Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Timothy sat in the car, lips pressed together in silence.

He couldn't blame everything on Henry Lawson. The truth was, he'd overestimated himself.

He'd thought taking Sheila to the parent-and-child event wouldn't change anything.

But when they got home that day, Jessica was visibly upset. Still worried Sheila might be getting the cold shoulder from his wife, he'd chased after Jessica, leaving Sheila behind. By the time he returned, Jessica was inconsolable.

Maybe that day was the tipping point-the final straw that broke what they had.

Or maybe, there'd been something on her mind for a long time. Maybe she'd tried to tell him, but he had never really listened.

And by the time he wanted to talk, she wouldn't hear a word.

But what mattered most now was the birthmark. He needed to know-how did Herbert find out about it?

He'd agreed to the divorce out of fear, worried she'd do something reckless. It wasn't what he wanted.

Jessica was supposed to be his, and his alone.

"Timothy, I'm talking to you. What are you thinking about?" his grandmother's voice broke through his thoughts.

Timothy blinked, snapping back to reality. "Sorry, Grandma. What did you say?"

"Sallie said all this happened because of Sheila. Is that true?"

want to dodge responsibility. At the end of the day, this was

had finally settled down. No one would bring up his past with Sheila

expected things to fall

started to say Sheila wasn't to blame, but Vince's words from earlier echoed

Vince so many times with no reaction, but the moment Sheila mentioned Daisy looked like Jessica, Vince had responded? What exactly had Sheila told

exasperated. "Can you say what you mean for

handle this myself. Please, don't get involved. Sheila is just a side note-the real

neglected Jessica for

Sheila visited The Gilded Whisper Estates. That was when Jessica left home, and he hadn't taken it seriously. He'd just

this, Timothy felt a sharp,

a small thing. The next morning, he'd thought it through—

because Jessica wasn't at home, he hadn't

collapses from

harder,

had given

to him. But the very next day at the hospital, Henry called Jessica the housekeeper and said Sheila was away on a business trip with him. And that was the

she reached out to him for help, he'd dropped

why had it

but look where it's gotten you," Sandra said, her voice weary but gentle. "Things have only gotten worse. And what were you thinking, saying those things about Jessica in front of the Zimmermans?

added her own plea. "Timothy, Jessy and Herbert-it's not what you think. She's not that kind of person If there really was something going on, would they have waited until now? And anyway, Yates came with both of them and has been staying with the

made sense, and