Reflecting Love's Charms (Bellingwood Book 14) (4 page)

"Why are you hiding in here?" Polly asked.

"I can't concentrate as it is," he replied. "It's easier not to have to listen to all of the noise out there."

She glanced at the door. "It's quiet today. There's nobody in the building."

He gave a half-hearted laugh. "I caught myself listening to Rachel answer the phone, wondering if one of the calls would be Stephanie. And we had some people in here working on the furnace in the basement. I didn't have to deal with them. Eliseo did, but still. I couldn't help but pay attention because I don't want to think about what is really bothering me."

"I know," she said. "I have a girl upstairs who is just as useless."

"I don't even want to go home tonight. What if Stephanie tries to call the office and no one is here?"

"Now why would she do that?" Polly asked. "She's smart enough to know when the office is open. And she knows your phone number and Kayla knows mine."

Jeff glared at her. "Do you think they really do? Or are all of those numbers programmed into her cell phone? Do you know my number? Do you even know Henry's?"

Polly tried to come up with any of the phone numbers that she called regularly and couldn't. She shook her head. "That's terrible. I used to have everybody's phone number memorized. When did I give that up?"

"I just keep pleading with that phone to ring," he said. "All she needs to do is tell us that they're going to be okay. No, that's not all. They need to trust us to take care of them." Jeff slammed his hand down on the desk, making Polly jump. "Damn it, she needs to trust me to take care of her. That girl is one of my best friends and she just ran off without even telling me what was going on."

"I know," Polly said quietly. She leaned on the arm of the sofa, not knowing exactly what to say. She didn't realize that Jeff had been that close to Stephanie. As far as she knew, he saw Stephanie as a younger sister, someone to guide and help. But with all that they did together, it made sense that they'd become good friends.

He exhaled audibly. "Would you mind calling Stu?"

"Sure? What do you want to know?"

"I want to know what that call was that came into Stephanie's phone this morning. Who scared her?"

Polly took her phone out and thought about the huge number of contacts she had. Losing all of these numbers would devastate her. She scrolled through the list and called the sheriff's department, asking to speak with Stu Decker. It took only a few minutes before he came on the line.

"Hi Polly. You're asking for answers, aren't you?”

"Just that number. Do you know whose it is?"

"Yeah. It's not helpful. The call came from a convenience store in London, Ohio."

"What's in London?"

"We're still checking on a few things," Stu said.

"What's in London, Stu?" she asked again.

Jeff had started typing as soon as Polly mentioned the city name and turned his screen toward her.

"I'm waiting for more information to come in," Stu replied.

"The..." Polly leaned forward to read the screen. "Madison Correctional Institution? Did Stephanie's father escape?"

"We're still asking questions."

"You're being evasive. Do you think he called Stephanie and threatened her?"

Stu took in a deep breath. "After Joey escaped from the mental facility last year, I don't want to assume it's happening again. But it looks like that could be what happened."

"That poor girl. No wonder she ran. I can't imagine what he might have said to her."

"We don't even know if he's coming this way," Stu said.

"Come on," Polly replied. "If she ran, I think we can assume that she believes he's on his way to Iowa."

"We'll talk to Chief Wallers, too."

Polly sighed. "And damn it, he'll probably show up at Sycamore House because this is the last place she worked."

"Aaron would tell you to stay out of this," Stu said.

"I'll do what I can. Would you please let me know if this is all true? If I need to be prepared, I'd like to have some lead time."

"Okay," Stu said. "Talk to you later."

"Did you get all that?" Polly asked Jeff.

"Yeah. Bad guy coming to town. We're all going to die."

She chuckled. "I don't think it's all that ghastly." Polly flexed the muscle in her arm. "And he's never come up against a woman who isn't scared to death of him."

"Don't you even think about it," Jeff warned.

"I'll try not to, but we don't want anyone else around here to be in danger, either."

"The sheriff and the police can keep an eye on us. And if you aren't good, I'll tell Henry."

Polly smiled at him. "Now you're just being mean."

"I have to keep you safe one way or the other. You're always walking into something."

"Rachel says she has a friend who is going to answer the phones tomorrow. Are you good with that?"

Jeff shrugged. "She came by earlier. Kristen Travis. She does a lot of temp work, so she'll be perfect." He put his head down. "I don't want to hire anyone new for that position."

"You won't have to." Polly stood up and walked over to him, then rubbed his shoulders. "This is all going to work out. It just has to."

CHAPTER FOUR

"Let’s see what you’ve drawn." When Polly got to the apartment, she found Rebecca at the dining room table. The television was on across the room, an untouched glass of water sat beside her, and she idly doodled in her sketchbook.

"Nothing. I don't feel like doing anything. Everybody says that when you're sad or missing someone, you're supposed to be way creative." Rebecca tapped on her temple. "I'm just blank. I can't think of a thing to draw."

"I suspect that creative people have to get past the initial shock of whatever it is that makes them sad before they can turn it into a beautiful expression," Polly said. "You're still in shock."

