Chapter 13 - Renaming the House
By spring, the estate had changed completely. The tall iron gates that had kept the town at bay were unhinged and removed, stored in the back of the barn to rust. The manicured boxwood hedges that once bordered the driveway were replaced with native wildflowers, vegetable plots, and berry bushes.
Julian legally recognized his son, naming him Thomas Sterling—after Elena’s grandfather, a quiet carpenter who had built half the barns in the valley.
The corporate fallout had been severe, but not fatal. Julian had stepped down from the family holding company, trading his controlling shares for full ownership of the valley land, the agricultural assets, and the timber reserve. Victoria had received her payout in city real estate, quickly marrying an investment banker in Manhattan to preserve her position in the society columns. Her name was never spoken on the estate again.
Elena sat on the stone porch, watching five-month-old Thomas sleep in a wicker bassinet under the shade of an old elm tree. She was studying for her horticultural certificate, her textbooks laid out across the rustic wooden table Julian had built with his own hands.
"The soil analysis came back from the state lab," Julian said, walking up the steps with two glasses of iced tea. "The lower twenty acres are prime for an organic nursery. If we start planting next month, we can supply the regional farmers' markets by August."
May you like
Elena smiled, leaning back against the wicker chair. "You’re really going to become a dirt farmer, Julian?"
"I was always meant to be one," he said, taking a seat beside her. "My great-grandfathers were farmers before they got lucky with the railway lines and forgot what work felt like. It took me forty years to find my way back."
