"She has that mama-effect," Beryl said, snorting back tears.
Lydia stepped back. "We're your best friends in the world. Come in and tell us what's been going on."
Polly nodded. "It's time to tell the whole story, don't you think?"
"You know?" Lydia asked.
"No," Polly said. "I'm just starting to make some assumptions. It's her story to tell."
Beryl let Lydia lead her back into the kitchen. Sylvie and Andy looked up from stacks of things they held in their hands as they walked around the room.
"What's going on?" Andy asked. She put her pile down and stopped Beryl before she could get past. "Are you okay, honey?" Andy reached up and brushed tears from Beryl's cheeks. "Who made you cry? You aren't mad at me for organizing. You know I can't help myself."
Beryl smiled and took Andy's fingers into her own. "No. I'm so grateful for what you do, even though I insist on teasing you about it."
"That's what I thought," Andy said. "Now, who's making you cry?"
"Come on over and bring more wine," Beryl said. "I need to tell you what's been going on in my life the last few months."
"Is it a man?" Sylvie asked.
Beryl nodded and then held her glass out so Polly could refill it. "Yes, it's a man, but it isn't what you think."
"Damn," Polly muttered.
"What does that mean?" Beryl asked with a smile.
"Well, he's gorgeous and speaks with a British accent and he ..." Polly stopped and looked into Beryl's eyes. "Whoops."
"Yes. Whoops," Beryl said. "Exactly."
"What?" Andy asked.
"I need to go backwards to last spring," Beryl said. She lifted her hands and rotated them in small circles. "Have we all taken the trip?"
Lydia rolled her eyes. "Go on."
"Last spring, out of the blue, I got a phone call from a man in England. He was looking for a half-sister of his. Me."
Andy sat back. "You have a half-brother?"
Beryl pointed her long finger at Andy. "Be quiet while I'm telling this story or I'll lose my nerve."
"Okay." Andy looked properly chagrined.
"He told me that my father had been there on business." Beryl looked around. "Yes, my father traveled a lot in the sixties. It makes sense that he was there." She stopped. "Crap. It just hit me that he went back there to spend time with..." She shook her head. "That's beside the point. Apparently he and Mom worked out whatever it was. Anyway, Dad met a young woman who worked at the office where he spent a great deal of time when he was in London. And they had an affair. And she had a son. And Dad was in his life when he was a child, but then she met someone and Dad just quit being around. But even though that other man adopted him, Darien always knew that his biological father lived in the middle of the United States.
"His mother died last winter and as he was going through her things, he found notes about Dad and there were a few newspaper articles about me and my artwork. So he called me."
"How did you react?" Lydia asked.
"Honestly?" Beryl said. "My first thought was that he was trying to come up with a way for his life to be my responsibility and was going to ask for money. I was polite, but when I got off the phone, I figured it was a hoax and I'd never hear from him again. I hadn't said much. I didn't want to say very much."
Sylvie quietly asked. "What did that make you think of your Dad?"
"He's been gone long enough that, though I was shocked, what could I do? I couldn't yell at him and he was really good to Mom after this affair ended. I don't think she ever knew anything." Beryl shook her head. "Who am I kidding? It took about three weeks for me to calm down about the whole thing, but that feels like it was forever ago now. I dealt with it."
"Did he call again?" Andy asked.
"About a month later. He apologized for hitting me with all of that information and asked if we could chat online. He had some pictures he wanted to show me that would prove Dad had been around and he wondered if I had any fun pictures I could share with him. He told me how much he loved his father, but wanted to know more about his heritage. That went on for a few months." Beryl smiled, a sad smile. "It was so much fun. As we talked, it felt like I had another brother. One that wanted to hear about my life, who wanted to be proud of what I'd done. He always complimented my artwork. He was interested in the things I was working on and the places I traveled. And it wasn't threatening at all. It was wonderful."
Andy put her hand on Beryl's "What did he think about the rest of your family?"
