Regretting the Wife He Threw Away

Chapter 102

Briony stared at Carney and Gwendolyn White, her nose stinging as emotion welled up inside her.

Carney and Gwendolyn approached, their faces grave with concern.

"You really do treat your teachers like outsiders," Carney said, his tone tinged with gentle reproach. "Bryn, you've truly let me down."

Briony pressed her lips together, fighting back the tears threatening to spill. "I'm sorry, sir, I-"

Before she could finish, Gwendolyn White stepped forward and pulled her into a warm embrace. "Oh, sweetheart, don't mind your teacher. He's just trying to scare you, that's all. For the last five years, he's talked about you every single day. You're his brightest student. Seeing you struggle like this-it breaks his heart. He didn't mean what he said."

Wrapped in Gwendolyn's motherly arms, Briony suddenly felt every bottled-up emotion from the past days come crashing down.

"Mrs. Winslow, my mom... she's gone..."

Gwendolyn gently stroked her back, her own eyes growing red. "Don't be afraid, dear. You still have us. We never had children of our own, and if you're willing, we'd love nothing more than to be your family."

Briony buried her face in Gwendolyn's shoulder and wept, letting the grief finally pour out.

stood nearby, watching the scene in silence,

side, the funeral suddenly felt

to go to Brightspring Hill to hold a

told her that Brightspring Hill was a

she knelt before the altar,

they all understood: these rituals were never really for the departed, but for those left behind,

in from outside

presence, Briony slowly

her tears trickled down,

was still blanketed in snow. No one knew where the butterfly had come

followed after it, and in that moment,

cry. Don't be sad. And

the butterfly slowly drifted

wiped the tears from her

priest closed the prayer

at last, had come to