Prologue

Summer of 1999

“This is very nice,” I said, walking up the driveway of the house that Eduardo and Elyse had built in Aurora, but in the Oswego School District.

“I thought you would approve,” Elyse replied. “Hardwood floors throughout, and an unfinished basement for now.”

“Sauna?”

“Obviously!” she said.

“Matthew will be fourteen in two years, which is when Melanie and I...”

Elyse laughed, and nodded, “And so long as Chelsea isn’t here, there is ZERO to worry about with that kid. She’s just biding her time. She turned fifteen, but she’ll have to wait a couple of years for her intended to go through puberty!”

“Show me the rest of the house?”

We walked through the two-story house which had paper covering the new wood flooring. At the top of the stairs was a large master bedroom with a walk in closet, and a private bath with a whirlpool tub and large shower. Down the hall were three bedrooms, one each for Matthew and Michael, and a guest room as well, along with a shared bathroom.

We went back downstairs to the living room, then through the dining room into a large kitchen with a central island, and then into a den with a beautiful fireplace. Down a short hall was a bathroom and laundry room. Completing the circuit of the floor we came to a study. We traced our way back to the door to the unfinished basement which was large, though not quite as large as the one in the house in Kenwood.

We opened the sliding doors of the walk-out basement and stepped into a modest back yard, where workmen were installing a fence.

“When do you plan to move?” I asked.

“Next Saturday. There really isn’t much to move. All the beds and other furniture belong to you, so it’s really clothes, books, games, photo albums, computers, video game consoles, and that kind of stuff. Eduardo is keeping the townhouse, so the furniture stays there. We’re getting all new stuff for the house, and it’ll be delivered this week. Eduardo hired an interior decorator to help us with that, and a kitchen consultant to deck out the kitchen with everything we’ll need.”

“A good application of money! Where’s the school?”

“K through 5 is about a mile away, the Junior High is about two miles away, and the High School is close to downtown Oswego. They have land for the new High School selected, but it won’t be built for a few years. The new land is about three miles from here.”

“And the train?”

“Metra’s Route-59 Station.”

“I know where that is. How long to get there from here?”

“About twelve minutes. The express is 39 minutes to Union Station, and then it’s a six minute walk.”

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