Treasure Uncovered (Bellingwood #3) Read Free

in Bellingwood first."
    "I miss you too. I'll talk to you tonight."
    "Be good today!"
    She scratched Luke's head and closed her eyes. When Polly had proposed building a barn and that led to a barn-raising, Jeff Lyndsay had accused Polly of having a menagerie. He might have been right.
    Her front doorbell chimed and Polly came awake, startled. "You let me fall asleep," she admonished Obiwan, who was curled up on his blanket at the other end of the sofa. Luke must have also settled in because he stood up, arched his back, then stretched his front paws out.
    Polly ran to the front door and saw that Lydia and Andy were standing there with two women she didn't recognize.
    "You weren't down in your office and Jeff said he saw you come upstairs. Did we wake you?" Lydia laughed.
    Polly glanced around her apartment. Other than her bedroom, everything looked fine. "I'm sorry," she said. "You're right. I sat down and fell asleep."
    "Should we wait for you in the conference room?"
    "No, that's alright. Come on in." They followed Polly into the entryway. She winked at Lydia, who nodded.
    "Go ahead," Lydia assured her. "We'll get comfortable at your dining table."
    Polly swiftly closed the door to her bedroom and checked the bathroom. She folded the towel and hung it up over the heated rack, closed the shower door and scooped everything on the counter into the top drawer. The room had been wiped clean yesterday, so she nodded at herself in the mirror, fluffed her still damp hair and went back into the main room.
    "Can I get anyone some coffee? I could put water on for tea," she said.
    Though they all declined, Polly drew water into her teapot and put it on to boil. The women were spreading papers and plans out on the table and she watched as they shuffled things into some sort of order.
    "We have some wonderful ideas, Polly," Andy said. "And we have the labor to make it all happen."
    Polly stood beside Lydia, looking down at the first layout.
    "Oh!" Lydia said. "I should introduce you. This is Nancy Burroughs, the president of our local garden club and Deb Waters, whose gardens win prizes every year."
    Nancy Burroughs' hands were strong and Polly could feel callouses on them when they clasped her own. A woman in her early sixties, Nancy had shoulder length grey hair, a face filled with laugh lines and green eyes that smiled even when her mouth was at ease. Deb Waters was a blue-eyed blond, whose bouncy curls were held back with bright pink barrettes. Her well-worn jeans, black t-shirt and work boots seemed at odds with the curls and perfectly made-up face.
    Deb pointed to a map of the space and when she spoke, Polly thought she'd never heard such a beautiful speaking voice. Maybe it was because of her last name, but to Polly it sounded fluid, like water rushing through a river. She wrenched her attention back to what Deb was saying.
    "If we get started now, we can build the basic structures, then fill out the gardens as temperatures warm up."
    "Deb's husband, Louis, is a carpenter, Polly," Lydia said. "We figured Henry would be busy with other things and this would get someone else involved in a Sycamore House project. There are a couple of other husbands who have dug up their yards for ponds and waterfalls and are willing to help us."
    "That's great!" Polly said.
    "This corner has been so boring for such a long time, I think it's wonderful that you are going to do something with it," Nancy Burroughs said. "There are a lot of us who look forward to it being a pretty little park."
    The corner of Polly's lot was nearly as big as one of the town's blocks and the women had come up with an attractive design, complete with a walkway, which included a pond and a bridge, as well as several spots for benches. They had even planned for a trellis covered entrance leading to Sycamore House.
    "It's lovely," Polly said. "Now, what's this?" She pointed to a blocked out area at the far corner of the park.
    Andy dug underneath a stack of papers and pulled