Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Winter He Fell for the Wife He Lost: Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Nathan had come through the storm in a beige trench coat that made his tall frame look even leaner. He was soaked to the skin, his dark hair plastered across his forehead. His face was pale, his lips pressed into a hard line.“Nathan…” Claire stared at him. “What are you doing here?”Wasn’t tonight Lily’s birthday? Wasn’t the neurosurgery department throwing her a party?How had Nathan ended up at her door?He still had one hand in his coat pocket and the other raised near the doorbell. Rain dripped from his hair, and he looked more impatient than embarrassed by the state he was in.“Who were you expecting?” he asked. “Is there a reason I can’t come in?”He pushed past her and scanned the suite. When he spotted the open door down one hall, he strode into the bedroom and looked around.Claire and her mother were staying there. Seeing it for himself seemed to ease something in him.Claire watched, too stunned to stop him.Diane had curled up beside the sofa. “Don’t hit me,” she

Claire met Nathan’s intense gaze, then looked away.They’d been married for a year. She couldn’t turn off her feelings overnight.She’d always known Nathan was out of her league. Whatever people said about equality, she’d never felt like his equal in their marriage.She sighed quietly.She’d expected the medical team to be staying in ordinary hotel rooms. She was already wondering how the three of them would fit, especially with the rain still pouring outside.But Nathan didn’t take them out of the hotel. He took the elevator down three floors and led them to another two-bedroom suite.With Diane on his back, he couldn’t reach his key card. He told Claire to get it from his pants pocket.She pushed his coat aside and slipped her hand into his pocket, feeling around for the card.“I said find the key card,” he murmured. “What are you doing?”Claire shot him a glare. Her mother was right there.The suite wasn’t as luxurious as Lucas’s, but it had two bedrooms. At least they wou

Nathan stepped partly in front of Claire. “Lucas, is something wrong this early?”Lucas held out a paper bag. “Some clothes for you. They’re new. I’ve never worn them.”He’d thought of everything, even what size Nathan would need.Nathan didn’t take the bag. His expression turned cold.Claire assumed he was too proud to accept it, so she took it for him.“Thanks, Lucas.”“It’s nothing.”She felt a little better. Now that Nathan had clean, dry clothes, maybe he’d stop looking so miserable.She was grateful to Lucas. He always thought about what she and her mother needed. Nathan mostly thought about himself, and everyone around him treated him as if he could do no wrong.After a year of living with him, Claire knew how exhausting that could be.Soon, it would be over.She didn’t notice Nathan’s breathing grow heavier.Lucas was about to answer her, but his gaze fell on her hand. His smile faded.Claire followed his gaze. There was a mark near the base of her little finger.

Nathan knew she’d seen Lily’s name on his phone. He didn’t explain.“Family members can’t stay with patients during the brain activity monitoring. Go back to the hotel. We’ll pick Mom up tomorrow.”Claire shook her head. “I’ll stay here.”Nathan had no intention of staying himself. “Then I’m leaving.”“Go ahead.”She watched him hurry away, answering the call with a gentle “Lily.” Claire gave a faint, bitter smile.She sat down on a bench in the hall. Her face was calm, though a bitter taste lingered in her mouth.Nathan could speak softly to Lily. He was courteous to his patients and even to strangers he passed in the hall.With Claire, every word was cold. He made his dislike of her impossible to miss.Who would want to keep putting up with that? She’d be better off once she no longer had to see him.The door to the monitoring room hadn’t closed all the way. Voices drifted out.“Did you say that woman is Nathan Brooks’s wife? And the patient in there is his mother-in-law?”

“Nathan…”“I was starting to think you’d lost your voice.”Claire stared at him. The words hurt more than she wanted to admit.With Nathan, she never knew when the next cutting remark would come. He’d grown up in a family of educated, accomplished people. Why did he save all his cruelty for her?They were about to divorce. Did he have to keep hurting her until the very end?Nathan ushered her into the car and slammed the door.The sound made her ears ring. Her heart began to race.He got in and turned on the heat. After standing in the freezing rain, the sudden warmth made Claire dizzy. Her skin felt hot beneath her damp clothes.When she saw the hospital falling farther behind them, she turned to him.“Where are you taking me? I need to go back.”Nathan kept his hands on the wheel. His jaw was tight.“To the hotel. How are you supposed to look after your mother if you won’t get any rest?”“I want to go back to the hospital.”“And when you get sick too, am I supposed to lo