“Of course we can,” Mack answered. “Maybe we could use that box over there in the corner to put the cat and kittens in while we’re waiting.”

“And gather up those coffee cans and put them in another box,” Sally said. “You might as well take them on home with you, too, since that’s what she wanted.”

“I’ll hitch up the trailer and come get those two calves out there in the corral this afternoon,” Mack said.

“It’s sad,” Holly sniffled. “Everything that she loved, her whole life and everything she loved, is all over and gone in just a day or two.”

Mack laid his spare hand on Holly’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’s a lesson to us to live every day like it was our last.”

Holly patted his hand and then stood up. “I can’t believe she was our cousin, or that she’s giving her cats to us. That’s so sweet. I didn’t know her long, but I’m going to miss her so much.”

Mack let go of Lily’s hand and helped the kids get the mama cat and her three babies into the cardboard box. As he and Braden took the box outside, the undertaker came into the house. He’d taken care of both Lily’s parents, and he nodded solemnly at her.

“This will be an unusual one, but we’ll do our best to abide by her wishes. Her wooden casket is out there in the hearse, and we’ll get her into it. She told me that Sally and your family are the only ones to be at the private burial service, and that once she is in the casket, we are to shut it and not open it again,” he said. “Do you want to change any of that?”

Sally and Lily both shook their heads. “Do whatever she wanted.”

“I called Mr. Stewart on the way over here. He’ll be here tomorrow afternoon with his old mule to pull the wagon to the cemetery. The service will be at six thirty. I think that’s about sunset at this time of year. Do you want to tell her goodbye one more time before we get started?” he asked.

Mack came back and picked up the box that had about a dozen old metal coffee cans packed inside it. “Are we about ready to go?”

Holly went to the bed, leaned down, and kissed Granny Hayes on the forehead. “Goodbye, Granny. I loved you, and I should have told you so,” she said, and then turned around and, with a fresh batch of tears running down her cheeks, left the cabin.

Sally, Lily, and Mack fell in behind her, and the solemn little parade crossed the porch. “Shall we stop by the—” Mack started and then shook his head. “We have the cats. We’ll have to go home and come back.”