"Will you catch them now?" she asked.
"We're closer. The kid in the Charger isn't able to talk yet. He's in surgery."
"Oh god, no," she said. "I didn't want to hurt him. I wanted him to get out of the way."
She tried to shift in the bed and pain rushed through her torso. "Ohhhh," she moaned. "Did I break something?"
"We'll take care of the pain for now, your clavicle has been broken and you've got a few bruised ribs. Just lie back and we'll get you doped back up."
A nurse appeared in front of Polly's face and before she could say anything, everything went grey.
~~~
"Henry?" Polly asked, finding herself coming awake again. When there was no response, she panicked. "Henry?"
"I'm right here," he said, rushing in through the door. "I was just in the hallway."
"Is it morning yet?"
He stood over her and smiled down. "It's the middle of the night. About one o'clock."
"I'm thirsty."
"I can't give you much. You're having surgery in the morning."
"What? Why?"
"They're going to fix your clavicle. You're about to get some metal in your body."
"Crap. I was perfect before."
"You're still perfect, sweetie."
"Tell me what happened?"
He chuckled.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I've told you the story three times so far. We'll see if this one takes."
"Don't laugh at me. I'm damaged."
"Yes you are."
Polly could finally turn her head and she watched as Henry sat down beside her. "If I ask you to hold my hand, does it sound like I'm whining?"
He took hold with his warm hand, his thumb moving back and forth across her palm.
"Tell me," she said.
"We're taking a big package of goodies to a man named Harley Schafer from Pilot Mound. He found the accident and called for help. He'd been an Army medic back in Desert Storm and knew just how to get you stabilized before the ambulance arrived. He did the same for the kid."
"What's the kid's name?" Polly asked.
"Some little stoner punk named Rudy Pierce."
Polly knew something was up with that name, but she couldn't make sense of what it meant. "I'm supposed to know something about that," she said. "I'll come back to it later. So, what happened?"
"The dispatcher got hold of Aaron and he knew right away it was you, so I think he called in everyone. While you were en route to the hospital, he called me."
"I'm so sorry," Polly said. "I didn't mean to scare you."
"Yeah. Don't you ever do this again." He brushed a lock of hair back from her forehead. "Oh, Polly. I love you. I want to say that to you every single moment of every day. When he told me what happened, I was afraid I'd said it the last time."
"I love you too," she whispered.
"Everyone was here this evening. Rebecca is staying with Sylvie and Eliseo tonight."
"Jessie?"
"She's fine. Mom was going over to make sure she knew you were safe. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that she was safely ensconced in my old bedroom tonight."
"Jeff?"
"He was here earlier. He'll stop by in the morning on the way to Sycamore House."
"The animals?"
"Doug and Billy are taking care of them tonight. Obiwan is going up to their apartment and if Jessie is staying with Mom and Dad, the cats will be fine until tomorrow morning."
Polly took a deep breath. Everyone was where they were supposed to be. She wondered how Jason's first day back at school had gone.
"Jason!" she said abruptly.
"He's fine. I think we're all glad he wasn't in the truck with you this time."
"So am I, but he's why I know that name. How many Rudys do you think there are at Boone High School? That's one of the kids that was harassing him last week."
Henry slowly nodded his head up and down. "I'll tell Aaron about that when he shows up in the morning."
"Does he know about the black SUV and the silver Infinity? Those were the other two cars that tried to kill me today."
She felt a shudder pass through Henry's body. "He didn't say anything about that. You saw the silver car before, right?"
"Yes, but this time it was the SUV that was ramming my back bumper."
"They had better have those kids behind bars by the time I find out who they are," Henry said, his voice low and grim.
"If it's the same Rudy, I'll bet Jason will know who the other two are. Aaron shouldn't take him out of school to ask the question, though. It will make Jason nervous. He hates being a snitch. He hates it so much he won't answer the questions right." She gripped Henry's hand. "You have to tell Aaron early tomorrow morning so he talks to Jason before school. Please promise me you'll talk to him early. Lydia gets up at six o'clock every morning. Call her and don't let them embarrass Jason any more. He's having a hard enough time as it is."
"Calm down, Polly. I promise to deliver the message."
"You can't let them mess with him again. He's been through so much."
"I love you, Polly."
"I love you, too, but promise me again?"
"I promise. We'll protect Jason through this as much as we can."
"That's not enough. He will just shut down unless he knows that he's safe. He doesn't talk to people very easily."
"He talks to you."
"Because he trusts me to have his back."
"This time I think it's important for Jason to have your back, honey. How do you think he'll feel when he realizes that it was his friends who hurt you this badly?"
"They're not his friends. They're horrible kids who think that it's fun to terrorize a lone woman in a pickup truck." Polly fell silent, her mind going back over the events that had landed her in the hospital bed.
"Dad's leather gloves," she said.
"You mentioned those earlier. What about them?"
"Could you ask Aaron if he can save them from the truck? They still smell like Dad. I was trying to retrieve them from the glove compartment before everything happened."
"It's on my list."
"The truck is totaled, isn't it? Have you seen it?"
"Not yet. I don't know if I could look at it without falling apart."
