Unexpected Riches (Bellingwood Book 13) (16 page)

"No. Don't go."

"I'm leaving. I know you're scared, but you have to suck it up." Polly put her fingers under Libby's chin and brought the girl's face up to look her in the eyes. "This isn't about you. It's about Heath."

Libby closed her eyes. "Okay," she said. Tears streamed from her eyes again and Polly jogged back out until she could see the entrance. She didn't have to wait long for the ambulance and another vehicle from the fire department to pull in. Two young men jumped out and walked up to her. "Miss Giller?"

"He's back here," she said.

"Show us." They followed her along the trail and rushed to Heath's side when they rounded the bend. One of the young men helped Libby extricate herself from Heath and knelt over the young man. Libby walked to Polly, but held back as she got close.

"It's okay," Polly said. "I'm not angry with you at all. Come here."

The girl wrapped her arms around Polly's waist. "I'm so scared."

"Do you know who did this?"

Libby looked at the ground.

"Libby. The Sheriff is going to be here and will ask the same questions. Do you know who did this?"

"No." She shook her head and pressed herself closer to Polly.

"You're sure?"

The girl nodded silently.

~~~

Polly sat in her truck outside the Emergency Room entrance. Libby had called her mother after worrying over what she would say. There just came a point when she had to admit that she'd been with Heath. Aaron had talked to Libby for quite a while, trying to discover who it was that had assaulted them on the trail, but she continued to insist she didn't know.

Now that the excitement was dying down, Polly took a breath and realized she needed to make some calls. Libby was huddled in on herself in the passenger seat. Even though Polly had the truck running to make sure there was plenty of heat, the girl hadn't stopped shivering until they'd reached the Boone hospital.

She swiped the first call opened and felt her muscles relax when Henry answered. "What's up?" he asked. "Need me to grab pizza on the way home?"

Polly was so glad to hear his voice she felt her throat close up and tears threaten. "Yeah. Pizza," she said.

"Polly, what's wrong?"

"I'm in Boone at the hospital."

"What happened?" he demanded.

"I'm fine. But Heath got beat up. The ambulance brought him here and I'm sitting in my truck with Libby. I figure it will take a few minutes for them to get things going and I wanted to talk to you."

"Have you been in to sign papers?"

"Yeah. I already did that. Libby's mom is coming to get her."

"Are you telling me that you don't want to talk about it with her in the truck."

"I knew you would understand," Polly gushed. "I love you."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I bolted out of there when Libby called. Rebecca doesn't know where I went."

"Okay," he said. "I've pulled over to think. What do you want to do tonight?"

"I don't know," Polly replied. "If they keep Heath overnight, I'm staying with him. I don't want him to ever think he's alone again."

"I get that. Tell you what. As soon as Kayla and Andrew leave, Rebecca and I will come down to be with you."

"That's not necessary."

"Polly, I love you, but we're a family. We're a strange family, but we are still a family. It will kill Rebecca not to be able to see Heath. Her imagination will conjure up gruesome images and a terrible tale. It's better for her to just spend some time with him. Have you called Hayden?"

"Not yet. I wanted to call you first. And we need to pick Heath’s truck up."

"Let me ask Eliseo if he can ride down with us. We'll get that taken care of tonight, too. You just be with our boy and make sure he knows he isn't alone."

"I will. Henry," Polly said. "I have to go. I think Libby's mom is here."

"Stay in touch and we'll be there later on."

Polly swiped the call closed and put her phone on the console between the seats. "That's your mom, right?" she asked Libby.

"She's going to kill me."

"I doubt it. She'll be as glad as I am that you two are safe."

Libby gathered up her backpack and opened the truck door.

"Libby!" her mother said, coming around her car. "Are you really okay? Nobody hurt you?"

"I'm fine, Mom. Can we just go home?"

"I told you that you weren't supposed to be dating anyone. What do you think you were doing?"

"We were just talking, Mom. It was nothing."

"I don't know whether to be angry or relieved. Get in the car. I want to have a word with Ms. Giller."

Now Polly was nervous. An angry mother was never a good thing. She got out of the truck and walked around the front to greet the woman.

Libby's mother slammed the passenger door shut after her daughter got in and stepped up to Polly. "I told her that she wasn't supposed to be dating and now I find that not only have they been seeing each other behind my back, they’re even skipping school. I'm terribly sorry that Heath was hurt, but if I were to choose any boy for Libby to spend her life with, it wouldn't be him. He may act like a nice boy, but we all know that he has problems. I don't care what you have to do. Keep him away from my daughter."

