Room at the Inn (Bellingwood #5.5) (8 page)

"How are you so nice?"

"Years and years of practice. Now come with me. Your old friend Adele has some people you should meet."

Polly had met Adele Mansfield at a slumber party Lydia threw when Polly first came to town. Adele held a special place in Polly's heart because her sister had known Mary Shore, the woman who stepped in to care
for Polly after her mother died.

Adele stood and hugged Polly. "We love this little mystery
of yours. Now, did we collect all the photographs?" Polly flipped through them and glancing around the tables, saw one more. The table was empty of people, so she stepped over and picked it up.

"We have them all now," she said.

"Sit with us. You'd think they'd let us old ladies go first, but some of those younger gals are oh, so busy."

The other ladies at the table laughed out loud and introduced themselves. Polly tried desperately to ensure that she had faces and names together, but it was all a blur. There were six
women with Adele and they began chattering about the explosion and the stories that had cropped up during that time.

Polly asked, "Does anyone know Beatrice Hogan?"

"She was probably a nurse in Boone. That's where they would have taken her. I recall she was dying and everybody knew it. There were stories about how she wouldn't leave because she didn't want to be far from her daughter," one of the women said.

"Do you suppose that was Beatrice Livengood? She was a nurse down there," another woman said. "She married Manny Livengood.
She died about five years ago."

"That's when Simon Gardner said he got the dresser," Polly encouraged them.

"Then that's who it was. They had a heck of a time cleaning out her house. She saved every scrap of paper."

"Which is probably why that package got jammed into the top of the dresser," Polly said. "I wonder if she just forgot it, or it got lost and she thought it was gone."

"That makes sense," Adele nodded. "Now, if the little girl did go to live with family friends, they probably kept her name the same. Pilot Mound is only ten miles west of here. Isn't Nina Black from there? She'd know about this. Let me make a call."

Adele dug around in her purse and pulled out a very nice smart phone. Polly looked at it in surprise and the woman laughed. "My grandkids think I'm cool because I have this. I hate to admit how long it took me to figure out ho
w to use it. But at least we can video chat with it and I can see their little faces."

"I think you're cool!" Polly said. "You figured
that out on your own?"

"Well, I might be old, but I'm not stupid," the woman retorted.

"No, I mean, that's awesome. Oh, I'm messing this up. Most of the time kids complain about how their parents don't know anything about technology and they have to program their DVD players for them and help with their computers."

"Not me," Adele said. "If I own a gadget, I
will learn how to use it. I'm not ready to fade away and let my children feed me pudding. I'm going to step out and make this call."

The other women stood to get in line for food and Lydia turned to Polly, "I told you this group could help."

"Should we get some food?" Polly asked. "It looks wonderful."

The two of them
were in line when Adele slipped in behind her and whispered. "I have the information you're looking for. Nina Black remembered everything. Your Marian Jeanine lives with her husband just five miles east of here on a farm. Her last name is now Maxwell. I even have her phone number."

Polly stopped mid-scoop over a macaroni salad. "You found her? Just like that?"

"I told you!" Lydia laughed.

"Should we tell
the group?" Polly asked.

"No, not yet. If you tell
these women, someone will be on Marian Maxwell's doorstep before you get back to Sycamore House. We'll let them stew about it. They'll know soon enough.

It was all Polly could do to sit quietly and eat. She sat beside Adele and reached
over to squeeze her hand. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you!"

CHAPTER EIGHT

Escaping as soon as she could,
Polly's headed back to Sycamore House. She dialed Henry's phone as she went upstairs.

"Hey, pretty girl, what's up?"

"We found her. She lives five miles west of here."

"You found her? That's amazing!
Does she know she's found?"

"No,
not yet. Lydia was right, though. That woman's group has information on everyone!"

He laughed. "It's a little frightening, isn't it? So, what
’s next?"

"
I have no idea."

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"My stomach is all tied up in knots. Where are you?"

"
Polly, I’ve got good news, too. I just left Ed Greeves' office. He's getting the details together on that motel for us."

"Really? Wow! Can you come over?"

"I'm on my way."

"I'm
taking the dog outside. I'll meet you out back in a few minutes," Polly said and hung up.

Obiwan was waiting for her when she went into her apartment and
they ran down the back steps. He wandered to the tree line while she paced back and forth waiting for Henry. The truck finally rounded the corner onto the highway and she watched as he turned in the lane, parked in front of her garage and got out.

