The Cold Wind Woke Me From Our Marriage

“My daughter is six years old. Where would she even get something like that? Don't think I can't see what you're scheming!” She snatched up my bag and dumped everything in it out onto the table with a clatter. Tania picked out a bottle of folic acid and hurled it down hard at my feet. She whirled on Sebastian and demanded: “So this is the one you called obedient and sensible, the one who's so good to Nina?” “Smearing Nina, blaming her for the miscarriage, then playing along about the tubal ligation while she secretly refuses to do it. She's been quietly taking folic acid, prepping to get pregnant this whole time!” “She just wants to have a son, then throw my daughter out the door and steal what belongs to her, doesn't she? If you dare let her little bastard fight Nina for it, I'll kill myself right in front of you!” Sebastian frowned, exasperated: “I never thought that. Say what you have to say properly. Losing your temper in front of the child, what does that look like?” He didn't blame her for behavior that had no boundaries at all. He didn't blame her for the way she'd cursed at me either. Out of habit, he patted her back to calm her: “Go on back first. I'll take care of it.” Tania let out a cold snort: “Of course I'm leaving, and I'm taking Nina with me.” “So that certain people don't bully my daughter the second my back is turned, without the slightest fear of what they've got coming!” Fuming, she led Nina, who kept glancing back with every step, into the room to pack their luggage. The living room fell quiet again. Sebastian pinched the bridge of his nose, worn out: “Shelagh, you've crossed a line this time. Nina is the apple of Tania's eye. You can be jealous, but you shouldn't have set your sights on the child.” “The folic acid. I need an explanation.” “So, have you really been trying to conceive behind my back?” When he said it, the pressure in his eyes was something I knew all too well. It was the reproach he reserved for a subordinate who'd made a mistake. I threw the question back at him: “And if I have been? Would you still make me get my tubes tied?” Sebastian's tone turned sharp at once, the words out before he could stop them: “Not yet, not now!” Realizing his manner had turned harsh, he pulled me onto his lap and coaxed: “Tania says that since the divorce, Nina has become very insecure. If we have a baby now, it'll hurt her mental health.” “So while you're not pregnant yet, get the tubal ligation done first.” “Once Nina is grown and can take over the company, if you still want one, I can take you to have it reversed, or we can do IVF. By then Tania should feel reassured too.” Nina was six this year. I'd have to wait twelve years. And even then it would depend on whether Tania agreed. Sebastian pressed a soft kiss to the side of my face. Once I'd been captivated by this tenderness of his, hidden beneath that aloof, high-born coldness. But in this moment, none of the old flutter was left. I pulled free of him and stood, laughing at the irony of it: “So am I going to spend my whole life giving way to your ex-wife and your daughter?” Sebastian's expression stalled, irritation seeping into his eyes: “When you married me, didn't you know I'd been divorced and had a daughter? Now you want to make an issue of it. What's the point?” “When Tania and I split, I was partly to blame too. It's never easy being a single mother. There's no way I could really just leave her to fend for herself.” Listening to him, all I felt was how absurd it was. Tania may have won custody, but most of the time she left Nina living here. After all, Tania was his first love, and they'd been married for a few years. Even though they'd divorced over clashing tempers, he always carried guilt toward her, and let her do as she pleased. I was the one working and caring for Nina at the same time. What exactly was so hard for her? Seeing that we were getting nowhere, Sebastian picked a box of stomach medicine out of the medicine cabinet and headed for the children's room. His tone was indifferent: “Calm down first. I'm going to check on Tania. She always gets a stomachache when she's upset.”

