"I'll do it." He scowled at her. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why do I have to be the one to talk to her? She should apologize to me."
"Yes, she should, but she's mad because she didn't get chosen for the small group and you did. Katie isn't thinking straight."
"Well, I'm mad because she wrote a mean thing in my notebook."
"Are you thinking straight?"
He looked down. "Yeah."
"Then you get to take responsibility for the conversation."
"It's not fair."
"You're absolutely right."
Elijah looked at her, confused.
"I agree. It isn't fair, but life rarely is. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it stinks." Polly looked around the room. "Is it fair that I have two sons who can't clean their room, even though they agree it's their responsibility?"
"I hate cleaning my room."
She picked up a dirty t-shirt and flung it at him. "That's obvious. I hate your dirty room."
"But you love me, right?"
Polly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him up and out of his chair. He was getting too big for her to hold like she had when he first arrived, but Elijah craved any attention she or Henry offered. They sat down together on his bed and she held him close. "I love you so much, Elijah Sturtz. You are creative and smart. You have a heart that feels things passionately and you love with every ounce of your being. I am proud of you and excited to see what you do with your life. But even if none of that were true, I would still love you. Do you really wonder whether or not I love you?"
He leaned on her shoulder. "Not really. You say it all the time. You're like a broken record."
Polly chuckled. "Do you even know what a broken record sounds like?"
He tipped his head up to frown at her. "What's a broken record sound like?"
"Where did you come up with the phrase?"
"People say it all the time. I don't even know what it is."
"When I was a little girl, we played music on round vinyl discs. They were called records."
"I know about vinyl records," he said with disdain. "I'm not dumb."
"Vinyl records were easily scratched. Sometimes when the needle on the record player came to a scratch in the record, it couldn't keep going, so it played a little piece of the music over and over and over and over and over until someone moved the needle."
"Oh. You are like a broken record, then."
"Look at you learning old lady terms," she said with a laugh.
"You aren't old."
Polly hugged him tight. "That's why you're my favorite."
Elijah pulled back. "I am?"
"No, honey," Polly said, tugging him back into a hug. "I was joking. But you are one of my favorites."
"Let me guess. You have nine favorites."
"I have a lot more than that, but you are my favorite Elijah. Do you want to play with Caleb and JaRon or would you like to help me in the kitchen?"
He breathed in and out a few times. "Those aren't good choices."
"Awesome. Kitchen it is."
CHAPTER THREE
"Everybody, come quick. She's home! Rebecca’s here!"
Polly grinned as children exploded out of every nook and cranny into the kitchen. Dogs barked, Cassidy squealed, Elijah jumped up and down, Caleb and JaRon pushed to be in front. They would miss Rebecca when she left for college. Everyone was going to miss that girl. Polly pushed the thought out of her head. That was two years away. Not today.
Agnes took the onion out of Polly's hand. "I'll chop. You hug."
"It's okay," Polly said, taking it back. "The kids get the first hugs."
Rebecca came in, smiling. "I always get such a nice welcome when I walk in the door." She dropped her bags on the porch and stood in place as the youngest three converged on her. "Where's Noah?"
"He's out at Mrs. Johnson's helping move horses and clean the barn," Elijah said, standing back. He turned to Polly. "Is he coming home for dinner?"
"He should be here any minute," Polly said. "As should everyone else. How was the drive?"
Rebecca stood back up from hugging Caleb, JaRon, and Cassidy. She stepped into the room and pulled Elijah in front of her, wrapping her arms around him. He beamed. "It was a little windy, but we were fine. Beryl is great as a passenger. She pays attention to everything. I can tell you about every single black cow between here and Grimes. I told her I was going to pull over and give her a talking-to if she started counting them. How was everybody's day?"
"I found a girl on the ground," Caleb said.
JaRon swatted at him. "I was there, too."
"A girl?"
"She was all bloody and I thought she was dead."
Rebecca frowned at Polly.
"Not dead," Polly said. "She’s in the hospital in Boone. I don't have any more information. The boys found her outside the side door by my office."
