Laura's Vineyard

"Bill, I can't stay here and be sad any longer. Could we take care of whatever you need to talk to me about this afternoon?"

When I arrived, Bill had asked if I wanted coffee, and when I said "No", he handed me a familiar, yellow envelope. The outside simply said "To Terry", in Laura's flowing handwriting. I opened it, and pulled out the same yellow stationery from five years ago. After I read the first paragraph, tears were streaming down my cheeks.

My Dearest Terry,

By this time, if Bill has done as I asked, I will be beside Charlie at Quiet Acres. I hope you will have been able to be with me this one, last time. It is a comfort to know that you might be there to help me once again, and to send me on the journey that is ahead of me. I hope that as you see me lying in my final rest, you will remember our good times. I want you to know that I think of our summers together each and every day.

The week before you graduated, Dr. Wilson told me that I had only a few months to live. I didn't tell you then, because I didn't want to spoil your special day. I've had a good life, in spite of what most people would consider hardship, and now I'm going to be with my Charlie again. I'm not afraid for myself, and am trying to get my affairs in order so that things will go well after I'm gone. One of those things I have to do is say good-bye to you.

Terry, you were a friend when I needed one badly. You helped me keep the farm going for Charlie when I couldn't do it alone anymore, but more than that, you saw through what all the other people saw, and made me feel alive again. The months between harvest and pruning were agony, but then you would come back, and we could be together again for a few months. I really enjoyed knowing that I was helping you get your education. Somehow, Charlie and I got so wrapped up in the vineyard that we never had children, and you became the son I never had. I know that some day you will be a wonderful husband and father. I regret that I won't be there to see it.

That first summer, when you found me in the chalet, I was so depressed that I seriously considered ending all my pain and joining Charlie. I knew that would be wrong, but I didn't know what else to do. Then you came looking for me, and told me something I hadn't heard for years. You told me I was beautiful. I so appreciate what happened between us that night. I wanted it to happen again, but somehow, the mood was never right, and I confess that I did feel a little strange about it. We were so far apart in age. I was happy when it didn't make a difference to you, and for that, I shall be grateful forever. It was something that I needed at that time, and you gave it to me without reservation, and without regret. In my own way, I have always loved you for that, even though I couldn't bring myself to tell you.

My second regret is that the farm will pass into unknown hands, and the vineyard will die forever. For this reason, I ask one last favor from you, Terry. I have made you the sole beneficiary of my will. The farm will be yours, along with all the money that Charlie and I put back. It isn't as much as I wish I could leave you, but it will pay the inheritance taxes, and give you a start. I know that this favor is larger than anything I have ever asked of you, and I want you to think hard and make the right decision for yourself. If you decide not to keep Laura's Vineyard, I will understand. Bill will help you with all the details, whichever way you choose.

Well, Terry, this will be the last time I will be able to say anything to you. There is so much I would like to tell you, and so much I want to hear you say. There is no time for that now, so I will leave you with these few thoughts that come from the heart you warmed with your presence and kind words. Terry, you gave me life for the past five years, even though you didn't know it, and you made me feel like a young woman again. You gave me the strength to go on with Charlie's dream, and I think he would have appreciated it too. I love you as a friend, I love you as a son, and wish you a wonderful life. I will pass from this world with your face in my eyes and your name on my lips, and I hope you will think of me from time to time.

All my love to a very wonderful man,

Laura

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I sat the wine glass down on the railing of the balcony that overlooked the lawn and bandstand, and put my arm around Wendy. The last concert of the season was always the best, and she and I loved our private seat to this performance. She looked at me, and then kissed me softly. "You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

The first years had been difficult, but I managed. After I met Wendy, things got easier. Wendy was raised on a fruit farm, and was no stranger to hard work. Her smiling face and uninhibited laugh made the hours with shears and hoe a joy. Soon after we were married, I explained about the relationship between myself and Laura, and why the farm would always be "Laura's Vineyard. She cried, and said it was the most beautiful story she'd ever heard. She became as determined as I to begin the lawn parties again. After five years, we had the first wine party that Laura's Vineyard had seen since 1958, and as with Laura and Charlie's first, attendance was minimal. Word gradually got around, and the event grew and grew. We expanded the chalet twice to add a tasting room, a gift shop, and a larger sales area. Two weeks ago, we had a crowd of over six thousand, and severely depleted the wine stocks. There were barely enough of the bottles with the brown-haired princess on the label to make it through tonight, but now, the hour was late, and it looked like we would still have a few bottles left for Christmas presents.

After the third year of Laura's Vineyard, I was able to buy more land, and now, after twenty years of wine parties on the lawn in front of the chalet, Wendy and I own five hundred acres of prime vineyards. We have graduated from field hands to managers and wine makers, and have four full time employees. During the heavy months in the spring and summer, migrant laborers do all the work except for the twenty acre patch of vines that surround the farm. Wendy and I still care for that, and as soon as our son was old enough, he helped too. The grapes from those vines make wine for us and a few close friends. I still haven't matched Charlie's flavor and bouquet, but I get a little closer each year.

Lucas is eighteen now, and will enroll at the University of Michigan next semester in agriculture. He wants to buy more land and diversify the vineyard with apples, peaches, and strawberries. I've been working on wines blended with these flavors, and so far, the results have been good.

"Yes, I'm thinking about her. Tonight is her anniversary. Tonight is the night, all those years ago, that I saw the real Laura."

I reached into the ice bucket and gently lifted the bottle of Chablis. The label was faded almost beyond recognition, but Wendy and I knew it well. The bottle had been chilling since noon, and as I pulled the cork, the fragrance wafted through the night air. I filled our glasses a last time, and put the bottle in the rack with the others. There are about eighty bottles left in the locked room in the cellar, and that should last us and Lucas for a long time.

The band tonight was special, and was the same band that always played at the final August party. The music was from an era long gone, but people still drove a hundred miles to hear the jive of Glen Miller and the fox-trots of Tommy Dorsey. The soft strains of "String of Pearls" drifted across the lawn, and people stood up from their blankets to hold each other close and sway to the notes. I put down my glass and turned to find Wendy reaching for me. We danced on our own private floor, high above the crowd below, and as the final notes of the song drifted away on the evening breeze, I kissed her softly. I hoped Laura was in Charlie's arms, as Wendy was in mine, and that Laura was again the beautiful princess on the label.

The crowd and staff were gone, the band packed and away, and Wendy and I picked up our glasses and walked down the stairs to the first floor. We passed through the tasting and sales areas to the private room in the back. The old couch, table and photographs were still there, as were most of the original furnishings from the house. We sat on the couch, as we always did after a party, and talked for a while. I leaned forward to move the picture of Charlie and Laura standing in front of the chalet. I had found it in the house when I moved in, and it seemed to belong in this room of the chalet. Every time I came out here, the picture had been moved in some manner. It used to concern me, but then I realized it was just Laura's way of telling me she was all right. As if reading my thoughts, Wendy said, "You know, after every party, I feel her here. I don't know how, but I know she's still here and watching over us." She chuckled. "You must have really had something back then, to make her feel the way she did."

Wendy pushed me gently back and she grinned as her lovely, dark eyes stared into mine. "I've felt that "something" a time or two, myself. How 'bout showing it to me again?"

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