"Let's see what Jeff has," she said and walked over to her associate.
"Have you gotten any names of people to receive trees?" she asked.
"I have. I don't know if we're going to have any extra trees to give away," he said.
"That's fine. I'd rather they all went to someone who could use a tree." she responded.
He slipped the cards into her hand and passed them on to Henry, who glanced at them and nodding, handed them back.
"How are you doing, Jeff?" Henry asked.
"I think we're doing well. There was a stack of brochures about hosting events here at Sycamore House out by the front door and those are nearly gone. The business cards I left on the counter are also gone, so maybe we'll start getting some calls. And Polly, the food is great. Your friends have done a fabulous job."
"I'm going to talk to Sylvie. She needs to think bigger about her life. Working in a grocery store doesn't nearly begin to tap into her talent." Polly remarked.
They chatted for a few more minutes until Lydia walked up to Polly and said, "You aren't going to believe it, but I need you again."
Polly turned to Henry and Jeff, "I'm sorry. I'll be back in a bit. Hold down the fort, okay?"
Chapter Eight
Stepping out into the foyer, Polly asked, "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
"No, just someone who wants to see you and I figured it was easier for you to come out rather than bring them in." Lydia giggled a little. "I'm beginning to think you might have a new career ahead of you!"
"What!" Polly exclaimed. As they entered the hall, she recognized two people she hadn't seen for a while.
"Brad! Lee! I'm so glad you were able to make it up this evening!" she said.
"We would have been here earlier, but Brad decided at the last minute he needed to transfer some hay around and then he lost all sense of time. He drives me nuts sometimes," Lee said, while shaking her head. Brad just smiled.
"You don't say much, do you Brad?" Polly laughed.
"Maybe not," he replied. "But we brought you a gift!"
He held out a large covered basket. The blanket moved around a little and Lydia stood beside Polly snickering.
"What did you do?" Polly asked, then made a sound in the back of her throat as she pulled back the blanket. Two kittens were wrestling with each other in the warmth of the covered basket. One was black and white and the other predominantly white with a little color on her ears and as Polly saw when she lifted her out of the basket, her tail.
Lee said, "The boy is already been neutered and they have their first year shots. We didn't want to take them away from their mama right away, but I know that little boys need to be neutered early so they don't turn into tom cats."
"They're adorable! Have you named them?"
Lydia snickered again.
"What? What do you know?" Polly demanded.
"I might have been talking to them for a while about this little gift," she responded. "They named them Luke and Leia."
Polly snorted as she laughed out loud. "Oh, I'm already getting a reputation, aren't I? That's perfect. I wonder what Obiwan’s going to do with these little guys!"
She put her foot on the first step, "I've got a few minutes. Let's go upstairs and find them a home and you can see the wood floors. They are beautiful, but thank you so much! This is a wonderful gift!"
As they walked up the steps, Lee laughingly said, "We weren't sure if you would be happy getting two kittens after you already had a dog, but Lydia told us it would be alright. Brad had called Henry to make sure and he hooked us up with her and well, it's been a plan in the works, I guess. I hope you have fun with them."
"I'm going to have a blast with them. The more furry little things in my life, the better, I guess," Polly said as they stopped in front of the door to her apartment. "I think Jason is in here with Obiwan, so, he should be in good shape."
She opened the door and stepped in, then started laughing even more. Henry was standing beside an immense cat tree with a big red bow on top. Aaron, Beryl and Andy were on the couch with wrapped gifts in front of them.
"We've all been in on this," Lydia said. "I think you'll find everything you need to incorporate these two little kittens into your life."
Polly's eyes filled with tears as she hugged her friend. "I can't believe how fortunate I am. Eight months ago I was trying to figure out what next to do with my life and now here I am with all of you as friends, animals filling up my house and a home that is more than I ever could have dreamed of. Thank you all."
