Chapter 7: Jim purchases a home

Erin would often stop and pick up Caroline and Karen after lunch. She would drive out to see Kimberly at my home for the afternoon. The car seat, shiny and new, was a fixture in the back seat of Erin’s vehicle. Winnie and Matt were finalizing their plans for getting married. They planned on the first of August for a wedding date.

Matt and I were flush with extra money because Ramona, who kept track of the partnership’s finances, said that some of it could be used as promised for a bonus. “You don’t use $60,000 of it to trade with. You and Matt both want to buy a house. I’ll tell you what? I’ll give you each $25,000 and that leaves $10,000 extra still with the broker. When that builds backup, which should be before the summer is over, I’ll take my bonus then, Okay.”

I asked, “Aren’t you and Roy going to get married about then?”

“We are, but we won’t be moving so it isn’t a problem when I take mine.”

“Ramona, you’re a peach. You know I still have that $15,000 that Terry Tyler gave me for clueing him in about selling his corn last autumn. It’s in a separate account but you two told me to use it when I went out on my own. I don’t want to break up this partnership. I’d like to have things stay just as they are.”

“Jimmy, you could put more down on any house you buy. Have you more than those two amounts you could use if need be?”

“Ramona, I do. Hey, I’ve been living at home and getting an allowance. My car has been my only expense. I’ve have a few thousand squirreled away.”

“You’re pretty much all set then. Caroline might chip in some. I think Roy is planning a large wedding present for you two.”

“You may need that yourself.”

“No I won’t, trust me.”

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Caroline and I began looking for a home for ourselves. I was through keeping my father at bay and out of the loop. I talked over looking for a house with him. I could tell he wasn’t to terribly happy with the idea when he said, “You could move in here with me and Kim. The den is on the side of the house you have your room. There is the extra bedroom on the second floor. With the other bedroom on the first floor and the den, it would make a nice home for you and your family.

“I would have about the same on my side of the house and we would share the kitchen, dining room, and the living room.”

“Dad, it won’t be long before I hope that the size of my family will increase. We are looking at modular homes. There is one model with almost 20,000 square feet we like. We would be the second owner in an established neighborhood in a good area with lots of young people our age having children. It isn’t far from where Winnie is planning on purchasing a diner and bake shop. Winnie has promised Caroline a job there.”

“Winnie said she was leaving soon. Rachael told me she was retiring. Who is going to manage this place? It’s too big for Kim and me.”

“Sell it and move into the same development as I am. Your kids could grow up with mine.”

“Christ, I’m too old to begin another family.”

“What does Kim say about that. She is still in her early thirty’s Have you even asked her if she wants children?”

“No, we haven’t got that far about talking marriage.”

“Dad, I’ll bet getting married to a younger woman would keep you young longer. Me, I’m marrying an older woman.”

“What do you mean older woman. Caroline isn’t older than you is she?”

“Yes she is by three years.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“It’s the truth. You told me to go get sex from and older woman of age and that’s what I did. Caroline had turned eighteen when I first met her. Basically, she robbed the cradle, however I think I was more mature at sixteen than she was at eighteen. We are well matched now, though. So, would you like to walk around the house we are looking at this evening?”

“I guess so. How are you paying for this?”

“I have $40,000 I can put down on it. I have a few thousand above that from my wages and what you have given me over the years. Enough to insure and pay taxes the first year, anyway.”

“Where in hell did you get that amount of money and why am I still paying you an allowance?”

“Dad, I have been working since I was sixteen to learn a trade. Last fall I gave the farmer whom I bought the Camry from, a tip when to sell thousands of bushels of corn. He put it on the market and from the time, he did that, and when it sold, the price rose two cents and he gave that to me. That was $15,000. The other $25,000 is a bonus from the trading I received June 30th at the end of this year.”

Father just looked at me, speechless. “You’re receiving a paycheck as well?”

“Yeah, it isn’t too much. I think at the end of the first quarter, rather waiting on a bonus, Matt and I will start to receive the projected years bonus amount in our paychecks. That should raise me to about $40,000 a year. I can well afford the house I want which is when the raise will kick in.”

“You must have some bills. What about the cost of learning the trading business you are in?”

“No cost there. I put in some long hours learning because I was still in school. I just piled it on top of the school work and stuck with it. Ramona is the one who let me use her money while I was learning. That’s why she has a full share in the partnership.”

“You know what Ramona was in years past don’t you?”

“I do, but she changed and turned out to be a heroine for some things she has done for the city. You don’t think the Mayor and his wife would rub elbows with her if she wasn’t straight, do you? She is even marrying Roy Fanning, the Mayor’s right-hand administrative assistant.”

