Unexpected Riches (Bellingwood Book 13) (19 page)

Andy put her hand on Beryl's "What did he think about the rest of your family?"

"Well, that all came later," Beryl said. "He knew there were two other brothers, but I told him that I wasn't ready to break the news to them that Daddy had been unfaithful. And as I described them to him, he understood that and said that maybe someday they'd be able to meet him, but just having me in his life was enough. See, he was an only child. And since I feel like I am alone, we had so many things in common."

"You aren't alone," Lydia said. "You have us."

"But you have your own families," Beryl responded. She gave her head a quick shake. "That's not what this is about. Anyway, we talked all summer long and he mentioned that now that he had Dad's name and some of the other family names, he would do research in England about our ancestors. There are plenty of Carters, but you know, they all have to come from somewhere. Even without Aunt Mildred's research," she pointed at the papers in front of Polly, "I had information about Jedidiah's parents and grandparents who came over here from England. With that, Darien started digging."

"That has to be great information," Polly said.

Beryl scowled. "Yes it does. So anyway, we talked and chatted online and on the telephone." She paused. "And then one day, he mentioned that he wanted to come to Bellingwood to meet me. I didn't know what to think. I didn't want to tell anyone about him just yet. I was barely managing the fact that Dad had another son out there. What would I do if he ran into my brothers and wanted to introduce himself? And how was I going to hide him from all of you? But he pressed and pleaded and we finally set a date for him to come. He promised to just be in town for a couple of days and would stay at a hotel in Ames."

"I can't believe you took him to Davey's," Polly said.

Lydia looked at her, "Was that the night you called me?"

Polly nodded. "Uh huh. You ignored me. I knew something was up, but I just figured that Beryl was out on a date and nobody wanted to tell me about it. And then you never said anything and I thought that maybe I was losing my mind."

"We'd been all over the area that day," Beryl said. "We were starving and since it was so late when he brought me back to town, I didn't want to have to go down to Ames and then drive back. I knew where Andy and Lydia were that night, because I'd checked. They were the only people I wouldn't be able to blow off if they saw us together."

"You did check," Lydia said. "At the time I thought it was weird that you called me, but I got busy with other things."

Beryl nodded. "I couldn't believe that Polly didn't press it, but she had so much to deal with that week. Darien flew out the next day and we went back to having conversations online. Just after the first of the year, though, he asked about coming back to see me again. We set it up for this week. He said that he'd been doing more research into our family and had some fun things he wanted to show me. This time he said that he wanted to really get to know Bellingwood, especially since our family had been so integral in its early days. He was absolutely fascinated by our history."

"I loved every minute of this," Beryl said, shaking her head. "I couldn't believe someone was finally listening to my memories and talked about people that I'd only heard stories of when I was a kid." She looked around the table. "You guys just don't understand what it's like to be alone in the world. Even when you have family around." Beryl turned to look at Polly. "I'm sorry. You probably do know what it's like."

"It's okay," Polly said. "We have very different lives. But speaking of family, doesn't Darien have a wife or kids or anything?"

"He sure does," Beryl replied. "A very nice wife and two sons." She smiled that sad smile again. "I had so much fun sending them Christmas gifts. They called me that afternoon. Well, afternoon their time. We had a video chat while they showed me all of their gifts and thanked me for the things I'd sent. Girls, it felt like I was in a family again." She put her head in her hands.

"What's wrong, dear?" Lydia asked.

"His sweet family. If he's involved in this, what's that going to do to them?"

"Involved in what?"

Beryl looked up, her jaw set. "When I told him about Ethan's death, he wasn't shocked or surprised. He didn't ask many questions about it. Now that I think about it, it's like he already knew it had happened. He didn't even try to fake it. When his room got shot up, he wasn't upset about that either. He just took it in stride."

"Maybe he's got that British stiff upper lip thing going," Sylvie said.

"I don't think so," Beryl said. "He knows more about this search for the gold than he's letting on. Please tell me that it isn't an extreme coincidence that he's here during the same time as Tallie's brother was here."

Polly glanced around to see if Tallie was anywhere near. "You don't think he had anything to do with Ethan's death, do you?"

"I hope not," Beryl replied. "But he knows something." She sighed. "He encouraged me to go out to the studio this afternoon when we got back. Said he'd had fun with the kittens all day and was just going to take a nap on the sofa. So I went. That's probably when he started digging through the things Aunt Mildred sent with me."

"Now tell us why you're so upset with him tonight?" Lydia asked.

"Because he's not answering his phone. And I gave him a bunch of cash today." Her shoulders slumped.

"You what?" Andy was livid.

