One Perfect Honeymoon (Bellingwood) (7 page)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Polly was glad to have one less state between her and home as they crossed into Colorado on I-70. Now that they'd made the decision to go, she wanted the trip to be over. Dusk was settling in and she found that the Colorado River was traveling beside her again.

"Should we stop in Grand Junction for the night?" she asked, looking at a map.

"I'm not all that tired. Let's press on and see how far we can go."

"Are you sure?"

"It's only five thirty. I have plenty of hours left in me."

"Okay. Just tell me when you're ready to stop. The ski resorts are coming up next. We could probably find a fun place to sleep for the night."

"With the puppies? These hotels aren't going to be quite as easy going as the places we've been staying."

She nodded. He was right. Getting the pups to their new home was something fun to look forward to. After only a few days, she was having fun with their little personalities. Khan thought he ruled the roost, but more often than not, Padme put him in his place. She was quiet, but firm with him. Polly was glad they were so young. That meant they slept a lot. Having four highly active pups on this trip would have been more than she or Henry wanted to handle. As it was, they were quite a handful when they were awake.

"Maybe we should stop anyway in Grand Junction. Get something to eat and give the pups a little freedom in the truck."

~~~

They were back on the road, with everyone settled in. Dusk had given way to darkness and everything grew quiet.

"If you want to sleep, that's okay," Henry said. "We'll be in the mountains pretty soon."

"Have you ever driven out here?"

"No. This will be a first for me."

"I wish we were doing it in the daylight. I'll bet it's gorgeous."

They started seeing signs for ski resorts. Her friends had flown out to Colorado and talked enough about these locations that the names were familiar, but Polly had never found enjoyment in skiing. Sal told her that was because she'd never learned how to do it well.

"Have you ever gone skiing?" she asked Henry.

His laughter came from low in his belly. "No. This old Iowa boy would probably find himself rolling down the mountain in a big ole snowball before he crashed through the lodge at the end of the slope."

"Me either. Sal used to come out here a lot. I wonder if she'll make Mark ski with her."

"As fancy as he is on his feet, he'll probably be great at it. He seems like a skier."

Polly chuckled. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"I don't know. He's just one of those guys that seems like he'd like that."

"I was just wondering if there was a type."

"No. I didn't mean anything like that. Although I wouldn't hate it if he broke a leg or something."

"Henry Sturtz!"

"What?"

"He's with Sal and I'm married to you. Don't tell me you are still jealous of him. There was absolutely nothing between us. I thought you guys were friends."

"I know, I know. And we are."

"Then what in the world was that all about?"

"Don't you ever get tired of someone always being perfect? That's Mark Ogden. Always perfect. The women swoon over him and all the farmers think he's the most wonderful vet they've ever known. Perfect. It gets a little old."

"You are a crazy man," Polly said, poking him in the side. "I would never have thought you had this in you. And just so you know, all of my friends think that you're the perfect one. You never screw up. You always support me. You don't get mad at me when I'm a moron. You read my mind and are always doing nice things for me."

Henry squeezed her hand. "Well, trust me, I have to work at it awfully hard some days. You put me to the test."

"What do you mean I put you to the test? I'm not that hard to live with."

"Not that hard to live with? Sweetie, you're pure entertainment. They know at the convenience store when I'm trying to avoid a fight. I walk in and grab a box of ice cream sandwiches."

"Those are to avoid a fight?"

"Or to soothe you when you're stressed."

"See, that's not so hard. Is it bad that I don't do things like that for you?"

"I don't need ice cream when I'm stressed. I need it when you're stressed."

"Okay, so you feed me ice cream. What else do I do that puts you to the test?"

"There are people in our house all the time. I mean, All. The. Time. If it's not the kids, you have Lydia, Beryl and Andy around or you're down at the barn with the animals or playing with everyone downstairs and then I'm stuck upstairs with people you left there."

"Wait. What?"

"It's not all that bad."

"Do you want me to not have Andrew come over after school? I can work something else out."

"No. Stop it. That's not what I mean."

"Well, what do you mean?" Polly felt an argument coming on.

"Nothing. I shouldn't have started this."

"You damned well should have. If you don't like something that I'm doing, you should tell me about it right then, rather than waiting until we're finishing a fabulous vacation and springing it on me. I can't fix it now. All I can do is feel guilty that I've screwed up your life."

"Now that's not what I mean at all."

"Then what exactly did you mean?"

"This is going in very bad places all of a sudden. Let's not do this now."

"Oh, we're doing this. Trust me, we're doing this. What the hell else do we have to do while we're driving tonight? I'm not going to let you get away with telling me you hate having people around all the time and then back away from the conversation."

She drew her hand out of his and folded her arms across her chest.

"Now you're pissed."

"Well, I thought things were okay and you're telling me that I put you to the test. Is that all the time?"

"Polly, honey, stop it. We were having a conversation and it got out of control."

