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Moonlight Spills Over the Window, No One Leans on the Rail Anymore
NovelShort
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When I was signing the kidney-donation agreement behind Walter Gilbert's back, the app monitoring his condition suddenly went off. Heart rate spiking to 180! A moment later, his watch automatically di...
章節（4）
第1章
While I was signing the kidney-donation agreement behind Walter Gilbert's back, the app that monitored his condition suddenly went off.
【Heart rate spiking to 180!】
A second later, his watch auto-dialed my phone.
I pressed answer, and a woman's voice came through the other end.
"I don't want to be the other woman. Will the two of you get a divorce?"
Walter didn't answer, but his breathing kept getting heavier.
Every drop of blood in me froze in an instant, and I hung up before I could bear to hear whatever filth came next.
That night, Walter set a divorce agreement in front of me, and I signed it calmly.
"Your health isn't good. Remember to keep up with your dialysis on schedule……"
He cut me off impatiently.
"I've already found a kidney donor. No need for you to worry about it."
I nodded faintly and started to pack.
There was none of the scene he'd expected. Walter froze for half a second, and something like guilt seemed to rise in him.
"The house is yours. Every bit of the settlement you're owed, you'll get."
But what he didn't know was that the burden he was so desperate to be rid of carried the only kidney that could save him.
1.
The match between me and Walter had only come back last month.
His kidney failure was getting worse, and for all his wealth, a suitable donor still hadn't turned up.
I quietly went in for the typing without a word, and all six markers matched. The doctor said it was extraordinary luck.
As if the kidney had grown in me just for him.
The plan had been to sign the donation agreement, go straight through the admission paperwork, and only tell him once it was all locked in.
Thinking back now, thank God I hadn't said anything.
"If there's anything else you want, feel free to bring it up. After all, once we've divorced, I don't want people thinking Walter Gilbert treated you badly."
I pressed my lips together and shook my head.
For a woman with nothing much to her name, the assets he was giving me were more than enough to keep me comfortable for the rest of my life.
I handed the agreement back to Walter. Something startled flickered in his eyes, but for a long moment he didn't take it.
He'd left me plenty of room to fall apart.
But there wasn't a ripple on my face.
"Let's go to the civil records office next Monday. You have dialysis on Friday, and running back and forth would be too hard on your body."
My yielding, my willingness to let him go, finally cracked open that cold front he'd worn unchanged for years.
"You're in that much of a hurry?"
I met Walter's eyes without a trace of warmth.
"Aren't you the one who wants out?"
Because the way I saw it, clearing a spot for Abigail Cannon should have been the most urgent thing in the world to him.
My question left him without a word to say for a long while.
He looked at me almost as if it stung.
"Don't worry, the settlement you've offered is already more than enough."
"I won't make a scene, and I won't badmouth you behind your back. We were married once. Let's part on good terms."
I forced out a smile of relief.
It put Walter much more at ease, and his expression gradually returned to normal.
Because in his eyes, all my careful scheming to get close to him had only ever been about profit.
"Good, as long as you understand that."
Walter tossed his suit jacket carelessly aside.
Maybe he'd spent too much of his energy on Abigail Cannon earlier, because he dropped onto the bed and was asleep the moment he lay down.
I tiptoed off to the guest room. Since we were no longer husband and wife, there were boundaries to keep now.
To my surprise, that night I slept sweetly and completely at ease.
In the five years I'd been married to Walter, I never once slept soundly. Somewhere underneath it all, I was always afraid something would go wrong with his body.
Even a single mutter in his sleep would jolt me upright, and I'd carefully press the back of my hand to his forehead to check.
In a single night, I'd wake without meaning to, over and over, and only settle once I was sure his face showed nothing wrong.
But now, none of that was mine to worry about anymore.
When I woke the next morning, it was to the sound of Walter leaving.
It was almost as if he'd lingered at the door on purpose, waiting for me to wake.
"There's no rush on the paperwork."
"I won't be coming back after this. Take care of yourself."
第2章
I nodded, though the whole thing struck me as almost funny.
The first time he'd shown me any concern in five years, and it landed on the day we signed the divorce papers.
Was it to clear the guilt in his own heart, or had he only realized, now that I was leaving, how badly he'd failed me all along?
Either way, I didn't care anymore.
A sweet, coaxing voice from outside broke the silent look passing between us.
"Walter..."
Abigail Cannon trotted straight up to Walter Gilbert with no hesitation at all.
She slipped her arm through his, and everything in her eyes was showing off, and a dare.
Walter's mouth opened on reflex, as if to explain, but when his eyes met my indifferent gaze, the words stuck in his throat.
"Don't let me keep you."
2.
With that, I closed the door.
I'd accepted long ago that he didn't love me.
But watching Abigail cling to his side and play the coquette without a shred of restraint, my heart felt like it was being torn in two on the spot.
That kind of pain left me unable to breathe.
Two years in the finishing-school program, and one lesson never went out of style: give ground to gain ground.
I wasn't asking him to have a change of heart. I only wanted to feed the flame on that guilty conscience of his.
