The world is changing.
The Éadig family has resided on the Meduseld estate for generations. Once a clan of wealthy benefactors and socialites, the 21st century has seen the contents of the family bank account shrink and the strength of their home a...
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"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.
Aragorn exhaled heavily and scrubbed one hand over his lightly stubbled jaw as he pulled his car over at the side of the country lane, giving the screen of his phone a hopeful tap as he watched the little loading wheel spin over his map, unhelpfully declaring that it was 'calculating route' as it had been for the last five minutes.
It wasn't where he imagined he'd find himself in the middle of a work day, he thought as he glanced out the window at the tree-lined lane that ran through the countryside, it was more the kind of place he'd venture on a weekend escape. He'd have to be careful not to let himself relax too much - that is, if he ever found his way to where he was going.
For several months, he had met with Théadain every few weeks in his office to talk through every possible angle she could take to prevent her family being pressed from their home. Each time she would come bearing some obscure stack of paperwork she had dredged up from her study, and every meeting always seemed to end with them feeling as though they were missing a piece of the puzzle. She had been due to step through his door again today - he could easily picture her arriving the same way she always did: as a small flurry of organised chaos - bearing an armful of files that she had wrestled on and off a train, her appearance always somehow both collected and charmingly disheveled. She would shoulder her way in through his office door before Rosie could hurry to open it for her and would greet him with a smile that took his breath away.
He had missed that smile over the last few weeks and had caught himself thinking about it far too often during more tedious meetings, or when he was stuck in traffic, or when he finally got home after an outrageously long day... He thought about Théadain a lot.
So when she had called his office earlier that week to reschedule their meeting, his heart had sank. Something had come up with her charity work, she had sounded excited as she alluded to a new project but had apologised profusely for the fact that it would mean she was needed on her family's estate all afternoon.
And so he had offered to drive to Meduseld and meet with her there. Naturally.
What good was being senior partner if he couldn't occasionally blow off a day's worth of meetings to get lost down a country lane? Besides, actually being able to work amongst the scattered documents she had only gathered a fraction of from her study might bring them a step closer to solving her dilemma and proving them with a solid foundation on which to build a case. He would do it for any client, really. That was what he was telling himself anyway.
Groaning at himself, he shook his head and looked back to the road. He usually had a fairly foolproof sense of direction, but if anyone could put his head in a spin, it was the girl he was trying to drive towards.
