Madam of Maple Court Read Online Free PDF Page B

Maple Court were built in the same vein, large yet not ostentatious. As the families moved in, Pam became nodding acquaintances with the owners and their wives, the CFO of a major clothing manufacturer, the vice president of a brokerage firm, a very high-priced divorce attorney, and the architect who'd done most of the work on the DePalma house. "You see, even he thinks it's a good investment." Eventually the builder even decided to keep one parcel for himself but hadn't built on it yet.
    "What do you think this house would sell for?" Pam asked Vin one afternoon after they'd been living on the court for several weeks.
    "I've been keeping up with values as the houses were finished, and I'd say these would go for close to one point five mil."
    "One and a half million dollars?" Pam blurted out, aghast. She'd long before lost track of what they were spending. Of course it hadn't
cost
anywhere near that, she assured herself. Values were skyrocketing and they were just benefitting from a good investment. "Holy…"
    He grinned from ear to ear. "I told you we didn't have to worry about money. Nothing but the best for the DePalmas."
    Several weeks after they moved in Vin decided to host a housewarming party. "I'll invite some of my best clients and their wives, too, along with several other potential accounts I've been courting. Maybe fifty or sixty of the best people. They'll all be green with envy and they'll quickly realize how successful I've become. I'd love to rub Haskell's face in it, but I can't think of a way to invite him. Partnership? Who needs it?"
    Pam had wanted to invite a few of her friends from the old neighborhood, but when she mentioned that he said, "We'll have a separate party for them. This one will be purely business. DePalma Advertising will pick up a good part of the tab as a business entertainment expense and I'll deduct the rest from our taxes."
    While the art director at DePalma created designer invitations, Pam hired a caterer and began the job of getting the house ready for the "grand housewarming." Now she thought of everything about the Maple Court house in quotes. The day before the party, the house swarmed with cleaning people and decorators. Although most of the affair was to be outdoors, Vin had informed her that he would be giving folks the 'nickel tour' so the entire house had to be scrubbed, polished, dusted, and scented from top to bottom. Funny, she thought as she looked at the gaggle of people, they'd just moved in a month ago and already people were able to find things to clean.
    The morning of the gathering, florists arrived. Fortunately the weather was fabulous, the day clear and warm as only a few perfect days in May can be in the New York area. All the new bushes and trees had been carefully trimmed, and gardeners had all but clipped each blade of grass with scissors the day before. In addition, bowls and vases of fresh blooms were delivered and placed strategically around both the main floor and the upstairs. Even the bathrooms were festooned with greenery.
    As Pam looked around she realized that, were she to plan this gathering, there would be much less of everything.
Less is usually more
, she thought. They could do without the overly fussy floral arrangements and the bowls of hand-selected chocolates and nuts from a New York City chocolatier. To Pam it was ostentatious and screamed "new money," but early on Vin had insisted that he wanted to do it all with the best of everything so she'd demurred as usual.
    Then the caterers arrived with truckloads of ingredients. As Pam walked into the spacious kitchen she could barely see the appliances. A chef was directing the assembled multitude with the finesse of an orchestra conductor, while his minions stuffed mushrooms, deveined shrimp, made mayonnaise from scratch, and did a hundred other tasks to create finger food for the hundred guests Vin had invited. Pam shook her head in awe and walked out into the backyard.
    That too had been