CEO Of My Heart 240 240

She couldn't give up when she was this close to getting to where she wanted to be.  In a short amount of time she had regained everything that had been taken from her in her youth.  Her mother had gone to so much effort to rebuilt the life that they had left behind in England. She had never complained and from her example Ellie wasn't going to take Henry's rejection lying down.  Her feelings for him were genuine and she really did want to give this a chance. True, she had never planned last year to stop racing professionally or to be married to a sought after eligible CEO of an international conglomerate.  However, this did not mean that she did not wish to make something of these strange circ.u.mstances. She wanted to do things right by her husband. He deserved her to be her honest self rather than hiding her true feeling. Maybe today was the day to make things right again.  This was the first cloudless day in several. There were so many things going for her. Ellie Chen-Braye had regained her old name to become the country Baroness. She'd held onto the beautiful house that came from her name and she still had many lovely people next to her who made the house warm with their combined good intentions.

It wasn't all perfect, she mused as they drove through the green crested hills together.  She wished she didn't have to admit that to herself. For the first time in a while, Henry was the one driving.  She had thought to do it automatically, but she wanted him to feel his independence here too. He had taken his own car out instead of one of the stock cars so it was a more luxurious choice than she would have preferred.  But that was alright, everyone had their own preferences and it was ok to enjoy these cars before they were sold. On the flip side, it was nice to have her hands free today as she could think properly and have some topics ready for when they met the grounds staff.  But, she was certain he had actually offered to drive because she had chosen to wear a skirt. She could have countered that she could drive in anything, but she had given him his keys. One small gift today was alright. He really had wanted to show off his driving skills strangely.

Stanford Hall was a blooming wreak just about to fall apart, Ellie mused as she looked at it disappearing behind them in the rearview mirror.  It was definitely well on it's way to stable with Henry's good intentions. She was more interested in seeding when spring came as the land was still there.  It had not been damaged from not being tended which was miracle in and of itself. It would be good to be in the mix again with farmers and ranchers tending to everything.  She really liked that all the old faces remembered her and had only good things to say about her father and mother. They were excited too to work with her. Henry strangely seemed excited too when she brought this up to him.  While he managed the twists and turns expertly, he explained how no matter how good or bad the market would get -- people only needed food. Since the land was planted with many different types of grain, produce, and fruits it would be steady income that would slowly soak away the debt that had accrued.  

After meeting with the farm hands, they drove to the barn where they were greeted by the ranchers and animal handlers.  Here, they were introduced to the livestock that populated the farm. First they visited the local petting zoo which had been set up for the local schoolchildren, Henry leaned down to scratch behind the ear of an overexcited billy goat. It was strange to think a city dweller could be so at ease here and comfortable with farm happenings. Other than the goats, the estate was host to: a couple emus, some rockhopper penguins, and a herd of dairy cows that was from their milk came every morning. 

As they looked at the freshly bottled milk, Henry touched the gla.s.s.  "You know we should get a new pumping machine so their milk production increases.  The one we saw is almost a decade old."

She nodded slowly while looking at the small calves who were being hand milked with bottles.  As she was engrossed with asking questions, Henry thought about the human equivalent where milk should come from.  His eyes watched hers and he felt uncomfortable so he tried to look in another direction until his body relaxed. As Ellie walked back at him Henry pointed to the smoke stacks of Lutterworth, "Have you visited your tenants in the low income housing units your father set up?  It's managed by the church so it should be something we should manage a donation to when we get the time. The graveyards should be there too."

"Thanks for reminding me.  I haven't really thought to go check on my father's charities as my sisters really neglected them the last couple years.  A lot of peerages come with hundreds of charities. It's going to be quite a mess to sort through again, I'm afraid. It's been look through by the lawyers, but I'm sure we can visit to get a handle on what needs to be done near there as well.  Maybe when money frees up we can help them out."

"Don't worry about the donation.  I can take it as a tax write off so it's really no bother for me as I have a company already."

"Henry, you shouldn't." Ellie began.

"But I want to." He said firmly. "I haven't felt as peace for as so long in years.  This place has given me a lot of things. I want to give back to it, even if it will only make a little bit of difference."