Reflecting Love's Charms (Bellingwood Book 14) (25 page)

"There might have been some papers in these drawers, but I can't read anything on them. They must have gotten wet. And there were mice in here, too," he said, wrinkling his nose.

"Dang it. I was hoping for more information."

He grinned up at her and reached into the bottom drawer. "Well, there's this." He handed her an old metal box.

"It's locked," she said with a frustrated laugh.

"But I have a key." He handed that up to her. "It was sitting on top of the box."

Polly stuck the key in the box, turned it and opened it. "Bring your lamp up here," she said to him. "We have papers."

"What is it?" Rebecca asked, running over to join them.

"It's filled with Franklin Bell's personal papers," Polly said, almost reverently. "Here's his will." She passed that to Rebecca. "And here is the note from the bank when he built this place." Polly took out a small notebook and handed that to Heath. "Look in there and see what it is." She took out three photographs and recognized Hiram Bell from pictures she'd seen when Beryl was going through her family's things. But in one of them he stood with a young boy. She assumed it was his son, Franklin. There was another picture of him with a rather severe looking woman who was holding a baby.

"They didn't take happy pictures in those days." She showed it to Rebecca.

"That woman looks mean."

"She was probably very nice, but they didn't smile very often for photographs."

"There's not much in here," Rebecca said. "He didn't have any family, but it says that if he died, all of his money was to go to pay off the hotel and then there's some guy named ..." Rebecca peered at the writing on the page. "It looks like Reginald Adams inherited the estate."

"That name was on the abstract we pulled," Polly said. "And I've seen the Adams name before." She took out her phone and scanned through the notes program until she landed on one of Beryl's historical photographs. "Here. There was a Leonard Adams who founded the Bellingwood National Bank with Hiram Bell and some others."

Heath put the little notebook in front of Polly on the desk, his fingers holding two pages open. "I think they had a fight," he said. "This says that Reg wanted to stop selling whiskey. He was worried about the government."

"The revenue-ers," Henry said with a grin.

"And Franklin didn't want to?" Polly asked.

"They had a fist fight." Heath laughed. "He mentions the fountain upstairs in the lobby. That Reg pushed him into it in front of a big crowd of people. His father was there when it happened and he was embarrassed for them. There were bankers from all over the Midwest here at the time for a convention."

Hayden and Henry had stopped searching for the door as they listened to Polly, Heath and Rebecca discuss their findings.

"What else?" Hayden asked.

Heath started reading.
"I've asked Reg to meet me here in the office to discuss this as gentlemen. If we must shut down our still, I will accept that, but too many people in the county require sales of the whiskey they cook in order to pay their bills. Father knows what it is that I am doing and wholeheartedly approves, but Reg's mother has been going to that church down in Boone and believes whiskey will send a soul to hell. Old Mister Adams still has a lot of power in town, even though the bank board forced him to retire. He's instructed Reg to shut me down at any cost. I wonder what the cost will be."

"That's the end of it," Heath said.

"You don't think that ..." Rebecca started. She stopped and looked around. "Especially if his mother was really religious. He wouldn't become a killer, would he?"

"Let's keep looking around the room," Henry said. "Open up more of these crates. I want to find that doorway out of here."

Polly put the papers back into the lockbox and left the key in the lock. This had been exciting, but suddenly she felt the loss of someone who had once owned this building and from the looks of it had tried to do what he could to help people during a rough time in America's history. She took a deep breath and pulled the top off another crate. It was more china. She, Heath, and Rebecca worked on opening crates, finding glassware and china, until Rebecca stood up.

"Ummm, guys?" Rebecca said.

"What did you find?" Polly asked.

Rebecca pointed into the crate. "I'm not touching that."

Polly walked over and looked into the crate as the others joined her. "Henry, she found the gun, I'll bet."

"Aaron will want to see this," Henry said. "It would be interesting if they find that it's the gun used to kill whoever was in that room. Heath, do you want to drag this crate over to the door of the tunnel?"

