The boys and Pa are at the hospital, asking at the front desk where their friends are. The nurse remembers Mr. Downing and EJ from the last time they were here and takes them down the hall, where they find Peter and his friends at his grandmother's bedside. Doctor Whitmore nods to the boys and Wayne to come into the room, and the nurse closes the door for some privacy so they can all be alone. Peter gets a chance to say goodbye while holding her hand as she whispers to be good and mind Mr. and Mrs. Whitmore.
Peter's grandmother then takes Mr. Whitmore by the hand and places Peter's hand in his, whispering. "I give my grandson freely," as she passes away with her final breath. Peter leans over and cries into her shoulder as she dies until there's nothing left but dry, soft tears. The nurse in the room places a letter in Mr. Whitmore's hand from Peter's grandmother, helping Mr. Whitmore remove Peter from his grandmother so they can take her down the hall while Mr. Whitmore holds him against him with his arms around him with tears in his eyes for his new son.
Pa embraced all his boys with tears as they watched Peter's grandmother leave the room and embrace their friends with love for them. Giving them all a few more minutes together in the room with a pat on the back, with a last embrace. "Kollie, I'll take the boys home while you start making the arrangements. Meet you there,"
Wayne says as he patted him on the back with a firm handshake, putting his arms around the boys and heading back to New Downing. While he leaves his friend at the hospital to make the arrangements for Peter's grandmother, Kollie opens the letter with shaky hands and tears moist in his eyes as he reads the letter:
To my dear friends, Kollie, and Renee Whitmore.
With loving care and how long I have known and loved you for showing real love for Peter. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I ask you to adopt him into your family, raise him as your own son, be a part of your family, and care for him, which I know you will do. I give you my grandson with all my heart.
My only wish and request is that he go to college at BYU and study hard in any field that makes him happy. To help him do this, I have set up a savings account in his name at this bank when he is old enough.
I also leave you the farm and all of its provisions and land. Except for the small leather goods shop, I want them to go to his friends, Robert, Will, and EJ, to make saddles for horses, sandals, and other leather goods. I will miss you all, but my time has come, and I am not afraid, knowing Peter is in good hands and this is not really goodbye. So, I'll save you a spot at the annual picnic in the sky.
-Elizabeth Price-
Doctor Whitmore signs out and requests medical leave at the desk, calling another doctor he knows to take his place while he's gone for a month or two. He hugged his nurses and wished them well as he left the door. Kollie heads back to the cottage with a tear in his eye whenever he looks back at his hospital. He wipes his eyes as he heads down the road, thinking about his son Peter.
* * * *
Wayne takes the boys back to the cottage for the remainder of the day with great sorrow on their hearts and minds. They could not concentrate on any task at hand. Yet life must go on, but how? As Wayne looked at the boys and their friends, or should we say young men. Wayne decided that, for now, knowing that changes needed to be made so the boys could have time to grieve as they gathered around the table, he pulled out the telegram and passed it around so they could read it. "The ladies won't be back for two weeks, boys, possibly three," Wayne said as he tried to lighten the mood a bit. "So I'll make you a promise with your Pa, and this includes Richard," as he nods to him, and he nods back, playing with Sam and Ted in the corner.
"We will help you with preparing meals around here. You have learned your lesson well, boys, but the time has come for me to need you. We need to be doing other things, and I need all your help before they come home. Like selling, working the cattle, and selling sheepskin. Trade and things we have in the barn, woodworking projects like the new table and chairs for the kitchen and other things for the house, prepping the fields for crops for next season," he said as leans back on his chair, placing his hands behind his head.
"We also need to go to a large appliance store in Salt Lake City and do some trade up there. Anyway, boys, I need you all right here so you can help me. Can you do that, boys?" Pa asked.
The boys looked at each other for a minute. Robert asks. "What about the paper and post office, Pa?"
"That, boys, is where we must find your replacements, but I have an idea that might work out." Showing them a copy of the newsstand and a roster for the help of the paper and the post office. "Now I would suggest we get busy, time is a wastin'g. Except for Peter here, you're done for a while until you are ready to help." He puts his arm around him. "You have other things to do, I believe, and we completely understand, son, and want you to know we are all here for you." Peter nods with tears still fresh in his eyes.
When Mr. Whitmore reaches the cottage, he finds the boys and Mr. Downing all starting dinner tonight. After all, the guests were still coming tonight. Mark puts the turkey in the oven. Robert started the gravy while EJ and Will peeled the potatoes. Richard takes Sam and Ted for their baths, and Peter helps Mr. Downing set the table. Frank helps make the rolls and the stuffing, then Richard comes back with two little ones so Mr. Downing can watch them play in the room, then pats Peter on the back so he can head on down the hall, take a nice long hot bath.
Richard starts a fire in the pot-belly stove and then goes out to chop some more firewood for tonight. Pa has the little ones to help him set the table. Mr. Whitmore walks in the door with wonderment, watching the boys carry on. Wayne nods to him and carries on, setting the table as Peter comes out all nice and clean, and refreshed. Richard comes in with a load of firewood for tonight and then heads down the hall for his bath.
