Reflecting Love's Charms (Bellingwood Book 14) (24 page)

"We're working on that, too. We can have both, don’t you think? This isn't completely finished yet," Henry said, "but we got it close enough for today. We had help from a lot of people yesterday morning. It was almost like a barn-raising."

Polly looked at him with a frown. This wasn't what he was supposed to be doing yesterday. He’d told her that he was working on Rebecca’s present.

"Come on in," Henry said with a smile. "We have breakfast and a few more gifts for you."

She bent over and snuggled Obiwan and then stood to give Hayden a hug. "Thank you for your work on this. It's gorgeous."

He held out a chair for her to sit in and Rebecca pulled up a seat between Heath and Hayden.

"We're having my party here this afternoon," Rebecca announced. "We changed all the plans this week when Henry decided to build the gazebo."

"You what?" Polly looked at Henry.

"Rather than decorating the auditorium, she wanted her friends to come to her new house."

"The lawn looks terrible," Polly said.

Rebecca shook her head. "I don't care. It's pretty back here and I want them to see the big hole in the ground and tell them about the tunnel and show off the gazebo. Isn't it perfect?"

"That's easier on me," Polly said. "Whatever makes your day great."

"Since it's Mother's Day and my birthday, I thought it should be easy on both of us," Rebecca said. "You aren't upset, are you?"

"Not at all," Polly said. "Even with the scrubby lawn, this is nice." She grinned. "And think about how beautiful it will be next year."

Henry reached over and rubbed Polly's arm. "I'm glad you like it."

"I love this. What a wonderful surprise. Thank you." Polly looked at Hayden and then at Heath. "Thank you guys for working on this for me. It means so much."

"We kept the casserole hot," Henry said. "When Camille called to tell me you'd left the coffee shop, I brought it out."

Heath opened the familiar Sweet Beans box beside him. "We picked up some of Sylvie's muffins, too."

Polly shut her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them, she smiled. "It's a perfect morning. You are all amazing."

"Rebecca had the idea for the gifts from your friends," Henry said. He reached over and took the garland from around Polly's neck. "There should be something on here. Eliseo texted me that he hadn't had time to tell you it was there." He felt around it and then stopped. "Right here. Take that."

Polly put her fingers where he had shown her and had to break a stem to retrieve the small horse charm. "It's a theme, isn't it," she said.

Hayden, Heath and Rebecca all pushed boxes across the table to her.

"We were supposed to come up with something that connected you to each of us," Rebecca said. "Open them."

"How long have you been working on this?" Polly asked.

Henry chuckled. "Rebecca had the idea at Christmas and she’s been working it since then. Don't be surprised if some of your other friends show up with small boxes this afternoon. Everybody wanted to get in on it, but didn't have time to see you before breakfast." He took out a long box and put it in front of her.

"While Grey gave you the necklace, we wanted you to be able to wear all of them together."

"Is that a...?" Polly started, stopping when she found herself choking up.

"It's the bracelet." He looked around the table. "We should eat while the food is hot. Hayden, would you serve us up?"

Polly couldn't take her eyes off the gifts in front of her and finally opened the package from Henry in between bites of the sausage and hash brown casserole that Hayden had made the night before.

"Oh, honey," she said, then leaned over to kiss Henry. Not only had he given her the bracelet, but at the very end was a cloisonné heart in full color. All of the other charms so far had been pewter. "Thank you."

"Mine next," Rebecca said.

Polly deliberately picked up Hayden's box. "This one?"

"No," Rebecca said. "But go ahead. I can wait." She heaved a dramatic sigh.

"We don't have a lot of history yet," Hayden said, "but the thing I remember most is that you wanted me here for your family's holidays."

"Our family," Polly corrected and opened the box. "A Christmas tree. That's perfect." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then sat back, looking at the charm. The table had gone silent and she looked around.

Everyone was staring at Hayden, so she turned back to look at him and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he said, wiping his eyes with a napkin.

"Did I upset you?"

"Not at all. It's just been so long since anyone kissed me like that. It brought back a lot of memories."

"I love you, Hayden," she said. "And I should kiss you like that more often. Yes?"

"Okay."

Polly gave a wicked grin to Rebecca and picked the box up that Heath had given to her.

"You're mean," Rebecca said.

"Uh huh. That's me. Mean Mommy. Let's see what this is." Polly opened the box and then clutched it to her heart. "A pickup truck," she said.

