A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) (24 page)

Polly's eyes expanded and she said, "Wow. You've got great breath control."

Lydia pulled her into a hug, "I'm going to hire a full time body guard for you. It's the only way I won't worry."

Polly hugged her back and they walked over to the table, "Is she this bad with her own kids?" she asked Andy and Beryl.

"Have you noticed that none of them live in Bellingwood?" Beryl asked. "Yes. She's this bad."

"I am not," Lydia protested.

"Yes you are," Andy said quietly. "We figure it's because you are pouring all your worry over Aaron into everyone else. But, we love you for it, don't we." She poked Beryl in the arm. "Don't we?"

"We love her for it and in spite of it." Beryl winked at the boys, "She's pretty lovable, though, isn't she."

Andrew giggled and Jason nodded politely.

"What are you ladies doing today? Beryl, I thought you'd be out helping them put up the barn!" Polly said.

"Twenty years ago ... hell, ten years ago I would have been. But, I have to keep these ten fingers healthy. My luck, I'd pound them into mush."

Andy said, "We're going to stay busy inside today. Us old ladies have to act our ages, so we'll wash dishes, make soup, decorate the house, and gossip."

Beryl looked at Andy over her glasses, "If you don't mind, this old lady will be gossiping first. Then, the other stuff can happen." She pushed them up on her nose and said to Polly, "Speaking of gossip, which man are you going to choose? The hot veterinarian or the hunky carpenter?"

"You're a brat, Beryl Watson and just for that, I'm not telling. I'm going to ask these two young men to come up to my apartment and play with my animals. Jason? Andrew? Why don't you grab your things and we'll head upstairs. Then, you're on your own."

The boys ran to the back of the auditorium and picked up their backpacks and coats, then waited for Polly.

"That'll teach you to gossip in front of little boys," Polly said, "I'm never telling you now." She high-fived Lydia and walked away from the table.

Once upstairs, the boys settled in on the couch with the remote and two game controllers.

"Your mom says you are on your own today. Do you have watches so you know what time to check in with her?" Polly asked.

Andrew proudly displayed a brightly colored watch and Jason said, "I made sure his watch had the right time. We'll be cool. Can we go outside later and watch them put up the barn?"

"Boys, you can go outside any time you want."

"Can we take Obiwan?" Andrew asked.

"Here's the deal. I'm going to trust you to take care of him today. If you think he wants to go outside, that's fine. Just make sure he doesn't get into anything or anyone's way. If you do that, I'll make sure there's five bucks in it for you at supper. Will that work?"

"Awesome!" Jason said. He turned to his brother, "Let's go out and see what it looks like before they get started, then we can check on it all day."

They got their coats on and headed out. Polly looked at her animals and said, "You're in good hands." She rubbed Obiwan's head, then bent over and hugged him. "Love you, bud. And you too, kitten-cats."

She walked back down the stairs and smiled at the people walking in. Some went to the kitchen, others went into the auditorium. She didn't know half of them, but everyone smiled and said, "Hello." Grabbing her coat out of her office, she went out the side doors. The outer frame was already up and a group of people were lifting the east wall into place. They had ordered the wood for the walls pre-primed, and when she saw the red color, excitement rippled through her. It was truly happening.

More people were assembling boards and she watched as Sam, Jimmy, Leroy and Ben worked with various clusters, making sure everyone had things they needed. Then, she saw one of the aprons people were wearing. Polly walked over to Henry and said, "Why don't I have one of those?"

He chuckled and pulled one out of his back pocket and held it up for her to see. "Sycamore House Barn Raising" was imprinted across the front of the apron. "These are great! Who thought of this?"

"You haven't been in the kitchen or auditorium since breakfast, have you?"

"No? Why?" she asked.

"I'll let you see it for yourself," he said. "I have to run. Talk to you later!"

She stood and watched the activity, then turned around and walked inside and headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, she found Lydia passing out denim blue BBQ aprons.

"Would you like one of these?" Lydia asked. Bright red letters spelled out the same thing on the front of these aprons.

"I must have one!" Polly said. "These are wonderful!"

Lydia slipped one over Polly's head and spun her around to tie it in back. Jeff walked out of the auditorium and raised his camera to snap a photograph.