Heath started dragging it away and Henry beckoned to Polly.

"We're going to have to break through."

"I can't believe there's no door," she said.

"There used to be. Look here." He pointed at dark marks on the wall. "Those are old hinge marks."

"What's on the other side of this?"

"I can't tell you off the top of my head," he said. "My guess would be that it's the furnace." He tilted his head and lifted his eyebrows. "That would make sense if it was done by dear Reginald. He closed the room off, put a new furnace in and no one would have ever known this was here. Franklin was killed far enough away from the house for the smell to be contained and he went on as if nothing had changed. Didn't you say that everyone believed Franklin just took off?"

"Yeah," Polly said. "That would have been an easy story for him to tell. When he never came back, Reginald claimed the estate. I wonder if he has any descendants still living in the area."

"They’ll be hard to find," Henry said. He looked around. "Are you okay with leaving this as it is and we'll cut in from the other side when I have better tools and more workers?"

"That's fine," Polly said. "Thank you for this adventure today." She hugged him. "And thanks for not letting those university kids take it away from me. This was a fun way to end my Mother's Day celebration."

"Maybe we should go get the dogs and head home for a while," he said.

Hayden nodded. "I need a few hours of study time."

"I forgot," Polly said. "I'm sorry. We should have gotten you home earlier."

He laughed. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world. My first final isn't until Tuesday afternoon, but I want to ace it."

"We'll just leave that right there," Henry said, pointing to the crate with the gun sitting in it. "I'll bring Aaron down this afternoon when he's here for the party. Are you ready to go, Polly?"

"How many numbers until I'm out of the tunnel?" she asked.

"When you get to number ten, you're almost there."

"Then let's go."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

It was unbelievable how exhausted everyone was. The stress of Rebecca's kidnapping, the late night, and the excitement of the morning showed on everyone's faces.

"Who's up for a nap?" Polly asked as they climbed up the steps."

"I'm too excited," Rebecca said. "I could stay awake for days. It's my birthday now!"

"It's been your birthday all day, sweetie, but thanks for sharing the morning with me." Polly put her hand on Rebecca's back as they walked into the dining room.

Hayden smiled. "I really need to study. But I'll be quiet."

"Come on, my sweet teenager," Polly said, taking Rebecca's hand. "Lie down for just a few minutes. You've had a huge weekend so far and yawning while you're thanking people for gifts is really bad form."

"Can I take Obiwan in with me?"

Polly pulled Rebecca in for a hug and kissed her forehead. "You can have as many animals as you'd like. Thank you for organizing my awesome gifts. You make me feel like a real mom."

"You are a real mom," Rebecca said. "You just started different." She glanced around. "What if Heath and I played a game. We could play chess or something and be really quiet."

Heath's face was drawn with fatigue. Polly wondered if he'd slept at all last night. He'd hovered over Rebecca from the moment they returned home, not letting her out of sight for a moment."

"He's going to lie down," Polly said. She looked at the clock on the wall. "We have three hours before the party. Stay in your rooms for an hour. I don't care if you read, I just want you to rest."

Heath glanced into Rebecca's bedroom and then back at the girl he was trying so hard to take care of.

"She'll have the dogs, Heath," Polly said gently. "She’s safe. We're all right here."

He nodded and went into his room.

"Go on, Rebecca," Polly said, giving her daughter a push forward.

Rebecca heaved a huge sigh and patted her leg for the dogs to follow her. Polly was absolutely positive that if anyone other than Rebecca tried to enter her bedroom, they would either trip on something and break their neck, or kick something and raise such a ruckus the whole world would know.

"I need a nap," Polly said to Henry. "I'm pooped."

They went into their room and she sat down on the edge of her bed and slipped her shoes off. "So what's up with the gazebo?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Henry stretched out on top of the covers, turned to face her and patted the bed.

"I mean, I thought you were working on a little shed so Rebecca could have a studio."

"Oh, that," he said with a grin. "The boys and I talked about it and we have a much better idea. Instead of an actual shed which she couldn’t use right now anyway because we don’t live over there…" He looked at Polly. "We’re giving her plans."

