Through the Storm (Bellingwood Book 8)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  "Don't let me screw this up."

  Polly smiled. "I don't know that I'll have that much impact, but I suspect you will be just fine. You'll make horrible mistakes and you'll have glorious successes. It's kind of the way normal people live." She looked up at Henry who walked in the room carrying a plastic bag. "Isn't that right?"

  "Of course it is," he said. "You're always right."

  "What do you have in there?"

  "Guess."

  "You love me that much?" Polly attempted to stand up and put her hand out to Jessie. "Help me? Just be strong while I stand up."

  "Stay there," he admonished. "I'll bring you plenty of napkins."

  "I was going to hug you. I can't believe it's a chore for me to even come hug you."

  Rebecca came out of the bathroom, her hair wet and her cheeks bright pink. She was dressed in a pair of pajamas that were much too big.

  "Where did you get those?" Polly asked.

  "Sylvie said I'd grow into them. I tried to tell her what size I wore, but I don't think she heard me."

  Polly started to laugh, "You poor thing. Well, you're absolutely adorable. Come over here and sit beside me. Henry brought us ice cream sandwiches."

  Rebecca stood in front of the dog and finally Polly gave Obiwan a push and he moved off the sofa. "You get to sleep with me later," Polly said to the dog. "Give the girl a break."

  Once Rebecca was settled in beside Polly, Obiwan jumped right back up, this time, his head on the little girl's lap. Henry handed out ice cream sandwiches to everyone.

  "Ahh, this is the life," Polly said, handing hers to Rebecca. "I'm going to make all of my body parts work tomorrow, but would you rip this open for me now?"

  "I like it here," Rebecca said. "I'm glad you're home."

  "Me too. However, if Henry could figure out how to put a fireplace in this room, it would be even better, wouldn't it?"

  "Right here in the middle of the floor," he said, pointing to the rug. "We'll just keep everyone toasty warm."

  "My friends had fire pits back in Colorado. Those are all the rage right now," Jessie said.

  Polly shook her head. "My luck, Henry would build a beautiful fire pit and I'd come down one morning to find a toasty body in there. Not happening."

  She felt Rebecca's body shake with laughter beside her.

  "Well, that would be horrible, wouldn't it?" Polly asked.

  "Andrew would think it was great."

  Horrible pounding echoed through Sycamore House and up the steps to the apartment.

  "What in the world?" Polly asked, lurching to her feet. Everyone was moving by the time she was finally upright. Obiwan stood at the front door of their apartment, growling as more pounding and shouting came from the front of the building.

  "I'll go see what's happening," Henry said. "The rest of you stay here. Come on, Obiwan. You're my guard dog tonight." He patted his leg and the dog stepped forward to stand at his side.

  Before Polly could protest, he was out the door. She followed him and when he turned around and gave her a glare, she stopped.

  "Be careful," she said.

  The pounding continued and when Henry opened the main door, Polly heard a man's voice yelling for her.

  "Polly Giller, do you have any idea what you've done? This is your fault! You've ruined my son's life and I won't stand for it."

  She didn't hear what Henry said, just the low tones of his voice as he attempted to placate the man.

  "I want to see her face and I want her to know exactly what damage she has done to our family, to the community and to my boy."

  "No, you are not allowed to go up those steps. You are way out of line," Henry's voice grew louder and Obiwan let out a short bark.

  "I'm not leaving until I have some satisfaction. Women like her shouldn't be allowed in public."

  Polly shook her head and took out her phone, then dialed the police station.

  "Bellingwood Police, how may I help you?"

  "Hi, this is Polly Giller and we might need someone to drive by."

  "This is Mindy, do you need them right away?"

  "There's a man downstairs screaming at Henry about me. I'm guessing it's a dad of one of the kids who ran me off the road. He sounds pretty drunk. Henry's trying to calm him down ..."

  "You!" Polly looked up from her call to find Seth Davis's father towering over her, his finger pointing into her face. She was absolutely right, he was quite drunk and very out of control.

