Greenbriar Manor

Bridges and Bridles

The Sheriff looked at the little boy and his parents. He had heard of strange dark family secrets all along the Manor legacy. But he believed that a guest staying in the home may have easily grabbed an outdated bottle of extract. He knew one of the people staying there had been a teenage girl not much older than a child. Lots of little girls make cookies. It was very possibly an accident. He waited for the doctor's verdict. If he was suspicious of the laundress or her mother he would open an investigation. Jake just wanted to chalk the whole thing up to some food borne illness and go home. He had been thinking alot about the other manor house and the help. Daniel was keeping Fern and Lorna employed and Martha was family. He knew that things would never change until the deed was passed beyond all of the family and that was not really possible given that even his wife was a distant cousin.  He loved the manor's quiet places and the profit in the horse farm but that stallion puzzled him. Ingrim needed more time and the competition season was fast approaching they needed a handler and trainer for the outfit. Theirs was also in this hospital. So was Martha. He wondered if the strange occurance in that old farm house would spurn Daniel to work on a better solution for Brooklyn's employment and the future home of his mother. 

Meanwhile, Daniel was wandering down by the stream. He had followed Mari down here after breakfast and was wondering where she was going. The Greys house was charred with smoke damage on one wall of the chimney but still inhabitable for now. He would not vex Brookie. The little boy had always been a friend and better at knowing what this house needed and who than any of the Greene's ever had. That reminded him of a tale that only he and Chessie knew. Long ago in the attic of the old house their sister hid a brooch. Pearls and emeralds like a peacock. The old thing had belonged to Greta Grey the first woman who had been laundress and Lorna's mother. Vsra had coveted that old brooch all her life and no one knew where it went after Chessie hid it upstairs. One night they had wandered up into the attic to look for it when a large metal bird cage fell over and landed on his sister. She was only a very small child and it gave her quiet a fright. Lorna thought it was a sign. Her mother taking revenge on the family of the one who stripped her of her job and took her jewelry and hid her like a prized family herloom. There were many of those here. Wrapped up in cellophane and parchment. Fern was not just helping him catalog the family photos she was unraveling the mysteries that were here before she was born. One day he knew that his sister's last book would be published and when that happened she would come back home. Daniel had waited for her ever since she left before, Salem had taken things from one manor and he had given the old house to her son. He realized that today was the day the bulldozers would arrive in Vermont to tear down one end of the family homestead. He remembered worrying so about all his friends and cousin so far away back then. He remembered his mother standing by the phone crying when someone called to tell them about Bridgette running away. It had been 40 years and not so much of a trace had been found. Lorna Grey sometimes said she heard rustling in the bushes. That she knew Vera had set her heart so full on her cousin's safety that she had lost her own. Buried it on the land in Vermont like sheet music in a piano bench. Waiting for something to change.leaving it all just the same as she had left it. He walked through the thicket and saw the tiny dog chasing someone. Scamp did not heel so he would have to whistle. As the breathe passed his lips he saw someone drive into the driveway. It was Sheriff Wayne Bullins. He had received a call from inside the Vermont house a little girl had said that her father had fainted. When they got there no one was there. He wanted to make sure that everything was alright here as well given that they all ate that dessert food which was now proving to have caused more headaches than happy memories. 

Wayne had known Daniel when he was young. They went fishing together often with the twins. Their father was a man who had things just so. The girls were proper and almost over guarded. Except the oldest two. It was no wonder that they both became forces in their own rights and died soon. He thought of Bridgette the cousin he had a crush on that no one knew where she ended up. She was rumored to have met a young man in the service and on to another life like her cousins. As he turned the corner of the stable he saw a boy in overalls. He stopped and did a double take. That teenage boy looked exactly like Brookie. His horse had been fun to ride in the parade one summer until that last dangerous ride. He had missed his friend. He knew Martha had a daughter maybe she had a grandchild with a strong family resemblance.  As he walked past the strange boy he tipped his hat at him and walked into the house. He felt a strange chill go down his spine. Fran greeted him warmly and invited him in for tea. Daniel met him promptly and they talked over the situation. He mentioned that his brothers had told him that they were staying in the nearby hotel until the demolition was over and that there should not be anyone on the property at all. Especially not Brittany. He knew that the property had been aquired almost overnight but he doubted that they would have been affected if they made the drive safely. He told Daniel in hushed tones that Lorna may be looked into for the situation with the extract if someone else handles the case while he is on vacation. He wanted to make sure his old friend knew who his employees were. He reassured Wayne that the Manor and its guests were safe and that it was an accident. That Salems granddaughter had been making cookies and Lorna was in the bathroom when the small fire began. Wayne nodded and told him in that case it should be open and shut and that Jake and Ingrim should get home soon.