Beside me, Sara sighed under her breath. "After all these years, Mr. Sever still hasn't forgotten that only that one brand of stomach medicine works for Miss Pruitt." "It's a foreign brand. The instructions are all in English, and the print is so tiny. I never even realized it was stomach medicine." "But Mr. Sever remembers it better than anyone. Even after the two of them divorced, he still keeps it stocked at home. I suppose he still can't quite let her go." I was the one who bought everything for this house. Sebastian rarely bothered with such small things. That stomach medicine was the one thing he'd specifically asked me to buy. I'd never thought much about it before. So this was the reason. Realizing she'd said too much, Sara hurried to explain. "Ma'am, please don't take it to heart. I was just talking nonsense." "It's not that I didn't want to speak up for you about the miscarriage earlier. It's just that Mr. Sever has always cared so much about Miss Pruitt's feelings, and I didn't dare contradict her to her face..." "Since Mr. Sever married you, he must love you too..." I looked in silence at the cluttered table. The truth was, besides that bottle of folic acid, there were two other pill boxes. Their labels were marked plainly, unmistakably: For patients with depression. And folic acid, besides aiding conception, also helped as a supplement in treating depression. Yet Sebastian looked right past them. Or maybe he saw them and simply didn't care. As I passed the children's room, Tania's voice drifted out from inside, talking with him. "See, I told you. A stepmother would never truly love Nina. How long has she even been in this house? And she's already learned to frame a child." "I heard her arguing with you. This is the girl you like? When did your taste sink this low?" Sebastian's tone turned cool. "It's not a matter of liking her. Back then you were always dumping Nina on me, and I was too busy." "Shelagh is gentle, devoted to the home, knows her limits, and she was Nina's teacher at preschool, so she knows how to care for a child. She was a very suitable choice. If I'd known it would blow up into something like today, I'd have been better off staying single." So it had only ever been about being suitable. I pulled my lips into a bitter curl and walked straight back to the bedroom. Honestly, when they diagnosed me with mild depression, I'd been surprised too. All I knew was that I hadn't been happy in a very long time. My chest always felt like there was a stone lodged in it, making it hard to breathe. But when the doctor asked when it had started, I couldn't answer. Was it when Sebastian promised to make up for the honeymoon we'd missed, only to leave me stranded alone at a foreign airport again while he ran off to join Tania on a family trip? Or was it when he heard I wanted a child, and the next day handed me a box of long-term birth control pills and told me to wait a little longer? It didn't matter anymore. Since no one cared about how I felt, at the very least I could learn to love myself. I sent a message to a lawyer. "Could you please draw up a divorce agreement for me? Thank you." I set down my phone, and the bedroom door was pushed gently open. Nina crept inside. She looked at my stomach and said in a small voice, "I secretly asked Sara just now. She said the little baby in your tummy is gone, that you bled a lot." "But I only wanted it to disappear. Mommy said... I didn't know you'd fall down the stairs. I really didn't." "Teacher Cooley, can we still be secret-sharing best friends? I have another secret now. If you want to hear it, I can stay." I had never once asked Nina to call me Mommy. Because no one's mother can ever be replaced. Afraid she'd close herself off because of her parents' divorce, I'd always cared for her and cherished her as a friend. She, too, had curled up in my arms many times, trading me the secrets she wouldn't tell Sebastian or Tania. And she was the first person to know I was pregnant, and that I was afraid of the horror doll.

