Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Sandra let out a long, weary sigh, her heart heavy with worry. In her mind, it all came back to Timothy.

If only Timothy had cared more about Jessica-she was such a gentle, well- mannered girl. Why else would she be so determined to file for divorce?

Women rarely make such choices in marriage as coldly as men do; most will try to stick it out as long as they can. For Jessica to reach this point, she must truly feel she can't go on.

She turned to her husband, her voice thick with concern. "Abell, ever since

Hannah passed, these two kids are all we have left. How could I just stand by and do nothing? We should visit the Zimmerman family later today, try to get a sense of what really happened."

Abell nodded, frowning in thought. "Speaking of the Zimmermans, it struck me— why does that young man from their family seem so close to Jessy lately?"

"How would I know?" Sandra replied, exasperated. "With Timothy being the way he is never saying more than he has to-maybe if we visit the Zimmermans, we'll get some answers. Go pick out some gifts to bring; it'll be a good excuse to check in on them."

Abell went off to prepare the gifts.

The living room was suddenly quiet-no sign of either Sallie or Timothy.

Upstairs, Sallie had wheeled Timothy back to his room and now sat across from him. "Timothy," she said seriously, "if you don't want to go through with this divorce, you need to do something. Try to win Jessy back. And... I'll find time today to apologize to her."

that Sallie truly disliked Jessica. She just couldn't get over the fact that her little brother had

Timothy remained silent.

almost sheepish. "Are you mad at me because

glanced up, his face unreadable. "What do

problem. The real issue is between you and Henry.

out of Timothy's room and found Sandra and Abell loading up their arms with

where are

Sandra called back,

Sheila had

balcony.

sure

was clear, she finally allowed herself

have the house to

out of deference to her adoptive parents, she'd kept to herself, barely exchanging words with Timothy-doing her best to fade i

the background. Staying wet