Secrets and Revelations (Bellingwood #4) Read online

  "Polly?"

  "What?" She demanded, spinning around in her chair. Mark Ogden and Henry were standing in her doorway.

  "I'm sorry. I was thinking about something else. What's up?" she asked.

  Mark laughed. "I want to hitch Demi and Daisy to the wagon today. Do you want to join me?"

  "Where did you get a wagon?"

  "Henry finished it in his shop last week and we brought it across the back lawn."

  Polly scowled at them. "No one ever tells me anything. I didn't know you were making a wagon," she said to Henry.

  "I didn't make it, I just restored and cleaned up something that Mark found up in Lehigh. We wanted to surprise you."

  "You succeeded! I'm surprised!" She jumped out of her chair. "Let's go see this!"

  The two men parted as she dashed between them and out the main door of the office.

  When she realized they weren't moving as quickly as she was, she turned on them. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

  Eliseo was waiting at the barn. He had brought Demi and Daisy in from the pasture and had them harnessed.

  "I think they're as excited as you are," he said to Polly.

  "I doubt it!" she replied.

  The three men got the horses hitched up to the wagon. Henry had painted it shiny black and trimmed it with the Sycamore House blue. The wheels were black with blue spokes and the front bench was also painted blue. It was beautiful and all she could think was that in her wildest dreams, she never could have come up with this.

  Mark climbed in, then reached out a hand to Polly. "Do you want to ride with me?"

  "No, not this time. It's enough that they have the extra weight of the wagon. I'm not going to add anything more to it."

  "Oh, for heaven's sake. You don't weigh that much and these two can pull quite a bit more than we have here. Come on up."

  Polly found a place to put her right foot, then took Mark's hand as he helped pull her up to the bench.

  "We'll be back in a while if all goes well," Mark said to Eliseo and Henry. "We'll be back in a minute if it doesn't."

  Eliseo opened the gate to the front lawn and Mark flicked the reins to signal the Percherons to move. Polly felt their strength as the wagon rolled forward and realized she was holding her breath.

  "Shall we take a short ride through the neighborhood?" Mark asked.

  "Do you think they're ready?" Polly responded.

  "They've been ready for a month. We just had to wait for Henry to finish. Once I knew he was close, Eliseo and I talked to Buddy Ferman so he could get them shod for asphalt and then we all had to keep our mouths shut around you."

  Polly smiled at him. "Thank you. This is a wonderful surprise!"

  "We won't stay out too long today. I want them to get used to being on the road again, but we'll do this again. I think we should ride in the parade with Eliseo and Jason. What do you think?"

  "It’s crazy, but it sounds terrific. Can we put Andrew in the back?"

  "Of course we can. He'll love it."

  "You aren't going to make me braid their manes or tails, are you?" she asked, laughing.

  "No," he chuckled with her. "I think they look beautiful as they are. We're not showing them, we're just showing them off. The town will love seeing all of them together. Horses this big are quite a sight for most people."

  "I'm surprised there haven't been any accidents out here on the highway," Polly said. “I watch people slow down and gawk when they drive past. I want to tell them they can pull in and look. Maybe we'll get that message across during the festival. As long as they don't cross the fence, I don't care who looks at my beauties."

  "Have you heard anything from Sal lately?" Mark asked.

  Polly had to follow his abrupt topic change. Sal Kahane was her best friend from Boston College.

  "I email back and forth with her every once in a while," Polly said. "Why? Is there something up?"

  "No, I just wondered if she'd said anything to you about coming out to visit."

  "She hasn't said anything yet. Are you two making plans for something?"

  "No!" he exclaimed. "Well, no big plans yet. She thought she might come out in November or December. I know she doesn't celebrate Christmas, but I thought it would be fun for her to see what we do out here."

