Unconsciously Henry reach forwards and took her hand in his showing his silent support of her . His decision became more active as his hand became joined by the other and his eyes looked at her with straining emotions . Ellie felt unsure of whether to trust him, he was so set on forging his own path . Ellie finally tightened her hand in his . Today, he was hers and if he wanted to be let in she would let him . He was taking a step towards her, she couldn't quite let him go . Ellie touched her forehead as she felt the strain of the long repressed memory .  

"I completely understand your reaction . If it was myself in that situation I too would have been right angry with my siblings .   Priscilla was particularly vile when she decided to evict you out of Sanford Hall without following proper procedures . I wanted to help you and your brother and mother, but I was quite young and I couldn't risk losing my job yet with a family on the way . It was a sadness for all of us to see that Your father did not have the good sense to plan in case his health did not hold . I know he was so scared of his own family that he didn't tell his own mother that he married a Chinese woman .   She was a purist herself and hated that you looked foriegn instead of English . "

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"I'm not a b.a.s.t.a.r.d?" Ellie said slowly . The word was harsh as it came out of her mouth as if she had been on the receiving end of it as an insult . Henry's hand tightened around hers .

"I have the marriage license here . There was a big civil case back in the United Kingdom . This holding is unique in that there is no need to look to male heirs . It's absolute primogeniture so you may inherit before you uncles or first cousins . It's quite a unique situation that my colleagues in England had to deal with . You are the second family, but you have more right . But that is all just and well . Your sisters have pa.s.sed on the t.i.tle and all of its holdings on to you . There are several revenue streams that I can provide doc.u.ments for . But you have in essence inherited the whole baronry to yourself . "

It was not easy, but eventually Ellie regained control of her emotions . "I'm not surprised in the least that Priscilla would have debts in Russia .   She was taught by her mother how to play poker when she was on holiday from boarding school . But, that's another long story . You have said there is unpaid debt from here .   Is it enormous? How much of the property will be sold off? The major question I have here is what am I now in the possession of? I wouldn't be surprised if as Fates usually had it, I got the shorter end of the stick .   How much of what is mine did they ruin?"

"It's not as bad as you'd think .   There has been a bit of a deficit these past few years, but it's nothing that you can't dig yourself out of with some hard work," Lopex a.s.sured her . "There are many of us who are looking after the estate and as a caretaker we really didn't let the duo sell off as much land as they wanted to .   We were in agreement that the property as a whole was much more valuable as farmland then having tenants . Neither of them were too happy about that . "

Ellie couldn't help the smile that peeked out after all the stress .   It made her delighted to think they had been thwarted . Stanford Hall had been a strange place to grow up, but she had really enjoyed hearing her father talk about its history as it has pa.s.sed through the hands of generations .   It made her think warmly of her father . She would have been upset to think that she had become the successor to the t.i.tle without the property that she remembered the best . It was a good news, Ellie finally decided, this was a good blessing in disguise that she had to take good advantage of .   Now she had a purpose to push towards . She finally could said with full belief . "I know money will be tight, but I am excited to start working towards a resolution . You said we have a foundation with which to stand on, so I'll make some arrangements to see where I can borrow some money to put into the farmlands .   I think in a couple years, we'll be quite good with the debt . "

"I'm happy that you are money minded .   I am very sorry to have disturbed you in this way about your siblings pa.s.sing and also send my deepest apologies that you could not have been present at their funerals .   I should have tried harder to find you . However, I cannot say without emphasis that I am very happy that this property is now in your hands . " Lopez said this with a little bow of his head .   "I did occasionally call your mother to see how you were doing to see if I could provide for her when my career gave me some extra funds . But, she always refused and told me to spend it on my own children .   I do like the NASCAR so I have seen some of your races and am delighted to see you are one of the faces behind one of my favorite cars to bet on . I'm also happy to see that your younger brother is doing well at a good university .   I'm very shocked to see how different the Chens are from the Cave family . I am happy to see that your father's brilliance was not lost on the two of you . "

"Yes," Henry agreed, "Ellie definitely got all that was good from that family .   I can see now why you never really mentioned your siblings . You know I always thought they were brothers because of how active you are .   But it makes more sense for a pair of unfortunate step siblings to push you towards more thrill activities . I doubt they shared any of your interests . "

"You know how these n.o.bility are always marrying each other instead of getting in some new blood .   I don't doubt that the intermarriage finally got in there . Their monther was not a woman wit any sense .   She was raised to be silly . " Lopez shook his head in disdain . "She pa.s.sed that fantasy about self aggrandizing onto those poor girls .   Maybe it's got it's own diagnosis if you asked a psychologist, but how would I know? I'm a lawyer . "