Reflecting Love's Charms (Bellingwood Book 14) (17 page)

She stopped when she saw tears in Sal's eyes. "Oh lord, Sal, you know how I am. You can't be upset at me for this," Polly pleaded.

"I can't believe you won't love my baby."

"I'll love your baby like nobody's business," Polly said. "You just can't expect me to take care of it by myself. Please!"

"Mark and I don't have any parents around here to help us. I was hoping that you'd be my surrogate family. And now you're telling me that I have to do this all by myself?"

Sal was working herself up and Polly finally put her hand out. "Stop, honey. Don't do this to yourself today. I'll be there whenever you need me, you know that. I promise."

"Do you?"

Polly took a deep breath. "Of course I do." She picked up a bottle, then looked for the box it had come in before looking back at Sal. When she did, she scowled at Sal's evil grin. "You set me up."

"It was so easy," Sal said through laughter. "You're as bad as Mark when it comes to my tears. I have to keep reminding myself that I can only use this power for good, but then you walk into my web and I can't help myself."

"So you won't make me take your baby a whole day by myself?"

Sal rubbed her growing tummy and smiled. "I am scared to death to be alone with this baby. Why would I expect you to do it?"

"That's awfully sensible. It doesn't sound like you."

Pushing Rebecca's print back at Polly, Sal said, "Stop it. You're being mean."

"I think I deserve to be a little mean. That was quite a performance."

"Yes it was," Sal said, preening. She looked at her watch. "I suppose we should get those ladies moving. I want to rest before we go to Ames. If I don't drag Mom away from Beryl, she'll never let the poor woman go."

"Where did Kathryn and Lisa go?"

"They had some secret hush-hush thing they were going to take care of this afternoon. Kathryn is leaving early tomorrow morning, so apparently it had to happen today."

"Maybe they're going to install a barre in your nursery. You know, in that family, your child is going to learn how to dance at an awfully early age."

Sal chuckled. "That would be okay. Just as long as no one expects me to balance precariously on my tip toes." She finally pulled herself to a standing position. "Especially if I'm pregnant. The other morning, I stood up from the bed and had to catch myself on the bedside table. I nearly pitched forward because my center of balance was so wacky. Most of the time I know where all of my parts are, but that time, not so much." She looked up and her eyes filled with tears again.

"What now?" Polly asked, turning to see what had made Sal emotional.

"He came."

Mark Ogden walked in the front door, as gorgeous as ever, even though he was in an old pair of jeans and a loose fitting plaid shirt, tucked half in and half out of his pants. He strode across the room to Sal, ignoring everyone else and took his cowboy hat off before pulling her into a hug.

Polly stepped back and stared at the two of them. When she looked around, she realized she wasn't alone. Every other eye in the room was watching as Mark tenderly caressed Sal's cheek before kissing her forehead.

"Good afternoon, ladies," he said. "Did you have fun?"

"We had a wonderful time, Mark," Lila Kahane crooned, gliding over to link her arm through his. "Your baby received many nice gifts today. I was just telling Ms. Watson and her friends that I'm looking forward to your little family's first visit to my home so that I can show you off to
my
friends. We'll have another shower for the two of you so that Sal's old friends don't feel like they've missed out on this special moment of her life. Perhaps her father will even have time to spare for the event.

Sal shut her eyes and leaned on Mark.

"Are you tired, dear?" Lila asked.

"Yes mother," Sal said quietly. "If you and Mark could put these things in the car, I'm ready to go home and lie down."

Lila clapped her hands together twice. "Come on everyone, if we each pick up a box, we can do it in one trip."

Mark bit his lip, gave the room a wink and a grin before releasing Sal. "I think I can handle most everything, Lila. Why don't you take that gift bag and we'll start packing."

Sal looked around to find Camille and Elise and spent a few minutes with them, while Polly grabbed up another stack of gifts and headed for the front door, thanking all of her stars above that she didn't have a mother like that.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"Are you walking or do you want a ride home?" Mark asked, pointing to the darkening sky.

"I'm good," Polly replied. "I should have enough time to get home before the storm hits. Thanks for coming up to help."

He smiled. "I knew that this weekend I'd best plan on being around. Sal and her mother are a pair."

"They've always been at odds," Polly said, "but for the first time, Sal seems more confident and less worried about her mother's criticism." She poked his arm. "I don't know if it's you or the baby, but it's a good place for her to be."

He reached down and took Polly's hand. "Would you talk to her?"

"About what?"

"About marrying me. I don't want to pressure her into doing something that she really doesn't want to do ..." His voice trailed off. "Sorry. I shouldn't do that to you. We'll figure it out."

"No, Mark," Polly said. "We're talking. She's scared and having her mother here isn't helping. She doesn't want to live in a marriage like her parents have. She's certain that something awful happened when she was born that tore her mother's heart out, but Lila won't talk about it. Sal is a smart girl; she'll figure it out."