Rebecca turned in her chair to make eye contact. "Okay, I'm being really serious now, Polly. I know my birthday is coming up and I think that I should have my own phone." She put her hand up to stop Polly from speaking. "Hear me out. If I had a phone right now, Kayla could call me and tell me where she is and we could go get her. Then everything would be okay."

"I love you, sweetie, but we've had this discussion over and over. No phone until next year at the very earliest."

"But, what if she wants to call me and talk about whatever is going on?"

Polly grinned. "Then she will call my cell phone just like she always does. And that was a very nice try, but you having a cell phone wouldn't have changed the outcome of this situation in the least."

"It's just not fair," Rebecca whined.

"Life isn't fair and you'll get a cell phone when you get one. And guess what?"

"What?"

"Within a couple of years after you've had it, you won't even remember all of these days of not having one. But for now, the answer is no."

"What if I told you that's all I wanted for my birthday?"

"Then you're going to have a very boring birthday. Let it go, Rebecca. Please."

"Fine. Can I stay home from school again tomorrow?"

Polly took two ice cream sandwiches out of the freezer and sat down beside Rebecca, pushing one in front of the girl. "Now why would you need to stay home?"

"Because I won't be able to concentrate on my schoolwork if all I'm thinking about is Kayla and Stephanie." Rebecca ripped the paper wrapper on her treat and took a small bite off the end.

"Let's see," Polly said. She put her index finger on the divot in her chin and looked upward. "How can we help you concentrate at school? Oh, I know! I'll call your teachers and tell them that since you're having difficulty, you should be taking notes in each class because I'll want to see them at the end of the day." She paused. "No, I've got a better idea. I'll ask them to set up a video recorder so that we can go through each of your classes after school and make sure you didn't miss anything while you were sitting there. Does any of this work for you?"

"I just wanted another day to think about things," Rebecca said grumpily.

Polly reached over and rubbed her hand up and down Rebecca's forearm. "I know you do, sweetie, but sitting around here moping won't bring Kayla and Stephanie back. We're going to do everything we can to find them and help them know that Bellingwood is a safe place for them to live. However, that doesn't include you changing your life. You go back to school tomorrow and I'll go back to work at the Bell House. There's still a lot to do."

"What if you fall in another hole?"

"I hope I don't. But tomorrow is going to be a gorgeous day. Imagine sitting on a porch swing on a cool summer evening, drinking lemonade and listening to the cicadas buzzing."

Rebecca took another bite of her ice cream sandwich and gave Polly a long gaze. "You're weird."

"Was it the porch swing?" Polly asked. "I always wanted one of those."

"Nobody sits on their porches anymore. Not unless they're old."

"Oh, I'm sitting on my porch swing," Polly said. She poked Rebecca. "And I'm not old. We're going to play croquet on the front lawn and have foot races and everything."

Rebecca giggled.

"That's better." Polly leaned over to pull Rebecca into a hug. "It’s going to work out. One way or the other, it will all be okay."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Both dogs jumped up and ran to the front door.

"Must be Andrew," Polly said.

Rebecca patted her hair. "Do I look like I was crying?"

"You look just fine."

"Rebecca, are you in here?" Andrew yelled.

Polly stood up from the table. "We're here."

"What happened?" he asked, coming around the corner. "First Stephanie took Kayla out and then Henry came to get you. Did somebody die?"

"No," Rebecca started, then tears began to flow. "Kayla's gone."

"What do you mean, gone?" Andrew looked at Polly.

Polly pointed to the chair she'd just vacated. "Rebecca will tell you everything we know. Do you want something to drink?"

"Should we take the dogs outside?" he asked.

"No, I'll take them," Polly said with a smile. "You talk to Rebecca. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." She walked toward the back door. "Come on, boys. Let's leave the young'uns alone and take a walk. Wanna go outside?"

At the magic word, the dogs ran for the back stairs and waited for Polly to catch up. She glanced at Andrew and Rebecca and smiled when she saw him put his arm around her shoulders. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They could get in all sorts of trouble, but sometimes a girl just needed her best friend to be there while she fell apart.

Obiwan and Han bolted for the tree line when she let them out the garage door. They were going to miss this place when she moved everyone to the Bell House. She'd feel more comfortable with them being outside by themselves at all hours of the day, but the dogs had invested a lot of time and energy marking their territory around Sycamore House.

Polly wandered down beyond the garden Eliseo was planting and toward the pasture. Han and Obiwan were far enough back that she managed to walk up to the fence without the horses realizing she was there. Demi was filthy from rolling in the dirt. That was a standard look for him. At least it gave Jason and his friends something to do when they arrived after school. Tom and Huck were the first to see her and ran as fast as their short little legs could carry them.

"Hi there, guys," Polly said, walking along the fence to the gate.