"Do you remember the first time you let me drive your truck?" Heath asked quietly. "That was a big deal to me. And then you and Henry trusted me with your old truck. Thank you both for taking me in. I hope I never disappoint you."

Henry was sitting beside Heath and reached across to put his hand on the boy's back, rubbing it lightly. "We love you, Heath, and we're glad you are part of our family."

"Thank you, sir," Heath said.

Polly picked the bag up that she'd brought from the coffee shop. "I have some unopened boxes in here. They told me I could open them later. I think now is later, don't you?"

"Come. On," Rebecca whined. "You can't do this to me."

"I know that Jessie and Molly gave me a flower and Andrew gave me a book. I don't know what came from Sylvie or Jason or Elise. My curiosity is killing me."

"Please open mine," Rebecca said.

"Okay. Since you begged." Polly picked up the box from Rebecca and removed the top. She sat in silence as she looked at it, then turned the box so everyone could see the tiny globe charm within.

"You give me the world," Rebecca said. "And the thing is, I never had to worry about whether or not I was going to be lost. You were always just there. Mom told me that you and Henry would make sure I had everything I needed and I trusted you with that. Every single day you tell me that I can become whatever I want to be and I believe it." She jumped out of her seat and ran around Hayden to hug Polly.

They held on to each other while Polly breathed in the familiar scent of Rebecca's shampoo. She'd come much too close to losing this precious girl and just the thought of that brought fresh tears to Polly's eyes.

"I love you so much," Polly said quietly. "It's so hard to be thankful that you live with me when I know what you had to go through to get here, but I'm glad you are here."

"Me too. Mom kept telling me that it was going to be okay. All I had to do was trust."

Rebecca let Polly go and went behind her to put her arms around Henry. "I love you, too."

"I love you, sweetie," Henry said.

"Now we should probably stop with the silly emotional stuff," Rebecca said. "We need to be in a party frame of mind by this afternoon. No more of this teary junk. Everybody is happy and doing good. Right?" She trailed her fingers along Heath's back as she walked behind him and back to her seat. "Right?" she asked him pointedly.

"Right," he said.

"What were the other charms you got this morning?" Rebecca asked.

Polly took the little box out from the bunch of daisies, then handed the flowers to Henry. "These are going to need water. Don't let me forget." She opened it to find a chef's hat charm. "Perfect," she said with a smile. "I think this one's from Jason." Polly grinned at the charm of cowboy boots. From Elise, she got a lion charm and was thankful that Elise had given her a clue before she'd opened it. "This is a fun gift," Polly said to Rebecca. "You had a great idea. Thanks for organizing it."

"Everybody wanted to once I gave them the idea," Rebecca said. "Since it was really your first Mother's Day with a family, I thought it should be special."

"It really is. I can't imagine having a better family than this." Polly reached out and took Hayden's hand. "What a great bunch of kids to be a mom to. Thank you for giving me this day."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

When Polly finally pushed back from the table, Henry held out his hand. “Come with me.”

She'd eaten too much and really wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up with her dogs until this afternoon's party. Henry and Rebecca assured her that they had everything under control. People were bringing lawn chairs and card tables. Now that she didn't have to worry about there being any extra holes in the back yard, those chairs and tables were safe anywhere. Sylvie and her boys were bringing the cupcakes and Rachel had already made up sandwiches. For a thirteenth birthday party, things couldn't have been easier.

After last night’s trauma, she and Sylvie were on the same page regarding cell phones for Andrew and Rebecca. Polly had created a gift certificate for each of them. It was an additional birthday gift this year, but she was going to do it anyway; might as well score a few extra points.

"Where are we going?" she asked as he tugged on her arm to drag her up.

"You'll see. Come on."

She followed him across the back yard to the room she'd fallen into earlier this week. It was hard to believe that it had been less than a week since that happened. It felt like months had passed between then and now.

"Go ahead. Climb down," he said, putting his hand on the ladder.

Polly looked at him with a frown. "What are we doing?"

"Go on. You'll see in a few minutes."

Polly climbed down the ladder and Rebecca came right behind her. Hayden was the next down and then Henry. A few moments later, Heath stood at the top of the ladder, holding four LED lanterns.

"Go ahead and toss them one by one," Henry said. "We'll catch them." Then he put his hand up. "No wait. Don't let any of them get near Polly. It will either conk her on the head and knock her out or will just fall to the ground and break."

