Chapter 2
I figured I'd completed my mission.
Ryan thought I was joking. "Where else would you go besides the Walker house? Why are you taking what the kids said so personally?"
Yet whenever the kids said cruel things and called them jokes, he'd taken them seriously every time.
Again and again, he'd sided with the twins.
My mother-in-law's face turned cold. "The Walkers are the biggest support you'll ever have. Where else would you get such treatment? You have no career, no skills. Don't let me hear that kind of talk again."
Her tone was the same commanding one she'd always used.
"Mrs. Walton has her eye on a jade piece. Go help her pick one out.
"And on your way back, stop by Emerald Bakery for some pastries. The children love them."
Those pastries meant three hours in line.
Before, I'd been willing.
Now, I wasn't.
"I have plans this afternoon," I said. "I won't be going."
Ryan stared at me, his expression complicated. "Are you serious?"
After all, I'd always obeyed my mother-in-law without question.
No matter how hard things got, I'd never once mentioned divorce.
"Yeah," I replied.
Ryan's hands clenched until the veins stood out on his knuckles.
"Who was it that begged me to marry her? Think carefully. Leave us now, and you'll get nothing," he threatened.
"I don't want anything," I said calmly.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed back his anger.
"You two, go to your rooms," he demanded.
The twins, a little afraid of him, went obediently.
He looked at me and recited, as if from a ledger.
"When Mia was four, she had a terrible fever. You braved the rain to take her to the hospital and ended up sick yourself. When Charlie was five and split his forehead open, you gave him blood without a second thought for your own life. Even with a broken finger, you insisted on cooking for them.
"And now you're saying you just want to walk away?"
So he'd known all along. Every single thing I'd done.
"Yes," I said quietly.
Ryan let out a scornful laugh.
"After all these years, you've finally secured your place as Mrs. Walker. You're really going to give that up?" he asked.
Everyone thought I was a nobody who'd struck it rich.
Even Ryan had believed, at first, that I married him for money and power.
But later, everyone in Snowfield knew I loved Ryan more than life itself.
I'd personally pick him up when he was drunk.
When he was swamped with work, I'd bring homemade soup to his office.
Once, a car nearly hit him head-on, and I threw myself in front of him without thinking, right outside a club, with his friends watching.
Everyone believed I was head over heels for him. Probably even Ryan himself believed it.
"If it bothers you," he said, "I'll discipline the children. Don't be stubborn with me."
So Ryan still didn't believe me.
That night, for the first time in six years, I didn't check on the children to see if they were asleep.
No more fussing, no more tiptoeing around.
I just closed my eyes and wanted one good night's sleep.
I heard a rustling beside me.
It was Ryan.
We hadn't shared a bed in three years.
He'd clearly just showered; his damp hair hung down, and his usual stern features looked almost soft.
His fingers moved, unbuttoning his shirt.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
He leaned over, trapping me beneath him.
"Let's have a baby. Hmm?" he said.
I froze.
His voice rang in my ears, and the shock made me shove him away hard.
"I'm thirty years old."
I meant to remind him that I was past the age where having a child was safe for me.
He took off his watch. "There's still time."
As if granting me a great favor, he added, "I know not having a child has always been your regret. I can give you one."
His tone was casual.
I felt a wave of revulsion.
"No, thanks. I came into this family with nothing. When I leave, I'll leave nothing behind and take nothing with me," I said coldly.
Ryan looked at me for a long moment.
I suddenly thought of that night.
The whole family had learned I was pregnant.
Passing the study, I'd overheard my mother-in-law say, "That child can't stay. Once she has her own, who knows how she'll mistreat the twins."
Later, Ryan came to my room.
His face was hidden in shadow as he flipped through the medical report. He said only four words: "Get rid of it."
"Okay," I agreed.
The next day, Ryan cleared his entire schedule and took me to the hospital.
He stayed with me until I was discharged, thinking I'd suffered a great injustice and trying to make it up to me.
"I know you still resent what happened back then," he said. "I've seen how devoted you've been to the children all these years. Mother has finally agreed to let you have a child. Think it over."
"No need," I replied, my voice cool.
I turned my back to him.
Ryan assumed I was still angry about the past and said nothing more, leaving the room.
But he didn't know that back then, I hadn't wanted that child either.