Chapter 7 - The Downfall
At 8:00 AM on Thursday morning, five news vans from Austin and San Antonio were parked outside the main gate of Blackwood Estate.
The sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the grand limestone facade of the manor house.
The front doors swung open.
Richard Blackwood was led down the stone steps in handcuffs, flanked by two Texas Rangers. Behind him walked Margaret, weeping hysterical tears into a silk handkerchief, her wrists similarly bound.
Reporters swarmed the driveway, camera flashes exploding like strobe lights.
"Mr. Blackwood! Did you order the arson on Warehouse B?!" "Is it true the entire Blackwood fortune was built on stolen land?!" "Mrs. Blackwood, do you have any comment on the tax fraud indictment?!"
Richard kept his head down, refusing to look at the cameras.
Standing at the top of the stone steps, surrounded by her six children, stood Eleanor.
She watched silently as her mother-in-law and father-in-law were placed into the back of separate police cruisers. As the cruiser door was about to close on Richard, Eleanor stepped down the stairs, walking straight to the window.
Richard looked up at her, his eyes filled with defeat, anger, and a bitter, hollow humiliation.
"You destroyed this family, Eleanor," Richard rasped, his voice trembling through the open glass.
"No, Richard," Eleanor replied softly, leaning down slightly so only he could hear. "You destroyed this family forty years ago when you stole my grandfather’s land and called it your legacy. I’m just cleaning up the mess."
The police cruiser pulled away, its red lights flashing against the oak trees, disappearing down the long gravel driveway.
Eleanor turned back to face her children.
Fifteen-year-old Samuel looked at his mother, a bright, clear smile breaking across his face for the first time since his father’s funeral.
"What do we do now, Mom?" Samuel asked.
May you like
Eleanor looked out over the rolling green hills of the two-thousand-acre estate, breathing in the cold, sweet Texas air.
"Now, Sam," Eleanor said, taking baby Sophie into her arms, "we open the distillery."