"There were some things he wanted to do and he wondered if I would collect some cash for him. He wrote me a check." She tried to smile. "You know they spell that with a 'q-u-e' right?"

"Have you tried to cash the check yet?"

"No," Beryl said. "Since it's international, I'll take it in on Monday. They have to wait for funds to clear before it goes into my account."

"Well, how much was it?"

"Andy," Lydia said softly. "Don't."

"But he might be stealing from her."

Lydia nodded. "That's not your business. It's Beryl's."

"It was five hundred dollars," Beryl said. "It won't break me."

"But it gives him freedom to move around without leaving a paper trail," Sylvie said. When everyone looked at her, she laughed. "Law enforcement always finds people by tracking their credit cards. If he wants to be off the grid, he needs cash."

"What's he doing about a car if his was shot up?" Polly asked.

"We dealt with that yesterday," Beryl replied. "He'd taken out insurance, so they'll handle it after the police are finished. He rented another car."

"You ladies aren't getting much done in here," Tallie said, causing everyone to turn and look at her. "What? I'm done with my part." She realized they were still looking. "What’s wrong? Something bad happened, didn't it. Did you find something?"

Polly stood up and walked over to her. "Tallie, did a British guy ever call you or your brother and ask about your family's history?"

Tallie put the stack of copied papers onto the counter. Slowly nodding, she walked with Polly across the room. "Now that you mention it, I think somebody did. Yeah. That's right. Ethan thought it was cool that a guy from England might have information about the Carters before they came to America. He was telling everybody about it at Thanksgiving. I can't believe I forgot." She grimaced. "I didn't pay much attention to him. Why?"

"We think it's the man who was in the room next to yours at the hotel," Polly said. "He's a relative of Beryl's."

"Really?" Tallie said. "That crazy! We were right next door to each other and didn't even know it?"

"Do you have any idea whether or not your brother told him about the letters?" Polly asked.

Tallie grinned. "Probably. He told everybody. Ethan would have thought that was cool."

Everyone jumped at the sound of a door opening. Polly stood up, on guard. The main doors should have all been locked down when Eliseo left.

She relaxed when Henry walked into the kitchen.

"What do we have here?" He looked at the empty wine bottles. "You've only done a little damage. I was expecting it to be much, much worse."

"How was the game?" Polly asked him.

"We won. Hayden's a good ball handler. Have you talked to the kids upstairs? How's Heath?"

Polly looked guiltily around the room at her friends. "I assume everything is okay. But I haven't checked. We kind of got busy here."

He chuckled. "Of course you did. Hayden should be here after a bit. I'll make sure they're all still alive upstairs."

"I'm a horrible mom," Polly said, sitting back down. “I can't believe I forgot about them."

"No you're not, dear." Lydia reached over and rubbed her shoulders. "You're just fine."

Beryl looked at the clock on the wall. "Damn it. I can't stay here any longer. If he isn't there to take care of my kitties, I don't know how they're doing." She glared at Andy. "Don't you dare give me any trouble about that, either."

"I won't. I promise," Andy said. "But what should we do with all of this?"

Polly looked around. They hadn't unpacked that much yet. "Pack it back up and I'll ask Hayden and Henry to haul it into my office tomorrow. We'll deal with it another day."

"That’s good," Tallie said, dropping into a chair. "I'm beat. Tell me I don't have anything to do tomorrow."

"If that jerk has left my house, I might invite you to come stay with me," Beryl said. "I'd love to have you, but with him there, I wasn't ready to add someone else."

Tallie glanced at Polly, who smiled and nodded. " I'd love that," she said. "And I'd love to see your kitties." Then she took a breath. "And your studio. I really want to spend time in your studio."

Beryl nodded. "We'll have lunch and go from there."

"What if he's still there and his phone was just off?" Andy asked.

"Then he's moving to a hotel room," Beryl said firmly. "I'm done with him." She smiled. "Unless he can prove that he's an innocent bystander. Okay girls, let's clean this mess up. I have kitties who need their mama."

CHAPTER NINETEEN

By the time Polly woke up Sunday morning, breakfast had already been started. Whenever Hayden came to visit, she made sure to have plenty of breakfast food in the house. He loved cooking for them.

She'd come upstairs last night to find Rebecca and Andrew sound asleep on the couches in the living room, with Heath's door open wide so they could hear if he needed them. Heath was awake and watching something on his phone when she walked in. They'd talked for a few minutes about his pain and the fact that Hayden would be there soon, then she woke the kids and sent Andrew downstairs to his mother. Henry took the dogs out for a last walk and when he came back upstairs, Hayden was with him. He'd been nice enough, but it was obvious that all he wanted to do was see his brother.