"Well, that all came later," Beryl said. "He knew there were two other brothers, but I told him that I wasn't ready to break the news to them that Daddy had been unfaithful. And as I described them to him, he understood that and said that maybe someday they'd be able to meet him, but just having me in his life was enough. See, he was an only child. And since I feel like I am alone, we had so many things in common."
"You aren't alone," Lydia said. "You have us."
"But you have your own families," Beryl responded. She gave her head a quick shake. "That's not what this is about. Anyway, we talked all summer long and he mentioned that now that he had Dad's name and some of the other family names, he would do research in England about our ancestors. There are plenty of Carters, but you know, they all have to come from somewhere. Even without Aunt Mildred's research," she pointed at the papers in front of Polly, "I had information about Jedidiah's parents and grandparents who came over here from England. With that, Darien started digging."
"That has to be great information," Polly said.
Beryl scowled. "Yes it does. So anyway, we talked and chatted online and on the telephone." She paused. "And then one day, he mentioned that he wanted to come to Bellingwood to meet me. I didn't know what to think. I didn't want to tell anyone about him just yet. I was barely managing the fact that Dad had another son out there. What would I do if he ran into my brothers and wanted to introduce himself? And how was I going to hide him from all of you? But he pressed and pleaded and we finally set a date for him to come. He promised to just be in town for a couple of days and would stay at a hotel in Ames."
"I can't believe you took him to Davey's," Polly said.
Lydia looked at her, "Was that the night you called me?"
Polly nodded. "Uh huh. You ignored me. I knew something was up, but I just figured that Beryl was out on a date and nobody wanted to tell me about it. And then you never said anything and I thought that maybe I was losing my mind."
"We'd been all over the area that day," Beryl said. "We were starving and since it was so late when he brought me back to town, I didn't want to have to go down to Ames and then drive back. I knew where Andy and Lydia were that night, because I'd checked. They were the only people I wouldn't be able to blow off if they saw us together."
"You did check," Lydia said. "At the time I thought it was weird that you called me, but I got busy with other things."
Beryl nodded. "I couldn't believe that Polly didn't press it, but she had so much to deal with that week. Darien flew out the next day and we went back to having conversations online. Just after the first of the year, though, he asked about coming back to see me again. We set it up for this week. He said that he'd been doing more research into our family and had some fun things he wanted to show me. This time he said that he wanted to really get to know Bellingwood, especially since our family had been so integral in its early days. He was absolutely fascinated by our history."
"I loved every minute of this," Beryl said, shaking her head. "I couldn't believe someone was finally listening to my memories and talked about people that I'd only heard stories of when I was a kid." She looked around the table. "You guys just don't understand what it's like to be alone in the world. Even when you have family around." Beryl turned to look at Polly. "I'm sorry. You probably do know what it's like."
"It's okay," Polly said. "We have very different lives. But speaking of family, doesn't Darien have a wife or kids or anything?"
"He sure does,"
Beryl replied. "A very nice wife and two sons." She smiled that sad smile again. "I had so much fun sending them Christmas gifts. They called me that afternoon. Well, afternoon their time. We had a video chat while they showed me all of their gifts and thanked me for the things I'd sent. Girls, it felt like I was in a family again." She put her head in her hands.
"What's wrong, dear?" Lydia asked.
"His sweet family. If he's involved in this, what's that going to do to them?"
"Involved in what?"
Beryl looked up, her jaw set. "When I told him about Ethan's death, he wasn't shocked or surprised. He didn't ask many questions about it. Now that I think about it, it's like he already knew it had happened. He didn't even try to fake it. When his room got shot up, he wasn't upset about that either. He just took it in stride."
"Maybe he's got that British stiff upper lip thing going," Sylvie said.
"I don't think so," Beryl said. "He knows more about this search for the gold than he's letting on. Please tell me that it isn't an extreme coincidence that he's here during the same time as Tallie's brother was here."
Polly glanced around to see if Tallie was anywhere near. "You don't think he had anything to do with Ethan's death, do you?"
