Chapter 244 - 244

"There's a nice Mexican restaurant that we passed on our way here," he looked down at here with a wry smile.  "I wish I could take you away from all this back to New York, but I know you need to go through this here. If we stop around the Stanford Park land, since we legal own it, the only person we have to entertain is ourselves."

Ellie shook her head.  "No, I couldn't. I'm going to get sick if I don't eat the food from my own garden.  We don't know the hot sauce levels either. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

"Are you trying to think of any excuse to not eat because you're upset." He drew her closer and then put his lips in her hair. Then he took out his phone and used an app to book a rental room within walking distance of where they were.  "We don't have to go anywhere if you don't want to. But I think we should have a place that if you want to you can sleep and I can work a little bit without disturbing you.  I don't want people making ȧssumptions if we're seen in a hotel."

He was really making an effort just for her this time.  Instead of insisting that they should go home, she decided to humor him.  Sleep was not unwelcome after seeing her father's grave for the first time in ten years.  Ellie let Henry lead as he pulled up a local map with directions. She locked her car and took out her spare amenities for emergencies.  As they walked he was engrossed in his phone, but she realized he had shortened his gait so she could keep up with him.

The town housed several historic buildings so Henry had deliberately pressed the scenic route buŧŧon instead of the fastest route.  At each stop, Henry explained the history and pointed out the interesting landmark. Here there was a fountain. Over there a battle had taken place where England had lost. Occasionally, with the knowledge of a local, Ellie pointed out the way the people of Lutterworth considered those events or even how her own family had been entangled. Ellie wanted Henry to be so invested in this enchanting place that he never wanted to leave her, but she knew he would soon. 

Finally, he pulled her into a small alleyway where she enjoyed feeling his weight behind her like a protective blanket hovering over her. They neared the house and Ellie was surprised to see it was a rather large country home with large walls of ivy giving the place a sense of complete privacy. There was a keypad by the front door so both were perplexed to see that they had to answer a riddle to get inside. 

Henry read it aloud. "I am walk with four limbs in the morning, two during the day and three at night." He looked at her stumped. "The answer is a word but the keypad has only numbers. How are we supposed to get inside?  I should be the one tending you and here we are out in the cold. I'm a failure as a husband."

Ellie shook her head. "I've been on worst dates with men who have done worse. It's human as it's a common riddle but I am having the same dilemma as you. You know there are letters when you dial a number on old cell phones. Maybe it has something to do with that."

"Oh of course. Let me pull up my dialing screen." He did so and his face fell as she realized the smaller letters were not on the screen. Henry quickly pushed her closer to the stoop. "If it does rain in ten minutes like it's been forecasted then you'll stay dry. I'm going down to the phone booth and seeing the dialing buŧŧons. I'll take a photo and run back."

Before Ellie could say a word he ran off. His lithe athletic legs carried him quickly as he sprinted towards the red telephone booth. Ellie felt quite alone as she wondered what to do. She checked her own phone and realized that her phone did have the small letters on top of the numbers keypad. She shook her head wryly as she entered the number and buzzed herself inside. She felt bad as she saw lightning strike just as the rain began pouring outside. 

"Oh dear," she said to herself, "he's going to be completely wet when he comes back inside."

She put her coat away and turned on the lights. The house was small with basic amenities. It was much larger than a normal rental house she would have booked for herself. She noticed next to the living area there was a large sliding floor to ceiling windows. On the covered patio behind was a large jacuzzi. She slid the sliding door open and realized there was a second track that the door could run on where the jacuzzi could be inside the house. She rerouted the glass door and shivered as she realized she had slid the door closed just as it began pouring heavily. There were resounding drips that grew louder as she watched. 

Ellie looked out and she could see that Henry's shadow was still faintly visible in the phone booth. She could see him wringing his hands so she decided it would probably be the best to call him. 

He picked up sounding disgruntled. "Ellie, I'm sorry this is taking me so long. I can have someone drive us back to the Hall so you can get some rest. I was just about to call Rightley or Daisy."

"No," Ellie said quickly. "I don't need any of that. I figured it out. I'm inside. I'll text you the password so you can join me. The place is actually much nicer on the inside. I actually didn't even know you could rent places like this."

"It's a Wong Industries Rental so I own it technically. I had one here set aside in case things went really south or I wanted to get away.  It was also a place in case you got hurt or needed a rest. Which is why it was ready for us. I hope it's not creepy. I can't travel without a backup plan."

Ellie laughed. "I can't be mad at you. It's a lot nicer than I thought. I'm really excited about the jacuzzi."

Henry laughed. "Yeah, I hoped you would like it.  Put on some coffee before you take a dip and I'll come join you soon, my love." He hung up and Ellie felt strangely giddy. He had been planning ahead for her, not for the other girl. Her face fell when she realized all this could be his hideaway if he had decided to bring another woman here too. To think he was this capable was a mixed bag of emotions.