for his parents.