All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (49 page)

"Sammy,” his mother said. “I need you to be a big
boy. You've done such a good job all the way out here with them and both Bruce
and I would appreciate it if you could continue taking care of them. Can you do
that?"

His wailing calmed down to snorting sobs, "Okay. I'm
scared, though. Will they let you come back?"

"As soon as we get this figured
out, we'll be back.
I promise. Would
you get your sister out of the car, so she can go with Miss Polly, too?"

She turned to the Sheriff. “We have a couple of their
bags in the trunk. Tyler's diaper bag and a package of diapers are right there
in the back seat. Can Polly take those, so the kids have some of their things?
”

He looked at the little boy. "Pick out a toy for
each of you to play with today, and tonight I will bring the rest of your
things." Aaron reached into the back seat and grabbed the diaper bag. He
opened it up, rifled through it and thrust it at Polly. "Hug your mom one
more time, Sammy,
then
she needs to get in my car."

Sammy and Emma both hugged their mom and after he
handed Obiwan's leash back to Polly, Aaron escorted her to his vehicle. Once
she was inside, he walked back over to the car where Polly and the kids were
standing. "I don't like this
any more
than you
do, so don't get pissed at me. These two have a lot of explaining to do and I'm
guessing that since Obiwan is still trying to dig at the car, there's plenty
more where the first package came from. Why they'd carry three kids with drugs
in their car, I have no idea. People make me angry some days.

"By the way, how did you train him for
that?" he chuckled, nodding at Obiwan.

Polly looked at him and grimaced. "Are you
kidding me? I have no idea how he did that. A good nose, I guess."

"We might have to hire him," Aaron replied,
"That's a hell of a nose!"

He took Obiwan's leash and the diaper bag back from
her and she reached for Emma's hand. The little girl looked up at her
tentatively with a tear-streaked face.

"Come on kids," she said. "I have
breakfast and a great big room for you to play in today."

She turned back to Aaron, "And I have absolutely
no idea what I'm going to do." She reached down, took Emma's hand and
began slowly walking across the lawn to the school.

"I'll have CPS call you later this morning and
we'll get everything settled. Lydia will be here soon and you know how I love
it when she gets involved." He shook his head.

They got to the front steps and he opened the door. Aaron
unsnapped Obiwan's leash,
who
went dashing in
and up the steps.

"He thinks it is time for breakfast, everyone. Do
you agree?" Polly looked at each of the kids. "Go on upstairs and
he'll show you which one is the right door. It's unlocked. Go inside and I'll
be right there."

The baby was still crying and the older children were
sniffling and sobbing. Somehow, a floppy dog, though, had grabbed their
attention and they followed him up the steps.

Polly took the diaper bag back and said, "I've
got it now, Sheriff."

"Alright," he said. "We're waiting for
a team to come up and take their car to Boone. As soon as they arrive, we'll be
cleared out."

He placed his hand on her forearm. "And thank
you. This might not be procedure, but there's no reason to upset these kids any
more than they already are. We'll get '
em
taken care of
today."

"No hurries. We'll be fine."

She started up the steps and heard the door shut
behind her. Walking in the front door of her apartment, she saw that the two
older children had found a place on the floor and were playing with the dog. He
ran up to her, wagging and wiggling.

"I know, I know," she said. "It's
breakfast." He dashed out to the kitchen and stood in front of his food
dish. "Kids, I'm going to put his food in a dish and then get things
started for you, would you like to watch some morning cartoons?"

They simply nodded. Polly put the baby down on the
floor and walked over to the couch where the remote was sitting. "Do you
want to sit on the sofa? It's a lot more comfortable?"

Both children quietly got up and sat on the edge of
the sofa. Polly turned the television on and flipped the channel to
Nickelodeon. She knew for a fact there were cartoons being played on that
channel, she watched them every morning.

"Do you guys like SpongeBob?" she asked,
looking at the clock. Yep, almost time. "I watch him every day," she
said. The two nodded and watched the television.

"Alright, I'm going to feed Obiwan and then see
what we have in here for your brother. His name is Tyler, right?"

Sammy got up off the sofa and walked over to pick up
the diaper bag. "I can do it. I help Mom all the time. She has some
formula already mixed up in here." He took a bottle out and walked over to
the baby whose seat was on the floor.

"Would you like me to carry him over to the table
in front of the couch?" Polly asked as she reached for the car seat.

She got the kids set up and watched as Sammy began to
feed his brother, stroking his head and talking to him.

"Thank you Sammy,” she said. “I appreciate it. I
think you're doing a great job and your mom would be proud of you."

Polly then walked out into the kitchen and opened the
cupboard, grabbing the container of food to fill Obiwan's dish. His entire body
wiggled with glee as food poured out and he was munching kibble before she got
the container put away.

There was a knock at her door and she assumed it was
Lydia, "Come in!" Polly called.

Lydia walked in, her arms laden with bags and boxes. Polly
ran over to help her. They unloaded everything onto the dining table. "What
did you bring?" Polly exclaimed.

"Oh, a little bit of everything," Lydia
laughed. "I have so many things at the house for my own
grandkids,
I thought maybe you could use some of them here
today. Andy is coming over in a little bit to help us and I talked to Sylvie.
She said she'll bring the boys over after school."

Polly peeked inside the two bags she had taken from
Lydia and saw games and toys. However, since the kids were completely occupied
with their little brother and television, she hoped they might be able to save
some of these things for later. She nodded to the bedroom and Lydia followed
her in. Dumping everything on the bed, they shook the bags empty and
unflapped
one of the smaller boxes. There were cars and dolls,
stuffed animals, a small train set and a few board games.

