Pages of the Past (Bellingwood Book 9) (25 page)

"I think that if he's smart, he'll consider them the best present ever."

"That's what I'll tell him." Sal leaned in and waved. "I'll see you all Saturday night."

Polly hugged her. "Have a good day and thanks for being here this morning." She watched Sal walk away and turned back to the room. "I left in a hurry. They're probably wondering what's going on."

"I should take these two home so they can get lunch and a nap," Joss said. "But I will admit that the action here is better than anything daytime television offers."

"You watch that stuff?"

"Uh, yes. What else am I supposed to do? Some of those people are my best friends during the day."

"You need to invite me over more often," Polly said.

"Don't you give me any trouble. Oprah, Ellen, Walker and Chief Gillespie and Olivia Benson take good care of me."

"Chief Gillespie?" Aaron asked.

"Television show," Lydia said. "In the Heat of the Night."

Joss was surprised. "You watch it too?"

Lydia smiled and winked. "Sometimes, but don't tell anyone."

"If y'all are taking these sweet babies away, someone is going to have to haul my butt off the floor," Helen said. "Lordie, I might have made a terrible mistake getting down here."

"Thank you for entertaining them," Joss said. "We never have this much fun when we're at home."

"You look like you're a wonderful mama." Helen picked up Sophia and held her up to Lydia. "Those chunky, brown cheeks and deep, dark eyes would make it difficult to deny her anything."

"I had to be firm right up front or these two would have ruled the roost," Joss said. She brought the car seats over and once Cooper was tucked in, she took Sophia. The little girl protested, but when she was placed in front of her brother, she gurgled and reached out for him.

"Do you ever think they're actually having conversations with each other?" Polly asked.

"All the time. Sometimes I'll hear noises from them in the middle of the night. When I go in to check, they're just lying in their crib, chattering away at each other. It's back and forth too. It isn't like they are both making noise at the same time. It sounds like a conversation." She smiled. "I'll be honest, it freaks both me and Nate out. He tells me I should be worried that they're planning a takeover."

"Let me help you take them to your car," Aaron said. "Do you have a jacket?"

"It's in the hallway on the bench," Joss responded. "Thanks for an interesting morning, Polly."

Polly hugged her. "I'm sorry it got weird."

"You're fine. Where else am I going to get this kind of excitement?"

"Great. I'm your entertainment and excitement now."

Aaron picked up the two car seats and waited for Joss to hold the door open for him.

Helen waited until the door had closed before saying, "My puny bones are useless. Can you two at least get me into a chair?"

Polly looked at Lydia and they both chuckled.

"I'm sorry," Lydia gushed. "You poor thing. I thought you were staying up in your room today."

She and Polly reached down and lifted Helen to a standing position.

"What was I thinking," Helen moaned. "I should have stayed up there, but when I saw the sheriff's vehicles come in and leave, I hated to be missin' the action."

She hobbled over to one of the chairs. "Did you get a name on the young man who was here this morning? And what was he doing?"

"He said his name was Jerry Costanza," Polly said. "He wanted a tour so he could book a wedding reception here sometime next year."

"That was a convenient excuse to case the joint. Aaron put that all together, right?"

"What do you mean?" Polly asked.

"If he was casing the joint, who was it for? Why did he need the information?"

"We're asking those questions," Aaron said, coming back into the auditorium. "It worries me too."

"Good. I knew you'd be smart about this."

"Of course you did. When I leave today, are you two," he looked at Polly. "You
three
ladies going to play it safe around here or do I need to send an unsuspecting deputy up to keep an eye on you?"

"We'll be good," Lydia said. "I promise. You won't let me go home yet?"

"Not yet. But soon."

"There are comfortable chairs in the conference room," Polly said. "And the television works, too. Unless you want to go back upstairs."

"I'm not ready for that much solitude again," Helen said. "Do you have a deck of cards in this joint? Maybe we could talk your staff into a game of strip poker."

"Helen!" Aaron said.

"If it were one of Lydia's church meetings, it would be much more fun. Can't you just see all of those wrinkled, old faces in shock as they try to imagine each other without any clothes?" She cackled as she thought about it.

Lydia tried desperately to suppress a grin and failed. Even Aaron had to put his hand over his eyes as he shook his head.

Polly put her arm out to give Helen leverage as she stood back up from the chair. "Have you met Lydia's friend, Beryl Watson?"

"No!" Lydia cried. "They can never meet. The universe couldn't withstand the cataclysm."

"Who's this Beryl Watson? Is she as great a gal as me?" Helen asked.

"I'm leaving now." Aaron bent over and kissed his wife. She wrapped her arms around his neck and made a waving motion behind his back to Polly and Helen.

"We should leave first," Polly said in a stage whisper.

"They never could keep their hands off each other. I could tell you stories of the days before they had children." Helen's gave her a grin. "Let me tell you about the time they stayed in a hotel near a golf course. Which hole was it, Aaron? Was that why they started lighting it at night?"

"Stop it, you old lady," he said, taking Lydia's hand. "If you start telling stories, I have plenty that will embarrass you."