She turned to Brad and Lee, "Have you met everyone?" They nodded and she continued, "Thank you for bringing me these little guys." Brad held the basket out to her and she put it on the floor. The kittens looked around and scrambled out of their basket, making their way onto her floor. Beryl tossed her a lightweight package which, when she opened it, was found to be a soft, bright purple mat. She put it in front of one kitten, who made his way to it, flopped down and promptly went to sleep.
"Well, I guess he has been working hard making his way up here," she remarked. His sister followed him, curled up in front of him and went to sleep as well.
"Now what do I do with them?" Polly asked. "I don't want to move them and disturb 'em!"
She stood back up and laughed. "Where's Obiwan?"
"Oh!" Henry said, "Just a second. This will disturb them for sure!" He opened up the bedroom door and Obiwan bounded across the room toward Polly, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the two kittens. Polly knelt down and reached her hand out for him to sniff. He sniffed her hand, then began sniffing at the kittens. He nosed them once or twice and they didn't respond to his attention. Finding that they were uninterested in him, he began trotting around the room, looking for attention from anyone who would give it to him.
Jason had followed him out of the bedroom. "Oh, you've got kittens, too! This is the best place, ever!" he said.
"It sure is," Polly responded. "Now, would you mind babysitting all of them while we go back downstairs and finish up the evening? Maybe your Mom would even let you and Andrew spend the night in my apartment with all of the animals."
"Really? Would you ask her? That would be awesome! Andrew is over watching the McKenzie kids sleep, but he will love these kittens!" Jason said.
"I'll ask. I'm sure it will be alright," Polly said. "Thanks for taking care of them. Did you get some food from downstairs?"
"Bruce brought us food and cookies. He's a nice guy," he replied.
"Thank you and I'll see you later,” Polly said as she placed her hand on his back. “Check in on your brother, will you?"
"I will!"
Everyone went back downstairs. Brad and Lee made their way in and found some people they knew, so they sat down and helped finish decorating a tree.
Jeff found Polly and said, "I think it's time to wrap up the evening and get everyone headed home. Have you looked outside lately?"
She looked out the window and smiled. Great big snowflakes were glinting in the lights lining the driveway as they fell from the sky. "It's beautiful!" she said. "But, you're right. Let's do this. Do you have any more cards with names on them?"
"Just two more," he replied.
"Alright, I'll head for the stage." Polly made her way onto the stage and the musicians wound down as she approached the podium. She turned and smiled at them. Such beautiful music for a beautiful evening. "Thank you," she mouthed, then stepped forward.
"Excuse me!" she said into the din filling the room, then waited. It took a few moments, but soon the room had quieted enough for her to speak.
"I hope you've all had a wonderful evening. If you'll look outside, we're having our first snowfall of the winter. I think it's a perfect way to end this evening. Before I say goodnight, though, I want to talk about the Christmas trees you've been decorating. This evening, we've had thirteen recommendations for people who should get a decorated tree. Some of these people have received more than one recommendation and I think that's won
derful. We will begin delivering them tomorrow. As for the rest of the trees, we're going to draw names from those of you who signed up at your table. We'll deliver them to you as well and hope you have a very merry Christmas!
"Jeff Lyndsay, who has introduced himself to many of you, has been hired to act as my manager and associate here at Sycamore House. All of this is his work and I look forward to working with him as he creates extraordinary experiences for anyone who chooses to use Sycamore House for events in the future. He'll come up in a moment to announce the winners of the Christmas trees.
"I'd also like to thank Sylvie Donovan and Hannah McKenzie who put together all of the food for tonight. Do you think I should hire them as caterers?" At the room's applause, Polly smiled and winked at Sylvie. "Done. Now, you need to find reasons for me to have them in to cook, alright?"
"There are many more people I know I should thank tonight and my heart is filled with gratitude. I can't tell you how thankful I am to be back in Iowa and find myself surrounded by such wonderful people. If there was ever a question as to where my favorite place on earth to live was, you've all answered it."
Polly looked out over the room and her eye was caught by movement in the light from one of the doors. She looked a little more closely and realized she knew who had just walked in. She beckoned to Jeff, who came up to stand beside her at the podium.