"Hey!" she yelled, then laughed and put her hands up in defeat. "You're right."

Heath tossed them over the edge to Hayden and Henry, one to Rebecca and then climbed down while holding the last one.

"Don't I get one?" Polly asked. "And what are we doing with these?"

"You can have mine," Henry said. "Go into the tunnel."

She stood in the entrance and turned to look inside it, holding out the lantern Henry had given her. "Are you sure?"

"It's perfectly safe."

"I don't want it to be perfectly safe," she complained. "I want there to be a
little
adventure."

"We left an adventure for you," Henry said. "I promise. Now go ahead."

Polly had to crouch, but held her lantern out and went forward. "How far does this go?"

"About fifty feet," Henry said. "The end is obvious. Just keep going."

She looked at the walls of the tunnel surrounding her and tried not to think about the fact that she was in a tightly enclosed space with no idea of what was ahead. She hated being claustrophobic and refused to think about the fact that there were four people behind her who would have to lie down and be trampled if she wanted out in a hurry.

"It's okay," Rebecca said quietly. "You're okay."

"How did you know I wasn't?" Polly asked.

"You started breathing faster. Just a little bit farther."

"Have you been down here already?"

"I'm not telling," Rebecca said with a laugh. "But we left the best for you."

"What does that even mean?"

"You're almost there. Keep going."

"How do you know that? It feels like I've walked for blocks and blocks. What if I missed it?”

Rebecca reached forward and touched Polly's arm, making Polly jump. "What?"

"Look at the wall there," Rebecca said. "See the hole?"

"Does that mean dirt is going to come flowing in on me?"

"No. Henry is going to put lamps in here so we can see later on. He numbered them from the end. This one says 'two.'"

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Polly asked. "I could have been keeping track."

"We weren't thinking," Henry said from far behind her. "I always forget that this happens to you."

The tunnel grew wider and curved to Polly's left before opening into an even wider space in front of a wooden door.

"Have you opened this?" Polly asked. "What's behind it?"

"This is your adventure," Henry said, making his way through the kids. "I don't know what it's going to take to open the door, but I'm ready for anything."

Polly put her hand on the doorway, then rapped on it with her knuckles. It sounded hollow, which gave her hope. "How do you know it wasn't closed up with cement or bricks behind it? What if there's nothing on the other side?"

"This is where the kids from the university came in handy," Henry said. "They measured the house and the tunnel and know where it should come out. There's an extra room in the basement that's been closed up for all these years. Unless you’re looking for it, you'd never know the space was there. I wouldn't let them go in. This was your surprise." He chuckled. "I’m under strict orders to call them tomorrow and invite them back. The suspense is nearly killing them."

"Did you try just turning the handle?" Polly asked, putting her hand on the old metal door handle. She turned it and when the door didn't open, shook the handle. The door moved a little, but refused to open.

"That's why I wasn't too worried about concrete or bricks," he said. "The door isn’t attached to anything solid on the other side. We just have to figure out how to unlock it."

"I don't suppose you have an old key on you, do you?"

"Well," he said.

'You're making it too easy. You could have just opened it and gone in."

"But we didn't," Rebecca said.

"You really have a key?" Polly asked.

"I talked to an old locksmith in Des Moines and told him what we had." Henry said. "He told me to just drill the thing and break the lock."

Polly furrowed her brow. "Break it?"

"We can replace the lock, honey." He handed her a long key. "Unless you want to try to open it with this first."

She grabbed the key from him and inserted it into the lock and twisted it. "That didn't work."

"Try again. Jiggle it around in there. Mr. Gardner thought this key should match this door. He has a million of these things."

Polly knelt down, handed her lamp up to Henry and then tugged on it to move it around in order to get better light on the lock. "Do you really have a drill?"

"I can get it if necessary," he said. "Try again. Slowly this time."

She inserted the key again and pushed it just a little deeper into the lock, then slowly turned it until she felt pressure. Polly took a deep breath and pushed the key through its revolution and stopped as she heard the lock snick open.

"I think I did it." She looked up into the expectant faces of her family and turned the handle again, pushing the door forward. At the last minute, it occurred to Polly to worry about stale air, but what came out of the room smelled no worse than the old basement of the house.

"Well?" Hayden asked.

