A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) (11 page)

"He wants to play with the cat," Jason said.

"That's great. Luke needs more friends to play with, especially while Leia is gone." It occurred to Polly that she needed to stop by and talk to Elise at some point about the phone calls she had received last night. However, even with all the commotion of the day, she was certain Elise had been working diligently to flip flop her sleep schedule and hated to be the one to wake her up.

Polly snapped the leash on Obiwan and walked down the stairs with Jason. Obiwan limped a little, but seemed to be okay.

"Were you scared, Polly?" Jason asked.

"This morning when Obiwan was caught in the trap?"

"Well, yeah. Did that scare you?"

"It did. I cried and called Henry to come rescue us. I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't been around."

"You could always call us. I can't drive yet, but Mom would have come over."

"Thank you, Jason. You're right. I need to remember I have a lot of friends in Bellingwood."

"Were you scared when that man kidnapped you last year?" Jason asked again.

Obiwan had stopped to sniff at some snow on the ground, so they had stopped. "Yes, I was scared, Jason. But, I knew my friends were going to be looking for me. I also knew that I had friends in Boston where he was taking me and all I needed was one chance to get away from him. Someone would come find me and help me."

"Why did he take you back there when you wanted to stay here?" Jason asked.

They had started walking again and were making the usual loop around the building. "Well, Joey was all twisted up in his head. He loved me and thought I was in love with him. He didn't want to hear me say that I didn't love him, and ignored me. He made up a big, fantastic story in his mind about how perfect his life would be if he had me as his wife and couldn't believe that I didn't want the same thing. So, he kidnapped me and thought he could make me live the way he wanted me to live. But, we all have our own minds, don't we, Jason."

"That wasn't right what he did to you, was it?"

"No, it wasn't right and he's going to a place where they will take care of him and keep him safe and everyone else safe from him."

"Did they put him in jail?"

"It's a kind of a jail," Polly said. "But, it's more like a hospital. There's something wrong in Joey's head and they're going to try to help him get better. But, he'll be there for a long time."

"He's not coming back here to hurt you, right?"

"No, Jason. He won't come back here. I'm safe now."

"That's good. I never got a chance to talk to you after that. I wish I had been big enough to make sure you were safe."

"Jason, you take such good care of my animals and me. You're absolutely the right size. Don't ever think that you're not," she said.

"Am I big enough to keep my mom safe?" he asked quietly.

Polly stopped and Obiwan wandered off to smell another phantom scent. "Is there someone scaring your mom?" she asked.

"Not anymore. There was when we were little, but he's gone."

"You are big enough to keep your mom safe, Jason, as long as you remember that there are a lot of people who are your friends and all it takes is a phone call. You never have to do anything alone. Promise me that you'll remember that, okay?"

"I promise," he said. "Maybe I should get my own phone." His face brightened and he seemed to let go of the dark thoughts that had frightened him. "I think it would be the best present ever for my birthday this summer, don't you?"

"Maybe you should talk to your mom about it," Polly laughed.

"I have!" he said. "Maybe you could talk to her too?"

"I don't think I have much pull," Polly said, "But you keep reminding her."

They walked back inside and up the steps to the apartment where Obiwan jumped back up onto the couch after she released him from the leash.

"You hang out here for a while. I'm going to check on what your mom is doing in the kitchen," Polly said. "Don't forget there is juice and stuff in the fridge. Help yourselves."

She heard Andrew say, "This place is so cool!" as she walked out her front door.

Sylvie was bent over the laptop, typing away when Polly walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Sylvie," she said. "I think your oldest might have a little crush on me."

"You're kidding, right?" Sylvie laughed. "That crush started the first time he met you. When you asked him to help with Obiwan, it was all over for him. He fell for you hook, line, and sinker. So, what are you going to do with my little boy's heart, Polly?" She snickered as she asked the question.

Polly said. "I can't imagine. I've never been crushed on by a kid. What am I supposed to do?"

"Honestly, Polly, if you treat him with respect like you always have, he'll get over it when he falls for some girl his own age. I think too many people get excited about this. It will be one of those good memories he has when he's older."

Polly interrupted, "And I'm a grandma? Sheesh. Okay. I can do that. You're sure he won't try to kiss me or anything, right?"

They both laughed. Then Polly went on. "He seemed concerned with me being scared both this morning with the dog and then he asked about when Joey took me back to Boston."

"He was upset when that happened, Polly," Sylvie said. "He was afraid Joey would hurt you."

"Jason also worries about you. He said something to me about someone scaring you when he was little."

Sylvie shook her head and settled it into her hand. "That was a long time ago. Everything is fine now. I hate that he remembers that."

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Polly asked.

