All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) by Diane Greenwood Muir Read Free Book Online

parked.
    "Are all of these cars yours?" she asked
Lydia.
    "Oh, no. Beryl and Andy both drove over." Lydia said
rather smugly.
    "But, that's still a lot of vehicles."
    "We have a couple of extra cars around, I guess."
    It didn't seem as if Lydia planned to share anything else ,
so Polly followed her to the back of the Jeep and grabbed her overnight bag and
the laundry basket. Beryl promptly picked up the pillow case as Andy tried to
wrestle the basket out of Polly’s arms.
    Lydia unlocked a side door to the house and they entered through the laundry room. Beryl dropped the case and Andy
placed the basket on top of the dryer. “Leave your laundry here and we'll let
you come back to start it after we all get settled in. I think I heard
something about chocolate martinis!”
    Polly let them walk her through the hallway which
opened into a darkened room. As Lydia flipped on the light, Polly's eyes tried
to take in a room filled with women of nearly every age.
    It was ten o'clock on a Saturday night and there had
to be fifteen women in chairs and couches, at tables and behind the bar in the
room.
    "Hello?" she said. She didn't recognize
anyone.
    Lydia held up a hand and the room went quiet. "Alright, ladies. This is Polly. You all know she owns the old school house and is renovating it.
But, she doesn't know any of you."
    She turned to
Polly and said, "Got cha." Then,
she smiled and walked away. Polly turned to Beryl and Andy for some support and
they shrugged. Beryl lifted the overnight bag from Polly's shoulder and
followed Andy further into the room. "You'll never get to one-up that one,
girlie. Don't even try!"
    Polly stood in the doorway and while her head told her
to turn and run, it also told her she had nowhere to run to. She smiled at the
ladies, who didn't seem to be making a mad rush at her. In a moment, though , one of the
younger women came up to introduce herself.
    "Hi, I'm Marian Allen. My husband, Jerry is doing
your electricity," said the rather plain looking, but confident woman.
    "OH! Did he tell you he nearly blew the whistle
on this?" Polly asked.
    Marian coughed. "No. He didn't. What did he do?"
    "Oh, it was no big deal. He said you were going
to be in Des Moines and would pick up the door chime so he could install it on
Monday,"
    Marian interrupted. "Oh, that's right! Because
poor Dougie saw your underwear! That boy's mama is at the table
in the purple shirt." Marian snorted. Then Polly realized everyone in the room had something purple on with hot
pink accents.
    Her face flushed and she started laughing. "You're
all in purple!" S he looked at her
three new friends. They'd changed into purple shirts and each had a hot pink
bow clipped in their hair.
    "This is never going to go away, is it!" she
laughed. "How did you do it on such short notice?"
    "Oh, a few phone calls here, a few texts there
and everyone was on board," said Beryl.
    A very short woman with a pink scarf around her neck,
stood up. "I'm Dougie's mom, Helen. He was absolutely mortified he'd freaked
you out and saw your dainties ." she said. "It does make a mama's heart
feel better, though, that he' s never seen anything like it before. Whew!" She
laughed and sat back down.
    For the next hour, Polly moved from person to person,
meeting women and spending a few moments making connections. Wives and mothers
of people who were working on her school house; women who worked in shops
around town or lived on farms not far from her home; others who worked in Ames or Boone, a couple in Webster City; everyone
wanted to be sure she would recognize them the next time they met.
    Polly knew she wouldn't remember all of their names,
but that soon became a non-issue.
    Lydia stood up. "Alright everyone, it's time to
begin the game," she said.
    "While you're here and awake, you all have to try
to find something interesting out about Polly. When you do, write it down on
the piece of paper with your name on it and then we'll take a picture of you
with your sign and