Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"You just got off the plane. Get some sleep-I'll keep an eye on Daisy."

"No need."

She turned away, refusing to look at him.

"You look exhausted, Jessica. Don't push yourself."

His voice was already pleasant, but with that gentle concern, it was even harder to resist.

But words like that he'd never have said them to her before.

And now, she didn't want to hear them.

"It's pointless, Timothy. No matter what you do now, I'm going through with the divorce."

"I know," Timothy replied, lowering his voice so he wouldn't disturb Daisy. "I just wanted to do something for you before it's all over. I know you've been helping out with the housework, making donations, giving Carlisle and the others a chance. I know all of it."

Jessica lifted her chin, her eyes shining with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall.

"So what if you know?"

"I know you won't listen to anything I say right now, but could you just calm down and think about it for a minute? Do you remember something I once told you?"

"You've said a lot over the years. How am I supposed to know which one you mean?"

Timothy held her gaze, then quietly repeated the words he'd once said to her.

"You're really set on this just because you're jealous of her, you're willing to throw away our marriage? Throw away your family?" His voice was low and hoarse. "How can you be so foolish?"

He echoed the exact tone he'd used the first time he said those words.

"Sheila and I-it's not what you think. That day she fell down the stairs, Kane called me and asked me to come check on her. I didn't have a chance to explain things to you. Every time I tried, something else interrupted. And by the time I finally got the chance, you wouldn't listen anymore. Jessica, can you please, just for today, let me explain everything?"

There was a sincerity in Timothy's voice she hadn't heard in years.

They'd been married seven years. Never, not until the divorce was looming, had he ever spoken to her so patiently, so openly.

But even now, his change meant nothing to her. Her response was cool and distant: "How can you blame it on interruptions? You rushed to her side every time something happened, like nothing else mattered. Don't pretend it was anything else."

"It's my fault. But if you just let me explain, you'll understand. We're married. No matter how much I care about her, she's always an outsider to us. Seven years ago, she saved my life. I think I mentioned this before. And yes, back then thought

I might marry her—”

"Mr. Lawson!" Jessica's whisper was sharp, her words edged with anger. "I havenoveldrama

no interest in hearing about your past with her."

For her, those memories were wounds-scars she'd only just begun to heal. She didn't want to rip them open again.

"It doesn't matter if you want to hear

it or not. You're my wife. We're in this together. There's no reason for you to be jealous of her, and

BUTS

you

certainly no reason to tear our family apart because of her. You've been my wife for seven years. Did ever wonder why, the very first time I met you, I asked you to marry me?

Do you really think I'd propose on a whim to someone I didn't care

about?"

Jessica let out a cold, bitter laugh. That was what she'd once believed, too.

She'd never thought he loved her, exactly.

But for a man like him to walk up to her and say he wanted to marry her he must have liked her, at least a little.

That was the hope she'd clung to all these years.

Waiting for him to love her.

But the longer she waited, the clearer it became: he was never going to love her.

Jessica's laugh was hollow. "You just needed a convenient shield for your mess with Sheila. I was just the easy, quiet one you picked to stand in the way."