"Wow, did you bring your entire stash?"
Polly asked.

"You’d think so, but this doesn't begin to make a
dent in the toy closet. My grand babies won't even know these things are
missing."

Polly gave Lydia a sideways glance and said a bit
sheepishly, "I don't know what I was thinking. I've never spent any time
around children. When I was in high school, Dad thought it would be a good idea
if I got some experience as a babysitter. He set me up on a job with one of his
buddies, who
was
the doctor in town. That was one of the weirdest
evenings I ever spent with anyone."

Lydia giggled, "What happened?"

"Well, their little baby girl had been sick and
of course, the doctor had given her some kind of medicine. When it came time to
change her diaper, I ran into two issues. One, I had never changed a diaper in
my life.
Ever!"

That made Lydia snort
a little. "You're kidding!"

"When would I have done it?" Polly
protested. "I was an only child."

"Anyway, the smell was so
bad,
I knew I had to do something. I could have called
Mary, I suppose, but I found the box of diapers and lo and behold, there were
directions on the back. So, I propped it up on the changing table. Then, I
pulled the diaper off and holy smokes, but it was runny and I'm not
kidding when I tell you it was dark blue. That was
some awful stuff. I cleaned her up and all I could think was that I was so glad
she was a baby and would never be able to tell anyone that I had used the
directions on the box to know what to do. I managed to get a new diaper on her
and then I prayed she wouldn't need to be changed again before her parents got
home."

"So," Lydia chuckled, "I'm guessing you
aren't much better now?"

"Yeah, no," Polly said. "The only other
time I had to deal with a diaper, Mary came over to rescue me because it was
cloth and the little girl had taken it off herself!"

"We're going to make sure you have
help
today, Polly, and maybe a few lessons, too!"
Lydia walked out of the room laughing.

Polly followed her and said to the two older children,
"What would you like for breakfast this morning? I have cereal or I can
make oatmeal." When she said the word oatmeal, both kids curled their
upper lip. "Alright, oatmeal is unacceptable. I can make pancakes. Would
you like that?"

Emma's face lit up. "Can you make Mickey
pancakes?" she asked.

Polly thought for a moment, saw it in her mind and
replied with, "Yes! I think I can! But, only if you eat the whole thing!"

"Mickey! Mickey!" Emma chanted and jumped
off the couch to wrap her arms around Polly's leg.

Polly reached down to pick the little girl up in her
arms. "Would you like to keep me company while I cook?" she asked,
trying not to let the tears that threatened drip past her eyelid.

"I help! I help!" Emma curled her fist in
Polly's hair as she walked into the kitchen. Polly plopped her little bottom on
the counter top and said, "Sit right here while I gather the ingredients,
okay?"

"Okay!" Emma replied.

Polly glanced back at Sammy. Lydia looked up and
smiled as if to say, "I've got this." The two were talking quietly
while Sammy fed the baby.

"Sammy, would you like some Mickey pancakes as
well?" Polly asked.

"Regular pancakes would be fine," he quietly
said.

"What do you think, Emma," Polly said to the
little girl who was trying hard not to stick her fingers in the batter.
"Shall I make them all Mickey pancakes?"

"Sammy's sad." Emma said. "We're both
sad. Mommy didn't do anything wrong and that policeman took her away. Will we
ever see her again?"

Lydia stood up and walked toward the dining area. "My
husband is the sheriff who took your mommy away. I've told him that he has to
do everything he can to make sure your mommy comes back as soon as possible.
He's a good man and I love him. You don't need to worry."

"Why did he take her away, then?" Sammy
asked.

"Because they found something
bad in the car, Sammy.
Something that shouldn't be there.
However, they're going to check everything out and
they will do the right thing," Lydia replied.

"I still don't get it," he whimpered.

"I know you don't," Lydia said. "And
I'm sorry about that. But, for now, you get to eat pancakes and watch
television and play with a big puppy!
How's that?"

"I wish my mom were here."

"Yes, you do. You should keep wishing and praying
until she gets back, alright? Then you can tell her how much you were thinking
about her and you can tell her everything about your day with us."

Polly had been flipping pancakes while they talked and
after plating the first two, set them down on the table. She picked Emma up and
looked around. There was no way this child was going to be able to sit at the
table and Polly didn't have a big Boston telephone book to put under her
bottom. Lydia took in the situation and gathered up the pillows from the sofa. Polly
moved the two chairs with arms together and draped a dish towel over the
pillows and the kids were set. She turned away and went back to the stove to
make some more pancakes.

"I can't eat this!" Emma said.

"Why not, honey?" Lydia asked.

"Mommy always cuts up my pancake."

Lydia giggled at Polly who stood poised at the stove
with a scoop of batter.

"What do you want to do, girlfriend? Cook or
feed?"

"Uh,
Uh
...” Polly said,
which made Lydia giggle even more. At that moment, there was another knock on
the door. Sammy spun around in his chair.

"Do you want to go answer the door, Sammy? It is
probably our friend Andy."

He jumped down from the chair and ran to open it. "It's
a lady!" he said.

"Hello!" Andy called out. "Hi
there," she said to the little boy.

"But, they said it was Andy. You're a lady!"
Sammy replied.

She bustled in with a couple of bags and said,
"Both of those things are right. Andrea is my name, but everyone calls me
Andy."