Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 05 - Life Between the Lines (7 page)

The gown Polly had found online was gorgeous. She wasn’t too sure about the corset and petticoat, but for one night, it would be fine.

“Thank you for this, Henry,” she said. “I would never have thought to do something like it and you’re right, it should be commemorated.” She set it up in a chair and looked at it. “It’s been a whole year, Henry. A year!”

“It’s been a good year.”

“Do you remember putting this floor in for me? I wasn’t even in town when you brought all of my furniture up from downstairs.”

“That was a fun night. We were all so glad you were safe. That’s the night you got Obiwan, too.”

The dog heard his name and padded over to sit between them. Polly reached down and scratched his head. “When Lydia came in my front door with Beryl and Andy, I couldn’t begin to comprehend the changes that were about to happen in my life. It’s not as if I had a big plan, but somehow Lydia knew that I was supposed to be her friend and she made it okay for me to be part of the community.”

“She’s a pretty big presence in town.”

“You warned me,” Polly laughed. “You told me that things weren’t ever going to be quiet once I became friends with them.”

“I was right, wasn’t I!” he said.

“It’s been a year,” she said again, taking a bite of pie. “Wow. So, when did you decide to ask me out?”

“I was getting close when Joey showed up and made a mess of everything. Then, you were so busy with finishing the renovation and then Jeff showed up and you made all these Christmas party plans.” He took a breath. “I finally just figured I had to do it or I’d never get the opportunity.”

“Can we go back to that same restaurant to celebrate our first year?” she asked.

Henry reached out and took her hand. “Of course we can. That was a great night. I knew I was in love with you then.”

Polly pulled her hand out and laid it on top of his, squeezing it. “It took me a long time to admit it, but I knew that I wanted something with you.” She sat back and took another bite of pie, watching as he ate. “Do you ever think about how many things had to align for us to find each other? Do you believe in fate?” she asked.

“I believe that if we pay attention, good things have a tendency to show up. You showed up and I paid attention and I wasn’t going to let that blasted Mark Ogden get a chance at you.”

Polly had been a bit smitten with her veterinarian’s extraordinary good looks. After spending a wonderful evening with him learning to dance last winter, she’d realized, though, that she really wasn’t interested in him. It had always been Henry.

“You never had anything to worry about, you know.”

“I didn’t know. But I did know that for the first time in my life I wasn’t going to be the nice guy and let someone else push me out. I was in love and I wasn’t about to let you go.”

“Thank you,” Polly said. “I really do love you and I’m awfully glad you’re back in town.”

“I love you too, but I have to tell you that I’ve eaten way too much this evening. I hurt,” he laughed.

“Well, come over to the couch and stretch out. That will help.”

“If I fall asleep, will you cover me up? I didn’t sleep very well last night because I was so worried about you and your phone call this morning sent my adrenaline into overdrive.”

“Do you want to go home?” she asked.

“No, I’m not ready to do that yet. I want to be with you for a while. Is that okay?”

Polly blew out the candles, shut off the lights in the kitchen and they walked across to the living room. She sat down and patted the sofa beside her. He joined her and leaned back into her arms.

“This is exactly where I want to be right now,” he said
.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Using her dad’s letter opener to reach a book on a top shelf in her office, Polly jumped when Henry spoke.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She looked at him a little sheepishly, “Trying to reach a book?”

“Why did you put those things up so high and why are you using a deadly weapon?”

The letter opener was made of heavy steel and the blade was pretty sharp. Polly grinned and got out of the way while Henry reached up to pull the book down.
“
A Universe of Star Wars Collectibles
? What do you want with this?”

“Nothing.” She grabbed it and stuck it in a drawer.

“What?”

“Nothing, okay?” she laughed.

“It’s something. Tell me.”

“Fine. I was messing around on an auction site and wanted to see what a piece was worth.”

He gazed around her office. “You don’t have enough already?”

“We’re not talking about it. Got it?”

“Got it,” he said. “So, it looks like you made it through a night without a crisis.”

“I’m going to assume it’s because you’re back in town.” Polly winked at him. “They knew you had come riding in on your white horse ready to defend my honor and destroy any who set out to harm me,” she laughed. “So what are you doing here today?”

“I’m still on vacation. I didn’t schedule anything because I thought I’d be driving back from Michigan, so … ” he looked around her office, “I have nothing to do. Will you entertain me?”

“I’d love to, but Lydia and Beryl are coming at ten o’clock. They’re in charge of Halloween here next Thursday night. Then I am having lunch with Joss Mikkels and this afternoon Jeff and I were going to go over decorating plans for the Black Masque.”

