Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Just then, Henry's school day ended.

He hadn't even left the front gate when he spotted Sheila and Timothy waiting for him.

With a grin, Henry waved excitedly at Timothy, who immediately stopped talking to Sheila and turned his attention to his son.

"Dad! Miss Sheila!" Henry called out, dashing over to them.

As they passed by, Mario's mom and the nurse-who was picking up her own son, Paul-smiled knowingly. "Hey there, Henry! Your parents are here to pick you up?"

"Yes!" Henry replied, practically beaming.

So it was true. Everything Jessica had said was right-Henry really did treat Sheila like his mom outside the house.

A while back, when Sheila was about to leave because of the Lawsons' pressure, Henry wouldn't let her go. He'd brought up the upcoming arts-and-crafts competition, saying everyone thought Sheila was his mom, and he'd be embarrassed if people found out his real mom couldn't speak. It was supposed to be a parent-child event, after all.

Timothy hadn't stopped him at the time. There was nothing romantic between him and Sheila, and he was sick of his relatives making a fuss about it. Letting Sheila stay solved a problem for him, too. Besides, Jessica's condition meant Henry was bound to want to save face-what kid wouldn't? Timothy never imagined things would spiral out of control like this.

Now, he had to put a stop to it before the misunderstanding got any worse.

"You've all got it wrong. She's not my wife," Timothy said firmly.

Jessica, who had been hovering nearby, looked utterly bewildered and hurt by his words.

Sheila's eyes widened with surprise-Timothy had never cleared things up so bluntly before.

just stared at his

with Paul, had both overheard the exchange. Now everyone knew

told us this lady was

all the time in class. We didn't misunderstand," Paul chimed in

you're such a kidder. When Henry was sick at the hospital, he called this lady

the craft competition, Henry told me himself that this lady was

that, too. He'd wanted to scold Henry about it, but Vince had teased him until he let it

mother's situation, and he'd been harder than usual on

glance up and saw Timothy's cold, forbidding expression, then quickly

the tense

and son

a

said smoothly. "His mom couldn't make it today, so I

wname to

you

graceful way out. Timothy wasn't the type to scold his son in front of an audience, but

a lot of trouble. She knew

we really did misunderstand," Mario's mom said, laughing it

we'll meet her

the two women headed off with their

energy. He grabbed Henry's hand. "Come with

a desperate look at her. He knew what was

"Don't blame Henry; this is partly

talk to Henry about this so many times, but never found the right moment. Now, he was determined