Chapter 8 - The Reconstruction Begins
Within forty-eight hours of Holloway signing the restoration agreement, the grounds of the historic river estate—now officially recorded by its original name, Oakhaven Manor—roared to life.
Amanda stood in the center of the grand courtyard, wearing a white hardhat, an orange high-visibility vest, and carrying a set of master blueprints. Around her, flatbed trucks rumbled up the live-oak drive, unloading scaffolding, pallets of hand-struck salvage brick from Savannah, and barrels of non-hydraulic lime.
Unlike Apex, Amanda didn't hire corporate subcontractors from out of state. She spent two days visiting the small timber yards and historic workshops around the Lowcountry, recruiting retired master masons, specialty carpenters who understood timber-frame mortise-and-tenon joinery, and ironworkers who worked with open forges.
"If you see a power saw near those original heart-pine crown moldings, I will fire the operator on the spot," Amanda announced to the assembled crew of thirty men and women during the morning safety briefing. "We hand-scrape, we steam, and we bed with linseed oil. We are restoring this estate to outlast us by two centuries."
Holloway stood on the second-story piazza, watching her manage the bustling site with absolute authority. Beside him stood Julian Vance, a distant cousin from the wealthy branch of the family that had severed ties with Eleanor a decade earlier.
"You told me she was working as an unlicensed draftsperson out of an attic," Julian said quietly, watching Amanda direct a crane operator setting a massive cypress timber into the damaged rear gallery.
"She was," Holloway replied, sipping bitter coffee from a thermos. "Because her mother blacklisted her from every architectural board between Richmond and Jacksonville. But talent doesn't disappear just because high society closes its doors. In six months, this house will be worth fourteen million dollars. And Amanda owns ten percent of the holding equity."
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Julian shook his head, a grim smile touching his lips. "Eleanor thinks she’s still playing chess with a desperate child. She has no idea Amanda is building a fortress."
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