He pouted at her. “I drove all the way home so I can take care of you and you’re too busy for me?”

Polly hadn’t been paying attention to his face, distracted by an email that she was reading and snapped her head up to look at him. “I’m sorry!” she said. “I can probably try to rearrange things with everyone and I’ll bet Joss could call Nate. Maybe you both could join us for lunch.”

“I’m kidding you, Polly. I came back because I love you. You don’t have to feel any other obligation.”

“Whew,” she said, dropping her head into her hands. “I thought you’d totally lost your mind, but if I needed to feel guilty, I was going to at least try to muster some up.”

“That’s my girl,” he laughed. “Actually, I came over to look at your doors in the broad daylight. I really don’t want to pull them off and leave you exposed, especially when things are a bit strange around here.”

“I’m not really comfortable with that either. The yellow hue isn’t
all that awful, is it?”

“It’s not awful.
I won’t to make any decisions about it today. We’ll leave them alone until I can come up with a good plan.”

“Thanks.” She picked up her coffee cup to take a drink and it was empty. “Do you want some coffee? I’m a little low here.”

“No, I’m good. I think I’ll take off. Len Specek had asked me last week to come over and look at some old furniture in his basement. He wants to know what kind of wood it is and if he should spend time refinishing it.”

“He’s not asking you to do the work?”

“I hope not,” Henry said. “The man has more free time than I do and infinitely more patience than me when it comes to that. As much as I love antiques, I prefer building furniture from scratch.”

“What kind of furniture does he want you to look at?”

“I don’t know. He’s being kind of cagey about the whole thing. I can’t tell if he’s doing something for Andy or what.”

“That’s what I wondered,” Polly said. “They’re so cute together.”

“Both of them would strangle you if they heard you say that.”

Polly watched Jeff Lyndsay run into Sycamore House from the parking lot. He dashed past her inside window and ran into the office, coming to a stop in her doorway.

“I’m sorry I’m late this morning! I got caught up at Iowa State’s costume shop. They’ve got great stuff and have already heard from some people in Bellingwood. Isn’t that awesome?”

“It’s great, Jeff. I didn’t expect to see you
until later. Isn’t it supposed to be your morning off?” Polly asked.

“There’s so much to do to get ready for the Black Masque that I didn’t want to sit around my house twiddling my thumbs. That thing is less than two weeks away!”

He took a breath, then said, “Do you know anything more about who might have murdered Thomas Zeller? And how long until we’re able to get in there and clean that room?”

“I don’t know anything more,” Polly said. “And I don’t know when we can get in there.” She frowned. “I guess I don’t know much of anything.”

“Well, I got a good lead on masks. I figure we need to have extras here that evening. By the way, did you get the email I sent with the gorgeous mask for a horse? Wouldn’t it be smashing to have you and Demi out front, welcoming people to the Ball?”

“I got it. I haven’t
talked to Eliseo about it, but I’ll ask.”

“At least I didn’t send you the image of a black horse with a skeleton painted in white on it.”

“At least you didn’t,” she acknowledged.

He left her office and Henry laughed. “He loves a party, doesn’t he?”

“I’m so glad he does. I’d just stick food in front of people and let things be boring after they ate.”

“No you wouldn’t. Lydia and her crew would never hear of that. As long as they’re around, you’ll have great parties.”

“I suppose. I think Lydia and Beryl have huge plans for Beggar’s Night here. She’s talking about transforming the foyer into a haunted house.”

Henry cocked his head and looked at her in surprise. “Lydia? Lydia who runs all of the church events and is the Sheriff’s wife? Sweet Lydia?”

Polly snorted with laughter. “Oh, she’d hate you for labeling her that way. Yes. Sweet Lydia. I gave them a budget, figuring we could just begin with a little bit of decorating to give the kids something fun and she’s managed to come up with some great ideas. Has she talked to you yet?”

“Nope,” he said, shifting his eyes back and forth. “What should I be expecting?”

“I think you’re going to build a coffin for the vampire …”

“Oh, that’s easy. In fact, that would be fun.”

“You should stick around for this meeting. They’ll be here in a bit.”

Henry’s entire body shivered. “Do I have to?”

“No, you don’t have to.” Polly laughed out loud. “But, I can’t promise they won’t assign extra tasks to you.”

“You won’t protect me?”

“I can try. Would you believe she talked Aaron into being Frankenstein’s monster?”

