The One That Got Away – Part II

Was it all a dream?

Mark Monfort certainly was the man of her dreams. He managed to outmaneuver Susan's treachery and uncovered the truth about Doug's suicide. Instinctively she reached for Doug's note sitting on her bedside table.

No, enough. It was time to lay demons to rest.

She took the fragile handwritten note and delicately tucked it deep into the bottom of her jewelry box with her other keepsakes.

All my love, Doug, but it's time to move on.

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Her father, reading the newspaper at the kitchen table, gaped at his little girl as she entered the room smiling, dressed in a brightly colored dress. Gone was the morose creature who had cried at the drop of a hat. She looked… happy.

Lisa kissed her father's cheek lovingly, a smile changing her features into a youthful look.

Before his daughter had left for her friend's wedding, she had been nervous even to the point of backing out. She would be seeing old college friends, each one a reminder of her fiancee's death. However, the promise of being a maid of honor held her to her obligation.

He held her hand and pulled her to sit next to him. "Sweetheart, you look nice today. Did you have a good time at the wedding?"

Her eyes brightened before she let out a half-hysterical laugh. "Yes, Daddy, you'll never believe what happened!"

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Her father mulled over her tale, relieved to find out the truth for the first time in years. He had liked Doug Richards, even wanted to bring the boy into his own law firm. The youth, however, had aspirations of the Supreme Court and Lisa's father could see Doug had the drive to succeed in his goal.

Mark Monfort arriving on his front doorstep later that morning with coffee and flowers gave Lisa's father the hope that he could still have a son-in-law working with him at his practice.

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The trial was an ordeal, even with Lisa's father's best lawyers at their disposal. Susan didn't get where she was by being stupid. Every single one of Mark's ghosts was laid out in the open to discredit his version of the story. It was no use however. The press had a field day seeing a lauded judge such as Susan Duplain being dragged through the muck. Gale Harper's testimony was damning seeing as how two people in connection with her committed or attempted suicide.

The press eagerly lapped up the tragic tale of Lisa Magdaleno as she took the stand, but the camera lights flashed even more fervently as they spotted the plaintiff leaving the courthouse with a comforting arm around the abandoned fiancée.

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It had been a long year, but everyone that Susan had ever wronged in her lifetime could finally see justice being served as she was sentenced for her crimes. Everyone thought that the young pair would be off celebrating their victory with champagne.

Instead, Lisa and Mark went directly to Doug's gravesite, laying a red rose upon his tombstone.

Lisa spoke privately to Doug as Mark watched from afar. When she returned, he reached out to wipe a single tear from her eye. Kissing her forehead affectionately, he murmured, "No more tears, not while I'm around."

And she truly believed him.

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The minute Lisa found out she had passed the bar examination, she had excitedly called Mark, only to discover he was already on her front doorstep holding the most beautiful bouquet of roses.

"I knew you had to have passed after all of the hours I spent tutoring you."

Lisa rolled her eyes and managed to wipe the smirk off his face by kissing him square on the lips.

After a few glorious seconds, Mark pulled away, staring at her glassy eyed and dazed, "That was our first kiss," he mumbled.

"And not our last," she answered, pulling on his tie to bring his mouth back to hers.

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Doug's kisses had been quick and fleeting, those of a bashful youth in their early twenties.

Mark's kisses made her toes curl in her shoes. When he picked her up for lunch, judging from the envious looks thrown by the younger legal aides at her father's law firm (where she worked now as a lawyer and not a secretary, thank you very much), Lisa thought being 31 was not such a bad thing after all.

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Mark walked arm and arm with Lisa on a quiet, moonlit stroll. Crickets chirped quietly in the night as the pair strolled.

"I'm not Doug," he whispered his insecurity to the cool air. He could never replace her deceased fiancee.

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, "No, you're not." And she never wanted him to try.

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He proposed soon after, and they decided on a small courthouse ceremony, only the justice of the peace and her father as witnesses. After the ordeal of Wendy's wedding and the exposure of their mutual friend, they decided that smaller would be better.

"And it's in June," Mark insisted, a joke which his bride found to be outrageously funny.

He thought no one he knew had been present to see his and Lisa's happy day, but a woman's deep voice whispering, "Hallelujah" caused him to whip his head around. A flash of long reddish-brown hair and a handsome man's congratulatory smile in the crowd... Mark jogged his way through the throng of people only to gaze with wonder at the object resting at his feet. He picked up the item reverently presenting the gift to his new wife.

Lisa cooed over the figurine: a pair of pure white, ceramic doves curled around each other, with the names "Mark" and "Lisa" inscribed on each.

"Who gave these to you?"

"Someone who told me to share my heart with someone who knows how to love."

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Gale Harper finally bit the bullet and decided to marry his photographer girlfriend, Dolores. Each finery and bauble at his wedding was presented and displayed for all to see. Look at how successful my law firm is! he wanted to shout. A beautiful bride, a successful practice, was there anyone who was luckier than he?

A sleek black car drove up outside the venue parking itself smoothly in front of Gale. A familiar man stepped out.

"Well lookie here, Mark Monfort!"

Gale had to bite back a groan. The man before him still had a full head of hair and a svelte figure. Gale had been thinning a little at the top and putting on a few pounds at his waistline, but his old college friend still looked the same.

Actually he looked better than when Gale last saw him at the trial of the century. Mark was relaxed, carefree, even grinning happily. He shook Gale's grip with a firm hand before releasing it quickly to walk to the passenger side of the car.

Mark opened the door before easing a woman carefully out from the passenger seat.

Gale's eyes bugged as he saw Lisa Magdaleno (make that Lisa Monfort) heavily pregnant appear beside the taller man. In his naïve college days, Gale had questioned the odds that everyone in their study group would marry each other. He would have never bet on Lisa and Mark tying the knot.

The couple gazed lovingly into each other's eyes before realizing they had an audience. The accident and personal injury lawyer could see her reflexively rub her heavy belly with her left hand, at the same time flashing a gorgeous 2 carat diamond ring.

So maybe there was somebody luckier than him.

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The nurse carefully placed the sleeping baby into Lisa Monfort's arms. The father, Mark Monfort, laid a kiss delicately on the child's forehead. The babe cooed and slipped further into deeper slumber.

Addressing the new parents, the nurse smiled seeing the love they had for each other evident in the new trio.

"Have you decided on a name for your son?"

"Doug. His name is Doug."

I am obsessed with this episode. Maybe because it's a handsome protagonist finding love with the broken girl, or it's the first appearance of the Angel of Death, Andrew (who was always very eye-catching), but I had to write a tag, or post-credits scene, to this wonderful show. Since I'm binge watching Touched by an Angel, there will be more tags to follow.

Please review,
Grignard