Goodbye, Mr. Regret

"Where's Henry?"

"He's in his room. I've called him down a few times, but he won't come. Says he doesn't want to eat."

Timothy pressed his lips together and headed for Henry's room.

Henry was still lying in bed.

As Timothy came closer, he saw his son's eyes were swollen from crying.

"Henry, come on. Dad's taking you to the movies."

"I don't want to go."

"Not even if it's your mom's movie?"

Henry sat up, staring at him in disbelief. "Mom made a movie? She can do that?"

Timothy nodded. "You'll see when we get there.”

He firmly believed Henry needed to see this film. He deserved to know everything

his mother had done for him—all the love she'd poured into him.

Father and son came downstairs together. Naylor stopped them, offering breakfast.

Timothy shook his head. "No thanks, you all eat. I'll take him out."

Naylor just nodded and let them go.

As a grandfather, he'd always had it pretty easy. Timothy and Sallie were both mature and reliable, and both sides of the family-the Howard side and their own -cared deeply, so there was never much for him to worry about.

As for his grandson, with Jessica around as a mother, he barely had to lift a finger.

It was only recently, with Jessica pulling back, that Henry ended up at the old house more often.

Honestly, looking after a kid was overwhelming. He was out of practice, didn't know what he was doing, and frankly, didn't want the job. He just hoped Jessica would come back soon.

When Jessica was around, Timothy's little household ran smoothly. If anything important came up at the old house, she'd be there in a heartbeat. With her handling things, it wasn't just him—no one in the family had to worry.

Now, though? It was a mess.

Headache after headache.

He had to admit, a caring daughter-in-law made all the difference for a family. Timothy took Henry out for breakfast.

Henry felt uneasy, worried his dad would bring up what happened before. He still remembered how angry Timothy had been.

But all through breakfast, Timothy didn't mention it once.

When they reached the theater, Timothy even bought him popcorn and a Coke- treats he would've strictly forbidden before.

The movie was still in limited release, so not every theater was showing it. The line was long.

Timothy waited outside with Henry, just like everyone else.

When it was finally time, he took Henry's hand and led him inside.

It was Timothy's second time seeing the film, and some lines and scenes hit him just as hard as the first. As for Henry, like many others in the audience, he watched quietly, tears streaming down his face.

Only when the credits rolled did Henry finally understand why his father had insisted he memorize "A Mother's Love."

Some scenes in the movie even felt

familiar

him. The theater was

noisy, it to Timothy.

though, so he didn't meet

Father and son walked out into the bright afternoon.

Eagerly, Henry turned to Timothy. "Dad, can I use your phone for a second?"noveldrama

"What do you need it for?"

"Please, hurry! I need to look something up. It's important."

Timothy handed over his phone.

Relying on memory, Henry opened a short video app and used the voice search. "Jessy's Cartoons," he said into the mic.

He clicked in, scrolled through the little animations, and before long, tears were falling again.

Suddenly, the account updated

a new

a trailer for the

the

movie just watched,

encouraging everyone to

everyone to go see it.

“Why are you crying?" Timothy knelt down, gently wiping the tears from Henry's

face.

Choking up, Henry handed him the phone and showed him the account.