Introducing the SB couple Penelope and Edward aka Penny & Ted.
Itâs always a nightmare deciding what to do for Valentines day, but Ted was particularly nervous about this one because itâs date number three and he really likes this girl. Penny is funny, bright and utterly gorgeous. Heâs never met anyone like her before.
After what seemed like hundreds of disasters Penny was tempted to give up on the dating game â but then she met Ted. On their second date heâd offered to take her dog for a walk. And then sheâd kissed him…
Date number three was a big success. Such a success in fact, that date number four is already in the diary… Now weâre all on tenterhooks to hear, whatâs next for Penny and Ted?
Itâs Pennyâs 30th birthday and sheâs getting ready for dinner (Ted wonât tell her where, itâs a surprise) â silk Rixo dress, wedges, blow dry and, best of all, new birthday earrings.
Heâs full of surprises these days. He wouldnât let her open the beautifully-wrapped box that has been sitting tantalisingly on her dressing table until the actual day of her birthday. It took all of her willpower not to peek. Inside were the pink champagne diamond SB earrings sheâd fallen in love with months ago. How did he know? She suspects heâs been plotting with her flatmate.
When the doorbell goes at seven thirty itâs Ted and she has no idea where theyâre goingâŠ
Pennyâs taken Ted to her family home in Wiltshire to âmeet the parents.â G-U-L-P.
Sheâd had enough of her mum asking âmet anyone nice?â So this time,
Penny enjoyed (for once) replying â
âyes, I have actually!â
Then came a million questions… and the inevitable invite to bring him home for the weekend. Penny loves her parents: Dad gets more and more eccentric as he gets older and seems to increasingly live in the garden shed since he retired. Mumâs always in a cashmere jumper, dripping with beautiful old family jewels (Penny knows every one off by heart), glass of RosĂ© in hand. They are both forever doing up the house (how many times can you repaint the kitchen?), a gorgeous Georgian farmhouse, full of happy memories, set into the Wiltshire hills.
She shouldnât have worried too much though, they arenât doing anything too embarrassing: Mum pulled out all the stops for Sunday lunch and Ted is now discussing classic cars with Dad. Typical!
You really get to know someone on holiday. For instance, Penny learnt that Ted has to be at the airport at least three hours before a flight, whereas she usually only makes it by the skin of her teeth… Ted learnt that Penny packs everything she could conceivably need for any weather condition, occasion, activity or eventuality, in the most enormous suitcase he has ever seen. He canât understand why she could possibly need eight pairs of high heels in Sri Lanka â on the beach!
Neither of them ended up wearing shoes at all for most of the holiday. Instead they lay happily on brightly coloured sun loungers, sipping cocktails or went for long walks barefoot along the beach and never ran out of things to say.
They did manage to fit in some sightseeing. It was one of the most beautiful places theyâd ever seen: the landscapes, the temples, the markets (where Ted ate so much he worried he wouldnât fit back into his work clothes).
Penny managed to ferret out a few treasures of her own in the market. Sheâd always assumed buying gemstones was somewhat out of her price range; but she was surprised to find stunning stones that were very much affordable. Ted enjoyed watching her barter with the good-natured gem dealer. In the end she picked up some sapphires, a large aquamarine and a couple of amethysts.
Coming back from holiday is always painful, especially if, like Ted, you can no longer do up your suit trousers. But Penny was excited at the thought of using her new gems: she had the amethysts – her goddaughterâs February birthstone – made into earrings and added the sapphire to an SB initial disk for her sisterâs 30th birthday. The aquamarine Penny transformed into a cocktail ring for herself, as a memento for the perfect holiday.
Penny and Ted had been at a friendâs house for dinner on Friday night and it had been rather a late one… After a well-deserved lie-in, they decided to wander through Westbourne Park to their new favourite lunch spot, Gold.
As they strolled up up Powis Terrace Penny stopped dead in her tracks at number 24. ââ
âSophie Breitmeyerâs opened a studioâ Penny was almost hopping up and down with excitement.
âOh really?â replied Ted, offhand, but there was a twinkle in his eye.
âYeah! Remember my favourite earrings? The ones you got me for my birthday? Theyâre SB, this is her! Can we go in?â She looked at him hopefully: sheâd spotted something she liked sparkling in the window. But Ted shook his head.
âIâm starving, Penny. Come on, weâll visit Sophie another time.â
Penny could barely contain her disappointment. Ted looked at her with the faintest hint of a smile as they walked away; but she was too busy staring at the pavement to notice. Little did she know Ted had booked his own appointment with the very same Sophie Breitmeyer for the following week…
Penny decided there was nowhere quite like London at Christmas. The lights on Piccadilly, the window displays, red-cheeked Christmas shoppers wrapped up warm against the cold, Fortnums hampers, carol singing â it was all just a little bit magical.
Silly season had well and truly begun. Since they’d met each other the festive partying seemed to double. Penny went to Tedâs friendsâ parties and Ted to Pennyâs. You couldnât help but get into the spirit: everywhere they turned Penny and Ted were confronted with mulled wine, mince pies, popping corks and someoneâs drunk uncle in a too-tight Christmas jumper.
Everyone wanted to meet the respective other half. Ted only wished he could get a chance to chat to Penny; but she kept on being whisked away to meet another old friend. He fell in love with her all over again as he watched her charm every single one. Thankfully they always found each other at the end of the night as the clock struck twelve, under the mistletoe.
