"I know you would have made a big deal out of tonight, but that wasn't what I wanted," Jon continued. "I just wanted you to be part of it. Chloe and I understand you probably won't make it to Boston for the wedding."
When Polly started to protest, he put his hand up to stop her. "No, I get it. We both get it. As much as we'd love to have you, weddings are parties where you get very little time to spend with the people you care about. If you come to Boston, we want to spend time with you, not be caught up in festivities bigger than all of us. This meant something to me tonight. I need you to know that. I want Chloe and my new family, whatever it looks like, to be as comfortable with your family as they are with Drea, Mama, and Ray."
She leaned into him and he put his arms around her. "I always wanted a brother or sister. Thank you for including us. The kids will never forget it and they are now head-over-heels in love with Chloe. That was such a gift for them. She's good for you and this is the beginning of something extraordinary for your family. All of us."
"Okay, now we're gonna get sappy. I just wanted to talk to you before the plans are made and you try to break away from your life here for a crazy weekend in Boston. We'll be back and forth. One of these days, we might even get Drea to join us for a trip."
"I would love that."
They walked through the foyer and he looked up at the staircase. "Though I would certainly love to see Chloe come down those steps dressed in all her wedding finery." He laughed. "Mama won't travel. She'll run after a stupid dog, but she won't get on an airplane."
"You could come out and do engagement or post-wedding photos here. We have some fine photographers in the region."
His eyebrows went up. "That's an amazing idea. I'll talk to Chloe. And oh, Mama would love that. Thank you."
Chloe and Ray, Agnes, Henry, and Rebecca were sitting at the island in the kitchen.
"What were you two cooking up?" Henry asked.
Jon grinned. "Chloe, have I got a fun idea for you."
"Yeah? What this time?"
"We'll talk."
"I'll pick you up in the morning for the shower," Polly said to Chloe. "I'm so glad you and Jon shared this evening with our family."
"Our family," Ray said. "I’m so glad your kids were up to the challenge. Chloe, you're a good sport."
"It was the sweetest thing in the world. All those adorable faces waiting for me to say yes?" She waggled her eyebrows at Jon. "Good thing I wanted to say yes."
"There was a moment I thought I'd been a complete idiot. I've never done this before, you know."
She reached out and took his hand. "I'm thankful you waited for me to be your first proposal."
"Me too." Jon waited for her to stand up. "We should get some sleep. Sounds like tomorrow will be a busy day."
"What are you boys doing?"
"We plan to overwhelm Nate at his garage," Henry said. "Take the boys out with us and see what trouble they can create."
"Call him tonight," Polly said. "If Joss is around, her kids might like having friends play in the house."
"Noah wants to go to the barn with Eliseo. Can you take him with you?"
"We'll have to talk. I have Rebecca, Agnes, Chloe, and me."
"I'll take my car," Rebecca said. "I was going to pick up Kayla."
"We'll work it out. The day sounds fun so far." Polly walked with Jon, Ray, and Chloe to the back door. "Thank you for everything tonight. My family went to bed with a bigger sense of the world and how they're connected to it."
She closed the door behind them and stopped for her jacket before going back into the kitchen. "Henry, you wanna keep an eye on things here? I'll take Agnes home."
"Can I come?" Rebecca asked. "I checked on Lexi. She's out for the night."
"Sure. Let me get your coat, Agnes."
The older woman yawned. "Time for this old bat to get some sleep."
Henry chuckled, took her coat from Polly's hands, and held it as Agnes put it on.
"You are a good man, Henry Sturtz. No matter what they say about you."
"I love you too, ya old bat."
She grinned at him. "Polly, you married the perfect man. Don't you let him go anywhere."
"I'd chase him," Polly said. She took Agnes's arm as they walked through to the back door.
Agnes was quiet all the way home. Even Rebecca sat quietly in the back seat. When Polly pulled up to Agnes's house, Rebecca got out and held the door open for Agnes.