"It kept me safe, Henry. It did everything I asked it to do and when I flipped end over end, it was like a metal cocoon, holding me in place until I stopped. That was Dad's last gift to me."
"And to me," he said. "He kept you alive."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Opening her eyes, Polly responded to the knock on the door. "Come in," she called out.
"Are you ready for all of us?" Sylvie asked, followed by Rebecca, Jason and Andrew.
"I'm so glad to see you. All of you. I can't wait to go home." Polly wanted to hitch herself up in the bed, but realized she couldn't use her arm. This was going to be annoying.
"You can't do anything," Andrew said grimly. "I remember that. It stinks."
She chuckled. Andrew had broken his arm earlier that summer. At first it had been fun and interesting. He soon got tired of it, though. "That's right. Well, at least you are all put back together now that I need you."
He sat down at the end of her bed. "I'll do anything you want. Maybe Mom won't make us go to school so me and Rebecca can take care of you."
"Rebecca and I," Polly corrected him.
"Whatever. Can we, Mom?"
Sylvie ruffled the hair on his head. "Whatever," she echoed.
"You have a black eye," Rebecca said. "Does it hurt?"
"Honey, everything on my body hurts right now. I don't think I can identify which hurt belongs where. Did you see your mom?"
"I'm going down there right now. Sylvie says we have plenty of time."
"How is she?"
Rebecca nodded. "Okay, I guess. She says that I might have to move upstairs with you. There are nurses that might be moving into her room. I don't want to leave her yet, Polly."
Polly patted the bed on her left side and Jason moved back so Rebecca could sit down. "Come here, honey," Polly said and pulled the girl in for a hug, trying to hide the grimace on her face. "I know you don't want to leave her and you can spend as much time there as possible, but she's your mom and you still have to do what she asks you to do. And who knows, once they get her diabetes straightened out, she might start feeling better."
"Okay. It will be fun to hang out with Jessie."
"Yes it will be. Now go on and spend some time with your Mom. Do you know how to find her room?"
"I'll walk down with her," Sylvie said. "Andrew, you can come with us. We'll be back in a little while. Is there anything you want, Polly?"
"I'd give anything for a Diet Dew. I know they're in the vending machines around here."
"We'll take care of you," Andrew said, popping up and opening the door for his mom.
"This might take a few minutes," Sylvie said, gazing at Polly knowingly while Jason was paying attention to a game he carried.
"No hurry."
Once they were gone, Jason dropped into the chair beside Polly's bed. She waited for him to finish whatever level he was playing and then he put it down.
"How is it being back in school?" she asked.
"It's fine. They aren't around this week."
"Who isn't?"
"The guys who were messing with me."
"What happened to them?"
"You know." He gave her a stricken look. "They tried to kill you."
Polly nodded. "When I heard that it was Rudy Pierce in the hospital here, I wondered. But no one has told me anything else yet."
"I didn't know that was them when I was in the truck with you. I would have told you, you know that, right?"
"Of course I know that," she said. "It didn't occur to me at all. You were the one who gave Aaron an idea of the cars in the first place."
"I didn't want you to think that I would lie and protect them."
"Do you know who the other two were out there?"
"Logan Miles and Seth Davis. They're in jail right now. The Sheriff says it's attempted murder."
Polly wasn't surprised. "You talked to him this morning?"
"Yeah. He was out at Eliseo's house before we came into town. He said he wanted to ask me some questions before I had to go to school. Mom was really scared. She thought I'd done something bad again."
"Are you okay?"
He shrugged. "I guess. Now that they're gone, the rest of the guys kind of faded into the background. Seth was like their leader or something."
"He was the one in the SUV?"
"Yeah. It was his dad's and boy, was his dad pissed. He came to the school when Sheriff Merritt was there. You could hear him yelling at Seth all the way down the hall."
"What about the rest of the kids?"
"What do you mean?" Jason asked.
"I mean, how did they act toward you when you went back on Monday? We never really got a chance to talk, did we?"
"You were right. It was fine. Like nothing ever happened. Well, except that Logan and Rudy tried to follow me around again. I just waited until there wasn't any time between classes and ran to the next room. But they weren't there today, so it was better."
"And every day will keep getting better."
"I guess." Jason looked at the floor. "Polly?"
"Yes, Jason."
"They didn't do that because of me and you, did they?"
She reached out and said, "Look at me, Jason."
He did.
"Give me your hand."
He put it on the bed beside hers. Polly covered it. The poor kid was clammy.
"You have got to quit taking responsibility for things that you can't help. They've been chasing cars for weeks and when Seth got involved, it grew out of control. It could have been anybody out there on that road. I just happened to be their first target."
He looked down again. "They were talking about it at school."
"What?" She tried to sit up, the muscles around her ribs protested and she relaxed back into the bed. "They were talking about it? Was it a specific plan or just random? Did you tell the Sheriff about it?"
Jason nodded. "I told him. They were going to be out there on that road, but Logan knew I was in your truck."
"I still think it's random, Jason." Polly gave his hand a squeeze. "You do know that all of this gives you a fresh new chance to make better friends and better decisions. It isn't often that your nemesis gets stripped away from the situation."
