the way this morning. Henry and I will bring up the rear.”
“Mary said she’d talked to you,” Henry said as they fell into step behind the eight girls.
“Going to be with Joe is the right thing to do,” Elijah said. “Mary doesn’t say much and keeps things inside so she doesn’t worry me or you, but she needs to get away for a while.”
“You’re right. I’m a tough old bird, but that girl hitting Mary kind of . . . well, it knocked both of us for a loop.”
“Me too,” Elijah agreed. “Would we need to do any paperwork?”
“We already did everything six months ago when we decided that this would be our last year. You’ve already been doing the business end, and we’ve got a good CPA who will continue to take care of the corporation end of things like payroll,” Henry answered. “It’s the physical part of things that bothers me. Will Jayden be agreeable to taking over the kitchen? Should we call Skyler and see if she would come back and do Jayden’s job in Daydream Cabin?”
“The girls might not like a change,” Elijah said, “but that’s a good idea. I’ll see if she’s back from that trip right after breakfast. Does this mean you’ll go?”
“Before we make a final decision, we’d like to have a visit with the staff, too. Being down a girl will help a little, but they all need to be willing to do a little more if it comes down to it,” Henry answered.
“Fair enough. How about while we’re all in the dining room at dinnertime, we talk about it with the staff?” Elijah suggested.
“This is a big decision for us.” Henry sighed. “I’m glad you’re willin’ to take over a little earlier than we planned.”
Elijah draped an arm around the shorter man’s shoulders. “I’d do anything for you and Mary. I owe you so much.”
Elijah talked to each of the counselors that morning, and they were all in agreement with him. Jayden had offered to take over the kitchen duties and said that she’d enlist her girls if she needed help. Novalene and Diana both said they would watch over Jayden’s girls when they were needed. Elijah breathed a sigh of relief that things had gone that smooth, and now it was time to have a group visit around the table after dinner.
“We can’t tell you how much we appreciate all of you offering to do this for us,” Henry said. “We talked ourselves into leaving and then talked ourselves out of it a dozen times since breakfast.”
“I’m glad to take over the kitchen,” Jayden said. “And there’s no need to call in another counselor. I can do both jobs.”
“I’ll help with Jayden’s girls or in the kitchen. Either one,” Novalene said.
Diana raised a hand. “Ditto. I’ll do whatever needs doing in any place.”
Elijah felt such a surge of emotion that he had to swallow three times to get the lump in his throat to disappear. He was nervous about taking over on such short notice, but it wouldn’t be all that much different than if he’d done the same thing in December—except by then he would have hired more help.
“We just didn’t feel right. What kind of example would it set for the girls for us to leave in the middle of their time here?” Mary asked.
“You know how you get that prick in your heart when you make the wrong decision?” Henry said. “Well, we both got that feeling when we decided we couldn’t leave this place in the middle of a season. Then we talked about it and decided that we need to be with Joe, and that brought peace to our hearts. I don’t want my friend and brother-in-arms to pass from this earth all alone in a strange facility, so we’ve decided to retire a few months early. We don’t want to miss a single minute with Joe. We’ll be leaving in the morning, and Elijah, we thank you for the offer to fly us, but we want to drive so we’ll have our own vehicle while we’re there.”
Jayden got up and rounded the end of the table to give Mary a hug. “The example you’ll be setting for these girls is that you stand by your friends—your real friends that have been true to you.”
“Thank you all again for your sweet support,” Mary said. “If you have questions, we’ll have cell phones with us. I wouldn’t agree to do this if I didn’t think y’all