"Let me walk you to your front door," Rebecca said.
"Are you afraid I'll fall on my damned ass?"
Rebecca laughed. "No, but it's late and I want you to be safe."
"So, now you're worried about an attack on my person?"
"That's exactly right," Rebecca said. "We'll fend them off together." She bent over and smiled at Polly. "I'll be right back."
Polly yawned, thankful that Rebecca was still young and such a night owl. Polly used to be just like that, but having to get her family up and moving in the morning was enough to force anyone to change their body clock.
Rebecca danced back to the car and sat down in the passenger seat. She held out a ten-dollar bill. "I tried to protest, but she said I had been so helpful tonight, she thought I deserved it."
"That's great," Polly said. "She doesn't have anyone else to spend money on. When Cassidy gets older, I’ll probably have to talk to Agnes about spoiling her, but I'll let her spoil you." She drove down the street to the road that passed in front of Sycamore House going north. When she heard lights and sirens coming up from the south, she stayed where she was, not wanting to get in front of that.
"I wonder what happened," Rebecca mused.
They watched as an ambulance and two other emergency vehicles raced past. They hesitated at the highway and shot across, sirens still wailing.
"Follow them," Rebecca said.
"I'm not going to do that."
"Why not? Come on. You've done it before."
Polly shook her head. "I was younger then."
"Go on. Follow them."
"This is ridiculous." But Polly turned and followed the last emergency vehicle, and after she let two cars cross in front of her on the highway, she hurried across. Then she frowned. They’d turned into the downtown area.
"I wonder what's going on?"
"Maybe someone had a heart attack at one of the restaurants." Polly drove slowly up to Washington Street and peered down the street. Police and emergency vehicles were parked in front of Joe's Diner. Either that or in front of Jeff and Adam's building. Polly kind of thought of it as hers, too, since one of these days she would end up owning another business in there.
They hadn't blocked the street off yet and if nothing else, she could turn north on Maple, so she headed that way. Rebecca sat up in her seat, craning her neck to see around the vehicles on the scene.
"Oh no," she cried.
"What?" Polly had been paying attention to traffic and pedestrians. "What happened?"
"I think that's Libby's car. It crashed into the old printshop."
"Jeff's building? Libby? What is going on?"
"Oh, Polly. She's been drinking and doing all sorts of stupid stuff this year. I just can't stand being around her because she’s so messed up. And that's her car. You can tell because it has rust and yellow paint on the back panel. Here. Stop here. There's a parking place."
Polly pulled into the parking spot that Rebecca pointed at and the two of them jumped out of the car and rushed down the sidewalk.
"She can't be dead, she can't be dead," Rebecca intoned as she pulled Polly along. "Please let her be alive."
No one was paying attention to the people gathered around since everyone was inside desperately trying to get to the driver. The car had crashed through the front door of the building. Polly knew right where it had come to a stop — colliding with a heavy solid counter bolted to the floor. When she and Henry had discussed how they might renovate the main level so it would be more usable, he'd measured and took notes on ev
erything that was in place structurally.
She saw Jeff and Adam and pushed her way through to get to them, both men intent on the activity in their lower level. They hadn't been in this building long and she had no idea how Jeff was going to react to this one.
"Jeff?" she asked quietly.
He jumped and then blinked when he saw her. "Why are you here? Is someone dead?"
Adam put his arm around Jeff's shoulder. "No one's dead. Isn't this bad enough?"
"But Polly's here. Why is she here?"
"Because I followed the emergency vehicles. This car belongs to Rebecca's friend, Libby."
Jeff frowned. "Libby? Isn’t that Mary Francis's daughter?"
"Yes," Polly said. She'd lost track of Rebecca after spotting Jeff and Adam. "What happened?"
Jeff fluttered his hands in the air. "We were watching television and heard a horrible crash. Adam went to look out the window and realized it was our building. Is this place cursed or what?"