"I'm terrified of finding more bodies," she said. "Maybe one of you should go first."

Henry pushed the door all the way open and held up the lamp. "Go on in. We're here for backup. This is your discovery."

Polly grabbed Rebecca's arm and lifted it so the lamp would shine in front of them. "You're coming with me."

"Haven't I had enough trauma this weekend?" Rebecca asked, a lilt in her voice.

"Not yet. Come on." Polly tugged on her and the two of them stepped into the room, followed by Henry, Hayden and Heath. "This looks like an office of some sort," Polly said. She hardly knew where to look first.

They had entered at the center point of a room that was about six feet wide and ten feet long. There was no perceptible door in any of the other walls, but someone had to have accessed this room at some point in the past. Heath had moved to the south end of the room and held his lamp so that she could see a large roll top desk with a chair pushed up in front of it. On either side were pedestals, each holding an oil lantern. The desk's tambour had been rolled closed and she wanted to know what was in it, but there was so much to take in.

At the other end of the room were more shelves like those that had been in the underground room with the kegs.

"Are those bottles full?" she asked.

Hayden walked over and held his lamp up so she could see. "Not all of them. They're all labeled like they're ready to go, but only a couple of them are full." He reached to the back and took out a bottle filled with a dark amber liquid. "This has been aged a while," he said with a laugh.

"How many full bottles?" Henry asked, walking over to join him.

"It looks like just three," Hayden said. "Unless you can see something I'm missing here."

The long wall in front of Polly and Rebecca was covered with wooden pegboards of various sizes. "What in the world?" Polly asked, pulling Rebecca with her so she could look at them more closely. At the top of each board was a name; mostly last names, but some with an initial preceding them. "Whitney, Bradford, Carter..." She looked down at Rebecca. "Do you suppose that's a relative of Beryl's?"

"What are these?" Rebecca asked.

"I'll bet these are the tally marks for gallons of whiskey these people brought in for sale," Henry said. "If we're talking about illegal sales here."

"It's the craziest way to keep a record, though," Polly said.

Hayden ran his fingers through the holes on one of the boards. "Not really, if you think about it. It's better than keeping paper records that could be used against them. It's odd enough that if someone came into this room, they wouldn't know what it was. For all they knew it could be game scores of some kind." He pointed at the wall above the desk. "Darts, for instance. And who knows, maybe we're completely wrong and they are dart scores."

"Have you got that desk open yet?" Polly asked Heath.

"It's locked. All of the drawers are locked," he said. "I felt around underneath to see if I could find a hiding place for a key, but it's not here."

The rest of the room was filled with crates and more barrels. Polly bent down to lift a lid off a crate at her feet. "Look at this," she said, pulling out a china plate. "Why would they have packed the china in here? And who shut this room up, by the way? And where's the door to the basement?"

Henry had been working on something over at the shelving unit and came back to hand her a flat piece of metal. "Try this on the desk."

"What do you mean?"

He showed her a search he had done on his phone. "It says you should be able to open a desk drawer with this. Push it in all the way to the back, jiggle it up and down a little and turn it clockwise. Just like you did with the key on the main door."

"You're funny," Polly said with a laugh. "Are you looking for the doorway?"

"We'll look around. Come on, Hayden. Pat these walls. There has to be an opening here somewhere."

Polly took the piece of metal he'd given to her over to the desk. "Do you want to try it?" she asked Heath.

"Could I?"

She laughed. "As long as lock-picking doesn't become something you plan to put on your resume."

"Thanks." He took it from her and then turned back. "And I won't. I promise."

She watched him work the lock on the top of the desk and in just a few minutes, he finally pushed the tambour up an inch.

"Got it. But it doesn't want to go very easy."

"It probably warped over the years," Henry said. "Just keep it straight and continue to work at it."

"How about I do this and you try to unlock more of those drawers," Polly said. She stood at the center front of the desk and put her hands out to either edge of the tambour, working it upward. It was slow going, but about the time Heath announced that he had gotten the last drawer unlocked, she finally pushed the roll top open as far as it was going to go. Polly sank down into the chair. "That’s disappointing."

"What?" Henry asked.

"There's not much in here. Some old pens and an ink well. I have an empty tin and a bowl with more of those pegs. And here's a weird little bell." Polly rang it a couple of times. "It still works." She looked down at Heath, who was sitting on the floor. "Did you find anything?"