She
kissed him, "Can you believe it! This is so much fun!"

"Which part?" he asked and bent over to rub Obiwan's head. The dog had run back when he saw that it was Henry.

"All of it! Come upstairs so we can warm up."

"So, how was your morning with the church ladies?"
he asked.

"
Interesting. But I got a name and number. What should I do?"

"You should call her. Maybe invite her over to dinner."

"I could do that. When should I do it? I don’t want to wait."

"Call her. Tell her who you are and why yo
u're calling, then invite her over. She'll tell you when they're available."

Polly dropped to the sofa and sat there, staring at her phone. "What if she doesn't care?"

"Stop it. Now you're just making things up. Call her."

"Okay, here I go." Polly dialed the number that Adele had given her and a man answered.

"Hello, Maxwell residence," he said.

"May I speak with Mrs. Maxwell?"

"Just a minute." She heard him call out in the background. "Mother? Phone for you." Then he returned to the call, "She'll be right here. She's in the basement." A clunking sound told Polly the phone had been set down on a table.

As she listened, she heard a woman's voice, "Who is it, Sam?"

"I don't know. She asked for you," the man responded.

"Hello, this is Marian."

"Marian, this is Polly Giller. I own Sycamore House over in Bellingwood."

"
Yes, I've heard about you. You restored that old school house. We were planning to drive over tonight to see the Living Nativity and look at lights. How can I help you?"

Polly took a deep breath. "If you are coming to Bellingwood tonight, could I invite you to my home for dinner? I would like to talk with you about something."

There was silence on the other end of the call, then, "What in the world could you possibly want with me?"

"Mrs. Maxwell, I found a package in an old dresser that I bought at the Antique Shoppe downtown. I think it might be pictures of you as a child. There's a Christmas card from Beatrice Hogan and in it is a letter she helped your mother write to you."

"Oh my," the woman said and Polly heard her drop into a chair, then the man's voice say, "Mother, are you okay? Marian?"

"I'm fine," the woman said quietly. "You have pictures of my family?" There was a catch in her voice.

"I think so. I certainly hope that I have the right family."

"Beatrice Hogan was my mother's nurse before she died. I heard from her several times through the years. She never said anything about pictures or a letter, though." The woman chuckled, "But then, she might have thought she'd already given them to my parents. I visited her once or twice and she wasn't all that tidy."

"This was jammed in the top of the dresser like it had been on the top of a stack and gotten stuck when the drawer was opened."

"After all these years," Marian Maxwell
said quietly.

"Would you and your husband like to come for dinner?"

"Let me ask. Sam, would you mind going out to dinner tonight in Bellingwood? The gal who owns Sycamore House has some pictures and a letter that might be from my mother."

The quality of tone was lost as she obviously put her hand over the
phone’s mouthpiece and then she returned. "We would love to come. What time would you like us to be there?"

"Will six thirty work for you?" Polly asked.

"We'll be there. Should we just come in the front door?"

"That will be fine.
A young boy named Jason will be downstairs to greet you and show you to my apartment." It had just hit Polly that Sylvie worked tonight and she was responsible for Jason and Andrew. They would love being part of this.

"We'll see you tonight. Thank you, Miss Giller."

"It's Polly and I look forward to meeting you."

They hung up and Polly squealed.

Henry laughed at her and said, "I don't know if I've ever heard that sound come from you."

"We have to get moving! I know Dad had an artificial tree downstairs and I want to get some Christmas decorations up."

"You're decorating for Christmas now? What about dinner?"

"
I have no idea." She took off at a dead run for the back door, leaving a room full of startled animals and Henry behind her. Doug and Billy were coming into the garage to go to their apartment as she ran to where she had stacked her boxes.

"What's up, Polly?" Doug asked.

"I have to find my Dad's Christmas decorations. I've got five hours to decorate the apartment and get dinner on the table." The boys followed her and began to help her sort through the boxes.

"
Why are you here and not working?" she asked

"It's really slow right now. We don't have much until after the New Year. We forgot about this part of the job," Billy said.

"Then you should definitely come and have supper with us. It's going to be fun. I found the woman who belongs to those pictures." Polly pushed a stack of boxes aside and handed a table lamp to Billy, who set it down on top of more boxes.

"Where is that tree?" she growled.

"Hello boys," Henry said, entering the fray. "Did you offer to help or did she beg?"

