*****
Tierney had seen pictures of the Governor’s Mansion before, but nothing prepared her for the site of the sprawling redbrick structure that dated back to the mid-Nineteenth Century.
“Wow,” Tierney breathed. “I know they call it the Governor’s Mansion, but…it didn’t look quite so big in Tracy’s pictures.”
“It is pretty impressive, at that,” Steven replied. “It’s quite an honor to be able to sleep here. That was real nice of Tracy and Keith to invite us to celebrate our good fortune.”
Tierney had pulled out her camera and was busy taking pictures of the mansion. “Look at that house, Sienna. Isn’t it pretty?” It surprised her that her daughter, who’d been awake since they stopped for breakfast in Joliet, didn’t seem impressed. But the child’s next words told her why.
“Does Miss Tracy live upstairs or downstairs?”
Tierney and Steven’s gazes met, and they both laughed.
“I guess to someone her age this does look like just another apartment building,” Steven remarked.
Tierney nodded agreement, then said, “No, Sienna. This isn’t an apartment building. It’s one very large house. Any house this large is called a mansion.” Sure, Sienna had just turned four, but Tierney figured it was never too early for her to develop a good vocabulary. “You see, Miss Tracy’s husband, Mr. Keith, is the governor of the whole state.”
“That means he’s in charge of everything that happens in the whole state of Illinois,” Steven added. When Sienna looked confused, he clarified, “In other words, he’s the boss.”
“But since you asked, Sienna, Miss Tracy and her family live upstairs. This is a very important building, and it’s very old. People come to see it, like a museum.” Tierney knew Sienna understood what a museum was; she’d taken her to the Children’s Museum in Kenosha, just across the Wisconsin border. “But the people who visit only get to see the first floor, so Ms. Tracy and her family can have privacy. The furniture on the first floor is the same as it was way back when Abraham Lincoln lived here.”
“Ah, Tierney. Abraham Lincoln never lived here.”
She looked at Steven quizzically. “Was it not built when he was governor? It has to be a hundred-and-fifty years old, even though it’s obviously been refurbished.”
“No, I don’t think that’s it. But Lincoln was never governor. He served in Congress for one term, then went back to practicing law but was active in politics before he became president. You can’t go from being a lawyer to the White House nowadays, but things were different back then.”
“Oh! I didn’t know. It’s just that he was so closely linked to Springfield.”
“Well, he did live here for about fifteen years before he left for Washington.” Steven gave her shoulder a reassuring pat. “Come on, let’s go inside.”