Three days ago, she'd called me. "Teacher Cooley, I sent you a gift. It's on the second floor of the pickup station by the neighborhood gate." "Are you heading downstairs? Then go ahead and open it. Yeah, right now." Right up until the moment I got so scared I tumbled down the stairs, I never once suspected she had another motive. I answered coldly. "No need. Right now I don't want to see you, and I don't make friends with people who hurt me." Nina's eyes went red in an instant. All at once she shouted, stubborn and shrill. "Mommy was right. You don't actually like me at all. You were only nice to me to make Daddy happy!" "Once you have a kid of your own, you'll like me even less!" Then she turned and ran. I frowned. Some thought seemed to flash through my mind. Before I could catch hold of it, Sara walked in, worry all over her face. "Nina and her mom left. She looked really upset." "She kept asking me just now whether you were in a lot of pain. Maybe she knows she did wrong and wants to apologize to you…" I said nothing. I didn't want anyone to think I was bullying a child, either. But right now I truly couldn't bring myself to be gentle with her. Because of that unpleasant conversation earlier, Sebastian chose to stay in the study to work. And I hadn't yet recovered from the anemia and weakness after the surgery. The wound on my abdomen, where they'd removed my womb, ached faintly too. I drifted off into a groggy sleep. But in the middle of the night, a high fever came on suddenly. Somewhere in the haze, someone was softly calling my name. When I opened my eyes, Sebastian was looking at me, his face full of concern. "Shelagh, you're burning up. Did you catch a cold? Come on, I'll take you to the hospital." The next second, his phone rang. The screen showed Tania. Sebastian's brow furrowed, but he still chose to answer. Something must have crossed his mind, because he glanced at me and, for the first time, put it on speaker. "Sebastian, that moon lamp you had made for Nina suddenly went out. It's probably broken. She has night blindness, and I sleep too deeply at night." "Without a night-light, I'm afraid she'll bump into something when she gets up in the dark. Come over now and fix it." Sebastian was silent for a few seconds. "Got it." I grabbed his arm. "Sebastian, I'm the one who's always handled Nina's checkups. She's never had night blindness." Tania heard that on the other end and let out a scornful little laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. Nina's my own flesh and blood. I know her ten thousand times better than you do!" "Sebastian, we agreed on this back then. Even if we're divorced, you can't shortchange your daughter on a father's love." "Are you going to dump everything on me now just because you're scared your little bride will get jealous? Is this how you repay me for going through the pain of having your child?!" She hung up in a fury. Sebastian sighed and slowly pried my hand off his arm. "Shelagh, be reasonable. Don't make things hard for me at a time like this." "Tania had a point. She definitely understands our daughter better than you, the stepmother, do. Maybe you should think it over. Maybe you just haven't paid enough attention to Nina's health." "I'll go wake Sara and have her take you to the hospital." I stared at him, dazed. All through Nina's childhood, every time she got sick, I was the one who stayed at her bedside without eating or drinking. Even the snacks I bought her, I read every ingredient list carefully, making sure there wasn't a trace of anything harmful. So this was what "not paying enough attention" meant? I forced down the hurt swelling in my chest and said softly. "Sebastian, let's get divorced." He froze for a moment, then the smile at the corner of his mouth turned faint and cold. "Shelagh, you're not the first person to threaten me with divorce, and I've never fallen for it."

Right. Back when Tania fought with him yet again and threw out the word divorce, Sebastian had agreed on the spot. But she at least still had his child, still had a hold on him he couldn't shake. I had nothing. He mistook my silence for regret. Before he left, he spoke, flat and cold: "Take a few days off from the preschool. I'll set up the doctor for you. Once the cold's gone, get the tubal ligation done." I lay in the hospital all night on an IV, and the fever finally broke. The doctor said the wound had gotten a little infected, and warned me to move carefully these next few days. To keep the stitches from tearing open and causing something far worse. That whole night, Sebastian never showed. The next morning, I sent Sara home to rest after she'd sat up all night with me. I planned to finish the drip, then go see the lawyer myself and pick up the divorce agreement. Then Sara suddenly got a call from Sebastian. Turned out that when Tania went to wake Nina for breakfast, she'd found the girl gone. Still no sign of her, and he wanted Sara to hurry home and look. Sara had barely left when my phone jolted to life. It was Nina's kids' smartwatch number. The second I picked up, her crying came pouring through: "Teacher Cooley, help—" The call cut off, and when I dialed back, no one answered. My heart dropped. Then