A Big Life in a Small Town (Bellingwood #2) Read online

  Their shoulders slumped and they each picked up their boots, then came over and took their coats from her and laid them neatly on top. Sylvie hugged them both and said, "Very good. Now, ask Miss Polly if you can run upstairs and play with the animals."

  Andrew took Polly's hand and said, "Could we go upstairs to play?"

  "You bet," she responded, squeezing his hand. "You know where everything is. I'll be up in a while. I'm going to make cookies in a bit and if you want to help me, you can."

  The boys ran up the steps, laughing and squealing.

  "You're a tough mom!" she said to Sylvie.

  "I figure it is easier to be tough now than it will be when their friends are telling them what to do. It's already started and makes me so angry sometimes. I'm just glad they learned to listen to me from the very beginning." Her eyes looked a little sad. "Well, not the beginning, but at least when they were very little. I wasn't always a good mom to those boys, but I figured it out as quickly as I could."

  "So," Sylvie continued, "I think I have enough in the kitchen to get started on the cupcakes. We're going to need hundreds of them, if what I'm hearing around town is any sign. This place is going to be hopping on Saturday."

  They walked together back to the kitchen and Polly asked, "You don't think we need to worry about the weather?"

  "No," Sylvie said. "There might be some still on the ground, but it's going to be in the forties tomorrow and Friday. That will melt most of this off. Saturday is supposed to be sunny and forty-nine degrees. It's going to be a beautiful day!"

  "That's what Henry said. I suppose it will take me a few years to understand Iowa winters again," Polly lamented.

  "I hear you had a date last night with the hot vet!" Sylvie said, tapping Polly lightly on the arm.

  "It wasn't a date. Well, it was kind of a date. But, not really," she said.

  "What was it, then?" Sylvie took her coat off and walked to the back of the kitchen. She put it on a hanger and pulled a white jacket out and slipped into it, adjusting the belt until it was snug.

  "I made him dinner to thank him for coming here to check out my animals rather than making me drag them to his office." Polly giggled. "Even I don't buy that. But, that's how it started. I promise!"

  "How did it end?"

  "He taught me how to dance in the hallway upstairs. It was wonderful."

  "You're kidding me. The hot veterinarian knows how to dance? How do you keep scoring these great men? I've lived in this town all my life and had no idea there were so many treasures."

  Polly said, "I don't know. They find me. His mom was a dance teacher in Minneapolis. He learned from her and then taught dancing lessons in her studio."

  "Probably to little grey-haired ladies who wanted to feel his firm arms around their old bodies."

  They both shuddered. "Well, I hope they enjoyed it. I certainly did," Polly snickered.

  "You said it was wonderful. You learned how to dance, then?"

  "I think I did. He said he would come over tomorrow after work and teach anybody who was here some of the steps. It’s a good idea, because once I’m flustered, I’ll forget everything."

  "I haven't been to a dance since high school. It will be fun to see it all happen."

  "You think you're going to get out of it because you're in the kitchen?"

  "I know I'm going to get out of it since I'll be in the kitchen. But, I'll watch and enjoy. Now, you get out of here. I'm going to start flinging flour and sugar everywhere." She fluttered her fingers in dismissal.

  "I'm going, I'm going. But, I'll be back later with cookies to go with the coffee," Polly warned. "Don't make too much of a mess."

  Sylvie waved her off and Polly went upstairs to her apartment.

  Jason was sitting on the floor, playing tug of war with Obiwan and one of his rope toys and Andrew was on her bed with the kittens. The television was on and it looked like some type of Japanese anime.

  "How are things going?" she asked.

  "Great!" Andrew called from the bedroom. "I think Leia is okay, don't you?" he asked.

  "Doctor Ogden says she is fine. But, you might still want to be a little careful with her," Polly said.

  "I am. I promise. Luke is jumping on me, though." His laughter filled the room as he romped on the bed with the cats.

