Tomorrow's Promises (Bellingwood Book 7)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  "You're right, Polly. It's going to be okay."

  "I know. It's just that I've never been through one of these before."

  "I'm scared, Mom," Rebecca said.

  Before Sarah could respond, Andrew stood up and put Leia in Rebecca's lap. "Like Polly said, it's going to be okay." He sidled in between his own mom and Rebecca on the bed and reached across to pet the cat. "We're in Sycamore House. Right, Polly?"

  Polly looked at Kelly and Ethan Locke, who hadn't said a word since they'd come downstairs. She hadn't had time to talk to them this afternoon and felt awful that she was no further in the search for Kelly's daughter. She planned to call Anita in the sheriff's office tomorrow to see if they couldn't do some more searching.

  "You're right. This is Sycamore House. I have to believe that it's here for a reason and we're going to be safe." She sat down and crossed her legs, leaning back against Henry. "We're going to be just fine."

  The sound from outside died down after a few minutes and they looked at each other, everyone breathing a sigh of relief.

  "I didn't hear any terrible crashing upstairs," Bill Sturtz said. "We're probably okay here. Let me see what the radio says." He went back out to the main room and after a few minutes, came back in. "We should wait a while longer, but I think the worst has passed. We'll wait for the sirens to wind down. Henry? With me?"

  Henry patted Polly on the shoulder and stood up. "We'll be back," he said. "It's hard to keep Dad from a good storm."

  "Be careful," Marie said.

  Polly couldn't stand it and dialed Eliseo's phone again. She got a busy signal and figured there was probably too much cell tower traffic happening, so she entered a text and hoped it would go through soon.

  "Are you okay?" and she sent it.

  Henry came back into the room. "I wouldn't advise any of us to get on the road yet, but I think we can go back upstairs. The wind is blowing and it's still raining, but it's not dangerous."

  "What does it look like out there?" Polly asked.

  "We just looked out the front door. I can't see much because of the driving rain. There are tree branches in the parking lot and it's filled with water. Come on up and see for yourself."

  She looked around the room and saw that Jason was still clutching Luke. She chuckled. "I can't believe those cats didn't get away from you guys," she said.

  Jason rolled his neck. "I was holding him a little tight. But he didn't scratch me or anything."

  "Would you three kids mind taking the cats back up to the apartment? Here, take this lamp with you." Mark handed them one of the lamps. There were emergency lights in the main hallways of Sycamore House that should have turned on when the power went off. Hopefully that would give everyone on the main level enough light to see.

  After they were all upstairs, she watched the kids take the steps up to her home, then turned to Henry. "Next purchase is a generator. What if this happened with hundreds of people in here? We need to at least have electricity."

  "Not a bad idea," he acknowledged. "But it won't take long for the power to come back on."

  She went into her office and looked out the window at the storm. Rain was still pelting the ground and she couldn't see beyond her own lot. What was happening in the rest of the town?

  "Polly?" Henry's voice came in from the front office. "You need to see this. Come here."

  She went out into the main hallway and he took her hand. "I'm sure Eliseo is okay, so don't panic."

  "What? Don't tell me not to panic if something bad has happened."

  He led her to the side door and out into the addition, then opened the door so she could look down at the barn. A large section of the roof had been ripped off and was nowhere to be seen. She started to run and he stopped her.

  "What do you think you're doing?"

  "I'm going to check on them. Mark!" she called loudly and pulled her hand out of Henry's. Before he could grab her again, she ran for the barn, caring little about the rain pouring down on her head.

  "Eliseo!" she yelled as she ran. She stopped at the first gate and flung it open, then ran for the second, not bothering to shut either of them. Polly opened the main door to the alley of the barn and yelled again, "Eliseo!"

  "What are you doing down here?" Eliseo came out of the donkey's stall, holding Gretel in one arm and carrying a lantern in the other. "You are absolutely soaked through. And you called me a fool."

