On our fifth wedding anniversary, Reginald Dickerson booked every drone in the city for a light display in my honor.
That same night, he walked through our front door with a college girl who looked unsettlingly like me.
The girl's cheeks were flushed. She clutched an ultrasound printout so tightly her knuckles were white.
Reginald slipped off his suit jacket, then knelt down and personally swapped her shoes for my house slippers.
“Katherine's pregnant. It's a boy.”
My mind went blank. I stared at the girl's stomach, unable to move.
Reginald walked over to me and took my hand as if he had every right to.
“Your miscarriage damaged your body. I couldn't bear to put you through another pregnancy, so I had her carry the baby for you.”
“She'll stay in the guest room. Think of yourself as the big sister. Teach her the rules. Once the baby's born, it'll be registered as yours.”
He let out a sigh, his eyes brimming with the kind of tenderness only a man deeply moved by his own generosity could muster.
“She means nothing to me beyond obligation. You're the one I love. But for the sake of our family having an heir, I need you to be the bigger person here.”
……
His last word hung in the quiet living room like a blunt-force blow.
Through the fabric of my coat, I squeezed the document I'd just picked up from the hospital: a confirmed diagnosis of 【late-stage organ failure】.
I pulled my hand out of his.
“Reginald, surrogacy is illegal. What you're describing is called cheating.”
The moment the words left my mouth, Katherine flinched on the couch.
She cradled her still-flat stomach with both hands, teeth chattering. ：“Reggie, is she mad at me? I'm so cold……”
Reginald's brow creased. He crossed the room in three strides and pulled her into his arms.
His gaze turned cold, settling on the jade pendant I always wore against my chest.
Seven years ago, I'd had a miscarriage. The hemorrhaging nearly killed me.
He had climbed nine hundred and ninety-nine steps in a downpour, kneeling at every one, to beg for that Heartguard Jade from Serenity Abbey so it could protect my life.
Now he held his hand out to me.
“Katherine has a weak constitution. She can't handle the cold. Give her your jade to wear for the baby's sake.”
I stepped back on instinct, my fingers rising to shield my collarbone.
“It's just a piece of jade. You're Mrs. Dickerson. You can't even manage that much generosity?”
Reginald closed the distance in a single step, clamped his hand around my wrist, and seized the red cord holding the pendant.
“There's nothing wrong with you. Katherine is carrying two lives!”
The coarse red cord bit into the back of my neck and cinched tight.
A bone-deep chill crept through me, and the cord burned where it cut into my skin.
A soft “snap” broke the silence. The cord gave way.
Reginald carried the pendant, still warm from my body, and placed it carefully around Katherine Fox's neck.
Katherine dipped her head, fingers tracing the jade, and the corner of her mouth twitched upward.
Reginald turned to the housekeeper.
“Go to my wife's room and move the temperature-controlled medical bed to the guest room. Katherine's pregnancy is causing back pain. She can't sleep on a regular mattress.”
The housekeeper froze in place and glanced at me uneasily.
“Sir, that bed is for the madam's nerve pain……”
“Move it.” Reginald's tone left no room for argument.
I looked at the man standing in front of me.
He was no longer the boy who'd held me with red-rimmed eyes and sworn he only needed me, child or no child.
Inside my pocket, the diagnosis had been crushed beyond recognition.
Every explanation, every plea for sympathy, turned to ash before it could reach my lips.
I unclenched my stiff fingers.
“Reginald, if you want a son this badly, why not just give her a widow's seat at the table and be done with it.”
His face darkened instantly. He pointed a finger at my nose.
“Gloria Dudley, don't push your luck! Tonight you can sleep on the floor and think about what you've done!”
He scooped Katherine up and carried her toward the guest room.
I sat alone on the freezing floor where my bed used to be.
