Chapter 162
He kissed the shawl once, then neatly folded it and placed it in the bedside table drawer. He seemed intent on keeping it.
Laura felt strange. He must have thought of her while looking at that shawl ever since they took shelter from the rain in the cabin. He must have kissed and buried his face in that shabby piece of fabric he bought for five pence at the flea market every day.
It was touching. His pure love.
Laura stroked his cheek. She was upset that her husband's usually smooth skin had become rough in just one day.
"Now that you can hold me anytime, why don't you throw that away?"
"Who knows when we'll be sleeping in separate rooms again? What if I don't have that?"
"We just have to not make that happen. We just have to not make each other angry."
"That depends on you. I'll never be angry with you."
"Life is long. You'll get unbearably angry with me someday too."
He chuckled.
"I can't imagine it. With an angelic wife like you?"
He thought for a moment, then asked.
"Do you have plans to cheat?"
Laura was startled.
"Are you crazy?"
He stared down at Laura.
"You won't cheat, honey. You won't cheat."
"Really?"
"Yes. Yes. I swear on my deceased mother and father, and on God."
Ian reached out and tucked Laura's disheveled hair behind her ear.
"You can cheat if you want to make me a murderer."
"...Are you going to kill me?"
"It's impossible to kill you. But."
He fiddled with Laura's ear.
"I'll definitely kill the other man. Fill his body with bullet holes."
Laura's eyes widened in surprise. Ian grinned.
"And then I'll shoot myself in the head in front of you."
Laura shuddered.
"Don't say scary things."
Ian giggled playfully. Laura grabbed his shoulders and shook him.
"It's a joke, right? Quickly say it's a joke."
"If you cheat, why should I live any longer?"
"If you're going to do something like that just because I cheated, what if I die early? Are you going to put a hole in your head after the funeral?"
"Maybe?"
"Seriously, Ian...!"
Laura jumped up and hit Ian with a pillow.
"Suicide is the greatest of sins! You'll go to hell!"
Ian laughed until he was breathless.
"Quickly say you won't die! Say you'll live a healthy life and die of natural causes even if I die!"
"Okay. I won't die. I won't die!"
Only then did Laura stop hitting him.
As soon as Laura put the pillow down, Ian grabbed her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace. Laura fell on top of him, covering his body. Their bare skin pressed together.
He met the face of Laura, who was lying on top of him.
"Let's live happily together for 50 years and die on the same day."
A promise for life. Laura smiled softly and nodded.
He stroked Laura's hair.
"Let's ride each other, and stuff."
Laura's smile turned into a chuckle.
"Today's experience must have been pretty fantastic?"
"I thought I was in heaven."
Laura thought for a moment, then said seriously.
"I'll do it sometimes if you promise not to hit on other women outside."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Ian held out his little finger with a serious expression. Laura willingly hooked her little finger with his. The smallest fingers of the two people were tightly intertwined.
Ian pressed his lips firmly on Laura's cheek with a satisfied expression. Like stamping a seal.
Laura put her face against his chest again and hugged him tightly. Feeling his warmth all over her body, Laura melted into supreme happiness. Once again, her life was complete.
Laura's heart became a warm spring, like the season outside. As her mind relaxed, she yawned involuntarily.
Ian pulled the blanket over Laura's back. Laura closed her eyes and fell asleep, feeling her husband's hand patting her back.
He looked down at Laura, who had fallen asleep on top of him like a baby otter. Just a moment ago, the whole world was gray, but now all the colors were clearer than before. Especially the shades that made up his wife.
Sunset-colored hair. Ivory skin. Lips as soft pink as the inside of a peach.
He held the light body of his wife, who seemed like she would fly away if he breathed on her, tightly. A lovely woman. The most beautiful, kind, and precious woman in the world.
My woman. Laura Dalton.
His heart tingled. The love that filled his chest seemed to burst out of his body, cover the mansion, and swallow the vast Whitefield. It was that overwhelming, that hot.
Ian whispered to his sleeping wife.
"I'll make your life a flower garden. I'll pull out the weeds if they grow, and chase away the moles if they crawl in. You just have to be happy now. With me."
He closed his eyes and matched his breath to Laura's.
* * *
Inside the doctor's office, where there was no lighting except for the natural light shining through the stained windows. Laura sat on a small stool, clutching her hands tightly.
Across from her was a man. A man with a large frame wearing a white coat, with a pipe in his mouth. His hair and beard were as white as snow, and dignity was engraved in every wrinkle.
He looked like the great French writer Victor Hugo. But it wasn't just his appearance that gave him the atmosphere of a veteran with undeniable experience and expertise.
