The River Rolls On (Bellingwood Book 10) (16 page)

He held his phone out to show her a text from Ray.
"I pissed Polly off. She's mad as hell and hurting. Sorry."

Henry led her to the sofa and asked, "What did he do to you?"

"That son of a bitch has a file on every single person that works for me. He dug into their past. I'm sure he's looked at their finances and checked out their friends and family. He took away their privacy with no thought."

He nodded. "That makes sense."

"Makes sense?" she said. "Like hell. He had no right."

"Honey," Henry said. "He did what he knows how to do."

"Exactly! He treated my family like criminals. Did he even consider talking to me about this before it happened? Hell no. He just waded in like he knows better than anyone and made decisions. I'm so damned tired of everything."

Henry pulled away from her and scooted back on the couch so he could look her in the face. "Tell me what you're tired of."

"Everything," she said, throwing her arms up in the air. "I'm tired of every damned thing. I can't go out of town without a bodyguard. I can't even walk my damned dogs. And when I do leave town, I find a body. Then I find out that Eliseo's life has been exposed to someone he doesn't even know ... because of me! I can't see my friends without strangers sitting at the freakin' lunch table and I feel like this is the first time in forever I've been home alone with you." She took a breath. "And to top it off, I'm terrified that if I don't have those damned bodyguards around, Joey and that Allendar guy will kidnap me again and do something horrible to me."

She felt her face screw up as she tried to fight tears, but finally gave in and melted down. Henry moved back in and held her as she cried.

"I'm so scared, Henry. Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to everyone around me?"

Obiwan sat up and put his face in her lap, nudging her hand until she rubbed the top of his head. When she continued to cry, he eased himself up between her and the arm of the sofa. She smiled at him and moved closer to Henry so the dog could have room. As soon as Obiwan was high enough, he reached out and licked her cheek.

Henry chuckled. "I won't clean up your tears that way," he said, reaching out for the box of tissues.

Polly put her arm around Obiwan and hugged him, letting her angry tears flow into his fur. She finally took a deep, hitching breath and then picked a handful of tissues out of the box. She blew her nose and smiled at Henry. "Sexy. I know."

"I should probably tell you that everything you do is sexy, but you'd know I was lying. Do you want to talk?"

"Not really," she said. "I'm so mad at him."

"Do you understand at all why he did it?"

Polly glared at him. "I understand why he thought he needed to do it, but I will not accept the fact that he did something so invasive without talking to me. I had to hear about it from one of his employees. He would never have said anything and that's so offensive. I'm tired of being treated like a silly delicate flower that might wilt at the first sign of stress."

"No one believes that about you."

"Really?" she asked. "As much as I appreciate what Jon and Ray are doing here, did they ask if I needed help? No. They assumed and flew out. I had no warning. They were just here. Sure, it's sweet and wonderful, but don't you see? If I were a man, they would have talked to me first." She huffed. "Oh, I don't know. It's hard to explain. I get of tired having a 'Fragile' sign painted on my forehead."

Henry smiled and sat back. "I know
that
!" he exclaimed. "That was one of the first lessons you taught me."

"You still have trouble applying it," she said quietly.

He nodded. "You're right. I should know better, too. It's not like that wasn't a painful lesson the first time."

That made Polly laugh. "What am I going to do?" she asked.

"About Ray?"

"Yeah."

"What do you want to do?"

"I told him that he had to get rid of the files, both paper and digital. I don't want anyone here thinking that they could ever be compromised because he got over protective."

Henry shook his head. "Polly, they've got files on thousands and thousands of people. Nothing's going to happen."

"Not to my people, it won't. I don't care. I want this gone. There are too many things that can happen."

"You're my paranoid conspiracist," he said with a laugh.

Polly swatted at him and said, "Don't you laugh at me. And I'm not going to apologize for coming unglued on him."

"Okay," he said with a shrug. "You said what you had to say."

"I probably came off sounding ungrateful."

"Maybe."

"Really?" Polly was surprised. She didn't expect him to agree. "You think I might have?"

"I wasn't there. It doesn't sound like you, but who knows."

"I am all over the place today," she said. "First I'm giddy that I can get out and about because he brought in female bodyguards and now I'm a furious loon."

"How anyone could expect your emotions to be on an even keel with everything that is going on is beyond me," Henry said.

"I have to be driving you crazy." Polly leaned against her dog. "I'm up. I'm down, I'm driving
myself
crazy."

"Why don't you give yourself a break? This won't go on forever."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise. Now were you serious about wanting to be home alone with me tonight?"

Polly looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"Because Nate called. He and Joss were going to come over with the kids and bring supper."

"That's awesome," she said and jumped off the couch. "I need to clean myself up. When will they get here?"

"In about fifteen minutes."

Polly started to laugh. "What were you going to do?"

"I'll admit I was in a bit of a panic. I wanted to tell you earlier, but you took off out of here so fast, I couldn't get it out."

She leaned over and kissed him. "I don't know how you put up with me and my insanity, but I love you."

"That's how I put up with it. I love you in spite of it, because of it and well ... I love you."

Polly practically skipped her way to their bedroom. "Do I need to do anything to get ready for them?"

