All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (54 page)

When Polly and Obiwan got to the front door of her
apartment the next morning to go outside, she noticed a piece of paper had been
slipped under the door. She opened it and read,
"I'm making breakfast downstairs in the morning and I'd love to
cook for you. We'll be ready for you about 7. Thank you, Hannah."

"Well, Obiwan, it looks like I'm being pampered
for another meal. Come on, let's get the morning going." She snapped the
leash on him and went out the door, down the steps and out the front door of Sycamore
House. Obiwan walked patiently beside her as she headed for the south side of
the building. As soon as he saw the open field, he pulled on the leash. Polly
said, "Alright, let's go," and took off at a jog. They ran to the end
of the lot where Sycamore Creek crossed under the road and then wandered the
creek back toward home. They walked to the other end of the lot, where the
creek passed under that county highway and by then Obiwan was looking to make
the morning a little longer.

"No, I don't think so," Polly said to him.
"Let's go back in. I tell you what. After school today, I'll see if Jason
and Andrew can come over and play with you. I'm sure they'll be ready to do
some running around after sitting all day."

She pointed him back to the house and he picked up the
pace again. They jogged to the front door, went in and up the steps. By the
time she was at her front door, he began to wiggle with joy.

"Oh, the life of a dog," she said. "You
have it pretty rough, don't
you!
" They went
inside, and after unsnapping his leash and releasing him, he jumped on the
couch to wait. Polly poured food in his bowl and he dashed across the room to
enjoy breakfast while she took a shower and got dressed for the day.

"Good morning!" Hannah called out as she saw
Polly come across the foyer. "I hope you like
French toast. It's the kids' favorite and it's so
easy, I don't mind making it. I found some bacon in the freezer and it's in the
oven."

Polly smiled and walked into the kitchen. "That
sounds great! I'm glad you've found your way around in here! Do you guys like
coffee?"

"Oh, I do and Bruce drinks more of it than one
man should."

Polly laughed. "Oh my goodness that’s right, we
learned to drink the stuff together when we were in high school! Mary was
forever trying to get me to stop drinking it; she always told me it would stunt
my growth."

"You two spent a lot of time together, didn't
you?" Hannah said.

"Well, he was dating my best friend, Marsha,
during our sophomore and junior year and part of our senior year. They broke up
after Christmas because she wanted to go out with some college guy her sister
set her up with. Poor Bruce was so upset. I thought she was rotten, but I guess
life goes on."

"He never talks about those years," Hannah
remarked. "I don't know what he was like back then before everything got
ugly with his father."

"Well, he was always a good guy," Polly said
quietly.
"Just a really good guy.
He didn't deserve all the crap that happened to him
that last year he was in Story City. It wasn't right. And when I left for
Boston I totally lost track of him. It's good to see him again and it's good to
see him with you and the kids."

She filled the large coffee maker with water and
coffee,
then
flipped it on. "So, if I'm not being too nosy,
where
is
Sammy and Emma's dad? I guess I figure Tyler is
Bruce's boy. He got his lips."

"It's alright," Hannah sighed. "Yeah,
Tyler is mine and Bruce's. We met in a bar in Boulder. I was a waitress there. Bruce
started to come in regularly and he was such a nice guy and loved talking about
cars. My old beater had some trouble and before I knew it, he was fixing it up.
I made dinner for him to say thank you and Sammy and Emma fell in love with
him. Pretty soon, I did too."

Hannah pulled the bacon out of the oven, flipped it
over, and then put it back in. She looked up at the clock and went on,
"Their daddy drove a truck. He was never home, which was alright, I guess.
He wasn't much for kids. He never hurt them or anything, just didn't pay any
attention to them. Finally, he told me that he hadn't intended to be a dad, and
since I was going to be a mom, he wanted out. We got a divorce and have both
moved on. I'm just glad the kids were little enough to not know who he was. Bruce
is pretty much their daddy now.

"He says he wants to adopt them, but we don't
have the money to pay a lawyer to do the work. One of these days, we'll get all
that figured out and then we'll all have the same name." She paused,
then
sighed again.
"As long as this mess gets cleared up.
I swear to you, Polly. We have no idea what is going
on. Bruce may be unemployed and be looking to beg his father for work, but he
isn't a drug user or a dealer or a criminal at all."

Tears began streaming down Hannah's face. She looked
so strained and beaten.

"And I don't know how we're going to have
Christmas for the kids. Oh, and I don't know why I'm even telling you this. You
have done so much for us. I can't believe we have a warm place to stay until we
can get to Bruce's family's house and I can't believe you've taken such good
care of us. I'll quit crying and whining now." She let loose a small,
pathetic chuckle. "It doesn't do me any good, anyway. I'm sorry."

Polly put her arm around Hannah's shoulders.
"It's alright. Lydia says she believes everything is going to turn out
fine and I trust her instincts, so I'll tell you that everything is going to
turn out just fine."

Hannah brushed tears away and they heard the clatter
of feet tripping down the stairway. Sammy and Emma raced into the kitchen.
"Mommy, guess what we did!" Sammy said. "We took a bath in a
great big tub. It had water spouts and everything!"

Emma tugged her mother's apron. "I didn't want to
get out, but Daddy said I'd turn into a prune. What's a prune?"

Before anyone could respond, she ran back to the
stairway and said, "Hurry up! We're hungry!"

She waited a few moments,
then
Polly heard her run up a few steps. "Hurry
up!" she yelled again.

Polly laughed as she saw Bruce, carrying the baby,
round the corner and walk to the kitchen. "It looks like you are
late," she said.