"I hope not," Beryl replied. "But he knows something." She sighed. "He encouraged me to go out to the studio this afternoon when we got back. Said he'd had fun with the kittens all day and was just going to take a nap on the sofa. So I went. That's probably when he started digging through the things Aunt Mildred sent with me."
"Now tell us why you're so upset with him tonight?" Lydia asked.
"Because he's not answering his phone. And I gave him a bunch of cash today." Her shoulders slumped.
"You what?" Andy was livid.
"There were some things he wanted to do and he wondered if I would collect some cash for him. He wrote me a check." She tried to smile. "You know they spell that with a 'q-u-e' right?"
"Have you tried to cash the check yet?"
"No," Beryl said. "Since it's international, I'll take it in on Monday. They have to wait for funds to clear before it goes into my account."
"Well, how much was it?"
"Andy," Lydia said softly. "Don't."
"But he might be stealing from her."
Lydia nodded. "That's not your business. It's Beryl's."
"It was five hundred dollars," Beryl said. "It won't break me."
"But it gives him freedom to move around without leaving a paper trail," Sylvie said. When everyone looked at her, she laughed. "Law enforcement always finds people by tracking their credit cards. If he wants to be off the grid, he needs cash."
"What's he doing about a car if his was shot up?" Polly asked.
"We dealt with that yesterday," Beryl replied. "He'd taken out insurance, so they'll handle it after the police are finished. He rented another car."
"You ladies aren't getting much done in here," Tallie said, causing everyone to turn and look at her. "What? I'm done with my part." She realized they were still looking. "What’s wrong? Something bad happened, didn't it. Did you find something?"
Polly stood up and walked over to her. "Tallie, did a British guy ever call you or your brother and ask about your family's history?"
Tallie put the stack of copied papers onto the counter. Slowly nodding, she walked with Polly across the room. "Now that you mention it, I think somebody did. Yeah. That's right. Ethan thought it was cool that a guy from England might have information about the Carters before they came to America. He was telling everybody about it at Thanksgiving. I can't believe I forgot." She grimaced. "I didn't pay much attention to him. Why?"
"We think it's the man who was in the room next to yours at the hotel," Polly said. "He's a relative of Beryl's."
"Really?" Tallie said. "That crazy! We were right next door to each other and didn't even know it?"
"Do you have any idea whether or not your brother told him about the letters?" Polly asked.
Tallie grinned. "Probably. He told everybody. Ethan would have thought that was cool."
Everyone jumped at the sound of a door opening. Polly stood up, on guard. The main doors should have all been locked down when Eliseo left.
She relaxed when Henry walked into the kitchen.
"What do we have here?" He looked at the empty wine bottles. "You've only done a little damage. I was expecting it to be much, much worse."
"How was the game?" Polly asked him.
"We won. Hayden's a good ball handler. Have you talked to the kids upstairs? How's Heath?"
Polly looked guiltily around the room at her friends. "I assume everything is okay. But I haven't checked. We kind of got busy here."
He chuckled. "Of course you did. Hayden should be here after a bit. I'll make sure they're all still alive upstairs."
"I'm a horrible mom," Polly said, sitting back down. “I can't believe I forgot about them."
"No you're not, dear." Lydia reached over and rubbed her shoulders. "You're just fine."
Beryl looked at the clock on the wall. "Damn it. I can't stay here any longer. If he isn't there to take care of my kitties, I don't know how they're doing." She glared at Andy. "Don't you dare give me any trouble about that, either."
"I won't. I promise," Andy said. "But what should we do with all of this?"
Polly looked around. They hadn't unpacked that much yet. "Pack it back up and I'll ask Hayden and Henry to haul it into my office tomorrow. We'll deal with it another day."
"That’s good," Tallie said, dropping into a chair. "I'm beat. Tell me I don't have anything to do tomorrow."