If I couldn't have love, then I shouldn't be shorted the compensation I was owed.
Walter hadn't been gone long.
Bernice Winfield showed up at my door, and when she saw me packing my bags, she frowned and knocked the things right out of my hands.
"Ruby Lawson, you're really going to donate a kidney for him?"
"Do you have any idea how much harm losing a kidney does to your body? I've never met a woman as stupid as you!"
"He's completely in the dark, he has no clue what you've done for him, and here you are, this eager, already packing to move into the hospital?"
Seeing me stand there with a miserable face, Bernice was furious that I wouldn't fight for myself.
She jabbed a finger hard against my temple.
"What a setup you've got. If it were me, even if I were donating a kidney, I'd make sure he knew, make him owe me that debt. Then when it came to love and money, he'd hand them over with both hands and be grateful for the chance."
"This whole giving-in-secret storyline of yours only happens in TV dramas."
Bernice was my teacher at the finishing-school program.
My parents prized sons over daughters. When I first started college, the family couldn't scrape together the bride price for my brother.
From somewhere they'd picked up a ridiculous idea, and they spent every last cent sending me to the finishing-school program.
"Ruby, study hard, land yourself a rich husband. Your dad and I are doing this for your own good. That way you'll never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your life."
"And your brother's bride price will be taken care of. Your brother and his girlfriend have been together so many years. You don't want to see her walk away from a good match over sixty thousand in bride price, do you?"
I clenched my fists, uneasy, and for the first time I talked back to my mother.
"Mom, I got into the top school in the country. Give me four more years, just let me graduate from college and..."
She didn't let me finish. A vicious slap came down across my face.
My mother glared at me, eyes wide with rage, as if she were looking at an enemy.
"With the way things are with money in this family, where's the time to wait four years for you?"
"I already paid the registration fee. If you won't do as you're told, you can forget about college too!"
The pressure and the sheer force of will at home left me no choice but to enroll in the finishing-school program against my own heart.
The one thing in that memory I could be grateful for was that when we were graduating and being matched with our targets, I saw Walter Gilbert's name in a stack of files.
On my first day of college, Walter had appeared on the speaker's platform as a distinguished alumnus.
One look, and I couldn't pull my eyes away.
That feeling, one glance and I was gone, made me choose him without a second thought.
"This man's a tough one, and I hear there's something wrong with his health too."
I ignored Bernice's warning and got close to Walter. I had always been ashamed of the tricks women used to seduce men for fame and money, so I carried an honest heart and worked my way into his life bit by bit.
I chose nursing as my major for him, and I put together all kinds of medicinal broths for him.
It wasn't until after we married that I slowly came to understand: maybe what brought us together was never love. It was just that the spot beside him happened to be empty, and it needed someone like me, someone who could keep his life running smoothly.
第3章
The thought turned over in my chest, and all the resentment and hurt I had swallowed rose up until they nearly spilled out of me.
"We're divorced."
3.
I didn't want to listen to Bernice go on, so I said it flatly.
She didn't offer me any comfort. Instead her voice went cutting, and she let out two cold laughs.
"I knew it would end like this."
"I told you all along. A man like him, someone who's clawed his way up through business, they've got no conscience, every last one of them. He got the notice that a matching kidney was found, and decided he didn't need you around anymore."
"The first thing a blind man does when he gets his sight back is throw away his cane. You were the cane."
Bernice was so angry she kept rubbing her own chest to calm herself.
"I could just scream at you for it! Back then I told you to come clean about donating the kidney, and what did you say? You said Walter Gilbert was too proud, that if he ever found out your kidney could save him, he'd feel humiliated."
"Well, look at you now. You've lost everything!"
"Listen to me. Come clean today, and there's still time."
Seeing that I still wasn't showing much of anything.
Bernice grabbed my arm and held on hard, and the pain of it finally pulled me out of the emptiness of being thrown away.
"Ruby, there are only two kidneys, but there are plenty of men out there."
"Honestly, what I most want to talk you out of is this. There's no reason to throw away half your life for a man."
Before I could answer.
The doorbell rang.
I opened the door to find Walter's driver holding luxury shopping bags that cost a small fortune, and in his other hand, a whole stewing hen.
Bernice's gaze swept over the expensive luxury goods, and a satisfied look came over her face.
She shot me a sly little glance.
"See, what did I tell you? Men are contemptible. You take one step back, and suddenly he's chasing after you hard."
"Make the most of today."
Bernice gave a little wave and left.
The driver came in and set the luxury goods down on the coffee table, careful about it.
Then he shoved the stewing hen into my arms.
For five years Walter had ordered me around, so it was no surprise his driver had picked up the habit and gave me none of the respect I was owed.
"Mr. Gilbert says he wants chicken soup tonight. Have it ready before eight."
The driver said his piece and left.
Strangely, I didn't feel that bitter sting of being used, of being ordered about.
If anything, this was the first time in five years that Walter had asked me for something himself, letting me know I was needed.
I pulled at the corner of my mouth in a bitter smile.