  Henry had chased the man up the steps, and watched closely as he held Obiwan back, which wasn't easy because the sounds coming from the dog's throat were warning that he wanted to lunge and destroy.

  Instead of stepping back into the apartment, Polly decided she couldn't hurt any more than she already did and stepped into his finger, confusing the man.

  "Me what?" she spat out. "I did what?"

  "You got my boy arrested. He's sitting in jail tonight and it's your fault." He took a step back, rethought his words and ramped up again for another rant. "Do you have any idea what is going to happen to the football team without him? And now his scholarship is out the window! Everything is ruined!"

  Polly shook her head slightly at Henry, who was looking around the tall man standing in front of her. He was asking if she was truly fearful of being hurt. She wasn't. Then she realized she was still holding the phone.

  "Mindy?" she said. "Have you sent someone over here?"

  "Bert is on his way. Are you okay?"

  "So far I'm fine. Just a moment." Polly tilted her head up and shuddered as everything in her body relaxed from the tension she'd put it under when this man had jumped into her face. "Sir, an officer of the Bellingwood police force is pulling up to the front door right now. I've been on the phone with dispatch since the moment you entered this building. I hurt all over because of the choices your son made Monday evening. I didn't make those for him and I'm not responsible for his stupidity."

  "Don't start with me, missy," he yelled, spittle splattering her face. Henry stepped in closer and Obiwan barked and growled, pulling against the hand holding his collar.

  "That was gross," Polly said and took another step forward. "You are not welcome here. You are about to be escorted out and I really hope I don't have to see you again until the day I meet you and your boy in court. This is not my fault and I'm appalled that none of you are willing to take any responsibility for his actions." She took another step and then leaned into Henry.

  "You are drunk, you're disgusting and you have interrupted my evening the night that I arrived home after nearly being killed by your son and his friends."

  Bert Bradford came up the steps and absorbed the situation. He gave Polly a slight grin and then took the man's arm. "Sir, it is time for you to leave. You've said your piece."

  Mr. Davis flung Bert's hand off his arm and turned on him, "Don't you start with me, punk. Do you know who I am? I will have your badge and your job. In fact, I will own this entire town if I have to."

  "Tell me that you're resisting me and are about to make a scene," Bert said calmly.

  "Hell yes, I'm resisting you. You have no rights here." The man raised a hand as if to strike Bert.

  In a flash, Mr. Davis's hands were zip-tied behind his back. The shocked look on his face was priceless.

  "We'll take care of this from here, Miss Giller," Bert said as he pushed the very surprised man to the side, then tugged his arms enough to gain control, effectively sending him down the steps.

  "Always nice doing business with you, Officer," Polly called gaily and sagged.

  "Come on back inside," Henry said, pushing the dog into the front door.

  "I need to wash my face. That was horrid and ... whoops." She pulled the phone back to her ear. "Mindy, are you still there?"

  The woman chuckled a little on the other end of the phone. "I'm playing that for everyone tomorrow. You're a riot!"

  "Yeah. I'm a hoot. Thanks for sending Bert. I got a little bolder when I realized he was on the way.
I'm pretty sure that if Henry had given that man a push, he was so drunk he would have toppled down the stairs, but I didn't want to have to be responsible for another dead body."

  "We're glad that didn't happen as well. Ken will want to see you tomorrow."

  Polly took in a deep breath. "Of course he will. At least this time I'm not the one who is in trouble."

  "You certainly do seem to see a lot of it."

  "Thanks for your help tonight."

  "Take care of yourself. I hope you feel better soon."

  Henry was standing in front of her again, this time with a warm, wet washcloth. "Woman, you are fearless and you scare me to death," he said. "Here, let me do this for you." He gently wiped her face with the cloth.

  "You know what I love about you, Henry Sturtz?" Polly asked.

  "I'm a handsome, hard-working man?"

  "There's that. But I love that you don't have to out-macho me."