"No, it's over now and I'll talk to him and make sure he's
okay with everything. He shouldn't worry. I dealt with it then and it's in the past."

"Yeah," Polly said. "He thinks he needs a cell phone for his birthday. I believe he figures it might save your life ... especially if that will help him get the phone."

"He set you up to talk to me about it, too!" Sylvie laughed. "He'll turn thirteen in July. It's probably time to get one of those for him. Andrew will be ten in April. Those two boys are growing up way too fast. I don't think I'm ready for that!"

"You will be when it happens. That's what Mary always told me." Polly pointed at the laptop. "Are you ready for classes to start and can I help you with anything for the big day next week?"

"I am
so
ready for classes to start. I think I'm glad that I didn't find out about it until last week. I'd be a nervous wreck. I haven't had time to think about the fact that I'm going to be sitting in classes again and that this fall, I'm going to be in a big kitchen learning how to be a chef. I can't wait," she said.

"And as for the party. I'm going to take a deep breath and dive in. I've got everything planned out for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is a little up in the air right now in my head. I just don't know how many people you're going to have eating here and I would hate to run out."

"Then, make more than you can dream. If there’s too much, we'll make sure the food gets to where it can do some good. How's that?" Polly asked.

"I'll talk to Jeff and Henry and see if we can't firm up some better numbers and then, yes, that's what I'll do." Sylvie looked up and said, "Hi, Elise!"

Polly spun around. Her ghost-like tenant was up pretty early in the afternoon.

"How are you doing, Elise?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Is there still coffee around?"

Sylvie got up and grabbed a mug out of the cupboard. She filled it from the pot and handed it to Elise. "Would you like me to fill a thermos for you to take upstairs? I think there will be a bunch of people in the auditorium playing computer games tonight."

"Sure, thanks!" Elise said.

When Sylvie moved to take care of that, Polly said, "Elise, I have a strange question for you. Do you know a Linda Marberry."

At the mention of the name, Elise's eyes flew wide open and Polly could have sworn she saw her hands begin to tremble. The girl swallowed the coffee in her mouth and worked quickly to regain her stability.

"I don't know anyone by that name. Why do you ask?"

"I got a couple of phone calls last night asking for her and since you're the only person who is here, I wondered if you might have some idea what was going on?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know." With every word out of her mouth, Elise seemed to gain a little more control of herself. Polly was sure she was lying, but didn't know how to get the truth out of her.

Sylvie handed Elise the thermos and said, "Bring it down whenever you're finished. We'll clean it up later."

"Thanks," Elise mumbled and walked out of the kitchen. Polly nodded to Sylvie that she was going with Elise and followed her out to the stairs.

"Elise, if you need help. I have a lot of friends around here."

"I'm fine," Elise said. "I need to get back to work on my dissertation. I don't know anything about a Linda Marberry or whatever her name was."

They walked up the steps together.

"Okay, then," Polly said as they got to the top in front of Elise's room. "I'm not going to be here tonight, but there will be people around. If you need anything at all, you have my phone number, right?"

"I have it. Thanks." Elise opened the door to her room and Polly went back to her apartment. It was time to start mixing the bread for dinner at Andy's. When she walked in, Andrew was sound asleep on the sofa and Obiwan practically covered the little boy's body as he lay across him. Luke was snuggled in between Obiwan's butt and Jason, who sat at the other end. She put her finger up to her mouth to keep him quiet and went in to the kitchen to start the bread.

One last check on the boys had Polly poking her head in the auditorium
before Sylvie picked her up to go to Andy’s house. She stepped further in and saw that Andrew was sitting at a table with two high school boys. They were setting up a laptop for him as he watched in awe. Jason had found a seat at another table with Billy, who was pointing at something on the monitor in front of him. There were four tables of kids with their computers. On another table close to the kitchen were four open pizza boxes, several opened bags of chips and cartons of soda as well as juice boxes. That struck her as odd until she looked at the tables and saw that about half of the kids were sucking on a little straw attached to a box of juice. She shrugged her shoulders. Kids. Who knew?

Tires crunching on gravel drew her attention and Polly walked out to the parking lot and got in Sylvie's car. "I think they're going to be fine tonight," she said.

"Jason will keep an eye on Andrew, and Doug and Billy are good kids. I'm not too worried," Sylvie responded. "What bread did you make tonight? It smells amazing!"

"I've got a loaf of my oat bread and then a batch of my potato bread recipe made into rolls. Those just came out of the oven, so they're still warm."

Sylvie reached across the console to snake her hand into the basket Polly had in her lap. Polly slapped it away. "You have to wait!" she said.

"Why should I wait? You have hot rolls in that basket and I want one!"