"He does, you know," Helen said, her arm through Polly's. "I was a girl with three younger brothers. I had to learn how to hold my own."

"I think you succeeded."

"Years and years of practice, my dear. Years and years of practice."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

"Can you give me a minute?" Aaron asked Jeff. He'd walked back into the office with Polly, Lydia and Helen. "I'd like you to tell me what you can about your visitor."

"I probably gave him more information than he gave me," Jeff said.

"Tell me what he was interested in."

Polly didn't hear anyone object, so she followed Aaron into Jeff's office and sat down on the sofa. When he looked at her and grinned, she just shrugged her shoulders.

"He was upset that I wouldn't let him tour the addition," Jeff said. "He wanted to see the rooms over there - said that he and his fiancée might want to spend the night after their reception. We've actually had several couples do that so I didn't think anything of it.

"What else?" Aaron asked.

"He wanted to see the whole place. He took pictures and said he was sending them to his girlfriend."

"He sent pictures out?"

"Sure," Jeff said nonchalantly. Then he stopped. "Crap."

Aaron stood. "I'll be right back."

He left the office with his phone at his ear.

"What do you think?" Jeff asked Polly.

"He's having them check the guy's phone. If he was sending pictures to someone, they aren't done up here yet."

"Do you think it's safe for us to be here? Maybe I should send Stephanie home."

She nodded. "If they aren't comfortable here, it's better that they go. I'll pay them anyway."

Aaron came back into the office. "Do you have anything going on here this afternoon or evening?"

"No," Jeff said. "Why?"

"Polly, I want you to lock the doors. Don't let anyone in unless you know them or they have an appointment."

She sat forward. "Jeff and I were just talking about it. Should we send people home? And I have to get the kids this afternoon from school. What about taking the dogs out?"

"I think you're safe, but do what you need to do."

Sylvie stood in Jeff's door. "I'm not going anywhere. If Polly is safe here, then I'll be fine. And besides, I have to prep for Saturday night. I can't afford to sit at home, staring at the television."

"There won't be any random violence. I'm certain of that," Aaron said. "Helen and I are the only targets this person is interested in and in just a short period of time, we will have this dealt with. Jeff, is there anything else that comes to mind regarding your visitor?"

Jeff shook his head. "No. Nothing else. I gave him brochures and pricing information. He was very polite."

"They always are," Polly muttered. "Right up until they go all serial killer on you."

She got up and followed Aaron out of the office. "Do you think we need to worry?" she asked.

"Not really, but it can't hurt to be safe. Can you lock the doors from here?"

Polly nodded and swiped her phone open and proceeded to click the doors locked from the app. "Here," she said. "Let me email you the key. That way you can get in and out."

"I already have it."

"Sure," she said, shaking her head. "I knew that. I'm a bit flustered by all of this."

He put his arm around her shoulder. "It's all going to be fine. Sutton has to know by now that everything is erupting. His days of calm are over and he'll either have to deal with it or go away and hide."

"What?" she asked. "When will you tell us?"

"I don't know why I still feel as if I need to keep everything quiet. It's just been second nature for all these years. Until someone with more clout than I have tells me that it's okay to tell people, I just don't feel comfortable. There are lives at stake out there and if Sutton decided to do something stupid, people other than me and Helen would be at risk."

"Okay. I know I'm being a pain about this. Sorry."

"I get it. These last couple of months have been strange."

They walked through the kitchen and he tugged on the door leading outside, then they walked through to the garage.

"I should have talked to Lydia all those years ago," he said. "But I thought it was behind me. It never occurred to any of us that it would come up again. When Albert called last summer, I still couldn't imagine that it would affect me. But the more time passed and the closer it got, the more I knew this had the potential to go south and I was going to be dragged into it. I shut down." He shrugged a shoulder. "That's all I can say. I just shut down. I didn't see a way to make it better. I worried about Helen and I couldn't talk to anyone. I didn't want to call her to make sure that she knew to be prepared. Polly, you don't know how powerful some of those people are and how deeply they have tentacles in the politics and life of Atlanta."

She wanted to interrupt and ask questions, but if he finally started talking, she was just going to follow him around the building and listen.

"Albert told me he was coming to see me. I don't know why. There wasn't any reason for it. We weren't going to fix things from here. Maybe he needed to make sure for himself that I was doing okay."

"Did you and he stay close through the years?"

"No," Aaron said. "It was too difficult. I left town and he left the force. He was so angry he couldn't see a way around it. I think he stayed in contact with Helen at the shelter. Every once in a while she mentioned that he was helping out with the kids. He was disappointed that we'd been allowed to just leave. No one wanted to take care of us. It was easier to let us go. I was young enough that it didn't matter. I could start over. He had a family, but in the middle of it all, his first wife left him and took their boys. I would never have known where she was except I had to let her know that he'd been killed."

"He never saw them again?"

"I don't think so. It was part of the price he paid."

"What was your price?"

He glanced in the vicinity of the offices. "Helen. She was angry with how things were handled. I was furious that she couldn't understand my choices. We both felt like we were betrayed by the other one. Lydia took the kids down to Atlanta several times to see the family, but I stayed here. When Dad died and then Mom a couple of years later, I went back for their funerals, but I lost my family. I did the right thing, though, even if she didn't like it."