"Plans. What does that mean?"

He turned back over and grabbed his phone, then brought up an image of a small building.

"Okay," she said. "It's a building."

"It's the building we're going to erect over that hole in the ground." Henry swiped through a couple of pictures. "We'll put a stairway here and she can store all of her supplies in the lower level, leaving the upper level completely open for her to work. When there's bad weather, she can use the tunnel to access the studio."

"This is so sweet," Polly said. "Do you think we're spoiling her?"

He chuckled. "Of course we are. But this was mostly the boys' idea. Once I get the lower rooms finished and sealed, they'll put the framework up and build it out. Dad and I will keep an eye on the project, but we'll only get involved if they have questions or need help." He tapped the phone. "Heath did the drawings at school. He said his engineering teacher gave him some pointers, but he figured it out on his own."

Polly tucked up close to Henry and rested her head on his arm. "I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"It would have ruined your surprise this morning and that was the last thing any of us wanted to do. We like surprising you."

"That was a pretty nice surprise." She yawned. "And even better that I don't have to do a lot of preparation for this afternoon. I can't believe you got everyone to do the work for me."

"They're just bringing lawn chairs and a few card tables. It's Mother's Day. You should get a pass."

Polly took two deep breaths and forced her shoulders to relax, then worked her way through the muscles down her body until she started to drift off to sleep. Henry startled her as he pulled his arm out from underneath her, but she turned over and snuggled back into him.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

~~~

Having a catering company in your house made party planning a snap. Polly and Rachel set food containers out on two tables Eliseo and Henry had brought from Sycamore House while Doug and Billy set up the drink coolers on another table, just outside of the gazebo. It was enough for Polly that food would probably be spilled on the floor of her new building; she wanted to avoid sugary, colorful drinks staining the floor. Heath, Hayden, and Rebecca were setting up the croquet set in the side yard. For as much as they laughed when Polly wanted to play it, the kids all chose to pull it out when they had a group of friends over.

She looked up at the sound of voices and recognized a few girls from Rebecca's class.

"Rebecca, you have friends here," Polly called out, pointing at the other side of the house.

Rebecca ran over and grabbed the two girls by the hands, pulling them back to where she'd been helping Heath and Hayden.

"She looks really happy after what happened to her last night," Rachel said.

Polly nodded in agreement. "I don't know if it hasn't hit her or if she is really just that resilient. But for today, I'm just going to let her be happy and relaxed. She's with people who love her and make her feel safe. That's all that matters right now. It might be different tomorrow and if it is, I'll deal with it."

"You know everyone is going to be talking about it today, right?"

"I hadn't thought about it," Polly said with a laugh. "But you're right." She shook her head. "It will make for a long evening if I have to answer the same questions over and over."

Rachel looked over at her and grinned. "You could just tell them you'll send an email blast out tomorrow with all the pertinent details."

"You're rotten." Polly sighed. "But it sounds like a great idea."

Two more kids came in, saw where the others were and ran across the yard.

"Hello, Hello," Beryl called out as she crossed into the back yard. "I brought my posse." She turned back to the front of the house and yelled, "Posse, hurry up. You're making me look bad."

She stopped in front of the steps up to the gazebo. "Isn't this fancy. Henry will do just about anything to get you into the sack."

"Beryl!" Polly scolded. "Where did you get that idea?"

Beryl laughed out loud as she looked at the faces of the young people standing there. "Can't let these youngsters think they're the only ones who like..." She craned her neck forward. "Sex," she said in a loud whisper.

Doug shook his head and Billy gave Rachel a pinched look.

"You can't be starting the party this way," Polly said, walking forward. "Be good."

Beryl rolled her eyes. "You never let me have any fun. Boys, would you go help Aaron? He's bringing in tables and chairs."

