Chapter 20

Shuana set the plate in front of Ed with care. Following his normal behavior when presented with a new dish, Ed looked it over appreciating the presentation and then bent over to savor the aroma. With a smile, he picked up his knife and fork to cut a bite out of the meat dish. She held her breath, as he tasted the dish, hoping that he enjoyed it. Looking up at her, he was tempted to make one of his usual comments but realized that she was watching him with a seriousness that would make it a mistake. Biting back the comment, he said, “This is outstanding. I like the way you have interlaced the various flavors.”

A smile burst over her face at the praise. She asked, “So what typical Ed comment do you have about the dish?”

“I would have used flour to make pancakes,” replied Ed with a twinkle in his eye. The dish had thin slices of meat with different items layered between adjacent slices. One layer was comprised of potato slices, another was spinach, a third was chopped mushrooms, and a fourth was diced bell peppers and onions. The layers had cooked in the juices of the meat as it had been grilled. Shuana had put a currant sauce over the dish and surrounded it with a salad of fresh greens.

Marguerite from the kitchen door laughed at the comment. They had argued what comment Ed would make concerning the dish and Shuana had been prepared for anything. They’d had a fun time in the kitchen trying to come up with various comments, many of them quite ridiculous.

Chuckling, Shuana said, “We missed that one. We should have known you’d come up with that after past comments about stuffed pork chops.”

The rest of the staff dug in and started eating. Everyone raved about the new dish and Shuana basked in the praise. She had worked hard to come up with a new dish and she really liked it. It was easy to tell that Ed liked it and that was the best praise that she knew.

When Ed finished his serving, he asked, “What is this dish called?”

“It doesn’t have a name yet,” replied Shuana.

With a surprised look on his face, Ed asked, “Do you mean that you invented this dish?”

“Yes,” answered Shuana with pride.

“We’ll call it Shuana’s Victory Meal,” said Ed as he looked at Marguerite. With a wink, he added, “It celebrates your victory at creating the best new meal in this household. Sorry, Marguerite.”

“It’s an excellent dish,” remarked Marguerite. She was proud of Shuana’s development as a Chef. She added, “It’s a good name. Are you going to submit it for publication?”

Shuana frowned for a moment as she considered the timing of her announcement. As far as she could tell, there wasn’t a better time than the present. She had already delayed making the announcement for a week and that wasn’t fair to Marguerite or Ed. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’d rather it be called Shuana’s Farewell Meal.”

The statement caught everyone’s attention. Ed looked over at her and asked, “What?”

Shuana answered, “I’m getting married.”

“That’s great. Congratulations!” Ed smiled at the good news even as he mind was busy planning the wedding.

“Ah, there’s a down side.”

“What?” asked Ed curious what could possibly be wrong with getting married.

“We’re taking positions as private chefs at the Governor’s Mansion in Missouri.” She looked around the room to see the reactions of everyone at the table.

Ed smiled as he said, “Darn. That means I have to visit the Governor in Missouri.”

The comment was exactly what Shuana wanted to hear. She felt like she was abandoning Ed. After everything that he had done for her, there was no way for her to thank him for the opportunity to work with Marguerite. She said, “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’m going to miss you,” said Marguerite getting misty-eyed.

Ed said, “It’s our loss and their gain. Most importantly, it’s your chance to shine. If you ever need some help, just give us a call.”

“And if I call?”

“We’ll send Bob,” replied Ed as he burst into laughter.

At the far end of the table, Bob said, “Hey, wait a minute.”

Marguerite retorted, “We’ll do no such thing. I’ll fillet Ed and send him up there for you to serve him to the politicians.”

“Still protecting the dogs, I see,” replied Ed with a wink. He stood and went over to Shuana. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he said, “Shuana, I’d like to offer the resources of the whole family for your wedding. Anything you need or want, just let us know.”

Standing, Shuana hugged Ed and cried on his shoulder. This family was just too good to be true. The notions that she had held about whites, rich people, and society had been turned upside-down as a result of knowing him. Who’d have thought that a white cowboy from Arizona would teach a New York Black woman lessons about treating people fairly? She could hardly believe the changes in her life.

Ed hugged Shuana back knowing that she appreciated him. He was going to miss her, but it was good that she was pursuing her happiness. That had changed her from an office temporary worker in New York to a world class Chef. He whispered in her ear, “Shuana, you deserve your happiness. You’ve worked hard to become one of the two best Chefs in the country. We’re all so proud of you.”

That was high praise coming from Ed, as he wasn’t prone to exaggeration. If he said that she was one of the two best chefs in the world, then he meant it. She knew that for Ed, Marguerite would always be the best. To be in her class was high praise indeed.

Cathy rubbed her hands together and said, “I’d love to be at the contest next year. Can you imagine a cooking contest between Marguerite and Shuana?”

Marguerite and Shuana laughed at the statement. Marguerite replied, “It’s not going to happen. The governing committee decided after winning first place three times in a row, that I’m to be one of the judges.”

George and Walt had listened to the conversation while glancing at Sarah and Cathy. Both women appeared happy about the news announced by Shuana at the table, but they wondered if the pair would like to get married sometime. Ed, standing with his arms around Shuana, noticed the exchange and smiled at the two men. He decided it would be a good idea for him to talk to the pair of men later that evening.

It took time for the staff to leave the dining room. Ed, Shuana, and Marguerite were left alone. The three of them sat around the table despite the fact that it was still full of dirty dishes. Ed said, “We’re really going to miss you around here.”

“I’m going to miss everyone here so much,” replied Shuana. Eyes misting again, she added, “You might not believe this, but I’ve learned so much about life living here. I like my body, my mind, and my spirit. Did you know that I hated that I was black?”

