Chapter 4

The calm mask Jude always wore finally cracked. He slammed his glass onto the table and splashed water everywhere.

"I've told you countless times that Maddie and I have a purely professional, doctor-patient relationship—nothing more! Why would you make her come work as a nanny just to humiliate her?"

I scrambled to find words to explain myself.

No nanny could meet the long list of requirements I had set. She was the first to agree, so I had told her to come over before checking who she was.

How could I have known it was Maddie?

Still, there was no point in trying to explain now. All I could do was try to salvage the situation. "I know that I was too sensitive and realized I was wrong about her.

"She's willing to work here as a nanny, and since the two of you spent three months together and got to know each other during the treatment sessions, she seems like a good fit. It makes up for my past mistakes, too…"

My words sounded magnanimous, but Jude's chest tightened as he studied my expression.

I looked relaxed and even carried a radiant smile, as if I had finally shed a heavy weight. I was more beautiful than I had ever been in years.

A strange, suffocating sensation rose in his chest, along with the sudden fear that something important was slipping through his fingers.

While he was silent, Maddie's eyes reddened.

"Am I causing you trouble, Dr. Dixon? I'm so sorry. You gave me free treatments, stayed up with me every night until midnight, and even took me abroad into the mountains for psychological therapy.

"I feel grateful and indebted, so that's why I'm here.

"I didn't realize I'd be the cause of a fight. I'm so sorry. I'll leave right away."

…

After all that explanation, of course, Maddie stayed. Jude even went out of his way to warn me to remember what I had said and not make things tough for her on purpose.

With that, he gently brushed my cheek and murmured in a low voice, "You don't have to force yourself to behave just to please me, Serena. I'm used to the noisy you.

"I changed the sheets in the master bedroom to your favorite set. Come back and sleep in the room tomorrow."

His words seemed to ring a bell in my mind.

They brought me back to the times in college, when Jude was the campus star. He had good looks and was cool and brilliant in his studies.

So, when I finally managed to win him over, I was so thrilled that I announced it to the world and staked my claim everywhere. I even yelled at the ladies who gave him love letters.

It drew a lot of gossip and mockery. People said Jude and I were completely mismatched, that I behaved like a shrew, and that we would sooner or later break up.

I was upset for two days.

Jude heard about the comments. For the first time, he skipped class to find me and pulled me into his arms. "I like how noisy you are. That means you love me very much."

But after we got married, my constant jealousy and tantrums wore him down. He went from comforting me to thinking I was too insecure, and eventually grew annoyed.

He grew colder with every passing day until he finally scrawled a single line of diagnosis on the psychological evaluation form assessing my mental state.

"Perimenopausal shrew."