I Gave Him My Kidney, Yet He Gave Me Hell

The morning dew still clung to the corn leaves as I crouched in the field picking green beans. Just as my fingertips touched a pod, my wrist was suddenly grabbed. The grip was like iron pincers, sharp enough to make me wince. "Trudy Gordon! How long are you going to hide out here acting like a farmer? Come back with me!" The familiar voice was desperate and frantic. I looked up and locked eyes with Michael Steward. Three years without seeing each other, and he was still dressed to the nines—except the dark bruises under his eyes betrayed his anxiety. "Let go." I tried to pull away, but he held on even tighter. "Let her go!" Tristan Gee's voice came from behind. He'd just returned from town with medicine, still carrying a cloth bag. He quickly walked over and yanked Michael's hand off me. Tristan put me behind him, his broad shoulders blocking Michael's view. His voice was icy cold: "Who are you? What right do you have to touch my wife?" Michael stared at Tristan's hand on my shoulder, his eyes red: "I'm her ex-husband! My mom's in the hospital waiting for a kidney transplant—she's on the edge of death. She has to come with me to donate a kidney to my mom!" I leaned against Tristan's back, staring at Michael's anxious face, and suddenly laughed. My laughter cut through the quiet morning fields: "Your mom's dying? Wasn't she supposed to have died a long time ago?" Michael's face went instantly pale, like all his strength had drained, and he staggered back a step. "Trudy, how can you say that? She's my mom—and she's your ex-mother-in-law!" "Ex-mother-in-law?" I stepped forward. "Three years ago, when she beat me so badly I almost died in the hospital, did she even think about me being her daughter-in-law?"