"No way." Rebecca walked Elijah to the island and released him, turning back to Caleb and JaRon. "Were you scared?"
"He screamed," Caleb said, pointing to his brother.
She nodded. "I might have screamed too. Just a sec." Rebecca went back out to the porch, opened her bag, and pulled out a small brown paper sack. "I have presents."
The kids clapped their hands and surrounded her again, Elijah still holding back. It killed Polly to see him growing up like this. She loved his joyous childlike spirit.
"Beryl and I met a woodcarver and I bought toys for you." She handed a dump truck to JaRon and a wooden train to Caleb. Then she pulled out a small wooden doll. "This is for you, Cassidy. See how the arms move?"
Cassidy looked at her sister in awe.
"The legs don't move, but you can still have fun with her." Rebecca pressed the doll into Cassidy's hands and then rubbed her shoulder as the little girl sat down on the floor with it.
"He had an amazing carved little piano," Rebecca said to Elijah. "I know it's not a toy, but it made me think of you and I wanted you to have it."
When she put it onto the island, he stood in front of it, staring. Then he threw his arms around her. Rebecca hugged him, but Polly realized he was sobbing in his sister's arms.
"Kids, take your toys into the foyer. We're nearly ready with dinner, but you have a few minutes to play."
Agnes herded the three youngest out of the kitchen and into the foyer with their toys.
"What's wrong, Elijah?" Rebecca asked quietly.
"I missed you."
"I missed you, too. I always do. Did something happen at school today?"
He shrugged.
"Do you want to tell her?" Polly asked.
Elijah backed out of the hug and wiped tears from his eyes. "It's nothing. No big deal."
"It must be a big deal," Rebecca said. "Tell me."
"You know Katie Robinson?"
Rebecca nodded. "Yeah, her sister, Amy, is in my class. We're kind of friends. What happened?"
Elijah choked back more tears. "She wrote something really mean to me in my notebook."
"Mean, what did she write?"
He leaned forward and whispered it into her ear. Rebecca's eyes shot up as she looked at Polly. "That doesn't sound like something the Robinsons would say. I know Amy and I've met her parents. They're nice people. Amy has friends who are black and another who is Chinese. I mean, really good friends. Why would Katie think that was okay? Are you going to talk to her parents? That's just not right. They'd flip out if they knew she wrote that."
Elijah tugged at Rebecca. "No. I asked her not to."
"But Katie needs to know that's wrong."
"I'm going to talk to her."
Rebecca lifted her eyebrows. "You are? That's like way above and beyond. Are you sure?"
"I have to," he said.
Dogs barked and raced to the porch, interrupting the conversation. The back door opened and Heath and Henry came inside.
"There's the world traveler," Henry said. "Sorry we're so late tonight."
"Still waiting on Noah, Cat, and
Hayden," Polly said. "Everyone will be here soon."
The foyer door burst open. Caleb and JaRon rushed in. "Look what Rebecca gave us," Caleb said, holding up his train.
"She's a good sister," Henry said. He handed his jacket to Heath, who took it back out to the porch. "How can we help you get dinner on?"
"Agnes is here." Polly nodded toward the foyer. "She did a lot of this. We're having chili and homemade rolls."
"That sounds great. Boys, are you washed up?" Henry put his hand on Elijah's shoulder, then stopped in front of the carved piano. "Did she bring this for you?"
Elijah gently picked it up, cradling it in his hands. "Isn't it beautiful?"
"That's nice work. Heath, did you see this?"
Heath peered at the piece in Elijah's hands, only taking it from the boy when Elijah held it out. "I wish I could do this kind of work. Maybe someday I'll learn how. That's something to treasure."
"Can I put this in a safe place?" Elijah asked Polly. "I don't want it to break in my room."
"Maybe you and Heath could find a shelf in the library where it will be safe," she said. "Everyone needs to wash their hands before dinner."
"How much time do I have?" Henry asked.
