Tomorrow's Promises (Bellingwood Book 7) (14 page)

"Whoa," he said, laughing. Then he said. "Do you see what I did there? Whoa? Horses and donkeys? Did it make you smile at least?"

"You're a nut. Yes it did."

"These last days have been busy, but we're not leaving town tomorrow and I bet you're about to have more time than you want with all of your friends. Just think, we'll even be here when Joss and Nate bring their baby home. Now that should give you something to look forward to, right?"

She reached up and kissed him, then rested her head on his chest. "I want a big generator."

"You said that earlier."

"I want a big generator so that if the power goes out again, we can just turn it on and keep going. I didn't like that tonight."

"You really want to talk about this now?"

"I want a generator here and another one out at Sycamore Inn."

"Okay, I'll look into it."

"Good." She felt her eyes close and reached to put her hand on Obiwan's head. "It is easier."

"What's easier?" he asked.

"You."

"Polly?"

She was too exhausted to say anything.

"Polly!" Henry pushed her upright and she moaned.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because you're falling asleep on me. Let's go to bed. You are done."

"I told you I was tired."

She heaved herself up off the coach and moaned again. "It's been a long day."

"You go to bed and I'll check the house."

Polly barely had the energy to wonder why he was checking the house. He had the same app that she did and could lock the doors and shut off lights. She went into the bedroom, stripped off her clothes and crawled between the sheets. It felt wonderful.

Henry joined her in a minute and then she felt something warm and moist on her forehead. "What's this?"

"Mom used to do this for me when I was sick and exhausted." He gently wiped her face with the warm washcloth and kissed her lips. "Roll over," he ordered.

Polly rolled onto her stomach and he rubbed her shoulders and down her back with the cloth. She thought that she ought to thank him ...

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"No more. I'm done
. Please no more." Polly dropped into the chair in front of Jeff's desk late afternoon on Thursday. She was exhausted. He didn't look any better.

"What do you know?" she asked.

He grunted, "Not much. I think the groups who are staying in the classrooms and the auditorium are leaving tomorrow night. But there will be another influx Monday morning."

Several large groups of volunteers from around the state had come into Bellingwood to help with cleanup. She was impressed with their stamina. They helped unearth treasures from homes that had been destroyed, cleared mud and debris from other houses that were badly damaged, cleaned up yards and most of all, walked fields picking up things that had been deposited by the storm. Every evening they went to the elementary school for showers and then came over to Sycamore House to eat something and drop to sleep. There had never been this much continuous activity in the building, and much as she was glad to help, Polly was ready for a break. She thought that everyone in town might be ready for a short break.

Three of the families who had been staying at the hotel had already found more permanent housing and another was leaving tomorrow morning.

"What about you?" Jeff asked. "And Henry? I haven't seen him around at all this week."

"Everything he was working on has been put on hold. He's spent all week dealing with temporary construction, trying to get people's homes and farms solid enough to keep out weather. We're supposed to get more rain this weekend."

"Last year it was dry as a bone. This year we can't seem to catch a break," Jeff lamented.

"Have you seen our photographer guest around? That Lois Wexler?"

"Yes, she said this was a perfect opportunity for her to do some photojournalism. I haven't seen any of her work, but even a rank amateur should be able to get some good stuff after this storm."

"I guess she was in the right place at the right time. I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to talk to her. It's just been nuts. Every time I had a free moment, something else came up."

Polly leaned back in the chair, stretching her legs out in front of her. "I didn't want to travel this week. But I certainly didn't think this was what I'd be doing." She looked over her shoulder when she caught movement in the outer office, then sat up straight and turned to see Kelly Locke and her son standing there.

"I'm sorry to bother you again," Kelly said. "Could I please speak with you?"

