Mary and Lizzy were busy that morning in the kitchen in the New Downing Square, helping out with feeding and putting breakfast out for all the newcomers from Cracken. They even made a basket for the boys and Wayne and Sheriff Whitmore that morning too for helping out. They dropped it by their door, tiptoed inside, and set it on the counter with a note. "Thanks, boys."
With the sun in Robert's eyes and hearing the door close, he yawns and stretches a bit. Looking out the window, he sees Mr. Rooster pecking away at his feed. Looking towards the sun high in the sky, he shouts. "HOLY COW!" Jumping down from his bed, he grabs his overalls and watches the boys sprawl out of bed onto their feet. "We better get moving, boys," he said, tying up his shoes and then running down the hall.
He was up quickly as Pa walked in the door, seeing the boys scurrying about the room. He watched the boys change the sheets, sweep the floors, and dust the house while he calmly sat on the couch, waiting for them to notice him with the three boys and Richard by his side. "Hello, boys," as they looked at them sitting there, watching them, they all froze right in their tracks. Their eyes are glued to the couch with one leg in the air as they turn around laughing with a grin on their face. "Let's say we get some fresh air," Pa said, grabbing the picnic basket off the counter.
Pa and the boys go out back of the house, finding Sheriff Whitmore spreading a quilt with the aunts and Grandma for breakfast and passing around plates for them. They have a nice brunch, and all of them are together.
"Boys, they tell us they need the room, so I'll make you boys a deal while the women are gone." Grandma and the two aunts were smiled like cats as they replied.
"We have a solution to the problem; I think you are going to like it," as they smiled.
"Your cottage is too small, dear," Lizzy patting Sheriff Whitmore on the knee.
"Boys, we can't spare the help for supervision at the moment," Mary said, looking hard at the two men. "Which leaves us no choice, so we have decided the best thing to do and to get what we want is to have you move all into one cottage all together, yours, Wayne. At the same time, the women are gone," leaving them sitting there. "Oh, by the way, boys, thanks for your help. Now, let's get moving because soon, you will have to give Danny back to his mother," as the three of them walk away.
Pa pulled out his pad and the measuring tape like he'd done several times before. He walked into the house while the boys put breakfast away, gathering their things, and Doc Whitmore gathered his things. He set them by Wayne's cottage, being careful with his wife's things, or she would kill him if she knew.
"Alright, boys," Pa comes out to join them, "it's doable, but it will be tight," looking at them all and rubbing the three little ones' heads. "What your Ma doesn't know won't hurt her," he said as he grinned, looking at the bunk beds. "This is what we are going to do, boys; Robert, you'll share a bed with me, and Mark can share one with his Pa. We need to bring two of those bunk beds, one from Whitmore's and one from your cottage, and take the big mattress to the barn and bring in five footlockers to store all the girl's stuff in, and by my guess, we have," Wayne said, looking at his pocket watch. "We have two hours before they come hunting us down for poor Danny, so let's get crackin'," he replied.
The boys run this way and that way, reassembling beds, and wiping the sweat and dirt off their faces as they approach that second hour. All of them plop down on the couch with relief, with the last bed in place.
The aunts walk through the cottages, making a list of the stores and nodding back and forth. "This will do nicely, boys, thanks. Now then, if she asks, and I know she will. Tell her he overslept and smile if she gives you any trouble, she knows who she can ask," Mary said, hugging Danny and kissing him on the cheek, and rubbing his head, whispered. "We'll see you in another two weeks, dear, we promise," wiping a tear from their eyes.
The boys loaded his little suitcase in the truck to take him back home. If you could call it home, it would not for some. Pa walks him to the door, leaving EJ in the truck with his friends and his brothers at his side. EJ's mother answered the door, and they both went inside, handing Danny's suitcase to her. She looks outside and sees EJ safe and sound with his brothers and friends by his side. Hearing Pa tell her. "Not today, Linda, he's fine," he walks back down to the truck and drives off, leaving her standing there with Danny waving goodbye.
Pa decided to register the boys for school so they could all start fresh tomorrow since they were already out this far. "What do you say, boys? We go to school, get you set up, then go back to town. That way you can all go together tomorrow and save us a trip into town."
"Sure, Pa. Okay, sir." Wayne drives them to school with a doctor's note in his pocket for the boys. Marches right into the office with all the needed records for each boy. EJ's maybe chard and a little singed around the edges, but they did make it through the fire; after all, he did bury them deep in the fruit cellar. He filled out the paperwork for the boys and handed it to the clerks to put into the system for the class rolls.
"Alright, boys," the secretary asked each of the boys. "First and last name, please."
"Robert Downing, ma'am."
"Will Downing, ma'am."
"EJ Downing, ma'am," EJ said, looking over at Pa and his brothers. Pa looks at him with tears in his eyes.
"Are you sure, son?" He asked.
"Yes, Pa, more than ever," EJ giving him a hug and his brothers. Pa nods to the secretary to put it in the books and on the records.
"Frank Whitmore, ma'am."
"Mark Whitmore, ma'am."
"Peter Price, ma'am."