  "That would just be foolish. You're tough as nails."

  "You know what I mean. You let me fight my battles and don't have to prove that I'm the cowering princess and you're the brave knight."

  "Honey, you don't cower and I love that about you. If you had needed me to be in the middle of that, I'd have taken care of it."

  "And that's the main reason I have all of the courage I do, because I know you've got my back."

  He leaned in and whispered. "I have all of you, let's not forget that, okay?"

  Polly blushed. "There are kids here!"

  Rebecca had gone back to the sofa and was holding two crushed and melted ice cream bars. "You dropped yours," she said to Polly, "and I forgot to eat mine."

  "Let's go into the kitchen and clean ourselves up. Did you buy a whole box?" Polly asked Henry.

  "Of course I did. I expected them to make it a couple of nights, but I can buy more tomorrow."

  "Are you okay, Jessie?" Polly asked the girl, who hadn't said a word.

  "You're awesome. He was mean and you called the cops on him."

  "That's exactly what I did," Polly said. "There's no reason to put up with a drunken idiot who is threatening me. He needed to go away. Come on. Let's have some ice cream."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  "Oh, it all hurts." Polly tried to get out of bed without moaning, but didn't succeed.

  "Do you need something?" Henry asked quietly.

  "Just the bathroom. And I'm going to take some ibuprofen. No more of those painkillers. I'm okay."

  When she came back, the bed looked really uncomfortable. "I'm going out to the couch for a while," she said.

  "Without me?"

  "Yes. I think I can sleep without you. I just want to prop up."

  "But I can't sleep without you," he protested, sitting up. The cats came out of their hiding spots as he turned the light on.

  "You did for two nights while I was in the hospital. You'll be fine."

  "I didn't either. This is the first night I fell asleep without pacing the entire building."

  "Shhh. Go back to sleep. I'll be right out here."

  "At least let me help you settle in." Henry jumped out of bed, much to the surprise of all of the animals. Obiwan leaped to the floor and the cats ran off the bed and up to the cat tree.

  "I'm going over to the media room. I want to watch television or a movie until I fall asleep."

  "You start walking. I'll probably beat you there with blankets and pillows."

  Polly went through the living room and veered into the kitchen. There had to be something to eat. She was sure Lydia had sent plenty of food so there should be leftovers. With her left hand, she opened the refrigerator. Rolls. And butter. And ... no, that was perfect.

  "What are you doing?" Henry asked when he walked in.

  "I'm hungry. I've heard it takes a lot of calories to heal."

  "Where did you hear that?"

  "Probably on the internet. Where I get all of my good information."

  "Do you want some help?"

  "Please. I'm not an invalid. I can warm up a couple of rolls and spread butter on them."

  He dropped the blankets on the sofa and came back to the dining room and watched as she fumbled with the zipper plastic bag, finally getting it open. When she dropped a roll on the floor, he sat down in the chair.

  "You're just going to watch that happen?" she asked.

  "You told me you weren't an invalid and that you could do it. I'm watching you do it."

  Polly kicked the roll toward him and he scooped it up before it flew past. When he lobbed it back at her, she let it sail over her head and into the cupboard door behind her. "What are you doing?" she asked.

  "Nothing. You have me up in the middle of the night and you're being all independent. I'm being supportive."

  She put three rolls on a plate and popped the door open on the microwave, set the timer and turned it on. "You really are a brat."

  "Imagine that," he said.

  "You know that I'll be fine. It's just going to take some time."

  "I know. I'm trying to live with it, too. But that doesn't change the fact that I've been scared out of my mind the last few days."

  The microwave dinged and she popped the door open. One by one, she took the plate to the table and then the butter dish. She looked back at the cupboard, desperately wanting something to drink, but the butter was cold and she wanted to melt it in the warm rolls before doing anything else.

  "What do you want to drink?" Henry asked, with mocking disgust.

  "Milk? And maybe a piece of that chocolate pie Lydia brought?"

