Goodbye, Mr. Regret

The nurse saw Jessica signing and, blinking in sympathy, lamented, "She's so beautiful—what a shame she can't speak."

Henry could read Jessica's sign language. She was telling the nurse that she was his mother. He tensed, terrified she'd use her voice synthesizer and reveal the

truth.

Annoyance crept into his voice. "What are you waving your hands around for? No one else understands your sign language."

Jessica pulled out her phone, intent on using her voice ring to speak.

But Henry snatched her phone away before she could, turning to the nurse with a bright, practiced smile. "Ma'am, she's our housekeeper. My dad likes a quiet home, so he hired someone who doesn't talk."

Jessica froze.

Did he just say she was the housekeeper?

She'd seen this plot play out on TV-sons, ashamed of their mothers after making something of themselves, introducing them to others as the help or distant relatives. The mothers never got angry; they'd just cry quietly, terrified of embarrassing their child.

Jessica had always despised those ungrateful sons with a vengeance.

she imagined that one day,

those silent tears-the pain was like a

gently wrapped gauze around Henry's arm and dabbed his skin

instinctively tried to hug Henry, worried he might be scared of the

Henry pushed her away, his voice tinged with impatience. "I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm tough—I'm not scared of needles. You don't have to

was, smiled approvingly. "You're a

brows furrowed, but

had been his mother for six years-she knew better than anyone

place, Henry puffed up a little with

Last time you were

telling the nurse last time that Sheila was his mother, and

won out, and he grinned. "Well, with your mom around, you're supposed to act a little

nurse started tidying up, but then glanced at them curiously. "By

my dad on a business

clenched into fists before she could stop

come back to The Gilded Whisper Estates last night— she'd gone to Capital City