Madam of Maple Court Read Online Free PDF Page A

the numbers several times and discovered that the cost of building the kind of house Vin wanted would be astronomical. And she knew that once the house was begun, he wouldn't settle for less than the best.
    "Pam, relax." His voice took on a slightly patronizing tone. "I won't put us into debt just to impress a bunch of folks I don't care about, but this would really be a great deal. Think of it. Only half an hour from the city and less than ten minutes from the train station. We can throw parties, have taxis pick people up at the station and ferry them to the new place. Everyone will be green with envy." He was talking faster now. "The builder will have to cut his price since the frontage will be severely limited by the shape of the parcels. We can probably do the whole thing for under five hundred thousand."
    Five hundred thousand dollars sounded like a fortune to her, but Vin seemed to take it all in stride. "You've done quite a bit of thinking about this, haven't you," she said. It wasn't a question but a statement of fact. She didn't really mind him weeding out the unsatisfactory houses, but she was a little annoyed that he seemed to be making these big decisions without consulting her.
    "I guess have, and it's really ideal. I knew you wouldn't stand in my way. You've never said a thing against the idea." She looked at him and raised an dubious eyebrow. "Okay," he continued, "I know I should have been discussing this with you, but until the last few days this house had been only a slight possibility. Now it seems it might just happen and I

want to be there with a down payment and a previously arranged mortgage when it does. It's my dream."
    So many things "might" happen. Most of the time, if she shut her mouth and just went along, the things didn't happen and she was saved from having to put up a fuss. She pictured the property he was talking about. He'd taken her to see it when the possibility of buying it had first arisen, but that had been almost five months before and she hadn't heard anything about it since. The area certainly was beautiful, though, tall oaks and maples interspersed with pine and hemlock. Fields of wildflowers on either side of a meandering brook. It would be quite a spot for a modest home. The land would be pricey, but they might be able to afford it if the cost of the house could be kept within reasonable limits. But could Vin rein in his desires? "It sounds fine," she said, unwilling to dampen Vin's high spirits, "and it might work as long as we're careful and build something modest, maybe around two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. When will the builder know?"
    "Actually, I should know about both the promotion and the house within the next few weeks." Vin put his feet on the coffee table and held her close, seeming to sense her unease. "Relax, baby. It will all work out. When I make partner there will be a big increase in my compensation and, with a cut of the profits, we'll be able to afford anything we want."

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Chapter 3

     
    Three months passed and, since Vin still didn't have his partnership, he was talking more and more about forming his own agency. Work had also begun on "the house." Funny, Pam thought, she always thought of it in quotes. The builder had named the cul-de-sac Maple Court and had arranged six houses on pie-shaped, four-acre parcels in such a way that the frontage on the court itself was barely wider than the driveway but the land opened out in the back all the way to the stream. At first the house had been kept modest. They'd met with a well-known local architect and discussed a three-bedroom raised ranch. She'd been delighted with the ideas the architect put forth, but Vin seemed dissatisfied. "What about something colonial, with maybe four bedrooms upstairs?"
    "Sure," the architect had said, "we can do that," and he'd begun to sketch out a design. Plan after plan was changed and finally, as she had with house hunting, Pam let Vin meet with the architect himself.