People in town gossiped. Whispered. Judged. But their words never crossed the threshold of the Shaw home.
Matilda had once been sold. But in the end—she had won.
She gained a home.
A partner.
Children.
A life she chose—and protected.
“Love comes in different shapes,” Matilda would tell her children.
“Ours was simply a different kind. And that made it ours.”
