Regretting The Wife He Threw Away

Briony kept her head bowed, afraid he might notice something was wrong.

She nodded quietly and lifted another spoonful of soup to her lips.

Stewart stood nearby, watching her. It wasn't until her third bite that he finally noticed something was off.

He quickly crouched down beside her, just in time to see a tear slip from her eye.

The tear landed in the pale soup.

A sharp ache pulsed in Stewart's chest. "Bryn?"

Briony reached up to wipe her eyes. "I'm fine, really..."

Stewart gently took the bowl from her hands and set it on the table.

"Bryn, I'm sorry. I know I put you through so much." He knelt on one knee in front of her, a heavy sorrow settling over him.

He knew exactly why she was crying.

A simple bowl of soup had opened the floodgates of memory.

For five years, she had started from nothing, learning as she went, raising a newborn with patience and devotion. She gave everything without complaint, only to have it all repaid with his betrayal, and the resentment and blame of that child she'd loved as her own...

Then, after four years apart, even when fate brought them together again, he'd only managed to hurt her all over.

Each wound had etched itself into her heart, leaving scars that never quite faded.

said she'd let go, that she just didn't want to keep clinging to the past. Maybe she was simply too tired

happened-how could

one bowl of soup, and she was

a complete

ashamed

out, wanting to wipe away her tears, but Briony turned away before

softly, still refusing to meet his eyes, determined not to let him see

awkwardly in the

swallowed hard and

slowly got to his feet and

door closed, Briony buried her face in her

soup sat untouched, cooling as the

or objects returned, the memories came with them, resurfacing with a vengeance, taking root and

knew, at least for now, she couldn't genuinely tell her past

hide Briony's illness

and trustworthy-except for Julia

as they heard, Carney Winslow and Gwendolyn White

the hospital. Gwendolyn broke down in tears, while Briony, calm and composed, ended

being. With Briony's health

the hospital, along with private nurses and round-the-clock care, so Gwendolyn and Carney realized there wasn't much more they

even now, only Briony and Stewart knew the full

retired to the countryside years ago and knew little about what his

blissfully unaware, thriving under Kendal's gentle

of Julia's