"Wayne, can I speak with you for a moment?" Kollie asked. Wayne watches the boys,
"Sure, what's on your mind?" He asked as they walked outside. Mr. Whitmore shows him a letter from Peter's grandmother and tells him he's on medical leave for a month or so. Wayne tells him what he promised the boys, showing him the telegram he received today.
"Good. I was worried about that with everything going on. They all need time to grieve and deal with things. Plus, see what all this is about," he said, pointing to the letter but, for now, putting it in his pocket for later. Then he went back inside to help prepare dinner. After all, nothing has changed; life must go on.
Richard has come out nice and clean, and Robert has gone down the hall for his as they walk into the cottage. Mark pulled out the recipe for the pumpkin pie and handed it to his pa to make as he helped make the cranberry sauce and placed the rolls into the oven. Robert comes out from his bath nice and clean, then EJ goes in for his bath down the hall; Frank takes his place in the kitchen, helping with the carrots and the peas.
Peter helps finish the table and watches Sam and Ted as EJ comes out and pats Frank on the back, taking over the kitchen while he bathes. He is passing the hat and the apron to him. EJ pulls the rolls out as Pa passes the pumpkin pies to EJ and helps cook the stuffing on the stove. Richard and the boys begin to set things on the table as Frank comes out and pulls the turkey out to cool. Mr. Whitmore and Downing clean up the kitchen while the boys finish putting food on the table.
Then the guests arrived right on schedule, the two aunts, Grandma, and Granny, as they gathered around the table. Frank stands up and tries to give the toast but does not know what to say, looking downcast at his friends. Kollie stands up and gives the toast, whispering, putting his arm around Frank and the boys. "It's ok, son, I got this one. To our honor, guests, and friends, thanks for your kind words and your deeds. Our hearts are filled with love, and may our food fill you with hope," as he wiped a tear in his eye with the back of his hand. "With a token of our gratitude."
Wayne nods as he sits down at the table next to his boys. The table is silent from all the boys, not a whisper as they pass around the food to each other. Just bowed heads, a tear once in a while from the boys thinking of Peter's grandmother and how much they all were close to her and going to miss her. They barely have an appetite, if any at all, leaving their guests wondering what is going on. Why is everyone so sad and quiet?
Watching the boys, Kollie and Wayne, Grandma leaned over to Richard, whispered to him, and asked. He told her about what was going on about Peter's grandmother. "Boys, let me tell you a story about friendship and neighbors; it might cheer you up," Grandma said as she began to tell her story.
"When I was young, about your pa's age, we had a bounteous crop of peaches, cherries, apples, and some prunes. There was not any outside market out here not for selling fruit. My husband had to leave home to find work as we were expecting our first baby the following February, so he went to work for a farmer in southern Utah until it was almost time for the baby to come. "Anyway, on his way home, he was attacked by outlaws who took all his money and brutally treated him. We did not know how we were going to get by. My father gave me a beautiful heifer as a wedding present, but we had to sell the calf because we needed the money to pay for a midwife. I had a hard time, so I had to have a doctor, too, but he was willing to wait for his money.
"No matter how hard we tried to save to get ahead, it was impossible. We could not sell as much fruit as many people had big orchards. With no outside market and across the fence, our neighbors always borrowed or stole everything we had. Knowing my husband was away, they took our haystack to feed their cattle. One day, I bought a fifty-pound sack of sugar. We lived on the corner. So I was stopped on the other side of them, asking me if I had any sugar. I did not think they would know I had opened it.
"I opened it and left out enough for a few days, then tied the sack and put it under my bed where no one could see it. The next night, when I was sitting in the kitchen, my neighbor, who came in without knocking, walked right into the bedroom. She pulled out the sack of sugar, took out what she wanted, and put the sack back under the bed.
"She did not knock or look around the room, or she would have seen me sitting in the kitchen. As she was going out the front door, I said hello. She turned, looked around, and saw me. She began to stutter; she wanted to borrow some sugar. How she knew the sugar was there, I'll never know. I let her keep the sugar, knowing she would have it anyway.
"I did not take all things as good-natured as my husband did, so she sent the police officers after me. I told them we don't need a trial; all we need is for those people to stay on their own side of the fence. If they would do that, I promise there would not be any more trouble. They were not satisfied with the trouble that had caused me. Oh no, she would tell them some filthy lies about me. "I told her I didn't care what she said about me as I have lived here all my life, and the people knew me. Nevertheless, to my knowledge, she and my mother's closest neighbor, a very good woman with a sister-in-law, had all kinds of fun yakking about me.
"They thought my mother would join them, but instead, my mother turned a cold shoulder on them. Ms. Clyde, the good neighbor, never got over losing my mother's friendship. It all started with a fence and a cup of sugar. So what are friendships worth?"
Grandma asked, looking at the boys around the table. "It is someone to be there when the times are hard like these," she said, putting her arm around Peter and the other around Mark. You should always count on your good friends and their deeds to pull you through the hard times," she said, winking at Wayne and nodding to Mr. Whitmore.
"Now then, first thing in the morning, I'll swing by the school and excuse them for the rest of the week and pick up their assignments from their classes, so they don't fall behind." Then Grandma gave them each a kiss goodnight, sent them all straight to bed while the aunts and they cleaned up the table and finished the dishes, then tucked the boys into bed before leaving.