July 11th, 1891 - Sanditon Terrace

Zelda expected she would be seeing a lot of the Sanditon this season; she was making a conscious effort to go to any of the Sanditon events, and to visit Ros here as much as possible, because it would be her home soon. Still, she hadn't had an actual chance to see her home — she was hesitant to have someone who disliked Alfred act as chaperon for the day, so it was a relief that Caroline Darrow (!) could join them.

It wasn't that far from where Ros was staying, although of course it would be more lived in. (She assumed.)

"The outside of it is nice," Zelda said with a grin to Alfred. It was nice, and she could hear the ocean a bit, and it felt very Alfred. She was a little nervous to see the inside — because this was going to be her home, and soon, and she had not gotten a chance to leave her mark on it yet. To Caroline: "And of course you'll have to come visit all the time."

---

Caroline Darrow Sisse Thompsett
J. Alfred Darrow Reuben Crouch

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred was nervous about this in the same way he'd been nervous about proposing (even though they were already married when he did). He was mostly excited, because he knew everything would go smoothly and this was one more concrete step towards their future together, but — what if she didn't like it, for some reason? What if something went wrong and then her memory of this Very Important Moment where she saw the house for the first time was forever marred by his mistakes? Probably nothing would happen and everything would be fine, but — he was still nervous.

"I've already told Charity she's welcome whenever she likes," he said, with a smile towards Caroline. That was a mercy, that Caroline could chaperone. He would have preferred to have walked Zelda through on her own, but since that was out of the question at least he didn't have to contend with any snide comments from any of her siblings. Most of them seemed to be coming around to him, begrudgingly, but there were a few stalwart holdouts and he was quite pleased he didn't have to show the house to any of them before Zelda had a chance to take it in herself.

He opened the front door and held it for both ladies, unsure how much he was supposed to be narrating the house and how much he should just let them experience it. Did Zelda need him to say and here's the parlor, and here's the kitchen? She was an intelligent woman and surely capable of reaching such conclusions herself. On the other hand, if it got too quiet he was only going to get more nervous, so he had to say something.

"If you don't like the charts we can take them down," he said, with a vague gesture at the maps of stars and harbors that lined the walls in neat frames. "Initially I put them up in London just so the walls didn't look so empty, but now they've sort of grown on me. But if you don't like them we don't need to keep them," he added hastily.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

There were many perks to being married, Caroline had learned in the three weeks since her wedding. One of those was the ability to actually chaperon. It wasn't like she was truly more than a figure head, any more than Hope had been, but still she enjoyed that she could help Alfred and Zelda out this way, she quite liked both of them and got on with them rather more than just the standard well. Zelda, she had determined, would become her closest friend and confidant, after all, how could she not? And so it was shortly after her return from her honeymoon that Caroline ventured out of newly married bliss to chaperon two of her favorite people.

She did them the service of trailing behind and watching the waves, listening to the crash of them and the seagulls calling above, giving them space. But when they drew her into the conversation she smiled. "Of course!" Caroline agreed brightly. It would be nice to have someone so vivacious to visit frequently - and by the ocean no less. Caroline was already finding that she missed it, although she highly doubted that Evander would take kindly to her suggestion they move to the coast - he still did not seem to forgive the sea for almost stealing Caroline from him this spring.

Determined to keep her role as chaperon to the right level of "merely there for priority's sake" Caroline kept her distance as they entered the house. She looked around and found herself focusing on the charts that Alfred had mentioned. Had she been anyone other than a chaperon she might have mentioned them (entirely charming in her opinion - but then she loved such things and had grown up around them) instead she merely stepped closer to them to inspect them, making sure to remain to the side to afford Zelda a good veiw of them.

  

This was going to be her front door soon, which caused another little beat of cognitive dissonance for her. She'd moved before — from Ottery St. Catchpole to Hogsmeade, and obviously back and forth to Hogwarts every year — but this was the first house that would be hers, and that felt admittedly weird.

