Diane Greenwood Muir - Bellingwood 06 - A Season of Change (18 page)

Rebecca gently placed the large round candle in her mother’s hands.

“This is beautiful, Rebecca. Thank you, but I think they’re sending me home on Monday.”

“Really!” Polly said. “Then this is the perfect time to talk to you about something.”

“What’s that?” Sarah asked.

Rebecca sat back on the bed and took her mother’s hand. “You have to listen to her, Mom. And don’t say no, okay?”

“That depends.”

“Just listen.”

Polly started. “I would like to invite you to stay at Sycamore House while you are dealing with this. You can’t do it alone and Rebecca can’t help you with everything that you need. We have an extra room on the main level of the addition and I can help Rebecca and bring you down for doctor’s appointments and make sure that Rebecca gets to school every day.”

The woman slumped back into her pillow.

“Mom? What do you think?”

“Rebecca, could you go out to the nurse’s station and ask them to refill this with fresh ice water?” Sarah handed her daughter the mug. “And take your time. I need to talk to Polly.”

“I want to stay,” Rebecca protested.

“No. Go. It’s okay.”

Rebecca took the mug and slowly walked out of the room. When she cleared the door, Sarah took Polly’s hand.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this for us, but you must be some kind of angel. If I’m not working, I can’t afford rent and utilities. We were just barely making it as it was and I didn’t know what we were going to do. But this is a lot for you to take on. I barely know you and don’t know how to let you help me.”

“Look, Sarah,” Polly said. “Rebecca is a wonderful girl and you are a wonderful mother to her. She’s worried sick about you and neither one of you should have to do this on your own. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this last year, it’s how important it is to let other people in when you need help. I’ve been on the receiving end of that since I moved to Bellingwood. How can I not help you when you need it most?”

“How will I get all of our things out of that house?”

“You don’t need to worry about that either. I have plenty of friends and we’ll store everything at Sycamore House until you get back on your feet.”

Sadness replaced the relief on Sarah Heater’s face. When she looked at Polly again, her eyes were glistening with tears. “Polly, I don’t know if I’m going to get back on my feet. The doctors told me I have less than a year to live, even if I do chemotherapy.”

Polly’s heart sank. “You what?”

“We’re going ahead with treatment, but it doesn’t look good. If I don’t do the chemo, it could only be a couple more months and I want to be around as long as possible for Rebecca.”

“Sarah, I’m so sorry. We’ll do everything we can to make this next year good for you, then.” Everything inside Polly clenched up. She wasn’t sure if it was sorrow or fear or what.

“I’m sorry, too,” Sarah said quietly. “I feel awful for putting this on you, but I don’t have anyone else.”

“It’s okay. Sometimes friends show up when you need them the most.”

“I’ve never had a lot of friends.”

“Well, I hate to say it, but you’re about to have even more. My friends fill up my life and they might fill yours up, too.”

Sarah smiled. “That would be nice for Rebecca. We’ve moved around a lot and I’ve been bad about letting her make friends, knowing that I’ll have to yank her away from them. It’s mostly been just the two of us.”

Rebecca peeked around the door. “Can I come in now? I have your water.”

“Come on in, honey,” Sarah said. “Thank you.”

“Are you going to come to Sycamore House, mom?”

“I will.”

Rebecca put the mug down on the table and flung her arms around her mother. “I’m so glad! You’ll love it there. There is a dog and cats and horses and … oh Mom, you won’t believe what else happened this morning!”

“What’s that, dear?” Sarah smiled and listened with wide eyes while her daughter told her of the morning’s adventure with the animals in the barn.

“And I know I really want to be a veterinarian now. I watched Doctor Ogden fix Nat’s leg and it was so cool. He said I could watch him whenever he came over and he told me that if I wanted to visit the clinic, all I had to do was call.”

Sarah looked up at Polly. “She’s always loved animals, but we could never afford to have one in the house.” She turned to her daughter. “Do you help Polly with her animals?”