  He laughed. "You really are hungry. Anything else?"

  "Not right now, but don't you want some pie, too?"

  "Sit down and I'll take care of you."

  Polly sat and gave him a big, toothy, goofy grin. "I lub you, my hero."

  He brought everything out and sat down with her, slicing two pieces of pie and putting them on plates. "This is strange. It never occurred to me to eat pie in the middle of the night," he said. "Mom would have had my head."

  "Isn't it fun to have our own place where we can do whatever we want? Sometimes I still feel like I'm a little kid getting away with murder. Then it hits me that I'm an adult and have all these responsibilities. Do you suppose Aaron and Lydia ever get up in the middle of the night and just eat pie?"

  Henry chuckled. "I don't want to think about what they do in the middle of the night." His face turned a little red. "See? You made me think weird things about the Sheriff."

  "Hey! I was only talking about pie. I don't know how you got there. You're a perv or something."

  "I am not. It's because Lydia is always teasing him. I don't know how he puts up with that. I'd be embarrassed all the time."

  "I think it's her way of humanizing him. People always see him as just the Sheriff, so she reminds us all that he's a man and he's her husband and the father of their kids."

  "I suppose." Henry put the fork in his mouth and drew it out slowly, his eyes wandering off to gaze at a point on a far wall.

  "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

  "What?" He snapped back to attention. "Oh, nothing."

  "That wasn't a nothing look. That was a something look."

  "I love our life together, Polly." He reached across and put his hand on hers.

  "Me too. I can't believe how wonderful it is, but what just got in your head?"

  "Something Mom said the other day."

  "What's up?"

  "That woman makes me crazy. It's like she's psychic. She's always been this way, but sometimes it is worse than others."

  "What did she say?" Polly chuckled a little at him. She knew what he meant. Marie Sturtz was pretty intuitive.

  "She told me that it was okay if we didn't have babies. That she and Dad had decided long ago that while grandchildren would be great, Lonnie and I should be able to make that decision for our lives without any pressure from them. She promised that they would never ask when we were having children. I don't know where that came
from, but it was just out of the blue."

  Polly felt the air get sucked out of her lungs. "Are you thinking about kids? Because if so, we need to really talk about things."

  "Oh, good heavens, no," he said, dropping her hand. "That's not what this is about at all."

  "You had me a little worried." Polly felt like she could breathe again. Babies were the last thing she wanted right now. There were too many people and children and other things that needed her attention. "Things will change next year when Rebecca lives with us permanently, you know. And I'm not the girl who gets giddy about cuddling babies. I love Joss and her kiddos, but I'm glad to walk away from the chaos. I'll be ready to take care of them when they turn four years old. That's when they get fun."

  "I know, I know. And I'm on the same page. And apparently, so is Mom." He set his fork down. "I wonder if she ever had this conversation with Lonnie. That would have been fun to watch."

  "Do you think Lonnie wants kids?"

  "Maybe someday. Oh, I don't know. It's not like we've ever talked about it." He shrugged and took another bite of pie.

  Polly put her left hand on her cheek, "I can't believe I forgot to tell you. Jessie's pregnant."

  His fork clattered to the plate. "You just now think to tell me this? How long have you known?"

  "She told me tonight while you were out getting ice cream. I really haven't had time to say anything. I wasn't going to tell you while Rebecca was awake. Anyway, she's talking to your mom tomorrow and they'll call Doc Mason and make an appointment. Now, you can't be mad about this."

  "Give me a little credit. I won't get mad at everything she does. If she's pregnant, there's no changing that. The damage has already been done. I assume it's that guy from Oelwein?"

  "Yes. And she wants to keep it."

  He gave her a wry grin. "So even if I don't want babies around here, I'm going to get them, is that right?"

  "Well, maybe. She isn't sure what is going to happen. Maybe she'll move into an apartment."

  "You and I both know that you won't let her until she's way past ready to be on her own. I guess I'll start working on a crib."

  "You're such a softie."