  "Oh, she celebrates Christmas more than you think," Polly laughed. "Her parents aren't terribly happy with it, but Sal is kind of an all-inclusive holiday girl. She starts with Thanksgiving, enjoys Hanukah, then Christmas and rounds out the season with an immense New Year's Eve party. We always had a big Christmas tree in our dorm room. Everyone else thought we were over the top, but Sal loved it as much as I did. I even got her to go to a Christmas Eve service one year. Pretty sure she was the one in tears when the candles were all lit at midnight."

  "Then maybe she would come out for Christmas," Mark mused. "My family is coming down to Bellingwood this year. We're already making plans."

  "That might be a little intimidating," Polly remarked. "You're going to make her meet your family?"

  "Why?" he innocently asked.

  "Because that's kind of a next step thing in a relationship," Polly said. "Have you even gone out to see her in Boston?"

  "Not yet, but I think I’m flying out in mid-September.

  "You are?" Polly was surprised.

  "Maybe," he said coyly. "Now don't you be getting any big ideas. And if she's not comfortable meeting my family, then we'll figure something else out, but I'd love to have her here for the holiday celebrations."

  Polly shook her head. "You two don't have a clue, do you?"

  "What do you mean?" he protested.

  "For this to work, one of you is going to have to give up the life you’re comfortable with. Is that going to be you? Is it going to be Sal?"

  "We're not talking about that right now. We've decided to just enjoy finding out about each other and go from there."

  "You’re right. I'll be good," Polly said and patted his leg. "You two are adults and it's not like I can talk. I'm not making a lot of future plans with Henry."

  "Exactly!" Mark said as he turned the horses back into the Sycamore House driveway.

  Polly saw Lydia and Beryl standing at the front door of the building and waved at them.

  "Do you want to do a drive-by?" Mark asked.

  "Can we?"

  "Of course." He moved the reins and the horses picked up speed and then as they approached the two women, he pulled back and they came to a stop.

  "What do you think of Polly's new wheels?" he asked them.

  "Girl, you're gonna be the talk of the town!" Beryl said.

  "Could I touch them?" Lydia asked quietly.

  "Of course you can, Lydia!" Polly said. She glanced at Mark, who nodded and held out his hand as she stepped down to the ground.

  "I'm sorry. It didn't even occur to me that you'd never gotten to meet them." Polly put her hand on Demi's neck, who was standing closest to Lydia. "Walk around front so he can see you."

  Lydia stood in front of the horse and he lifted his head.

  "He's just saying hello," Polly said.

  "They're really quite beautiful, aren't they," Lydia said. "I feel so small next to them."

  Polly chuckled. "You should come down to the barn sometime with me and have all four of them surround you. There's nothing quite like it!"

  "How do you know which one is which?"

  "Nat has the biggest white blaze on his forehead. Nan is the largest of them and she has a spot of white on her nose. Now, these two both have white on their feet, but Daisy's is on her front right foot and back left, while Demi's two back feet have white on them. You can also see that Demi has a small white patch up near his eyes. Those are the easiest ways to tell who is who."

  "That's amazing, Polly. How long did it take you to figure all that out?"

  Polly smiled. "Honestly, when Mark introduced me, I knew I was going to have to identify them pretty quickly, so I entered all of their differences into m
y phone's note app. But, when they first got here, each had such different needs, it was easy to get to know them while they recuperated."

  Beryl slid over to Mark. "Hey there, pretty boy. Will you give me a ride?" she asked, dramatically batting her eyes.

  Mark had the decency to blush. "I was just about to take them back to the barn, but we can take a spin around the place. Do you mind walking back up from there?"

  He reached down and gave her a hand. Polly smiled as the woman clambered up to the bench seat. After the water heater exploded in her art studio and scalded her, Beryl had returned to normal pretty quickly. Henry renovated her studio with the help of several others and last month, Beryl announced she was in love with her new place and wasn't inviting anyone over because she was going back to work. Polly knew that the accident had messed with her work schedule and she was madly trying to finish several commissioned paintings.

  Lydia stepped back and watched with Polly as Mark and Beryl rode away.

  "What are you two doing here today?" Polly asked.

