Chapter 10: The Regret of the Ex-Husband

Three days after Laura's birthday, Catherine was admitted to the hospital once again.

This time, she knew she wouldn't be coming home.

Her condition had deteriorated rapidly.

Even breathing had become difficult.

James stayed beside her day and night.

He canceled every meeting and ignored every business call.

Nothing mattered anymore.

The only thing he wanted was more time.

Unfortunately...

Time was the one thing money could never buy.

Late one evening, Catherine slowly opened her eyes.

Laura was asleep beside her hospital bed, holding her mother's hand tightly.

James quietly stood by the window.

"James," Catherine called softly.

He immediately walked over.

"I'm here."

"Thank you... for keeping your promise."

"Laura smiles a lot more now."

"She does," James replied, his voice trembling.

"I'll spend the rest of my life protecting her."

"I know you will."

Catherine smiled faintly.

"Then I have nothing left to worry about."

She gently reached for James's hand.

"Don't spend your life regretting the past."

"Just be a good father from now on."

"That's all I ask."

James lowered his head as tears rolled freely down his face.

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm so sorry, Catherine."

"I loved you too late."

"You don't have to apologize anymore," Catherine whispered.

"I've already let everything go."

She slowly turned toward Laura.

"My little sunshine..."

"Mommy loves you more than anything in this world."

"Never forget that."

As dawn approached, Catherine's breathing became weaker.

James gently held one of her hands.

Laura held the other.

With the two people she loved most beside her...

Catherine peacefully closed her eyes for the final time.

"Mom...?" Laura whispered.

"Mom... wake up."

James hugged his daughter tightly as silent tears streamed down his face.

For the first time in seven years...

He cried without trying to hide it.

The funeral was held several days later.

It was simple, exactly as Catherine had requested.

White lilies surrounded her portrait.

Laura placed the silver necklace around the frame.

"Goodbye, Mommy," she whispered.

"I'll become a doctor like I promised."

"Then nobody will lose their mommy again."

James stood silently behind her.

After everyone left, he remained alone before Catherine's grave until sunset.

"You once waited seven years for me," he murmured.

"Now..."

"I'll spend the rest of my life waiting for a forgiveness I don't deserve."

Years passed.

James never remarried.

He devoted all his time to raising Laura.

Every birthday, he gave her one of Catherine's letters.

Every graduation, another letter.

Every important milestone...

Catherine was still there through the words she had left behind.

Laura eventually fulfilled her childhood dream.

She became a doctor.

On the day she graduated from medical school, she opened another letter.

"My precious Laura,"

"If you're reading this, then you've become the kind woman I always believed you would be."

"Remember..."

"Kindness is never weakness."

"And love should never require you to lose yourself."

Laura smiled through tears.

"I miss you, Mom."

"Every single day."

That evening, she visited Catherine's grave with James.

His hair had long since turned gray.

He gently placed a bouquet of white lilies before the headstone.

"Catherine," he whispered.

"Laura grew up exactly as you dreamed."

"She's extraordinary."

"I kept every promise."

A gentle breeze passed through the cemetery.

For a brief moment...

It almost felt as though Catherine were smiling at them.

James quietly looked toward the sky.

He had spent the rest of his life trying to become the husband she deserved.

But the greatest tragedy of all...

Was that she had never lived long enough to see it.

Some mistakes could be forgiven.

Some wounds could heal.

But some regrets...

Stayed with a person until their very last breath.

And that became James Frost's greatest punishment.

The End.