The Perfect House

Chapter 45: time passes

Let's roll the clock forward some twelve years.

Roberto and Adele had achieved their wish to have a large family - four, with another on the way (they say this will be the last). They're good parents: Adele, calm and caring, Roberto more boisterous and fun. They are a well-regarded and significant part of the large Connelly/Pendergast clan.

Harold did end up marrying Cathy - much to the delight of the respective parents. They have two children, both boys, and have their own professional practice - Harold, the architect and Cathy, the artistic drafter. They service the high-end residential market. The word dignified would aptly apply to them as a couple.

Preston is a criminal lawyer and Selma, a business executive. They live together and their relationship could best be described as tempestuous with not infrequent break-ups followed by rapid reconciliations. They have developed a passion for adventure sports and nearly every weekend and holiday will find them off somewhere doing paragliding, rock climbing, scuba diving or the like. They don't appear to have any plans to formalise their union or have children.

Doctors Macy and Florina Wensley have a daughter and a son. Macy is a consultant physician and a highly regarded diagnostician; Florina is a specialist in respiratory disorders and her transgender status is public knowledge. They might be seen as an unconventional couple but they are a very close-knit family. The parents limit their professional commitments so as to ensure that they have time to spend together and with their children.

Mrs Stein parted this life a few years ago. Flori and Macy remained good friends with her right up until the end.

The 'perfect house' still stands, of course, now occupied by its ageing owners. Perhaps some of the older residents in the street remember the group of young people who passed through the house those many years ago.