This probably started with a call from my mother-in-law about six months ago. My wife's family was a relatively close-knit one, so it was rare for anyone to have a secret to divulge, much less one as big as this: my wife's aunt was getting a divorce. It wasn't much of a secret to us that their marriage had been an unhappy one, but it was a shock nonetheless, and clearly enough of one that she hadn't elected to tell us herself, even though she was half an hour away on the train. We all felt bad for her – her kids were grown and no longer in the area, and she suddenly had this cavernous house in the suburbs to herself.
It was about a month later that I started going over there to help out. I would take the train from the city once or twice a month and take care of some of the household chores – mow the lawn, patch drywall, move things into and out of storage. For the most part I went up alone, and I would stay well into the evening, usually cooking dinner for her as well.