Polly couldn't dispute the truth of either statement. She pulled the cloth back and held it open for Sylvie, who quickly grabbed a roll and took a bite before Polly changed her mind.

"Mmmmm, that's good. I don't like to make bread, so I never have this around the house. I should pay you to bake for me." Then she said, "You know, you could sell this up at the grocery store if you wanted to. They'd love to support you."

"Can you imagine me baking bread every day? I'd go out of my mind. Maybe when you get finished with school and start catering out of Sycamore House every day, we'll talk, but until then, you can ask me for a loaf when you want one, okay?"

Sylvie's mouth was full of the last of her roll as she said, "Mmmm. Uh huh."

They didn't have to drive too far to get to Andy's house; it was east of town next to the cemetery. Polly laughed when she saw that Andy's mailbox now sported a blue bird cover. The first day she met Andy, the woman had talked about putting a blue bird on a post in order to tell people where she lived. Sylvie drove up the short lane to a pretty, ranch-style home. It looked exactly like Andy. Everything was neat and even in winter, the bare bushes showed signs of being perfectly trimmed. The brick around the foundation gave way to light blue siding and the white posts at the entry way looked freshly painted. A light over the front door was on and the inside door was standing open in invitation.

Sylvie pulled a box out of her back seat and said, "I don't have quite as much to carry tonight. My goodness, that was a chore getting all my stuff into Beryl's house." They laughed at the memory as they walked up to the front door.

"Come on in!" Andy's voice rang out. Sylvie and Polly made their way into the house and were met by Lydia who took the box from Sylvie's hands and then the basket of rolls and bag of bread from Polly.

"You can hang your coats in the closet there," she said, nodding to the doors behind the girls. "And Andy won't say anything, but she'd prefer it if you didn't wear shoes on her carpet."

The living room to their left was cozy and decorated in soft pastel colors. Lydia walked straight ahead into the dining room and Polly and Sylvie followed soon after. Polly looked down the hallway to her right and figured the bedrooms were down there. She walked into the dining room and to the left was the kitchen. She was surprised at the bright red walls between the upper and lower cupboards. Random splashes of lemon yellow coated the red walls and the floor was a vivid explosion of colorful tile in reds, yellows, blues, oranges and greens. The window over Andy's sink had no curtains and looked out at another portion of the cemetery filled with old trees. The yard was very well kept and the short wooden fence separating the two properties was painted a dark, barn red. There were two big windows in the dining room, artfully draped with yellow fabric and plants hung from hooks in two of the four corners of the room. The bar between the kitchen and dining room had already been filled with dishes, but Lydia found room to nudge Polly's basket of rolls in beside a broccoli salad.

"Is Beryl coming tonight?" Sylvie asked.

"She should be here any minute," Lydia said. "She was with us all day at Madeline Black's house and had to run home and do whatever it is she had to do."

Andy stuck her head under the hanging cupboards over the bar. "It makes me very afraid when I think of the things she might bring with her. I don't know why she was so insistent on going home."

"Maybe she's bringing the booze," Lydia smirked. "Or maybe she's going to make us paint again."

"She wouldn't dare," Andy said. "She can get away with that at her house, but not at mine. I won't have it!"

"Won't have what?" Everyone jumped when Beryl spoke up.

"Where did you come from?" Polly asked.

"I was sneaking up on y'all just to watch you jump. You did me proud."

Beryl was carrying two large shopping bags and set them down. "Don't you dare look in those while I take my coat off," she said. "I'll be right back." She stuck her head back in, "And tell Miss Prissy Pants that I took my shoes off before I walked across her pretty carpet."

"I'm going to ignore her," Andy said, "and ask what you want to drink. I have iced tea, coffee, water, and lemonade."

Carafes of cold drinks and a red thermos of coffee sat on a pretty tray with an ice bucket in the middle at the end of the peninsula.

Beryl scooted in between Lydia and Polly, who were pouring their own drinks and said, "What? No happy juice? Where's the booze?"

Andy rolled her eyes and said, "You're enough trouble without it. I want my house to still be standing after you leave tonight."

Beryl stuck her lower lip out, Lydia took the spoon she had used to stir cream into her coffee and brushed it over her friend's mouth.

"Hey! I don't like cream in my coffee," Beryl laughed.

Andy pulled a casserole dish out of the oven and placed it on the last open trivet. Five chicken breasts simmered in olive oil. Polly smelled the spice and asked, "What did you do to those?"

"It's simple. I mix a bunch of spices up with some flour, wash the chicken breasts, shake
them all together in a big zipper bag and bake them."

"These smell great. What did you use?"

