"Good morning, Polly," Camille said. "It sounds as if you’re having an adventure."
"I guess I am," Polly said. "But I've been promised coffee. Is that mine?"
"Only if you follow me." Camille beckoned for Polly to follow her back to the kitchen.
"Happy Mother's Day," a chorus rang out. Sylvie, Jason and Andrew, Jessie, Molly, and Elise smiled at Polly.
Sylvie stepped forward. "We're not your family, but you've helped us all find a future to be excited about, so we wanted to be a little part of your day." She pressed a bundle of crazy daisies into Polly's hands as they hugged. "There's a little something in the middle of this," Sylvie whispered. "You can open it later."
Jessie picked her daughter up and stepped forward so Molly could wrap her arms around Polly's neck and kiss her. "When I was at my lowest, you didn't let me fall down, but showed me how to stand up. I still can't believe how lucky I am to be part of your big family." Jessie smiled at her daughter. "Give Polly her present, honey."
Molly opened her little hands to expose another small box.
"What's this?" Polly asked.
"A flower," Molly said proudly, making the room laugh.
"You can open it later," Jessie said. "It will go with your necklace."
"Pretty flowers," Molly said, reaching for Polly's garland.
Jessie grabbed her daughter's hand and stepped back.
"It's my turn," Elise said. "I came back to Bellingwood because it was the first place I'd ever been where someone didn't care whether or not I was just myself. You showed me what courage looked like and it changed my life." She darted at Polly, gave her a quick hug and then handed her another small box. "Open it later. It will make sense."
"I don't know what to say," Polly said.
"We aren't done," Jason responded. "This is from me. I was supposed to come up with a reason why you were so important to me, but I can't think of a reason why you aren't." He glanced at his mother, then said, "I love you, Polly."
That destroyed her and she wept. "Thank you, Jason," she managed to say.
"This will remind you of me," he said and handed her yet another box. "And yeah. You can open it later."
Andrew stepped in front of his brother. Polly hadn't seen them stand together in a long time and was startled to see how tall Andrew was getting. He was still lanky and looked nothing like his brother, but he was growing like crazy.
"I won't make you cry," he said. "And I didn't wrap this box, so you can see what it is." He snapped the box open to expose a charm in the form of a book. "It's always been about books with us," Andrew said. "And I hope that never stops."
As Polly stepped forward to hug him, he muttered, "Neither does the hugging stuff, apparently."
She pulled him into a hug and he whispered in her ear. "I love you, too. Thanks."
Sylvie stepped forward. "Your family is waiting for you. After you pick up your coffee from Camille, head over to your new house. We'll see you this afternoon at Rebecca's party."
"I'm at such a loss," Polly said. "I love you guys. I didn't do any of this on purpose. You are the ones who filled up my life." Tears ran down her cheeks. "And now I don't know how I'm going to drive. You made me cry."
"Go on," Sylvie said. "Get a napkin from Camille, too.
Polly looked at Jessie and Molly, then Elise and Sylvie's boys. Her family was immense. "Okay," she said. "I'm going. Thank you so much for sharing this with me."
Camille met her in the hallway with a small bag for her to drop the boxes into and a tall cup of coffee. "Have fun," she said.
"Are you going to see your mother today?" Polly asked.
"They're coming over this afternoon," Camille said with a nod. "Mama says she wants to fill my little house up with family today. I'm not sure what she's thinking, but since it's Mother's Day, I won't argue."
"Have a good time with them," Polly said. "And thank you."
She got back into her truck and looked at the treasures in front of her, then backed out and headed for the Bell House. Henry had gone to a lot of trouble this morning and she wasn't sure what else he might come up with.
Polly pulled in beside Henry's truck and looked around, surprised to not see anyone. When she got out of her truck, she grinned at the arrow made from rocks on the driveway. It pointed to the back yard. She reached back into the truck for her coffee and the bag of boxes, hoping she'd have an opportunity to open them yet this morning. She looked at the bundle of daisies and snatched those up, too. You could never go wrong with flowers.
