All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (14 page)

"Neither of the
older
girls wanted to leave for
college, but their Dad wouldn't let them stay home. He hired someone to come in
to the house to keep it clean and make sure their mom got up in the morning. She
finally snapped out of it around Thanksgiving. It was like a light bulb finally
flicked back on.

"She called me the week before Thanksgiving and
told me Linda and Sarah
were
coming home and
she'd like to have a party that Friday night for them at the house. Would I be
able to round up some of their friends? I was so shocked to hear her voice,
much less hear her planning a party, I simply said yes.

"I made some calls and we had a pretty good
turnout." Andy turned to Lydia. "You were there, weren't you?"
she asked.

"Yeah.
You called me. I probably wouldn't have gone
otherwise. Most of those girls were older than me. But, I dragged you to that
one, too, didn't I, Beryl!"

"I remember!" Beryl said. "I wasn't
sure if I wanted to go, but you picked me up and I couldn't say no to you. That
was actually a pretty fun evening. Linda brought her boyfriend home and that
shocked her parents."

Andy went on, "The girls were surprised to see
their mother so alive again. She told them that one night, in the middle of the
night as she lay in Kellie's bed, not sleeping, she figured if they were ever
coming home, the last thing they needed to see was a Mom who was nuts, so she
was going to quit being nuts. And if the girls never came home, then her other
two daughters didn't need a crazy person for a Mom either. She'd fallen apart
and now she was go
ing to stop it.
It took her nearly six months, but she figured it out
and decided to start making a life again.

"I don't think either of them was ever
really
happy
again
though
. You could see it in their eyes. But, they made an
attempt to have a normal life. They were good grandparents to Linda's kids and
tried to make both Linda and Sarah know they were loved."

Andy stopped. The table had grown quiet.

Amber brought the two pasta dishes to Beryl and Andy. She
asked, "Is it true, Sheriff, they found bodies in the old schoolhouse?"

She turned around and took two plates away from
another server who had followed her over, placing the salad in front of Lydia
and walking around to set
Aaron’s steak
in front of him
.

"Yes, it is true, Amber. We were just talking
about it. I'm sure you'll hear all about it tomorrow when the news starts
spreading around." he
replied
.

Amber put Polly's dish in front of her. "I heard
it was the twins who everyone thought ran away forty years ago."

"We think that is true, Amber. Thank you for
bringing our meals out."

She looked a little confused, knowing she'd been
dismissed. "Is there anything else you need right now?"

Everyone shook their heads. "Okay," she
said. “I'll be back in a bit to check on you."

Lydia looked at Aaron, "It's a good thing you
don't have to keep a lid on this."

He chuckled. "There's absolutely no reason to do
that. After the number of people who saw what happened at the school this
morning and the speculation already pervading the community, it's best to tell
the truth so stories don't start running rampant.

"Do you remember when Stanley
Borts
hit a deer out by the lake? He mushed that thing up
bad. There was blood all over the car. He parked it out in front of his house
when he got home and by the next morning, everyone had him murdering his wife,
running over her fifteen times."

Lydia laughed. "Well, she
is
a terrible
bitch and she trea
ts
him terribly! I remember listening to her scream at
him in the post office because she hadn't picked the key up to their post
office box. He ran out to get it for her, it was right there in the car, but
she called him terrible names."

Beryl said, "Stupid old biddy, she's mean to
everyone. Maybe he should have run over her."

"Well," said Aaron. "With something
like this, it's important to keep the town calm. They can take care of Linda
and Sarah and their families and we can do whatever it takes to get the
investigation going. And, as long as everyone knows what is
happening
, maybe
they will
go back through
their memories of that summer and click on something
new. Especially now they know the girls were killed here in town and hadn't
been taken away to serve as sex slaves in some foreign country." He winked
at his wife as he said that and she poked him in the ribs.

They finished dinner and Andy took Beryl home. Aaron
followed them both to make sure they got safely home. Polly and Lydia
were
on a couch
in the downstairs family room
when he
walked in the door
. "Would you girls
like some water or a soda?" he asked.

"Not for me," said Polly. "This has
been a day. I'm about to fall asleep."

"Thanks, sweet-ums," Lydia grinned.
"We're fine."

"Alright.
I'm going upstairs and watch some television. Turn it
off if I've fallen asleep, would you?" he patted Polly's shoulder as he walked
past her,
then
kissed his wife on the top of her head. He lock
ed
the doors and
shut off the outside lights. Then, Polly heard him walk upstairs, check the
doors there and make his way up the second flight of stairs.

"He's pretty wonderful to you,"
she said to Lydia
.

"Yes, he is. He'll take good care of you and the
school and I can promise we're going to figure out
who
hurt my
friends." Lydia's voice was firm and strong. "I'm not going to let
this go another year. Now that those girls have been found, we're going to find
their killer, too."

