“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jayden asked, concern in her voice.

“Just listening to me put it all into words helps,” he said.

She moved her hand away, stood up, and began to pace back and forth across the floor. “Starting tomorrow morning, instead of exercising with you and the girls, I’ll go help make breakfast. The girls don’t need supervising on their jobs, so I can be there for the other two meals, too. I like to cook.”

Elijah shook his head. “I can’t ask you to take on all that, plus take care of your girls.”

“You’re not asking.” She sat back down. “I’m volunteering.”

A picture of Skyler flashed through his mind. She would never offer to do so much work—not without getting paid double, and probably not even then.

“Then I’ll pay you more money,” he said.

“Nope,” Jayden told him. “I’m not doing it for money.”

Elijah wanted to hug her, as a friend, to show his gratitude, but he thought of the implications of such a thing and just nodded. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“Mary reminds me of my granny. I’d do this for her in a heartbeat,” Jayden told him.

He got to his feet and picked up both empty bottles. “You’ll let me know if you think she needs a doctor. We may have to take her to the emergency room kicking and screaming, but it would be worth being on her bad side if it means keeping her with us.”

“Of course. I will, and I’ll be honest.” She smiled up at him. “Good night, Elijah.”

“Sleep tight, and don’t let the horseflies bite,” he said.

“That’s funny,” she said.

The last person who had said Elijah was funny was Matty, the morning that they all went out on the mission. Elijah had told them a joke about a couple of country boys and a mule, and Matty said that he’d be laughing about that all day. “You’re funny,” he’d said as he grabbed up his gear and walked out the door.

Elijah still wasn’t sleepy, so he sat down on the porch of his cabin and watched the clouds play hide-and-seek with the moon. Sometime around midnight he awoke with a start with a kink in his neck from falling asleep with his head propped against the back of the wooden Adirondack chair.

He groaned when he got to his feet, went inside, and saw how late it was. He’d have to be up in less than five hours and Jayden wouldn’t even be there. A part of him wished that he had kept his mouth shut concerning his fears about Mary.

“Stop it!” he scolded himself as he climbed into bed. “You’re being selfish.”

“Oh. My. Goodness. Do you already have coffee brewing?” Mary asked. “What are you doing up so early, Jayden? The siren hasn’t even blown for the girls to line up for exercises.”

“My girls are showing me that they can be trusted. I’m used to getting up early, and I need something to do. Can I help?” Jayden asked.

“Only a foolish person turns down help.” Mary tossed Jayden a bibbed apron. “Henry usually helps me get things going before he milks the cows, but he’s not feeling too well this morning. I told him to sleep in another half hour and then get up and around. Tell the truth, I’m a little worried about him.”

“Oh?” Jayden slipped the apron over her head and tied the waist strings. Elijah was worried about Mary, and she was worried about Henry. Poor darlings, that had to be stressful for all of them.

“It’s probably just fear that something will happen before we retire. My daddy retired on a Friday. He and Mama had planned a little trip back to Maryland to see her sister the very next week, but Daddy died on Saturday morning. I’ve been worried that something like that will happen to one of us. We’re so close, and . . .” She wiped a tear away with the tail of her apron. “Listen to me acting like I’ve got a say-so in the day I take my last breath. Let’s talk about something else. Can you make good biscuits?”

“You bet I can,” Jayden answered. “After that happening to your dad, I can understand why you’d be worried. Does Henry need to see a doctor?”

“I don’t think so. I think he’s just needin’ to see Joe. That’s the last one of his Vietnam buddies. Ever since we bought this place, the guys all came and stayed for a week in our off-season after Christmas. There’s just Joe and Henry left now, but there used to be six of them, and their wives, if they were married, came with them. Henry’s been talking about him a lot lately and wishing he could see him more often.” Mary took a big bowl of eggs from the refrigerator. “I reckon that at seventy-five, our old bodies are just gettin’ tired of early mornings and all-day work.”

“Good Lord!” Jayden gasped. “I had no idea that you were that age. I thought you were both coming up on normal retirement age—sixty-five.”

Gramps died when he was younger than Mary, and that was only two years after they had buried Granny. Jayden’s mama said that he died of a broken heart—she’d been surprised it hadn’t happened even sooner than it did. Just thinking about the day they buried her grandfather brought a sharp pang to Jayden’s heart. She hadn’t known Mary and Henry very long, but she could see that they had the same kind of love that her grandparents had had. Like Elijah, she wanted them to have some time to enjoy life before the end.

“Thank you for that.” Mary set the eggs down and went up on tiptoe to give Jayden a hug. “And thanks for helping out. Do you think you could do this every morning? That way Henry can get on about his jobs. Even though he don’t say as much, he’s as worried about me as I am him.”

“I sure can. How about for dinner and supper, too?” Jayden asked. “I can dart in and out between meals to check on my girls.”

“That would be wonderful. We could even pay you a little extra,” Mary offered.

“That’s not a bit necessary,” Jayden said. “To me, this will be more like a vacation than a job.”

“Well, if you change your mind . . .” Mary laid a hand on her chest and took a couple of deep breaths.

“You okay?” Jayden asked.

“I’m fine. Just a little heartburn.” Mary started cracking eggs into a bowl.

Jayden could full well understand why Elijah was worried. The whole time she made biscuits, she wondered if she should tell him about Mary’s fears for Henry’s health as well. Maybe both of them should retire after this eight-week session instead of going straight into another two months with another set of girls.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Novalene asked as she came inside and headed toward the coffeepot. “I figured you’d be out there with Elijah and the girls.”

“I’m going to give the ladies a little rope and help Mary in the kitchen,” Jayden said.

“I’d offer to help, but I can’t boil water without the neighbors calling the fire truck.” Novalene laughed at her own joke. “Truth is that my idea of cooking is calling one of the two dozen numbers I have beside my phone and getting them to deliver my food. When I was teaching, I ate breakfast and lunch at school, and I picked up takeout on the way home. No wonder I’ve never been married.”