"Hello!" she called out as she crossed the breezeway.
"There you are," Rebecca said, running to greet her. "Have you had a good morning?"
"It was wonderful. Were you in on the planning?"
"A little. Henry did all of this, though. Come on. You have to see." Rebecca tugged on Polly's arm.
"I'm coming. I'm coming. Happy thirteenth birthday, sweet girl. How are you doing this morning?"
"Okay," Rebecca said. "I'm glad it's over and I'm glad Kayla and Stephanie are back and I'm glad Stephanie is doing okay. I talked to Jeff and Kayla this morning. They're going to the hospital to see if she can go home with them. Hopefully they'll be out in time for my party. But Jeff said he'd make sure Kayla got there at least."
"That's good. Now where are we..." Polly looked up and gasped. "Oh my."
"Do you like it?" Rebecca asked.
"I love it."
Hayden and Heath stood up from a small table in a gazebo, each holding a leash attached to a dog. Obiwan and Han wagged like crazy when they saw Polly.
Henry stepped out from the side of the house to offer Polly his arm. "What do you think?" he asked.
"It's gorgeous. What have you done?"
He chuckled. "We made you a gazebo. This back corner is the perfect place for it. The big old trees offer a lot of shade and I thought we might put a garden in out here."
"You made this? You haven't had time. I thought you were working on the front porch."
"We're working on that, too. We can have both, don’t you think? This isn't completely finished yet," Henry said, "but we got it close enough for today. We had help from a lot of people yesterday morning. It was almost like a barn-raising."
Polly looked at him with a frown. This wasn't what he was supposed to be doing yesterday. He’d told her that he was working on Rebecca’s present.
"Come on in," Henry said with a smile. "We have breakfast and a few more gifts for you."
She bent over and snuggled Obiwan and then stood to give Hayden a hug. "Thank you for your work on this. It's gorgeous."
He held out a chair for her to sit in and Rebecca pulled up a seat between Heath and Hayden.
"We're having my party here this afternoon," Rebecca announced. "We changed all the plans this week when Henry decided to build the gazebo."
"You what?" Polly looked at Henry.
"Rather than decorating the auditorium, she wanted her friends to come to her new house."
"The lawn looks terrible," Polly said.
Rebecca shook her head. "I don't care. It's pretty back here and I want them to see the big hole in the ground and tell them about the tunnel and show off the gazebo. Isn't it perfect?"
"That's easier on me," Polly said. "Whatever makes your day great."
"Since it's Mother's Day and my birthday, I thought it should be easy on both of us," Rebecca said. "You aren't upset, are you?"
"Not at all," Polly said. "Even with the scrubby lawn, this is nice." She grinned. "And think about how beautiful it will be next year."
Henry reached over and rubbed Polly's arm. "I'm glad you like it."
"I love this. What a wonderful surprise. Thank you." Polly looked at Hayden and then at Heath. "Thank you guys for working on this for me. It means so much."
"We kept the casserole hot," Henry said. "When Camille called to tell me you'd left the coffee shop, I brought it out."
Heath opened the familiar Sweet Beans box beside him. "We picked up
some of Sylvie's muffins, too."
Polly shut her eyes and took in a deep breath. When she opened them, she smiled. "It's a perfect morning. You are all amazing."
"Rebecca had the idea for the gifts from your friends," Henry said. He reached over and took the garland from around Polly's neck. "There should be something on here. Eliseo texted me that he hadn't had time to tell you it was there." He felt around it and then stopped. "Right here. Take that."
Polly put her fingers where he had shown her and had to break a stem to retrieve the small horse charm. "It's a theme, isn't it," she said.
Hayden, Heath and Rebecca all pushed boxes across the table to her.
"We were supposed to come up with something that connected you to each of us," Rebecca said. "Open them."
"How long have you been working on this?" Polly asked.
