At the age of 16, her father forced his overweight daughter to marry a miner who had two sons – and then what happened…
At 16, Ellie’s life was ruled by her father’s iron will. Shy and struggling with her weight and low self-esteem, she lived in a small town where everyone judged everyone else. Her father, a strict man with little patience, saw her as a burden. One day, he announced a shocking decision: she was to marry Caleb, a rugged coal miner twice her age, a widower with two young children. Ellie’s world crumbled in an instant.
“Why me?” she sobbed, but he remained unmoved.
“Caleb needs a wife, and you need a purpose in life,” he spat out.
Ellie had never met Caleb in person, but had only heard rumors about his lonely life in the mountains.
Her heart raced with fear; marrying a stranger and raising his children felt like a punishment she didn’t deserve.
The wedding was like a whirlwind.
Ellie, in a simple dress and with trembling hands, listened to the murmuring of the townspeople.
Caleb, tall and weather-beaten, hardly spoke. A hint of kindness flickered in his dark eyes, but Ellie was too afraid to notice it.
His children, eight-year-old Mia and five-year-old Ben, clung to him and eyed him suspiciously.
The mountain hut was small, cold, and far from the city.
Ellie had difficulty adapting.
Mia and Ben ignored her, still grieving for their mother. Caleb was often out hunting or chopping wood, leaving them alone.
She felt isolated, and her weight made every task difficult.
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