The party was so boring - I would not have come had it not been for my husband. They were honoring him for his contributions to the medical world. I started looking around me. For a woman who was in her forties, I was getting very restless. I was tired of saying hello to everyone who could get a hold of me, the wife of the famous Dr. Craig James. I should have been used to all this by now but I never could get up too much enthusiasm for social functions.

The dinner was over and the speeches were going to begin. As I was about to resign myself to the lectures, I saw someone, a memory from the past... Suddenly, I was 22 yrs old again, he was standing there smiling at me, that handsome face crinkled in a devastating smile. I basked in its glory and knew I loved him more than anyone in my life. He was so good to me - I just needed to say it and he would do it for me. He was the one person who could read my mind. I felt it all again, the closeness that we shared, the secrets we told each other, the way he held my hand, the way we laughed at each other's jokes, the way he touched me, the way he kissed me...everything was embedded in my heart, as if it were just yesterday.

Then I returned to reality, like so many other times I figured it was the faint memory that had triggered these images, but I was wrong. He was there! For the first time in eighteen years he was in front of me. His age did nothing to hide his aura. He was more handsome than I remembered and my heart was in my throat! Oh my god! I know I would make a fool of myself right here in front of all these people if I didn't hide! I excused myself and ran to the nearest restroom. Standing there I recalled the past once more, but these memories were bitter.

My father yelling, his face red with anger, "You will not marry Dennis McGrath! He is nothing but a gold-digging pauper!!!" "Your allowance is more than he can hope to earn in a month!!!"

"But father, I love him, I know he will keep me happy", I begged and pleaded but my father would not hear of it. He threatened to kill himself if I had anything more to do with Dennis. So, I ended up marrying the man he chose for me. But I never forgave my father and I never forgot Dennis. How could I? He was the only man I had ever loved! As I looked up at the mirror in front of me now, I saw the tears run down my cheeks, I was used to these tears, they always came when I least expected them.

Just then, I heard loud applause and hurried to fix up my face and go back to the party. As I sat down the announcer came on stage, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for. Without further ado I give you, Dr. Craig James!" said the announcer gaily, "and to honor him, I would like to call upon a man who has created history with his new ideas in the field of business, the tenth richest man in the world... Mr. Dennis McGrath!!"

I looked on with a faint smile on my face and my eyes full of tears, the irony was laughable had I the courage to laugh at the death of my heart. The man I loved honoring the man I married. I wanted to scream from the pain, I wanted to go to my father and ask him if he had done justice to me. I wanted everyone to know that my heart was bleeding real blood.

But I sat there a false smile pasted to my face...