Henry chuckled. "Rebecca had the idea at Christmas and she’s been working it since then. Don't be surprised if some of your other friends show up with small boxes this afternoon. Everybody wanted to get in on it, but didn't have time to see you before breakfast." He took out a long box and put it in front of her.
"While Grey gave you the necklace, we wanted you to be able to wear all of them together."
"Is that a...?" Polly started, stopping when she found herself choking up.
"It's the bracelet." He looked around the table. "We should eat while the food is hot. Hayden, would you serve us up?"
Polly couldn't take her eyes off the gifts in front of her and finally opened the package from Henry in between bites of the sausage and hash brown casserole that Hayden had made the night before.
"Oh, honey," she said, then leaned over to kiss Henry. Not only had he given her the bracelet, but at the very end was a cloisonné heart in full color. All of the other charms so far had been pewter. "Thank you."
"Mine next," Rebecca said.
Polly deliberately picked up Hayden's box. "This one?"
"No," Rebecca said. "But go ahead. I can wait." She heaved a dramatic sigh.
"We don't have a lot of history yet," Hayden said, "but the thing I remember most is that you wanted me here for your family's holidays."
"Our family," Polly corrected and opened the box. "A Christmas tree. That's perfect." She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then sat back, looking at the charm. The table had gone silent and she looked around.
Everyone was staring at Hayden, so she turned back to look at him and was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.
"It's nothing," he said, wiping his eyes with a napkin.
"Did I upset you?"
"Not at all. It's just been so long since anyone kissed me like that. It brought back a lot of memories."
"I love you, Hayden," she said. "And I should kiss you like that more often. Yes?"
"Okay."
Polly gave a wicked grin to Rebecca and picked the box up that Heath had given to her.
"You're mean," Rebecca said.
"Uh huh. That's me. Mean Mommy. Let's see what this is." Polly opened the box and then clutched it to her heart. "A pickup truck," she said.
"Do you remember the first time you let me drive your truck?" Heath asked quietly. "That was a big deal to me. And then you and Henry trusted me with your old truck. Thank you both for taking me in. I hope I never disappoint you."
Henry was sitting beside Heath and reached across to put his hand on the boy's back, rubbing it lightly. "We love you, Heath, and we're glad you are part of our family."
"Thank you, sir," Heath said.
Polly picked the bag up that she'd brought from the coffee shop. "I have some unopened boxes in here. They told me I could open them later. I think now is later, don't you?"
"Come. On," Rebecca whined. "You can't do this to me."
"I know that Jessie and Molly gave me a flower and Andrew gave me a book. I don't know what came from Sylvie or Jason or Elise. My curiosity is killing me."
"Please open mine," Rebecca said.
"Okay. Since you begged." Polly picked up the box from Rebecca and removed the top. She sat in silence as she looked at it, then turned the box so everyone could see the tiny globe charm within.
"You give me the world," Rebecca said. "And the thing is, I never had to worry about whether or not I was going to be lost. You were always just there. Mom told me that you and Henry would make sure I had everything I needed and I trusted you with that. Every single day you tell me that I can become whatever I want to be and I believe it." She jumped out of her seat and ran around Hayden to hug Polly.
They held on to each other while Polly breathed in the familiar scent of Rebecca's shampoo. She'd come much too close to losing this precious girl and just the thought of that brought fresh tears to Polly's eyes.
"I love you so much," Polly said quietly. "It's so hard to be thankful that you live with me when I know what you had to go through to get here, but I'm glad you are here."
"Me too. Mom kept telling me that it was going to be okay. All I had to do was trust."
Rebecca let Polly go and went behind her to put her arms around Henry. "I love you, too."
"I love you, sweetie," Henry said.
"Now we should probably stop with the silly emotional stuff," Rebecca said. "We need to be in a party frame of mind by this afternoon. No more of this teary junk. Everybody is happy and doing good. Right?" She trailed her fingers along Heath's back as she walked behind him and back to her seat. "Right?" she asked him pointedly.
"Right," he said.
