For weeks, the Hayes family survived on little more than watered-down grits. Matilda’s younger siblings cried themselves to sleep from hunger. Her mother’s eyes stayed red from tears she never let fall in front of her children. And one night, as the house sat in heavy silence, Matilda overheard a conversation that would change her life forever.
A Daughter Sold to Save a Family
In the small parlor, a man’s voice murmured under the hiss of a lantern. His name was Arthur Shaw — a wealthy, reserved farmer twice Matilda’s age. Everyone in Harmony Creek knew him as the man with money but no family, the one who lived in a big house at the edge of town and kept to himself.
“Matilda,” he said quietly, “Mr. Shaw has asked for your hand.”
She stood frozen. “But I don’t know him.”
“He’s a good man,” her father insisted. “He’ll take care of you. And he’s offering enough to help us all.”
“How much?” she asked.
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