Regret Came Too Late

Liam was up early the next morning.

Wyatt noticed the dark shadows under his eyes the moment he stepped out of his room. It was clear that Liam hadn't slept a wink.

Wyatt started, "Liam, you..."

Before he could finish, Liam forced a small smile and quickly rubbed at his face like he was trying to stop himself from crying.

"Dr. Coleman, I'm heading out now. I'll skip breakfast. Take care of yourself, okay? I'll see you again."

He left in a hurry, as though he had something urgent weighing on his chest.

Wyatt stood there watching him disappear into the snowy path, the words he wanted to ask still stuck in his throat. He wanted to ask if he had seen the words on the wood plaque.

Back in Druville, Grace received a call from Andrea the day after Liam left.

Andrea was a mess, sobbing on the other end of the line.

"Grace! Liam's missing. I've been calling him, but I couldn't reach him. He said he was going to Bensville to get you some medicine. You're responsible for his safety. If the baby inside me is born without a father, I swear I'll never forgive you." Grace frowned and ended the call without a word. She tried dialing Liam herself. A mechanical female voice answered on the other end, cold and emotionless.

Her heart skipped a beat. She tried calling again, several times, but it was always the same.

She told herself it was probably just bad reception. After all, it had snowed heavily two nights ago, and he was up in the mountains.

by evening, she'd called more times than she could count. She'd also sent messages, but

took a deep breath, hastily shuffled through a few work obligations, and

she reached the bottom of the stairs, she froze. She figured she'd head over to

first. The moment she opened the door

are you doing here? Weren't you going to look for Liam? Why haven't

well under pressure sometimes, but most

in her eyes said

did something. "Andrea. Do you know

her gaze and cradled her stomach. When faced with Grace, she couldn't fully hide her bitterness. Her

trying to say? That I made Liam disappear? He's the only

narrowed her eyes-maybe

another word, she turned and headed for

away, a

the road, several dozen

on the

three cars were behind her, all keeping

to Bensville, she'd have to pass near where Ed was staying. And right now, she was strangely grateful she'd kept his location a secret. No one knew he was living somewhere

her phone and called him. He picked

"Grace?"