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.

just

instantly—it was the ring

could talk! With it, communication is so much easier for you. I heard Master Henry say that Timothy bought it for

the subject, Mabel," Jessica pressed. "What exactly was on

ring's gentle

how much Timothy cares about you. Henry was worried you'd return his gift and Timothy would be upset, so he asked me to help keep it quiet. But now the

mind was a

sheet of paper, covered

had

and Sallie's strong reaction

Jessica simply couldn't convince herself not to be

she really just

wouldn't get her anywhere. There was only

her phone-she needed

she could use her own to type and let the

to cut it

master bedroom, settled into the sitting

picked up almost