Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Before she left, Jessica still wanted to see Henry one last time.

After all, he was her own flesh and blood.-

He was only six-just a child, really. How could a mother possibly hold a grudge against her own son?

As she reached Henry's bedroom door, she heard his voice from inside.

"Miss Sheila, my mom is usually very polite. I don't know what happened today. I want to apologize for her. You're an adult, so please don't be mad at her, okay?"

He was too young to understand the tangled web of adult relationships. If Sheila really was Timothy's aunt, then by family standards, there was nothing wrong with what Henry said.

He was trying to defend her.

Jessica felt a bittersweet twinge of comfort.

She was about to push open the door when Henry continued, "Miss Sheila, thank you for being so understanding and not getting upset with my mom. I just wish my mom could talk as nicely as you do. Then I wouldn't have to worry about my classmates making fun of her for being mute."

...

"Yeah, there's a kid in my class whose mom limps, and everyone teases him all the time. I don't want to end up like that being laughed at, not able to hold my head up."

Jessica let go of the doorknob, her breath catching painfully in her chest.

The older Henry got, the less he could accept her shortcomings.

She had barely six months left to live...

When she was gone, Timothy would be Henry's only guardian.

some perfectly healthy woman to be

was diagnosed with cancer, these were the first things she worried about-afraid

From the day he was

none

her as nothing

it was better not to

light

his exhausted body through

knew he'd been in

could have been explained easily-Jessica would

gust of air fluttering a slip of paper

a stickler for cleanliness, and Jessica always kept the house

Normally, as soon as his car pulled into

he closed the door behind him, strode to the living room,

"Yes, sir. You're home."

"Where's Jessica?"

"She's not

Mabel didn't know

paper, Timothy told her, "After breakfast,

"Of course."

his phone and called

you

hospital-she'd been in pain all night. She'd finally managed to fall asleep, and he'd rushed

more than half an hour at Velvet Fork to buy

taking care of the house, her phone was off, and now she was

off his tie, feeling