  "We'll shovel your steps for you, Polly," Jason said, looking up as he held on to one end of the rope. Obiwan had planted his feet firmly and was pulling backwards. Jason stood up and dropped the toy. Obiwan scrambled, then brought it back to Jason, nudging it into his hand.

  "Why don't we all go outside after I bake cookies? There's no hurry," she said.

  Jason had absentmindedly taken hold of the rope toy and it was dangling from his hand as he followed her into the kitchen. Obiwan was doing everything possible to get his attention and finally yanked the toy back out of the boy's hand.

  "Can I do anything to help you in here?" Jason asked.

  Polly wanted to ruffle the hair on his head, but something in her told her that would kill him, so she said "What if you go play with Obiwan in the living room and talk to me while I make dough for sugar cookies. Then, I'll make chocolate chip cookies while these are in the refrigerator and you can help me drop them on cookie sheets."

  Jason ran after the dog and grabbed the toy back. The two played with each other while Polly flipped through her recipe file. One of Mary's favorite sugar cookie recipes had to be ... there it was. She pulled it out and looked out the kitchen window to the lot across the street. There were no tracks and no car there now. A shudder went down her back as she realized how vulnerable she had been last night. This was Bellingwood. Things weren't supposed to be that strange in Iowa.

  Shaking her head, she opened the refrigerator and pulled out a pound of butter and a container of eggs. Setting four eggs into a dish, she returned the container to the refrigerator and flipped the arm of her mixer up. Butter went into the microwave for a few seconds and then she dropped some into the mixer, creaming sugar into it. Adding the eggs and vanilla, she let it run while she sifted together the dry ingredients. After it was mixed, Polly turned it into a roll and wrapped it in plastic wrap, then placed it into the bottom of the refrigerator to chill.

  Once that was finished, she rinsed everything out and began combining ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. While the sugars and butter blended, she pulled out two large cookie sheets and set them on the counter. After she folded in the chocolate chips, she pulled the bowl off the mixer and set it between the cookie sheets.

  "Boys, do you want to help me?" They ran over to the kitchen.

  "Wash your hands and dry them really well. Then, I have gloves for you to put on!"

  Polly had found small disposable gloves to fit her own hands and hoped they wouldn't be too large for the boys.

  "Look!" Andrew said as he pulled his on. "I'm a doctor!" He pointed his finger at Jason's nose.

  "Stop it," she laughed, "Or you'll have to start all over again."

  "Why are we wearing gloves?"

  "Because we're making these cookies for a lot of other people. They don't want your germy germs." She poked him in the nose.

  "Scoop out this much dough and drop it on the sheet." She showed them what she wanted and they went to work. With the first batch in the oven, she put two more sheets in front of them, and they filled those as well.

  Andrew looked at her with his lips pursed. "What?" she asked.

  "Do we have to wait?"

  "You have to wait until we're nearly done. We'll leave enough dough in the bowl for you to eat. I promise."

  "I have to wait?"

  Polly laughed and had no hesitation in ruffling the hair on the younger boy's head. "Fine." She grabbed two ramekins from the cupboard and scooped a teaspoon of dough into each. "Take those over to the table and I'll finish up here."

  Andrew grabbed his and ran over to the table. Jason said, "Thank you" and followed a bit more sedately.

  Soon, cookies were coo
ling in racks and Andrew was standing in front of them, looking intently at the first level of cookies. "This one looks like it is too small," he said.

  "You haven't had enough?" she asked.

  "But you don't want to give that one away, it's too small," he insisted.

  "What if we give that one to your mom? It wouldn't be too small for her, would it?"

  Andrew looked up at Polly, crushed. Then, his eyes lit up and he pointed to another cookie. "That would be a better size for her."

  Polly took the first cookie off the tray and put it on a plate, then took the second cookie off as well. "I tell you what. When we take cookies downstairs, this one will be for you and that will be for your mother."