"Were these your idea?" Polly asked.

"I'd like to take credit for it, but Henry is the one who came up with the idea that day you announced we were building a barn. It’s a great idea, eh?"

"It’s a fabulous idea!" She took his arm and walked away with him, "So exactly why is it that I never know about these things in advance?"

"I'm sorry.” he said in dismay. “Did I screw up?"

Polly was startled. "No! Not at all. I just want to know why I'm always the last to find things out."

"Honestly? Because it's such fun to surprise you! But, I don't want to ever upset you," he said.

"I'm not upset at all, but sometimes I feel like there are a lot of surprises in my life." Polly smiled and said, "No, don't worry about it. Your surprises are good. At least they aren't gruesome or frightening."

They walked back outside and Jeff wandered around the construction site shooting pictures. Polly watched as a second wall started to go up. This was going faster than she expected. Doug and Billy joined her.

"Pretty cool, eh?" Billy said.

"It seems to be going together really fast. What are they going to do this afternoon?" she asked.

"There's plenty to do inside and out. See those guys over there?" Doug pointed to a group of men bending over something they were building. "They're getting the structures together for the stalls. They," and he pointed to another group of men, "are sorting doors and windows. The team with Leroy is putting together shelves and tables. There is plenty of work left to do."

Billy said, "But, I think that because there are so many people, it is all going to go very fast. Henry said that if the exterior walls go up this morning, we might even get it painted today."

Polly shook her head. "Incredible. Why don't they build barns like this anymore?"

"No one has time. You turned this into a party and because no one ever does it anymore, everyone thought it would be fun."

"It is fun."

Mark Ogden rounded the corner with another man and came over to Polly.

"Hey Polly, this is my brother-in-law, Dylan Foster. Dylan, this is Polly Giller."

"Hi Dylan," she said.

He smiled and said, "Hi."

"Looks like we got here before everything was finished,” Mark said. “Come on, Dylan. Let's see what we can do to help." He led his brother-in-law to where Ben was working with a small group. Polly watched as they all shook hands and then Mark left Dylan and headed for Henry. They spoke for a few minutes and laughed, looking up at her with furtive glances.

She wondered what in the world they were talking about, but didn't have the courage to confront them, so Polly turned around and went back inside.

Chili, ham and bean, chicken noodle and vegetable beef. The outside temperature was in the mid-forties, but people came in for lunch with red cheeks and noses. Sylvie and her crew had prepared hearty soups; the smell permeated the building and drew everyone to the kitchen. There was enough help in the kitchen that Polly realized she would be in the way, so she went into the auditorium to see if she could do anything there. Many of the women who had been working on decorations were wandering through the tables refilling drinks and cracker baskets.

Hannah had four baskets filled with corn bread and warmed rolls in her arms. Polly spoke up, "Here, let me help you." She took them from Hannah and replaced rapidly emptying baskets. A few more runs to the kitchen and the frenzied rush seemed to calm down, so she stopped at Henry's table.

He was sitting with several people she didn't recognize and he took her hand and said, "Polly, I'd like you to meet some good friends of mine. This is Gary Alberts," acknowledging the man to his left. "He's a video game designer. We've been friends for years and I still don't play his games."

Gary laughed, put his hand out to shake hers and said, "Hi, Polly. This is a lot of fun. Trust Henry to get hooked up with the most exciting thing in town."

Henry punched his buddy in the arm and said, "She's a girl, not a thing." He turned to an older man on his right and said, "Have you met Fred Wayne?" Polly shook her head no and reached over to take his hand.

He clasped her hand with both of his hands and said, "Henry was in my Industrial Arts class when he was in high school. I can still outshoot him with the nail gun though, unless he nails my sleeve to the wall."

Henry laughed and said, "I only did that once ... well, maybe twice."

He began to speak and stopped when both he and Polly looked at the far entrance to the auditorium. Aaron Merritt beckoned to Polly.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I need to speak with Sheriff Merritt. Excuse me."

The men turned around and waved at the Sheriff. Henry jumped up from the table to follow her.

"I'm sorry to take you away from your lunch," Aaron said, "but I thought you might like to know that Elise has been found."