She stood on her toes to get a better look at the charts. "I like them," Zelda said with a genuine grin. They were very Alfred, but not in a way that felt closed-off — they reminded her of him, was all, and of his flat in London. "Of course we'll keep them."

She didn't know what she was supposed to be looking for here — she would be the lady of the house, but she didn't really understand what a lady of the house did, especially with her mother dead.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred stood up a touch taller at Zelda's encouragement. He'd gotten rather attached to the charts, so he was pleased to hear that she liked them. That, and if she hadn't, she would have just had to move in to a house with bare walls, because he didn't have much else in the way of decoration. That was probably a good thing to mention, now that he thought of it, before they went through the rest of the house.

"It's not all fully furnished yet," he explained, moving across to the hall and opened up the door to an empty bedroom to illustrate the point. "But I figured we could do that together. I'm not, ah — not a decorator by trade, you know," he joked with a sheepish grin.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

This was why Zelda and Caroline got on so well, Caroline found herself thinking as Zelda voiced her agreement. But then Alfred was leading the way and Caroline followed behind, finding she had to cover her mouth with a gloved hand at Alfred's comment lest her chuckle be heard.

Alfred certainly wasn't a decorater, from everything that Caroline had heard the home was better furnished than she had expected. But then again, like Shawn, Alfred was use to a ship rather than rooms on solid ground.

As she followed them she made sure to stay just far enough behind they need not worry about her presense but close enough that they could draw her into conversation if they wanted to. As they walked she turned her thoughts to what she'd like to decorate at home.

Home. It was still weird to call the house in Irvingly home. But it was. And it was her's in a way that the Delaney house in London and Boston had never been. Evander had decorated - more than Alfred by a long shot, but still there were things that needed a woman's touch and Caroline was determined to remedy that. It would have to be subtly at first so Evander and Charity did not feel she was trying to change everything, but once they grew comfortable with it and she learned her footing, well then she figured it wouldn't be much of an issue.

  

"Ooh, an empty room," Zelda said in a lilting tone, obviously joking. She grinned at Alfred over her shoulder. This was getting easier the further into the tour they were; she felt more like she could see herself living here. And she liked the Sanditon, she was excited about the life they would have here together.

"What do you think we'll put there?"

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred offered a lopsided grin in response to her joke, but when she continued his smile turned slightly sheepish.

"Well, whatever we want," he said with a shrug, as though he was not particularly invested in the decision. "Mrs. Fudge said it might make a nice nursery."

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

At Zelda's wry quip Caroline smiled. Zelda tended to say and joke the way Caroline wished she could. It was what made Zelda such fun - indeed Alfred was much the same way. Holidays with them around would be certain to be jolly affairs. Caroline could see it now, Zelda, Alfred, Shawn, Nimiane, Tony, Evander, and Charity, all sitting around the Christmas tree laughing and teasing and being as close a family as the Delaneys of London. That was, if she could get Charity to like her. The task was seeming rather herculean.

...Nursery. Caroline's thoughts drifted back to the couple at that word and she felt mildly embarrassed to be here. Poor Hope, was this how she had felt all those times she had chaperoned Caroline? And Nimiane? Caroline found herself giving the floorboards a rather thorough inspection, taking another step into the room away from the couple.

The following 1 user Likes Caroline Darrow's post:1 user Likes Caroline Darrow's post
   J. Alfred Darrow

At the word nursery, Zelda felt a twinge in her chest. A blank room intended to be a nursery felt really — immediate. She bit her lip and looked at the room again. Little children that belonged to them both, that belonged to her, and she wanted them but —

She grinned again, a little sheepish. "Right," Zelda said, unsure how to be witty about this.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

This wasn't an overly negative reaction, but it also wasn't quite what he was expecting. Maybe she was only feeling sheepish for the same reasons he was; maybe she just didn't exactly know how to talk about this, and the idea that they actually could talk about it more openly now was strange and novel. That, or she was hesitant for some reason.

