The Height Of Happiness

Chapter 11

Serena Beauchene and Edward Summerfields had been dating for almost a year. Their coupling actually made headlines, but only on random niche internet sites that followed the wine industry and a few that knew him from dating notable models from across the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, all of their friends were ecstatic when they came home with the news. Outsiders would have looked upon the reaction as if Edward and Serena were getting married or having a baby, but they were just officially dating.

Cassie jumped up and down, nearly toppling her boyfriend of a few months at the dinner party Serena hosted to break the news. Winnifred Beauchene nearly cried. Lydia Summerfields herself couldn’t stop gushing when she heard the news, the most surprising reaction of all. She’d forced her son to ring Serena up to let them speak, and with a surprising amount of animation Lydia insisted that Serena visit their homestead any time her young heart desired.

Winter was just beginning to thaw into a warm spring in the American South, and with it brought promise of a visit from Edward to Belle and Beau winery. Being he was the richer and more hands-off executive owner of the pair, Edward found more flexibility in his calendar to hop on his private plane to see her. Over the last year, she’d used the family-owned aircraft herself to visit Teddy in more tropical locations during snow storms halting any form of work or play in North Carolina, but mostly they had found that him coming to her house every few weeks for a long weekend was a solid and stable plan on which they could build a relationship.

Serena had spent the day on the other side of the county. Her bottling plant had some clerical issues, and she needed to do a quality report for herself as well. It was later than she planned to get home, but it still surprised her to see her house glowing and alive with activity.

Teddy’s rental car was parked outside near her own little convertible, and Serena rushed inside to see him. The sound of her old rock records and the smell of Italian food greeted her at the door. She set aside her coat and shoes before walking through to the house to the kitchen where Teddy stood wearing one of her aprons and Charlemagne sat in the corner already eating his dinner.

“Hello?” she called out, scaring her boyfriend only a little.

He jumped at the surprise, and turned around to greet her with a kiss. His embrace was welcoming and wonderful, and she remembered what her Grandpa had told her all those months ago about coming home to family. Serena now finally knew the feeling.

“Hello, love,” Teddy finally said. “Welcome home.”

“When did you get in?”

“Um, I caught an earlier flight?”

Serena chuckled, “You mean you left sooner on your own plane?”

Sheepishly, he nodded saying, “Yeah, I got antsy.”

“Well, I’m happy you’re here!”

“I have flowers for you,” Teddy pointed to the fragrant array of oriental lilies in a crystal cut vase on the dining table next to a cake on a pedestal. Both items Serena had never seen before, and could tell that he had bought them just for this purpose. “And I have a cake as you can see.”

Serena went over to see them, and smelled the fragrant floral aroma coming off her gift. They looked bigger and more vibrant than any lilies she’d ever seen before.

“Wow, this is something,” Serena tried to compliment him in her somewhat stupefied state.

“I made fresh pasta today. It’s sweet potato. I fried chopped herbs and grated parmesan. I even have a sauce to go with it. The chef at your restaurant at the inn helped me decide how to compose the salad, but I’ll admit the blackout chocolate cake on the dining table is from a bakery back home. I picked it up right before I left, so it’s fresh.”

“What’s the celebration?” Serena asked, still stunned.

“I just wanted to surprise you,” Edward shrugged as he kissed her cheek. “You want to go get ready for dinner? I just have to brown the butter.”

“Oh,” Serena replied in a joking tone. “So I go put on my dinner dress?”

Not noticing the joke, Teddy offered the response of, “Just put on whatever makes you feel pretty.”

Serena could tell something was up. This behavior felt odd to put it lightly, but because it also amused her Serena let it slide. It was their one-year anniversary this weekend, and she summed it up as Teddy trying to make it special.

When she stepped back downstairs, Serena had on a black knit dress that she loved and often took naps in when nothing else in her wardrobe was clean. She pushed up the long sleeves as she sat next to Teddy at his very formal table setting. He’d found her cloth napkins and lit candles.

“What’s all this for, Teddy?” she asked. “Should I go put something nicer on? Or maybe some heels?”

“No, no,” he laughed. “Your bare feet are fine. I like the color of your toes.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said looking down at them herself. “I thought I would try something new with this plum color.”

“Well, it works.”

They sat down to a surprisingly delicious dinner. They devoured the pasta as Edward told her about the champagne vineyard they’d visited, and the latest news from his mother. Serena was surprised to learn that she now had a younger gentleman friend. He was nine years younger than her and he was from Portugal. They’d met at a resort, and Lydia Summerfields was planning to spend a summer with this man at his home in Malta.

“They’re very taken with each other,” Edward explained. “However, this isn’t Mother’s first… suitor. She’s had plenty in the past.”

“Well, she is an amazing lady. Can I marry her?”

Teddy smiled, “If you made the right argument, she might go for it. She’s a big fan of yours.”

“And I love her too.”

“I met this guy though, Javier, he’s quite nice. He owns a chain of gelato shops in Portugal and Spain. He invited me to come when my mother’s there. He even said I could bring you.”