It Started With Hello

Chapter 21- Finding Farley

"Uncle Simon gave me a pass. I'm going to take Noah and head up there."

"Good luck" He tells me. "I know you'll find him."

"I'll see you after the holidays." I tell him as I hang up the phone.

"Ready to go Belle?" Noah asks picking up his keys from the table when he walks in.

"Yeah, I just hope we can find him." I tell Noah 

"We will." Noah assures me.

"We have to, I don't know what I'd do without him." I follow Noah out to his car and climb in passenger side. He starts the car and we head to the estates.

"Enjoy your stay your estate is second to last on the right." The gate attendant says opening the gates.

"Thank you sir." Noah says driving into the estate grounds. We both keep an eye out as we head to Uncle Simon's best friend James Brenton's rental estate. We have until the end of the week. Since James didn't have anyone booked until spring he let us stay for a while in exchange for his nephew recording a demo at Uncle Simon's studio. I'm in charge of recording it.

"Here we are." Noah says pulling into the driveway of the estate grounds.

"Miss Kennedy, Mr. Caswell." A butler greets us at the door and takes our bags handing them off to two of the other butlers. "My name is Victor; I'm the head of the Brenton Staff."

"Very nice to meet you." I greet him with a warm smile, "The house is very tidy."

"Thank you Miss."

"Call me Arabella, Bella, or Belle, no formalities with me please." I tell him

"Very well Miss Arabella."

"And call me Noah, otherwise I'll think my father's in the room." Noah says smiling. "Could you show us our rooms?" He asks.

"Yes of course. I'll have Jesse right on it." He calls for one of the other butlers, so far there have been four including him, I've yet to see a maid or a woman working on the grounds. Jesse enters the foyer. He's a tall, muscular, but thin, broad-shouldered boy about our age with, jet black feathery hair longish, bright emerald green eyes, and a boyish aura about him despite his serious appearance.

"Yes sir?" He asks Victor with a nod.

"Show Noah and Miss Arabella to their rooms." He says.

"Yes sir." Jesse nods and turns to us. Victor turns and walks away deeper into the house.

"Welcome to Brenton Estate." He tells us leading us up the long flight of stairs.

"How long have you worked here?" I ask him.

"Six months. I just turned 18 last year." He answers.

"Is this a family job?" I ask him.

"No, it's just a job to get me through college." He admits. "Noah, your room is here." He swings open a door to a huge room. "Arabella your room is right here." He swings open the door opposite Noah's and I look into the huge room. It's like a pent house suite minus the kitchen and dining area. The walls are a pearl white with a gold crown molding. The doors are a thick chestnut color. The bed uses actual logs, and looks very cool and very rustic. There's a silk canopy over the bed and silver and gold satin curtains on the windows.

"It's beautiful." I breath. He mumbles something in audible.

"Is there anything else you require?" He asks me.

"Why the formalities?" I ask him, "I'm younger than you are, there's no need for the formalities with me."

"It's my job Miss." He answers.

"Then I'll ask that the formalities stop for all employment of the house hold while I stay unless there is an elite guest present, not counting my cousin or me." I tell him. "I'm not used to it."

"You're not like the rest of the Brenton guests."

"I'm not like a lot of London." I tell him. "I was raised in the Swiss Country sides by my parents until I was five. Then they shipped me off to school. They decided to travel abroad and left me with a governess and the butler. I really never knew them." I continue, "What are the Brenton guests like?"

"They're the high class, all about me, egocentric mentality kind." He says.

"All about me and egocentric are the same things." I point out.

"That they are. I've got to go set dinner."

"Can I help?" I ask him.

"Don't you have a pup to find?"

"Tomorrow?" I ask.

"Sure." He smiles. 

"Jesse?" I ask.

"Yes Arabella?"

"What are you studying in school?"

"Theatrical design." He answers. "I want to design sets for plays and movies."

"I'd love to see some of your ideas sometime." I tell him as he walks out of the room and I head over to Noah's room.

"Ready Belle?" He asks me coming out of the room and heading for the stairs.

"As ready as I ever will be I suppose." I tell him.

~~

Three hours into the search it's around 730.

"Farley!" Noah and I call out. Soon I hear barking.

"Prancer come back here." A girl calls. And I know that voice.

"Farley!" I rejoice as I see my beloved friend bound up to me. He stands on his hind legs and licks my face. I hug him and smile.

"I'm so sorry about Prancer." She begins, "Oh. Arabella, I didn't know it was you."

"Apparently, or you wouldn't have apologized." I tell her. "And this is my dog. Farley."

He barks when I say Farley.

"No it's Prancer."

He just cocks his head looking at me. "Farley. Sit." He sits.

"Prancer Come." She says.

"Farley. Fetch." I tell him pretending to throw something. He chases after it coming back to me after a few minutes and laying at my feet. He looks up at me painting. "I have a chip in his shoulder to prove he's mine. Why don't we take him to the police."

"Fine. Only to prove you wrong."

~~

"Thank you officer." I smile and take Farley's leash. Gwendolyn scowls and stomps away. "I've been searching for him for weeks."

"Just doing my job Miss." She smiles at me, "I'm just happy everything turned out okay."

"As okay as they can get when you have two psychotic arch-nemesis' that you don't even know why they hate you in cahoots anyway."

"There are some pretty crazy people in this world."

"Agreed."

"But if those two cause you any problems it's because you have something they want. They're jealous of your relationships, or your social status."

"Thank you again." I tell her smiling and tugging at Farley's leash to get him up. "Up boy." He stands and we walk out of the station and back to the estate.

"You found your furry friend I see." Jesse says taking my coat from me as Noah closes the door. I let Farley off the leash and he stays by my side.

"I did." I smile, "You don't by chance have any food he can eat do you?"

"Your uncle sent some over while you were out."

"Leave it to Father to be one step ahead." Noah says. "I'm going to go wash up for supper."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." I admit, "Farley kitchen." I tell him he wanders off and I head up to my own room. I wash and get ready for supper before heading back down to the eat in kitchen. Farley is  munching contently on his food in the corner of the kitchen ignoring everything going on. Finally Farley is found.