  "The roof is gone!" She couldn't stop yelling.

  "Yeah. It got a little exciting in here. But we're fine. The horses were a little upset, but Tom, Huck, and I managed to keep them calm.

  Mark and Henry pulled up short behind Polly and Mark started laughing. "Eliseo, you scared this woman to death. I'm sure she imagined all of you bloodied and dead down here." He looked into Demi's stall and the horse put his head out for some attention. "It probably scared you, didn't it buddy? Did you make it through unscathed?"

  He opened the stall door and went in, petting Demi's shoulders and running his hand down the horse's front legs, one at a time. "You're fine. At least you had a safe place to live this year."

  Nat had heard Mark's voice and was looking out at him for some attention. The veterinarian went into each of the stalls and quietly spoke to the horses, while checking each of them.

  "You know they're okay, don't you, Polly?" he said, coming back into the main alley.

  She dropped her head onto her chest. "I do now. Thank you."

  His phone lit up. "And so it begins. I'm going to be busy tonight. Do you mind if Sal stays here for a while? I don't know how long I'll be out."

  "That's fine," Polly said. "Thanks again. Tell her I'll be up. And grab some food for yourself so you don't starve."

  "Will you come back up to the house?" she asked Eliseo.

  "Not yet."

  "Jason's going to ask. Can he come down?"

  "I'd like that."

  Henry took her hand and they stopped at the door, watching the rain continue to pour out of the sky. "One, two, three, go?" he asked.

  She laughed. "I need to shut the gates this time. You run. I'm soaked through, it doesn't matter at this point."

  "I'm never going to be able to contain you, am I?"

  "It will be easier if you don't try," she said, laughing, then yelled, "Go!" and ran for the first gate.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Polly and Henry got back up to the main house to find everyone back in the auditorium. Joss and Nate had left to check their home, but the others were gathered around tables, picking at their meals.

  "We figured that since we couldn't go outside, we might as well eat," Bill said, carrying a couple of plates to his table. "But as soon as this lets up, I want to go see what happened in town."

  Henry nodded and dropped into his seat, his face glum.

  "What's wrong, honey?" Polly asked, sitting next to him.

  "I have a bad feeling about this. We aren't going anywhere tomorrow morning."

  She smiled and then quickly wiped it off her face. "I've known that for days. Something just didn't feel right about this trip."

  Her phone rang. It was Aaron Merritt.

  "Hey Aaron, are you guys okay?"

  "We're fine, but Ken and I have a problem and need your help."

  "Sure, what do you need?"

  "The tornado ripped through the northwest edge of town. There are some folks without homes and quite a few others who have too much damage to stay at home tonight. The Red Cross will set up at the elementary school, but we need one more place for people to come."

  "I don't have power yet, but we'll do what we can."

  "No damage?"

  "So far, it just looks like part of the roof blew off the barn. Everyone is okay and Sycamore House is in good shape. I won't know any more until we can get outside. How long is this rain supposed to last?"

  "We're at the end of the storm. The guys are out working on the electrical lines, you'll have power back soon."

  She grinned. Living in rural Iowa
was amazing. They'd never gone without power longer than a few hours. Henry tried to explain what usually brought it down, but she just smiled and hoped that whoever was climbing the power poles stayed safe. That was their job and she appreciated them for it.

  "People can come here now, it's just not convenient for them without power. As soon as the lights are back on, though, we'll be ready. Whatever you need from me. Are you sure you are okay?"

  "We lost a big tree in the front yard, but I'll deal with that later."

  "Your kids?"

  "We've heard from them all. Everyone is fine."

  "Have you heard from Beryl or Andy?"

  "I'm on my way to Andy and Len's house right now. We can't get through to them. Beryl is fuming because her neighbor's gazebo blew into her front yard, so I guess she's probably okay."

  Polly got up and walked over to one of the big windows at the front of the building. The sun was trying to peek through the clouds and the rain was beginning to abate.

