Chapter Twenty-Six
E leanor stood in the empty, cavernous foyer of the west wing of Brewster Manor, gazing around at the ceiling above her.
The smell of fresh paint lingered in the air, mingling with the faintest traces of wood polish.
The floors gleamed, the windows reflected the bright summer sunlight and, most importantly, the roof no longer leaked.
It was, finally, her home again. Well, part of it, at least.
Samson stood beside her, his arms crossed, surveying his team’s work with satisfaction. “That’s the big stuff taken care of, Your Highness. This side of the old place is officially water-tight, structurally sound, and, if I say so myself, better than the day it was built.”
“Consider yourself better than an accomplished architect and stone mason, do you?” Eleanor asked in amusement.
Samson sniffed. “It’s a damn good job, if you’ll pardon my language, Your Honor. There’s a few cosmetic bits to do, but I’d say this wing is ready for you to move in whenever you’d like. Must be a weight off your mind, eh? Being able to come back home again.”
For a second, Eleanor stood frozen. She was supposed to be thrilled.
No, she was thrilled. Really, she was. For years now, she’d been worried about the whole house falling to pieces around her ears, worried about whether it would really be salvageable or not.
And now, here it was, partially whole. She should want to move back in immediately.
It was her home. Yet she was having trouble trying to conjure up the appropriate enthusiasm.
Why did the idea of moving back in make her stomach twist in the wrong way?
She glanced toward the large bay windows, where sunlight was streaming in, highlighting the dust still settling in the air, and took a breath. She knew exactly what the problem was.
Moving back here would mean leaving the farm. Leaving the quiet, early mornings when Danni got up before dawn, moving through the house with a soft tread so as not to wake her. Leaving the warmth of shared meals and easy conversations. Leaving the way Danni looked at her, touched her, kissed her.
Which was ridiculous because they were not in a real marriage.
Eleanor shook her head sharply. She needed to focus.
But the thought wouldn’t leave her alone. For a while there, she’d wondered if she could persuade Danni to move in here, to live with her in the manor.
Yet when she tried to picture it now, Danni in this grand house, muddy boots stacked up by the front door, a cat curled up in the entry hall, farm equipment in the courtyard, she gulped. The image was so vivid that Eleanor startled, making Samson jump.
“You alright there, Your Ladyship?”
She sighed. It couldn’t work, could it? Practically it just couldn’t. All other things aside, she could make allowances, they could compromise. But Danni needed to be on the farm early in the morning, how could she possibly live all the way out here?
“I’m fine,” she said briskly to Samson. “And you’ve done a wonderful job. Your men are to be commended. Efficient and on budget. I can only hope that the rest of the house will turn out so well.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, grinning. “Whenever you’re ready to come back in, give me the word. I’ll have some of the boys start bringing the furniture back in, shall I?”
Eleanor forced a polite smile and nodded, but before she could say anything else, her phone buzzed in her blazer pocket. She dug it out and saw Elizabeth’s name flashing on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?” barked Elizabeth.
“I’m at the house,” said Eleanor. “The west wing is just about—”
“You need to get to my office,” Elizabeth said.
“But—”
“Now.”
Something about Elizabeth’s tone made Eleanor straighten up, made her heart beat strangely and her mouth go dry. “Elizabeth, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I’ll explain when you get here,” Elizabeth said crisply. “Just… come as soon as you can.”
The line went dead.
Eleanor’s stomach dropped. Whatever this was, it did not sound good. She wasn’t sure that she could handle bad news just at the moment.
“You alright?” Samson asked, peering at her face.
“Quite fine,” she murmured, getting her car keys out of her pocket. “Just… a quick errand.”
She flashed him a smile and strode away, heels clacking on the tiled floor.
ELIZABETH WAS ALREADY standing when Eleanor stepped into her neat office, looking uncharacteristically tense. A thick file lay open on her desk, its contents spread out in neat, methodical stacks.
Eleanor shut the door behind her. “Elizabeth, what’s going on?”
Elizabeth took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way to say this, Nor, so I’m just going to tell you. Marren is suing you for the house. ”
For a moment, Eleanor could only blink, then a smile spread across her face and she started to laugh. “Oh dear,” she said, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
But Elizabeth’s face didn’t change. “I’m not kidding,” she said. “I’m absolutely serious.”
A sense of cold dread began creeping up Eleanor’s spine. She stopped laughing. “No, no, you’re joking.”
“I wish I were.” Elizabeth pulled out her desk chair and sat down.
“But…” Eleanor tried to have a coherent thought. “But, that’s absurd! He can’t possibly think… What’s going on here?”
Elizabeth slid a document across the desk. “Read it yourself.”
Eleanor took the paper and scanned through the legal jargon. It made no sense to her, she couldn’t focus. The only words that drilled into her brain were the ones right at the top. Claimant: Stephan Marren. Defendant: Lady Eleanor Brewster.
Her insides seemed to roll around and she felt dizzy. “But… how?”
“He’s claiming that as the only living male heir, he has a legal right to the estate,” Elizabeth said.
Eleanor’s head snapped up. “Male heir? What? But there’s a trust, there are terms, how could you not see this coming?” She was aware that she was snapping, that she was blaming Elizabeth. But she had to blame someone.
“You’re correct,” Elizabeth said quite calmly.
“We all know the terms of the trust backward and forward. But, to be honest, you were the only living inheritor we ever considered. If you’d been ineligible to inherit, if you hadn’t married, for example, we’d have dug deeper and tried to find a suitable heir.
But Marren was never on our radar. He married your grandmother’s younger sister.
We’d have looked for cousins and first cousins before we even glanced at him. ”
“This is like the Middle Ages,” she said.
“You’d be surprised just how often archaic inheritance laws are still pulled out in cases like this,” Elizabeth said.
“My honest opinion is that he doesn’t stand much of a chance.
You’re a direct blood relative of the last owner of the house, and you’ve fulfilled the obligation of the trust by marrying.
However, this is a nuisance suit that’s going to cost you a lot of money and a lot of time. ”
Eleanor’s hands curled into fists. This was exactly the kind of underhanded scheme she should have expected from her devious great-uncle.
He had no real claim to the house, but he thought if he made things difficult enough, she might be pressured into giving up.
Well, he’d severely underestimated her. She was not one to back down from a fight.
“I’ll take him on,” she said, her voice cool and steady. “I won’t let him win. This is ridiculous and nonsensical.”
Elizabeth gave her a small, approving nod. “Good. Because this will be a battle.”
Exhaling slowly, Eleanor tried to get a handle on her anger. “Very well. We’ll do what’s necessary. Now, is that all? Or is there some other delightful disaster that you’d like to inform me about?”
She’d been expecting Elizabeth to smile, perhaps to ask her to lunch, but instead, the woman hesitated.
Eleanor felt anxiety creeping all over her skin. “What?”
Elizabeth took a breath, closed her eyes, and appeared to come to some kind of decision. Because when she opened her eyes again, she said, “There’s something else you need to consider. You’re married now.”
“I’m fully aware of that fact,” Eleanor said. “It’s how I got the damn house in the first place.”
“I know that,” Elizabeth said, obviously trying to keep her patience. “But whenever legal proceedings against a member of a married couple come into play, there’s extra considerations to be taken into account.”
“Like what?”
“I’ve said that I don’t think the courts will rule against you.
But I can’t guarantee that. Nor can I guarantee that the ensuing legal bills won’t bankrupt you,” said Elizabeth.
“You make your decisions for your estate, Nor. But you have to remember that should the worst happen, your assets are now tied to Danni’s through marriage.
Meaning that her farm could be at risk.”
The air seemed to leave the room.
Eleanor could handle a fight over her own house. But Danni’s farm?
Danni had spent years struggling to get her own land, had sacrificed everything, including a relationship with her mother, to get what she knew she wanted. The farm was everything to her.
And if there was even the smallest chance that Danni’s home could be taken from her, that it could be Eleanor’s fault…
No.
No, she was not going to let that happen. Not when they had a sham marriage, a mere business arrangement.
She crossed her legs and leaned forward. Her voice was quiet and controlled when she spoke. “How do I protect her?”
Elizabeth watched her carefully. “The only way to make sure Danni isn’t dragged into this legally is to separate your assets.”
Eleanor swallowed hard. She was no fool. There was only one way to do that. She lifted her chin. “I need you to prepare papers of legal separation.”
“Eleanor,” Elizabeth said, expression softening.
“No. You are my solicitor and I am instructing you to prepare separation papers as a precursor to divorce,” Eleanor said. She looked firmly at Elizabeth. “I have no choice here.”
A long silence stretched between them.
Then Elizabeth nodded. “I’ll have them drafted and communicated.”
Eleanor nodded. It should be fine, it shouldn’t matter, this wasn’t a real marriage, she kept telling herself. She pressed her lips together. This was the right thing to do. Protecting Danni was the right thing to do.
She should never have let herself get emotionally involved in the first place.