Chapter 10
Francesca heard about the council meeting.
She called me furious.
“You humiliated him.”
“No.”
“He should never have been put in front of those men.”
“He asked.”
“He doesn’t understand what they think of him.”
There.
I became quiet.
“What do they think?”
She stopped.
Too late.
“Say it.”
Nothing.
“You’ve spent years fearing how men might judge Caleb.”
“Yes.”
“Then you started arranging his life around their prejudice.”
Silence.
That was the central failure.
Instead of demanding the family learn how to respect him, she tried to make his difference invisible through Mason’s control.
Mason could translate.
Mason could command.
Mason could reassure men that someone “normal” was handling things.
I hated the word even in my head.
Francesca whispered:
“I was trying to make sure nobody could take advantage of him.”
“And you taught Mason how.”
That landed.
She started crying.
Good.
May you like
Not because tears solved anything.
Because the contradiction finally became impossible to avoid.