Polly reached out to try to stop the woman, but before she could say anything, Libby's mother spun on her heels, walked back around the car, got in, slammed her door and drove off.

"Wow," Polly said. "No good deed and all. And to think he went out of his way for not only Libby, but I seem to recall him rescuing you when your car broke down." She slapped the truck. "Bitch."

Walking toward the hospital, Polly took her phone back out. She didn't want to make this call, but Hayden had to know.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It frustrated both Aaron and Polly that they couldn’t get a straight answer from Heath about who had beat him up. He insisted that he didn't know, but evaded any direct questions about their descriptions or how many boys there were.

She hadn’t slept at all on the chair beside Heath throughout the night and they were waiting this morning for final paperwork to come in so they could leave the hospital.

Hayden had a basketball game this evening, but had ducked out last night with his coach's permission to come see Heath. Even he couldn't get Heath to admit that he knew his attackers.

Rebecca was shocked at the abuse poor Heath had taken, but her curiosity got the better of her and she asked him about every single bruise and scrape, inquiring about how they'd happened and how much they still hurt after several hours had passed.

Henry. Well, Henry had been silent while they were at the hospital last night. Polly knew he’d been shaken by the event. If he hated feeling helpless when
she
was attacked, this was nearly impossible for him to handle. Henry had leapt into this parenting thing with his heart wide open and his protective nature knew no bounds when it came to his kids. Heath was his son now and nobody got to do this and get away with it. She hoped that a night’s sleep would help him be calmer about the whole thing.

After Heath got settled at home, Henry and Nate were going to Hayden's basketball game in Ames. Polly wanted to cancel the party this evening with her friends, but when Heath heard her talking to Lydia on the phone, he'd put his hand out asking her to listen to him. Rebecca would be home with him and Polly would just be downstairs. Lydia insisted on taking care of dessert so Polly had nothing to worry about.

Sylvie surprised them by actually taking a Saturday night off until she told them that the wedding reception at Sycamore House was just a small group. There was no music or dancing, just a light dinner, and they planned to be out by six o'clock.

The nurse came in with a clipboard and papers for Polly to sign. "Are you ready to go home, Heath?" the young woman asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." He clutched the teddy bear that Rebecca had given him. She’d decorated it with a bandage on the arm and another on its cheek.

"I'll bet you are too," she said to Polly. "Those chairs aren't very comfortable for sleeping."

"We’ll all be glad for our own beds tonight."

With additional help from the nursing staff, Heath climbed into the cab of Polly's truck and after she pulled the seatbelt around him, he leaned back. "I'm glad we're going home," he said.

"Me too. Do you want anything before we leave Boone?"

He turned to her. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Ice cream at Dairy Queen?"

Heath laughed and then clutched himself. "Don't do that to me."

"It was a serious question," she said.

"If you want ice cream, go ahead. I don't feel like it."

Polly grinned. "Is there something else you'd rather have?"

"McDonald's?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I'll take you to McDonald's."

"Polly," Heath said. "I'm really sorry."

"It isn't your fault. You don't have to apologize for getting beaten up. Especially when you were standing up for someone else."

"But I should have known better."

"Could you really have changed the outcome?" she asked.

He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, flinched and sat back again in the seat. "I don't know."

"I'm giving you a pass today," Polly said. "But you and I are going to have a serious sit-down. There's something you aren't telling me and I'd hope you know me well enough by now to realize that won't fly."

"Mmmph."

She smiled. "But you have a day's respite. I'm too exhausted to fight through this with you and you have to be a wreck."

"I'm okay."

"Yes, I understand how that works. You're the big tough boy and nothing can hurt you. I'm glad that you let me come take care of you yesterday."

He glanced at her and tilted his head.

"If you could have moved, would you have tried to get out of there on your own?"

"Of course."

"That's what I mean. I'm glad you allowed me to help. We didn't know if you had broken ribs or internal bleeding, or how badly you’d been kicked in the head. There were so many things that could have been a problem if you'd tried to move."

"But I couldn't."

She laughed and sang, "Will it go 'round in circles."

"You're weird."

"It's my best thing." Polly turned the radio on. "I'm so glad you're okay and we're heading home. We'll deal with the rest another day. Today you relax and recuperate."

