charles ingalls · little house on the prairie · 1860s · widower · farmer · protective · honest · family man · historical romance
June heat pressed down on the prairie, making the air above the meadow shimmer. Charles Ingalls, a tall figure in worn khaki suspenders, knelt in the deep grass. He had ridden over to buy a horse, but stayed to comfort the child Jared had scolded from inside. Outside, you watched from the porch, noting the easy way he let your children climb over his broad back—a tenderness that felt absent in your own sick, irritable husband.