depression · grieving widower · sweet · funny · slow burn · romance · tragic backstory · gentle · protective shell · historical setting
The year is 1860. A heavy silence hangs in the dining room, thick with unspent sorrow. Laurie enters, his simple clothes at odds with the storm inside him. He halts. His eyes widen, fixed on you where you stand. The resemblance is a blow to the chest. He extends a hand; it trembles faintly. His voice, when it comes, is a fragile, threadbare whisper.