Even with the divorce papers signed, the little bit of feeling I still had left for Walter made me accept it on instinct.
Toward evening I heard the lock turn at the door.
To my surprise, Walter came back with Abigail Cannon at his side.
I stood there, stunned, looking at the two of them, and Walter, out of habit, tossed his coat over my arm.
"Is the chicken soup ready?"
Abigail pressed down the smile at the corner of her mouth, and copying Walter, she pulled off her coat and dropped it on me too, as if I were nothing but a servant in this house.
A wave of bitterness filled my eyes. I'd thought that even after the divorce, he wouldn't just openly bring this woman in front of me like this.
He shouldn't humiliate me this way.
"It'll be ready in a minute."
I was holding it in, but I couldn't stop my lips from trembling.
As Abigail passed me, she leaned in close and mocked me under her breath.
"Ruby Lawson, this is the first time I've ever seen a rich man's wife live like such a wretch."
"If you know what's good for you, disappear from Hartwell City for good."
Anger churned in my chest, but I didn't want things to get too ugly, so I answered flatly.
"You're reading too much into it. We're already divorced."
Abigail's gaze sharpened and cut toward me.
"Oh, please. We're both women. Don't think I don't know what you're up to. One pot of chicken soup was all it took to see it. You're not over Walter, and you want to use that worthless little kitchen skill of yours to remind him you still exist."
4.
"Am I wrong? Because if I weren't, you'd have refused already."
第4章
I wanted to fire back, but the words climbed to my throat and I swallowed them down.
She was right. If I weren't so pathetic, if I hadn't clung to one last shred of hope for Walter, I wouldn't be standing here letting two people come into my home to humiliate me.
I gripped my apron tight and turned for the kitchen.
Their laughter carried in from the living room, grating.
"Wow, are all of these for me?"
"Honestly, you didn't need to spend so much. You're the best gift there is. I don't need any of this stuff."
I couldn't stop myself from glancing over. Abigail was grinning ear to ear.
Her mouth said no, but every piece of limited-edition jewelry was already on her.
Walter used to say he despised gold-diggers.
After we married, when he found out I'd once been through the finishing-school program, he gave me the silent treatment for two whole years.
Living under the same roof, and he wouldn't say a single word to me.
But he took all of my care anyway.
For a while I told myself he was a man of principle. For a while I blamed myself, sure my past had earned his disgust.
Only now did I understand what I'd really lost to. He simply didn't love me enough.
"Ruby, is the chicken soup ready? Abigail's stomach is bothering her. Ladle out a bowl and let it cool for her first."
A fine, needling pain ran through my chest.
That was when it hit me. Tonight's soup wasn't for Walter to drink. It was for Abigail.
No wonder she'd called it a test earlier.
Six months ago, when his stomach was so weak, I would get up in the middle of the night and simmer it low and slow for hours, just so Walter could have chicken soup before work.
Maybe even back then, there was already someone else beside him.
Abigail came toward the kitchen, all smiles.
"Don't leave Ruby to do it all alone. From now on, taking care of you falls to me, so I should help out. That way I can learn to make you a decent soup down the road."
She stepped up beside me, and the fake, cloying affection turned my stomach.
"We're not rivals, and we're not enemies. We just happen to love the same man. You can trust me with Walter."
"And if you've got any secret recipe for this soup, don't go keeping it to yourself."
She called it helping. The next second, Abigail scooped up a ladle of hot soup and poured it straight over the back of my hand.
The searing pain made me shove her away on instinct. The back of my hand was already red and swollen, the skin peeling, blisters swelling up across it.
I bit down hard on my lip and didn't cry out.
But she used the moment to fall, staring up at me with terror in her eyes.
"Why would you do this? I know you can't let Walter go. You're divorcing because of me, so you're angry."
"But love can't be forced. Shoving me down will only make Walter hate you more. What's the point?"
I didn't argue. The back of my hand just burned, raw and fierce.
I hurried to the tap and ran water over it.
"You know exactly how you fell."
I forced the words out through my teeth. Just then Walter heard the noise and rushed straight to Abigail's side.
I was the one hurt worst, and I was the one cursed and glared at.
"Ruby Lawson! How can you be so vicious?"
His brows drew tight, his eyes cutting toward me like knives.
"If you've got a grudge, take it out on me. Abigail's done nothing!"
He carefully helped Abigail to her feet.
When I stayed silent, his fury only rose. He strode over and grabbed my hand.
"That hurts!"
He crushed the blisters on the back of my hand, and blood snaked down my wrist.
Walter didn't feel a flicker of pity.
He forced the words out low, through gritted teeth.
"Ruby Lawson, it seems I've been too soft on you. First thing tomorrow morning, we're going to the civil records office to finalize the paperwork."
With that, Walter left the villa, shielding Abigail.
A strange lightness spread through me. This was better. When you've given everything you owe and then walk away, that's the only clean conscience there is.
Once I'd dressed the wound, I sent the doctor a message.
【I've thought it over. This kidney stays where it is.】