old, dirty, disintegrating toys. If Todd wanted that half a million LEGOs, he'd have to find a different place to store them or give them away to somebody younger.

Meanwhile, she'd go pick out an attractive shed to put at the side of the house to keep all those tools in. She'd go to Sears and make them bring one out and put it together. Then she'd hire some local teenage boys from the neighborhood to move everything into it. In fact, Shelley's son, John, would probably be glad to do it for the right amount of money. She'd ask Shelley about it.

And what about that beat-up desk and disgraceful butt-sprung chair Mel loved to use when he was working at home? Where would that go?

Todd's room? He'd moved his desk and bed into Mike's bedroom. Mike might want it back someday.

What about extending the house at the back behind the dining room? She could afford it. Thanks to her dead ex-husband's will, she had a perpetual third interest in the Jeffry family pharmacy because she'd contributed a substantial sum she'd inherited from a great-grandmother when the single Jeffry Pharmacy was about to file for bankruptcy.

They'd expanded all around Chicago over the years

and she'd been able to pay for the kids' colleges as the

Jeffrys' business spread. Now there were two more nearly

ready to open in a pricey neighborhood in St. Louis and

another in Indianapolis. She could afford to make Mel his

own office. What a good wedding present that would be!

It couldn't be a surprise, however. He'd want to be

involved. And he could figure where the windows would be, where to put his files, the desk and chair, and the old cowboy lamp he'd had as a boy.