flowering trees. People bathing in either would barely be able to see the house.
As they looked at the final drawings together Pam was speechless. “When did all these changes happen, and why on earth do we need five bedrooms?” she asked.
“I know we haven’t got any children,” he said, and by his expression she felt he was again digging at her inability to give him a son, “but we’ll be doing lots of weekend entertaining. Folks who don’t want to go back to the city can sleep over.”
When he used the “no-children bomb” she lost her desire to rein him in, so she shut her mouth.
Vin started DePalma Advertising several months after ground was broken, and both the house and the business were going so well he pooh-poohed Pam’s suggestions that he forgo some of the amenities. In the end “the house” took the better part of six months to complete but Pam had to admit that Vin, the builder, and the architect had created something special.
The downstairs was dominated by a cathedral-ceilinged entrance hall and enormous living room with a full guest bath, a dining room that could house a table for twelve, a media room that would eventually be filled with two big-screen TVs, a game console, VCR, CD and DVD players, and the biggest speakers Pam had ever seen.
The kitchen was a wonder. Red and gray granite countertops and what seemed like acres of cabinets, a built-in range top with four ovens—one conventional, one convection, and two microwaves—and what looked like an industrial stainless-steel refrigerator that was big enough, as Pam told people, to hold several dead bodies. As she shopped for furniture Pam kept trying to get Vin to set a budget, but he assured her that they could afford anything she wanted. “Get the best,” he said. “You never know who we might want to entertain.”
Pam was usually a judicious shopper, but at Vin’s insistence she’d hired a decorator named Carlys who’d selected antique after antique for both the downstairs and the upstairs. Pam finally accepted that she could and should spend outrageous amounts on things she cared nothing about, but, she reasoned, Vin cared and that was enough for her. With Carlys’s help, the entire house looked like something out of House and Garden magazine. To Pam it was more a showplace than a home, but each time something was added Vin’s smile was her reward.
Outside, the landscaping cost a small fortune since the builder had been forced to remove several big trees. Once it was done, however, even Pam saw that it had been worth every penny. The house, set back a hundred feet from the base of the driveway, looked like it had magically grown out of a beautiful forest glade, surrounded by azaleas, rhododendrons, and lilacs, with bulbs of every description and dozens of hybrid rose bushes, enough that in addition to the lawn care service to mow and fertilize, they had to hire a separate landscaper just to tend the plants. Vin also insisted that she hire a full-time housekeeper. “You’ll be busy with committee meetings and entertaining my clients, so you won’t have time to look after such a big house.” She’d sighed and allowed herself to be steamrolled. It was always easier just to go along.
The other five houses on 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 transformed. A dozen small tables with sparkling white tablecloths had been arranged around the patio. There was a small wooden floor for dancing beside a raised platform for the string quartet, which would be replaced late in the afternoon by a three-piece band for dancing. Originally Vin had wanted to have someone barbecuing steaks to order, but the caterer had flatly refused to have that “smoky mess” all over his yard. His yard. Pam could only smile. Thank God it was only one afternoon.
When the guests began arriving and the valet parking staff began to shuttle cars to the parking area at the elementary school several blocks away, Pam accepted that it had all been worth it. “This house is amazing.” “I can’t get over how lovely the grounds are.” “It must have cost the earth.” “I hadn’t realized how well Vin was doing.” “And look at that pool. I gather it’s heated, too.” “And it’s got a spa, too, with a sauna.”
She
