Out of the Shadows (Bellingwood Book 12) (13 page)

Polly grinned. "Don't I know it. When I first moved back here, the silence was surprising."

"It is certainly something to be treasured. ‘Tis a shame that I often fill it with the noise of my television." His eyes lit up as he changed the subject. "Thank you for sending young Heath to my doorstep this morning. I look forward to spending time getting to know him. We will put in a great deal of hard labor, but during that time, I believe we will become fast friends."

"He needs good friends," Polly said. "I'd like them to be closer to his age." She stopped, thought about it and said, "You know what? I don't care. Only a few of my friends are my age. The rest are all over the place. Some are older, some are younger. What is it about school that limits us to a specific age group?"

"One of the conundrums of our educational policies," Grey acknowledged. "If we would learn together, we would learn so much more. But that's a conversation for another day."

"Or never," Polly said. "I get into those types of conversations and they frustrate me. There's nothing I can do to change the system and everyone has a better idea than the one that's in place." She huffed a laugh. "That's true, too. Nearly everyone's ideas are so much better, but then we are all reminded of reality."

"You are quite right," Grey said. "Do you believe Heath might consider learning to skate?"

"I don't know," she said. "But if he takes some ownership with the ice, maybe it will come naturally. I do believe, though, that he will not allow himself to look foolish while he learns. He's had enough of that in his short life."

"Those are things I will help him with as we go along," Grey said. "Now let's hope that freezing temperatures arrive in Bellingwood soon so this might come to pass."

Polly looked around. She hadn't been in the apartment since he'd moved in and though it was still sparse, hints of his personality were showing through. He'd rearranged the living room and a tall walking stick stood by the back door, the head of it carved as a gnarled burl.

"I see you got a new walking stick," she said, pointing at it.

"Your father-in-law created a wonderful piece for me. He's quite a master carver. The gentleman who works with him, Mr. Specek?"

Polly nodded.

"He turned the piece on his lathe and then we worked together to make sure the head would comfortably fit my hand. I'm quite proud of it and don't believe I've ever owned such a beautiful piece." Grey stood and walked over to the stick, then brought it back so Polly could hold it.

She rubbed her hand across the smooth length of it, admiring the patterns. "You found a nice piece of wood," she said.

"The masters are the ones who brought out its beauty as they worked." Grey took it back as she handed it to him.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Grey?" she asked him. "Sometimes I worry about you living here all alone. You have to work the worst hours of the day and I know it doesn't leave you much time to be with people."

He took a deep breath. "It is best this way for now, Miss Polly. I've required a great deal of healing myself this year and though I am grateful for the opportunities which come my way, I am still not prepared to fully reintegrate myself into a life filled with people."

"And their problems?" She finished his thought.

"And the depth of their problems. Young Master Sutworth is in such desperate need of my help that I couldn't live with myself if I didn't spend time listening and speaking with him. He's come a long way since the accident, but his growth is only beginning. However, to maintain my own path toward wholeness, I am only able to take one young person like him on right now."

Polly stayed silent. She desperately wanted to know what had broken this man, but he didn't seem to be inclined to tell her his story yet.

He brightened up. "There is one thing I might ask of you in the next week or so." He stopped. "I believe it can wait until after your extravaganza on the thirty-first, though."

"What's that? I'd be glad to help with anything."

"I believe that I can no longer proceed without a vehicle. After a bit of online research, I will attempt to find one to suit my needs, but I fear that I cannot walk to Boone or Ames and will need to procure a ride."

"I'd be glad to take you wherever you need to go," Polly said. "Just tell me when."

"It is quite embarrassing to me that I must call upon you for assistance, but this will be the last time. Once I have a vehicle and my freedom again, feeling the wind in my hair will give me a sense of independence."

"Wind in your hair? It's getting colder," Polly said with a laugh. "I hope you keep your windows rolled up."

"At the very least, I will be able to answer the call of the open road." Grey smiled again. "I understand there are some very interesting highways in rural Iowa."

"Some of them scare me to death," Polly said. "Between the winding curves, the hills and the limited shoulders, those roads aren't something you take at high speed, even when you're quite familiar with them."

"I look forward to the experience." A bell clanged and he looked up. "Ahhh, the first of our evening's guests have arrived. If you'd like to wait, I will be back shortly."

"No," Polly said. "I should go home and check on my family. I just wanted to bring something warm and homey over for your dinner."

He held the front door open for her to walk through and waved at the customers who were approaching the counter. "I am grateful for your friendship, Miss Polly. Thank you for stopping in and for bringing such wonderful gifts."

Polly smiled at the guests and waved goodbye to him. She was glad she'd come and needed to make sure she did this more often on the weekends.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Next to Joey Delancy’s face, the pickup truck he and Allendar had taken from her and used during their serial kidnapping and murder spree was the last thing Polly wanted to see. She shuddered when she drove into the driveway. Henry and Heath were standing at its rear gate, Heath leaning against the truck. Henry gave her a small wave as she drove in.

