All Else Confusion, chapter 3

Was Betts a Monty Python fan? I'd never noticed before that when Mrs Duvant falls ill, she says, "I'm not dead yet." Of course, she dies a few pages later of cancer, which she's had all along. I find it odd that Mrs Duvant chooses to spend her last days with Annis, a new acquaintance; that Matt never mentions the illness to Annis's family; and that Mrs Duvant wants Annis to call Jake, not Matt. OK, that last one's for plot reasons, but I still don't see the logic; Matt's her nephew, and his father is Mrs Duvant's brother. It's Annis who suggests contacting Matt's father. But this way, Annis amd Jake get to trade philosophies at the deathbed.
The only other event in this chapter (if we can call it an event) is Annis's realization that she's in love with Jake. And since it's pretty clear he likes her, and has even said he has found the person he wants to marry, it means the reader has to plow through six more chapters until the end - because nearly every Betts has nine chapters (if it's a novella, there are five). Oh, and Jake inherits the house.