An act of kindness
The one family member that was there with the police and heard John’s sad story told the others about it. They all felt bad for the poor man and didn’t want to press any charges against him. In fact, all they wanted to do was let him know that he wasn’t alone in all of this.
So they came up with the idea that they would leave flowers on his wife’s grave as well as their own. They knew that he didn’t have enough money to buy them on his own. John would make his way back down to the cemetery later that week and discover what they did for him.