A confused Nola heads for the only place in Springfield where she feels comfortable, and for the only friend she thinks she has.

"Zachary, are you home?"

"Oh, Nola it's you," Zachary says sounding a little less than thrilled.

"Zach, I'm so glad you're here. You wouldn't believe everything that's been going on. Last night, Quinton told me the most incredible story about the affair that never happened. And then I came home and he was all snuggled up with Bridget, but then, she says it was just because Hart ran off with Dinah. And then I couldn't find my special pillow, and I had to read 'Jane Eyre' again, and it made me have a nightmare that Quinton wanted to make Bridget mistress of his manor, and then this morning, I couldn't find my emerald engagement ring that used to belong to Quinton's mother and then I heard Quinton and Bridget talking about some kind of plan, and to top it all off, the lights at the boarding house kept dimming and getting brighter again. Oh, Zachary I'm beginning to believe that I am going nuts."

"Nola, I really don't have time for all this now," Zachary says very harshly.

A shocked Nola responds quietly, "Oh, I see. I'm sorry, I won't bother you again. It's just that, I thought you were my. . . my friend."

"Wait, Nola, I'm sorry, I do care what's going on in your life, It's just that, I've had some bad news."

"I'm sorry. I never thought about that. That you might have problems too. What's the matter?"

"Nola, I can't really discuss it with you."

"Oh, great. Now you have secrets you can't share with me. What? Do I have a sign on my forehead that says, 'Don't tell her anything'. Zach, You can trust me. Believe me, there's very little that I haven't heard."

"Well, I can tell you this much. It's about Vanessa".

"Vanessa?"

"Nola, Vanessa told Matt about her condition."

"She did. How do you know that?"

"I can't really tell you that."

"How did he take it?"

"As well as can be expected. They've gone off to their island to wait for her to. . ."

"To die. And that's why you're so upset?"

"Nola, I came to Springfield to accomplish one thing, and it doesn't look like I will ever be able to do it."

"And it has something to do with Vanessa being sick, right?"

"Right, but that's all that I can tell you."

"I can't believe Vanessa is really dying. So soon after Henry, so soon after. . . Zach, you know, I've experienced so many losses, in so short a time."

"You mean, with Vanessa and with your father-in-law, Henry's death?"

"Yes, Vanessa, Henry, and Maureen too."

"Maureen?"

"She was my sister."

"Do you want to talk about her, Nola?"

"Yes. Yes, I think I do.

As we begin, Nola has started to share with Zach some memories of Maureen.

"Maureen was so beautiful," Nola hesitantly begins.

"Like you?"

"She was much more beautiful than I could ever hope to be. And she was smart too. And funny. And sweet. Maureen was just a wonderful person. And a wonderful sister. She just had so much going for her, but she never let it go to her head. I guess some people in my place would have been jealous of her, but I never was. I was just proud of the fact that I was Maureen Reardon's little sister."

"She must have had a lot of boyfriends?"

"Every boy in the neighborhood fell in love with her. But honestly, I think Maureen only loved one guy her entire life."

"Ed, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"Remember, you told me, that day on the beach, that Ed had been married to your sister."

"Yeah, that's right. Anyway, Maureen fell in love with Ed almost at first sight, and they had the most beautiful romance. It was almost as wonderful as mine and . . . Well, they were very happy together for a very long time. Maureen's only real disappointment was that she couldn't have a baby, but she and Ed were able to adopt, Michelle, and they were a real family until . . ."

"Until?"

"Until a certain blonde nurse at Cedars, decided she had slept alone, one too many nights."

"Ed had an affair?"

"Yeah, and you know what they say, "Everything that's born in the dark comes to light sooner or later'."

"Maureen found out?"

"She found a note Lillian had written to Ed."

"Lillian? You don't mean Lillian Raines, do you?"

"One and the same."

"She seems so sweet and unassuming."

"Yeah, just about as sweet and as assuming as a rattlesnake. Maureen found that letter, and I guess you could say her whole perfect world came crashing down on top of her."

"How did she die, Nola?"

"Well, they called it an accident. Her car hit a snow bank. But I know, she would have never been on that road driving in that condition, in that state of mind, it hadn't been for what had happened . . . " Nola can't fight back the tears anymore.

""It still hurts to talk about it, doesn't it?"

"Zachary, I'm about to tell you something, something that I've never told anyone, not even Quint. Maureen wrote a letter to me right before she died. They found it in her car. In it, she told me about finding out about the affair, how much it hurt, and how much she wished I could have been there to help her through it. She had tried to call me, but Quint and I were out on a dig somewhere, and I missed her call. So she tried to write down everything she was feeling, in that note to me."

"It must have been very painful for you to read."

"All I could think about was that if she had only been able to get me on the phone, if only I could have come back to Springfield . . . if only I had still been in Springfield, Maureen would have never been in that car crash."

"Nola, how could you think that?"

"Don't you see? She would have been with me. Not driving on a dangerous road in the snow. And if I had been here all along, I might have been able to make sure none of this ever happened. I'm sure I would have noticed the way Lillian looked at Ed. I could have sent that 'over-the-hill' vixen packing along time ago."

"Nola, you can't be responsible for other people's lives. That's not the way it works."

"The way it works? You sound as if you have first-hand knowledge of the Divine plan."

"I just know, Nola, that it was not your fault that Maureen died that day."

"I know that now. But it took me a while to realize that. When Maureen first died, I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I didn't want Quinton to even touch me."

"You were mad at Quinton?"

