All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (52 page)

She pulled the door shut behind her as she walked back
out into the hall. Then, she remembered that Henry had been in her apartment,
so she though she ought to check it out. He hadn't rearranged much, but there
was a lovely tree in front of one of the living room windows. Obiwan was
sitting on the sofa, wiggling with excitement at seeing her. Polly sat down
beside him, stroked his back and looked at the tree.

"What am I going to do with this, Obi?" she
asked. He laid his head on her lap and turned over for a belly rub.

She knew her Christmas decorations were in the
basement somewhere. Maybe she'd find time to dig them out and decorate the tree
before Christmas arrived. Polly continued to stare at the tree and imagine her
favorite ornaments filling it. Last year her friends had purchased way too many
Star Wars ornaments for her. She chuckled at the memory,
then
thought about putting a smaller tree in her bedroom,
or maybe even her office, for sci-fi ornaments. The Death Star probably
shouldn't be the tree topper, though, but maybe crossed light sabers would
work. That would be awesome.

A knock at the door broke her out of her reverie, and
when she answered, Jeff was standing there.

"You should come downstairs and see what we've
done to the auditorium," he said. "Just in case you want to move
anything around before the guys leave."

Polly followed him downstairs and when he opened the
door, she smiled and nodded. "This is great. This is just perfect!" There
were tables scattered around the rooms, intermixed with trees of various sizes.
Her first concern was that there be enough space for people to walk, but she
saw that it would be fine. Chairs for the musical groups and a podium were
arranged on the stage.

"What are you doing about electricity for lights
on the trees?" she asked.

"I have battery operated LED lights," he
said. "Trust me, I think of everything!"

"Well then, I think this is perfect! It's going
to be so festive!" Polly replied.

"Great, I'm going to let everyone go. Are you
sure you don't need help with decorating the trees?"

"I'm not sure at all, to be honest with you. But,
I'll make it work. We'll be fine,” she assured him.

Henry approached the two of them, "Does she like
it?" he asked.

"She does," Jeff responded.

"That's good. She's pretty hard to please,"
Henry laughed.

"Hey!" Polly paused. "Am I really?"

"No," he said, "Not at all.
Which makes it all that much more fun to do good work for you.
You seem to expect it."

Henry took her arm and turned her away and began
walking with her. "So, I was wondering, Polly. Are you busy tonight?"

"Well," she hesitated, "I've got people
staying here and there are children and …"

"Polly," he interrupted. "I got the
story from Jeff. I think they can take care of themselves. They'll probably
just be glad to be together again. Bring in a pizza or something, the kids will
love it."

"I don't know, Henry." Polly continued to
protest.

"Come on. Let me take you out to dinner tonight. Christmas
is going to be here soon and my family will all be coming home. It's been crazy
nuts trying to get this place finished. Let's go somewhere quiet and enjoy a
nice dinner."

"Do I have to dress up?" she asked.

Henry thought about it and then said, "Yes. You
have to dress up. Put on a dress and look nice. Not black tie fancy, but a nice
dress. I'll be in a jacket, but no tie.
How's that?”
He took a breath,
then
said, “And I'll
pick you up at 6:45."

"Is this a date, Henry?" she smirked.

"Yes. It's a date.” He grinned at her. “You're my
date for tonight."

"Alright.
I'll do it," Polly replied. Her heart seemed to
beat a little faster and she felt her face flush, but was saved any further
embarrassment at her own behavior with noise from the front door. Everyone had
returned.

Lydia brought them all into the auditorium and looked
meaningfully at Polly, who nodded in the affirmative, then glanced toward the
ceiling. Lydia smiled as Sammy and Emma stood in the doorway with their mouths
open.

"It looks like a Christmas forest!" Sammy
exclaimed.

"It's so pretty!" said his sister.

"We're going to put lights on these trees and it
will be even prettier!" Polly told them. "But first, let's go
upstairs. I have a surprise for you!"

She turned back to Henry. "I'll see you later."

"I'm looking forward to it, Polly," he said
as she walked away.

Lydia whispered at her, "Are you going out on a
date with Henry?"

Polly whispered back, "Yes I am. He's making me
dress up."

They walked out into the hallway and Lydia said to
Andy, who was holding the baby. "Henry asked Polly out and she's going!"

Andy chuckled. "Well, it's about time. Wait until
Beryl hears this. She's been saying all along that the two of you should just
do something about it."

"It's only a date," Polly protested.

"Uh huh, that's what I told my friends after my
first date with Aaron!" Lydia teased.

"Wow!" Polly said, "I'm nowhere near
that. Let's not get us married for a very long time, alright?"

They were laughing as they went up the steps.

"Sammy and Emma, I have something I want to show
you in this room over here. Come with me," Polly said.

She knocked on the door. When Hannah opened it and saw
the children, she dropped to her knees and hugged them both close to her.

"Mommy, you're here!" Sammy cried.

Emma began to cry, her tears choked out in sobs.
"Mommy!"

The three of them held on for a moment. Bruce came
over to the doorway and set his hand on Hannah's shoulder, waiting patiently. The
kids saw him and Sammy pulled away from his mother, "Bruce, you're here,
too! I was so scared!"

"I know, Sammy. I was too. But Polly here made
sure we were able to be with you tonight."

"She's great, Bruce. She likes Star Wars, too."

Bruce looked up and laughed. “I’d forgotten about
that. It was you and me and Marsha who watched Star Wars together, wasn't it!"

"It was," Polly laughed. "We rented it
at the video store downtown to watch the whole thing before the first Special
Edition came out. I'd forgotten about that."

Hannah took Tyler out of Andy's arms and pulled him
close to her chest. Bruce swung Emma up into his arms and she laid her head
against his shoulder.

