When the plans arrived from New Jersey, Jim was more than happy to turn them over to the architect to get things moving. The architect had to update the drawings, put in bathrooms and a modern kitchen but he knew Ivy would be pleased with the result.

The house was modeled on Ivy’s favorite Historic Site in New Jersey. He remembered her taking him there a few months after he met her. In fact it was during that trip he came to understand her feelings for him.

Ivy had called him early in the morning, inviting him for an outing. She explained she planned to go to a Historic site to have a picnic lunch and wanted him for company. When he arrived she was waiting picnic basket in hand ready for the day’s events. She explained a little about the history of the house on the way. It was built circa 1740 by a Dutch carpenter named Dirck Dey. George Washington used it as a headquarters in 1780, the Dey family continued to live in the house for two centuries before selling it to the city of Wayne in 1930.

The tour given by the staff was fairly standard. It was the side tour Ivy gave him explaining the different artifacts and the Dutch influences, that gave him insight into what the place meant to her. During lunch she filled him in a little more. Her father had brought Ivy and her brother to this site often when they were little, as she got older she and her father volunteered at the site. Her love of her father and history were very much a part of her love for this place. That was why she wanted to bring him there, so he could be part of it too.

Keeping her away from the building site proved easier than he anticipated. Her plate was full with the grocery and between meetings with contractors and vendors she rarely had a spare moment during the two months it took to complete the house.

The day the house was finished he could hardly wait for Ivy to return from the grocery. He met her on the front porch of Millie’s with a bouquet of flowers. "What’s the occasion?" she asked when he handed them to her. "I’d like to show you something" was all he answered. When Ivy realized they were headed out to their plot she wondered how far they had gotten in the construction and she suddenly felt a little guilty she hadn’t been helping Jim with the house.

He smiled as recognition spread across her features. When Jim opened her car door and asked her if she wanted to see her house she actually pinched herself. "Jimmy it’s Dey …" she said as her lifted her over the threshold.