My Life In Ruins

11. Wasn't She Sneaky For A London Society Lady?

Chapter 11

Wasn't She Sneaky For A London Society Lady?

When we finally landed in England at almost nine in the morning, I had been up for a grand total of fifteen minutes.  That was mostly because the sound of the pilot on the intercom woke me up.  And when I did, I had apparently found a pillow on Max's shoulder since that was where my head had been leaning against.  I wasn't the only one laying on someone else, though.  Max had leaned his cheek on the top of my head also. 

When we both woke up to find ourselves wrapped up in each other...can we say awkward?

It was a little hard to look at him after that...

Oh, who am I kidding?  No, it wasn't.

When we got to our hotel, we took just a little while to get our stuff situated in our rooms before we all met in the lounge area of our room.  I had the ring on my right hand ring finger.  That way, I wouldn't be able to lose it...plus, it looked good with what I was wearing.

"So we're going to the manor house of Elizabeth Stafford.  It's just about twenty minutes west of London so it won't take us any time to get there.  It's a historical sight now, but I've called ahead and arranged for the one of the site curators to meet us there to let us in," Dad said.  "Now, we don't know what we're going to be looking for, but we'll definitely be going through the garden.  We need to check out all possible places there."

All of us nodded in understanding. 

When we made it out of London and were heading down a winding road, there was a comfortable silence throughout the car as we drove.  I just kept my eyes out the window.  And when Dad pulled into a drive that led to an old rod-iron gate, my eyes went to the huge manor just on the inside of it.

"Oh, wow," I said, looking at it through the window. 

"It's absolutely gorgeous," Brielle said from the front.

There was a man coming down the drive then and he was smiling as he unlocked the gate and slowly opened it.  Dad pulled through and pulled next to another just a little ways from the gate.  After he put it in park and turned off the ignition, we all got out and looked around. 

The house stood a few dozen feet in front of us.  It was huge, standing three stories.  It was made of different shades of beige rocks and marble steps led up to the double front doors that stood at least fifteen feet tall.  In most of the windows, you could see dark green curtains hanging to block out the light if needed.  I was dying to see the rest of the inside. 

Footsteps sounded on the gravel pathway behind us and we all turned to see the man who had opened the gate walking toward us with a smile.

"Dr. Landon, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said, his English accent thick.  "I'm Henry McAllister, head site curator."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too," Dad said.  He introduced the rest of us then and Henry shook our hands with a smile.

"Well, you're here to see the house, correct?" he asked as he led us toward the steps leading up to the front doors.  He pulled out a huge, old-looking key from his pocket.  "It might take you awhile.  The place is pretty big."

Dad smiled at him.  "We've got all day if you do," he said.

Henry chuckled and nodded as we headed up the marble steps toward the doors.  As he slipped the key into the lock, he turned it and opened the door. 

When we stepped inside, the first thing I did was look up at the huge crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling.  My eyes skimmed down the floral wallpaper on the walls toward the grand staircase.  The railing was carved from a dark wood and had elegant carvings all the way down to the bottom.  The hardwood looked polished, but still in its original condition.