Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Ma'am?"

Mabel stepped in front of the TV, smiling brightly. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

That only made Jessica more suspicious.

She gently moved Mabel aside and glanced at the screen. The camera lingered on Timothy for a moment before cutting away.

The news shifted back to the anchor, who began introducing other stories.

Timothy didn't appear again.

Jessica checked the schedule: it was the morning news.

So Timothy had made headlines first thing in the morning.

Mabel let out a quiet sigh of relief. Jessica, meanwhile, grabbed her phone and began typing a message into her text-to-speech app.

"Mabel, did you block the TV because you saw Timothy with someone else?"

The app's gentle female voice rang out. Mabel, too flustered to wonder where the voice was coming from, immediately shook her head. "N-no, of course not!"

Jessica shot her a skeptical look.

where did that voice just come from?" Jessica pointed to the ring on

the ring

ring could talk! With it, communication is so much easier for you. I heard Master Henry say that Timothy bought it for you at the Oakwood charity auction. He really put a

change the subject, Mabel," Jessica pressed. "What exactly

ring's gentle

But now the ring's back on your finger, which

mind was a tangled

sheet of paper, covered with

had

Sallie's strong reaction to

things stacked up, and Jessica simply couldn't convince herself not

she really just

wouldn't get her anywhere. There was only one person who could

Mabel for her phone-she needed to

she could use her own to type and let the app speak to

to cut

returned to the master bedroom, settled into the sitting area, and

picked up almost