"It's supposed to be a stress free evening. Nothing to worry about."

She danced back to him and kissed him again. "Thank you for everything. You are my rock."

"Uh huh," he said. "Remember that the next time I infuriate you, okay?"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Realizing she was feeling lonely, Polly walked into the kitchen. Henry was at the peninsula drinking a cup of coffee and scrolling through his phone.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Not much. But you didn't stir when we were moving around, so I fed the dogs and took them out."

"Okay," she said. "I'm going back to bed, then."

He looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

Polly shrugged. "I'm fine. No reason to get out of bed, though. I'm not going anywhere. I've found the body. I don't want to look at Ray and if I just live in the apartment and quit trying to have a normal life, he can send his extra bodyguards home and not spend any money." She started walking away.

"Hey," Henry said, catching up to her. He grabbed her arm. "Where did this come from?"

They'd had a great evening. Joss found a babysitter at the last minute and they'd come alone. After dinner, the four of them had played games and laughed until after eleven, when both Nate and Henry announced they had work the next day.

"It's useless," Polly said. "And I've decided to feel sorry for myself again today."

"I don't like you like this."

"But you get to walk away from me and go to work, where you'll play with your friends and do things and ... just leave me alone. I'm going back to bed."

Henry followed her into the bedroom and sat down beside her after she crawled back under the blankets. "I don't know what to do for you. You're never like this."

"Like what," she said with a pout.

"Like this. Feeling sorry for yourself, not out there trying to figure out what's going on."

"You and I both know that if I go out there, something awful could happen and it's been made very clear to me that if I put myself in danger, I put other people in danger. So. I'll just stay here and everybody stays safe."

"Polly," he said. "I'm at a loss. Do you want me to take the day off?"

If she was honest, she did. She wanted him to stick around and take care of her all day. But she knew she was acting like a baby and what she needed was someone to jolt her out of this.

"No. You don't have time for that." Polly pulled the blanket up over her shoulder and tucked it under her chin. "Would you mind telling Jeff and Sylvie that I won't be down today? And if you see Ray, just tell him that he and his people have the day off. I'm not going anywhere."

Obiwan jumped up on the bed beside her and she pulled her arm out of the blanket to scratch his head. "Since I can't take the dogs out, would you mind coming home for lunch?"

"Sure," he said tentatively. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Are you taking Rebecca to school?"

"Yeah. I've got it."

Polly heard the front door open and shut, then waited for the rest of the animals to join her on the bed. She turned over and let her mind wander, hoping to fall back to sleep.

The next thing she knew, Obiwan barked and Han yipped when her front door opened and shut again. Polly grabbed her phone and swiped it open. She'd only been asleep for a half hour.

"Hello?" she called out.

Henry stormed into the bedroom and said, "No. This is unacceptable. You don't get to play this game any longer. You've played it too long as it is. You're up and you're down. I'm sorry that you have to go through this, but this is it."

He yanked the blankets back, scattering the animals. "Get up."

"What?" she asked.

"I said, 'get up,'" he repeated.

"You're being mean and yelling at me," she whimpered.

"This is about all the mean I've got in me, but I'll find more if I need to. Now sit up. I mean it."

Polly sat up.

Henry pointed at the bathroom door. "Go take a shower and get ready for your day."

"Why should I bother?" she asked.

"Because you're Polly Giller, you're my wife and you don't give up. You've let fear and anger stop you in your tracks. You might be mad at Ray Renaldi, but you can't deny that his people are giving you freedom. Use it. Take it. Be a human being. What you're doing right now is just plain ridiculous. Now move!"

He barked the last two words and Polly giggled as she jumped out of bed.

"You're scaring me," she said.

"Good. Now why are you still here? Move it. Move it move it!"

"I had no idea I married a drill sergeant." Polly went into the bathroom and turned the shower on.

When she came out, Henry was sitting at the desk in the bedroom holding out a cup of coffee. "You get to drink this when you're fully dressed," he said.

She sashayed over to him. "I can make it worth your time if you let me stay naked."

He broke character and laughed at her. "That's better. But we don't have time. I have to go to work and you're taking a ride with Eliseo and Tonya this morning."

"I'm taking a ride? On Demi?"

"Yep. They've checked out the route and are waiting for you at the barn."

Polly bent over and kissed his forehead. "You're kind of sexy when you get bossy," she said.

"I still don't have time for this," he said. But he put the coffee cup on the desk and pulled her onto his lap, then kissed her again.

"Not even just a few minutes?"

"Woman, you are enough to send me over the edge. No, I don't have time." He trailed his finger down her breast bone. "But dang it, you tempt me."

"Come on," she said.

"There are people waiting in the barn for you. They have the horses saddled up."

"They can wait a few more minutes."

Henry sighed. "You aren't kidding?"