"And now, we'll finish up by announcing the winners of the Christmas trees. I hope you all have a safe trip home, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!"
Applause followed her off the stage as she looked around for Lydia. She was nowhere to be found, so Polly walked out into the foyer and over to the kitchen. Hannah and Sylvie were standing beside the coffee maker, both with steaming mugs in their hands.
"Hannah," Polly said, "Where's Bruce?"
"Oh, I think he ran upstairs again to check on the kids. This has been a terrific evening. It never occurred to me that I would be so relaxed, but Aaron's news for us this evening drained all the stress out of my body. Even if we don't have a place to live or jobs to go to, I feel like we'll be fine," Hannah replied.
"Hannah, Bruce's parents and brother just walked in," Polly said.
"What? What? How do they even know we're here?" Hannah cried out.
"Well, I might have told them," Polly said.
"I was part of that telling, too," Lydia said as she came up behind Polly. "So you saw them walk in?"
"I did. Bruce is upstairs with the kids. What should we do?" Polly asked, then said, "Look at me. I'm shaking. That old man still scares the crap out of me."
"Well, if you're shaking, then I'm going to fall apart," Hannah said. "But what did you guys do?"
"We might have driven over to Story City yesterday to see if we could talk him into being a decent human being," Polly responded.
"But, I might have sent him over the edge," Lydia chimed in.
"The old man was a jerk to you and just because he's mean and bitter doesn't mean you sent him over the edge. He was already there before we arrived on the scene," Polly declared.
She shrugged her shoulders and looked at Hannah, "We might have exacerbated the situation with him, but Bruce's mother, Shirley, was the one we told about the party. She knows everything. Well, except that the Sheriff has cleared you guys. But, she was willing to listen and seemed to want to help."
Lydia said, “I suppose we may as well confront the dragon. We certainly don't want to make Bruce do it by himself. So, upstairs or down here?"
"Don't you think it would be better upstairs? We can ask Jason to go over and stay with the kids and do it in my apartment, where there are plenty of places to sit and no one will have to witness this happening."
"Hannah, why don't you run upstairs and give Bruce a heads up so he isn't sideswiped."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm totally sideswiped."
Lydia patted her on the shoulder, "We're looking for another Christmas miracle here, Hannah. I think it's going to be alright."
Hannah left the kitchen. Sylvie stood there with her mouth open.
Lydia laughed. "Whoops, sorry, Sylvie. Didn't know you were getting caught up in all of the insanity, did you?"
"Umm, no? I guess I'll stay here and keep the ruffians at bay downstairs. But, you have to tell me everything later, alright?" Sylvie said.
"It's a deal." Lydia said, "Ready to beard the lion in your own den, Polly?"
"No, but I suppose I don't have a choice. I walked into it and this is the only way out." Polly threw her shoulders back, rolled her neck and walked out into the foyer. Shirley McKenzie saw her coming and rushed up to greet her.
"I don't know how things are going to go, but I talked Lyle into coming over tonight to meet Hannah and see his son," she said as she approached.
"Then, let's go upstairs to my apartment," Polly said. "That way they can see each other without a room filled with people looking on."
Shirley McKenzie said something to her son, Kevin, who looked up and smiled tentatively at Polly. He was several years older and they had only seen each other a few times when she was at their house with Bruce and Marsha. He nodded as if to assure her that things would be alright, then spoke with his father. All Polly heard from him was a grunt. There was no sign on his face that he was going to be pleasant about things, but at least he was here. She figured that was a start.
The family followed her upstairs and she showed them into her apartment. The kittens and Obiwan were nowhere to be seen, so she peeked in her bedroom. Jason had gotten them all up on the bed and wonder of wonders, they were snuggled together sound asleep. The evening was filled with little miracles! She hoped they would stay that way for just a while longer. Quietly pulling the door shut, she turned around as people began entering her home.