"What were the other charms you got this morning?" Rebecca asked.
Polly took the little box out from the bunch of daisies, then handed the flowers to Henry. "These are going to need water. Don't let me forget." She opened it to find a chef's hat charm. "Perfect," she said with a smile. "I think this one's from Jason." Polly grinned at the charm of cowboy boots. From Elise, she got a lion charm and was thankful that Elise had given her a clue before she'd opened it. "This is a fun gift," Polly said to Rebecca. "You had a great idea. Thanks for organizing it."
"Everybody wanted to once I gave them the idea," Rebecca said. "Since it was really your first Mother's Day with a family, I thought it should be special."
"It really is. I can't imagine having a better family than this." Polly reached out and took Hayden's hand. "What a great bunch of kids to be a mom to. Thank you for giving me this day."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
When Polly finally pushed back from the table, Henry held out his hand. “Come with me.”
She'd eaten too much and really wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up with her dogs until this afternoon's party. Henry and Rebecca assured her that they had everything under control. People were bringing lawn chairs and card tables. Now that she didn't have to worry about there being any extra holes in the back yard, those chairs and tables were safe anywhere. Sylvie and her boys were bringing the cupcakes and Rachel had already made up sandwiches. For a thirteenth birthday party, things couldn't have been easier.
After last night’s trauma, she and Sylvie were on the same page regarding cell phones for Andrew and Rebecca. Polly had created a gift certificate for each of them. It was an additional birthday gift this year, but she was going to do it anyway; might as well score a few extra points.
"Where are we going?" she asked as he tugged on her arm to drag her up.
"You'll see. Come on."
She followed him across the back yard to the room she'd fallen into earlier this week. It was hard to believe that it had been less than a week since that happened. It felt like months had passed between then and now.
"Go ahead. Climb down," he said, putting his hand on the ladder.
Polly looked at him with a frown. "What are we doing?"
"Go on. You'll see in a few minutes."
Polly climbed down the ladder and Rebecca came right behind her. Hayden was the next down and then Henry. A few moments later, Heath stood at the top of the ladder, ho
lding four LED lanterns.
"Go ahead and toss them one by one," Henry said. "We'll catch them." Then he put his hand up. "No wait. Don't let any of them get near Polly. It will either conk her on the head and knock her out or will just fall to the ground and break."
"Hey!" she yelled, then laughed and put her hands up in defeat. "You're right."
Heath tossed them over the edge to Hayden and Henry, one to Rebecca and then climbed down while holding the last one.
"Don't I get one?" Polly asked. "And what are we doing with these?"
"You can have mine," Henry said. "Go into the tunnel."
She stood in the entrance and turned to look inside it, holding out the lantern Henry had given her. "Are you sure?"
"It's perfectly safe."
"I don't want it to be perfectly safe," she complained. "I want there to be a little adventure."
"We left an adventure for you," Henry said. "I promise. Now go ahead."
Polly had to crouch, but held her lantern out and went forward. "How far does this go?"
"About fifty feet," Henry said. "The end is obvious. Just keep going."
She looked at the walls of the tunnel surrounding her and tried not to think about the fact that she was in a tightly enclosed space with no idea of what was ahead. She hated being claustrophobic and refused to think about the fact that there were four people behind her who would have to lie down and be trampled if she wanted out in a hurry.
"It's okay," Rebecca said quietly. "You're okay."
"How did you know I wasn't?" Polly asked.
"You started breathing faster. Just a little bit farther."
"Have you been down here already?"
"I'm not telling," Rebecca said with a laugh. "But we left the best for you."
"What does that even mean?"
"You're almost there. Keep going."
"How do you know that? It feels like I've walked for blocks and blocks. What if I missed it?”
Rebecca reached forward and touched Polly's arm, making Polly jump. "What?"
"Look at the wall there," Rebecca said. "See the hole?"
"Does that mean dirt is going to come flowing in on me?"
Reflecting Love's Charms (Bellingwood Book 14) Page 23
