“I think it’s perfect,” Sully said. “I’ll get some picture hangers later and hang it up before supper.”

“I think I have some, if they’re large enough for the weight. Let’s go see,” she said.

He set the painting against the writing table and went with her to the utility room. She opened the doors to a cabinet full of little drawers, then pulled a couple of them open before she found the one she was looking for.

“Here are all of the ones Elmer had on hand. He kept a little bit of everything in this house.”

Sully dug through an assortment of little packets until he found one of hangers with a twenty-pound weight limit and took it out. Then he saw a hammer on another shelf and took it, too.

“This should work,” he said.

A few minutes later, the painting was on the wall. Sully stepped back to look at it again, then turned to Melissa and hugged her tight.

“You are the best woman I’ve ever known. Thank you for letting me into your life.”

“Oh, Sully, sweetheart…I don’t think I ever closed the door on our young love, because it was far too easy to welcome you home.”

Her lips were slightly parted and warm as he kissed her, but when he pulled back, he got lost in the clear green gaze of her eyes.

“Are you thinking about sex?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Then hold that thought. Among other things, we have groceries to put up.”

“Held and saved,” she said. “After that pancake breakfast, we kind of skipped eating at noon. Are you hungry? I bought some sandwich stuff.”

“Sounds good. I’ll empty sacks. You do sandwiches.”

“Deal,” Melissa said.

* * *

Downtown, Peanut’s secretary, Betty Purejoy, was getting the conference room ready for his 3:00 p.m. appointment with the people who lived in Niles Holland’s rental houses.

She and Peanut had been working on the transfers of ownership ever since Barb Holland contacted him and finally had the deeds and the paperwork ready. Peanut glanced up at the clock, then went to look for Betty. He found her in the hall, pushing a cart full of more folding chairs toward the conference room.

“Let me get those,” he said, and pushed it the rest of the way down the hall and into the conference room.

By the time they were finished setting up, it was a quarter to three. Betty was back at her desk, and Peanut was in the conference room pacing, something he always did before going to court. It wasn’t as though any of this would be bad news, but it was life-changing information for some very fortunate people.

Right on time, people began coming into the room. They looked nervous and anxious, and the solemn expressions on their faces told him they were braced for the worst.

“Come in and take a seat,” Peanut said, motioning toward the chairs encircling the large oblong table. Eight people came in at once, and while they were seating themselves, seven more arrived.