"Right," he repeated, raising an eyebrow at her quizzically.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda didn't know how to talk about this in front of Caroline, who she very much wanted to like her; she didn't know how to talk about it at all. But Alfred was raising his eyebrow at her, and they were still in the empty bedroom that would probably, eventually, house their children. "It's just very —" she fluttered one hand, and her voice got quiet "— you know."

---

@ fallin i wanted to let her put her foot a little more in her mouth!

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Oh Caroline so hoped this hadn't been how she and Evander had been, she found herself growing slightly warm in embarssment for them. She doubted her and Evander had been much like this, they had never truly talked about children, but there had been the shipwreck and a whole score of other things she'd rather have been private in the way they were now that she was married.

Luckily for Zelda (and Alfred) they had Caroline for a chaperon and not Hope or even worse (or better depending on your opinion of it) Nimiane. Caroline could smooth over any conversation, she thought confidently, making a decision to step in and help.

"It will make a lovely nursery or guest room, the perfect view of the ocean." She declared as if she hadn't heard any of it, but she looked at Alfred when she said nursery and turned to Zelda when she said guest room.

Then she smiled at them both, "But I'm sure there is more to see. Perhaps," Well what else was less embarassing? The kitchen? That seemed dull. The main bedroom? Too intimate after this particular conversation. Oh! "The study?" All men had studies, she was sure of it. Houses simply didn't come with out studies, did they?

  

Zelda said you know, but it took Alfred a moment to make any sense of what she was saying. Certainly she must have meant something, even though the actual words leaving her mouth were rather inarticulate. It wasn't as though this could have been a surprise, though. Having children was what married people did, and her relatives had been talking around the issue for long enough that they'd both thought about it. For Alfred, thinking it through had only made the idea more comfortable and more appealing, the same way that he'd gradually come around to giving up his flat in London for the seaside house at the Sanditon, and his ship (at least half the year) for a life on the docks. Apparently when Zelda had thought it through, she'd come to a different conclusion.

She didn't want children. At least: she didn't want children with him. Whether it had something to do with the concept of children themselves, his supposed parenting abilities, or all of Roslyn's talk about sea widows — she didn't want children. The conclusion stopped him short and for a moment he just stared at her, trying to adapt to this new information. He tried to convince himself that maybe he'd reached the wrong conclusion, but the way Caroline responded cemented it in his mind. She'd interpreted it the same way and was trying to be conciliatory. A nursery for Alfred, a guest room for Zelda.

Well, then.

"I, uh. Down the hall," he supplied in response to Caroline's mention of the study, with a vague gesture towards the door. He made no move to lead the way there, hoping that maybe the two women would forge ahead and give him a second to regain his composure — he wasn't sure what emotion was showing on his face, but he was sure it was something.

---

The following 1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post:1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post
   Zelda Darrow

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

She hadn't meant guest room, although she wasn't sure how to verbalize what she wanted, either. Because mostly what she wanted was time, but there was a fear, in turning something into a nursery. When they'd nearly been in trouble, when she hadn't known, when she had wanted to not be pregnant so desperately that an attack from a troll had nearly been welcome — well. If they made this room a nursery, and then it took a while, or then she couldn't — having a nursery ready would feel like a punishment.

But there was the look on Alfred's face, and Zelda's heart in her throat, and the office. "That's not what I meant," she said, quiet and a little frantic, but she turned towards Caroline after — anything that didn't have her looking at Alfred's face, or at the blank walls behind him.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

"It's fine," Alfred said immediately, voice strained. He probably ought to have let Caroline step in and handle this, since she was sure to be more level-headed at the moment and Zelda was looking towards her anyway, but his mind was reeling to catch up to this and he wasn't quite thinking straight. He didn't want to argue about this (certainly not in front of Caroline), and he didn't want to pressure Zelda into anything she didn't want, but — why didn't she want children? Was it something to do with him? Did some part of her believe what her family members were so frequently saying about his unsuitability for family life?

"Maybe we'll set it up for Charity," he suggested. He put his hands in his pockets and looked at Zelda's feet rather than her face. "I told Charity to visit as often as she likes."

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER