Henry checked his watch as the silence stretched, he was about to rap against the door again when a door opened in his face to meet an alarmed man whose bald head shone brightly. Both men stared at each other confused silence before Ellie"s head peered in between him. The old man dropped the cushions he"d been holding before opening his arms up in surprise. "Lady Eleanor! My goodness! You"ve gotten so tall, sprouted right up like the tree you always were. Well! You"ve done so well! Welcome! I can"t keep it to myself how it"s an honor to serve you here back at what is now your home." The man squatted in what Henry realized was a position to prevent strain on the knees while still bowing. "I"m glad that now I have the privilege of calling you Baroness Braye. It"s spectacular that you"ve got an impressive husband along with you. All good things that the tenants and staff cannot wait to celebrate with you. We have been all delighted to have you back here with us."As the man took both of the suitcases into the main hall, they both stepped inside while the suitcases were handed off to a younger servant. The entrance had a spectacular crystal chandelier which mirrored Henry"s worried face back at him. Ellie looked at the man who had greeted them with interest before snapping her fingers in recognition. "Mr. Rightley? Oh my goodness, I can"t believe that you"re still here? It"s been so many years. Are you the house manager now? I can"t wrap my head around all these changes. It"s like being in a dream."
The manager nodded. "I suspect it"s like being lost in a good daydream. You can think that we can"t believe it ourselves that this good manor will finally get the polish she deserves. I felt the same when I got the message from the lawyer. I went up in the ranks only hoping to secure a place for myself, but it"s mighty good when you like who you serve more."
Ellie looked down as she tried to think of something to say, she really couldn"t so she tugged Henry"s sleeve. "I told you how my sisters would always hurt me and Nolan. Rightley was who I would always go to. He taught me a lot about dealing with conflict and staying out of situations where they could get at me." She moved closer to the manager as she wondered, "Who else is still here? I"m so happy to see that I still have some of the staff that I grew up with. I thought that no one would want to remember the children of the second wife, we"re not really the idea of English n.o.bility that people like to spread about. But I am happy that someone who reminded me that n.o.bility really has no correct look, has a place of such honor in the house."
Ellie wrapped herself around the older gentlemen who seemed startled before his face creased in a warm expression. Henry moved back to give them some s.p.a.ce, but was very glad to see that Ellie did have support on her next journey. He knew that she did draw strong lines between business and pleasure, but today she had decided to let her emotion warm up the role she had been thrust into. The time of her Baronry was still young, there would be plenty of time for her to fall into her steps.
She pulled back to explain, "This is the Baron Braye my husband, Henry Wong. He"s a well know CEO of his family"s company. He"s very good at managing people and convincing them to do what he wants without them knowing what he"s up to. Henry also has an excellent staffer who is kind of his everything man, who will be joining us soon. I hope that you have put aside some rooms for us for the time being, the ones that aren"t meant to be rent out, but lived in."
"Of course, my lady. I wish I had more time to prepare, but we had such short notice, that you might find the service lacking from what you"d be used to at an American or London hotel. I"m very sorry that these things are not up to standard as you know the former Baronesses were quite extravagant in their travels and luxuries so they were really irate on me asking for improvements on the house." Mr. Rightley"s eyes looked loathed to say his next statements. "Excuse me saying something negative of the dead, but your sisters were kicked out of the local Tesco"s so often that the whole household was banned from getting their items from there. It was from very far away that many of the basic toiletries have come here."
Ellie put a hand to her mouth in shock. "Don"t they know about the pa.s.sings? I"m sure if we went as new faces they wouldn"t say a word. It"s alright we"re American so we do our own washing up and cleaning. At least I do and did so I can do all that. Are you the only staffer here at the moment?"
"Well . . . I apologize for that as well as there are so few of us here. The solicitors refused me the permission to hire on new folks until you came here. It"s just me right now, but I am an excellent cook. I did have a couple of my daughter"s friends come over to do some cleaning and gardening for pocket money. They"re youngsters so they haven"t the best touch with dusting and things." He looked forlorn. "I apologize that this is the current state of the house. I"m sure that you were warned that there is a lot to be done to get our showmanship status back to Stanford Hall. I"m hoping that you can set this sorry status back to rights with some good hard grit and luck. It"s still got the old spirit it used to have."