Pages of the Past (Bellingwood Book 9) (23 page)

He stood up, his sandwich still uneaten on the plate in front of him. "Helen, I want you to stay inside until this is over. If Polly's information is good, we should be able to handle this quickly."

"Between those big horses and the fall, my body will rebel against any outings," she said. "But what about you and Lydia?"

He stepped over in front of his wife and held out a hand. She took it and stood up. "I was serious about you staying away from the house," he said. "If you won't go to Dayton, would you consider staying here with Helen?"

"I've spent too many nights sleeping away from you," Lydia said. "I'm not doing that any longer."

Aaron set his jaw. "I would rather you slept away from me than for you to be collateral damage in this mess. Please do this for me. Let me take care of you again."

Lydia turned to Polly. "Do you have one more room?"

"Of course I do. You can have the room next to Helen's. Do we need to take you home and pick clothes up?"

"Can I do that?" Lydia asked her husband.

"I'll take you home and bring you back. Plan to be away for a couple of days, would you? Hopefully it won't take any more time than that."

She started ticking things off on a mental list, using her fingers, yet not speaking, then said. "I have a busy day tomorrow. Will you be okay if I do my regular errands? There are two women that haven't gotten groceries for two weeks. I can't ask them to go any longer than that."

"Can you call someone else?"

"I can ask Andy," Lydia said. "But I'm going to go out of my mind, sitting still all day long. Will you fix this as fast as you can? I don't need Polly to see me at my daily worst. And I definitely don't want her to see me when I'm bored."

He chuckled. "I've never known you to be bored, Lydia. No matter where you've been stuck. You always find something that you can do."

"Are you sure I can't stay at home?"

"Please do this for me," he begged. "I know I don't have a right to ask much of you after all I've put you through these last couple of months..."

"Stop it. We'll deal with that when this is over."

He looked down and whispered, "What does that mean?"

Polly started to laugh. "Oh, you're going to pay for it. No one tortures Lydia Merritt and gets away with it for very long."

"What is this going to cost me?" he asked.

"Time," Lydia responded. "Lots and lots of time. But we'll talk about that later. You take me home and then I'll come back to Sycamore House like an obedient wife." She winked up at him and leaned in to draw her husband into a hug. "I'm so glad you're talking to me again, even if you're telling me to live somewhere else. You're back to normal."

Aaron held her close and rested his cheek on the top of her head. Polly felt like she was intruding on a very intimate moment and slipped over to sit on the sofa beside Helen. Obiwan and Han jumped back up onto the couch, Han nuzzling Helen's hand.

He finally released his wife and said, "Helen, will you be okay up here until Lydia comes back?"

"I'm fine." She scowled at him. "I've lived a lifetime without your assistance, I think I can sit around a piece."

Polly stood up and walked over to the front door with Lydia and Aaron. "Come find me when you get back and we'll settle you in the room upstairs."

"Thank you for everything," Lydia said and reached out to hug her. She whispered in her ear. "Don't expect to see me for a while. I need to..."

Polly stopped her. "Don't say it. I'll see you when I see you."

She shut the door after them and turned back to Helen. "I should go downstairs and wait for Chief Wallers. Do you want to stay up here with the animals or what? The kids will be here soon and I know they'd like to spend more time with you."

Helen nodded. "I don't want to face those stairs again. If you don't mind, I'll stay right here on your sofa and let these warm fuzzy things keep me company."

"Feel free to wander. You found the bathroom yesterday?"

"I did, honey. Thank you. I'll be fine."

"Television is in the other room."

"I'll be just fine right here. Thank you for everything."

Polly left the apartment and went downstairs to her office. This really was one of her more crazy weeks. Things needed to slow down.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Polly was awakened again by Henry whispering, "Someone's cooking in our kitchen again."

"Oh for heaven's sake," she said. "Who is it this time?"

"You go see. It's probably one of your friends."

Polly looked at the clock. Six thirty. Last night, she'd jokingly told Lydia that if she was desperate to make breakfast, she could use the kitchen, not thinking for a minute the woman would take her up on it.

She stretched her legs and snuggled closer to Henry. "If it's Lydia, I'm praying for a quick end to this siege."

"Siege?"

"Yeah. People stuck here because they can't go anywhere else."

"That means you're going to have an exciting day." He tickled her side and sang mockingly, "I get to go to work. I get to go to work."

"If I call you in a panic will you meet me for lunch?"

"I'd love to, but I won't be in town today."

"You're a fink. Maybe I'll call my friends and make them come over and play."

