The problem is that Alison doesn't want to live the life of a suburban housewife and mom, limited and frustrated, like her own mother. Already eight months pregnant, she stalls and the deal falls through. Finding it impossible to make do with their present city apartment or find a larger one, Alison agrees to home-shop in the suburbs again. The self-sacrificing maternal figure might have gone over big in the nineteen thirties and forties, but it just doesn't fly now. Rhoda uses her own home, deteriorating from neglect, to lure Tom into applying his handyman skills.
Kids get new house.
Rhoda and Tom start playing house together. Ordinarily, I'd never tell the plot of a story, but this one is so contrived and predictable, it's like passing on a cold. But that wasn't the only problem. The young couple is individually well-played. But he's far too boyish for anyone to believe he's her spouse and not her kid brother.