"We offered. She said we could come to dinner," Doug replied, moving more boxes. "Polly, you have a lot of books."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a tree in here somewhere."

"I found it!" Billy popped up from behind a tall stack of boxes.
"It's a tall box. Dude, I'm gonna need help." He started lifting it over his head and both Doug and Henry ran to take it from him.

"Are there any more
Christmas boxes?" Polly asked.

"Here's one," he responded. "
And a box of ornaments."

Polly pulled her wallet out of her back pocket
and handed a twenty dollar bill to Doug. "Would you go downtown and buy me, like, five boxes of white lights?" She pulled another twenty out. "Make it six or seven boxes. Thank you! Billy, can you help us haul these up to the apartment?"

Both boys looked at Henry and he shrugged. Doug left and they
carried boxes up the steps to Polly's apartment. She pointed to the corner where her favorite chair sat. "Don't you think the tree would be pretty right there?"

Henry and Billy nodded and she giggled, "Do I have to beg you two to put it up?
I need to start dinner and figure out where I'm going to seat everyone. And I have to call Lydia and Adele."

They
both stood there and Polly cried, "Please help me!"

Henry
opened the top flap of the box with the Christmas tree in it and began pulling green branches out. "How old is this tree?"

"I don't know," she laughed. "The ends are painted the same color as the hole on the trunk. I used to put it together every year."
Polly stepped close to him and kissed him on the cheek, "Thank you for helping even if you think I'm crazy."

She stepped close to Billy and he bent backwards at the waist. "What?" she asked, "You don't want me to kiss you?"

"No ma'am," he slyly said. "My girlfriend would kill me."

"You just ma'am'ed me." Polly chuckled.

"On purpose, too," he said and bent over into the box to pull out more branches. Polly gave him a push when she saw that he was nearly off balance and he toppled into the box, knocking it over to the floor. Billy scrambled to get back up and Henry backed away from the two of them. "You're mean, Polly Giller," Billy said.

"I am and I'm a little amped up right now, so it's even worse," she laughe
d and walked toward the kitchen.

Henry and Billy built the tree from the ground up while she opened cupboards and looked in the refrigerator. "I'll be back. If Doug gets
here before me, would you string lights on the tree?" She ran out the front door and down to the kitchen. Sylvie and Rachel were preparing dinner for a party that night. The two looked up when she ran in.

"What's going on, Polly?" Sylvie asked.

"I invited way too many people over to my apartment tonight for dinner and while I have plenty of chicken, I wondered if you had an extra ten pounds of potatoes down here."

Sylvie chuckled and looked to Rachel. "Only at Sycamore House, would she think there was an extra ten pound
s of potatoes. Yes, Polly. I do."

"I'll make sure to replace them
by tomorrow."

"No, don't worry. I'll stop at the store before I come over. Do you need anything else?"

"I just need to get these boiling for mashed potatoes."

"No you don't," Sylvie said. "We're making loads of mashed potatoes for tonight. Maria is coming down to help when the boys get here. Andrew is
babysitting little Salvador. Send Jason down before dinner starts and I'll have the potatoes ready for you."

"Really? Thank you!" Polly hugged her and ran back out and up the stairs, slowing when she got to her front door and took a deep breath, then walked inside.
The tree was nearly finished.

"Do you want to put the top on?" Henry asked.

"That's okay. It looks great though."

By six o'clock, the tree was decorated, lights and garland were
hung and two tables were set with her mother's china, crystal and silver. Andrew was across the hall with Salvador and Jason was downstairs waiting for the guests. Henry, Doug and Billy had gone home to dress for the evening and Polly was changing clothes. She still couldn't believe she had managed to pull off a dinner party and decorated her apartment in less than six hours. How did people ever make things happen without friends!

The first knock at the door was Lydia. Aaron followed her in, holding a pie carrier. When Polly had called early that afternoon,
Lydia had offered to make pie. At that point, refusing would have been suicide.

"Are we the first ones here?" Lydia asked. She looked around, "Your place is gorgeous! You did all this today?"

"Yes and I'm glad to see you. I'm really nervous about tonight. I couldn't leave anyone out, but I think there are too many people. Doug and Billy helped me today and I need to feed them. Jason and Andrew will be here and you and Adele and how could I not invite Henry?"

"Don't worry, dear
. When she gets here, take her aside and show her the package. Let her have some time alone with it and if she needs to leave, she can sneak out the back. We'll celebrate no matter what. You've done a wonderful thing today. Stop fretting."