The Height Of Happiness

Chapter 7

The week was busy shadowing Edward. Serena put on her best dresses and followed him like the First Lady of the United States keeping the President company. By day, they visited plants and other vineyards, never going past their offices and tasting rooms. Serena yearned for the soil, but didn’t complain as she got to see the bucolic landscape of the West Coast. At night, they went to very extravagant dinners with associates and other industry professionals that had been more mythical than actual men to Serena. They were kind to Serena, but it just pulled Edward’s attention from her to his work. She could never decide if she was a distraction or the time schmoozing other suits was the thing keeping Teddy from her.

Fortunately, Patrick Thompson was there to keep her company most nights, but he could only do so much. Also fortunately, Daphne Kim was busy that week working in other parts of the state with the marketing team. Her absence wasn’t missed by Serena. That woman put her on edge.

After all that, it felt like a rare treat to be really alone with Teddy. Her quiet moments alone with him were in the back of town cars as they drove out from the city of San Francisco and back home to the California countryside. Tired, Serena would close her eyes and rest her head on his shoulder as they talked softly about nothing in particular. He would ask her questions about everything from books to agriculture, and she would tease him about things that he would say over dinner to warm up the prudish men they ate with.

It seemed like a blessing from heaven when Edward suggested a night in. They spent the afternoon together at his home, and at six sharp they sat down to a dinner prepared by his mother’s private chef. Over a six-course meal, they talked about Lydia’s days befriending people like Cary Grant and meeting Katherine Hepburn at a college alumni event. It was a polite conversation, and underneath the table between different bottles of wine Serena found herself reaching out Teddy’s hand.

Their fingers laced together under the table as they ate, and Lydia didn’t seem to notice. They’d been doing the same thing under restaurant tables as rich mean boasted in from of them both. It had become the only way for them to feel together inside Edward’s surrealist world of wealth and power that Serena only thought existed on television.

Her growing closeness to Teddy felt like a secret between just them. Even keeping it from his mother felt good, Serena liked knowing that whatever they shared wasn’t public knowledge, and therefore not up for public commentary. They all smiled and laughed until Lydia decided to change the subject during their final dessert course. The look in her eye foreshadowed something solemn to Serena, and she set down her wine glass as she listened to Lydia with careful and considerate intent.

“Did my Eddie ever tell you how I came to run the business?” Lydia asked as she swirled the red wine in her large clear glass.

Serena set her spoon down, swallowing her bite of mousse before replying, “Um no ma’am. I don’t think I’ve had the good fortune of hearing that story.”

Lydia smiled, “My husband Julian died of cancer when Edward was just a toddler. It was before you could do much about cancer, and he wasn’t very keen on enduring pain to delay the inevitable. He looked a lot like Edward you know, but his face was more square like Teddy Kennedy’s. Anyway, when he finally passed his two younger siblings thought that they should take on the business. I didn’t have much experience with wine. They’d grown up in the company. It made sense on paper, but there was a reason that Summerfields was left to us. They never would have handed the company back over to our son. They had their own greedy children to think of , but there was something more important going on other than simple inheritance.

“The love their father had for this original vineyard carried to every vineyard he had purchased throughout this region of California. He hired managers who understood that for him it was a labor of love, and when Julian died he told me that I would be with him because I would do it all in his name. It would all be for love. I made it my mission to make Summerfields the business that Julian deserved to honor him. I named a limited release wine after him. I took us to international markets. Everything I did was only something Julian had dreamed, and now our darling Edward will do the same.”

Serena looked over to her host and friend. Teddy wasn’t looking up. He stared at the empty plate with his jaw tight. His mother had struck a nerve, and Serena could see this was a part of Teddy’s past that he didn’t like to share. She didn’t look away from his direction as she spoke.

“I know what it’s like to have a winery like that on one’s shoulders. Grandma Clarabelle died from bre*st cancer when I was in high school. It was almost the ruin of our company, but I knew she didn’t want my grandfather and our family to lose everything in my grandfather’s grief. It’s hard to be young and have life thrust upon you in that way. It seems that death is only easy for those who are dying, and yet we all endure. We do it together. No matter what the world thinks, we know in our hearts what’s right.”

Lydia nodded, “Well put, my dear.”

Teddy looked up at Serena. His eyes were glazed over, but his face was darkened with a somber expression. Looking at Serena for a long moment, he gave her a small smile.

“Mom,” he said with a dry rasp in his voice. “I’m going to show Serena the private collection. Will you excuse us?”

“Of course, Edward. I’m getting tired anyway. You know I go to bed with the sun. I’ll see you both in the morning before our brunch with the board.”

He smiled at her and kissed his mother’s cheek before offering his hand to Serena. Teddy led her out the back and onto the veranda where the sun was beginning to set over the hillside. They looked out over rows and rows of empty vines, but the sleeping plants on their posts still looked lovely in the cool winter light.

“You’re not taking me to this collection you mentioned?” she asked.

“I thought we could go for a walk,” Edward said with a smile. “I just said something to excuse ourselves before things got more macabre.”

Serena sighed, “I hope your mother didn’t upset you.”

“No, I just don’t want her to upset herself. She’s a… creative woman. She’s had darker spells in the past. Her aging mind and idle hands have her thinking sometimes of how things could have been. I just don’t want her to lose the light in her life.”