"Thank you for everything Polly."

"Look,” Polly said. “There's a bunch of stuff
over in my apartment for the kids. There are some toys they've been playing
with, a travel crib for Tyler to use and all of their clothes. Let's gather up
what you want to use and bring it on over here."

In a few minutes, the kids' things had all been moved
across the hall and the extra cot was set up for Sammy. Polly let Obiwan out
and started the tour with Bruce and Hannah.

After showing them where everything was located in the
bathrooms, she took them downstairs to the kitchen. "You can use anything
in here you like," Polly said. "I'm going out tonight, but I thought
we could bring pizza in."

Hannah was looking at the pantry shelves and wandering
around the kitchen. "This is amazing. I've never seen anything like
it!" she exclaimed.

"The pantry is full and so is the refrigerator. If
you see anything in here you'd rather cook up, I'm fine with that," Polly
said.

"Could I? I love to cook and we've been eating
nothing but junk for the last couple of days," Hannah replied.

"Sure! Do you think you need anything more?"
Polly asked.

Hannah opened the refrigerator and then the freezer. She
glanced over at the pantry and said, "Honestly, you have enough here to
feed an army. I'll find something to make for tonight. Thank you!"

"Then make yourselves at home. If you want to
take a few of the folding chairs upstairs, that's fine. If you want to eat in
the auditorium, that's fine, too. Feel free to do whatever you'd like while
you're here." Polly said.

She scratched Obiwan’s head and said, "Now, I
need to run this dog for a bit, take a shower and get ready!"

Lydia and Andy followed her outside with Obiwan. "You're
doing a good thing, Polly," Lydia said as she patted her arm.

"I hope so. I knew Bruce pretty well when we were
in high school. And Hannah seems like a nice girl. I hope it all works out,"
Polly replied.

"You know me," Lydia said, "I see the
world through rose-colored glasses. I think we’re going to have a wonderful
little Christmas miracle."

Andy snickered as the two women walked back to Lydia's
Jeep. Polly took off at a slow jog with Obiwan by her side as Lydia and Andy
pulled out of the lot.

Later, Polly laughed as she came out of the bathroom.
She hadn't taken that long to clean up in months. She'd clipped nails, shaved
hairs, fussed over her makeup and had somehow managed to curl her hair into
what she considered a relatively attractive coif. Now, she needed to find
something to wear. Obiwan was curled up in her pillows and watched as she began
pulling clothes out of the closet.

"A dress," she said out loud. Obiwan cocked
his head as if listening to her. "Huh. He's not wearing a tie, so nothing
terribly fancy." She flipped through the hangers and then flipped through
them again. "You wouldn't think it would be this hard. I've been out on
dates before."

She finally settled on a belted, forest green dress
with velvet cuffs on the sleeves. A pair of black pumps and some black drop
earrings and she felt pretty comfortable with her ensemble. Spinning around,
she said, "So? What do you think, Obiwan?
Too much?
Not enough?"

The dog got up, stretched and walked to the end of the
bed. He sat back down and put his paw out. She shook it. "I'm going to
take that as confirmation that it's alright. Now, because I don't want to deal
with your hair all over me, you stay here and I'm going downstairs. Polly bent
over and kissed him on the head. He jumped down and followed her out of the
bedroom, then sat and watched as she lifted her coat off the coatrack and
grabbed her purse. "I'll see you later," and she walked out the front
door of her apartment.

When she got downstairs, she was greeted by both Sammy
and Emma.

"You're beautiful!" Emma gushed.

"Wow, you look like an angel," Sammy echoed.

"Thanks, you two. What are you doing down
here?" she asked.

"Mommy's in the kitchen making dinner. We're
supposed to stay down here with her while Bruce and Tyler take a nap upstairs,"
Sammy told her.

Polly walked back into the kitchen, the kids closely
behind her. "Are you finding everything you need?" she asked Hannah.

"Oh, Polly.
This kitchen is wonderful! Thank you for letting me
use
it,"
Hannah responded.

"I'm glad you are. When they finally got my
kitchen installed upstairs, I quit spending so much time in here." Polly
looked around. "It is pretty nice."

The front door opened and Polly called out, "I'm
back here in the kitchen!" Henry came around the steps and walked up to
her.

Emma asked, "Are you taking her out on a
date?" then giggled.

"I am," Henry responded. "Since she
looks so beautiful, I should probably make this a very nice date, shouldn't I!"

Sammy looked at the two of them, "I'd take her
out to a fancy dinner, then for a ride in a boat!"

Hannah laughed, "That was a 'date' we all took
this summer."

"Well, it might be a little too cold for a ride
in a boat tonight,” Henry said, “but I have some other ideas. We will start
with a fancy dinner, though. I promise."

He took Polly's hand and tucked it into his elbow,
"Shall we go?"

"Have a good evening, Hannah!" Polly said,
then knelt down to get closer to Emma and Sammy, "And you guys
be
good, okay? I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"You look wonderful, Polly," Henry said as
they walked out the front door.

Polly looked him up and down. He looked pretty good in
his nice slacks, a black turtleneck and a jacket. "I don't think I've ever
seen you in anything but jeans," she said. "You look pretty fabulous
yourself!"

"See, this was a great idea," he chuckled.
"We get to see that the other person actually owns nice clothing."

Instead of his truck, a beautiful older model teal car
sat in front of the school. "What is this?" Polly asked.

"It's my pride and joy. I never bring it out in
the winter, except for special occasions." Henry opened the passenger door
and held it while Polly entered and waited as she pulled her feet into the car.
He shut the door and walked around to the driver's side and got in.