Henry had started to stand up again and sat back down, a look of incredulity on his face. “I actually don’t believe that. How in the world did she make that happen?”

“Feminine wiles, I suppose. She asked Eliseo to bring Nan up and be the headless horseman. Jason is going to be draped over Nat as the horseman’s latest victim.”

“Who are you going to be?”

“Well, Aaron keeps telling me I should be the Grim Reaper. I don’t know if I’m that courageous, but it will be dark and spooky. Maybe I’ll be a vampire. You could build the coffin for me!”

“You’re doing all of this on Thursday night and then you’re having the Black Masque Ball on Saturday?”

“What’s wrong with that?” she asked.

“That’s a lot of planning. How are you going to get everything together for each event?”

Polly was confused. “It’s not that big of a deal. They’re in two different parts of the building and two different groups are planning them. We’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” he drew out.
It didn’t seem like he was buying it.

“It will be great. Just wait and see.”

“I’ll do anything I can to help. I promise. Now. I’m gone before those ladies show up and rope me into a meeting.”

Polly looked at the time on her computer. “Better hurry.”

Henry’s eyes grew big and he bolted out the door of the office.

Jeff came around the corner from his office and said, “I meant to ask you. What’s with all the paint in the gravel out front?”

Through gritted teeth, Polly said, “We had some vandalism early Sunday morning.”

“What?”

“Someone flung paint on the front of Sycamore House. The only things we weren’t able to fully clean were the doors.”

“How did you get it cleaned up?”

“Fortunately they used latex paint and we used power washers.

“So, no idea who did it?”

“None at all. I filed a report with Ken Wallers. I hope that’s the last of it, but he doesn’t seem to think it’s over, because it was too brazen. You haven’t made anyone angry, have you?”

Rather than look shocked, Jeff took a moment to think about it. “No, I don’t think so. There was the guy who was staying here last month who thought he shouldn’t have to pay us for the week he spent out at the river getting high and taking pictures. But, we worked that out. He wouldn’t have been angry enough to come back and retaliate. And besides, he lives in Idaho.”

“Well, if you do know someone from around here who might have a reason to hurt us, let me or Ken know. I hate to think about what they might do next.”

“Hello
!” Lydia called from the front door. She came into the main office with Beryl and Andy and pointed at the conference room. “Can we use your projector? We have great ideas.”

Polly stood up and grabbed her nearly empty mug. Three cups wasn’t a record, but she didn’t feel as if she was finished yet. “Sure,” she said. “Come on in. I’m getting excited about this.”

“We are too,” Andy laughed. “Did you talk to Henry about building the coffin? Len said he’d help.”

“
Henry’s on it. I invited him to stay for this meeting, but he ran over to Len’s house for something or other.” Polly nearly bit her tongue when she finished speaking.

“Really? What for?” Andy asked.

“I don’t know. He wanted to ask Len about a project they were working on.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’m glad Henry
asks for his help. Len enjoys working with him.”

Polly nodded and turned back to the coffee pot, which was just starting a new cycle.

Lydia had grabbed Jeff, who was helping her sync her laptop to the projector system. “Do you want to stay while we show Polly what we’re planning?” she asked him.

He looked at Polly, who shook her head in the negative, then shrugged her shoulders. “No, if you don’t mind. I’ve got some things to take care of for the Ball. I also have a meeting with the ministerial association this morning.”

“What’s that about?” Lydia asked.

“The food pantry can’t handle all of the food that gets distributed before Thanksgiving, so we’re going to open up that Sunday through Wednesday for collection and distribution.”

“That’s terrific,” Andy said. “They’ve used the elementary school in the past, but with all of the school budget cuts, it’s probably easier if they don’t have to keep the building open.”

Jeff went into his office and Polly waited for the coffee pot to finish brewing, then poured herself a cup. “Fresh coffee if you want it.” She went into the conference room and sat down and didn’t have to wait long for the others to join her. Lydia clicked onto the first page and they looked at the screen.

She had found strobe lights and black lights, a fog machine and netting to create the ambience of a haunted house. The women weren’t using blood and gore for the children, but according to Beryl, shock and surprise was always good for the heart.

The littlest children could get their candy at the front door and leave, but anyone who wanted to brave the short path through and around the foyer would have a good time. A ghost made from white netting would float down from above, hung by dark fishing line and lit by black lights. They had ordered haunted house soundtracks and Beryl was going to dress as a horrible clown who would jump out as strobe lights flashed in the guest’s faces. That would be the worst fright they’d have this year. Tombstones and gargoyles would round out the decorations.