"I guess so!" He took his hand out of Emma's
little hand and ruffled the hair on her head. "Is there anything I can
do?" he asked his wife.

"Nope.
You've got the baby. I need to get out the juice and
milk, then set the table and we'll be ready."

"I'm on it," Polly said.

Before she knew it, breakfast had happened, was
finished and cleaned up. Bruce had run back upstairs to get the baby's car seat
and propped it up on the counter while they cleaned up.

"So, guys," Polly said, "We're going to
be decorating Christmas trees for a big party tomorrow night and I was
wondering if you wouldn't mind helping. At this point, I'm begging everyone I
see."

"Absolutely!"
Bruce replied. "We're glad to do whatever we can
to help you out. Are you really decorating all of those trees in the
auditorium?"

"Well, we're going to put lights on them. Jeff
got a great deal on some battery powered LED lights and we'll put those up
today. During the party, we're going to string cranberries and popcorn and
decorate all of the trees, and then we’ll draw names for people to take home a
decorated tree at the end of the evening."

"There have to be twenty trees in there!"
Jeff said.

"There
are a bunch
. Hopefully
we'll have a great turnout and everyone will have fun." Then she had a
thought.
"Oh,
Hannah!
My friend Sylvie is going
to be here all day today and tomorrow working in the kitchen to bake cookies
and hors d'oeuvres for the party. Would you mind spending time in the kitchen
with her? Her sons, Jason and Andrew, were the boys who helped me out with your
kids the other night. She's terrific and I think you guys would get along."

"Thank you, Polly! I'd love to!" Hannah
said. "This is such a great kitchen to mess around in, I'll have a blast."

“Thank
you
. I know she wasn't worried about it, but I think it's
an awful lot of work for one person," Polly replied. "Everyone should
be here around eight thirty, and I can promise you there will be plenty of
people who want to hold Tyler and make sure he is entertained. You might have
to tuck him away in a corner if you don't want him passed around from person to
person."

Bruce said, "I'll bring down the portable crib
and put it in the back of the kitchen. That way Hannah can keep an eye on him
and I'll check on him whenever I can. Will it be alright if Sammy and Emma help
me out with lights?"

"They'll be fine," Polly said. "They're
good kids."

Bruce went upstairs to bring things down for the baby,
then
made another trip for toys for Sammy and Emma.

Promptly at eight o’clock, Jeff walked in the front
door and smiled at Polly. "Are you ready for the next couple of
days?" he asked.

"I don't know!" she exclaimed. "I'm a
little afraid of what you have planned."

"Let's go on into the office and I'll show you
what I'm thinking." She followed him into his office and waited as he woke
his computer up. A few keystrokes later and he had a 3D representation of the
auditorium on the screen.

"Alright, that's cool," she said.

"Oh, it was nothing. Just call me a geek and be
done with it."

"You're a geek! And that's pretty amazing."

"Okay. What I'm thinking is we've got the trees
set up here." A flick of a key and the trees were in place. "And
we've filled these spaces with tables and chairs," another flick and round
tables with chairs around them showed up on the screen. "Since the kitchen
is so close, we don't have to waste any space in the auditorium for food
tables. That makes it better for traffic. I have coat racks showing up this
afternoon and we'll put them in the hallway. We're going to stack those crates
on the stage and drape them with some dark material. There will still be plenty
of room for the musicians and the podium. So, now are you ready?"

"I'm ready, Jeff. This is a great job you've
done. Next thing we need to have you do is start making me money instead of
spending it, but it’s the Christmas season, so let's spend away!"

He laughed and said, "I'm all ready to start
doing that too, but I kind of thought we might wait until next week to discuss
those plans."

"Okay!" she said,
then
looked up and listened, "I hear Sylvie out
there. I want to introduce her to Hannah. Do you need me in here any longer?"

"No, I'm good. I'll see you in the auditorium
later on."

She trotted out to the hallway and stopped Sylvie as
she was walking around the steps, "Can I talk to you for a minute, Sylvie?"

"Sure! Good morning!" Sylvie responded.

"Oh, sorry ... Good morning to
you!
I wanted to talk to you about
Hannah McKenzie."

"The gal who is,
ummm
, married to your old friend?"

"Yep, that's the one," Polly chuckled. "Nice
save, there. Anyway, she's a great cook and loves being in the kitchen. Could
you put her to work today?"

"Sure," Sylvie shrugged. "That sounds
fine. It's a great big kitchen and there shouldn't be any reason the two of us
can't work in that space. I'll find plenty for her to do and it will probably
be a big help to me in the end." She looked sideways at Polly. "You
were worried about me, weren't you?"

"Nah," Polly said. "Why would I worry? You
only have hundreds of cookies to bake and whatever else you're going to put out
tomorrow evening for everyone to eat. Of course you should be able to do it all
by yourself." Then she laughed, "Okay, I was a little worried. But, I
think Hannah needs to help you more than you need her help. So, is it alright?"

"Of course it is. Heck, I know what it's like to
be all alone out there wondering what you're going to do next. I still can't
believe you hired me to do this job."

"And now I've given you an assistant. See how
wonderful I am!" Polly shook her head and chuckled. "Let's go on in
so I can introduce the two of you."

Sylvie followed her into the kitchen. Hannah was pouring
a cup of coffee and looked up.

"Hannah McKenzie, this is Sylvie Donovan. She's
going to be the head chef this weekend and is ready to put you to work!"
Polly said.

Hannah set the coffee cup down and put her hand out to
shake Sylvie's. "Thanks for letting me help you. I can't wait to see what
you're going to do today!"