I remembered my phone was linked to the watch's live location. I ripped out the needle and bolted. I found Nina at the lake in the park near the hospital. A woman had her dangling in the air, snarling: "Your mom's a lunatic. I got a new perm on my day at work, and she decides I'm coming on to your dad!" "Firing me wasn't enough. She had to sit on my severance too, so I couldn't cover my mother's medical bills. She died right in front of me!" "She took my family from me, so I'll drop her daughter in and drown her!" Nina's little face had gone bone-white, too scared even to cry. I rushed over, holding up my phone: "Put the child down!" "I've already recorded what you're doing. Hand this to the police and it won't just be your job you lose!" The truth was my phone had died long ago. I was bluffing. Lucky for me, the woman bought it, caught off guard by my sudden threat. Her head cleared. She cursed me for sticking my nose in, set Nina down, and ran. Nina threw her arms around my legs, sobbing: "Teacher Cooley, she pinched me, it hurts so bad—" I pushed up her sleeve. Sure enough, bruises in a few places along her arm. After all, I'd raised her these past few years. I couldn't quite harden my heart. "Nina, how could you go running off by yourself? That's so dangerous!" She wiped her tears, small and wounded. "You said you weren't my friend anymore. I thought you wouldn't come—" "But you're still my student, and for now you're still my stepdaughter. If you're in danger, of course I'll come." "I remember your mom's on your emergency contacts too. Did you call her?" Nina shook her head and said quietly: "She lied to me. I don't want to call her." "And I didn't run off. Daddy said you were sick in the hospital. I wanted to see you, but Mommy wouldn't let me. I still wanted to say sorry." "Mommy's good friend works here. She's brought me a few times. She's the one who told Mommy you had a baby coming." "But I didn't know which room you were in, and then I ran into that lady, and she said she'd take me to find you—" In an instant I caught the one detail that mattered: "So your mom already knew I was pregnant?" "Nina, what was the secret you wanted to tell me yesterday? That horror doll, did you really mail it to me on your own?" Before she could answer, a figure came rushing toward us.

Tania saw the bruises on Nina's arm and her hand flew up, one slap knocking me to the ground. "You bitch. Framing my daughter wasn't enough for you? You had to drag her out here and abuse her on purpose?!" "Are you planning to sell her? Clear the way for some bastard you'll have someday? I'll beat you to death!" My body was too drained to be any match for Tania in her fury. She tore into me like a woman gone mad, and Nina broke down sobbing. "Mommy, stop! Don't hit Teacher Cooley..." When Sebastian saw the blood at the corner of my mouth, he frowned and pulled Tania off me. "That's enough. You've already scared your daughter into tears. Take her to the hospital and get her checked out!" Still not satisfied, Tania kicked me hard in the stomach. "You touch my daughter one more time and I'll kill you!" She scooped Nina up and turned to go. Sebastian moved to help me up, then, catching the resentment in Tania's eyes, drew his hand back. And because of that kick, I felt the wound in my abdomen tear open all at once. Then came a pain that ripped straight through me. Blood poured out, staining my white blouse red. Helpless, I called out to him. "Sebastian, my surgical wound has split open. Can't you take me to the hospital too?" Tania's eyes went red at once as she glared at him. "That was a heel, not a knife. She's just jealous, putting on a show with red ink! She'll even kidnap a child, so what's a little sob story to her?!" "Sebastian, don't forget the promise you made me. There are still ten-odd days left of our fall trip, and I've made up my mind. It starts now." "For these next ten days, you spend them with me and our daughter, and no one else. If you dare choose her today, I'll take Nina and jump into that lake and drown us both, so we're out of your sight for good!" Weakly, I tried to defend myself. "I didn't..." "Enough!" Sebastian looked at me, the disappointment plain on his face. "Shelagh, when you went after Nina, did it ever cross your mind how much it would hurt Tania? Playing jealous with a stunt like this is truly shameless." "You'd better pray Nina's all right. From now on, stay away from my daughter." They got in the car. Nina cried and beat her hands against the window, as if she wanted to climb out. Tania yanked her back. The car swept off, right in front of me. And I lost consciousness completely... ... Half an hour later, after the exam, the doctor said Nina was fine. Only then did Sebastian let out a breath. He thought of the state I'd been in after Tania beat me, and that blouse soaked nearly all the way through with red. For some reason, unease crept into his chest. Was that... really red ink? The next second, Sara appeared, her face ashen, and grabbed him in a panic. "Mr. Sever, thank God you're here." "Ma'am's wound from the miscarriage surgery has torn open badly, and she's lost too much blood. They're fighting to save her on the fourth floor right now..."