All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (55 page)

Sylvie shook her jacket off and pulled an apron out of
her bag. "I can't either." She turned back to look at Polly,
"Oops! Maybe I shouldn't let her think I don't know what I'm doing."

"Can I leave you two alone and trust that nothing
will explode in here?" Polly asked as she moved to step out of the kitchen.

"You can leave us alone," Sylvie responded,
"but if there's an explosion, it's her fault."

Hannah giggled and said, "I'm already in trouble,
I guess an explosion can get added to the list!"

Polly left them to their work and went into the
auditorium where Jeff was placing packages of lights underneath the trees.

"Can I help?" she asked.

"Sure. I think three strings of lights per tree
should do it. They're over there," and he pointed at some brown cartons. She
pulled a carton out and
drug
it across the
room to the furthest tree, setting three strings on the table beside the tree. Bruce
came in and saw what they were doing and helped finish the task, then began
breaking open boxes and wrapping lights around a tree. When he was finished,
Jeff turned the lights on. "What do you think," he asked.
"Too thin or just right?"

Polly looked at the tree. "That looks
great," she shrugged. "What do you think?"

"It’ll do," he said. "These look great.
Thanks, Bruce."

Bruce nodded and walked to the next tree. Henry came
in followed by his four assistants, all carrying ladders.

"Good morning, Polly! Hi Jeff," he said. "We'll
start back here and move to the front of the room," he told his guys as he
walked over to where Polly and Jeff were standing.

He winked at Polly, "Did you sleep well last
night?" he asked.

"I did," she said. "Thank you for a
wonderful evening. Oh, you know what! I should get you and Bruce together. He's
been a car nut as long as I can remember!" She glanced over at Bruce who
was wrapping lights around a third tree.
"Yeah.
I'll do that later. Or ... you can, whenever you get
a moment."

"Where
are all of the lights you want
hung from the rafters, Jeff?" he asked.

"Let me show you," Jeff said and walked over
to the cartons of lights.

Henry started to follow him,
then
turned back to Polly. "I had a great evening too
and slept like a baby. Thank you."

Jeff started to speak,
then
realized no one was near him. He looked up, as if confused, then shrugged while
he waited for Henry to join him. The two men opened cartons and began pulling
packages of white lights out. The ladders were up and Jimmy and Sam were
elected to run up and down. While that project was going, Polly heard more
activity in the hallway and walked out to see all her friends laughing and
giggling as they came around the staircase.

Beryl was the first to say something, "So, I
heard you had a hot date last night, girlie. Are you going to finally be the
one who gets Henry
Sturtz
to settle down?"

"Oh,
gah
!"
Polly cried out. "No, we're not settling down.
Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Maybe the way you've been mooning over each
other every time you're in the same room."

"We do not, nor have we ever mooned over each
other," Polly said disgustedly.
"
Ewww
.
That's
for girls with no brains."

"Wow," Beryl laughed. "I thought that's
what falling in love did to a girl. Well, at least some girls. Like Lydia. She
loses her brains when her boy is around."

Lydia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not in love with Henry.
For heaven's sake, Beryl.
Don't turn this into the romance of the century. It
was one date, it was nice." She winked at the three of them, "In
fact, it was very nice. But, I'm not falling in love with him and he isn't
falling in love with me. Now, grow up." Polly stomped her right foot when
she said it and all three of them laughed.

"So, what are you guys doing here today?"
Polly asked.

"We're going to make the table decorations,"
Andy responded. "Jeff got these adorable wooden candlesticks and some
Christmas plates, so we're going to make dessert trays and all sorts of things.
Bring on the glitter and spray paint!" she laughed.

"I'm a celebrated artist all over the country,”
Beryl announced, “and I'm not too good to play in glue, glitter and glam for
you, Polly, my friend. So, you be nice to me."

"I love you guys," Polly laughed and
snorted. "Oh, what would my life have been without knowing you?"

"Let's get busy, then!
Onward,
my artistic troops!"
Beryl
pulled her right knee up and stuck her right arm out, pointing toward the
auditorium. "Come on!" she commanded. "Onward."

Laughing, they all entered the auditorium.

Jeff showed them where the items were they would use
to create the decorations and Lydia pulled Polly aside.

"You and I are going to take a quick trip this
morning," she said under her breath.

"What? Where are we going?"

"We're going over to see old Mr. McKenzie and his
wife and we're going to talk to them about their boy and those little kids. That
old man is going to come off his high horse today or I'm going to kick it out
from under him and he'll find out how black the dirt in this state is, face
first."

Polly's eyes grew wide in shock. "I've never
heard you talk like that. Are you sure you want to get in the middle of this?"

"I'm already in the middle of this. You can't
spend a few hours around those kiddos without falling in love with them and
that stupid old man doesn't know what he's missing. I'm going to take a few
moments of his day to remind him and you're going to help me."

"I don't want to," Polly said, drawing space
out between each word. "He scared the crap out of me in high school and
I'm pretty sure I'm not over it yet."