"Do I ever kid about this?"

~~~

Polly tried to hold her head high when she walked into the barn. She also desperately tried to not feel flushed when everyone ignored the fact that she was much later than expected. She told herself that it wasn't her fault that they'd prepared this outing without giving her notice, but in the end, she just smiled and let Eliseo help her up onto Demi's back.

Tonya and Eliseo settled into their saddles and Eliseo led them all out of the gates and onto the highway.

He held back to ride beside Polly. "I need to talk to you about yesterday," Eliseo said.

"What about it?" she asked. "Because if you're worried I'm going to see some dossier on you, don't. I'm having Ray destroy everything they've collected on you and anyone else here at Sycamore House. The whole thing infuriates me."

Eliseo nodded. "I know you're upset about it. But you shouldn't be. It's okay. We all understand."

"Thanks." Polly rode in silence for a few moments. "But it's not okay. You shouldn't have to understand. It's not like you're working for a top secret government institution. This is Sycamore House."

"And you're in trouble right now. Your friend just wanted to make sure that the people who surround you are safe."

"You're a good guy," Polly said, smiling at him. "But it's still not okay. No matter how they dress it up. So, where are we going this morning?"

They caught back up to Tonya as they turned right onto a gravel road and then into a lane.

"I didn't think you'd been down here yet to explore where Joss and Nate are going to live," Eliseo said. "From what I understand, they're going to start demolishing these buildings this summer. Henry says he wants to start on the foundation in the fall. This is going to be a beautiful place once it's cleaned up."

The ramshackle buildings would soon come down. The old house had fallen in on itself in the middle. There were two outbuildings that were nearly down and an old garage that no longer had a roof. One large metal barn was still standing and in good shape.

"I'm not going into any of those buildings," she said with a grin.

"We checked everything before coming over here," Tonya said. "Yesterday was enough for me."

Polly nodded and turned back to Eliseo. "Doesn't their land back up onto ours somewhere?"

He pointed to a corner. "That's the south pasture you bought last year. We're still clearing rocks and noxious weeds. But by the end of the summer, we'll take the horses and donkeys over to enjoy it."

"I love rural little towns," she said. "Everybody's a neighbor. I wonder what Joss and Nate have in mind for this land."

"It will be fun to see it come together." Eliseo led her over behind the buildings. From that vantage point, they could see for miles. They were on a small rise, giving them great visibility. Crops had been planted and rows of corn and soybeans created patterns on the horizon in front of them. "Depending on the house plan, they're going to have a wonderful view no matter where they look."

"This has all of the advantages of living in town, with all the space of living in the country. I can't believe no one else ever bought this," Polly said.

Tonya rode up beside her. "You people have big vistas out here. Not like the mountains or the Grand Canyon, but there are so many acres between you and anything else."

"You should come back when the corn is tall and the beans are waving in the summer sun," Polly said. "It's a beauty all its own."

Tonya nodded and chuckled. "I'm sure it is. It makes me nervous, though."

"Nervous?" Eliseo asked.

"Yeah. Like wild animals in the woods, snakes and all those other things that get 'cha. As nice as this is, I prefer the city. I understand steel girders and concrete walls."

Polly shook her head. "Never again. Listen..."

Tonya held still and listened. Eliseo just grinned at her.

"What are we supposed to be hearing?" Tonya asked. "There are birds singing and insects buzzing, but what am I missing?"

"You aren't missing anything. Did you hear sirens or car tires squealing? Nope. People screaming at each other in the apartment above you or random white noise that never stops?" Polly asked.

Tonya laughed and shuddered. "Nope. I heard none of those things. And it's kind of creepy. Where's the activity?"

"Let's move on," Eliseo said. "There's coffee at our next stop."

They rode back out and down the gravel, heading to old Ralph Bedford's house. After being attacked last summer, he was back to his old tricks. Eliseo and Jason had spent time with the man, helping him come back to health. If there was one thing Eliseo knew, it was how to restore a person through physical activity. He had a lifetime of it behind him.

He was insistent that Ralph wasn't going to fade away. He'd grown much too close to the man.

"We're going to see Ralph?" she asked.

"He wants to show off his new truck," Eliseo said. "Jason and I helped him choose it. This was as good a day as any."

"That's wonderful," Polly said. It felt good to be outside. The temperature was warm, though the skies were gray. She leaned forward and patted Demi's neck. He raised his head in response.

They turned into Ralph's lane and Polly looked back the way they came, in time to see a familiar pickup truck turn west.

"Did you see that?" she asked Eliseo.

"Hello, Ralph," he said to the man crossing the lawn to them and then turned to her. "No. What?"

"I just saw my pickup truck. I'm sure it was mine."

"There are a plenty of trucks that look like yours, Polly," Eliseo said, swinging down from Nan. Polly still couldn't see how he managed to get up and down from that horse with no help and no step stool. She needed both.

"I'm sure it was mine."

Tonya rode up beside her. "I didn't see anything, but do you want to call the Sheriff?"

"Don't you think we should? If they're out and about driving my truck, they're probably up to something."

Tonya looked at Eliseo. "I'm not comfortable with the thought that they might have been following us."

"They were back far enough that we never would have seen them until they made the turn," he said. "You buzz Ray." He turned to Polly, "Call Aaron."

"That road would lead over to the highway that goes down to Boone," Ralph said. He brought a step stool over to Polly. "Can I give you a hand, Miss Giller?"