“Well, I hope her past doesn’t catch up with her.”

“Steps have been taken to prevent that happening.”

“You act like you know something?”

“Just trust me on this. Give her a pass Dad. She was there for me when you weren’t, although you did what you thought was a good idea when you gave me Ramona’s name. For me it turned out to be a great idea. Remember also, she is soon to be my mother-in-law.”

“Okay Jim, Kimberly thinks you are smart and right in all things, so I’ll have to go with what she says.”

Father didn’t have anything for or against to say about the house that evening. Kim volunteered, “This is a nice house and not too expensive. If you can pay for it, it should do you well.”

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Winnie and Matt were married on the first of August. Winnie had stopped working for my father, but he said she could stay in the house until she and her husband finished doing the renovating in the building where she was opening the bakery/ coffee shop.

It was different for me working alone while Matt took a few days off and I was often unsure of some moves I should make in trades. Also, I was watching the options for Matt that were in force while he was off for the week. On my own, I double checked my facts before putting in a buy or sell to our broker and I moved the stops so I didn’t lose any money. I just needed more confidence which I knew would come with time and experience.

I didn’t have the time to do anything but work. Caroline and Karen would come and spend time with me in the attic. That was at first, but then Ramona thought the partners should have offices near where Matt and Winnie would be living. Ramona had opted to rent some rooms two doors down from the bakery.

I was a worried because every move I made cut into the money I had put aside. Our new house closing would be three days after Labor Day. If there was any glitch in this, Caroline and I would be homeless. That is unless Father would let her live where I was now. I had confidence he would. I mean if he was my best man at our wedding, he wouldn’t turn me out would he? I thought not.

It was on August twelve, Ramona called me. “Jimmy will you be seeing Matt and Winnie tonight?”

“I will.”

“Good, Roy and I are going to be married this Friday in the judge’s chambers at the Town Hall. Richard and Erin will be standing up with us as witnesses. That’s at 3:30. The judge agreed I could have two more couples to view the ceremony. I’d like to have you and Caroline, and Matt and Winnie there as well. It should be fine if Karen is there too. Would you invite them? We will have an early dinner at the same hotel where we all met for that concert.”

“Are you going on a honeymoon?”

“No, not as such. We will be going to Philadelphia to visit my parents for a couple of days. Also, definitely no presents. Roy and I have everything we need and we are staying right in Roy’s home. One other thing, you might ask Charlie and Kimberly to meet us for the dinner at the hotel. It will be in the same alcove as before. This is more casual than when we dined there last time. Dresses for the women and blazers for the men.”

“Happy?”

“Jimmy, don’t ask. I have hoped for this for more years than you know. I fell in love with Roy back when I went under cover for him and the committee, but I never imagined it would happen. Looking back, I think my luck changed when a scared kid of barely sixteen came to my door looking for me to set him up with a woman.”

“Ramona, you aren’t the only one who has had good luck from that day. Look at me and the way my father looks on me now. I soon will have a wife and a child I adore. Some wonderful lady invested in me when I took up the career of commodity trading. That has paid off beyond my fondest dream. Before I start choking up, Congratulations! I’ll see you this coming Friday.”

“Jimmy, I made a decision early in my life where I couldn’t have children. I regretted it until I met you. Believe it or not, in my mind you are the son I didn’t have.”

“Mother Ramona, that’s the highest praise I could have. I love you.” I waited for more, but could only hear a little sniffling and then the phone went dead.

When I asked Father and Kim about going out for dinner when Ramona and Roy married, he was all for it. “Jimmy, I like the crowd you associate with. You seem comfortable and not intimidated at all. Christ, I was intimidated when I learned I was to meet the Mayor.”

“Dad, I was a little intimidated before I met Erin. Then I thought about her son doing Caroline wrong when she became pregnant. We didn’t figure we needed her to be in our life and she wouldn’t be if she wasn’t so thankful we were okay on her being grandmother to Karen. Erin is the type of person you can get comfortable with because she doesn’t patronize those she comes in contact with. I think she is the power in the mayor-wife relationship now. Ramona said the Mayor was different when she first knew him.

“Roy was until we first met. I mentioned to Erin that Ramona and Roy wanted to marry and she straightened it out within a few hours.”

“Different subject Jimmy. When are you going to decide on that house you showed me?”

“Caroline and I have decided to see if we can buy it. I have an appointment with the bank to see if I can get financing. I have never done anything like this before and I am a little nervous about it.”