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Authors: Diane Greenwood Muir

One Perfect Honeymoon (Bellingwood) (6 page)

BOOK: One Perfect Honeymoon (Bellingwood)
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Polly chuckled. "You should have been a politician."

"I'll leave that to my husband. Let me know what you decide to do, though. Okay?"

"Okay. I love you. I'll talk to you later."

"I love you too."

Polly put the phone down on the bed and rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the rapidly building headache.

"Are we heading out?" Henry asked.

"I still don't have a good answer."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER TEN

 

Polly woke back up to a sloppy lick on her face. She tried to move and found that it hurt too much. She'd fallen asleep sitting up, leaning on Henry. "Oh that's going to hurt all day," she said.

"What?" he asked, coming awake.

"We fell asleep."

"It's the puppies' fault. They were warm and cuddly."

Polly chuckled. "We need to decide what we're doing today. I'm completely at a loss. Do we head back to Bellingwood or stay here and try to enjoy the rest of our vacation?"

Henry sat forward and turned to look at her. The two puppies who had been snuggled up against him, bounced awake and gave him a look.

"How much would you be able to enjoy this, knowing all that you know?"

"Well, I'd enjoy being with you. And I love seeing the beauty around us. It's really amazing."

"I know, but your heart isn't going to be in it and honestly, neither is mine."

"I feel like this is the second time I've screwed up our vacation. I'm so sorry."

"Stop it. You didn't have anything to do with that tornado that hit Bellingwood." He stopped and looked up at her. "Or did you? I thought your superpower was finding dead bodies, but maybe it's sabotaging vacations in crazy ways, too."

Polly swatted his arm.

"And you didn't have anything to do with Sarah getting sick. Rebecca needs us to be home, so we're going home."

She leaned across the puppies beside her and kissed him. "I love you. Thank you for making that decision easy for me. I didn't want to disappoint you."

"We really are in this together, Polly. Don't ever forget that."

"I know that, but you're so wonderful to me that I hate the possibility of messing things up."

He looked around the room. They had planned to stay in this room for three nights, so had unloaded everything from the back of the truck. Polly had hoped to find a laundromat in town and take her time repacking for the return trip. Everything was in chaos.

"Don't even say it," Polly said, sighing. "It's a mess. I'll pull out enough for tonight and jam the rest in the back of the truck. We'll deal with it once we get home."

"You're really okay with that?"

"I have to be. You go first. I'll feed the puppies and try to wrangle some kind of order out here."

