Chapter 5: A New Family, A New Name

Selective amnesia is a handy diagnosis—like washing your mind clean of the bad stuff in one big gulp, leaving only the pieces you want to keep.

It’s the kind of thing folks joke about at the bar, but in real life, it leaves more questions than answers.

What remained was a brand-new young man—a blank slate, at least on the surface.

Henry Jensen had always wanted a son.

His wife had died in childbirth, leaving him with only a daughter, Natalie, as delicate as a kitten.

Old-timers in town would shake their heads and say Henry had been dealt a rough hand, raising a girl alone in a man’s world.

“Henry, you lucked out—a grown son just falls from the sky, and he’s got amnesia, so you don’t have to worry about him running off someday. Raise him as your own, let him and Natalie grow up together, keep him close, let him take care of you when you’re old—can’t get better than that.”

Henry spat on the ground and grinned. “Exactly! Can’t remember his own name? Even better—he’ll be called Caleb Jensen. From now on, call me Dad. You’re my son now!”

He said it with the satisfaction of a man who’d finally caught a break, even if it came wrapped in mystery.

Caleb dropped to both knees and called out, “Dad,” his voice steady and clear.

The gesture startled the crows in the old maple tree outside. Natalie peeked from behind the curtain, eyes wide with curiosity, a little fear, and maybe a spark of hope.

That year, by chance, Natalie had just turned sixteen. The red ribbons at the ends of her braids were bright as Fourth of July streamers, falling across the freshly shaved head of the youth.

It was a scene straight out of a small-town storybook—two lives on the edge of something new, fate tying them together in a way neither could have expected.