I fixed myself

Part 3

Walking through the grounds Penelope made a list of all she had to do.

Then alone, she rebuilt this castle. Brick by brick she made it beautiful again, restoring the beauty.

She cleaned, fixed hazards and made it useful again.

She had skipped two social seasons so she could focus on restoring her castle. 

From the local market in the nearby village she had brought a mare and stallion, both purebred thoroughbreds whom were chestnut ex-racehorses who loved to run. But were getting older. Both were ten years old, past the prime racing age.

The roads were all turned up and rocky making it unpractical to use her carriage, so she just rode her horses, she developed a love and passion for it. 

It was easier to gallop then walk to get round her property anyway. 

Upon the restoration of the castle, she went into Paris where a lovely dressmaker named Mademoiselle Durand. While in Paris she decided to visit a horse auction. She had, had to get a lift into Paris from a lovely dowager, Lady Belle Thomas, Duchess of Normandy who lived nearby.

At the very back of the auction in her beautiful dark emerald green cloak she began to bid. First for a beautiful black Friesian mare, then a black Friesian stallion. Then she chose a chestnut Dutch warmblood mare and a bay Dutch warmblood stallion. While there she also brought a nice carriage, some tack, and necessities for her new horses. As the Friesians were sold as carriage horses Penelope hooked them up to the carriage.

She piled her dresses and supplies for the horses in the carriage, then grabbing the halters already on her two Dutch warmbloods and tying them on to the carriage. With a slight flick of the reigns the horses were off, they made it back to her mansion rather fast.

She got to work smiling and humming as she quickly put down bedding in the stalls and filled the hay nets. Then she allowed her horses to rest as she welcomed her housekeeper to the mansion. The housekeeper was a wonderful woman who was widowed a while ago. She is now a single mom with three daughters. Penelope offered her the position as well as one of the cottages on site. The woman was Mademoiselle Dubois. She was one of the few welcoming people even though she lived in a tiny cottage with truly little money.

Over the next few months she hired a stable manager, a few maids to help Mademoiselle Dubois, a stable hand, and a groundskeeper. She rescued most of them from rough neighbourhoods and rude Lords and Ladies. She gave them a home, education and help in return for helping around. She paid for their children to get the best education, toys, clothes, anything they needed. Most of them lived in her mansion after all she had no use for most of the rooms. With over three hundred in her main mansion and another two hundred in the guest mansion.

This mansion, a haunted house, riddled with ghosts, blood and war standing isolated on the hill was no longer haunted.

It became a happy house, children rushed down hallways, animals ran through the fields and forests as the world seemed to come alive around the mansion.

Mademoiselle Dubois named the black mare. Champion des cœurs. In english it means Champions of hearts. For short she was called Noire. Meaning Black. And the black stallion is called Monsieur la nuit noire meaning Mister Black Night, his stable name is nuit (Night)

As Penelope stood next to the groundskeeper who was a nice old man who became more of a grandfather than her own grandfather, so she called him grand-père. As they talked next to her warmbloods and their foal. A girl. And the warmblood foal she had brought, a boy.

"You know that mare is a beauty and the stallion, he shall be strong." He commented.

"Thank you grand-père, she shall be known as La beauté de la nature or Belle for short and he shall be known as feu de forêt (forest fire) whose stable name is Forest.

The filly (female foal) shall be known as Paris. And the colt shall be known as London." She watched as Paris and London ran circles around each other racing across the field as Belle and Forest watched for a moment of time before accompanying the two.

Penelope smiled. Her heart almost felt complete again. 

But she didn't think it ever would...

A/N: rewritten 04/09/24

I'm probably going to forget so assume I will publish all these chapters by tomorrow night