"What?" Polly asked. "Where?" Unconsciously, she took Henry's hand.

"They were at a hospital in Clinton. It seems that the idiot who got caught in the coyote trap hurt his leg pretty badly. They stopped in Marshalltown Thursday night and tried to clean it up, but in their attempts to pull the thing off him, they mangled the leg. They finally pulled into the Clinton hospital last night and rather than leave with Elise, the other bright bulb in the box stayed in town to wait for him; giving us plenty of time to track them down. Clinton police found the car at a Super 8 on Highway 30 and pulled her out early this morning."

"Is she hurt?"

"She's fine."

"I'm glad. Now what?"

"These two aren't talking yet, but my buddy in Clinton says they seem to be worried about returning to Chicago, so it won't be long," Aaron said, "and Elise is on her way here."

"What? I need to get upstairs and make sure things are ready."

"She'll be here in about an hour. You have time," Aaron assured Polly.

"Why is she coming back here?"

"I don’t know enough of the story. Why don’t we wait for her," he said. "Now, my nose tells me there is wonderful soup and my eyes tell me Lydia is dying to know what is happening. I'm going to leave you to do whatever you have to do for Elise."

Polly chuckled as they parted, "’Fur Elise,’ he said. That's funny."

She turned to Henry. "You go back in and eat with your friends. I’m going upstairs to put her clothes and things back in her room and make sure it is ready so she feels at home."

"Are you sure? You haven't eaten anything yet. You have plenty of time. It will take you less than fifteen minutes to get things ready upstairs."

"No. That's
fine. I'm too nerved up to eat anything. I'll deal with it later," she said and rushed away before he could stop her.

Polly pulled the basket of Elise's clothes out of the corner of her own bedroom and went across the hall to return them to the dresser. Folding things neatly, she opened the top drawer and placed items in, then opened the second drawer. As she pushed the t-shirts in to the back of the drawer, her hand caught on something. She pulled the drawer out and bent over to look. A plastic bag was taped there. Polly pulled it out and saw that there was a newspaper article from December between the layers of plastic. She sat down at the desk and realized she had the whole story.

Elise had clipped an article about a murder that had taken place in the library on the University of Chicago campus late at night when it was probably empty. Polly was sure the poor girl had no idea it had gotten so late and was focused on her work. The victim had been the son of a prominent leader in the Chicago syndicate and his death had sent waves of violence throughout the city.

"The poor girl," Polly said out loud. "She didn't ask for this."

She set the article down on the desk and finished folding clothes and putting them back in the drawers, then looked around the room. Elise had done a pretty good job of settling into the space. Her personal things might have been scattered everywhere, but notebooks were neatly organized on the shelf and her workspace was tidy. Polly picked up one of the notebooks and rolled her eyes at the seemingly random equations filling the pages. She rolled her eyes and chuckled, slammed it shut and placed it back on the shelf. That stuff was far beyond any of the math she had taken and she didn't even know what some of the symbols meant.

The dust in the room was nonexistent. Polly muttered a thank you for radiant heat. There was no furnace blowing air into the rooms and that kept things much cleaner. She gave the room one last look and, stepping out into the hall, pulled the door closed behind her.

Polly slid down the door to the floor and sat there with her head in her hands. She felt all of her stress drain away. If this was what she had to go through with every guest who arrived at Sycamore House she was going to be a wreck in only a few months. These weren't names on a credit card receipt; they were real people living in her home. There was no way she could separate herself from their lives.

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. "Damn it," she whispered.

"Polly?"

She looked up and tried to nonchalantly brush away the tears.

"Polly? There you are."

Beryl sat down right beside her and slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"People get under your skin, don't they," Beryl said.

Polly couldn't help it, the tears began to flow. "This isn't even about me. I don't know why I'm crying."

"You, my dear girl, are filled with great passion for people. Look what you've done here today. You're helping us make connections with each other. You started a chain, connecting your friends and it has grown from there. One of these days, your big old auditorium isn't going to hold all the people who show up when you have an event."

"So why is there water dripping out of my eyes uncontrollably?"

Beryl laughed. "It's okay to say that you love her. Your heart exploded when you found out she was safe and coming home. All the worry you've had over her in the last few days left you and your poor heart has to recover a little bit. You love awfully easily, Polly. Not many of us have that gift.

