Chapter 5

Nathan said nothing.

“It’s been a year, and you still haven’t posted a single wedding photo. What’s wrong? Embarrassed to show her off?”

He stayed silent.

“You married her, so she can’t be that bad-looking. Who’s prettier, your wife or me?”

Lily’s voice took on a teasing edge.

“Come out here and answer me. Your wife or me?”

Nathan clenched his fist. Standing in his bedroom doorway, he took a slow breath.

“What are you looking for?”

Lily laughed. “Fine, I’ll stop teasing you. I need a humidifier. It’s so dry in here my nose started bleeding.”

“I’ll find it. Don’t move things around.”

“What, are you afraid your wife will be mad when she gets back?”

Moonlight caught the look in Lily’s eyes.

Sophie had told her Nathan was divorcing his wife.

“Go back to your room,” Nathan said. “I’ll find the humidifier. Watch where you’re going in the dark.”

Lily started toward the guest room, then glanced back with a faint smile.

“Nathan, why do you hate talking about your wife so much? You’re the one who chose her.”

At last, she got a reaction.

“Lily.” His voice was firmer now.

Lily gave him a mocking smile, went into the room, and shut the door.

Nathan’s breathing grew heavy. He called Claire without looking at the time.

Diane had felt unwell all day. She’d finally managed to fall asleep in the unfamiliar bed when the shrill ringtone startled both women awake.

Claire soothed her mother, pulled on a jacket, and stepped outside to answer.

“What is it?”

“It’s too dry here. Lily has a nosebleed. Where’s the humidifier?”

Claire swallowed her anger.

“Third shelf from the top of the tall cabinet in the storage room.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t call this late again,” Claire said. “You scared my mother. If something happens to her, you’ll have to answer for it.”

She turned off her phone.

Claire gave a bitter laugh. Now she was wide awake.

So that was all she’d ever been to him. An unpaid maid.

—

Warm morning sunlight filled Linden Valley. Birds sang outside the guesthouse window, and the faint scent of flowers drifted in.

Claire woke with a sharp pain in her lower abdomen.

All the stress from dealing with the Brooks family had thrown her cycle off. Her period had finally come after a long delay, and the cramps were awful.

She didn’t want Diane to worry or let the pain spoil their trip. She forced herself out of bed, took her mother out, and spent the day taking pictures of her.

By the time they returned to the guesthouse that evening, Claire’s face was white with pain. She ordered dinner because she couldn’t bear to go out.

Diane didn’t eat. She sat beside Claire’s bed, looking lost.

“Claire, what’s wrong?”

“I’m okay, Mom.”

“You look like you’re hurting. It hurts me to see you like this.”

“I’m not hurting.”

Claire was curled up on the bed when Nathan called.

They’d spoken more in the past few days than they usually did in half a year.

She didn’t want to answer, but he kept calling.

“Hello?” Her voice came out weak.

Nathan paused. “What’s wrong? You don’t sound right.”

“Nothing.”

“Linden Valley is at a high elevation. Do you have altitude sickness? Have you checked your oxygen level?”

He sounded like a doctor now, all business.

“What do you want this time?” Claire asked.

“Can’t I call without wanting something? It’s only seven. Your mother’s still awake, isn’t she?”

“Mom and I are doing fine,” Claire said dryly. “So what is it?”

Nathan sounded displeased. “Lily has her period. I remember we had ginger tea for cramps at home. Where did you put it?”

A fresh wave of pain gripped Claire’s stomach. She curled tighter.

“Claire?”

Did he really have to call her about this?

“In the kitchen cabinet.”

“It isn’t there.”

“Look again.”

“I can’t find it.”

“Are you blind?”

“Nathan, did you find it? It hurts!” Lily called in the background.

Claire was almost impressed. She was in so much pain she could barely speak, while Lily had no trouble shouting.

Nathan immediately sounded concerned.

“The brand you bought before was good. Could you order some for delivery? Lily’s had severe cramps since she was young.”

He was a doctor, yet he needed Claire to order tea for the woman he loved?

“Nathan, I don’t care how sexually frustrated you are. I’m not your mother. I’m not going to take care of every little thing for you.”

She tossed her phone aside and buried her pale face in the pillow.

“Claire,” Diane asked softly, “are you and Nathan fighting?”

“No, Mom.”

Claire turned away so her mother wouldn’t see her tears.

Nathan hadn’t used protection a few times over the past two months. When Claire’s period didn’t come, she’d thought she might be pregnant.

Instead, she’d learned she wasn’t pregnant and would probably never be able to have children.

She suspected it had something to do with the winter she was fourteen, when her father had kicked her into a hole in the ice. Afterward, it had taken two years of treatment before her periods began.

Nathan cared that Lily had cramps. Yet in their entire year of marriage, whenever Claire was in too much pain to go to work, he was never home.

She knew he didn’t want to be around her. He’d rather stay at the hospital and smell disinfectant than come back to their apartment.

Most days, she was alone in that huge, cold place.

—

Nathan ordered the ginger tea himself.

He stared at his phone, his expression hard, then called Claire again.

“What did you mean by that?”

“What did I mean by what?”

“What you said about being sexually frustrated.”

Diane leaned closer. “Is that Nathan? Let me talk to him.”

She wanted to tell him not to quarrel with Claire.

Claire looked up at her mother. ‘He couldn’t even bring himself to like your photo, Mom.’

But Diane adored Nathan. Whenever she saw him, she called out his name warmly, her heart brimming with happiness.

Claire could understand why. Nathan was handsome, with a sharply defined face and a tall, elegant build. He came from a respected family and had become a chief neurosurgeon at a young age. Any mother-in-law would have been proud of him.

“Mom wants to…”

The call ended before Claire could finish.

Still clutching her stomach, she stared at the screen. She’d never realized just how unappealing Nathan could be.

“Sorry, Mom. Nathan’s busy.”

Diane’s face fell. She went back to her own bed.

Claire sighed. Her mother understood more than people thought.

How was Claire going to tell her they were getting divorced?

Nathan took the delivery at the door, made the ginger tea, and brought it to Lily.

She lay in bed with her hair mussed, her face pale and a hand pressed to her stomach beneath the covers. She looked nothing like her usual bold, confident self.

“Here. Drink some. It might help.”

Lily opened her eyes and reached a hand out from under the blanket.

“Nathan, it hurts so much,” she said softly. “Rub my stomach for me.”