After Penny and Halley had their cozy get-together, Penny got a call from Chris. He's the manager of the ranch in Nebraska, "Hi Chris, what can I do for you?"
"Aw, well Penny, I got some bad news. Your mother had a stroke this morning and the doctor says she may not make it through the day."
Penny broke down, "Oh My God, "I'll be catching the first flight out today. Thank you for being there and calling me right away."
She rushed around and found Leonard. She threw herself into his arms, "My Mom had a stroke! I have to get to Nebraska ASAP."
"Oh Penny, I'm so sorry, come on, pack a small bag I'll get one too and we'll head to the airport."
She got a hold of Halley and Michael and told them what happened. "You two have to take care of the place while we're gone. I'll call as soon as I hear anything."
Penny looked to Halley, "Please put everything we discussed on hold until we get back."
Halley hugged Penny, "Don't you worry about that whatsoever. That isn't important, you go and tend to your mother. Give her our love, we both love you!"
Penny hugged them both and they left for the airport.
They landed in Omaha and rented a car and headed to the nearby hospital that Chris texted Penny. When they got to her floor, Chris and couple of other of the ranch hands were in the waiting room.
Penny ran over to Chris and threw her arms around him, "Oh Chris, thank you for being there for Mom. How is she doing?"
"Aw well, they won't allow us in, seeing we are not family. I told them I was the closest thing to family she had here in Nebraska, but when I told them you were coming, they made me wait for you to arrive."
Penny and Leonard went the nurses station and Penny read them the riot act.
They calmed her down and led her to her mother's room. She was unconscious with tubes sticking out of her. She turned and found the doctor arriving, "How is she doing doctor?"
He led her aside, "I'm afraid it doesn't look good. This isn't any brain activity, but we'll monitor her throughout the day, but you may have to decide if we should continue to keep her alive my mechanical means to an extended about of time."
She sat with her throughout the remained of the day as Leonard filtered the ranch hands in one at a time to see her.
Leonard left and got a hotel for them and another couple for the ranch hands. He returned to the hospital, but found Penny sobbing uncontrollably. While Leonard was preparing them for a lengthy stay, Susan slipped away without awakening. Penny was devastated, even though she was her father's baby, not her mother's.
Chris and the ranch hands returned to the ranch, while Penny went to the hotel. Leonard went out to the ranch and found a file with her last requests. He put it aside and found an envelope with Penny's name on it. He opened it and found her will. He closed it up, not wanting to look at it without showing it to Penny first.
He got an outfit for his mother-in-law for the casket and hurried back to the hotel. He consoled her as much as possible, but knew it was a lost cause. He finally calmed her down and handed her the envelopes.
Penny opened the first one and in her wishes. She assigned Penny as the executive of her will. She looked at the next page and read it to herself. She looked up at Leonard, "She requested not to have a open casket, not even a showing. She wants to be cremated and her ashes spread across the meadow out at the ranch, same as Wyatt's ashes were a few years ago."
Penny let out a loud sigh, "Wow, that makes it a lot easier. I didn't know if I could hold it together if I had to have her showing at a funeral home. I called Sally and she's coming in tomorrow and Randall chuckled and told me to stick it, he hung up and left me hanging on the phone."
She opened the other envelope and began reading to herself and her jaw dropped. She looked to Leonard, "Wow, Sally and Randall are gonna be pissed."
She handed the will to Leonard and he read it out loud, "I give both Sally and Randall, one hundred thousand dollars that I had set aside in out joint bank account. Randall's will be controlled by Penny and given to him as increments of ten thousand a year, but only if he keeps clean. This will be determined by Penny. The remainder of the money and all the property will be given to Penny and her husband Leonard." He looked to Penny, "This must have been done recently seeing we've only been married a couple months."
Penny nodded, "Well it is very clear, we get the ranch. What do you think, Leonard?"
He thought a moment, "Well I was looking to sell the place in Santa Monica and retire. This would be a very RED state and no more liberals, but it's up to you."
She hugged him, "That was my thoughts exactly. I guess I can ask Chris to take over as full time manager of the ranch until we move. I know it can't be right away. We can discuss this later, but my mother is my first priority."
They had Sally over the next day, her husband stayed in New Jersey and she wasn't upset about the will. She knew she wasn't her parents favorite and took it all in stride. A couple days later, she was on a plane back to New Jersey and Penny and Leonard went to the ranch for a few days.
They sat down with Chris and gave him a huge raise, "Listen Chris, we don't know how long we'll need you as the manager of this ranch, but we'll need you here until we move from California. After that, we'll still need you, seeing we don't know shit about being ranchers."
He hugged Penny and did the same to Leonard, "I'm here for you and would love to be in charge. I know some time in the future, you'll be able to take over, but until then, I'm yours."
Leonard chuckled, "I'm sure we can work out something even better, but we'll discuss it further when we come here full time."
A couple days later, they left for California and on the flight back, they thought about how to break the news to Halley and Michael.
Penny knew the news about Halley and the baby would be a perfect time to bring it up to him and with the move it would be perfect timing. "Leonard, Halley has something to discuss with you when we return home. She was going to talk to you about it before the news of my mother hit. I just hope you listen to her and have an open mind about it."
He turned to her, "What is it Penny?"
She shook her head, "Sorry Leonard, this is her idea, and I believe it is something you should hear from her. I totally support what she is proposing. I think it is completely unselfish and it would be the best thing that ever happened to you."
He was a little worried, "You have to tell me Penny. We told each other, no secrets, no lies."
She rolled her eyes, "It isn't a secret. We were gonna bring it up the day after our little virginity parties. You know I was conflicted. I know we told each other, no secrets, but it isn't one. It just so happened that my mother's illness put a damper on it and we decided to wait until we returned home." She took his hands in hers, "Please, listen to what she says with an open mind and think about it before you react."
"Oh fuck Penny, now you are worrying me."
She shook her head, "No, it's just the opposite, but you have to listen before you react."
"She isn't returning home to Bernie's is she?"
