Caleb reached for a bread roll before the blessing, then carefully put it back when everyone looked at him.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

“Eat,” Robert said.

“You don’t have to apologize for being hungry.”

That simple sentence loosened something in me.

I was not ready to trust this family, but I appreciated that one person had noticed a child’s needs before protecting an adult’s pride.

As the first plates were passed, Beatrice smiled sharply at me.

“Grace, darling, you’ve been keeping busy.”