"Seriously? Stop it? Out of control? Are you trying to escalate this argument?"

"Oh lord, no. I'm trying to make it stop. I'm not sure what I did to get to this point and I don't know how to escape."

Polly wanted to laugh, but she'd managed to work herself into a good froth.

"Tell me how bad things are with all of my friends around. If you want me to change things, I'll do it."

"No, I don't want you to change anything. I love you and I fell in love with you because you have so many friends. Yes, there are times I'd like to just come home and sit around in my shorts and t-shirt. There are Saturday mornings I'd like to sleep in with you and not have the whole world descend on us. Even on this trip, we haven't had any good mornings to sleep in."

"I could let you sleep in."

"You didn't hear me. I want to sleep in with you. Just hang out and be slugs for one morning. Get out of bed about nine o'clock, watch television and not take a shower. Just do nothing. I don't even care if Rebecca is there. She's a good kid. But something always comes up to wreck those days."

"I'm sorry that there's so much going on, but I can try to come up with one Saturday where we get to stay home. I didn't know that's what you wanted."

Then Polly realized that every time they'd been interrupted, he'd mentioned how badly that was all he wanted. She'd missed his cue. "Damn it," she said. "I'm sorry. I should have paid better attention. I didn't realize that was so important to you."

"No, that's not what I want from you. I don't want you to feel bad."

"You're always so easy going and you take such good care of everyone around you. I forget that I should pay attention, too."

Polly looked up at the road as the interstate split in half. The westbound lanes were suddenly far above their heads. "What in the hell?"

"I know. It's the mountain passes. And we've slowed way down. There's a lot of traffic out here tonight."

She looked out the window. The river was to her right and the mountains seemed to go straight up beside her. "This is a little scary."

They went through a tunnel and Polly held her breath, wishing that there were a lot more daylight. The light from oncoming traffic showed her how insane the road was and she found herself gripping the door handle.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "I'm having a hard time focusing because it's so scary."

"I wish we could get through here a little more quickly, but yeah. I'm okay. It's a little intimidating in this big truck. I don't feel like I have much room for error."

"Have you ever driven in the mountains?"

"No, have you?"

"Dad took me up to Estes Park one time. Scared the living daylights out of me. He had a great time on that road. I could barely look at the scenery because I was afraid I'd fall out of the car."

"You're a nut."

"I know. Just be careful."

"I tell you what. Shut your eyes and think about how much you love me. If you fall asleep, that's okay. I'm fine with this."

"You're a better man than me."

"I hope so. I kinda like you being a better woman than me."

"You are such a goofball."

While Henry focused on driving through the mountains, Polly opened her phone and composed several texts. Whenever she got enough coverage to send them, out they went.

"What are you doing over there?" Henry asked.

"Nothing important. Just pay attention to the road."

"You're going to want to be the one to pay attention. We're coming up to Vail. It's really pretty. The worst of the craziness is over, I think."

Polly relaxed and watched the scenery pass by, the community's lights glowing against the backdrop of the mountains.

"Should we stop in Denver for the night?"

Henry reached over and patted her hand. "Let's just keep driving. If we get into Denver and I'm tired, we'll stop. By the way, how much farther do I have?"

Polly checked and said, "About two hours to the edge of the Denver area. Will my heart be in my throat the entire time?"

"We've made it this far, I think we'll be okay driving into Denver."

"You're amazing. I might have just pulled over and waited for someone to come get me."

"And what? Airlift you out?"

"Yeah. That would have probably made it worse. Let's just promise to never drive on that highway again."

He chuckled. "So exactly how are we planning to go west?"

"I don't know, but that was scary and I don't want to do it again."

"Yes ma'am."

CHAPTER TWELVE

It took Polly a moment to discern what seemed off when she woke up and then she realized they weren't moving. She sat up and looked around. Henry had parked the truck at one end of a rest area, away from the brightest lights, and drawn a blanket over the two of them. He'd lowered the back on his seat and Polly grinned when she realized that two of the pups were snuggled into the blanket with him. What a softie he'd turned out to be.

Even though the draw of the rest area was great, Polly didn't want to disturb him by opening a door. She had no idea how long they'd been parked, but lifted the last two sleepy puppies into her lap and settled in to rest.

~~~

The next time she woke up was to the sound of the engine turning over. Polly realized that she'd gotten a little chilly and was huddled into the blanket with the pups.

"Wait!" she said. "Don't go yet."

"I'm not. I just wanted to get some heat in here. It was getting cold." Henry had brought his seat back up and handed the two puppies he was cradling in one arm to her. "I guess it was colder than a two puppy night."

"Where are we, anyway?"

"Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska. I'm going to need gas pretty soon. Do you want to stay here or drive on down the road?"

Polly glanced back at the building and bounced once or twice in the seat, then giggled. "I think I'm fine. Let's go on. Now that we're back in the land of Diet Dew, I want one of those, too."