“I fed them this morning and I even made breakfast in her apartment. I can’t wait for you to get there so I can make breakfast for you again.”

“That will be very nice, Rebecca. I can’t wait to get there either.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Polly said. “This afternoon when we get back to Bellingwood, Rebecca and I will go over to the house and I will take a lot of pictures with my phone so that tomorrow you can tell me what things you’d like to have in your room. Then we can also decide what goes into storage.”

“Where am I going to sleep?” Rebecca asked. “Are there two beds there?”

“We can put another bed in for you, Rebecca.” Polly tried to decipher Sarah’s sad eyes. “But I think there will be nights when your mom is really tired and doesn’t feel very good because of the chemotherapy. When that happens, you can come up and stay in my apartment. How does that sound?”

“Good. Is that okay, mom?”

“That will be fine.”

“Can I help you put on your robe?” Rebecca asked.

Sarah looked down at the IV on her arm and said, “Let’s just put it on top of me.” She stroked the material, “This is really beautiful, Rebecca. You chose a very nice robe.”

Rebecca arranged the robe so that it was covering her mother and Polly took the candle. “Would you like us to put this in your new room?” she asked.

“Thank you, Polly.” Sarah’s eyes said more than the words she spoke
.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

“I’ll get the door, sweetie,” Polly said when they got out of the truck. She opened the door into the storage room at Sycamore House and found Andrew sitting at his desk. Rebecca’s arms were filled with bags of things she had collected from her room at home and Polly carried several more bags of items Rebecca was certain her mother would want.

“Guess what, Andrew?” Rebecca stopped at his desk and dropped her bags. “I’m moving into Sycamore House with my mom until she gets better!”

He looked up to Polly for confirmation and she nodded. “Mrs. Heater will live in a room in the addition. Rebecca will spend her time there or in my apartment. What do you think about that?”

“That’s going to be awesome,” he gushed. “We can do everything together.”

“You sure can,” Polly said. “Why don’t you help Rebecca carry her things upstairs while I take these over to her mom’s room?”

“Should we take Obiwan outside?” Andrew asked.

“That would be perfect. Thanks.” Polly went into the kitchen and found Sylvie, Hannah and Rachel all hard at work.

“Hi girls,” she said, slipping past Hannah, who was working at the prep table.

Sylvie pulled a pan of rolls out of the oven, set them on the counter and then dropped the hot pads beside them. She followed Polly to the other door.

“How are things going? I haven’t had a single free moment to talk to you this week.”

“It’s been a little insane around here.” Polly took a deep breath. “I’ve just asked Sarah Heater to move into one of the rooms in the addition.”

“Wow.” Sylvie’s eyes grew big. “What’s up with that?”

“She’s all alone and she’s dying, Sylvie. I couldn’t let her flounder. She needs help and Rebecca needs a safe place to live. I have the room and I can make the time to help them out.”

Sylvie reached over and took Polly’s forearm. “You have to be kidding me. This is totally insane.”

Polly scowled. “Are you going to give me trouble about this too?”

“Maybe a little bit. Have you given this much thought? That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“Henry and I nearly broke up because he tried to tell me I couldn’t do this. I have given it a lot of thought.” Polly put the bags down and crossed her arms. “Tell me what you would do in this situation, Sylvie Donovan.”

“I, uh.” Sylvie deflated. “I’d do the same thing. Girl, you wear me out. I don’t know where you get your unending energy, but just being around you exhausts me.”

Polly chuckled. She really needed her friends to be okay with this. She counted on them. “I get my energy because I have all of y’all around, backing me up and covering my tush when I get in over my head.” She chuckled again. “That was a lot of body part references, but you know what I mean. The only reason I can do all of this is because you’re here with Hannah and Rachel, and Jeff makes sure that the business is running smoothly. Eliseo takes care of my animal rescues and Lydia, Beryl and Andy take care of the people I encounter. You and Joss are my best friends and give me a little bit of sanity and Henry? Well, he loves me and reminds me that I’m still a girl who needs a safe place to land when it gets to be too much.”