When Laura came to his cottage and asked for treatment, he carefully looked at Laura with very cautious and sharp eyes. And with a polite but not very warm attitude, he led her to the doctor's office.
He didn't ask Laura why she came. Instead, he immediately opened a yellow notepad and started asking questions.
Name. Height. Weight. Length of marriage. Frequency of marital relations. Menstrual cycle. Symptoms during and before menstruation. Family history. Whether or not she had any illnesses in the last three years, and the types. And so on.
While calmly answering these dozen or so questions pouring out at her, Laura thought that this doctor knew why she had come to the hospital. The types of questions were exactly what one would ask a woman suffering from infertility.
'He knows just by looking at the patient. There's a reason he's the best gynecologist in Yorkshire.'
Laura felt that the doctor's expertise was reliable, but she was so nervous that she felt nauseous.
The tension had been extreme even before visiting the doctor's office. As she got into the carriage after telling Ian that she was going shopping in town, she was afraid that today might be the day she would hear the harshest sentence in her life.
A diagnosis that she was unable to have children.
If her imagination became reality, Laura would never be able to hold her head up in front of Ian.
In England, the heir to a family has the privilege of monopolizing the vast wealth that is not divided among other siblings, while also inheriting heavy obligations. To protect the family name and wealth at the risk of one's life. To give birth to a healthy eldest son and educate him to match the wealth and name. And to safely pass on the wealth to the eldest son to continue the lineage.
This was how England's prestigious families were succeeded. If there was no eldest son, a suitable man had to be found among the relatives, but someone who would inherit another family would likely not have received formal heir education. The future of the family would become uncertain.
Ian was the eldest son of the Dalton Family, which had lasted nearly 400 years. Ian Dalton held the fertile land, buildings, and securities of Yorkshire in his hands. He had a lot to protect, and considering what he enjoyed, he could never ignore his obligations.
If Laura could not bear a son and one of the relatives had to be adopted as the heir, the family would inevitably be in crisis, even if he was a diligent person. This was because there was a very high possibility that he would violate the principle of a prestigious family head, which was 'do not divide the property among children other than the eldest son.'
By the time Doctor Mackenzie's questions were over, Laura's hands, trapped in gloves, were damp with sweat, and her heart was pounding painfully as if she had visited the doctor for a heart condition, not infertility.
Doctor Mackenzie glanced over the yellow notepad and turned to look at Laura intently. For about 15 seconds. Her heart was racing like crazy. The blood began to drain from her lips. Her fate seemed to hang on his lips.
Finally, Doctor Mackenzie took off the glasses he was wearing on his nose and put them on the desk.
"Mrs. Dalton."
Laura nodded. The doctor sighed, hmm.
"You love your husband very much."
"...Yes?"
"You love your husband excessively. Don't you?"
It was such an unexpected story that Laura didn't know how to answer. He didn't seem to want an answer either, and continued calmly.
"I can tell by the fact that you took a carriage all the way to this winding hillside because you couldn't have a child in just the first year of your marriage. You must want to have a child quickly and give joy to your husband."
It was a diagnosis that accurately grasped Laura's heart, even if it wasn't exact. Laura remained silent with an uncomfortable feeling.
"You must be tormenting yourself quite a bit over this issue?"
Laura nodded slightly.
"I'll say one thing as a doctor. Consider it fortunate that you haven't had a child yet."
"Yes?"
He turned his gaze back to the notepad.
"5.3 feet (162cm) and 97 pounds (approximately 44kg). You won't be able to get through your first birth safely in this state. Even women with buttocks as big as Buckingham Palace die during their first birth."
Laura became a little embarrassed and replied.
"Well, I've gained weight since then..."
"How much?"
"About 3 pounds (approximately 1.5kg)."
"Even during a recession, you didn't have a piece of bread to eat for your meals?"
"It was because of indigestion."
"Still?"
"I digest everything well now. I gained weight after getting married."
"Gain at least 9 more pounds (approximately 4kg). It's a problem even if you get pregnant in this body."
She didn't know there was a problem with her weight. She had always been this size since she was a child, and other than the Fever she had before getting married, she had never been seriously ill.
"...So, Doctor. My body isn't ready yet... So, you're saying that the problem is that I don't weigh enough, not that my body is so bad that it's impossible to get pregnant, right?"
"There are no signs of diseases that could cause problems with having a baby."
Laura took a deep breath without realizing it. The muscles that had been constricted by anxiety relaxed, and blood began to circulate smoothly throughout her body. She felt relieved and a sense of liberation. It was as if she had escaped from restraints.