"You got it back," Polly said after jumping out of her own truck. "Joy."

"We're already making plans to paint it," Henry said. "Were you serious about splitting the cost for new front seats?"

Polly had a flash of a dead girl sitting in that seat. After trying to maintain another shudder and hold back the bile that rose in her throat, she nodded. "I'll pay for the whole thing. Just make sure the leather or whatever you choose is a completely different color."

"Are you okay?" Henry met her as she walked toward the back door. "Your face went pale."

"Flashbacks," she said. "I'll be fine. I just don't want to look at that thing right now."

He opened the door. "Should we have not done this?" Henry spoke softly so Heath couldn't hear.

Polly led him inside and closed the door. "I know that I'm being irrational. It's only a truck. And I also know that given time, this will pass. When the next trial is over, I’ll put nearly everything behind me. But today, seeing that truck again and just coming off Joey's trial, it was too much. You know I don't like to make decisions when things are still emotional. We need another vehicle, we can make cosmetic changes to help me deal with it and..." she smiled and blew out a breath. "In five years will I still react so badly to the truck? No," she said, shaking her head. "I'll go upstairs and snuggle my animals and put this back in the compartment where it belongs."

"You're sure," he said.

"I refuse to make major decisions just because I freak out over something. Don't worry. I'm fine."

"Heath's pretty excited to have a vehicle to drive."

"You know," Polly said. "We didn't warn him about keeping his grades up. That's as important to me as him being responsible to the work he's taking on."

"We talked about that today. Driving the truck isn't based on keeping his grades up, but keeping his jobs where he can make the money he wants to make in order to pay for gas, insurance, and save for his own car is. That’s what will give if his grades falter."

She chuckled. "That's kind of underhanded."

"Yep. I learned from my mother. She’s as sneaky as they come."

Polly shook her head. "I never saw Dad that way. It was all right out there with him."

"You were probably a better daughter than I was a son," Henry said. "I pushed Mom into decisions she might not have made otherwise."

She kissed him and headed for the stairs. "Tell Heath it's okay. But would you mind parking it at the other end of the front parking lot until after it’s painted?"

"On it."

Polly went up the steps and stopped to kiss the top of her dogs’ heads before wandering into the media room. She was more than a little shocked to see Rebecca and Andrew snuggled together on the couch under a blanket.

"Where's Kayla?" she asked.

Andrew tossed the blanket aside guiltily and jumped up. "She had to go home. Stephanie wasn't staying. They had plans to go to a show or play or something at Iowa State."

"Ahh," Polly said, nodding her head up and down. "And what have the two of you been doing?"

"Nothing!" he exclaimed. "We were watching a movie." He glanced at the blanket. "And it was cold."

She didn't reply, but went over to the thermostat. "Seventy-two degrees. That's not cold. In fact, it's quite warm in here. So, do you want to tell me again what you thought you were doing?"

"I'm cold," Rebecca said, affecting a weak, sickly voice. "We weren't doing anything else."

"Sit," Polly said, pointing at Andrew. He sat back down on the couch, putting as much room as he could between the arm and Rebecca. The look of guilt on his face told her enough.

She took the chair next to him, lowered her head, drew in a deep breath and let it out. She repeated the action twice more, then looked up at the two of them. She remembered a conversation she and Eliseo had before he had taken Hansel and Gretel in to be fixed. They were such cute little kittens, playing with each other and always finding ways to be together. He'd taken them in as soon as Doc Ogden would do the surgery with a flip comment that "Cute kittens grow up to be randy tomcats if you don't snip it in the bud." They'd laughed uproariously at his joke.

The cute little kids that Polly had known and loved for the last two years were growing up. She was going to face this now … out loud. It wouldn't be the last time they'd have this conversation and she knew it. Why couldn't they stay cute little kittens forever?

"You know that I trust you both, right?" she asked.

They nodded their heads.

"And I think the world of you. In fact, you are two of my favorite people ever."

They continued to nod and watched her face for what was coming.

Polly took another deep breath. "I don't know how to have this conversation with you."

"Then don't?" Rebecca tilted her head and looked at Polly, pleading in her eyes.

"Gah," Polly said. "I'm not ready for this." She stood up and walked behind the sofa. "You two are supposed to stay little kids forever. Well, not forever. When you turn twenty-one, you can do all of your growing up. But nothing until then, okay?"

They followed her pacing with their eyes, neither daring to move.

"I swear, Polly. We were just sitting here. We didn't do a thing," Andrew said.

"Then why the guilt?" She bent over quickly and looked him in the eyes.

"I don't know." He dropped his head.

"Rebecca?" she asked.

"We didn't do anything wrong."

Polly sat back down, leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "I want to trust you to be alone in the house."

"You can," Rebecca said, interrupting her.

"But for how long?" Polly asked. "I know this is a runaway train and it scares me to death for you."

"We aren't stupid," Rebecca muttered.