  "It looks like the weather is trying to get back to normal. I'm going to go so I can check out the rest of the building."

  "Take care of yourself."

  "And Aaron, no one has to call or anything. They can just come over. We have six rooms nearly ready at Sycamore Inn if you need them and I have a room available here. I don't know what Jeff has planned, but he can deal with all of that tomorrow."

  "Thank you, Polly. You'll make this easier for me."

  "I guess that's what I'm here for. I can't imagine doing anything else."

  They hung up and Polly jogged over to Henry and his dad, who were getting ready to leave by the back door.

  "Don't go yet, just a minute, okay?"

  Henry frowned at her, "Sure. What's going on?"

  "You'll see."

  "Everyone?" Polly spoke loudly to get the attention of the people in her auditorium.

  "I don't know what your plans are and you are certainly free to go and check on your homes and family, but that was Aaron Merritt and he says things are bad in town. The Red Cross is coming in and they'll be setting up at the elementary school. He and Ken Wallers would like us to open up for people who need a place to settle in. I've offered the extra room here and the rooms at Sycamore Inn, but I'm guessing there will be a lot going on the next couple of days as people try to get their lives cleaned up after all of this. Any time that you can give us here will be helpful."

  She turned to Henry. "I just promised Aaron the use of Sycamore Inn. I suppose the first thing we should do is make sure that it wasn't damaged."

  "I can head over there first. Dad's going to check the house."

  "Let me come with you. I don't need to be here. Sylvie can handle this place until the electricity comes back on."

  "Sure," he said.

  When they arrived at the hotel, Polly was relieved that all was still in place. Plenty of debris had blown into the parking lot, but the roof remained and no glass had been broken.

  "I don't know that I want to see what happened to the lodge," Henry said

  "Might as well drive on back there. Get the pain over as quickly as possible."

  The lodge for the winery was still under construction. It was framed and enclosed, but still just a shell. Henry drove through the parking lot, past the caretaker's house and out onto the street leading back to the winery. The homes looked fine and when they pulled into the driveway, there were quite a few cars parked in front of the lodge.

  "I didn't even think about the grapevines," he said. "I'll bet the boys are in a panic."

  The rain was still coming down, creating a muddy mess around the concrete driveway. He pulled in and parked, then walked around the lodge, looking it over closely. Polly waited in the truck for him until she saw J. J. Robert's car. He pulled in beside her and got out, grinning. He was a terrible flirt. It didn't matter that she was married, he never passed up an opportunity to hit on her. She rolled the car window down, hoping to cut him off before he got started.

  "Have you heard anything about the vineyard yet?" she asked him.

  "We've got some things down, but Wayne isn't upset. How about you guys?"

  "Henry's checking the lodge. We lost part of the barn's roof, but that can be replaced. Sycamore Inn is in good shape."

  "My parents said they are fine, but their neighbor's house was demolished. Everyone is safe, but they are staying with Mom and Dad until they figure out what to do next."

  "That's really nice," Polly said. "They have that much room?"

  "It's no big deal. There's practically an apartment in their lower level." He shook his head. "You gotta do what you gotta do. We wouldn't leave them out in the rain. And they've lived next door to each other for thirty years.

  "How bad is it up there?"

  "There are at least ten homes that I could count that are wrecked and I didn't bother to count the houses that had roof damage or windows blown out."

  "What about downtown?"

  "Totally missed it. We were lucky."

  "I guess so," she said. "Some people weren't so lucky, though."

  Henry got back into the truck and leaned across Polly. "I didn't see the rest of the guys. Are they down in the vineyard?"

  "Yeah. I was up at my parent's house checking on them."

  "I just got a call from Ben Bowen," Henry said. "He's lost everything."

  Polly gasped. "Did you tell him to come over?" She liked Ben a lot and this made her heart hurt.

  "I did. His wife is pretty upset. He kept assuring me that it was only stuff, but I don't think he realizes how much all of that stuff was part of their lives."

