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.

to the past. Maybe she was simply too tired to

that truly happened-how could anyone ever

bowl of soup, and she was

been a complete fool back

regret ashamed

out, wanting to wipe away her tears,

just need a moment alone," she said softly, still refusing to meet his eyes, determined not to let him

awkwardly in the

swallowed hard and

got to his feet and left

closed, Briony buried

sat untouched, cooling

might dull the sharpest pain, but it couldn't erase what had truly happened. When familiar faces or objects returned, the memories came with them,

at least for now, she couldn't genuinely

impossible to hide Briony's

everyone close and trustworthy-except for

as they heard, Carney Winslow and Gwendolyn White rushed

broke down in tears, while Briony, calm and composed, ended up comforting her instead-even though she was the one

Northborough for the time being. With Briony's

was always at the hospital, along with private nurses and round-the-clock care, so Gwendolyn and Carney realized there wasn't much more they could do. They returned to Skybreeze Retreat to look

now, only Briony and Stewart knew the

had retired to the countryside years ago

unaware, thriving under Kendal's

recorded snippets of Julia's life