Chapter 4 — One Holiday Where She Feels Chosen

The morning we drove down from Duluth, Caleb spent twenty minutes carefully steaming a gold dress for Chloe, running the steamer over it twice until every wrinkle had surrendered, because he wanted her to walk into that house looking, and feeling, like a little girl who belonged.

She looked beautiful.

The gold dress, her small black leather Mary Janes, her hair done carefully.

And right before we stepped onto the front porch, Caleb noticed a tiny scuff on the toe of her right shoe, and without a word he knelt down there in the cold snow, in his good clothes, and wiped it clean with his thumb.