  Andrew looked chagrined. "That's a good idea," he said and went back in to the living room to play with the animals. Polly chuckled. She'd have a million kids if they were as good as these two.

  She took the roll of sugar cookies out of the refrigerator and sliced them, placed them on freshly cleaned cookie sheets, and sprinkled colored sugar on top of each before putting them in the oven. When the cookies came out, she began arranging things on platters to take downstairs. She covered each platter with plastic wrap and said, "We’re finished. Shall we take these to your mom and go outside to shovel?"

  "Can we take Obiwan?" Jason asked.

  "Not right now. You can come back up and get him in a bit."

  She handed each boy a plate and they headed downstairs with their morning's work.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Light streaming through her windows gave Polly hope that the snow would melt away before Saturday as she leaned back in her desk chair. There was nothing she enjoyed more than having Sycamore House filled with people coming and going during the day. Everyone seemed to be in perpetual motion this morning, trying to make up for the enforced holiday yesterday's snow had granted them. By late afternoon, between the plows and the sunshine, the roads had been clear enough for travel to resume and deliveries began arriving at Sycamore House. The furniture store called to reschedule its delivery of the mattress, box springs and three lamps for some time this morning.

  Lydia, Beryl and Andy had shown up around three o'clock yesterday. Andy wanted to get items from the crates either behind glass or under cover before Jeff had people in to begin decorating. Bruce and Hannah McKenzie came in not long after and, with a little negotiating, Sylvie and Hannah decided he could head home and Hannah would spend the night at Sylvie's. This was great news for Jason and Andrew, who soon discovered they would get to spend the night in Polly's apartment, since Jeff had decided that the short drive to Ames would offer him more peace and quiet.

  Polly thought for a moment and pulled up the plans for Sycamore House. She needed to come up with ideas for additional rooms for overnight guests. She sent the plans to the printer and when she walked out into the main office to collect it, saw Doug and Billy walk in the front door. They waved at her and walked into the office.

  "I never see one of you without the other," she laughed. "Come on in and tell me what's up!"

  They followed her back into the office. "That's what our moms say, too," Doug commented.

  "That's fine. You make a good team. What are you doing here today?"

  "This afternoon we're going to start running electricity out to where the barn is going up. Jerry wants to bury it. I'm not looking forward to cutting into that frozen ground, but until he gets here, we're supposed to see if Henry needs us."

  Billy interrupted, "Or you. You're the boss, right?"

  Polly laughed. "Not in anyone's dream am I the boss."

  "What are you doing with that?" Billy pointed at the layout on her desk.

  "I'm trying to see what I can come up with for some additional rooms."

  "In here? You've used nearly every bit of space except the hallways," Doug said. "And those make it nice."

  "I know." Polly pointed at the northwest corner of the building. "I was thinking about building an addition back here, maybe even adding a garage."

  Doug sat back and laughingly said, "You like having us all around so much that you're going to keep building?"

  "I guess so. But last night when I didn't have the rooms upstairs finished and the only other place to put someone was on my couch, I stayed up half the night trying to figure this out. I don't even have a guest room in my apartment."

  "Well, Henry is going to have to hire someone to run the rest of his business if you keep him working here all the time."

  Polly was stricken, "Is he losing business because of me?"

  Doug rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You're the best thing that has happened here for the local craftsman in a long time. Henry will keep up with his other customers. No worries."

  Jeff Lyndsay came into the office. "Hey there. What are you doing here today?"

  "We're off for the next couple of days. We thought we'd see what you had going on around here. Mom told me she was coming in later to work on decorations, and then she told me to get my butt over and ask if I could help," Doug said.

  "That's great!" Jeff said. "They dropped off the scissor-lift earlier this morning and I would rather not go up in that thing to hang lights in the rafters."

  "Pick me!" Doug said, raising his hand. "Dibs, sucka," he said to Billy, who shook his head, laughing. The two followed Jeff out of the office.

  Before he got into the hallway, he said, "I'll be right there" and turned back to Polly's office. "You're going to pay them, right?" he asked.

