Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Did someone just send her a Christmas Eve gift?

Herbert.

It had to be him. Again.

Timothy grabbed his phone and called Secretary Allen.

"Go buy 999 gift-wrapped apples and have them delivered to The Gilded Whisper Estates. And arrange for a Christmas tree."

He hung up before Allen could respond.

Timothy picked up the apple sitting on the vanity, meaning to toss it into the trash -but after a moment's hesitation, he set it back down. The last time he'd pretended to throw away that necklace Herbert gave her, she'd been furious. Why was he getting so worked up over an apple anyway?

Was she out to dinner with Herbert again tonight?

Agitated, Timothy pulled out his phone and dialed Jessica.

Meanwhile, Jessica had already bought the gold-plated cutlery and bowls. Carlisle and his crew-five key members in all-were present to witness her officially naming Daisy as her goddaughter.

Just as her phone buzzed with Timothy's call, Jessica glanced at the screen and muted it, choosing not to answer.

Vince beamed at her. "Hey, why don't I take a photo of you and Daisy to commemorate the occasion?"

"Great idea,” Jessica replied.

several pictures, then helped Jessica get a few

vendors lining the street. She'd bought a bunch, and now everyone was holding one, grinning for the camera as they

movie teasers

switched on the big screen in their private room. The film channel was running their trailer

in a wash of deep-blue waves, only to fade quickly to black. Over the sound of surging tides, words appeared, each letter tapping out with

cord becomes a message in a bottle, can you hear

his abdomen, twisting into a fragile glass bottle. Somewhere, a mother's agonized cries in the throes of childbirth seemed to threaten

a ship, moments before disaster. A pregnant woman in labor, her screams splitting the night as a storm raged

...

was transfixed, eyes glued to the

flashed across the trailer. Daisy watched tears streaming down her face. She'd grown up without a mother, in the film, the boy's mother had given him life at the cost of her

a close, all the glass bottle umbilical cords exploded into a brilliant starry sky. The deaf boy tipped his head back, and in the silence, it was as if he could see that the stars above had formed a message

"Let the umbilical cord

a cord emerged from the

*Message in

seeing the trailer, so

and the

were

was their silent cry

and it was

reach the world.