All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (50 page)

"Oh," he responded, then announced.
"The sheriff took my mommy away."

"I heard," Andy said. "I'm sure they
are going to work everything out. You shouldn't worry." She reached down
for his hand, which he willingly gave to her and the two walked to the table. Andy
placed her bags on the floor,
then
helped him crawl
back up on top of the pillows. She took her coat off, dropped it on top of her
bags, put some butter and syrup on Emma's pancake and began cutting it into
pieces. Emma's eyes got big as she watched it all happen! Andy sat down beside
her and handed Emma the fork. "Do you want help eating this or do you have
it?" she asked.

Emma took the fork, her eyes still big and scooped up
a piece of pancake.

"Wow," said Lydia. "I didn't see that
one coming."

"Bill has kids this size. You don't want to let
them get too far out ahead of you!" Andy laughed.

Polly shook her head and continued to flip pancakes. "Emma
and I made a big batch of batter. I hope everyone is hungry," she said.

Lydia brought the baby in from the living room and set
his seat on the table so she could sit beside Sammy. "I'm ready for
pancakes," she said and stood her knife and fork up in her hands. Sammy
looked at her and Polly saw a smile try to lift the corners of his little
mouth.

"Andy?" she asked.

"Sure, I'll have a couple. It smells great in
here."

Polly served up pancakes and everyone settled into eat.

After a fun night playing with more kids than she
could ever remember having around, Polly woke the next morning to a bed filled
with two of those kids and a dog. She smiled to herself and slid out from under
the covers. Walking to the bedroom door, she peeked into the living room where
Sylvie's boys were camped out on the couch and a small cot Lydia had brought
over. Those boys had been a godsend with Sammy. He thought Jason was pretty
wonderful and Andrew quickly became his very best friend. Little Emma hadn't
gotten too far from Polly, but that was alright.

Sylvie had brought her boys over after school and they
had spent the rest of the day playing, taking the dog out to run and showing
Sammy all over the school as if they were part owners. When Sylvie came to pick
them up after she was finished working, they begged to spend the night. After a
short conversation, she agreed to allow them to stay, as long as they were a
help to Miss Polly and not a problem. They promised to be helpful and had ended
up being everything Polly needed in order to keep Sammy from spending too much
time thinking about his mom. The evening had ended up being a fun party, with
everyone in pajamas in front of the television watching Christmas shows.

Andy had borrowed a travel bed from her son for the
baby which allowed Polly to keep an eye on him. Sammy was fairly attuned to
Tyler’s needs and they made it through the night with him only waking up a
couple of times, fussing until Polly changed his diaper. She'd made Lydia watch
her do it twice and finally felt comfortable enough to manage on her own.

Aaron and a woman from Child Protective Services had
stopped by in the afternoon in order to get the children processed. Polly was
fairly certain Aaron and Lydia had both been involved in allowing the children
to stay at Sycamore House until something settled out with their parents. She
discovered that Bruce was not the father of Sammy and Emma; he had married
their mom a few years ago, but had been caring for them as if he were. When
Marian Tally from CPS asked about their real father, Sammy simply said,
"He died," and hung his head. Emma had obviously never known the man
because, pointing to Aaron, she told the woman "that man over there took
him away last night."

After spending time in the school, asking questions of
the kids and of Polly, she seemed satisfied the children were safe.

Polly asked the sheriff, "How long do you think
this is going to take? Do you really believe those two were transporting drugs?"

He replied, "I don't know how I could believe
anything else, Polly! The back of that vehicle had nearly $80,000 in cocaine
packed in there."

"But, that doesn't make sense?” She pressed. “Why
would they be coming out here to beg for a job with his dad if he was carrying
that?"

Aaron shrugged, "I know. There are some
inconsistencies, but for now, we have to keep them until we can uncover the
truth."

"Does Bruce's father know they're in Iowa? Do
they have a lawyer? Can they get out on bail? Who is helping them through
this?" Polly asked.

"Bruce didn't want us to call his father.
At least not yet.
And yes, they have a court appointed lawyer who is
doing everything possible for them," Aaron replied.

"So, Bruce is fine with sitting in jail while I
have his children? Is he nuts?" Polly lowered her voice to a whisper and
guided Aaron into the kitchen.

"He's upset about the kids, but I assured him you
had everything in hand and they would stay with you until things were
settled." Aaron shook his head. "Bruce has no money, so he can't pay
his own bail. He won't let us call his father for help. I don't want to keep
them until this is all over, but right now, I don't have a choice."

Polly thought for a moment,
then
said, "I'll pay to get them out. They shouldn't
have to be away from their kids."

"
Polly
no
,” Aaron
said. “It's enough that you're taking care of these little ones. I won’t let
you become financially responsible for those two. If they are transporting
these drugs, you’d lose your money if they bolted."

"Aaron, you know full well they wouldn't put
these little ones in danger …" Polly began, but Aaron interrupted her.

"Stop it! They've already put them in danger,
just by putting them in the same vehicle! No, I'm not going to let you set
yourself up like this. You can't." Aaron said.

"Bet me!" she announced. "Now, are you
going to tell me who their lawyer is or do I have to call your wife and get her
involved?"

