()Grandma took in a young guy who had nowhere to crash. But in the middle of the night, she caught him sneaking toward her bed and FROZE when she saw what he started doing…

She didn’t need a daily loaf of white bread anymore. She preferred rye herself, and that half-loaf would last her a few days. Or maybe it wouldn’t.

It seemed she’d have to go back for more bread. Margaret didn’t quite understand why, but she stepped outside and approached the young man, who was finishing his apple. She reached into her bag, pulled out her rye bread, and held it out to him.

The young man looked up at her with slightly frightened, very surprised eyes. They were so blue, so childlike, so utterly helpless. Margaret couldn’t bear that gaze.

She lowered her eyes to the bread she was offering. “Take it, it’s fresh, I just bought it. Rye’s healthier, you know.

I always buy it. Go on, take it.” She insistently held out the packaged half-loaf.

The young man glanced at it, then looked at her bread with hesitation. He reached out tentatively. Margaret didn’t wait for him to waver.

She placed the bread in his hand and rummaged through her bag again. Only two butterscotch candies were tucked away in an inner pocket. She held those out to him, too.

“There you are! I even called your house. How wonderful that you came today, Margaret Anne. I see you’ve already met Ethan.”

The priest was hurrying toward them. It turned out he had been racking his brain, trying to figure out how to help Ethan, but nothing had worked. Margaret Anne was his last hope.

At his words, they all smiled. Margaret smiled shyly, and Ethan gave a timid but joyful grin. The priest explained that Ethan had spent his final year of childhood in a foster home.

Before that, his grandmother, Evelyn, had raised him, but when she passed away, Ethan was placed in that dreadful foster home. After turning eighteen, he was given a room in an adult halfway house. Now, Ethan was struggling there—his alcoholic neighbors stole from his room and kept breaking his lock.

He was in a hopeless situation with no one to help. He could rent out his room—there were even neighbors in the halfway house interested—but he had nowhere to go himself. The priest had thought that since Margaret Anne was now alone in her apartment, she could rent a room to Ethan. It would give her some income, and he’d have a safe place to stay…

Plus, it’s more cheerful to face troubles together than alone. The priest even offered to contribute some money toward Ethan’s rent, since Ethan wouldn’t get any income from renting out his own room for at least a month. “I don’t need any rent,” Margaret said.

Ethan’s shoulders slumped, his head dropped, and he stared at the ground. Margaret continued, “Ethan can stay with me for now, just as a guest. Maybe he won’t like it, or maybe he’ll want to find something else. But if he wants to stay, he can.” Ethan looked at her in astonishment.

She didn’t want money? She was willing to take him in, just like that? Even temporarily? It seemed no one had done anything kind for him in a long time. He couldn’t believe a complete stranger could treat him with such warmth. Margaret took Ethan home right away, not even returning to the church to light candles as she usually did…