"If that jerk has left my house, I might invite you to come stay with me," Beryl said. "I'd love to have you, but with him there, I wasn't ready to add someone else."
Tallie glanced at Polly, who smiled and nodded. " I'd love that," she said. "And I'd love to see your kitties." Then she took a breath. "And your studio. I really want to spend time in your studio."
Beryl nodded. "We'll have lunch and go from there."
"What if he's still there and his phone was just off?" Andy asked.
"Then he's moving to a hotel room," Beryl said firmly. "I'm done with him." She smiled. "Unless he can prove that he's an innocent bystander. Okay girls, let's clean this mess up. I have kitties who need their mama."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By the time Polly woke up Sunday morning, breakfast had already been started. Whenever Hayden came to visit, she made sure to have plenty of breakfast food in the house. He loved cooking for them.
She'd come upstairs last night to find Rebecca and Andrew sound asleep on the couches in the living room, with Heath's door open wide so they could hear if he needed them. Heath was awake and watching something on his phone when she walked in. They'd talked for a few minutes about his pain and the fact that Hayden would be there soon, then she woke the kids and sent Andrew downstairs to his mother. Henry took the dogs out for a last walk and when he came back upstairs, Hayden was with him. He'd been nice enough, but it was obvious that all he wanted to do was see his brother.
Heath wanted to be part of the activity, so after she made sure he had his pain medication, they'd pulled chairs into his bedroom and stayed up talking. Polly had finally insisted that it was time to sleep, so they blew up the air bed for Hayden and she sent Rebecca to bed.
She rolled over in bed and stretched her legs, pushing against Luke's dead weight. The dogs were gone from the room, meaning Henry had gotten up and taken them out. For a man who hadn't grown up with pets, he loved these animals. The door to her bedroom was open just enough that she could hear voices in the house. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. It was hard to believe that this was her family. After the conversation with her friends last night, Polly realized that she didn't feel what Beryl felt. She'd grown up as an only child, with no real cousins or relatives so she'd made her family from within her circle of friends. Mary Shore, the woman who raised Polly after her mother died was as much family as anyo
ne. Her husband, Sylvester, had worked for Polly's dad as long as she could remember. There was never a Christmas or holiday when they weren't at her family's table.
Sal was like Polly's sister. They spit and spat at each other, but that didn't change how they felt about the other one. And now that Polly lived in Bellingwood, her family had exploded. It was wonderful, but it was interesting that Beryl didn't approach her friendships that way. The poor woman had been burned too many times by the people who should have supported her. It made no sense to Polly that they couldn't see how absolutely intriguing and fascinating Beryl was. She also couldn’t understand that they didn’t see just how much Beryl needed them.
Polly looked up at the tap on her door.
"Come on in, Rebecca. I'm surprised to see you up and moving this morning," Polly said.
"Breakfast is ready any time." Rebecca walked in and handed a cup of coffee to her. "Do you want pancakes?"
"This is amazing service," Polly said. "Thank you. Now what is it you want?"
"Nothing. Hayden told me to bring it in when I woke you up."
"Hayden is a good boy. Give me three minutes to put some clothes on and I'll be right there."
Rebecca headed for the door and turned around. "So. Pancakes?"
"Yes please."
Polly waited for Rebecca to shut the door and dashed around getting ready for the day. As she pulled her bra on, she laughed. There once was a time when she didn't have to abuse herself like that on Sundays. Henry hadn't cared. Actually, Henry had enjoyed it. But those days were long gone. She sighed and picked up her phone and found that she had a text from Beryl asking if she could bring Tallie over to her house for lunch. Polly was welcome to eat with them.
"Of course I will," Polly texted back. "Were you alone last night?"
Beryl must have been waiting by the phone because she responded right away. "He's gone. Everything of his is out of the house."
"Did you cry when you got home?"
"Leave me alone."
Polly smiled. She was glad Tallie was here this week. Beryl had too much family that didn't express love very well.
Unexpected Riches (Bellingwood Book 13) Page 18