  "Should we check on them?"

  "No, the police won't let anyone else back on those streets tonight. Ben knows to come to Sycamore House when he gets out and to call if he needs anything."

  "Okay."

  J. J. started to turn away and said, "I'll talk to you guys later. I see the rest of the crew coming up. If you need anything, let us know, okay?"

  "Thanks man, same goes," Henry said.

  Polly left the window down, enjoying the breeze of the evening. "Let's just drive for a while," she said. "Take me past Andy and Len's house. I want to see for myself that they're okay."

  Henry pulled out of the parking lot and began driving. He drove north through town and wove around some of the neighborhoods, moaning at the loss of several big, old trees. The bleachers at the ball fields had been ripped out of the ground and were gone. The shelter they used for selling concessions was in bits and pieces on the ground.

  He continued to drive and they began to see the path the tornado took. Polly was thankful that it had missed the main part of town, but that didn't mean anything to the people who had lost their homes. He pointed down a gravel road to the west. "That's where J. J.'s parents live. They were lucky that their home is still standing."

  Polly nodded and tried her best to take it all in. The corn was still pretty short, but she could see a large amount of debris spread across the fields. "That's going to be a huge mess to clean up."

  He nodded and sighed, then turned onto a gravel road. "One of my uncles lives out here. He's an old hermit. I just want to check and make sure he's okay."

  "I had no idea you even had an uncle," she said.

  "We really don't talk about him much. He's not social and doesn't like people. He lives out here with his chickens. Dad used to check on him all the time, but when Loren took a shotgun to Dad's truck, that ended."

  "He shot at your dad?"

  "He thought my parents spent too much time worrying and insisted that he was fine all on his own. I think Dad finally decided that if Loren was going to die alone, we couldn't do anything about it. I told my parents I'd check on him tonight."

  "Is he going to shoot at us?"

  Henry chuckled. "Who knows?"

  He pointed to a ramshackle house with out-buildings surrounding it. "That's Uncle Loren's place. It looks like he doesn't have power out here either."

  "Does the house always look like
that or did the storm hit it?"

  "It looks worse every year. He won't let us help him fix it up. I wonder sometimes if he doesn't let it fall apart just to be spiteful."

  "What's that down there?" Polly pointed down the road to something dark in the road. It was far enough away that they couldn't tell what it was and dusk was starting to settle in.

  "I'll check it out first. We might be running for our lives in a few minutes," Henry said, laughing a little.

  He drove on and discovered a pickup truck that had its front wheels in the ditch. "That's weird," he remarked.

  "Pull over, just in case someone's hurt." Polly waited until he stopped the truck and jumped out. She approached the truck and said, "Hello! Is anyone there? Are you okay?" She turned her phone's flashlight on and pointed it at the cab of the truck.

  "Henry! There's someone here! Help me!"

  He ran around to the driver's side of the truck and helped to open the car door. Polly took one look at the man slumped over the steering wheel and dropped her head.

  "You can check," she said to Henry, "but I'm guessing he's dead."

  "Why do you say that?"

  She aimed the flashlight at the man's head and Henry said, "Oh. That's why."

  Blood matted the hair to the skin around a large hole. "I don't want to call Aaron," she said. "He has enough going on."

  "Well, I'm not calling him. Dead bodies are your thing. My thing is keeping you out of trouble."

  "At least you're here with me this time. It's partly your thing, now. Do you know who this is?"

  Henry stepped forward to get a closer look and reached out for Polly, his hand flailing until he grasped her arm. "It's Uncle Loren." He backed up and walked down the road. Soon he was bent over with his hands at his knees, retching into the ditch.

  "Do you need me, Henry?"

  He waved her away. "No, call Aaron. I'll be fine in a minute."

  Polly stepped back and walked to his truck, bringing up Aaron Merritt's phone number.

  "Do you have electricity yet?" Aaron asked when he answered the phone.