"Maybe fifteen minutes. I've heard from Cat and Hayden. They're on their way back from Ames. Eliseo called and said he'd have Noah here on time."
He strode over and pulled her in for a kiss. "How was your day?"
"Interesting."
That stopped him. "You don't mean …"
"No, not that. Close, but not quite. I'll tell you later. It's a story."
Henry washed his hands in the sink. "Let me help you. I can cut the onion. You are cutting it, right?"
She realized she was still holding the onion that Agnes had tried to take from her earlier. "Dicing it. Sure. Everything else is in the dining room. Spaghetti and rolls are in the warmer. We're nearly ready. I'm going to swap some laundry around."
Polly walked out to the back porch and picked up Rebecca's bag. There was no reason for her to haul it upstairs and empty the dirty clothes onto her floor until she got desperate enough to bring them back down to wash.
"I didn't bring anything for you or Henry," Rebecca said, following Polly to the washing machine.
"You know that's fine," Polly said. "We want you to have the experiences. Was the drive with Beryl really okay? You weren't afraid in Des Moines traffic?"
"Traffic was nothing," Rebecca said. "It doesn't take that long to get to the highway and drive up here. Beryl is great. She says she feels guilty that I have to drive since I'm so young, but Polly, I drive all the time. And you guys totally showed me how to do that trip. I'd rather drive than have her all over the road."
"Me too," Polly said. She pulled clothing out of the bag, sorting as she went. When her hand landed on something soft and fuzzy, she frowned, then pulled it out.
Rebecca's eyes grew wide and she tried to grab it away from Polly.
"What's this?"
"It's nothing. Just a joke with me and Beryl."
Polly shook it out. "It's a wig. What in the world are you doing with a wig?"
"It's really nothing. I swear."
"If it's nothing, why is it in here?"
Rebecca dropped her head, shaking it. "I'm so dumb. I always give these back to Beryl before I come home. We totally forgot about it this time."
"What do you mean, always? You wear a wig every time you go on a trip with Beryl? Why? Do I need to be worried?"
"You won’t believe it if I tell you."
"Try me."
"It's kind of a thing we do. We've done it on every trip."
"What kind of a thing do you do?" Polly reached up to put the wig on Rebecca's head, only to have her hands batted away.
"Beryl is going to kill me. It was just something that was between her and me. Something silly."
"You have to tell me what it is that you two do or I'm going to make you wear this in front of everyone. You know how much teasing that will bring."
"Whatever," Rebecca said. She grabbed the wig and jammed it into her bag. "One night on every trip, we both put on wigs and dress up. Then we go out as different characters, depending on the wigs we take."
"Different characters?"
"My favorite is Delilah Strongheart and her maiden aunt, Matilda." Rebecca's voice dropped several pitches and she drew out her words in a thick southern drawl. "We come from a long line of southern women and Miss Matilda is escorting Delilah on a world tour before the family money runs out. Poor Delilah is on the run from an immense list of suitors who are only after her for her dowry, not knowing of course, that she's spending it on this trip around the world."
"Oh, my word," Polly said, laughing until she snorted.
"Another one is this short red wig for me and a jet-black long-haired wig for Beryl. She's an heiress. Potatoes, you know. The one staple that no one can do without. I'm her secretary. My parents have eighteen children. I was the middle child, so they gave me up to Mrs. Kartoffel, that's German for potato, by the way, at a very young age. I was raised in her household and trained to be at her beck and call."
"Where did you get these wigs?"
Rebecca blinked. "Beryl has a whole closet full of them. She loves wigs."
"She does not."
"Yeah. She does. We've only just begun to dig into her stash."
"I’ve never heard about these wigs. Lydia and Andy never said anything."
"They don't know. She says it's her secret obsession and I'm the only person she's ever told. And now you know and she's going to kill me. You have to promise me that you'll never say anything."
"I don't know."
"Come on," Rebecca whined.
The door opened again and Noah came in.
"Whoa," Polly said. "You stink."
"Yeah, it was a dirty job. Sorry. Am I late?"