"Did she know everything?"

"She knew enough. In fact, she was the catalyst. But she had no idea how much her actions would cost. She did the right thing too, though. The cost was worth it."

He tugged at the front doors and said, "It never occurred to me that you would end up in the middle of all of this. For the last two years I've tried to protect you from the absurdity of your own life and then, mine sideswiped you. That nearly destroyed me, you know. How was I ever going to explain to Lydia that you were in danger because of choices I made before she'd even met me."

"How did the two of you meet, anyway?" Polly asked. She didn't want him to stop talking.

Aaron smiled. "It was a blind date for me. But not for Lydia. That woman picked me out and told one of her friends to set us up. She didn't ask, she told the friend."

"Someone I know?"

"No. Nena Mack. She lives in Washington. Got married, he worked for a little programming company that exploded in the nineties. But back then, Nena was dating a boy whose brother was a deputy."

"Where was your first date?"

"I took her to State Fair. It's always been her favorite thing to do in the summer." He released a breath that sounded like a laugh. "Actually, I didn't take her. She took me. I'd never seen anything like it. She loved the entire experience."

"Did you ever camp down there?" Polly asked. "I have friends who used to do that."

"When we had young kids, we spent the whole two weeks. I rented a camper and off we went. Lydia was in heaven. There was nothing too big or too small for her to experience. We don't spend enough time doing that now. If we can get down for a day, it's a big deal."

"You should go with your grandkids. They'd love it."

"Maybe when they're older. Lydia will tell me when she's ready. You know, after that first date, she told her friend that if I asked her out again, she'd marry me."

"I take it you asked her out."

"Nena called me and told me that I'd better not screw this up. So I didn't. I called Lydia the next night and asked her to dinner. That night she took me to Davey's and she never let me out of her sight again. We were married five months later and Marilyn was born less than a year after that."

"Lydia's never really talked about this."

"All you need to do is ask. She tells these stories all the time, but I think she believes that she's worn them out and no one wants to hear them any longer."

"I loved hearing my dad tell stories of when he and Mom were dating. You could feel them falling in love with each other."

"I fell in love with that woman the first time I met her and then as I experienced her enthusiastic joy while she dragged me around those State Fairgrounds, I knew I couldn't live without her. She was like no one I'd ever known. I moved here after experiencing the worst lows of my life and one day, there was a light and she wanted to be with me. I couldn't marry her fast enough."

"Five months is a short time to plan a wedding."

"That's what her mom said, too. Her Dad offered me two thousand dollars to elope. But Lydia had it well in hand. I gave her a ring, she said yes, and flew into a frenzy of activity. It was a simple wedding. We got married and had a small reception at the church. Nothing like what you serve up here at Sycamore House."

"Some of them are ridiculous," Polly said. "You saw how I did it. Simple. I couldn't go through what these brides and their families create."

They were standing in the lounge across from the offices. Polly would have loved to sit, relax and listen to Aaron talk. But she knew that if she interrupted him, he'd take off and the moment would be gone.

"As long as they're happy," he said. "Marilyn's wedding was an extravaganza. That's the only word I have for it. Lydia had a ball. I wondered if she was making up for her modest wedding, but no, that woman always knew what she wanted. She and Marilyn spent a year planning and honestly, it wasn't as expensive as I feared."

He looked off toward the addition as if he could see Lydia through the walls. "She's always taken care of me. No matter what. Our family had everything it needed and more, but she wasn't reckless or out of control. I couldn't have asked for a better life."

"So far," Polly said.

Aaron smiled at her. "Of course. So far. Don't worry, Polly. I'm not going anywhere. You live much too risky a life for me to let anyone else take care of you." He patted her shoulder. "Except for Henry. That man is a saint. I'm not married to you and some nights I stay awake worrying about what you've gotten in to. He has to live with you every day. I don't know how he goes to work in the morning."

"Stop it," she brushed him off. "It's not that bad."

"It would be for me. You're a menace to strong hearts everywhere."

Polly had subtly guided Aaron back into her office as they talked and gestured to a chair. He hesitated and then sat down.

"I guess I'm not going anywhere and at least this way I can see out into the parking lot," he said.

"Nothing is going to happen. You've got the bad guy."

"No, we just have a minion, but if we're lucky, he's not a bright minion and will give us what we need."

Aaron's phone rang and he looked at it curiously. "Sheriff Merritt speaking."

All of a sudden, he looked up at Polly and motioned for a pen and paper. She shoved those at him and he wrote, "Call Stu. Tell them to trace this call. I need to know where he's at."

"That's not going to happen, Price. It's all over," he said.

Polly dialed the main number for the Sheriff's office. The voice on the other end of Aaron's call was loud, yelling.

"Boone County Sheriff," a voice said.

"This is Polly Giller. Can I speak to Stu? Aaron needs a trace."

"Just a moment."

In a split second, Stu was on the line. "Aaron's number?"

"Yes. I think it's that Price Sutton. Aaron wants to know where he is."