Henry backed out of the parking space and pulled back onto the interstate. "A big cup of coffee. That's what I need. And donuts. Probably donuts. Sugar and caffeine."

"I can drive for a while. I slept all the way across Colorado and most of Nebraska, it seems."

They'd stopped on the east side of Denver late in the evening for supper. Polly had stayed awake for a while, but when the truck warmed up, her full tummy went to work and she'd drifted off. It occurred to her that she'd actually slept five or six hours. "How long did you sleep in the rest area," she asked.

"Maybe an hour."             

"I must have woke up when you turned the truck off."

"You were pretty dead to the world. I didn't think you'd mind."

"Thank you for driving like this. Are you sure I can't help?"

"I'm good for now, but I'll let you know."

They stopped a few times between Grand Island and Bellingwood, pulling into their garage about ten thirty in the morning.

"How about we just go upstairs and crash," Polly said. "We can empty the truck later."

Henry rolled the garage door back down. "Will anyone notice we're home if we stay very, very quiet?"

"I'll tell Jeff and Sylvie that we're back and ask them to make sure no one comes upstairs until the kids get back from school. We can turn our phones off and sleep."

"That sounds wonderful." Henry stretched and turned to look at the puppies in the back seat. "I'll take the little ones up to meet Obiwan and the cats. Where do you want to keep them?"

"Do you care if they're just in our room for now? We can put piddle sheets down on the floor. They're getting used to those."

"We need a baby gate."

"I'm too tired to even think about that. Can't we just shut the door?"

He yawned. "Fine." He got out of the truck and came around to grab the tote filled with puppies.

Polly put her hands on the bag she carried with all of their supplies and followed him in the back door. When he went upstairs, she went on into the kitchen to find Rachel, Hannah and Sylvie standing around the prep table working on a cake.

"Hello?" she said, trying hard not to startle them.

"Polly!" Rachel cried, looking up. Sylvie had her back to Polly and spun around. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"Henry just kept driving." She shook her head. "And driving. And here we are."

"You have to be exhausted," Sylvie said. "Are you going up to crash?"

"Yeah. Can you keep everyone away from us until the kids come home from school?"

"Of course I can." Sylvie had crossed the room and pulled Polly into a hug. "Rebecca will be so glad to see you. She's a mess."

"I was going to talk to Jeff, but will you tell him I'm back?" Polly heard the back door open and shut. "That must be Henry with Obiwan. I'll see you later." She ran to the back door and looked out to see her husband walking toward the tree line with their dog. He was such a good man.

When she got to the top of the steps, she stopped for a moment to rub the cats who were very glad to see her, and then went into the living room and burst out laughing. Henry had taken a shelf from one of the bookcases in the living room and set it across the doorway. Everyone but those little puppies would have no problem moving back and forth. He'd set another shelf across the doorway into their bathroom.

Polly sat down on the end of her bed and pulled her shoes off. It felt so good to be in her own home again. The cats jumped up beside her and nudged her with their heads until she picked up Leia and then Luke. "I know, I know," she said. "I'm back. I won't go anywhere for this long again. At least not for a while." She put them down on the bed and stroked Luke's back. "But it doesn't look like you've been suffering much this week. If I know my friends, you've been spoiled."

She was rummaging around in her dresser when she heard the clatter of Obiwan's feet on the living room floor. The pups were still in their tub and for that she was grateful. The dog came barreling into the bedroom and before Polly could bend her knees to reach him, he'd crashed into her legs, his tail wagging madly.

"Hey there, bud. I missed you!" Polly finally sat down on the floor and Obiwan crawled into her lap, whining and moaning with glee, lapping her face with his sloppy tongue.

Henry stood in the doorway, watching them.

Obiwan's nose picked up the scent of the puppies and he wandered over to the tub to investigate.

"Be good, Obiwan," Polly cautioned. He looked up at her. "They're just little things. You have to be careful with them."

The dog stuck his head in the tub and nudged one of the puppies who had put his paws on the edge. The pup fell over and came back for more. Obiwan sniffed the four of them a few times and gave Polly a little whine.

"I know," she said. "They smell weird. But you'll get used to them." She patted the bed beside her. "Now come up here so I can take a nap. I won't sleep if I'm worrying that you are bothering them."

"Are you going to let them out to play?" Henry asked.

"Not while I sleep. At least not this afternoon. I want everyone to get used to everyone else first."

The cats were doing their best to ignore the activities on the floor. Luke was pushing his head against Henry's elbow and Leia was trying to crawl into Polly's lap.

"I hope I'm not too tired to sleep," Henry said.

Polly pulled the covers down and tucked her feet underneath, then put her head on the pillow. "If you're still awake in an hour, talk to me. Otherwise, I'll see you later today." She turned over on her side and waited for Obiwan to tuck himself in behind her legs.