Then, she handed them a schedule for their classes, copied the doctor's note, and sent them on their way. The boys headed for home, stopping at the ice cream parlor to celebrate before returning home that day. With their arm over their brother's shoulder and smiles on their faces, it was going to be a new day.
* * * *
Aunty M. soaring through the skies over Phoenix, Arizona, Martha, and the girls, not daring to look down from the window, hugged their seats and each other as Aunty M. laughed, pointing to the cotton fields that dot the west side. Reggie slowly brought the plane down closer to the ground, passing over the cotton ranch and lightly touching the field on the ground like an old pro. He set the plane gently on the ground, smiling at his mother and the ladies in the back.
"Now that wasn't so bad," he said with a laugh as he climbed out of the plane, opened their door, and offered his hand to let them out. One by one, they grabbed his hand, then kneeled, shook, and kissed the ground.
Aunty M. and Reggie shake their heads, watching them while pulling out the luggage from the back of the plane. "Alright, girls, let's get you inside," Aunty M. said, putting her arms around them. "Where is everyone, Reggie?" Aunty M. asked, watching her son carry the luggage into the house.
Reggie whispers. "This is it, Mother, just us and the kids," he said.
"I see," she said, shaking her head, looking at the field full of cotton ready to be harvested. "Well, let's get settled in, and you can tell me what's going on, dear," she said with a worried look on her face.
While the girls were changing, Reggie told her what happened. "Someone came by looking for you a few days ago, Mother. A horrible-looking man named Morgan, full of hate. Says he knew you, and this was just a warning if he didn't get what he wanted," Reggie replies. So everyone left because they said this place was cursed with spooks, and fights always broke out. Until everyone left me high and dry, except the kids and my wife," he said.
Aunty M. looked in the corner for shadows just as Reggie's wife Sara walked in with the kids, Devin, Nathan, Ethan, and baby Mike Jr., bringing them home from school and the groceries. "Grandma! Grandma!" they said, seeing her sitting in the room with their father. They raced across the room to her, jumping into her arms for a hug and a kiss.
Aunt Sara is the wife of Reggie, a mother of three boys, and a newborn baby named Mike Jr., named after her husband, Mike. Her three boys, Devin, age nine, and his two brothers, Nathan, and Ethan, are twelve and seven years old. All have the same brown hair and brown eyes as their father.
Aunt Sara was a small woman at five feet seven inches but had a large heart when it came to children. She had to tear them away to bring her up for some air, sending them all outside to play with a scoot. Then, with a motherly smile, she placed her baby into her grandma's arms. "And this is little Mike Jr.," she said.
Grandma rocks him gently, with a tear in her eye. She looks at the two of them and whispers. "Thank you both."
Little Mike Jr. falls asleep in her arms as she rocked him gently. The ladies come down all refreshed from the trip, looking at the baby; Martha and the girls already felt homesick for their brothers and the new one Ma is carrying, sighing. Watching her hand back, the baby returned to his mother, watching her put him down for his nap. Aunty M walks over to them. "Girls, let's go outside," taking an envelope out of her pocket, she hands it over to Martha and the girls to read since there is nobody out there to read it to, except the cotton field.
Martha swoons a bit, reading it and handing it to the girls. Aunty M. smiles, winks, and nods. "Yes, dear." As she pointed to the field. "All of it, plus a minor change," as she glanced at Renee. "An extra 3 percent partnership of it goes to her, Which I'll make when we make a trip to Phoenix later this week. Now it would be best if we get crackin;' we have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time either," Aunty M. said, picking some cotton off the bush.
Reggie and his wife Sara bring out baskets and stools for the ladies and show them how to pick the cotton off the bush while Aunty M. explains the processes. "Normally, we would use a machine to pick the cotton, but since this field's not large enough yet, we still pick it by hand here on this ranch. Then, we send it off to our mill to be cleaned and processed into thread, which we will do once you understand how the cotton industry works.
"It makes you appreciate the work it takes. According to my son Reggie, the machine is waiting for parts and won't be up and running for at least a week, but I think we can get it fixed sooner now that I am here.
"Once the cotton is picked, we send it to the mill to turn into cloth, depending on the need," she said. They worked all afternoon until dusk until dinner was ready. Tired and sore, they cleared two-thirds of the field that day. Martha and the girls each took a nice hot bath to work the kinks out of their shoulders before bedtime.
Aunty M. is sitting by the fire for some light conversation. She looked towards the window out in the field, then looked back at her son and family. "Sara, dear, I think we need to go into town with you in the morning, if that's all right, and send off a telegram." Then, she turns to the ladies. "Looks like we're staying a bit longer, too, I'm afraid, so you better get comfortable. We will be here for at least two weeks and possibly three instead of just the one." She replied with a tired smile and worried look as her eyes gazed out towards the cotton field. Shaking her head, and thinking about the news she heard. "Don't worry, dear, I am sure they will be just fine," she said, lifting her head and trying to sound positive. Realizing she needed to contact Derrick again and find out what he had learned about that knife and, most of all, Morgan, who seemed to be hunting her and her family.