They Tried to Mock Him by Giving Him a Blind Daughter, But He Gave Her a Last Name, a Home, and His Heart

As she struggled to brace it with a broken beam, Caleb appeared, drenched from the ride, tools strapped to his saddle. Without a word, he set to work. His hands were rough, sure, steady.

“You’ll freeze in here before winter’s through,” he said, hammering a plank into place.

“Why are you helping me?” Anika asked, her voice small.

He paused only long enough to answer, “Because no one else will.”

His words cut through the loneliness that had followed her since her husband’s death. That winter, Caleb returned again and again—mending fences, chopping wood, patching leaks. Anika tried to repay him with small kindnesses: a pot of stew, a cup of coffee. Neither of them spoke of anything more, yet a quiet bond grew in the spaces between their silences.

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