"Slow down, my ass," Sylvie snapped. "Let's go."
"You," she pointed to Jeff. "Put my bags in the kitchen. There are two deliveries coming in this morning. They know where to put things, please sign for them."
"You," and she looked at Henry. "Go home and get things ready. We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Are you coming with me or not?" she turned on Polly.
Polly darted her eyes back and forth between the men who had just received their marching orders. "With you, I'm guessing?" she asked.
"What about you?" Sylvie looked at Sal.
"Sal, I'll be back,” Polly interrupted. “This is Jeff Lyndsay, my assistant. Why don't the two of you get acquainted? Would you mind taking Obiwan up to the apartment?"
Sal laughed and nodded. "Sure." She turned to Sylvie, "It looks as if I'm staying here."
Henry went outside and Sylvie said, "I'm going to get my car. That way he doesn't have to climb up in either of your big trucks. Stay right here and I'll pull up front."
She left and Eliseo looked at Polly, "She scares me a little. I thought she was such a nice girl!"
"I've never seen her like this," Polly remarked with a chuckle. "I don't think there's a single person among us who isn't a little scared of her right now."
"I'm sorry I've messed up your morning," he said and grimaced as he tried to stand. Jeff came over and put his arm around Eliseo's waist to give him support.
"I'll see you later," Polly said to Sal. "Oh, the dog is going to want to be fed. Just fill his food dish with the dog food in the cabinet beside the refrigerator. There's cat food in there too, if you wouldn't mind putting some in the cat's dishes."
"On it. I can figure that out," Sal replied. "We'll all be fine. And then you have to tell me all about this!"
They got Eliseo loaded into Sylvie's car and drove over to Henry's house. He was waiting in the driveway to help them get inside. Sylvie quickly took over again and began ordering Henry and Polly around as soon as Eliseo was settled on the sofa.
She asked Henry to help her get Eliseo's shirt off and Polly tried not to gasp as she saw the horrible scarring that covered his chest and neck. Whatever had happened to him had been traumatic. Sylvie began to wipe his face, arms and chest, cleaning the blood off as gently as possible. There were more cuts than Polly could count and when Sylvie pressed on his side, he winced, in obvious pain.
"It doesn't feel broken," she said, "but I'm sure you have some bruised ribs in there. You're going to have to be careful for a while. I wish you'd let us take you to the doctor's office. Then we'd know for sure."
Henry had brought bandages and antiseptic cream and set them down on the coffee table beside Sylvie.
"You're good at this, Sylvie," Polly said.
"I've got two boys and there was a time in my life when I planned to be a nurse," she responded without looking up. "I had taken two terms and then had to stop when Jason was born."
"Okay, didn't know that about you."
"It was a long time ago, before ..." her voice trailed off and she didn't say any more.
"I'm going to need to get going, Polly," Henry said.
"Oh, umm. Alright," she responded. "What do you want us to do here?"
"Make sure he has everything he needs. There are more pillows and blankets in the closet at the top of the stairs, the bathroom is through there," he pointed to the hallway leading to the dining room and kitchen area, "and he can have anything he wants out of the fridge."
Polly walked outside with Henry. "Are you sure about this?"
"He'll be fine here. At least he won't be at your place. I can keep an eye on him after work and make sure that he's still alive."
"I hate to put you out like this."
"Oh, stop it. It's no big deal. When the whole world intrudes on you, I think I can handle one person for a couple of nights."
"Thank you," she said. "By the way, if everything returns to normal, are you good to go out with me and Sal tomorrow for dinner? I haven't talked to Mark yet, but I can't imagine he'll say no."
"That sounds great. You know that she has become part of your crazy Sycamore House story now, don't you? She wasn’t even here twenty-four hours and you’ve exposed her to the seedy underbelly of your world."
Polly shook her head. "No one is ever going to believe that I lived a simple, quiet life in Boston."
"We don't believe it. We'll never believe it."
