Page 249 of Taken Away

"Anything."

Red looked across the pasture where a few black Angus grazed beneath an old white oak.

"Best man I ever knew."

Burke nodded.

"How'd he die?"

"Heart attack."

"Out here?"

"Yep."

"Checking fence after one of those summer storms."

A faint smile crossed Red's weathered face.

"He always said if the Good Lord was taking him, He'd find him outside."

"I guess He did."

"Who found him?"

"Mabel."

Red let out a slow breath.

"She'd been waiting on him for lunch."

"When he didn't come in, she drove the Gator out looking."

Burke followed Red's eyes toward the tree.

"He was laying right over there."

Silence settled between them.

Finally Burke asked, "Did anything change after Harold died?"

Red nodded slowly.

"Everything."

"The winery?"

"The whole place."

Burke waited.

"Mabel kept going because that's what Harold would've wanted."

"And everybody else?"

"We tried."

Red chuckled.