"Then you will talk to Bruce's mother while I
talk to old man McKenzie. I know his type and he doesn't scare me."

"I'm betting there aren't too many people who
scare you, Lydia," Polly remarked.

"Well, there's that," she said. "So, are
you driving or am I?"

"Okay!" Polly said. "I guess we're
going now?"

"Yep, might as well get it over with early in the
day so we can think about something else later on," Lydia said.

Polly spoke up, "Jeff, Lydia and I need to run an
errand. We'll be back in a bit. Call me if you need anything."

Before he could say anything, Lydia took Polly's arm
and propelled her out of the auditorium and into the foyer. "Don't give
them a chance to protest, it messes with their mind," she said.

"Mine too, just in case you were wondering,"
Polly laughed. "Alright, let's get this over with. I'll drive. I know the
way to their house."

As they drove down the road, Lydia lamented, "I
wish we had some snow. A white Christmas is so much more festive."

"Snowstorms in the northeast can get pretty
wild," Polly remarked. "But, if we get crazy snow in Boston, at least
I don't have to drive. It's been so long since I've driven on county roads in
the winter, I'll probably turn into a wimp."

"I know, I know," Lydia said. "I do
hate having Aaron out in the stuff and he's always the first one to go. But,
when he's home and the fire is roaring and I know where all my friends and
family are, I love it."

She looked sideways at Polly, "That means you
have to stay put, you know. I don't want to be worried about you this year. Got
it?"

"Got it," Polly giggled. "I promise to
stay put." She pointed at a cornfield to the south where cattle were
grazing on the leftover stalks. "I'd forgotten about the beauty of Iowa
fields. Whether I'm looking at little green seedlings in the spring, or row
after row of corn waving in a summer breeze or fields recently harvested, it’s
amazing. I can't wait to start experiencing the farm cycle again. I had no idea
I would miss it and honestly, I didn't know I was missing it until I got back."
Polly lifted her left palm off the steering wheel and waved at an oncoming
pickup truck.

"I can see you didn't forget how to be
neighborly," Lydia remarked.

"I know, right!" Polly laughed. "The
one thing I noticed first off out east was that people walked around with their
heads down, barely acknowledging anyone else on earth. Out here, you are
expected to pay attention, and to say hello. I don't know any of these people
and it's like they simply want to tell me it's good I'm alive.
Pretty wonderful, eh?"

Lydia smiled, then reached over and patted her arm.
"It is good you are alive. And yes, it's pretty wonderful." They rode
in silence,
then
she asked, "So, how long would it have taken you
to come back to Iowa if things hadn't fallen apart with Joey last spring?"

"I don't know. For a while after Dad died, it
seemed like there was no reason for me to ever come back. I was building a
life. I guess back then I figured I’d finally meet someone and end up in
Massachusetts for the rest of my life. The family I have here doesn't care if
I'm around, so there was no reason to visit for holidays or vacations.

"But, then all of a sudden, I felt claustrophobic
in the city. There were people everywhere. Not just in my space, but
everywhere. The only place I ever found real solitude was in my apartment and
even
then, I had to listen to stomping
upstairs and music from downstairs and I could hear people walking in the halls
and fighting and screaming next door. Sirens wailed down the street and cars
crashed outside my windows. It was noise all the time.

"The day I got out of the truck in front of the
old school, I breathed in fresh air and heard birds and insects and nothing
else. It actually took a few moments for me to hear a car drive by. I felt
every muscle in my shoulders relax and I didn't have any more questions. I was
going to live here forever.

"We don't know what we've got, do we?" Lydia
commented.

"When I was in high school," Polly said,
"I told Dad I would never marry a farmer. I didn't want all of the hassle
involved in running a farm. The early hours; worrying about corn prices and
fretting over the weather. It seemed like the worst life in the world. Dad made
it easy on me, but I saw what he did and I didn't want to live like that. I
wanted something exciting! I didn't want to stay in my little town and see the
same people day after day. I wanted to experience what I thought would be a
great big life, meeting new people all the time, going to museums and
galleries. I wanted the hustle and bustle of a big city. Well, I got it and for
a lot of years, I loved it.

"But, I don't want that any more. I've had my
fill," she finished.

"You know we have museums and galleries around
here," Lydia smirked.

"
Yes,
and an amazingly
talented artist right there in town!" Polly exclaimed. "It's such
snobbery to think that Iowa doesn't have everything necessary to make a great
big life. I'm glad I'm home."

"I'm glad you are, too," Lydia said.
"So, do you know where we're going?"

"Well, it is weird, coming back here without
planning to stay with Dad. I feel like a tourist driving into what used to be
my home town." Polly stopped talking,
then
said. "And
in answer to your question, I know where we're going. I'm taking the direct
route and staying on good roads, rather than driving around the back way. It’s
been long enough that I'm sure I would make a wrong turn and we'd end up
driving in circles."

"You know, you could get GPS," Lydia said.

"Uh huh.
I don’t think so. If I can't figure my way around
Iowa roads, I will give up my navigator's badge," Polly retorted.