Goodbye, Mr. Regret

As soon as she closed the car door, the world's noise vanished.

Jessica Greene stared at the liver cancer diagnosis in her lap, her hazel eyes rimmed red. The paper trembled in her hands, crumpling beneath her grip.

The doctor had told her she'd missed the window for surgery-six months left, at best.

Today was the school's annual parent-child event. Out of the blue, Timothy

Lawson had told her she should come.

Seven years had passed since the day Timothy, once the untouchable darling of high society, became her husband.

In all those years, he'd never once brought her to a public event.

Once upon a time, that invitation would have sent her over the moon.

Even the housekeeper had beamed when she heard the news. "Mrs. Lawson, looks like Mr. Lawson finally wants to make things official!"

No one knew that ever since Jessica discovered his secret, she'd been quietly getting her affairs in order, preparing to leave him.

She hadn't planned to go to the school event at all.

But she couldn't bear the thought of disappointing her son.

She could shut Timothy out of her heart, but she couldn't do the same to Henry- the little boy she'd carried for nine long months.

Arriving at the school, Jessica took a notepad from her purse and wrote a neat line before handing it to the security guard.

Hello, I'm Henry Lawson's mom from Class 1-3. I'm here for the parent-child event -could you please let me in?

soft, crinkled blouse, hair loosely swept

understated to begin with; with a bit of effort, she looked warm

wanted their mom to

security guard arched an eyebrow.

simply smiled and

Years ago, after a devastating trauma, she'd lost her voice. By now, she was used

the sign-in sheet, scanning it

over.

thought. Too bad she's

"Henry's parents already signed in. You can't

quickly wrote, Henry is my son. There's no

her and jabbed a finger at Henry's name. "Take a good

heart seized as she read the names in the parent

the sneers and sideways glances

her chest

wasn't the guard's suspicion that

was the name scrawled in Timothy's unmistakable hand-Sheila

even trying

study, she'd found a slip of paper tucked beneath the desk. Sheila's

over.

woman's intuition had told her everything

Sheila's last name was

born, Timothy had insisted on the name

finally clicked. Today, Jessica's decision to

months, apart from caring for Henry, she'd poured her remaining strength

the attorneys heard Timothy's name, their