Nat brushed against Nan and then ran away from her. When she didn't respond, he pushed her again until she threw her head up and whinnied. Since that wasn't enough, he pushed again and she spun, then chased him around the fenceline. They pulled to a stop in front of the donkeys and Nan reached her head forward to sniff Polly's shoulder.

Polly held still, not wanting to startle the big horse. Nan wasn't very gregarious and this felt like a big moment. When Polly felt it had been long enough, she turned to face the horse and reached her hand out to stroke Nan's shoulder. "How are you doing, girl?" Polly asked. "It's good to see you. I’m coming in, just give us a minute."

Han and Obiwan had caught up to her and were pacing back and forth in front of the gate, waiting to be let in. Polly opened the latch and stepped in behind them, then walked toward the barn. She grinned as she found herself surrounded by equines. The donkeys paced with her, Tom pushing her with his hips. Demi trotted over, followed closely by Daisy.

"Eliseo?" she called. "Are you here?"

The door to Demi's stall was open and Polly approached it, then called his name again. "Eliseo?"

"Right here, Polly." He came out of Daisy's stall. "What are you doing down here this afternoon?"

"Rebecca needed time with Andrew, not me. He lets her be all emotional and I tell her to stop it and face reality. She'd had enough of me."

"That's really bad news about Stephanie. I hope she's able to find a safe place from whatever spooked her."

"We think it's her father. It sounds like he might have gotten out of jail."

"They never get very far," Eliseo said. "The police in Ohio will find him."

"I hope so, but whatever he said scared her bad enough to run with everything she had. It's like she doesn't intend to ever come back to Bellingwood now that he knows where she’s been living."

Eliseo stepped up to Nan and leaned on her, resting his head against her shoulder. "That would be too bad. She's made good friends here." He smiled. "How are you feeling? Any aches and pains after your tumble this morning?"

"I'd forgotten all about that," Polly said. "I'm okay now, but that might be different tomorrow morning when I get out of bed."

"I'm sure it will." He chuckled. "We have some good liniment down here. Just stop in and see us and we'll fix you right up." He walked over to the donkeys, who were still surrounding Polly. "You two go on back out and play. Leave her alone. She doesn't have anything for you."

When they didn't respond, he ducked back into the stall and took out their red ball. Giving it a toss, he whistled and everyone went running. Before long, Tom was pushing it with his nose while Huck chased him.

"Sam and I were thinking we’d bring Nan and Nat over to your new place one of these days with the cart. They'll help with the heavy work and we can haul the debris away after we're finished."

She sat down on one of the benches he'd placed under the roof so they could watch the horses. "It amazes me that you have them so well trained."

"They love to work," he said. "We put sweet corn in the field across the creek last week. If all goes well, we're going to have a great crop. We're planting more in another couple of weeks so we have plenty for Bellingwood Days. It's going to be a great summer and I want to be prepared."

"I'm going to have to get us all bonnets and hats, long dresses and breeches, aren't I?" Polly asked with a laugh. "I've never done a centennial celebration, but I saw pictures and everybody dresses up."

"Our horses will fit right in," he said. "Sam, Ralph, and I are talking about how we can show them off with some farming implements. They're already trained to do the work. We just need to have everything in place."

Polly shook her head. "I've been so focused on Bell House that I haven't given the centennial week much thought. I want it to be ready for the celebration, but I don't know what I want it to look like."

"You'll figure it out. You always do."

"Jason's got a girlfriend. Jason's got a girlfriend!" Scar Vasquez ran through the barn and skidded to a stop in front of Polly. "Oh hi, Ms. Giller. I didn't know you were here today."

Jason and their other friend, Kent Ivers, came barreling in behind Scar. "What's going on? Why are you here?" Jason asked Polly.

"Just out walking the dogs and thought I'd stop by to see the big kids. What's all this?"

Scar, short for Oscar, backed away from them. "It was nothing. Sorry, Jason."

Eliseo put his hand on Scar's shoulder and with a laugh, stopped him from ducking back into the safety of the barn. "Did you have something you wanted to tell me?"

"No sir. Not right now." Scar looked at his friend, guiltily. "I'll get the brushes. It looks like Demi's been rolling in the dirt again."

"They do every day," Jason muttered. "It's their favorite thing."

Polly walked over and touched his arm. "A girlfriend?"

"Not really," he replied.

"She wants to be, though," his friend Kent interjected. ""She told him today that she should have asked him to prom."

"I don't think Mom would have even let me go," Jason said. "She thinks it’s only for upperclassmen."

"She's kind of right," Polly said. "There are some things that you get to do as you grow older."

"Well, it's stupid anyway."

"Is this girl older than you?" Polly asked.

Kent nodded enthusiastically. "She's going to be a senior next year. And if it weren't for Heath and his accident, Jason would never have gotten to know her. They talk every day and now they're texting after school, too."

Polly watched Jason's face flush two shades deeper. "What's her name?" she asked him.

Kent jumped back in. "It's Selena Morris. She even lives here in Bellingwood, so it's perfect. He doesn't have to drive all the way to Boone if he wants to see her."