Chapter 9

When Dixie called the boys home, she asked Pops to come with them. When she got her sons into the tub, she took Pops to the kitchen, where the boys, who were not silent bathers by any means, would not overhear. There, once Pops was seated at the kitchen table with a dish of peach cobbler to work on, she told him first about Wade’s true background and identity.

Unlike her, Pops didn’t feel the least deceived. He laughed. “Ha! I knew there was more to that boy than he was lettin’ on. Rich, you say?”

“Filthy rich.”

“And him washing our dishes.” He laughed again and shook his head. “Did he say why he was here?”

“Yes, he did.” She told him the rest, about Wade’s heart transplant, and where his new heart came from.

Pops cried. His tears were a mixture of renewed grief at the loss of his only grandson, and pride that a part of Jimmy Don lived on in another person. More than one person, most likely.

“That’s something, isn’t it?” He wiped the moisture from his cheeks and eyes. “I’m so proud of