"I was mad at everyone that had the nerve and audacity to go on living while Maureen . . . And anyway, it had been Quinton that had talked me into leaving Springfield. Into leaving my family."

""But surely, you didn't blame Quinton?"

"I blamed everyone, but mostly I blamed myself. It all . . . just hurt so much. The guilt and the grief. Zachary, I . . . I even began to think about ending the pain.

"You don't mean . . ."

"Exactly. I thought about ending it all."

"Does Quinton know?"

"No, no one but you. Are you okay, Zach, you don't look well?"

"Nola, suicide is never the answer."

"Zach, You say that like you have first hand experience on the subject."

"I do. Nola. I do.

"Someone close?"

"Closer than you could ever imagine. Nola, what stopped you from going through with it?"

"I'd like to say my love for my children, but they were grown and starting lives of their own, and I would like to say my love for my husband, but I felt so far away from Quinton then. What really snapped me out of it was Gracie's visit."

"Gracie?"

"She was the best friend I ever had. We grew up together. We did everything together. And I could tell her anything. Come to think, of it she was a lot like you Zach."

"You said she 'was' your best friend."

"Well, you know how it is, you grow up; get married; move away and drift away from each other. I mean we still talked on the phone, but I was in California, and she had gotten married to some guy and moved to New York. But soon after Maureen died, she came to visit me in California, and she brought someone . . . someone special with her."

"Someone special?"

"Nicole. Her daughter, her youngest daughter. She was only six months old. Gracie was my age; her two oldest were in high school, when she suddenly found herself pregnant again. She considered it sort of a miracle."

"Every child is a miracle, Nola"

Well, Nicole certainly was. She was so beautiful with bright eyes and a big smile. There was just something about having that sweet, wonderful child around that made me realize that maybe, life wasn't so bad after all."

"A baby is God's way of saying the world should go on."

"What?"

"It's just a saying, Nola. So you felt better after Gracie's visit?"

"Better than I had in years. And then I sort of got this crazy idea in my head."

"Crazy idea?"

"It doesn't really matter. It didn't work out anyway," Let's just say, Quinton and I got some bad news, and then just as I was coming out of my cloud of depression, Quinton slipped into his own. He hadn't been able to help me with mine, and I couldn't help him with his."

"Couldn't you two talk to each other?"

"Zach, one of the problems Quint and I always had, was well, we tried to be so close. I guess we tried to anticipate what the other wanted and needed instead of . . . "

"Just coming out and asking each other straight out what was going on?"

"Yeah, exactly. I guess we thought because we loved each other so much that somehow, we would just always know what was going on inside each other's head. I guess, no one can ever really be that close."

"Nola, The secret to a happy marriage is not in trying to become one, but in learning how to accept and love each other while remaining two."

"Zachary, you're very smart for someone your age."

"I'm older than I look. Nola, Do you mind if I ask you something personal?'

Sure. Go ahead. You can ask me anything."

Now what was Zach going to ask Nola?

"Nola, did you ever forgive Ed, for what happened between him and Maureen?"

"Well, at first I didn't ever want to. But I guess I realized that Ed was basically, a good man. And yes, I did forgive him."

"Then why couldn't you forgive Quinton for what happened between the two of you?"

"I guess. . . . I guess I expected more from him. I wanted him to be . . ."

"Perfect?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I know. I know. Nobody's perfect. God knows I'm not."

"Then, Nola, don't you think it's time?"

"Time for what?"

"To forgive Quinton."

"Well. . . well. . . Yeah, you're right, Zach. I think it is."

"Then say it out loud."

"Why?"

"Saying something out loud makes it more real. Maybe it sounds silly, but it's true."

"If you say so. Okay. I forgive Quinton Chamberlain. I forgive Quinton Chamberlain. I forgive Quinton Chamberlain. There. Are you happy now?"

"Are you?"

"Honestly. . . I fee like.... like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. And I feel . . . about ten years younger. I feel great."

"To err is human. To forgive is divine."

"Yeah, maybe it is, maybe it just is. Now, I might actually be able to have a discussion with Quinton, without getting all flustered and upset.. And I won't even let that crazy story of his bother me."

"Crazy story?"

"The one about him not really ever having an affair with Jessica. That crazy story that. . . come to think of it, isn't any crazier than any of the other ones he told me all those years ago. All those stories that were. . . completely true."

"Nola, are you okay?"

"Yeah, for the first time in a long time, I think I am. Listen Zach, I've got to be going; I have a class this morning. Uh, Zach, I just want to say thanks.

"Thanks for what?"

"Thanks for everything," Nola says as she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek.

******************************************

After Nola is gone, Zachary realizes he has company. The mysterious old man has returned once again.

"Congratulations, my boy, I think you have finally worked a miracle."

"A miracle?"

"Don't you realize that you just sent Nola Chamberlain back to her husband?"

"That actually wasn't my intention, but she had to forgive him. It was the only way she could go on with her life."

"Zachary, have you ever heard the phrase, "Physician heal thyself.' I don't think Nola is the only one around here that needs a lesson in forgiveness.

"Don't you think it's a little too late for that?"

"It's not too late for you, and maybe, just maybe it's not too late for Vanessa. But her time is running out. It's up to you now. Are you ready to forgive, Zach?"

Zachary turns his back on the old man as he says with obvious pain, "I've tried. I just can't. I . . .I don't know how."

When Zachary turns around he sees that he is once again, alone. He sees too that Nola has dropped one of the notebooks she had been carrying. He picks it up and begins to read:

To Be Continued

Go to next chapter of "Sometimes You Get A Second Chance"