"Please, find a seat,” she said and gestured to the living room. “I'll go across the hall and get Bruce and Hannah. Lydia?"
Lydia picked right up and said, "Can I get anything for anyone to drink?" They all shook their heads no. As Polly left the apartment, she saw Lyle sit down in a chair he had pulled away from the dining room table, essentially separating himself from the rest of his family. This wasn't going to be an easy evening.
She knocked on the door and Bruce answered it, holding Hannah's hand. Jason and Andrew were sitting on the floor quietly playing with some video games they'd brought.
"Well?" she asked, "Are you ready for this?"
"Not really," Bruce said. "This was NOT the way I'd planned to see him again."
"Well, he's here. I think that says something, don't you?" Polly asked.
"I suppose so,” he moaned. “Ugh. I'm sick to my stomach,"
"I know. Just don't think about it and once this starts it will all be over soon enough. The worst part is getting it started," Polly said.
"Okay. Hannah? Are you going to be alright?" Polly could see that he was squeezing her hand pretty tightly, her knuckles were white.
"I'm fine. We'll be fine. If he doesn't want anything to do with you, we'll figure it out," she said.
"Alright then, let's go."
The three walked back across the hallway and into Polly's apartment. Shirley jumped up off the sofa and ran to hug her son. Hannah hung back until Shirley pulled away and said, "Hi, I'm Bruce's mother. I'm glad to finally meet you." When Hannah put her right hand out, Shirley didn't wait, but hugged her as well. She took Bruce's hand and pulled him with her to the sofa.
Kevin McKenzie stood up and stopped him on the way, "Bruce, it's good to see you man," he said.
Bruce's eyes were wary, but he said, "Good to see you too."
Lydia and Polly made their way back into Polly’s kitchen, trying to stay out of the way of the family reunion. Bruce sat beside his mother on the couch and Hannah sat on his other side, holding his hand. This time it was her grip that threatened to cut off his circulation. His mother had a firm grip on the hand closest to her and all of a sudden, she began to weep. It wasn't a quiet, pretty weeping an
d soon grew into loud, choking sobs. She turned into her son and as he took his hand out of hers and wrapped it around her shoulders, she threw her arms around him and held on. Hannah released his other hand as he wrapped his arms around his mother.
Polly glanced at Lydia, who picked up a box of tissues from the counter and handed it to her. Polly mouthed the word, "chicken" at her friend and walked out to the living area. Placing the box on the table in front of them, she glanced at Lyle McKenzie, sitting stiffly in his chair, looking at nothing in particular. Kevin had moved forward in his seat as if to care for his mother, but instead, looked stricken and unsure as to what to do next.
Finally, Shirley McKenzie took a deep breath, pulled a few tissues from the box and patted her eyes. "Excuse me," she said to Polly, "Do you … ?"
"It's right over here," Polly interrupted and led her to the door into the bathroom. The room remained uncomfortably silent while she was gone. When she returned, it seemed as if she had regained her composure and she walked over to stand beside her husband.
Placing her hand on his shoulder, she said, "Bruce, we'd like you to come home. Your father and I will help you get back on your feet. We want to get to know your new family and meet those little children of yours.
"We've discussed it and if you want to work on the farm, there is plenty of work there. Kevin and Lyle were going to hire a new farmhand this spring anyway. If you don't want to work on the farm, you're welcome to stay with us until you find a job somewhere else. Isn't that right, Lyle?"
Lyle McKenzie stood up and walked over to the couch. Bruce shrank back toward Hannah, as if he were unsure as to what might happen next, but then stood up to face his father.
"Son, you hurt your mother when you left town, but she forgave you a long time ago. I'm a stubborn man with a lot of pride, but you're family and no matter how old you are, I guess I'm still responsible for you. If you want to come back, you're welcome to return."
Kevin McKenzie stood up as well and walked over to stand beside his brother. "You know, there is an awful lot of machinery on the farm that could use your touch. Dad's fighting with some lawn mowers right now. We want you to come home."
All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) Page 36