 

~~~

 

Two hours later, they were headed north to Moab. They'd fed and pottied the puppies, re-packed the truck and even managed to find breakfast.

"I'd really like to at least drive through the Arches before we leave Utah," Polly said.

Henry smiled. "That's my girl. A little caffeine and some food and you're thinking again."

"They had Diet Dew!"

"You haven't been able to get much of that out here."

"I've been deprived. But I'm better now."

A sign for the Arches National Park led them off the highway and past waves of rock formations. A quick check of the map and Polly announced they were looking at the Petrified Dunes. Stopping at several points along the way to take pictures, they were also able to get close to some amazing rock formation.

At one point, Polly and Henry were standing in front of a wonderful formation that looked like an elephant when a car pulled in and parents got out with their child. Polly was prepared to be pleasant and smile at them until she heard the mother screaming at the youngster. It seemed that the argument had been going on for quite some time. The peace and beauty of the moment was completely destroyed by inept parents.

"I don't want little kids," Polly said.

"Especially not if they're like that."

She scowled. "Guessing it's not the kid's fault."

"Let's move on."

They passed the Garden of Eden and stopped at another overlook. The parking lot was completely empty. Polly jumped out to wander over to a rock formation when all of a sudden fifteen separate cars pulled in behind them. As people got out, it was obvious that no one knew anyone else. It had been a completely random stop for them all.

"We attract a crowd," Henry muttered.

"And look, more great parents."

This time, they couldn't understand the language the father was speaking as he attempted to cajole a three year old out of his car seat. The mother had taken off and was at least fifteen feet away from the vehicle, watching as the poor man tried everything in his power to handle the screaming toddler.

"That's just entertaining," Polly said.

"We might as well move on."

They drove in and around the park, stopping often in order to absorb yet one more gorgeous natural structure.

Polly breathed. "Would I ever get used to this if I lived out here? It's so overwhelming. I wish I had more time. I don't think I'm processing it all very well."

"I have a cousin who lives in Colorado and he got used to the mountains. But he says he'll never be able to live anywhere else, he'd miss them too much."

"I wouldn't want to get used to this."

"Do you suppose people would say the same things about flowing fields of corn in Iowa?"

She laughed out loud. "I doubt it, but you never know." This time Polly put her hand out on the console and waited for Henry to take it. "You know what? I miss my fields of black dirt and corn stubble."

"Me too." Henry pointed at a sign for bighorn sheep crossing. "I wonder how long we'd have to sit here and wait to see them."

"I haven't seen any wildlife on this trip. That seems weird. Signs kept telling us to watch for it and ... nothing. I see more wildlife in my back yard."

"Then it's time for us to go home."

They drove back into Moab after leaving the park. It was mid-afternoon and Henry asked, "Do you want something to eat before we head out?"

He stopped for sandwiches and Polly took out her phone. It was getting late in Iowa and she'd completely lost track of time. Her first call was to the hospital in Boone. The nurses on the floor recognized her right away and after a few minutes of conversation she was talking to Sandi, Sarah's nurse for the day. Sandi assured Polly that Sarah was getting the best care she could and that though she was critical right now, there was no need to believe that she was going to die.

Polly took a deep breath and dialed Sylvie's phone, hoping to talk to Rebecca.

"Hi there, Polly," Sylvie said. "Lydia says that the two of you talked this morning. Are you cutting your vacation short?"

"If it were Jason or Andrew, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would. I don't know why I should expect anything different from you. You're going to take such good care of that little girl. Where are you?"

"We're still in Moab, but we're heading home. I suspect we'll be in town tomorrow night at some point."

"Rebecca will be glad to see you. And so will your animals. I think Obiwan misses you a lot. He drags Andrew into the office every once in a while, looking for you."

"He's a good boy. Is Rebecca anywhere near so that I can talk to her?"

"She's upstairs with Jessie. Do you want me to go up?"

"Oh, it's later than I thought. What are you still doing at Sycamore House?"

"There's a family reunion tonight. Jessie is watching the kids."

"I'll just call her. Thanks, Sylvie."

"I love you, Polly. We'll see you tomorrow sometime."

Polly hung up and dialed Jessie's phone.

"Polly! How are you?" Jessie said.

"I'm doing okay. How are things there?"

"It's been a little weird. And it's really weird staying in this big place by myself at night. It was one thing with Rebecca here, but now it's so empty. Doug and Billy are bringing pizza down tonight, though. Sylvie said the reunion could go late, so we're watching movies."

"That sounds great. Can I talk to Rebecca?"

"Sure. Let me get her."

"Polly?" Rebecca sounded better this afternoon than she had earlier in the day.

"Hi honey. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Did you talk to Mom?"

"No, but I talked to her nurse. She said that your mom is really sick, but she's going to be okay. It might take a while, though."

Rebecca whispered into the phone, "She isn't going to die?"

"The nurse said no."

"I'd really like to go see her, but I don't know who will take me."

"Honey, I'm on my way home."

"Really? When will you get here?"

"I don't know that. We're going to drive until we're tired, then get a hotel room. Probably tomorrow night sometime."

"Really?" Rebecca started to cry. "You're coming home for me?"

"Oh, honey. Of course I am. I love you and so does Henry. You need us right now and we're going to get there as fast as we can."

"Nobody's ever done that before."

Polly smiled. "Yes they have, Rebecca. All the time. People love you like crazy. Your mom has gone out of her way for you. Remember when that woman kidnapped you? Everybody was doing whatever they could to help you. Sylvie is letting you sleep at her house, Lydia took you to Boone. You are very loved, sweetheart."

"I know," Rebecca said softly. "I love you too."

"Now, Jessie says you are having pizza and watching movies with Doug and Billy tonight. I want you to have fun and don't worry about anything, okay?"

"Okay."

"Do you have your homework done?"

"Polly!"

"I know, I know, but do you?"

"I did it at school today."

"Did you really?"

"Yes. I promise."

"Good. Then have fun tonight and hopefully I'll see you tomorrow and you can sleep in your own bed."

"Thank you for coming home."

"You're welcome. Now go have fun."

Henry had come back to the car with food and they sat quietly for a moment while eating. Then he picked up a scenic byway that would take them along the Colorado River as they left the region.

"This is a perfect way to leave Utah," Polly said.

"What do you mean?"

"This is incredible."

As he drove along the river, Polly felt inconsequential and small amid the towering canyon walls. The river was quiet and peaceful and it was all she could do to keep her eyes on everything around them. They made one last stop at Fisher Tower, a lone towering structure which showed up as the landscape was flattening out again, and then said goodbye to the Colorado River as Henry turned north to pick up I-70.

"The landscape is changing again," Polly said. "No more red rocks. We weren't there very long, but it feels like I'm losing something by leaving them behind. I am going to miss all of this grand beauty."

"We still have to get through the mountains."

"It's strange to think that we'll have gone from the depths of the Grand Canyon to the heights of the Rocky Mountains in such a short time. I'm glad we did this, even if we are heading home early."

"Hauling ass," he said, laughing.

"Where shall we plan to stay tonight?" Polly asked.

"You've been so great at planning everything else, let's just stop when we're tired."

She put her phone back in her lap and running her hand through her hair, smiled over at her husband. They were going home. Everything would be fine once she got there.

BOOK: One Perfect Honeymoon (Bellingwood)
10.13Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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