Her Daughter Was Mocked For Having No Father, Cowboy Knelt And Said “You Have One Now”

Chapter 2

That night, after Lily had finally fallen asleep in their narrow bed at Beatrice Potter’s boarding house, Grace sat by the window staring at the moonlit street below.

“Is he really going to be my papa now?”

The question echoed in her mind, sharp and painful as a splinter she couldn’t remove. She’d managed a careful answer at the time — Mr. Hartley was just being kind, sweetheart — but Lily’s response had cut deeper than any knife.

“But he said it, Mama. He promised.”

Promises. Grace had learned the hard way that promises were fragile things. Joseph had promised her forever, and forever had lasted barely six years. She’d promised Lily a better life when they left St. Louis, and so far, they were living in a single room at a boarding house, subsisting on the charity of a distant cousin she’d never met.

A knock at her door made her start.

“Come in.”