Sylvie stuck her head out the door, "Henry, could you help with one more thing? I want to get his pants off so I can check the cuts on his legs."
"I can do it, Mrs. Donovan," came a loud voice from inside the house.
"I think you've about reduced the poor man to nothing, Sylvie," Henry said. "Let him keep a little dignity."
Sylvie threw her head back and snarled, then went back inside and shut the door.
"I've never seen her like this," Polly said again. "She's frightening!"
"You never know what will trigger a woman's insanity, do you. Oh, wait. I know exactly what triggers yours and I do my best every day not to walk into that again."
Polly pushed his shoulder. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Probably not, I have a long memory."
"Well, let's hope that long memory extends to your own behavior."
"Oh, it will. Of that I'm sure. And if I choose to make that trek into darkness again, I'll be fully prepared and make sure I've put my armor on, or at least have a quick escape planned."
Henry had made the mistake of telling Polly what to do in regards to an old boyfriend a couple of times and both of those instances had brought down her wrath on his head, once quite publicly. Both of them had apologized, but neither of them had forgotten.
"You'd better go. As soon as I can drag Sylvie away from Eliseo, I'll be back."
Henry leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Do you know what happened to him?"
"I don't. I hope he'll tell me pretty soon. I'd hate to think that he's prone to fighting. It doesn't seem like him, but I guess you never know."
Henry left and Polly went back inside. Eliseo had fallen asleep and Sylvie was nowhere to be found. Polly looked around and pretty soon, she heard footsteps coming down from upstairs. Sylvie was carrying another pillow, but put her finger to her lips and beckoned Polly to the kitchen.
She'd never been this far into Henry's house and wondered if he had decorated it or if this was left over from his mother. The dining room had a long trestle table with benches on either side. The windows were covered with plain white sheers. A blue and gold swag looped over the curtain rod. The kitchen was a beautiful room with hardwood floors and what Polly now recognized as knotty pine cabinets. There was a small primitive table placed up against the back wall with three chairs around it. The morning's newspaper was still open, but the dishes had been taken to the sink.
"He was hurt pretty badly, Polly. Do you know what happened to him?"
"He won't tell me, Sylvie. Did he say anything to you?"
"No," she shook her head. "He smiled a lot and let me bandage him up. I suppose he had to get used to that when he was in the hospital. Did you see all of that scarring?"
"I can't even imagine the pain that goes along with that," Polly replied.
"I can't believe he does so well!"
"I know. Can you leave him?"
"He'll be fine for now and I'll check on him today. I'm going to put a bottle of water out there and then bring lunch later on."
"We should head back to Sycamore House then, and let him sleep."
They went into the living room and Sylvie sat down on the coffee table in front of Eliseo. She touched his arm and quietly said, "Eliseo?"
"I'm sorry. I fell asleep," he said.
"No, you're fine. Here's a bottle of water and an extra pillow. I'm going to take Polly back to Sycamore House and then I'll bring you some lunch. Go ahead and sleep now. You're safe here."
"Thank you," he said. He lifted his hand and Polly could
see the pain in his eyes as he did so, but put it across Sylvie's and then shut his eyes and drifted back to sleep.
Once they got in the car, Polly turned on Sylvie, "Who in the world are you?"
"What do you mean?" Sylvie asked.
"I mean, who are you? A wild and insane woman showed up at my house this morning and I've never seen her before!"
Sylvie laughed. "Oh. Her. She doesn't show up very often, but no one was doing anything and he was in obvious pain. I might have overdone it, though. Am I going to have to apologize to Jeff?"
"I think maybe you might!" Polly laughed. "He was a little shocked. We all were! Do you get like that very often?"
"It doesn't happen very often. I try to keep her in check, because she can get unruly."
"Unruly doesn't describe what I saw this morning. When was the last time you let her loose?"