The two boys ran away from the gazebo with looks of relief.

"They're so easy," Beryl said. She handed a package to Polly. "Here it is. Where shall we put it?"

"I brought Rebecca's easel," Polly said. We'll just put it up here for now. Let everyone wonder what it is." She took the painting-shaped package and propped it up on the easel at the back of the gazebo. Beryl had taken one of Polly’s photographs of the two of them sketching the walnut trees on Beryl’s land from last January and turned it into a painting to hang on Rebecca’s bedroom wall.

"What do you think of my Mother's Day present?" Polly asked Beryl, turning back around to see Lydia and Andy crossing the yard, both of their mouths gaping open.

"Is this it?" Lydia asked. "It's gorgeous. You are such a lucky girl. I could never get Aaron to build anything like this."

Andy looked at Len, who was coming up behind them with an armload of lawn chairs.

"Your back yard looks out over the cemetery," he said.

"So does Polly's," Andy quipped. "You don't see her complaining about it." She took two of the chairs from him and set them up. "For that matter, you don't see me complaining about it either."

"Your yard isn't quite as big." he said.

"Okay, I'll give you that," she replied. "But wouldn't it be nice to sit outside in a swing under a gazebo?"

Len shook his head. "It's a cemetery."

She laughed at him as she came up the steps to Polly and Beryl. "He complains about it every time I try to do something in the back yard. I think he's afraid that I'm going to dig a hole and push him in someday."

Lydia flipped out a table cloth and spread it across her table. "Do you have those clips, honey?" she asked.

Aaron pulled a handful out of his pocket and handed them to her, then walked away as Lydia clipped the cloth to the table, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles.

"Did you girls do it yet?" she asked.

Beryl scowled. "We were waiting for you. Get your tidy butt up here and hurry. We don't want to embarrass Polly in front of a crowd."

Lydia put her hand on the railing and smiled down at the steps. "This is a very nice addition to the yard. You're going to enjoy it."

"I hope we all do," Polly said. "I can see a few of our parties happening back here."

"Not without bug spray." Beryl brushed a bug away from her face. "Okay. Your little girlie-girl told us what was happening for Mother's Day for you and we wanted in on it. So here is mine." She held her hand out with a small box.

At the same time, Lydia and Andy presented theirs.

"You shouldn't have done this," Polly said.

"We had to," Lydia replied, stepping in to give her a quick hug. "It's your first Mother's Day as a mom and it's fun to celebrate with you. Go ahead, open them."

Polly smiled. "You are embarrassing me, you know." She opened the box from Beryl and took out a painter's palette. "I love it. Of course it's you. Thank you." She reached up and gave Beryl a quick kiss on the cheek, then opened the second box from Andy and started howling with laughter. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, holding up a gravestone charm.

"I thought that since we shared the cemetery now, it was the perfect reminder of our friendship." Andy grinned and pointed. "Whenever you can't sleep, just signal me and we'll meet in the middle and share a glass of wine. How's that?"

Polly laughed. "You've been hanging around Beryl too much, but I love it. It's awesome." She opened the last box in her hands and took it out, then looked at Lydia. "What is it?"

"It's a teardrop," Lydia said. "A simple teardrop. For all those times you need a mother of your own so you can weep and be safe."

"Oh," Polly said, tears rushing to her eyes. "Look, you did it again. Thank you for this. These are so perfect."

"Did you bring the rest so we can see them?" Beryl asked.

"No," Polly said. "That was dumb of me. Everything is still at home. I'll work on the bracelet and show you later this week. You can't believe how wonderful people were about choosing the charms. Each one is so unique."

"You have a lot of unique friends," Lydia said.

Andy nodded. "You engage with everybody in such different ways, too. That's pretty terrific."

"Thank you again," Polly said, looking up and out. "There's Sylvie and the boys. I should help her get the cupcakes set up."

The ladies backed up so Polly could step past them and run down the steps to Sylvie. "Let me help carry this stuff."

"The boys have more," Sylvie said. "I'm sorry we're so late. I meant to get here a half hour ago."

"That's okay. This is a relaxed party. No need to be in a rush."