Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"How did he suddenly pass out? He was perfectly fine when I left the house."

"He just fainted out of nowhere while we were eating. I'm not sure what happened, really."

Mabel's voice trembled with worry.

"I'll be right there," Timothy replied at once.

He pocketed his phone and turned to Jessica. "Henry's fainted. I have to go home now. The sketchbook..."

Timothy glanced at the paper-cut illustrations in his hand, then looked at Jessica. "Henry made these himself. I hope you'll take a good look at them.”

He pressed the illustrations into Jessica's hands before hurrying out to his car.

Jessica stood there, the sketchbook clutched to her chest, her emotions tangled. She didn't want to look at it.

But the call about Henry fainting... Of course she was worried.

In the past, she would have dropped everything and rushed after them, anxiety knotting her stomach.

Now, even though she stayed behind, her heart was already with them.

She didn't really believe anything serious would happen to Henry, but fainting out of the blue was never a trivial matter.

Timothy was trying to be considerate. He knew she wasn't ready to face him or their son together, so he hadn't asked her to come to the hospital.

All Henry's troubles used to fall squarely on Jessica's shoulders. Timothy had never really needed to worry.

Henry's mother always there for him, Timothy had felt

he couldn't keep leaving everything to Jessica. It was time he stepped up as a father. She couldn't be expected to handle

moment, dazed, before she finally turned and

waiting for her in the living

still holding the

take it?"

Jessica nodded.

"He's gone already?"

She nodded again. "Yeah."

sighed, a little put out. That was

the couch

was

were the words: Me

been a bright kid, with a knack for art-his handwriting

showed Jessica

lifelike, copied from a photo of mother and son she kept on her

Henry had been just a baby, swaddled in

must have seen that photo once, years ago, and

sat beside her, quietly taking in the images over

he could see that Timothy still had

for Henry, Jessica was his mother. She might be disappointed in her son, might try to

but no mother could

that bond. It was like his own mom-after his sister disappeared, she'd never stopped