“It’s been a couple of years. Andrew broke his leg on the playground one summer when he was six. Some lady called me, but when I got there, she was the only adult around and she was standing there gawking at him, waiting for me to show up to make a decision. She'd done nothing to help or comfort him. She hadn't touched him or even gotten close to him. She hadn't even called 9-1-1. She asked his brother for my phone number and called me. Andrew was crying and scared and she stood there. Poor Jason was holding Andrew's hand, but he was only nine and expected the adult to handle it. I probably went a little crazy that day, too."
"That’s odd. If she was a mom, she should have done something."
"You'd think so, wouldn't you! But, I think she had her own set of problems. I'm not even sure if those kids were hers."
"What?"
"They weren't in town very long, and my boys said something about her marrying this guy and not wanting his kids around. He only had partial custody, so I'm hoping their real mom took better care of them than that woman did."
"What did you say to her?"
"When I saw Andrew's leg, I called 9-1-1 myself, sent Jason to the car for our blanket and once he was gone, I stood up, got in her face and screamed at her for being a self-centered, low-life bitch and told her that she didn't have a right to even be around children if she couldn't provide some semblance of comfort to a scared, little boy. Then I told her that if I ever saw her on the playground again, I was calling the police because there was more than likely a good case for neglect."
"What did she do?"
"She ran to her car and drove away without her kids. They were running after her and she had to stop and wait for them to catch up. Stupid bitch."
"Wow! Well, all I know is that if I ever hurt myself badly, I want you around to command the troops."
Sylvie chuckled, "It's a deal."
She parked her car and they went inside. Jeff wasn't in his office, so Sylvie headed for the kitchen and Polly went up to her apartment. When she walked in, Jeff and Sal were laughing at the dining room table, with mugs of coffee in front of them.
"Have you had anything to eat yet this morning?" Sal asked. "I made breakfast."
Polly dropped her head, "I'm sorry. I was supposed to take care of you while you were here."
"From here on out, you are responsible for my happiness," Sal laughed. "But, it's been nice getting the scoop on your life from Jeff. He has plenty to say."
"Should I be embarrassed?" Polly asked.
"Only that you didn't introduce me to Henry. But, other than that, I think you're fine. Do you want something to eat?"
"No, I'm good. I can wait for lunch. What would you like to do?"
"I've met your inside animals and Jeff. How about you show me around the rest of the place and I'll put on a pair of your boots and we can go out and talk to your horses. Will you join us outside, Jeff?"
Polly snickered and Jeff laughed. "I promised Polly that I wasn't taking my leather shoes anywhere near horse crap, so no. I'll work inside while you two go out and act like cowboys."
He turned to Polly, "Did Sylvie come back with you? Is she safe to be around yet?"
"I think she calmed down. I'm glad she was here, but that was something!"
"She's not normally that bossy?" Sal asked.
"No, when I met her, I thought she was a mouse," Polly said. "She's gotten a lot more confident since she started going to school, but this was quite new!"
"I might like to meet her again now that we aren't in the middle of a crisis."
"Let me take a quick shower and I'll be ready to go," Polly said. "Do you mind waiting a few more minutes?"
"Don't mind me, I'll just clean your kitchen," Sal laughed.
"If you two are going to get all girly, I'm going back to work," Jeff said and headed out Polly's front door.
"He seems great," Sal said. "He's got your back here."
"Can you believe it? And he knows what he's doing with all of the things we have going on around here, so I can sit back and enjoy myself."
"Yeah. Like that's what you do. You are the fulcrum on which everything balances."
"I don't know about that, but there's always something going on."
Polly went into her bedroom and stripped down for the shower. The cats followed her in and curled up on the countertop waiting for her to finish. When she came out, they both jumped to the floor and rubbed themselves on her ankles while she pulled a comb through her hair and brushed her teeth.
"Did you feed the cats too?" Polly called out.
"I did. I hope it was enough. They finished what I put out," Sal replied.
"They're fine then. Thanks."
Polly got dressed and pushed things around in her closet until she found a second pair of work boots. They were still fairly new and Sal could break them in once they got to the barn.
"Let's go," Polly said as she re-entered the living room. "Time's a-wastin!"
