Regretting the Wife He Threw Away

He sighed. "As long as you're here with me, Daddy won't be sad."

Little Mario stared at Stewart, deep in thought.

All at once, an idea struck him. He turned to Little Nina and announced, "When Daddy's sad, he cries too-but only at night, after everyone's asleep. He sneaks out tears when he thinks nobody can see-mph!"

Stewart quickly covered his son's mouth, looking both helpless and amused. "Alright, that's enough. It's late. No more talking-lie down, both of you. Daddy will read you a bedtime story."

The kids obediently snuggled under their blankets.

Stewart switched off the overhead light, leaving only the soft glow of the bedside lamp.

He picked up the storybook, his deep voice resonating in the quiet room-

"Once upon a time, there was a little field mouse. She was the fastest digger in her whole family..."

Briony emerged from the shower to find several missed video calls on her phone.

She checked the timestamps-right at nine o'clock.

It was already half-past nine now.

She'd spent a while drying her hair after her shower, so time had gotten away from her.

By now, the children were surely asleep.

Briony hesitated, then called Marlene's cell.

Wentworth took the kids upstairs to bed at nine sharp. You called a little late, I'm

nodded, letting

Marlene continued, "Although, Mr. Wentworth didn't seem in the

"What do you

seemed off," Marlene whispered. "Now that the kids are asleep, he's out in the backyard by himself. I checked the security camera-he's crouched by the fish pond, feeding the

James," she said with a sigh. "Go stop him before he

"Will do!"

up and

Stewart was crouched low, mechanically tossing handful after handful of fish food into

hadn't come out, these poor koi would be done

hurried over. "Mr. Wentworth,

daze. He realized a third of the

awkwardly. "Sorry. I didn't realize how much I was giving

Kensington adores those koi. If anything happened to them,

pang of guilt hit Stewart. "I'm

next time," Marlene said, half teasing, half warning. "Mr. Delaney said these koi were blessed by a priest at a very famous

vent

good fortune, and there's only this one

crease appeared between Stewart's

perfectly well what

sense of helplessness settled over him; he pressed

unsure how to respond.

his downcast expression, Marlene decided not to push

the help even if