She stood up. "Well, let's go to bed." The
two walked to the steps and Lydia flipped the lights off. She turned lights off
on the main level and followed Polly
on
up to the second floor
. Outside Polly's
room, she reached out and hugged the girl.

"I'm glad you're here tonight. Now, sleep well
and we'll see you in the morning. Get up whenever you'd like. I'll be
downstairs around six or so. But, please don't be in any hurry. We don't have
much to do tomorrow."

"Good night, Lydia. I'm sorry about your friends,
but I'm glad you have these amazing women around you now."

Lydia smiled. "They are pretty amazing. And
look,
now you're one of them! Goodnight."

She went on to her room and Polly could hear her
talking to Aaron as she shut the door. Polly walked into her own room,
closed
the door
and
turned on the lamp beside the bed
. She walked back to turn off the overhead light and
then sat down on her bed.

All of a sudden she remembered the missed calls
and
checked her
phone.

"God damn it," she said. "God damn it. I
can't believe it."

She pulled the cord out of her bag and plugged her
phone in, then set it on the table. After cleaning her face and pulling a night
shirt on, she crawled in between the blankets.

"I'm not thinking about anything except this
comfortable bed. Nothing is going to make me not enjoy sleeping here
tonight," she said to herself.

Polly reached up, turned the light off, turned over
and fell asleep.

It was only five thirty in the morning. Polly stretched,
rolled over and looked at the clock
.
She ha
d a little
more time to sleep, so s
he opened the
alarm clock on her phone, set it for 6:15 and curled back into the
soft and wonderful smelling
blankets. The next
thing
she knew, her phone was singing her
awake. Daylight Savings Time hadn't yet ended, so it was still dark outside
as Polly
slipped off the bed and allowed her toes to curl up in the cushion of carpet. Padding
across the room to the bathroom, she listened for any noise
s
in the house. She
couldn't hear anything, but trusted that Lydia and Aaron were up and moving.

After a quick shower, she pulled on fresh jeans and a
green blouse. Since there was no possibility of working at the school today, it
wouldn't hurt her to look a little more feminine. She put her shoes on, pulled
the covers back up on the bed and tucked things in. Then, she opened the door
to her room and peeked out. Lights were on downstairs, so she walked down
and found
Lydia
alone in the kitchen,
where
smell
s
of bacon and something sweet greeted
her as she
got
to the door
way
.

"Good morning," she said.

"I heard you coming. Coffee is already on the
table and I'
ll have muffins out in a
moment,” Lydia said.

"Has Aaron already left?"

Lydia laughed. "No, that slug won't be down for another
half hour. Don't
be fooled
, he's a terrible morning person. I've made him crazy
for years, but he
appreciated
it when I was up with the kids. He could come down
long after we'd all fought getting ready for school,
then
enjoy
breakfast and kiss them all before he left.
Dirty rat.
Now he knows I'll have the house warmed up, coffee
made and breakfast ready for him, so he can be a leisurely
s
lug."

Polly took a drink of her coffee. "Do you ever
sleep?"

"Oh, I sleep like a log. From the moment my head
hits that pillow until 5:45, I'm out. Now, if you must know, I take a 20 minute
nap every afternoon." Lydia looked around the room,
then
whispered, "I don't tell just anybody that. I
like them to think I am cheerful from dawn
‘
til dusk!"

"Well, aren't you?" Polly asked.

"I suppose I am," Lydia responded. "It's
so much easier than being grumpy all the time. And people like you a lot more
if they don't have to feel sorry for you. They generally have enough feeling
sorry for themselves going on."

Polly giggled. "I guess you have people pretty
well figured out."

"It is human nature to need attention turned on
ourselves. Whether you are being whiny or filled with drama or a plain old bitch
, people pay attention to you, which
reinforces
their
bad behavior. My mama taught me
that
the world
desire
s
sunshine and I could choose to be sunshine for people or rain on their
parades. I decided sunshine would be a lot more fun."

Polly heard footsteps on the stairway and looked up as
Aaron
entered
the kitchen. "I'm early, woman. Where's my
breakfast? What have I told you about treating your lordship right?"

He swatted Lydia on her backside,
then
leaped backward as she swung on him, spatula in hand.
"My lord
ship needs a haircut. So
there,” she said.

He stood there and looked at his wife, then reached
over, pulled her close and dipped her. Winking at Polly, he kissed her and
said, "Good morning,
snookums
."

Polly giggled and watched as Lydia dropped like
deadweight in his arms. He scrambled to bring her back to an upright position
and she wiggled away from him. "Good morning to you, you nut. Now, sit
down and I'll feed you as soon as food comes out of the oven. What in the world
are you doing up ..." she turned and looked at the clock on the wall,
"at 6:40 in the morning?