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Kate kissed her cheek. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Yes. Grandpa read three stories.”

“Four,” Alan corrected as he reached them. “Your daughter is very persuasive.”

“Oh, I know.” Kate stood with her daughter still tucked against her side while Penny looked pleased with herself.

Alan looked toward Wes. “How bad over there?”

“Branches and windfall. One young tree leaning. Nothing I can’t deal with.”

Alan nodded. “We’ve got more down than I expected.”

“How are the trees themselves?”

“Most look all right from what I can tell.” Alan’s expression tightened. “I haven’t gone all the way to the old section yet.”

Wes understood immediately. “Eileen?”

“Inside with Janice. She knows we haven’t checked.”

Penny took Kate’s hand. “Can we go see Eileen’s tree?”

Kate looked at Wes. He nodded. “We’ll go together.”

Janice and Eileen joined them before they reached the old part of the orchard. Eileen had refused Janice’s offer to stay at the house while the rest of them checked. Wes had expected nothing else. The farther they walked, the more storm damage became visible. One fence rail had come down. Smaller branches littered the rows, and apples covered the grass beneath some of the heavier trees.

Then they rounded the end of the row. Penny stopped. “Oh.”

A major limb from Eileen’s old tree lay on the ground. It had torn away high enough to leave a raw wound along one side of the trunk. Leaves and a few missed apples were scattered through the wet grass around it.

Nobody spoke for a moment. Eileen walked forward first. Wes stayed back until she reached the tree. She put one hand against the trunk. Not the broken place. Lower down, where the bark was still intact. Janice came to stand beside her.

Penny edged closer to Kate. “Is it dead?”

“No,” Wes said. Every face turned toward him. He went to the tree and examined the break properly. The limb was substantial, and the wound would need cleaning. There were other smaller damaged branches that would have to come off, and the balance of the crown would need watching. But the trunk remained sound. The tree had lost a limb, not its life. Wes ran his hand along the edge of the split. “It’ll live.”

Penny looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“What do we have to do?”

“We’ll cut this properly so there aren’t torn edges left behind. Then we’ll take off anything else that’s broken and keep an eye on it.”

“Can I help?”

“With some of it.”

That satisfied her.

Eileen remained beside the trunk. After a moment she let out a breath. “Well,” she said, looking at the fallen limb. “That’s going to take some clearing.”

Alan smiled faintly. “It is.”

Eileen glanced at Wes. “You’ll tell me if there’s anything else it needs.”

“I will.”