"Sure, come on in." Polly had actually grown quite tired of the woman this week. She understood that Kelly was worried about her husband and daughter, but she'd pushed Polly too far several times. She sniped at her son constantly about every action he took or didn't take. She was in Jeff's office or the kitchen or wherever she could find Polly, complaining about noise or the behavior of the people who were staying there. She wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but she never seemed to be content or satisfied with the moment. She told Polly once that she knew she was a perfectionist, but when she'd informed both Jeff and Polly that she wouldn't have put so many Sycamore trees on the property because they were going to create a lot of leaves in the fall, Polly just gave up. Kelly was forever adjusting things - rearranging condiments on tables, shuffling chairs around to some pattern that Polly couldn't see. She criticized food choices and followed Rachel into the public bathrooms to instruct her on proper cleaning techniques. There would never be any pleasing Kelly Locke.

"They want to release Curt on Saturday. I told them that we didn't have a good place to go. I don't think this place is a good environment for him and we can't afford anything else."

Polly half-closed her eyes and tried not to purse her lips in anger. "What do you think should happen?" she asked.

"I don't know. I wish Jessie hadn't run away. She's the cause of all this. Her father wouldn't have been out here looking for her if she'd been at home where she belonged."

Jeff didn't miss a beat, "Doesn't your husband drive a truck? It seems to me that it was better he was here rather than out on the road somewhere. At least we were able to get him to the hospital immediately."

"Yes, but ..." Kelly started. Her son walked out of the office and dropped into a chair in front of Sarah's desk.

"Will your insurance pay for a rehabilitation facility so that he can get stronger before you have to travel back to Colorado?"

"I don't know."

"You're more than welcome to bring him here, but we can't provide any more care," Jeff said.

"Maybe your insurance will cover an ambulance to take him back to Colorado," Polly offered. "I think you should talk to him and his doctor about this."

"I can't invest any more time in Jessie. I need to be back at work on Monday. This has gone on long enough. If you find her, tell her she's on her own now."

The woman walked out of the office and Polly looked at Jeff. His face must have matched hers in shock and confusion.

"What in the heck just happened there?" he asked.

"I think she just threw her daughter away."

"People are unbelievable. The man was going to have a heart attack. Because it happened while he was in Iowa looking for his daughter, it's the girl's fault?"

"I have an idea. I can't believe I didn't think of it before." Polly jumped up and ran out of the office, catching up to Kelly Locke before she and her son entered the addition.

"Mrs. Locke?"

"Yes?"

"What was the last name of that friend of Jessie's? The one that told your husband about her boyfriend."

"That no-good trash. She won't tell you anything. I asked her repeatedly to tell me where Jessie was. I know she lied to me when she said she didn't know. I tried to get her mother to force her to tell me, but the mother isn't any better."

"Maybe she can give me a clue that she doesn't even realize she has." Polly tried to mollify the woman.

"I don't have her phone number here. It's in Jessie's phone. I left that in Colorado."

"You did what?" Polly was astounded. "Well, can you at least tell me her name? Maybe her parents' names?"

"Her name is Maggie Dunn. Her mother's name is Louise. There's no father in the house. He's probably in jail somewhere."

"Thank you. This might help me."

Kelly Locke opened the door and pushed through and her son held back. He waited until the door had closed and said, "She's just worried about Dad. She doesn't mean any of it. Anything you can do to find Jessie would be really helpful."

"Can your older brothers help at all with your dad?" Polly asked.

"They don't live close. Dave is in Oregon and Pete is in Alabama. We never see them."

"I see," she said. And she did. No wonder Curt Locke had come out here on his own to find his daughter. He wasn't ready to lose one more child to the world. "I'll do what I can."

"Can I give you my phone number? If you find her and we're gone, will you call me? Just to tell me that she's okay? And will you tell her that I miss her and want to hear from her? Even if Mom is mad, Dad and I want to be sure she's safe."

"I'll do that." He gave her his number and she entered it into her contacts.

"I'd better go before she comes looking for me. Call me, will you?"

Polly nodded and watched him take off after his mother. That poor boy had a lot on his shoulders. If he stayed close to her, he was going to end up with a great deal of responsibility.

