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jennaferz

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Thirty Years Later

"Excuse me, Mr. Hamilton?"

Conner looked up from his desk to see his secretary poking her head through his door. "Yeah?"

"Your wife's on the line."

"Thanks, Bess." He picked up the phone. "Hello? Nad?"

"Hey, baby," Nad crooned, and he felt a smile curve his lips. "Listen, Kay just called me from school, and they rescheduled her play for tonight. She really wants you to come. Do you think you can get off?"

"What time is the play?"

"Seven."

"I'm sure I can arrange it," Conner told her. "I'll see you then, okay? I love you."

"I love you too."

When he hung up, he slowly slid open his desk drawer. Rummaging around, he finally found what he was looking for: a picture.

He leaned back, just looking at it, and felt tears swimming in his eyes. In it, he was sitting on the ground, laughing, with a beautiful girl in his lap. Neither of them were looking at the camera. They were looking at each other. Slowly he ran a finger over Lish's face.

What would life have been like if she was alive? Would she be the wife that Bess was always having to remind him to pick up the phone to? Would it have been her that he sat in the hospital with for hours, just waiting to finally see the beautiful face of his first child?

He was sure of the answer. Yes.

He still loved her, even after all these years. But he loved Nad too, if in a different way. His love for Lish hadn't faded; he had managed to store it in his heart. But he couldn't have Lish. And the only other woman he had ever loved was Nad.

It wasn't the happy-ever-after he had once imagined. But--and he smiled, staring down at the laughing couple in the picture--the memories were almost enough.