Chapter 13 - The Meeting by the WallThat Saturday afternoon, the autumn air was crisp and clear. Daniel and Mara walked along the old stone boundary wall that separated the keeper’s cottage from the wider estate grounds, watching Persephone chase a golden butterfly through the high grass.
"A residential write-down," Mara said, breaking the quiet. "It sounds almost too simple."
"It is simple," Daniel replied, keeping his hands tucked into his pockets. "It means we give up the west wing. We give up the stables. Wrenford Hall won't be a sprawling commercial estate anymore. It will just be a house. Our house. The main rooms, the gardens, and the roof over our heads."
"And the debt?"
"We can service a two-thousand-pound residential mortgage," Daniel nodded. "I've already been looking at remote financial consulting work with firms in Leeds. I can work from the cottage study three days a week."
Mara stopped walking and turned to face him. She reached up, gently brushing a stray lock of hair from his forehead. "You're willing to give up the rest of the land? The family name attached to the commercial acreage?"
"The name belongs to who we are, Mara, not the acreage," Daniel said softly, taking her hands in his. "My sister spent years convincing us that our worth was tied to the size of the balance sheet and the number of guests in the Great Hall. She was wrong. Our worth is right over there."
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He nodded toward Persephone, who was now carefully cupping her hands around a daisy, laughing as the butterfly fluttered away.
"Let's sign it," Mara said, a bright, genuine smile breaking across her face. "Let's give the bank back their west wing, pay our modest mortgage, and finally make Wrenford a home."
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