"It's actually a Greek seasoning. That's why we have lemon roasted potatoes to go with it," Andy said as she drew the lid off another casserole dish with a flourish. "Now, dish up your meals and let's eat. I've been slaving away all day in the kitchen and haven't eaten a thing."

Lydia snorted and Beryl said, "Weren't you with us when we ate that delightful lunch at Madeline's house today or was that some strange doppelganger? And I don't remember ever seeing you in the kitchen."

"Fine, you harpy," laughed Andy. "I'm still starving."

They filled their plates and sat down to eat.

"I know you went with Polly the other day to Iowa Falls to see her new furniture, but you should see how it looks in place," Sylvie said. "How in the world did you get so lucky?" she asked Polly.

"Honestly, I can't believe it. I suppose the price put some people off, but there were a lot of pieces. It was a steal for what I ended up paying her. And once I drag Lydia in and out of a few stores tomorrow to get a mattress, bedding and rugs, that room is going to be exquisite." She cut a piece of chicken, then said, "and I've decided that I'm going to name the individual rooms. That back room is going to be the Walnut Room."

"Are you ready for next Saturday?" Andy asked.

"Everyone keeps asking me that question," Polly said. "Jeff, Henry and Sylvie are doing all the work. As long as they tell me we're ready, then I will be ready!" She looked at Sylvie who smiled and nodded, then back to Andy. "Are you doing
okay with your project in there? I suppose that needs to be cleaned up before Saturday."

"The glass company has to finish the last three cases on the back wall and they'll be done. They said they would have that completed on Monday. Of course, I may never be finished, but I will have all of the shelves filled and identified as much as possible, then I'll move things around as time passes."

"I'm really going to owe you for that," Polly said. "I saw some of the work tonight when I went in to check on the computer party happening in there. You've done a nice job!"

"If there's ever anyone who can organize you within an inch of your life, it will be our Andy," Beryl said, patting her friend on the back. "She's the one who keeps me organized. She knows where all of my paintings are, what my agent is up to, what I have to do next. I couldn't exist without her keeping an eye on me."

"Really?" Polly looked at Andy with a new sense of respect. "How do you have time to do anything for me?"

Andy laughed. "My kids thought I was going to rot away in this house when Bill died and I moved off the farm. Now, they complain that I'm never available to watch their little ones." She sighed. "I probably complain about that too, but I love doing what I do and those kids have the best mothers around. When they need me, I'm always there. Or here."

"You should see her family room downstairs. That's the only place there is chaos around here. Andy makes sure those kiddos have a fun place to visit away from their own home," Lydia said.

"Well, I love those little ones and I think that Grandma's house should be special. So, they get chaos and color and sounds and things their parents don't want to have around. It's a good deal for all of us," Andy said.

Sylvie said, "You must love them if you have chaos in your basement."

"I know that too much order isn't good for the mind. I don't want to hasten any onset of dementia, so I do my best to inject a little chaos in my life on purpose. I don't drive the same way to get places every day and I try to put my shoes and socks on differently in the morning. Sometimes it's the left foot I start with, sometimes I start with the right foot. Sometimes I put one sock and one shoe on. And I don't ..." she looked pointedly at Beryl, "I don't have a plan for what days I do different things. It occurs to me that I need to alter my pattern, so I do."

"Are you worried about dementia?" Sylvie asked.

"Both of my parents withered away from Alzheimer's. I plan to do everything possible to keep the neurons in my brain firing on all cylinders. That's all. If it comes, I'll deal with it, but until then, I'm fighting like hell to keep my brain busy."

"Enough about that," Andy said. "We have to tell you about our day at Madeline Black's house! I think there's a mystery to be solved."

Polly’s questioning look prompted Lydia to say, "She's right. That note from Madeline was very confusing. Amy talked to her brother and neither of them have any idea what their parents might have that was so important she wanted people to take care of it."

"We went through Madeline's desk today and didn't find anything that offered a clue. Actually, we went through a great many of her cubbyholes and nothing seemed especially interesting. Nothing in her checkbook looked off, at least according to Amy. But, then, she hasn't been around much in the last fifteen years. She admitted she wouldn't know if something was odd or not," Beryl said.

Lydia wrinkled her nose. "We have until Monday morning before dear, sweet Laurence waltzes in and puts the kibosh on any more searching. Amy's pretty sure he is going to lock up the house and sit on it forever. When Madeline wanted to move to an apartment, he didn't want to lose the house, but he didn't want to buy it from her either. She stayed to keep him happy. Amy said that he's already announced they aren't selling the house, just in case he wants to move back here when he retires."

"Doesn't she have a say in things?" Polly asked.

"Well, they haven't found the will yet either. Without a will, things will go to both kids and she will be able to wield some power, and if the will shows up, who knows what Bill and Madeline wanted to have happen."