“You know, a long time ago I heard a preacher describe the different Greek words for love. The one that fits you is phileo - brotherly love. You know, like Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. You aren't afraid to love people and you make it easy for the rest of us to get up on that bandwagon with you. Not very many people will see it for what it is, but they sure respond to it."

Beryl stood back up and offered Polly her hand, "Come on. Let's clean those eyes up. Elise is going to be here in a little bit and you don't want to look all blotchy for whatever gorgeous law enforcement officer is with her."

Polly took the hand, stood up and hugged Beryl. "I love you. You know that, don't you?"

"I do know that. I love you too. Come on. I'll pet your kitties while you wash your face."

When Polly exited her bathroom, Beryl was back on the floor wrestling with Obiwan.

"Beryl! What are you doing?"

"Oh!" Beryl said, startled. "Am I not supposed to play with him? Is his foot okay?"

"He's fine, but what are you doing on the floor?"

"I'm obviously wrestling with your dog. And don't you dare tell me I'm too old for these shenanigans, or I'll drop you where you stand."

"I wouldn't dream of it. Wrestle away!" Polly said. "Thank you for coming up after me."

Beryl hugged Obiwan and stood up, "Let's go downstairs and watch for your friend and since Henry tattled on you to us about your not eating, I'm going to force food down your throat."

Henry was wandering around the room, talking to small clusters of people when they walked back into the auditorium. He looked up and gave them a small wave. Beryl whispered to Polly, "By the way, a second Greek word for love is eros. It means something entirely different. You need to figure that out."

Polly's face flushed red. "Stop it. You're killing me."

"I fully intend to if you don't get on board with this. And don't think I won't."

Beryl led Polly to a table and pointed at a chair beside Andy. "Sit. I'll be right back with food. Is there any soup out there you don't particularly like?"

"I can get it. I have two legs," Polly protested.

"Did I stammer? Sit. Is there any soup you don't like?"

Polly dropped her head in mock shame. "I like them all, thank you."

Andy giggled beside her. "It's easier sometimes to let her be the boss."

The auditorium emptied as people went back outside. Several stopped by and patted Polly on the back or reached to shake her hand, saying things like "This is a lot of fun, Polly" or "Thanks for putting this together!" When it had quieted down, she turned back to Andy. "I think I should make everyone wear nametags for the next year."

"You'll do fine. The young woman with red hair was Jennifer Mattingly. Her dad runs the hardware store uptown. Her mom is over there," Andy nodded at a group of women who were unfolding bandanas. "She works at the store and teaches piano lessons. The older guy with curly hair that told you he was going to have blisters is Roger Douglas. Let's see ...," Andy looked around the room. "His wife is probably in the kitchen. He's an accountant and this was probably the last weekend he'd have come out to help. When tax season starts no one ever sees his face unless they make an appointment."

Beryl had pushed a bowl of ham and bean soup in front of Polly and handed her a spoon, then set a plate with cornbread and butter down as well.

"Thank you," Polly said, batting her eyes at Beryl. "You're too good to me."

"Eat or I'll feed you myself."

Andy laughed. "I wouldn't put it past her and much as I'd like to witness the event, I think it could get messy."

She described a few more people while Polly ate and then said, "Beryl, I think it is time for us to get to work. Don't worry, Polly, you won't be alone long."

The women walked away from the table and Polly heard someone approach from behind. She turned in her chair and saw Elise, who ran across the room to her. Polly stood up and caught the girl as she leaped forward into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're not hurt! I've been worried sick since they took me away. I saw you go down and I didn't know what to think!" Elise exclaimed.

Polly held Elise at arm’s length and looked her over. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I want another shower, maybe even a bath and some clean clothes, but I'm fine."

"Have you eaten anything? We've got wonderful soup."

"Actually, no I haven't eaten anything. Carl, here, wanted to stop, but I wouldn't let him." Elise giggled, "I'll bet you are hungry, too,” she said to the man beside her.

Carl looked like a wrestler, stocky and solid. He was wearing a badge that read U.S. Marshal on his belt. "I'm a little hungry," he admitted. "You don't get this physique without keeping it well supplied."