He chuckled. "I was infatuated with that girl the first time I saw her and couldn't believe she even gave me the time of day. But as I got to know her, she became so much more than just an infatuation. She's exciting and wild, brilliant and ready for anything. She has embraced this pregnancy with every ounce of her being and she loves with a deep, abiding passion. I don't want to live a single day without her and it terrifies me that she'll scare herself away."

"You should say those exact words to her," Polly said. "You made my heart skip a beat and it isn't even about me. Now go on and rescue your fair maiden from the evil queen."

"As you wish," Mark tipped his hand to his hat, bowed slightly, and headed back into the coffee shop.

"Dang," Polly said out loud waving her hand in front of her face. "That boy makes my heart swoon. I'm going to have to have a chat with Henry." She chuckled. "Yeah. That's a bad idea."

Just before she crossed the highway to Sycamore House, Polly's eye caught a glimpse of something gold in a bush up against a fence. She walked over to see what it was and as she got closer, peered at it and realized she was seeing Rebecca's new beret. She shook her head. That girl would lose her head if it weren't attached. Polly picked it up, brushed it off, and crossed into the garden.

The parking lot was filling up with people arriving for the wedding reception, but she recognized Hayden's car right away. Good. She and Henry hadn't talked about inviting him to go with them tonight, but he would love to meet Marie’s parents. Then Polly remembered that Henry had spoken about the two of them - Marie and Hayden - getting together for lunch on a regular basis. Of course she did. Marie was probably the one who made the invitation.

She waved to Jeff, who was talking to several people in the hallway, and ran up the steps.

Henry, Heath and Hayden were in the media room, watching a baseball game. She loved coming home and finding her family just being a family.

"Hi there," she said over the noise of the game. "Good to see you, Hayden."

He stood up and walked over to greet her. "I hope you don't mind me spending the night. Mrs. Sturtz, I mean, Marie, invited me to her house for dinner. It sounds like her parents are really interesting people."

"You know that I want you to feel like this is your home, Hayden. You never have to ask. You're always welcome." She walked with him back to the sofa. "Is Rebecca in her bedroom? She said she was coming home to take a quick nap. I don't think she got much sleep last night."

Henry looked up at her, a frown on his face and shook his head. "I haven't seen her. We've only been here fifteen or twenty minutes, though. She's probably still asleep."

It didn't feel like it had been that long since Rebecca left the coffee shop, but Polly knew she easily lost track of time. "I'll just check on her. The silly girl dropped her beret on the way home. I found it on the ground."

Polly left them to their game and went back across the living room to Rebecca's room. She lightly tapped on the door. "Rebecca? Are you still sleeping? Did you see that Hayden was here, too?"

She waited a moment and when there was no response, she tapped again, a little louder. "Rebecca? I have your beret. Did you even know that you dropped it?"

Pushing the door open, Polly stepped in and over the mess that was on Rebecca's floor. How one little girl could collect so much stuff, Polly had no idea. She walked over to the bed and pulled the blankets back to find that it was empty.

"Henry!" Polly ran out of the room. "She's not here."

They met in the doorway between the living room and dining room. "What do you mean she's not here?" he asked.

"She's not in her room. She was tired and said she wanted to come home, so I let her walk by herself. Oh lord, I shouldn't have done that."

"Stop it," he said. "She walks all over Bellingwood. Maybe she's at the barn with Eliseo or she found Andrew and they're doing something."

"Andrew is with one of his buddies this afternoon since we had so much going on. Where would she have gone?"

"Go downstairs and ask Jeff if he's seen her. I'll call Eliseo. Talk to Rachel and Sylvie in the kitchen." He gave her a quick hug. "It's going to be okay. We'll find her. She probably found something better to do."

Polly headed for the front door. "She wouldn't go anywhere without telling one of us. She knows better than that." She ran down the steps again and rushed over to Jeff. "Excuse me a moment," she said and pulled him away to the office.

"What's going on, Polly?" he asked.

"Have you seen Rebecca? She's not upstairs."

He shook his head, worry etched in his brow. "No, but we should ask Rachel. I was in my office. I could have missed her. Come on."

Rachel and Sylvie were sitting at the back table with three others, wrapping silver into linens.

"Hey ladies," Jeff said. "Have any of you seen Rebecca? She's not where she's supposed to be and Polly's worried."

Sylvie jumped up and crossed the room to them. "Was she at the shower?"

Polly nodded. "She left when things were done and said she was coming home to take a nap. But she's not there." Polly held up the beret. "And I found this across the street, so I know she came this way."

"Maybe she's at the barn."

"Could be," Polly said. "She got a new outfit from Beryl and she could have wanted to show it off, but I don't know why she wouldn't have come to show you first."

