Chapter 40.

I woke up the next morning, and it took my brain a minute to remember everything that had happened the day before. As soon as it all flooded back to me I quickly jumped up from my bed of makeshift blankets and wool and darted out of my room. Father was sat on the wooden bench in the main room, slumped forward, resting his arms on his thighs and his head hanging low staring at the floor.

“Dad are you ok?”. I asked softly in concern as I stepped closer.

“Hm? Oh yes, yes, I’m ok!”. He replied as he jolted his head up to look at me, but I could see past his pretence to notice the angst on his face.

“Don’t lie to me, dad. What’s wrong?”.

“Just…”. He exhaled heavily as he clasped his hands together as his eyes wandered around the room, looking at everything but me. “The thought of going back and having to tell Caleb what’s going on”.

“You don’t think he’ll believe you?”. I questioned.

“No, I’m not worried about that, I know he’ll believe me. But no matter what he does with Violet, we