“I can’t wait to be done with these classes so that I’m not running back and forth to Des Moines all the time. Sometimes I feel like I ask you to do too much for me, too. I love the way you watch over my boys.”

“Well, they’re part of my posse too, you know. Andrew drops everything to take care of Obiwan when I’m too busy and if Jason weren’t helping Eliseo, I don’t know what I’d do. I’m going to be the one who is in trouble when you’re done with school and they’re not here every afternoon.”

“Maybe I’ll let you keep them,” Sylvie winked. “I shouldn’t have questioned you, but this is going to be a lot of work.”

“I know and I’m going to get as many people involved as I can so that it doesn’t overwhelm me.”

“Just let me know what we can do to help.”

“Thanks.” Polly hugged Sylvie. “I have things to take to Sarah’s room. She’ll be here on Monday.”

She picked up the bags and started to walk away, but stopped when Sylvie said, “So how bad was that fight with Henry?”

Polly turned around and grinned, “He was in real trouble, but this time I didn’t yell at him. He was quicker to figure it out, too.”

“We’re all going to be glad when the two of you get married,” Sylvie laughed.

“Whatever.” Polly turned the corner and went out the side door and into the covered walkway that was part of the addition. She walked to the back room, set the bags down and opened the door. This room would be perfect. Light came in through the big windows which looked out on the sycamore trees in the back and the horse pen and pasture to the south. As soon as spring arrived, there would be a great deal of life happening outside those windows. Maybe she would put benches and a swing outside the back door so Sarah could soak up the afternoon sun.

Rachel had made up the bed, so things were as ready as they could be. Polly opened the bags of clothing and books that Rebecca had insisted her mom would want and put things into a dresser and arranged toiletries in the bathroom. The new candle went on the desk with a few books and Polly gathered up the empty bags. There was plenty of room here for a cot for Rebecca and some of her favorite things.

She sat down in the chair and pulled out her phone and called Henry.

“Hi, Polly, are you back in town?”

“I am. I miss you.”

He gave a small laugh. “I miss you, too. What are we going to do about that? You have a houseful of kids tonight.”

“And it’s not going to get any better. They’re releasing Sarah Heater on Monday.”

“We need to find time. I have some things I want to talk to you about.”

“Am I in trouble? Is this going to be a bad conversation?”

“I hope not,
” he said. “Do you think the kids could be alone tonight? If you came over to my house, I’d even cook for us.”

“That sounds wonderful. You know what? I should ask Doug and Billy if they could hang with the kids. Let me make a call. What time do you want me to come over?”

“You get here as soon as you can and we’ll go from there. If you showed up in fifteen minutes, I’d be fine with that.”

Polly laughed, “It will take me a little longer than that to settle my world down, but I’ll be there.”

“I’ll see you in a bit. I love you, Polly.”

“I love you too.”

She had promised him that they would talk about things, but hadn’t expected him to take the lead on this. Now to get everyone settled so she could escape.

The first stop was the kitchen and she pulled Sylvie aside. “Henry asked me to come over to his house for dinner tonight. I’m going to see if Doug and Billy can hang out with the kids. Are you okay with that?”

“Big date, huh?” Sylvie grinned and poked Polly’s side. “What’s he got planned?”

“I have no idea. He said we needed to talk.”

Sylvie’s face fell. “Good talk or bad talk?”

“I think good talk. He told me I wasn’t in trouble.”

“Whew. I hate it when people tell me we have to talk and don’t tell me why. But hey, if you don’t want to bother Doug and Billy, Jason can be in charge. I’m right down here if something happens.”

“If they’re busy, that will be fine, but I know the kids like spending time with them. I’ll be sure to let you know what’s happening before I leave.”

“Just send me a text. Have fun tonight!” Sylvie winked at her and Polly went on through and up the stairs to her apartment.

