Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"No need."

He had no intention of seeing Jessica again, at least not for a while.

Dragging his battered body, he'd gone looking for her before.

He'd even asked Vince to mediate, hoping she'd come to the Howard family estate.

Just before leaving, he'd clung tightly to her hand, unwilling to let go.

But all his concessions hadn't earned him any understanding from her instead, she'd only grown more brazen, pushing him further and further.

"But the way she's acting... it's really worrying Mom and Dad."

"This is none of your concern. I'll handle it myself.”

Once the test results came in, he would head back home.

He'd already wasted enough time on Jessica; he couldn't afford to let it drag on. "Aren't you the least bit worried she'll get the wrong idea about us?"

"There's nothing between us, we're completely-" Timothy stopped mid-sentence, memories from that night suddenly flickering through his mind. He still hadn't explained to Sheila what had happened. After a pause, he continued quietly, "About that night... I'm sorry. I'd had too much to drink. Don't overthink it, it won't happen again."

Sheila knew he trusted her. He'd never once suspected he'd been drugged; he just assumed he'd gotten drunk.

It still stung to think Jessica had ultimately gotten what she wanted—and to top it off, she'd even flipped Sheila off as she left.

If Sallie hadn't intervened and ruined Jessica's plans, things might have turned out very differently.

Given the respect and care Timothy always showed her, Sheila was sure he would have taken responsibility for her.

"You were drunk, how could I blame you for that..." Sheila pressed her lips together. Now didn't seem like the time to bring up their feelings. She changed the subject. “I'm planning to head to Riverside City in a couple of days."

Timothy still felt guilty about that night. He'd asked Yates for help with his film project, but Yates hadn't gotten back to him yet.

But this matter couldn't be put off forever. Mr. Smith had already chosen Jessica for the role, so Timothy felt he owed Sheila some real prospects for her future.

"I need to head back too. Let's go together-should be in the next day or two. I'll let you know as soon as I have a time."

"Alright."

Timothy had to stay another day or so, waiting for the paternity test results.

As soon as he got them, he'd head straight for Riverside City.

When Sandra and Abell arrived at the Zimmerman house, they went to see Mrs. Zimmerman first.

Sandra's heart ached when she saw how frail and worn Mrs. Zimmerman looked You know, you can't just worry about your kids all the time. You have to take better care of yourself too." noveldrama

Mrs. Zimmerman offered a tired smile. "That's just what mothers do. We can never truly let go of our children."

Sandra could relate-she'd lost her own daughter years ago.

But at least she knew her daughter was gone. The Zimmermans' little girl had vanished years ago, and whether she was alive or not, no one knew No wonder the worry had worn Mrs. Zimmerman dow@all these years.

Sandra gently asked, "Still no news about your daughter?"

"Vince said he's asked Timothy to help with the search. Supposedly, there's a lead now-they're following up on it."

"That's good, Technology's come a

long way since then. I remember Sallie mentioning once that Timothy had invested in some cloud platform, something that conne with all sorts of online systems. She said even our conversations could be picked up by smartphones these days-big data is really something. Maybe, just maybe, this time you'll actually find her."

"I hope so. If I could just see her once, I could die in peace."

It was the thought of seeing her daughter again that had kept Mrs. Zimmerman going all these years.

"Don't say that. What if your girl comes home, and seeing her gives you such a lift you're right back on your feet?"