"I'm going to try," he said. "Did you know that my Dad is moving to Fort Dodge?"
"I heard that," Polly replied. "Did your mom tell you about it?"
"She doesn't know I know. He put another note for me in our mailbox." Jason pulled the envelope out and handed it to Polly. "Why is he doing this?"
"Have you showed this to your mom?"
"Nah, it will just upset her. She's got enough to worry about right now. She was scared last night. Really scared when Henry called her."
Polly leaned on her left arm and tried to shift a little in the bed, so she was turned more toward him. "Jason. I love that you confide in me. I will always be here for you. You know that, right?"
"You're cool."
"Okay, I'm cool. But you have to talk to your mom. She's the one who can work this out for you."
"She won't tell Dad not to see me. He'll hurt her. I have to figure out how to do this."
"Jason, she isn't scared of your dad any longer. See, she's figured something out that you haven't yet."
"What's that?"
"That there are people around who will protect you guys. If he threatens her, she can call Eliseo or Aaron or Ken Wallers. If he tries to scare her, she has me and Sal and Joss. Heck, wouldn't you be afraid of Lydia, Andy and Beryl?"
Jason nodded wildly.
"There are all of these people in your mom's life that love her and won't tolerate him and his abusive ways. You need to understand that too. Every single one of those people I named will do the same for you."
"I'm just a kid."
"You're a great kid and the thing is, you're Sylvie's kid and that means something to us. So you give that note to her and tell her that it isn't the first one you've gotten. Tell her. Let her make Anthony go away. That's her job as your mom."
"It doesn't seem fair. I'm old enough and big enough to take care of some things."
"You're getting older and bigger, but she's still your mom."
Noise at the door stopped the conversation and Andrew rushed in. He put a bottle of Diet Dew on the bed beside Polly and opened a little brown sack he was carrying, dumping the contents on the bed.
"You two are nuts and I love you," Polly said. She handed the bottle to Jason. "Would you open that for me? I'm lamed."
He gave her a weak grin and twisted off the top, then set it on the table in front of her. Polly picked through the candy bars and handed him a bag of M&Ms. "Can you open these too, please?"
Jason ripped the top, spilled a few on the table and placed the bag beside them. Polly ate them, took a drink of the soda and sighed.
"Ahhh," she said. "I'm going to heal right up now. I promise. Thank you guys."
"Sarah is planning to go home tomorrow," Sylvie said. "Evelyn is working it out to be with her."
"We'll just call Sycamore House 'Invalid Central,'" Polly said. "I'm supposed to go home tomorrow too if everything works out."
"Really?" Andrew asked. "Can we still come upstairs and play games after school?"
She gave him a look. "Of course you can. I want my life to get back to normal. That includes you running around my apartment after school."
"I'm glad. I didn't want to have to sit downstairs all afternoon while Mom works."
"Are you busy this week, Sylvie?" Polly asked.
"A little. I have two afternoon meetings. One with a bride and one with a very organized woman who is planning her Christmas party." Sylvie waved her hand at Jason to get him up and out
of the chair. "You two go do something. Take your game and book and sit in the main lobby. I'll be down in a while."
The boys didn't seem to fully understand why they were leaving, but Sylvie had spent a lifetime training them to do what she asked, so they left.
"What's up?" Polly asked.
Sylvie stood up and checked the door, waited a moment and came back to sit by the bed.
"Okay, really. What's going on?"
"He kissed me," Sylvie whispered.
"He what? Who what? Who kissed you?"
"Shh. Be quiet. Don't say it out loud." Sylvie voice grew even quieter. "Eliseo. He kissed me."
Polly let out a little squeal. Just a little one that barely carried past the bed. "He kissed you? When? How did it happen? Why aren't you squealing yourself?"
"Because it was just one kiss and it freaked both of us out. We didn't talk about it or anything after it happened."
"So, a man kissed you and both of you are ignoring that it happened," Polly said in her regular tone of voice.
"Shh. Please. Not so loud. I don't want the boys to know."
"Okay, no one knows but you, me and Eliseo. Tell me how it happened."
"We were downstairs in the kitchen after Henry called me about you. I was washing pans in the sink and I just started crying. It felt like everything was coming apart. First I had it out with Anthony and it was Jason's first day back at school and then you were nearly killed."
"Yee haw. A crying woman does it every time. What happened?"
"I thought I was out there all alone. The boys were in their rooms upstairs, supposedly working on homework."
Polly didn't want to interrupt her, but the fact that the rooms now belonged to her boys was a big deal. She stayed quiet, a wicked glint in her eyes.
"Anyway, Eliseo totally snuck up on me. He put his hand on my back and I jumped and nearly knocked him over. He grabbed me so that we both didn't fall and then, he just kissed me. Right there in the kitchen."
"What did you do? Did you kiss him back?"
"Well, I, uh," Sylvie dropped her head. "Of course I did. I haven't had a man kiss me in a long time."
"What was it like?"
"Do you mean because of the scars? Those were interesting, but it was okay."
"No. I meant, what did you feel? Was it more than just a kiss?"
Through the Storm (Bellingwood Book 8) Page 21