She went back into Jeff's office. "I'm going to make a few phone calls."

"What did you find out?"

"I should have done this earlier, this week has been crazy. I'm calling Jessie's friend in Colorado if I can figure out who she is. At least now I have a name. Maybe she'll tell me something that she wouldn't tell Kelly Locke."

"You aren't a threat," he said. "At least not yet."

Polly searched the internet for Jessie's friend and landed on a phone number that had been disconnected. That was the one thing she didn't like about everyone moving to cell phones, there was no way to access those numbers easily. The next thing she did, though, was to look through Facebook. She found Jessie Locke's profile and then after a few more clicks found Maggie Dunn. All she could do was take a stab at it, so she sent a quick message to both girls and hoped for the best.

She should have tried that earlier, too. A quick search later told her that neither Kelly nor Curt Locke had profiles on Facebook, so that explained why they hadn't thought to try to reach out to their daughter in that manner. She just hoped that the girl wouldn't be too gun-shy to communicate.

"Polly?"

She turned back to the front of the office and saw her friend standing in the doorway. "Sal, what are you doing here?"

"I came by to see if you and Henry wanted to take a break tonight. Mark is going to have a free evening and maybe we could have dinner together."

"I don't know. Henry hasn't been getting home until after nine every night this week. Let me text him." Polly motioned to the chair in front of her and then sent a quick text to her husband.

"Sal and Mark are free tonight. Do you want to do dinner?"

She looked up at her friend, "I'm so sorry this week has been crazy. What a weird time for you to land in Bellingwood."

"It's actually been okay. I've been thinking a lot about things and this week is helping me make some decisions."

"Really? What kind of decisions?"

"I don't want to say too much yet. Mark and I haven't had time to talk about it."

"What exactly does that mean?" Polly couldn't let herself believe this.

"I might throw caution to the wind and move out here. Maybe it's time for me to start writing. Maybe I'll look for a job at one of the universities or colleges in the area."

"But what about your parents? Your mom will never let you come to Iowa, of all places."

"I'm in my thirties, Polly. I think Mom can let me go."

"But Mark isn't Jewish. I mean, he really isn't Jewish." Polly grimaced. "You aren't going to make him convert, are you?"

"Oh, good grief, no!" Sal started laughing. "We'll just have to figure that out as we go. It's not like this is going to carve a big hole in my life. And Mom and Dad only go to temple when they have to. I don't care what they say, we're just not very religious."

Polly's phone buzzed with a text from Henry.
"I'm busy. But go if you want. I'll see you later."

"Henry can't go tonight. I didn't think he would."

"What about you? Do you have time for us?"

"I'd like to say yes, but I should be here to work in the kitchen. It's nuts around here in the evenings."

"I know. It was a long shot."

"So would you move in with Mark?"

"That's part of what we need to talk about. I think so. It's been a really great week so far. I've even gone out on some of his calls with him."

"In the mud and manure?"

Sal grinned across the desk at her. "Believe it or not! I like watching him take care of those big animals. He knows just what he's doing and before long, they're all fixed up and he's shaking hands with the farmer." Her face dropped. "I didn't like watching him put down a calf that had been hurt in the storm. She was a little girl's 4-H calf and that poor child cried and cried. He said there wasn't anything he could have done, but it broke my heart."

"And you still want to move here, after all of that?"

"I'm as surprised as you."

"When will this happen?"

"I don't know." Sal was shaking her head. "Like I said, we need to talk. But I tell you what, after being here through this and meeting so many different people and being able to breathe at night and not panic in the morning about getting to work, I don't want to go back at all. I just want to call my dad and have him hire a moving company to pack my apartment and ship the stuff to me."

"Wow," Polly said. "Just. Wow."

"I know! I'm really excited." She reached across the desk and Polly put her hand out to take Sal's. "Are you going to be okay with me moving to your little town?"