“No, I didn’t know that. Why?”

Looking off into the distance, she answered, “Because I thought that God had created me black to hold me back from being happy. I saw the whole world through dark glasses that looked for signs of prejudice in everything that others did.”

“That’s sad,” replied Ed.

“Yes, it was. Now I’m happier than ninety-nine percent of the world and that’s pretty good,” she said. She remembered when Leroy answered the door when she first came here to work. Her very first assumption was that he was the hired help and not one of Ed’s husbands. All of her early assumptions about Ed had been proven wrong and she was glad that had been the case.

Marguerite asked, “So what are you plans for the wedding?”

“We thought we would have a small ceremony. Just family and a few friends.”

“So I guess we are talking about a hundred and fifty people?” asked Ed.

“You consider that a small wedding?”

“Well, you’ve got a large family. What have you got, seven brothers and sisters? They all have kids. Your mother, aunts, and uncles add a few more. I imagine that your beau has some family. You’ve got a lot of friends here and I imagine that you have a few friends from where you grew up.” Ed was trying to do the mental math to come up with a reasonable estimate of the number of people that would come.

Embarrassed, Shuana said, “My family can’t really afford to fly everyone here.”

“No problem. We’ll charter a jet for everyone and rent two floors at one of the big hotels in Phoenix,” replied Ed. He added, “That’ll be my wedding present for you. I’m sure that the rest of the family will come up with a suitable wedding present for you.”

Speechless, Shuana stared at Ed unable to believe that he would go to that much trouble for her. Her mouth slowly opened as the enormity of what he was offering slowly filtered through her mind. Marguerite asked, “Do you want me to get Cathy?”

“Sure.”

Shuana didn’t say a word during the entire time that Marguerite took to get Cathy. She sat at the table staring at Ed in shock as she tried to imagine what she could have done to deserve such nice treatment. After glancing at Shuana, Cathy asked, “So what did you do to her?”

“I just offered to charter a jet to fly her family here for the wedding,” answered Ed watching Shuana carefully. He was afraid that she had gone catatonic. He added, “I’d appreciate it if you would help make the arrangements for her.”

“Sure. It’s good to have one of you home. It was getting boring around here,” replied Cathy with a smile. It wasn’t entirely a joke on her part. With the family gone from the house so much of the time, the staff barely had enough work to do around the house.

Ed nodded while still watching Shuana. After another minute, he asked, “Shuana, are you okay?”

“Sure, just a little overwhelmed,” replied the woman feeling like her mind and body had separated from each other.

“Good,” replied Ed knowing that she spoke the truth. Looking up at the ceiling with one eye closed in concentration, he said, “Work with Marguerite to come up with catering for the wedding. I’ll talk to the rest of the family and see what they want to do.”

It was just like Ed to overwhelm someone and then walk away as though he had done nothing. Cathy watched as he left the dining room to pursue some other item that was on his mind. Marguerite and Cathy sat beside Shuana to talk her back to the real world.

Ed went up to the security center expecting to find George going through the evening security lockdown procedures. Instead, there was no one in the security center. He went down to the library and found George and Walt talking. Sitting down at the table, he asked, “Can I ask you gentlemen to join me upstairs to watch a sunset?”

The two men looked at each other and nodded. Walt answered, “Sure. I take it you want to talk to us about something?”

“Yes. The sun will be setting soon and it’s a warm evening outside. Let’s get out there before we miss it,” answered Ed as he stood up.

The three went up the stairwell to the roof where the sky was beginning to show the full colors of sunset. Ed smiled as he looked at the horizon with the sun just above it. Taking his usual chair, Walt and George took chairs on each side of him. He sighed and then said, “I love this time of day.”

George nodded, but didn’t say anything. Walt just glanced at Ed waiting for him to get to the reason why he wanted them to come out here with him. Not saying another word, Ed settled back to watch the sunset. The colors were fantastic, with greens, blues, reds, purples, oranges, and yellows. The sky brightened and then faded as the sun disappeared under the horizon.

“When are you guys going to marry Cathy and Sarah?”

“Uh,” answered Walt taken by surprise by the question.

George didn’t answer immediately as he was wondering the same thing. After a delay of a full minute, he said, “I don’t know.”

“Well, you had better figure it out and quick. They are two lovely ladies and won’t wait their whole life,” replied Ed.

“They say they don’t want to get married,” argued Walt.

“Bah! You guys have been acting like everything is going along smoothly and there’s no need for change. There is some reason why they are saying they aren’t ready to marry and if you guys love them, then it’s up to you to talk to them.” Ed looked at George and then at Walt, his head swiveling from one to the other. The relationship among the four had felt stale to him and that bothered him a lot.

Frowning, George said, “We’ve talked about it.”

“No you haven’t. You’ve talked around it,” replied Ed as he recalled the half-hearted conversations about marriage. He had a very good idea that they hadn’t discussed the possibility in a year.

George and Walt didn’t say a word, each lost in his own thoughts. The problem wasn’t that they felt Ed was wrong, just the opposite. They had gone into the library to discuss the issue, but had blown it off after a few exchanges of reasons why they shouldn’t bring up the subject.

While Ed allowed the two men to work through their thoughts on the matter, he watched the stars come out as the sky darkened. He said, “Some of the light from those stars have taken longer to get here then any of us will live. It kind of puts the time we walk on this planet in perspective.”

George and Walt turned to look at Ed, but Ed had stood up. He walked to the edge of the building where he could see the town. They watched him as he looked down at the town with a smile on his face. Below him, lights were coming on in the houses, people were chatting in backyards lit by candles, and the traffic was dying down. Kids were running along the streets while playing games of tag as they headed home, told by their parents to be in the house when it got dark. This was his hometown and all was right within it.