Aaron looked at her, rolled his eyes, then pulled his
telephone out and made a call. Within a few moments, her phone beeped and she
saw that a man's name and phone number had been texted to her.

"Thank you," she smiled.

"I don't know if I like it when you're not the
one in trouble. You used to be much more amenable," Aaron muttered.

Polly laughed. "I always try to play by the
rules, but I'm not much of a pushover." She dialed the phone number for
the McKenzie's lawyer and after he spoke with the sheriff, he promised her he
would do everything possible to get them out on bail the next day. As long as
they could get in to see a judge, he thought they would be free to leave and be
with their children. She told him to call her and she would arrange for their
transportation and a place to stay.

When she got off the phone, she wondered what in the
world she had done and those feelings must have shown up on her face. Aaron
chuckled and put his hand on her arm, leading her to the table where she sat
down.

"It's not so easy taking on the weight of the
world, is it Polly girl?" he said.

"Oh shut up, you old
grinch
," she said. "Now, help me figure out what
I'm going to do!"

"First, Polly, you have to get Bruce and his
father together. He will need a lot more support through this than you can give
him."

"Aaron, I remember them in high school. Bruce was
like the prodigal son. His older brother, Kevin, was always the star. He played
football, had girls hanging on him, and he played up to all the teachers. Kevin
chose to be a farmer. He loved working with his dad and he loved working on
that farm. Bruce hated it. He wanted to do so many different things. He loved
racing cars and fixing them. When Kevin and his Dad were in the fields, Bruce
was at Phil's Shop in town, rebuilding cars. His dad thought both boys would be
there to help him out as he got older and Bruce couldn't stand even thinking
about it. As soon as he graduated, he took all the money he had saved and left
town.

"He was always a good guy. I think he spent too
much time in the shop to get into trouble. But, he was so obsessed with all of
that, he didn't do well in school. Teachers would find him daydreaming and
sketching away. He was drawing engines and cars. None of them cared about it,
so they tried to flush him out. He pulled enough grades to graduate, but spent
any extra time in school, down in the Industrial Arts room. It was there he got
great grades. Oh, and in Art Class too, I guess.

"His dad was furious when he left. They had a big
public fight at graduation. It was awful. He was supposed to have a graduation
party like the rest of us, but he went home, packed his clothes and left. His
mom cried and cried, Kevin tried to find him, but he was gone. My dad was good
friends with Lyle McKenzie and he just quit talking about Bruce. If anyone
asked, he ignored them. Mary said she saw his mom several times in the grocery
store and around town. She asked about him and I guess Bruce called her several
times a
year,
to let her know he was fine, but Lyle never did ask
or seem to care. It was like Bruce had disappeared from the face of the earth."

Aaron processed all of that and said, "Well, this
little fiasco isn't going to help Bruce's father feel good about letting him
come home."

"I know," Polly said. "This breaks my
heart."

Aaron had also brought the children's bags to Sycamore
House. She was glad they had their pajamas and a change of clothing. The rest
of the day had passed in a blur and Polly felt as if no day in her life had
been more exhausting. Four kids and a baby were nearly too much for her to
manage, but with some help, she finally landed in bed with the two youngest and
got a little bit of sleep once everyone else had sacked out.

She took one more look at the children in her big bed,
grateful for its size. Emma and Sammy were snuggled together, with Obiwan at
their feet and the baby was still asleep in the travel bed. Jason opened one
eye and waved at her when she peeked out. She waved him back to bed and as
quietly as possible, pulled clothes out and went into the bathroom. After a
quick shower, she dressed and tiptoed back to her bedroom. Obiwan raised his
head and looked up at her. Then, as if he knew he shouldn’t wake the kids,
slithered to her side of the bed and off onto the floor.

When they walked into the living room, Jason was up
and dressed. "I'll take him for a walk, if you'd like, Miss Polly,"
he said. That way you don't have to leave the kids alone.”

"Jason, thank you!”
She said. “That would be great." He picked up the leash, Obiwan
ran to him and the two went out the door. Polly watched them leave the front door
from her kitchen window and started her coffee brewing. She had a feeling the
day would be long.

Her phone buzzed in her back pocket. It was Jeff
Lyndsay. Whoops, she'd forgotten completely about the Christmas party. He was
planning to be in today to start decorating the auditorium for the party which
was in three days. “Oh no!” her mind screamed. “What in the world was she going
to do?” She shook her head to get rid of her fuzziness and answered the phone,
"Hello?"

"Hi Polly!
Are you ready for today?" Jeff’s voice was much
too chipper for that hour of the morning.

"Oh, Jeff.
I'm not," she sighed. "What was I supposed
to be doing?"

"I've got wreaths and trees showing up in two
hours. You were going to have people ready to string lights on the trees and
then we were going to start popping corn so we could string cranberries and
popcorn. Remember? You thought it would be quaint."

"Right.
Quaint,"
she
said.
"Jeff, why didn't you
stop me from saying that?"

"Because you were pretty sure you could pull it
off. And I'm only the employee," he chuckled. "So, I take it you
aren't ready?"