"Stop it," Adam said. "Just stop it. This isn't about you."
Polly lifted her eyebrows. Evidently, he'd had enough of Jeff's over-dramatic behavior.
"It's my building."
"And this little girl is the daughter of one of your employees. A building can be fixed. We need to be more concerned with her."
Jeff closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Sorry," he muttered.
"I know you're scared and worried," Adam said, hooking his arm into Jeff's. He looked at Polly. "I heard someone tell the police that she was careening down the street. If you look over there," he pointed at cars parked in front of the diner, "you can tell that she hit a couple of those cars first. Something spun her and aimed her right at us. I guess I'm glad this was where she finally landed rather than hurting anyone else."
Jeff opened his mouth to speak and Adam glared at him. "We can take care of this. As long as everyone is alive, we can handle this."
As they watched, two paramedics wheeled a gurney out from the wreckage of the building. Rebecca had somehow made it to the other side of the crowd and rushed in toward them. "Libby?" She walked alongside the gurney as they wheeled it toward the ambulance. "Libby. You're alive. You have to be okay. We need you to be okay. I'm sorry that you're hurt. If you need something from me, don't be afraid to ask." Rebecca took the girl's hand, then released her as the paramedics put the gurney into the waiting vehicle.
She crossed over to Polly. "She's so drunk. You can smell it all over her. I talked to Shanna and Mitch. Libby was at a party at Lyss Dawson's house. She got way drunk and then she tried to hit on Mitch's brother, Jordan. His girlfriend got all fired up about it and kicked Libby out. She shouldn't have been driving. Mitch was going to make sure someone else drove her home until everything exploded."
"How bad is it?" Adam asked.
"They said something about internal bleeding. Like cracked ribs and stuff. Her face is a mess and I think she broke at least one arm. Who's going to tell her mom?"
Bert Bradford and Ken Wallers stood in front of the building, talking with the emergency responders. Ken looked up and around, then smiled when he caught Polly's eye. He nodded, put up his hand, and walked over to them. He put his hand out to Jeff, then to Adam. "Do you two have somewhere you can stay tonight?"
Jeff's face fell. "Is it dangerous to be upstairs?"
"We won't know for sure until we get someone here to check the structure, but there will be a lot of noise tonight as we remove the car. We'll board it up best we can, but it would be best if you weren't around."
Jeff turned to Polly. "Sycamore House upstairs?"
"Or the hotel," she said. "The beds are made and you don't have to even think about it. Let me call down and see what they have available. I'd invite you to my house, but I don't have any room."
She tugged her phone out of her pocket and swiped through to the hotel's phone number. There was just too much going on in Bellingwood these days.
"Sycamore Inn, how may I help you?" Nick Arthur, the night clerk, said.
"Hi, this is Polly. Do you have a room available? Maybe one of the big rooms? We'll need it for a couple of nights."
"We're full up, Polly. Every single room is taken. It's like this on Friday nights sometimes. I'm sorry. Is it an emergency?"
"We'll deal with it. No problem. Thanks." She hung up and looked at Jeff. "They're full." Her eyes lit up. "Let me call Judy Greene. The B&B is empty this weekend, right?"
Adam grinned. "We could test it out. Make sure it's perfect for your guests."
"I hate to make her do any extra work, though," Jeff said.
"She'd feel bad if you didn't ask," Polly said. "Let me make the call." She swiped through her numbers again and landed on Judy's cell phone.
"Polly? Is everything okay?"
"I know it’s late, Judy," Polly said. "We need a room."
"A room? What about keeping the B&B empty for the open house?"
"It's Jeff and Adam." Polly realized that Judy and Mary knew each other well. She needed to measure her next words.
"What happened?"
Polly moved to stand between Adam and the building. She didn't want to talk about this in front of a bunch of people. "Judy, Mary Francis's daughter, Libby, just ran her car into the front of Jeff’s building. Chief Wallers recommends that they stay somewhere else tonight. Maybe for a couple of nights."