~~~

"We've got this, Polly," Rebecca said. "Go take a nap. Heath's in good hands." She smirked at Heath and rubbed her hands together. "We'll take very good care of him."

The boy was exhausted from climbing up the steps and dealing with the animals. He shook his head, moaned and leaned back on the sofa.

"Let him sleep, too," Polly said. "You know how hospitals are. They're in checking on the patient every few hours. Nobody sleeps."

He gave her a grateful nod.

"We will. Now go." Rebecca made a shooing motion. "If he needs anything I'm right here. Andrew and I will just be at the table working on our comic book. We won't bother him at all."

"No arguing," Polly said. "Promise?"

"We worked that all out last night. Of course we also had to clean up the horrible mess you made when you walked out of here and left cookies in the oven."

"Whoops!" Polly laughed. "You must have done a good job. I don’t smell burned chocolate at all."

"They were only a little burned," Andrew said. "We smelled them when we came back upstairs. Rebecca and I baked the rest of the cookies, too." He swatted at Rebecca. "It wasn’t that bad."

Polly walked behind the couch and stroked Heath's forehead, pushing back his hair. The bandage on his cheek made him look so broken. "Rest. I'm glad you're here and safe. I'll check on you before I go downstairs. And please don't give Rebecca too much trouble."

Heath smiled and a tear formed in his eye. "Thank you for coming to help me."

She bent over and kissed his forehead. "You're welcome. I will always come for you. I promise."

Before she saw any more tears or started crying herself, Polly left the room. The cats followed, weaving in and out of her legs. Obiwan dashed for her room and jumped on the bed before she got there.

Henry was at Mikkels' new house, working on something that needed to be finished before more crews came in on Monday. He'd asked if she needed help getting Heath home, promising that he'd be there in minutes if necessary, but they'd made it without extra help.

Polly sat down on the bed, texted Henry to tell him they were home and settled in, and that she was lying down for a nap. Before her head hit the pillow, it occurred to her that this might be another opportunity to call on Evelyn Morrow for help. It would make Polly feel better if Evelyn stopped by just to assure her that Heath was recuperating. Maybe she could even talk Evelyn into changing some of his bandages. Avoiding that would be worth nearly anything.

She slid her legs under the sheets, luxuriating in the feeling of finally being able to stretch out. Turning over on her side, she felt Obiwan lie down against her back and she reached out to stroke his fur. Luke curled up in front of her belly and Leia found a place on Polly's pillow. She was so tired that she felt none of her usual claustrophobia, but relaxed at the warmth and purrs surrounding her.

~~~

"Polly, honey. Are you ready to wake up?"

She found herself unable to move with animals packed in around her. "Move it," she muttered.

Henry picked Leia up off the pillow and deposited her on a ledge of the cat tree, while Polly made a valiant attempt to push Luke far enough away so she could twist and turn in the bed.

"Help?" she asked, pleading with Henry.

He laughed and reached in for the big cat, then planted him beside his sister. They wrapped up together on the ledge and ignored their humans.

Polly fumbled for her phone. "What time is it?"

"Four thirty. I didn't know if you needed to do anything for your evening with the girls tonight. If not, I'm sorry I woke you up so early."

"No. This is great," she said. "I've had a good nap. How's Heath?"

"Sound asleep on the sofa. Rebecca tiptoes over to check on him and then skitters back to the table so she doesn't wake him. That poor boy looks so small and young. I talked to his brother earlier today and he's coming home after the game tonight."

Polly sat up and rubbed Obiwan's back. "I'm glad. We'll take care of both of them tomorrow."

"He has late classes on Monday, so I told him to just plan on spending a couple of nights here."

"Thanks," she said, reaching out her hand. She scooted Obiwan over so Henry could sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm a little worried about leaving Heath alone this evening. With you in Ames and me..." Polly grinned. "I'm being ridiculous, aren't I?"

"Yes you are. You'll be downstairs and Andrew will be here with Rebecca. If they need you, one can run down and find you."

"I'm glad you're going to the game."

"Heath and I always have a good time together and I’d rather take him." Henry let out a breath. "We had a short conversation about me staying home tonight, but it’s important to him that his brother has family at as many games as possible."

"Hayden likes having you there, too," Polly said.

"It's a strange feeling," Henry said, stroking the top of her hand with his thumb.

"What's that?"

"This family thing. Polly, last night I was so angry that someone hurt Heath, I didn't know what to do. Fortunately, Rebecca chattered about the silliest things at school while we drove down. When I saw him in that hospital bed, all beat up and having trouble breathing, I wanted to..." He took a breath. "I don't know what I wanted to do. I thought you were the only person that raised those protective instincts in me."

Polly sat forward and wrapped herself around him. "You make me so happy."

Henry chuckled and pulled back. "Because I want to do unthinkable things to people who hurt my family?"

"Well, yes. That," she said. "We all know you won't lose control, but that you want to protect our family sends a little thrill through me. You are such a good man."

"How much of a little thrill?" he asked, winking at her.

Her eyes darted to the bedroom door and then she sat back. "Andrew's here."

"I'll shut the door. They're busy in the dining room."

"We can't do that," Polly whispered. "Not in the middle of the day when everybody is awake. They'll know we're in here messing around."

Henry curled his upper lip. "I missed out on all of those years before kids came into our lives."

"Go tell them that you're going to take a nap," she whispered.

"Really?"

Polly lifted her shoulder and smiled as seductively as she could. She ran her finger around the collar of her shirt, pulling it down so he could see a little skin.

"I'll be right back," he said and jumped up, startling the cats.

In a few moments, he was back in the room, kicking off his shoes as he pushed the door closed. "What brought this on?" he asked.

"You are so amazing and I love you," Polly said, pulling her shirt over her head.

"And?"

"That has to be enough," she said. "But it also helps that I've finally relaxed after the stress of worrying about Heath. I missed you last night, too."

"The animals tried to make up for you being gone, but it just isn't the same," he said. Henry pulled her back down into the bed beside him and kissed her. "I missed this, too."

~~~