Goodbye, Mr. Regret

It was Herbert.

Jessica had fainted, and Timothy had taken her away-though his attitude was anything but gentle. Worried, Herbert had followed them, never expecting that Timothy would simply abandon Jessica, taking their son and Sheila with him.

Herbert climbed out of his car.

"Little Mute."

Jessica forced a smile and signed, "What are you doing here?"

He took a deep breath, pressed his lips together, and arched an eyebrow. "If you don't want to smile, then don't do it. That smile of yours doesn't suit you at all."

He could see right through her. She was pretending, and he knew it.

Exposed, Jessica's expression faltered. She tried to explain, "It's not what you think, I... he..."

desperately for some excuse to defend Timothy. But

cutting through her muddled signs. "You don't have to explain. I know. He doesn't treat

jaw clenched hard. "You don't have to keep putting yourself through this. I could help

immediately raised a hand,

see me, you'll only make things worse between us. I love him. I don't really want a divorce. When I asked you to help me find a lawyer, I just wanted to scare him a bit to get his attention. I'm sorry I dragged you into

together too many times. That's why he left me behind just now. I didn't think things through, and I've caused you trouble and brought a lot of pain on

Jessica turned

but he swallowed them, letting his arm fall limply to his side, his fingers

could fool him-least of all her. She was just afraid of dragging

And now, if she was even pushing him away, how was

lips pressed into a thin, determined line. No matter what it took,

But one thing was

take her case, she'd file on her own. She planned to go to the courthouse and find out about the process herself-only to realize it was Saturday and the