"Oh, poor Mary," Judy said. "Poor Jeff. I'll be ready for them." Then she sighed. "I'm glad we have most everything finished here. Mary would worry about being with her daughter and helping me tomorrow. At least she can take the time she needs to be with Libby. But her other children will need someone. Has anyone called her yet? I should offer to go to her house and watch the little ones."
"They just took Libby off in the ambulance. I'm sure Chief Wallers will notify Mary, but I'll tell him you're on board to help with the kids. I can help, too."
"You have enough going on," Judy said. "I know you just brought that young woman to your home, and I hear your friends from Boston are in town. Mary's my employee. Reuben and I will make sure she has support. I can call Sandy tomorrow, too. She's set up for kids."
Polly had known Judy’s sister, Sandy Morrison, and her husband, Bob, for several years. They were involved with the host program that Henry's friend, Roy Dunston, from Chicago had organized in Bellingwood. They were good people and had a nice size farm outside of town.
"Thank you, Judy."
"Send the boys out. We'll take care of them."
"The boys? Jeff and Adam?"
"They're the same age as my kids. They're boys," Judy said with a chuckle. "I hope to see you tomorrow morning at the baby shower unless the world gets topsy turvy. Good night, sweetie."
"Good night, Judy."
Ken Wallers was still talking to Jeff and Adam about what had happened.
"Who's talking to Mary Francis tonight?" Polly asked him.
"I'm about to head over there."
"Judy Greene offered to take care of her other kids if she goes down to the hospital."
"I want to go, too," Rebecca said. "I should be there."
Polly nodded. "And Jeff. You and Adam should plan on staying at the B&B as long as necessary. Judy says you're just like her kids and they'll take good care of you."
Adam rolled his eyes. "About the time we think we're all grown up, we find more adults who want us to be kids again." He grinned. "Thanks, Polly. Chief, do you need us to stick around?"
"No, you're free to go. Make sure you lock the doors up to your apartment. We'll button this up as well as we can, but I always worry."
"We'll do that. We can go upstairs and pack a few bags, though, can't we? And get the dog?"
"Absolutely. Thank you."
Ken nodded at Polly and walked back over to Bert Bradford.
"Can we please go down to the hospital?" Rebecca pleaded. "Mrs. Francis will need someone there. She's so fragile. You know that."
Polly rubbed her forehead. She was exhausted and the weekend didn't
look as if it were going to slow down any time soon. "Honey, we can't do everything for everyone. Lexi needs us at home. How would she feel if she woke up now? She hasn't met anyone else in our family."
"Then, let me go. I can sit with Mrs. Francis tonight and you can be there for Lexi."
"It's too late, Rebecca. I'm not going to let you drive to Boone by yourself and spend the night in the hospital."
"But who else is there? I have to go. You know I'm right."
"Cat needs you to be at her shower in the morning."
"I can do it. That's no problem. What if I call Kayla? Maybe Stephanie will let her go with me."
"Let's go home and talk about this," Polly said. "It's going to take time for Chief Wallers to even get to Mary's house. I love that you care so much and want to help, but honey, sometimes we have to know our limits."
They walked back to the car and Rebecca dropped into the passenger seat. "You never admit to having limits. Why should I? You know Mary Francis. She can't handle this by herself and there is literally nobody else who will be there."
Polly sighed. She was at a loss. Rebecca was right, but that didn't change anything. Henry would never agree to letting her go out this late by herself. Polly didn't want her to go either.
"Let's just get home. I can't think about it right now."
"You have to." Rebecca put her hands up. "I'm sorry. I know I'm being unreasonable. It's just that we both know how badly this is going to go."
"I love you, Rebecca." Polly reached over and took Rebecca's hand. "I know that you've learned a lot of this behavior from me, but that doesn't make it any easier for me to say yes."
An Offering of Hope Page 18