Heath wanted to be part of the activity, so after she made sure he had his pain medication, they'd pulled chairs into his bedroom and stayed up talking. Polly had finally insisted that it was time to sleep, so they blew up the air bed for Hayden and she sent Rebecca to bed.

She rolled over in bed and stretched her legs, pushing against Luke's dead weight. The dogs were gone from the room, meaning Henry had gotten up and taken them out. For a man who hadn't grown up with pets, he loved these animals. The door to her bedroom was open just enough that she could hear voices in the house. What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. It was hard to believe that this was her family. After the conversation with her friends last night, Polly realized that she didn't feel what Beryl felt. She'd grown up as an only child, with no real cousins or relatives so she'd made her family from within her circle of friends. Mary Shore, the woman who raised Polly after her mother died was as much family as anyone. Her husband, Sylvester, had worked for Polly's dad as long as she could remember. There was never a Christmas or holiday when they weren't at her family's table.

Sal was like Polly's sister. They spit and spat at each other, but that didn't change how they felt about the other one. And now that Polly lived in Bellingwood, her family had exploded. It was wonderful, but it was interesting that Beryl didn't approach her friendships that way. The poor woman had been burned too many times by the people who should have supported her. It made no sense to Polly that they couldn't see how absolutely intriguing and fascinating Beryl was. She also couldn’t understand that they didn’t see just how much Beryl needed them.

Polly looked up at the tap on her door.

"Come on in, Rebecca. I'm surprised to see you up and moving this morning," Polly said.

"Breakfast is ready any time." Rebecca walked in and handed a cup of coffee to her. "Do you want pancakes?"

"This is amazing service," Polly said. "Thank you. Now what is it you want?"

"Nothing. Hayden told me to bring it in when I woke you up."

"Hayden is a good boy. Give me three minutes to put some clothes on and I'll be right there."

Rebecca headed for the door and turned around. "So. Pancakes?"

"Yes please."

Polly waited for Rebecca to shut the door and dashed around getting ready for the day. As she pulled her bra on, she laughed. There once was a time when she didn't have to abuse herself like that on Sundays. Henry hadn't cared. Actually, Henry had enjoyed it. But those days were long gone. She sighed and picked up her phone and found that she had a text from Beryl asking if she could bring Tallie over to her house for lunch. Polly was welcome to eat with them.

"
Of course I will
," Polly texted back. "
Were you alone last night
?"

Beryl must have been waiting by the phone because she responded right away. "
He's gone. Everything of his is out of the house
."

"
Did you cry when you got home
?"

"
Leave me alone
."

Polly smiled. She was glad Tallie was here this week. Beryl had too much family that didn't express love very well.

No wonder it was so difficult for her. The last week had reminded Beryl that her family just couldn't bring themselves to care. The rest of the time, she ignored them. On the other hand, Tallie was a great young woman and she seemed to handle Beryl as well as any of the woman's friends.

When she opened the door, she saw Heath propped up on a couch. Polly sat down on the coffee table in front of him. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm better," he said.

"Really better or I-have-happy-drugs-in-me better?"

He started to laugh, clutched his stomach and said, "Don't do that. I'll be okay."

"I know you'll be okay. You're a strong young man. Are we all eating out here this morning?"

Heath swung one leg to the floor. "I said I'd go to the dining room when they were ready."

Polly glanced at the dining room. "Stop right there. Let me guess. Hayden and Henry figured you could probably make it, right?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah. Well, no. You stay still. We'll eat here where you can be comfortable." She stood up and shook her head. "Men and boys. Such idiots."

"It's okay," Heath said, but he didn't make any further attempts to get off the couch.

"Sit," she commanded with a grin. "Stay."

Polly strode out into the kitchen. "We're eating in the living room. You two are nuts if you think I'm going to let that poor boy sit up at the table."

Hayden turned around from the stove. "He said he'd be okay."

"He'd be miserable," she said. "We can pamper him this morning."

"I tried to tell them," Rebecca whispered.

"It's fine. Start carrying out the things from the dining room table." Polly walked into the kitchen and gave Hayden a hug. "It's good to see you. Congratulations on your game last night."

He lifted his arm up and around, then pulled her tight. "Thanks. And thanks for taking care of Heath. Has he talked to you yet?"

"No," she said, stepping back. "But he will. The poor boy is probably nervous. I told him he had until today." She chuckled. "We'll see, though. My day is getting busy, so it might wait until tomorrow."

"Let me know if I need to sit on him."

Polly looked around. "Where's Henry?"

"Right here," Henry said, coming in from his office. He watched Rebecca carry milk and juice into the living room and gave Polly a guilty look. "We made a bad decision?"

"We're just making a new one," she said. "Would you get the TV tray tables?"

