Chapter 12 - THE LEGACY
Ten years later.
The New York Times Food section lay open on my kitchen counter.
The headline read: The Quiet Empire: How Audrey Mercer Redefined American Hospitality.
I was fifty-nine years old. My hair was silver, and I didn't dye it. I wore comfortable shoes and laughed louder than I used to.
The doorbell rang.
I wiped my hands on a towel and opened the front door.
Standing there was a twenty-three-year-old woman in a sharp blazer, holding a bottle of very expensive vintage champagne.
"Did you read it?" Claire asked, beaming.
"I read it," I laughed, pulling my daughter into a hug.
Claire was now the Director of Operations for Claire & Co. Culinary. She was brilliant, fierce, and commanded a boardroom better than her father ever did. But unlike him, she was kind.
She walked into the kitchen and set the champagne on the counter.
"We need to celebrate," she said. "The Times gave us four stars. All five locations."
I opened the cabinet and reached for the glasses.
I pulled out two ordinary, sturdy wine glasses.
"Not those," Claire said softly.
She reached past me, to the very top shelf.
She brought down the single crystal champagne glass with the silver star etched near the stem.
"We only have one," I reminded her gently.
"That's okay," Claire smiled. "We can share."
She popped the cork and poured the bubbling golden liquid into my mother's glass.
She handed it to me.
We stood in the kitchen, two generations of women who had survived the fire and rebuilt the house.
"To the bones," Claire said, raising an imaginary glass.
I held the beautiful crystal up to the light.
May you like
"To the bones," I echoed.
And we drank to the future.
