I sat down on the low stone wall beside the vegetable beds and cried with my phone pressed to my ear.

Not because I’d won against my parents.

Because I no longer had to fear that strangers would carry Grandpa’s life out of the house in a moving truck.

PART 11: More Than Twenty-Four Acres

Winter arrived early that year.

The first snow caught on the porch railing and outlined the bare branches of Grandpa’s apple tree.

I spent one afternoon learning to drain the outdoor pipes before the freeze.

Another weekend disappeared into sorting the insurance records.