  "Absolutely," she said, laughing. "Even if it's pizza and steak and game nights for a month."

  Then he sat down across from her and said, "Would you tell me if something was wrong?"

  "Sure," she said, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

  "There were police and sheriff's vehicles around here all day yesterday. Does it have something to do with Elise being gone?"

  "I'm sorry, Jeff. I should have talked to you about this, but with everything going on yesterday, I totally forgot. Yes, I think it does."

  She took a breath and said, "I got a package yesterday with pictures of me from the night before, taken by someone parked in the lot across the road. There was also a note in there telling me to send her home and that they were watching me. I called Sheriff Merritt and I think he put everyone on high alert. The snow probably slowed down whoever it was, but if they're looking for her and don't know she's gone, who knows what they'll do next."

  "Okay. I'm sorry I got you into this, then."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Maybe I should have asked more questions before I let her move in," he said.

  "No, that's not the way we're going to do things around here," Polly announced. "We aren't going to second-guess every decision we make and we're not going to freak out when people aren't as perfect as the rest of us. You gave her a space to live in good faith. It's not your fault if she hid something from you. So stop that. We're fine."

  "I know you're right, but it still feels like I could have headed this off. It’s a little strange."

  "Hah," she laughed. "I think strange describes who will show up next Monday. Have you seen her list of requests?"

  "I saw the email come in, but haven't had time to go over it yet."

  "Now, she's made it clear that money is no object, so it's not as if this is going to cost me anything, but every morning by ten o'clock, she wants me to have a fresh pad of lined paper, a new sketch pad and two sharpened pencils at her door. She has a list of foods for each day of the week that need to be available and every Sunday evening, a bag of plain M&Ms and a canister of mixed nuts with no peanuts are to be delivered to her door. She will alert us to the days she is traveling and on those days, by nine o'clock, we are to have a sack lunch prepared ... and there's a list of what is acceptable ... and delivered to the door of her room. On those days, I will be expected to launder her linens and clean her room. Otherwise, she will alert me if she needs to have them changed."

  Polly thought for a moment, then said, "And we ei
ther have to provide her with six bottles of water each day or a filter system to ensure the water is clean. Is she kidding me? Does she actually believe that the water here will make her ill?"

  "Well, it sounds like she knows what she wants," he laughed. "What are you going to do?"

  "I've already ordered the paper and pencils and individual bags of M&Ms. That package should show up today. I'll give the food list to Sylvie and ask her to ensure things are available. Then, I also purchased two water filter pitchers. She can have one in her room and I'll keep one filled in the refrigerator downstairs."

  Jeff chuckled. "It's never going to be easy, is it?"

  "Honestly, I thought I'd get these wonderfully creative people who would want to bask in the glory of Sycamore House, spend time writing or drawing or painting or sculpting, and happily enjoy everything I could offer to them. So far I have a woman who seems to be hiding out from bad people in Chicago and now an obsessive who needs a full-time keeper."

  "I will try to bring someone in who is a little more laid back the next time," he said. "How long are you going to keep Elise's stuff in the front room?"

  "She's paid through mid-March, so I don't want to do anything right now. She said if she wasn't back by Valentine’s Day, a message would come to me telling me how to contact people to get her things. I guess we wait," Polly shrugged.

  Jeff glanced up, "It looks like your first delivery of the day is here."

  When she turned around in her chair, she saw the furniture truck pull up in front of the steps. "Great!" she said. "This will be another task off my list."

  They walked out together and when she opened the front door, Jeff turned and went into the auditorium.

  Polly showed the delivery people where to put the mattress and lamps, then went downstairs to find Henry. He seemed to be all over the place this morning. The ramp out front needed a railing, he’d said something about a crane showing up for raising the barn trusses, there was a group of workmen in the classrooms, painting and finishing things and now she hoped that reminding him about installing the head and footboard for the new mattress wouldn’t put him over the edge.