"What are you going to show me first?"
"Let's hit the kitchen so Sylvie can redeem herself and then I want to take you outside to meet Henry. He'd normally be over at my friend Beryl's house re-doing her studio, but today he's on-site."
"How were you so lucky to find him?"
"Good, clean living is the best answer I have for you."
"Whatever. You have led a pretty clean life, but there had to be more to it than that."
"I don't know. We started out working together and then we got to know each other and then he asked me out on a date and it was the sweetest thing I'd ever experienced."
"I know. You told me all about it. I was so jealous."
"When he left to go to Arizona, I wasn’t in a relationship. Everyone else around me kept implying that we were, but I didn’t think anything about it." Polly stopped and said, "That's not true. I didn't think about it happening very fast. When he was gone for two months, I realized how much I missed him. He's become important to me and I can't imagine not having him around."
"That sounds nice and boring."
"Well, it's not boring when he kisses me," Polly smirked. "He makes me swoon."
"Oh, girlfriend. That's a big deal!"
"Tell me about it. My head gets all stupid and I forget to breathe."
"I can't wait to meet him," Sal laughed.
They walked into the kitchen and Sylvie looked up from her computer. She wiped her hands on her apron and shook Sal's hand. "I'm so sorry that I was rude this morning. It's nice to meet you."
"You too. Wow," Sal said. "This is a great kitchen!" She walked around and peeked inside the glass doors to the pantry cupboards.
"I love this prep area," she continued. When she got to the stove, she turned a couple of the burners on and off. "This would be a great place to work!"
"Polly did it all," Sylvie said. "It's pretty close to perfect. I don't know what else I could ask for."
"I would never have imagined you had this in you, my friend," Sally said, clutching Polly's arm. "I'm proud of you!"
Polly took her into the auditorium and showed her the cases filled with items that had been found in a storage room in the basement, then they
went outside to find Henry.
"I suppose I should do this formally," Polly said. "Henry Sturtz, this is my friend Sal Kahane from Boston. Sal, this is Henry."
The two shook hands and he said, "Well, you got your first glimpse of the craziness that Polly brought to Bellingwood."
"Stop it!" Polly protested. "I keep trying to tell you that it's not my fault."
"It's never her fault," he laughed and put his arm around her shoulders, "but she keeps finding more and interesting ways to keep us entertained."
"You have done beautiful work with this place, Henry." Sal said. "Polly's lucky to have found someone with your skill. How long have you been a cabinet maker?"
"I've been doing this all my life. Did you see that table in my kitchen?" he asked Polly. "That was one of the first things I built with my Dad. I was eight or nine years old. It's seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. I would have gotten rid of it a long time ago, but Mom was so proud of it, she wouldn't let me. Now I'm glad that I still have it."
"That makes a lot more sense now. I wondered about it when I saw it. It certainly didn't fit in with the craftsmanship of the rest of the house," Polly laughed.
"It's sturdy, if nothing else. I think I used every nail and screw Dad had in the shop."
Polly took Sal out to the barn and the horses came in from the pasture to greet her. Sal had ridden in high school, so was comfortable with them. Polly left her and went in and up to the hay loft again to see if Eliseo had left things behind. The blankets were still there, but it looked as if he had gathered up all of his personal possessions. She tossed the blankets to the floor on the main level before climbing back down.
"That's a lot of horse you have here," Sal said. "It's a good thing they're good-natured or you would have a terrible time."
"Nan can be a brat sometimes. If she doesn't want to do something, she lets me know. But, I try not to ask her for much more than she wants to give me. It makes it easier on all of us."
"Are you going to hitch them up to a cart one of these days?"
"We will, but I will probably let Mark Ogden tell me when they're ready. I've only had them here a few months and after the time they had, I want to make sure they are completely healthy and feel safe. Speaking of Mark, what if I asked him to go to dinner with you, me and Henry tomorrow night?"
Treasure Uncovered (Bellingwood #3) Page 18