The television was on, even though the two kids were sitting at the dining room table with books and paper. Polly turned it off, “What are you two doing?” she asked.

“We were watching
Indiana Jones
and I told her about that vase you found last summer,” Andrew said. “We’re trying to draw those Egyptian symbols.”

Polly put her hand on his back as she looked
at their work. “You’re doing great. The two of you are perfect friends, aren’t you?”

“He’s my best friend,” Rebecca said, then she looked up at Polly. “You are too, and my mom …” her voice trailed off.

“Your mom will always be your very best friend, Rebecca,” Polly said.

They all glanced up when Jason came in the front door. He was dressed in jeans and cowboy boots, a green t-shirt hung loosely from his shoulders and a ball cap was pulled low over his face.

“Hats off inside, eh bud?” Polly said.

He pulled the hat off and dropped it on the table in the entryway. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“While I have you all here, I was wondering what you wanted to do tonight,” she started. As she took a breath, Andrew began to say something and she held her hand up.

“Henry has asked me to go out with him on a date and so … ” she paused.

“What?” Andrew asked.

“Well, you can either hang out here or I thought I’d ask Doug and Billy if they were busy. Maybe you all could go play games at their apartment. They’d order pizza. What do you think?”

Rebecca stayed quiet. Polly understood. She didn’t know the boys yet, but both Andrew and Jason were excited.

“Come on, Rebecca. You’ll love them. They’re great,” Andrew said.

“I don’t know,” she said.

Andrew slumped. “If she doesn’t want to go, we can stay here.”

Polly knelt down in front of Rebecca’s chair. “Doug and Billy are like the brothers I never had. I think you’ll love them. What if you go over and have pizza. If it’s awful, then you can come back. Would that be okay, Jason? Because I’d want you to be over here with Andrew and Rebecca.”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “Whatever.”

Polly stretched her neck. Adolescence wasn’t going to come easy for this one. “Okay, let me call and see what they say.” She walked into her bedroom and called Doug’s phone.

“Hey, Miss Polly, what ‘cha want?” he sang out.

“I want you, Doug.”

“Wow. That’s a new one, but I’m not really comfortable with it. Henry’s a little possessive.”

She laughed. “What I really want is to know what you and Billy are doing this evening. I have three kids who would like to come over and have pizza … on me … and maybe play games and watch television. I’m going out with Henry.”

“Well, Billy isn’t going anywhere tonight and he’d probably love some company since Rachel is working, but I. Have. A. Date!” He spaced the words out and his voice raised in volume with each new word.

“With Anita?” Polly asked.

“Yup. I’m taking her to that Mexican place in Ames. She likes Mexican food, Polly!”

“I’m so glad. So, how does it feel to leave Billy at home by himself on a Saturday night?”

“It feels great, but if you’re giving him something to do, it’s not quite as much fun.”

“Can I talk to him?”

“Sure, just a second.”

She heard him yell, “Billy. Polly wants to talk to you since you don’t have any plans for tonight.”

In a few moments, Billy said, “Hey Polly, what’s up?”

“I have three kids who would like to hang out with you. Pizza is on me. Do you want to do it here or have them come over there?”

“Can I bring Big Jack if I come over there?”

Polly looked around the apartment. With all of Rebecca’s things, the living room was filling up. Another dog in the place might disrupt the finely choreographed chaos. “How about they come to you. This place is getting a little full.”

“Sure. Send ‘em over anytime. Doug’s mom gave us a bunch of cookies and brownies and we’ve got chips and pop. I’ll order pizza when they get here.”

“Thank you, Billy. A lot.”

“No prob. Rachel will show up when she’s done.”

“I’ll be back by then. Thanks.”

Polly hung up and went back to the living room. “Doug is going out on a date and you guys are going to hang with Billy. He’s got cookies and brownies and chips and pop. Tell him what kind of pizza you want.”

“Cool!” Andrew said, jumping out of his chair. “What should we take over with us?”