"She's not with me," Eliseo said, bursting in the door. "Henry just called. Jason, Kent and Scar started searching the grounds, just in case she fell or hurt herself. I'm heading for the basement."

"Why would she be in the basement?" Polly asked.

Eliseo shrugged. "No stone unturned, okay?"

"I'll check the rooms in the addition," Jeff said.

"I guess I'll look in the garage," Polly said. She felt sick. Everyone that Rebecca knew was either at the shower or here at Sycamore House. She took her phone out as she crossed the threshold into the garage. There were no messages and no calls so she made a quick call herself.

"Hello dear," Marie said.

"I've lost Rebecca. Have you talked to her since the shower?"

"No I haven't. I saw her walking toward home, but that's it. She's not there?"

"We're looking everywhere, but this doesn't make sense. She wouldn't run off."

"She isn't here, but Bill and I will get in the car and come right over." Polly heard something in the background and then Marie said, "We're on our way, dear."

Polly wandered through the garage, picking up boxes to make sure that there was nothing out of place, then rang the doorbell to Doug Randall and Billy Endicott's apartment. Maybe Rebecca had gotten lonely. That didn't make sense either. She never spent time with those two, but anything was possible.

Thundering footsteps on the stairs preceded the door opening and she gave a weak smile to Doug. "Have you seen Rebecca? I can't find her."

"No," he said. "She isn't at your place?"

That question was going to make Polly scream. She wouldn't be out looking if Rebecca was where she was supposed to be. "No. She isn't anywhere she's supposed to be. I'm worried."

"Let me get my shoes on. I'll help you look," he said and turned to go back upstairs. "You go on," he said, turning back to her. "I'll find you."

Polly nodded and stood still when the door closed. She didn't know what to do next. Yes, she did, and swiped another call.

"Polly, you just left the coffee house. What's wrong?" Aaron Merritt said.

"It's Rebecca. She isn't here."

"And she's supposed to be?"

"Damn it, Aaron, I wouldn't be worried if she was where she was supposed to be."

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"No," she said, tears finally breaking through her fear. "I'm sorry. I just know that everyone is going to ask if she's in the apartment and she's not. I found her beret across the street. She was going to walk home from the coffee shop because she wanted a nap before we went to Marie and Bill's tonight. But she's not anywhere. Eliseo hasn't seen her; Jeff hasn't seen her. They're looking all over the grounds right now. She isn't here. Where did she go?"

"We’ll find her," Aaron said. "Let me call the office and get things started. Why don't you call Ken up at the police station and alert him so his people can be on the lookout for her."

Polly looked up when Henry opened the door to the garage. He stepped toward her and pulled her into his arms.

"Thanks Aaron. I will. Sorry I snapped."

"It's really okay."

"You called Aaron?" he asked. "I just got off the phone with Mindy at the police station. She's sending someone over."

"Your parents are on their way, too," Polly said. "Eliseo and the boys are searching the property and Doug will be down in a minute to help. Where did she go?"

"I don't know," he said. "But this isn't like her."

They looked up as a car pulled into the driveway and Marie stepped out. "Have you heard anything?" she asked.

Henry shook his head.

Bill opened his car door and stood up. "Come on, Marie. Get back in the car. We're going to drive every street in Bellingwood. When we're done with that, we'll start driving the country roads. We'll find this girl of ours."

Marie ran over to Henry and Polly, then hugged them both together. "We'll find her. You have to have faith."

Doug and Billy had come into the garage while Bill was speaking and Doug patted Polly's shoulder. "We're going out, too. She has to be somewhere. I called my mom and she said that if you need more help looking, they'll start walking their neighborhood."

"Thanks, bud," Henry said.

"Where are Heath and Hayden?" Polly asked after Doug and Billy left.

"They're already out looking. They were going south past the barn, just in case she went that way for some reason."

"There's no reason," Polly said. "She was coming here."

"I know."

The sheriff's SUV pulled into the driveway, followed closely by Lydia's Jeep. She parked and made it out of her car before Aaron could open his door.

"Oh honey," she said, rushing toward Polly. "Have you heard anything yet?"

Polly wearily shook her head. "Nothing. I don't know what to think. I feel like I'm completely useless. Everyone else is out looking for her and I'm standing here without a clue as to what to do next."

Aaron took Polly's arm. "If she was across the street, maybe your cameras here picked something up. I'm sending Stu to knock on doors and ask people if they saw anything out of the ordinary. Come on inside and let's see if we can catch a glimpse of her."

Polly looked up at Henry. "Again, I'm glad we installed them."

"Me too," he said.

They walked through the kitchen and toward the office where Jeff met them.

"I've been through all of the rooms in the addition and Eliseo checked the basement. She's not here."