"Not late enough that you can't take a shower first. You aren't coming to dinner smelling like that. Strip right here and then run upstairs."
"Right here?" he asked, shocked.
"Rebecca is leaving. Think of it as wearing your swimsuit. I'll run your clothes in this next load."
He stood in the doorway, staring at Rebecca.
"Fine. I'll leave. Maybe I won't give you your present."
"Yes, she will," Polly said. "She’s going to help Henry get everything on the table and you're going to take all of your clothes off right now. Then you will take the fastest shower you've ever taken and come down to dinner all fresh and clean."
"Can't I take my clothes off upstairs?"
"Wasting time, my son. Wasting time." Polly reached into the freshly laundered basket of clothes and pulled out one of Henry's t-shirts. "You can wear this to go upstairs."
~~~
Rebecca, Cat, Polly, Hayden, and Heath were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Caleb was practicing on the grand piano in the living room and JaRon was in the library. Noah was playing his saxophone in the basement, and Elijah was supposed to be in his room finishing homework. Henry had taken Agnes home after she'd helped Cassidy get ready for bed. Some evenings, the little girl had the hardest time letting her friend go. Since Agnes was there three or four evenings a week, Cassidy knew she’d be back, but it was still difficult.
"Oh, I didn't tell you," Rebecca said. She handed a stack of plates to Heath, who lifted them up into the cupboard. "Jason and Mel broke up."
"No way," Heath said. "Jason was in that relationship for good. He talked about marrying her."
Polly blinked. "He talked about marriage?"
"Well, not like, right now, or even soon. But someday. I figured they'd always be together."
"Kind of like you and Ella?" Hayden asked his brother.
"Whatever. At least we're dating for a long time before we make any decisions. Not like you guys. You meet her, you marry her, then you get her pregnant. Talk about putting a ball and chain on the girl."
Polly chuckled. She loved having her family around. "What ha
ppened with Mel?"
Rebecca stood with her hand in the dishwasher. "It just happened this weekend. Andrew says he mopes around when he's home. But he's hardly ever there, so Andrew hasn't had time to ask questions. I'll bet she met someone at college. Some guy who is interested in all of her college things and decided to eliminate the competition."
"Don't make assumptions," Polly said. "Maybe Jason did something. Maybe he found someone else."
"Hah. Like that would happen. He's so chicken. He and Mel never really started dating, they just kind of kept going out when their friends left Bellingwood. It wasn't like he stepped up and told her that he thought they should be boyfriend-girlfriend or anything."
"Did Andrew say that to you?" Heath asked.
Rebecca snapped a towel at him. "It's okay if the girl takes the reins sometimes."
"I didn't say any different. I wouldn't even dare imply anything different," he protested. "At least not in this room." He pointed at Polly. "Mom," then at Cat, "pregnant sister-in-law," then at Rebecca, "kick-ass sister. Girls in my life are kind of strong and independent."
"Even if I'm barefoot and pregnant?" Cat heaved a sigh and sat on a stool.
"You're only barefoot because you want a foot rub," Hayden said. He tossed his dishtowel at Rebecca and sat down. "Come on, put 'em up here."
"So whipped," Heath said with a shake of his head. He bumped Hayden as he walked past. "I need to get some work done. When Caleb's done practicing, tell him to come find me. I found a new book for him."
"Yeah?" Polly asked.
"Kinda cool. It's about dangerous boys. Teaches them how to do things like tie knots and make paper airplanes."
She nodded. "Fun."
"JaRon can read it with us. I'll be upstairs."
She watched Heath leave the room and then turned back to the kitchen. Hayden was rubbing Cat's right foot as she leaned against the island, her eyes closed.
"They're disgusting," Rebecca said.
Cat opened one eye. "Be quiet. Someday this will be you."
"Not for a long, long time. I'm going to the office, if that's okay. I need to check my email and see if there's anything I have to worry about for tomorrow. Andrew said I could handle it, but he believes I can do anything."
An Offering of Hope Page 3