Polly knew full well that smart kids got themselves in just as much trouble as anyone else. Probably even more because they were smart enough to avoid detection. But she didn't want to make a big deal out of this. The funny thing was, even though they denied that anything had happened, they still knew exactly what she was accusing them of doing. Or at least, something along those lines. If they hadn't been doing anything, both of them were thinking about doing something. She'd been so happy that Kayla was part of their crew. At least with a third person, things would stay aboveboard. This sitting alone under the blankets thing was a bad omen.

"Do you believe us?" Andrew asked.

"I do," she said. "But that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with you two being here by yourselves."

"That's not fair," Rebecca said. "Andrew's my best friend. We've been alone as long as I've lived here."

"And yet things have changed, haven't they?" Polly asked.

The two dropped their heads again.

Oh why, oh why did Polly have to be friends with both kids? If she was having this conversation with Rebecca or with Andrew, it would be one thing. This wasn't easy.

"Here's the deal," Polly said. "I know that I can't keep an eye on you all the time, so I have to trust you. But I don't want to come home again and find you together under blankets. If you get cold - separate blankets, separate ends of the couch. Okay? I don't want to separate you and I know that you’re just beginning to think about being a couple. There are rights and responsibilities that come a relationship. The responsibility part is the most difficult thing to deal with. Whether I tell you not to do this doesn't matter. You'll do what you want if no one's around. But I can tell you that if you wreck my trust, new decisions will be made about how you spend time together. Am I making myself clear?"

"You'd kick Andrew out?" Rebecca asked.

"Or you," Polly said, keeping as straight a face as possible.

"You can't kick her out, she's your daughter now," Andrew said.

Rebecca swatted his arm. "You're so easy. But you'd really not let him come over?"

"He has a nice house with a dog that loves him. If I can't trust you, that's where he'll be after school and on Saturdays. Easy as that."

Rebecca blanched and Andrew stood up.

"You can trust us, Polly. I don't want to stay home by myself." He looked down at Rebecca. "You're my best friend. We can't screw this up."

The dogs bolted for the back stairs and Rebecca looked at Polly in a panic. "Don't say anything, please?"

"You know I don't keep secrets from Henry," Polly said.

"But not in front of everyone. Please?" she whispered.

Polly nodded. "Cross your hearts?" she asked.

Both kids crossed their hearts.

~~~

"This is one of the perks of having Heath living with us," Polly said.

Henry put his hand out on the truck's console. "You don't trust Rebecca to take care of herself?"

She chuckled and put her hand in his. "No, that's not it. But I always feel guilty leaving her alone. Like I'm out having fun and she's stuck in the house all by herself, sad and lonely, a poor waif."

"With four animals there, how could she be lonely?" Henry asked.

"I didn't say it was rational. I hate not taking her with us. But with Heath there, even if they aren't in the same room, they know someone is around."

"Why didn't Andrew stay?"

Polly pursed her lips, glad that it was dark and he couldn't see her reaction. She didn't want to talk about the two kids with him just yet. He'd been so upset a few months ago at the thought of Andrew and Rebecca trying to create a relationship, she didn't want him to worry until it was necessary. Rebecca could just wonder how much Henry knew. In fact, more than anything, Polly hoped Andrew worried about Henry. That might keep him honest. But tonight she wanted to enjoy being out and about.

"I don't know," she finally said.

He glanced at her and then back at the road. She probably hadn't pulled that one off.

They'd gone to a sports bar on the southwest side of Ames for hamburgers. It was nice spending time with Henry. They'd talked about the silliest things, from political candidates to the World Series, and an old friend of Henry's who had found him on Facebook. Polly didn't even realize he spent much time on social media. He'd caught her up on some of the idiotic things his guys did on job sites, admitting that he was going to have to fire one of them for falsifying company records. He hadn't stolen much, but it was a path Henry wasn't willing to go down with the man. After blatant lies and insubordination, Henry knew it was time to let the guy go, but it was never easy.

"I'm not ready to go home yet," Henry said when they got back in the truck.

Polly agreed. "Just drive, then. Nobody needs us to be anywhere. We could always find a park and make out."

"My luck you'd find a dead body."

"Not if I stay in the truck. Come on, Henry. Let's act like stupid kids. Just this once."

In the end, he'd driven up Highway 17 to Webster City and they'd gone to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Now they were meandering their way back to Bellingwood. Polly couldn't believe how well she'd gotten to know these country roads. She didn't ever know the area around Story City as well as she knew these roads. She'd gotten good and lost that first summer she moved back to Iowa, but there was no way that would happen again. At least not in the counties surrounding her home.

"It is my home, you know," she said.

Henry squeezed her hand. "I know that. What are you thinking about?"

"How well I know these roads. And even if I haven't been on all of them, I know where we are and what it takes to get back to one I'm familiar with. We drove around all the time when I was in high school and I barely remember any of that."

"You've had a lot happen between high school and now," Henry said.