"First you have to get out of bed and see who is in our kitchen."

"It's Lydia. I just know it."

He gave her a push. "Go. I'll do the doggy thing this morning after my shower. You feed them and make nice with your guests."

"Fabulous. They're your guests too. You married me for better or worse."

Henry reached around Polly and turned her so she was facing him, then planted a kiss on her lips. "If this is the worse, I'm in pretty good shape."

Polly sat up on the edge of the bed, feeling on the floor with her feet for slippers. They'd had a nice evening with everyone who was at Sycamore House. There had only been eight, so they ate dinner in the downstairs kitchen and watched the sun set through the large windows facing the western horizon. The oranges, reds and pinks shone through the trees, making a beautiful setting.

They'd laughed at stories Helen told of her childhood with Aaron and their other two brothers and then Helen did something that Polly had never thought of doing. She pressed Sarah Heater for stories of Rebecca's infancy and her own childhood and youth. Rebecca listened with rapt attention and Polly took the opportunity to record it with her phone. Sarah talked about grandparents and cousins, people that Rebecca might like to find when she got older. For that time alone, Polly was grateful that Helen Oswald had come to town.

"You're not moving very fast," Henry said from the doorway to the bathroom.

"I know, I know. Here I go." Polly pulled on her robe and followed by the entire menagerie, went out into the main room and then into the kitchen.

Sure enough, Lydia was hard at work.

"Good morning," she sang out. "I have coffee ready for you. Sweet rolls are in the oven and as soon as I start seeing faces, I'll cook eggs and sausage. I made up a fresh pitcher of orange juice. Is there anything else you'd like?"

"That's plenty," Polly said. "You didn't have to do this."

"I stopped in to say good morning to Helen. She isn't moving very well. I asked her what hurt more and I think it was the ride on that big Percheron yesterday. I'll take breakfast over to her."

"How are you this morning? Did you have trouble not being at home with your husband?"

Lydia winked. "You'll never guess who came to visit me in the middle of the night."

"He did not."

"Yes he did. It was the sweetest thing. He said he missed me."

"So after two months of pure hell and you're just letting him go back to normal?" Polly raised an eyebrow. She would never let Henry get away with this.

"Oh dear, this isn't back to normal. He's doing his very best to make up for everything. We'll talk through it as it comes, but there's no sense stirring up a nasty fuss over something that's already happened. We have to make the best of what we can with the present and plan ways to never let it happen again in the future. That isn't going to be something we do in one or two days."

"You're really just letting him get away with it?"

Lydia spun around, a frying pan in her hand. "Not on your life. But I'm also not going to reject his attempts. That's not the way to handle a man like Aaron. He needs positive reinforcement. We have plenty of time to work on the rest of it."

Polly shook her head. "It makes no sense to me."

"Of course it doesn't. You and Henry don't have the same relationship that Aaron and I have, why would you expect to do things the same way? This is what works for us."

Han gave a little yip.

"Oops. I'm supposed to feed them. I'm a bad mom."

"Let me get out of your way," Lydia said. "I'll finish setting the table."

Rebecca came into the kitchen and said, "Is it Saturday?"

"No honey, why do you ask that?" Polly asked.

"Because it feels like Saturday."

"That's just because Lydia is here. You're up early. Why don't you go get ready for school and maybe you can run down and spend a few minutes with your mom before breakfast."

"That was pretty cool last night," Rebecca said.

"Hearing your stories?"

"Yeah. Do you think she has more like that?"

"We'll have to ask her and see. Why don't you ask her to write out some ideas and we can ask her about them another time."

"Great!" Rebecca ran out of the room.

"That was a wonderful thing Helen did last night," Polly said, weaving through the animals to get back into the dining room. "I don't know why I hadn't thought of doing that."

"Did I see you recording it?"

"I loaded it onto my computer last night. One of these evenings we'll watch it with Rebecca again. I think she heard some of those stories for the first time last night. I don't know about you, but that's how I know my family's history. Dad told stories over and over and over again until they were anchored in my mind."

"We didn't do enough of that with the kids. At least they're taking lots of pictures and movies with their own children. Those will help them tell the stories."

"Good morning, girls," Henry said as he came into the room. "It sure smells good in here."

Lydia beamed. "I like being able to make big breakfasts. I miss it now that my kids are all gone. My favorite days of the year are when they fill up my house and want to eat my cooking."

"Come on, boys," he said. "Let's get out and back inside before the food is gone. I don't want dry toast because you made me miss out."

