Was it really all a lie?It was devastating to think that after all this time that Ellie had just been duped by him. His regard to her had always been steadfast and oriented to the details of what she enjoyed. Maybe she had been so charmed with his perfect manners and soft shy personality. She had always read CEO based romantic novels and maybe even to her better judgement she had favored the idea over the actual person. Ellie too, was not of the same social standing. She had not gone to an exclusive New York prep school or even finished college. He was both extremely well-educated and a real society man. Although she sometimes looked up to that cla.s.s, none of her relationships had really ever been important enough to be printed anywhere important. The breakup reasons she had often read were just jibberish to her.
She carefully folded the letter and put it in some tissues. It was just a temporary place until she could find a proper envelope. It was quite the scandal as Henry had always stressed to her that he didn"t want to be like his father and throw woman away when he became tired of them. However, he had fulfilled his own prophecy to do exactly that. It was pretty sick, Ellie thought to herself. She hated to see herself trip and fall into these types of traps.
Traps? Ellie caught herself before she fell down into the spiral of self loathing. She would not be weak even if she made a weak choice. Ellie knew that she had to think rationally if she wanted to come out on the other side stronger and stable. There were too many things missing here for her to make a sound decision. Here was a penned letter from her lover detailing his regret over possible children and staying away from her due to that guilt. Both were sound and a bit warranted. However, here too was a doc.u.ment about litigation and legal woes from a troublemaker. It wasn"t in any way a smoking gun or a freshly dug grave. It was pieces of a story and not the whole story.
Ellie was wringing out her hands as she was processing these thoughts when Rightley knocked on the open diving door between the two rooms. She instantly put the paper behind her and sat up straight to address the manager. "Oh, Rightley I didn"t hear you on the way in. It"s nothing if you were just lingering there, but you"ve come at such a perfect time as I"m sure you have gathered some more information about the departure of the Baron. Can you give me some more details? I am trying to form a very clear decision of where would be a good choice as to go next."
"Clarity eludes all in this manner. If I could give you a straight answer wouldn"t that just be the devil"s end to it. There"s really nothing more that my looking into the manner has brought to it. Really, I came in here to ask you about good news."
"I"m sorry to disappoint you, Rightley. I know I have this huge household and community of people relying on me." Ellie looked past him at the looming shadows peering in at them from her room. She tried to shudder emotions and put on her neutral expression so they would have no idea of the contents of the conversion. It needed to stay a bit under the radar until she made a sound decision. "I know that Mr. Wong is such a busy individual . . . It was grand to have him around to lay the foundation for the renovations. We were very lucky to have him to bring some much needed cheer."
Although she thought that her words were enough explanation, Rightley remained in his rigid pose. He cleared his throat. "My dear cohort, Michael referred to me in private that Baron was not alright when he wke this morning. He"s a military man so you know how uptight they are, but when some maids did run across him while cleaning the opposite balcony sniffling, they said. They"re all silly young girls who"re not yet out of junior college. Michael did say that he couldn"t believe that the sir felt that he had hurt your heart in some way. The Baron knew that he could not live up to some expectation."
Seeing Ellie"s eyes quickly turned to daggers as she wondered on how professionally her own house was run. Rightley put his hands up as he quickly realized he had crossed a line. "I don"t mean to intervene in your affairs, your excellence. But we here in the household are just interested that the lineage set out by your forefathers should not be scandalized again. We"re all bracing for the gossip that will soon erupt. The Baron has the hearts of all your people already won for the carnival and charitable projects he had set forwards. He"s brought much needed money to an impoverished area."
"Money I don"t have." Ellie said harshly. Rightley flinched. Ellie didn"t care that she was making him uncomfortable. She thought for a moment about firing him, but she did know that the older gentlemen meant well even though he had misspoken. He had probably come to give her the combined opinions of various workers who were terrified about job security. They should not fear her. She considered his points.
Ellie was reminded of how Henry had poured his money freely into most charitable societies regardless of their issues. Henry Wong whose kindness extended to everyone he interacted with could not match this mirage of a flighty man who flew from newly wedded wife to mistress. She felt uncomfortable with all of these new faces to the man that she had grown to know. It clearly did not make sense for Henry to leave. While they had been intimate, Henry had given no indication that he was uncomfortable or worried. She had made sure that he did not stick to his routine of keeping her on the receiving end of his attention. It was not mastery of the intimate art either in his actions. His pauses were often accompanied by an insecurity placed by past lovers but those were easily smoothed over. There was no real calculation from either end of the act, it was just a comfortable exploration of their mutual affection to bear a delicious fruit that they found delight in together.