  "I had to go down to Boone and since Andy is busy with Len all the time, I made Beryl leave her studio for a while. We drove in and saw you and Mark with the horses and thought we'd stop by. I also wanted to look at the gardens and see how they were doing. Have you looked at them lately?"

  Polly hung her head. "Not very closely. It all looks very pretty, though. Maybe I'm afraid that if I get too close I will destroy something.

  "Stop it. You can't hurt anything over there. Come on. Let's take a walk. Beryl can catch up."

  Polly stopped and said, "I thought Len was working with Henry. How come Andy doesn't have time for you?"

  "She does and he is, but they had something planned for today. Don't mind me. I was much too comfortable with her being available to me unless she was with her grandkids."

  "Speaking of grandkids, how is your new baby?"

  Lydia's daughter, Marilyn, was the mother of a set of twins and a brand new baby, which meant that Lydia hadn't been around quite as much. Polly's life had gotten busier so she wasn't lonely, but she did miss spending time with the women who had welcomed her to Bellingwood last fall. There had been some wonderful moments with these women, but even in a few short months, lives had changed and they were busy with other things.

  "That little girl is a grandma's dream. She's going to be the prettiest little thing you will ever see. Trust me," Lydia laughed. "We're just glad she is healthy and happy. I’m taking the twins this weekend so Marilyn and Brian can rest a little with her. Marilyn calls it GrammaCamp, I just call it perfect."

  They approached the garden and Lydia bent over to pull weeds away from some blooming flowers.

  "Should I be doing that?" Polly asked.

  Lydia laughed whole heartedly, "No, Polly. If you have to ask, I think it might be a horrible mistake." She continued to laugh as they walked along the path. They stopped in front of the bubbling pond. "All of this is such a wonderful addition to the corner here," she said. "We should have done this a long time ago."

  "I'm just glad you did it now," Polly said. She sat down on a wooden bench. "And I should probably come out here more often. It's awfully peaceful, especially with the water bubbling. But, whenever I'm out, Obiwan is with me and I won't let him anywhere near it."

  "He has gotten big. Has he finished growing yet?"

  "I don't think so. It seems like he fills out and gets a little taller every time I take him to get his nails trimmed."

  "You don't do that yourself?"

  "No! He whimpered at me the first time and I felt so guilty I cried. Now I make Marnie do it at the vet's office. He loves her and licks her hand when she's done. I'll pay for that treatment every day!"

  Lydia sat down beside her and they listened to the water and then watched as Beryl strode across the lawn toward them.

  "Hey!" she called. "I didn't know where you'd gone. I thought maybe y'all had gone off and left me to fend for myself with all those men and horses."

  "I'd never do that," Polly responded. "I like those men and horses. It wouldn't be fair to them."

  Beryl stood in front of them and made a shooing movement to Lydia, "Move over. I'm sitting too."

  "There's barely room!" Lydia protested.

  "There's plenty of room. I'm a skinny wretch and you two are way too comfortable here. Move it."

  Polly moved off the bench and sat on the edge of the pond, poised on a large rock.

  "You didn't have to get off," Beryl said. "We were going to fit."

  "I'm fine," Polly assured her. "As long as the rock doesn't shift and send me into the water, I'm fine."

  "Are you ready for the big quilt show? That Cindy Rothenfuss is a pip, isn't she?" Beryl grinned.

  "I'm so glad I don't have to deal with her. Jeff is doing all of the organization. What's her deal anyway?"

  "She's a bitch," declared Beryl.

  Lydia slapped her leg. "Beryl!"

  "Well, she is. All she ever does is criticize everything and try to control everyone and she doesn't do a damned thing herself. Does she quilt? No. Does she sing in the choir? No. Does she bake pies? No. She doesn't do a thing, but she thinks her opinions about everything are important because ... well, I don't know why."

  "Some people need to find ways to express themselves and that's her way," Lydia said.

  "Well, it's a rotten way. I don't know who gave her permission to act like that, but someone should take it away from her. How is she involved with this quilt show anyway?" Beryl asked.

