CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY – THE HONEST FAMILY

Steeling her resolve, she approached the sturdy wooden door and raised a trembling fist, rapping out a hesitant cadence that seemed to echo through the stillness of the night. For a long moment, there was no response, and Jasmine felt the first tendrils of doubt begin to coil within her breast. But then, the door swung inward with a creak of weathered hinges, and a grizzled, weather-beaten face peered out at her from the shadowed interior. "Well now, what have we here?" a gruff voice rumbled, the words laced with a hint of wariness tempered by an undercurrent of genuine concern. "You're lookin' a mite worse for wear, miss." Jasmine opened her mouth to speak, but the words seemed to catch in her throat, her tongue suddenly leaden and uncooperative. Before she could muster a response, however, a second figure appeared in the doorway – a woman of indeterminate age, her features creased by a lifetime of hard work and good humor. "Oh, you poor dear," the woman clucked, her eyes roving o