"You have a wonderful man there," Lydia said as he crossed into the office, heading for the back stairway.

"Sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky. He should have been snatched up by a woman by the time I found him," Polly said. "But there he was."

"Just waiting for you to show up."

Jessie came around the corner, rubbing her eyes and clutching her robe around her seemingly ever expanding waist. "Am I late?" she asked.

"No, in fact you're still early."

She dropped into a chair at the end of the table. "This baby kept me up all night. I didn't think I ate anything that should have upset her. But wow. Moving and kicking. This is going to be a long day."

Lydia walked over and rubbed Jessie's shoulders. "These last weeks seem like they go on forever, but honey, before you know it, you'll be in the delivery room wishing they had lasted a little bit longer and yet desperate for it to be over so you can hold your baby. Right now everyone is taking care of you, so enjoy that as long as you can. When the baby comes, the focus changes and you'll just be the mom of a new baby."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"Oh yes, dear. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that the whole experience is a good thing. Enjoy each of the moments. Take time now to enjoy being pregnant. Enjoy the attention and care you're receiving. When the baby arrives, enjoy all of that. Each one of those moments. Think back to the last seven or eight months and all that has been happening. Make sure you know your memories."

"Like Sarah talked about last night?"

"Just like that. Someday you'll want to tell those stories to your children."

~~~

Polly called her friends and both Joss and Sal showed up. Joss knew a good thing when she heard it. Lydia offered to spend time with Cooper and Sophia who had turned into very active crawlers. Since there was nothing happening in the auditorium and the floor was carpeted, it was the perfect place for two little ones to chase each other.

Sal was ready to talk about the coffee shop. Once she'd settled on a name, she wanted to put plans into place. Sylvie and Jeff were excited about the bakery they'd seen the day before and were hunkered down in Jeff's office working on a proposal. Helen Oswald had begged off any excitement for today. Her legs hurt so bad she just wanted to sit in her room.

Sarah Heater was in the office working with Stephanie on some of the details regarding the filing system she'd built.

Everyone was head down when a rather attractive young man walked into the office. Polly was surprised that she hadn't seen him come past her office, but at the same time, she and Sal were looking over plans for the shop.

"I'd like to see the manager," the young man said to Stephanie.

"He's in a meeting," she responded. "Could I help you?"

"I'm interested in booking this location for my wedding next year and would like a tour. Can you do that for me?"

Stephanie turned to look at Polly, who nodded at Jeff's office.

"Just a moment, let me see if I can interrupt him." Stephanie knocked on Jeff's door and slipped inside. In just a moment, Jeff came into the main office.

"How can I help you?" he asked.

"Like I told the girl, I'd like a tour for a future wedding. You have rooms here where we could stay after a reception? I'd like to see those too."

"I'm sorry, our rooms are filled right now, but I'd be glad to show you the rest of the facility. When are you planning to be married?"

The young man's face registered surprise and then relaxed. "It won't happen until next year. If I like what I see, we can talk about dates."

"Okay. We can do that. Let me just get a couple of things and I'll be right with you."

Jeff and the young man left the main office and turned toward the auditorium. Polly looked down at the papers on her desk, then back up.

"He's familiar to me," she said.

"Who, the rude boy who wants to get married?" Sal asked.

"Yes. I don't know where I've seen him before. It's fuzzy."

"Is he from Bellingwood? I've never seen him before."

"No, I don't think so. Where else would I have gone that I'd recognize him. Boone? Maybe he works down there somewhere."

She pushed a sketch over in front of Sal. "I was thinking we could put the bread racks here behind the counter. And a pastry display case right there."

Sal nodded. "Do you think we might do create a sun porch in the winter and open air space in the summer? I can't figure out how we could do both things, but it would be really nice if we didn't lose all of that space outside when it rained or got too cold."

"This is driving me nuts," Polly said.

"I'm sorry. Am I asking too much?"

"No, no. That's not it. I've seen him before and it wasn't that long ago. Why do I know him?"

"The number of people you see on a weekly basis is big, Polly Giller. It could be anything."

"But I should know this." She tapped her tongue. "It's right there."

Jeff and the young man walked past and into the classrooms and lounge area. He was barely paying any attention to Jeff, but looked at everything, taking it all in.

"Crap," Polly said under her breath. She jumped up and shut the door to her office.

"What?"

"I know where I saw him."

"Where? Why are you shutting the door? What's going on?"

"He was driving the car that ran down Eliseo and Helen yesterday. What in the hell is he doing back here today, acting like this?"

"Calm down. Are you sure?"