Goodbye, Mr. Regret

She couldn't believe she'd loved a man like that for eleven whole years.

"Jessy."

Vince called her name softly, concern in his voice.

She looked up, offering a small smile. "Thank you, Vince. If it weren't for you and Grandpa, I don't know how much longer the divorce would've dragged on."

"Actually... about Timothy..."

Vince hesitated. He wanted to mention that when he'd arrived, Timothy had already been prepared for the divorce, the property settlement already finalized.

What Timothy didn't know was that Vince had accidentally discovered Jessy's true identity as Salome. Yet, Timothy had been the one to call him, asking Vince to pick up Jessica and bring her home to meet her birth family.

Vince still couldn't figure out what had changed Timothy's mind.

"Let's not talk about him," Jessica interrupted. "Is Grandpa back?"

"He's home. Mr. and Mrs. Bryant and Yates are here too." Vince took her gently by the wrist, guiding her into her room and closing the door behind them. He lowered his voice. "There's something I need to tell you."

She nodded. "Go ahead."

"When you were a kid, you and Yates were engaged an agreement between the families. It wasn't just something made up for fun. The Bryants even sent an official engagement gift."

eyelids fluttered with

Yates? That Yates?

him three, maybe four

birthday celebration. Timothy had tried to stop her from going

hold his ground against both Yates and Vince,

knew, Yates and Timothy were

cautiously, "Is it possible to call

see what I can

Vince would

and have a child. Even though I'm divorced now, I'm not thinking about getting married again anytime soon. Would the Bryants really still want to go through

because they

"Mr and

Since they couldn't find you, Mom and Dad tried to call off the engagement so Yates could move on, but the Bryants refused. They finally agreed

blinked in disbelief. "They're that

in front of Phelps, they even said they don't care

was stunned. That was devotion,

paths and, even with only a fleeting meeting, the connection just sticks and you want to look out for

and I... it's just not

"That's fine. There's no rush. Just meet with them for now -they really do want to see you. Tonight, we'll go

knew that as a member of the younger generation, it wasn't

honestly," Jessica added, "maybe Yates

hesitated to tell her the truth-Yates might not want the engagement, but his parents did, and he was too loyal to go against them directly. Otherwise, he wouldn't have