He nodded and went on in to the living room. The tables were stored in one of the big closets he'd built after they were married. If they moved into the Bell House, Polly knew she'd miss this place, but having plenty of space to spread out and easily store her things would be such a relief. Having extra bedrooms for guests and family would be even better. She chuckled inside. Creating this immense apartment was supposed to give her plenty of room, but before she knew it, she'd spread her family into the space. No matter how big of a house she had, Polly worried that it might never be enough. And to be honest, that sounded pretty good.

~~~

Beryl had texted back that Tallie wanted to do a late lunch - maybe around two o'clock. She and Rebecca cleaned up after breakfast, giggling at the sounds of laughter and then Heath's moans, coming from the living room. After a quick shower, Polly joined them until it was time to leave.

Tallie met her in the kitchen and they headed for Polly's truck.

"How did you sleep?" Polly asked.

"It was wonderful. That's a beautiful room and the view is incredible. I can't imagine waking up every single morning to the horses and donkeys and that beautiful back yard."

"Sycamore House is idyllic most of the time."

"Debra and I…" Tallie stopped and shook her head. "Sorry. Elise. That's going to take some getting used to. Anyway, we went up to the coffee shop for breakfast. It's so strange seeing someone I know from home all the way up here."

"Elise invited you to go to breakfast with her?"

"No. I was in the kitchen looking for leftovers from last night when I heard her walking around." Tallie grinned. "She's kind of shy."

"Yes she is. Good for you for catching her. What was she like when you knew her?"

"Still really shy. She liked to be alone, but she was so nice to Beth. I think she went to the restaurant a lot more often because Beth was there. Whenever Debra…" Tallie stopped. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I get it. Go on."

"Whenever..." Tallie paused. "Elise came in, Mom let Beth stop what she was doing. Elise invited Beth to sit with her and they talked about everything. It was weird, though. Elise would write these mathematical equations out on a placemat and Beth was fascinated by them. She'd watch Elise create the entire thing and then draw her fingers through the patterns like it made sense to her."

"Maybe it did."

Tallie blinked. "It could have. Beth was sad when Elise told us she was leaving town. I'm not sure how I'll tell her that I got to see her again. It won't make sense to her."

"How did she take the news of Ethan's death?"

"She cries a lot. I think she understands."

"Have you talked to her since you came up here?"

"Not about Ethan," Tallie said, shaking her head. "We talk about other things, though. I've taken pictures so she can see where I've traveled. We put a map on the wall for her and Mom prints out the pictures I take so Beth can pin them to the map. She needs help, but I highlighted the route I was driving and circled the names of the big cities."

"That's so much fun," Polly said. "She's lucky to have you all."

"Honestly, we're lucky to have her. We know she’s different, but we wouldn’t want it to be any other way. She's just Beth."

Polly pulled into Beryl's driveway. "You're going to love this house."

"Come in, come in," Beryl called from her front door as they exited the truck. "I've been waiting for hours and hours."

"She's kidding," Polly said to Tallie. "She knew what time we were arriving."

"But I
have
been waiting. I've been cooking and cleaning just for you."

Polly lifted her eyebrows. "Cooking?"

"Someone cooked it," Beryl said, stepping back as they entered. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Stop," Polly said, reaching out to touch Tallie's arm. "You have to start here. It's probably my favorite room in any house I've been in." She led Tallie into Beryl's front room.

"Did you paint this?" Tallie asked, looking at the arrangement of paintings on the wall. She peered at the signature. "Oh my, you did. This is incredible. I could look at these detail pieces for hours."

Beryl smiled and took a seat in one of the wing chairs. She crossed her legs and before long, a small grey kitten had found her and was on her lap.

"Every time I come over, I want time to take it in," Polly said. "But I never get to. There is always something else happening."

"You can come over any time," Beryl said. "You know I'd love that."

Polly nodded. "You're right. It's not like you're a famous artist who needs time in her studio or anything. What you really need is people bothering you at all hours of the day."

"I'd leave you alone in here while I worked."

"No you wouldn't," Polly scolded. "You'd feel like you had to take care of me."

Beryl stood up, holding the kitten in her arms. "You two spend as much time as you'd like. Little May and I will see what her brother and the old lady are doing." She turned around when she got to the door. "I'm serious. We're in no hurry. I'm glad you like my work."

"I didn't look," Tallie said. "Did she do the big tree at Sycamore House?"

"It was a building-warming, Christmas gift my first year," Polly said. "I can't believe she did that for me."

"Look at these intricate details." Tallie reached up to touch a tiny squirrel. "This one's just a baby."

"Maybe this is the mother over here," Polly said.

Tallie stepped away. "Would she ever take on a student? I'd give anything to study with her."