Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Even now, Timothy trusted Sheila without question.

What else could she believe, after all he'd said?

Whenever it came to Sheila, he never bothered to double-check a thing.

Seven years ago-the one who saved him was her.

She was the one who saw him run into the burning house and, scared out of her mind, chased in after him. He was struck by a falling beam.

She wasn't from a wealthy family; as a kid, she'd often helped her grandmother around the house, so she was certainly stronger than Sheila.

Still, even with her strength, she couldn't lift the beam. She had to use a piece of wood as a lever to push it aside.

It was love and worry for him that gave her the strength to drag him out of the fire.

The faint scar on her palm was a silent witness-left by the rope that cut into her skin and bled as she pulled him to safety.

Maybe, in the past, she would have told him the truth: that it was she who saved him that night.

Now? She wouldn't stoop so low.

Let Timothy believe it was Sheila. If he wanted Sheila to be his savior, so be it. He saw Sheila as the woman who saved his life, the one he wanted to marry. If she confessed the truth now, it would only make her own divorce harder.

"Why don't I believe you?" Jessica's voice was cold but steady. "Because you showed me the truth, Timothy. Even your son likes her. Out there, everyone thinks Sheila is his mom. The three of you together-you look like a perfect family. You should just be that: a family. You're not the man you were seven years ago. You have the power now to break through any obstacle for Sheila. So stop dragging me along. I don't have another seven years to waste on you."

saying? What family? Just because you want a

a waiting period for divorce," Jessica said, her tone clipped. "But for me? I've never been more certain. The first time I asked you for a divorce, I'd already decided to let you go-to let you have the woman you love. Especially after that day at the school fair, seeing

into

the family event, your phone was off when I called. You were

him off. "If you were late, you could've sent someone else, but when people mistook her for Mrs. Lawson, for Henry's mom, you could've corrected them. Why didn't

"..."

words felt hollow. The truth was, he hadn't corrected

was

go as a family. And I've always kept my reputation clean-never any scandals. I

understand."

wanted to go to the event. It was

day, she and her son had been close. Afterward, Henry changed-he grew distant, embarrassed by

son would never have dismissed

do you even

I gave Herbert a handmade picture frame, you made a scene about me and him. If I took Herbert out and people thought he was

moved, but he couldn't

she stayed silent, fine. But when she

as a good communicator, but she left him

desperately to defend himself. "It's

the candle,

I just want to talk. I'm not trying to fight with

Don't push me.

let him deal with you