Chapter 35

The family marks Abel’s thirteenth birthday with a modest breakfast and teasing predictions about the man he will become. Old Caleb declares Abel a man and, after the meal, asks if Abel is ready. Though frightened, Abel agrees, and Old Caleb leads him toward the far woods for a men-only rite that only Caleb understands.

Natalie, Mary, Maeve, and Noah watch the pair depart, each wrestling with exclusion and uncertainty. Natalie forces calm while noting the power imbalance—Caleb sets the rules and destinations. Noah, feeling abandoned, shouts after Abel, then sours as Mary promises his turn will come someday and Maeve asks when hers might be.

Trying to lift spirits, Natalie suggests activities, but Noah rejects them and snaps that she understands nothing, insisting horses aren’t meant to be ridden. When Natalie offers to bake bread with him, Noah explodes that it’s women’s work and calls them “stupid women,” then flees to the barn.

Hours pass. As dinner nears, Mary retrieves Noah from the barn, where he has cried himself to sleep. She carries the hay-covered boy back to the house, underscoring his vulnerability beneath the bravado the men’s world expects.

By sunset, Old Caleb and Abel still have not returned, leaving the household uneasy and highlighting the community’s secrecy and the emotional cost to those left behind.