  Lydia looked down, "She kind of stole it from Marla Singer. One year, Marla was running things and the next year, she'd gotten shoved out. Cindy flashed around a bunch of money that she'd wrangled out of her husband for prizes and hiring judges and there wasn't anything poor Marla could do."

  "See, like I told you. She's a bitch."

  "Stop it, Beryl. That's not nice."

  "Not nice? I’ll give you not nice. She tried to tell me that one of my paintings was wrong. I told her she could choose not to like my painting, but she couldn't tell me it was wrong. When she decided to paint and enter the market, she would earn the right to have a conversation with me, but until then, she needed to walk away."

  "You didn't!" Polly said.

  "Look at me," Beryl said. "Do you think I'm lying to you?"

  "I guess not. What did she say?"

  "She walked away. I was mean enough to donate the painting to the bank where her husband is the president, though. She has to look at it every time she walks in the front door."

  Polly snorted with laughter and she saw Lydia's face turn red. "Oh Beryl, I love you! She completely ignored me yesterday and told Jeff she doesn't want Eliseo around her precious quilts. I hope Jeff figures out how to deal with her."

  "Maybe someone needs to just run her off the road into a big, deep ditch," Beryl said.

  "Now Beryl!" Lydia admonished, "Don't say those things. You'd be upset if something awful happened to her."

  Beryl turned her body so as to fully face her friend, "Do you really think I'd be upset?"

  Lydia simpered, "Yes?"

  "You're right. I probably would, but it might take me a minute to get to that point. She's a mean and nasty woman."

  "She is miserable and unhappy. I've tried for years to get to know her and find out what was behind all of that ugliness."

  "Of course you have," Beryl said, patting Lydia's knee. "You don't give up on anyone. You need to give up on this one, though. If you can't get through to her, no one can."

  "So," Polly said, changing the subject "Something strange came into my email box the other day."

  "Was it a puddy tat?" Beryl asked.

  "What?" Polly looked at her friend and then at Lydia, who shrugged.

  "Nothing. No one ever lets me get away with making random statements. I think they're funny and apparently I'm alone with my thoughts. You said that something strange had come into your email box and I had an image of a cat in your computer. Sorry."

&n
bsp; "Oh, okay. I got an email from a lady who said she knew my mom and dad and was there when I was born. She told me that she had left in some kind of disgrace. Dad never talked about her. There was never anything in the house that referred to her and I don't have any pictures of her. It really has me freaked out."

  Lydia's concern for Polly showed in her face, "What did you say to her?"

  "I told her that if she wanted to come to Bellingwood, I would meet her."

  "Have you heard anything more?"

  "Not yet. I don't know what to think about any of this. It's times like this I wish Dad were here. How could he not have told me about someone who was so important in his life with mom that this person was living in our house?"

  "There are many reasons he might have kept that from you, Polly," Lydia said.

  "I've thought about a ton of them and I don't like them," she replied.

  "I imagine so. But, if she's reaching out to you, maybe now is a good time to find out what she meant to your family."

  "Do you want us there as your backup when you meet her?" Beryl asked.

  "No, that's not necessary. Henry said he would go with me."

  "If you need anything from us, anything at all, you know we'll be there, don't you?" Lydia asked.

  "I do. Thanks. I needed to tell you about this, but I'm not ready to make a big deal out of it."

  "I'm ready for a big deal. In fact, we haven't had a big deal in forever. We need a party, girls."

  Lydia smiled, "We probably do. We've all gotten so busy. But, Bellingwood Days starts next week. There isn't much time."

  "Are y'all busy Sunday night? We should do something."

  Polly looked at Lydia, who said, "I'm game."

  Beryl slipped her phone out of the pocket in her shirt and pressed a button, "Andy? It's me. I don't care what you have planned for Sunday night, cancel it. Us girls need a party."

  "You what?" She paused and listened. "Cancel it. No. I'm not kidding. Cancel it. I'll text you details later." Another pause. "I'm with them now. Okay. Love you!"