Lies 1-50

...There was clapping coming from every direction. There was even a few people behind me clapping.

I looked up and saw her staring at me, tears in her eyes.

A little boy was in her lap, a girl at her feet.

I stood and walked over to the first.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Our conversation was cut short when someone tapped me on the shoulder. "Would you sign my book for me?"

"Sure."

I smiled, but inside I just wanted to hug that girl with the two children... My wife.

"Noah that was so beautiful... I thought they only gave you an hour to read, you didn't have to read the whole thing." Charlotte wiped her eyes and pulled at her shirt.

She hugged me, our daughter and son holding onto her legs.

"Yes I did sweetie. It's our story, but more importantly, your story."

The store manager came over with a stack of ten books, wanting me to sign them all.

"Of course."

I was always so glad to sign, to take pictures, to really live for my book. It was called "In My Heart Lies..."

It was for my wife, and only a few people knew it was a true story. There was no, "THIS IS A MEMOIR" scrawled across the cover. It was just labeled fiction and stuck on a shelf for printing.

"That's my favorite book, where did you get the inspiration?" The store manager said as I was paging through the ten copies, dotting the white pages with a signature.

"My family inspired me... and a friend's story."

"It's so beautiful. Thank you for reading it to us."

"You're welcome, it's always my pleasure."

"Thank you."

We left the bookstore, our children carefully guarded under our radar eyes, and walked out to the pricey car that had come from the sales of the books.

We tucked the kids into their seats and sat quietly for the ride home.

"Noah?"

"Yes Charlotte?"

"If I would have known I would have met you earlier, I would have held out and pretended to be happy just so I could have you longer."

"Charlotte, I'm yours forever."

"I know Noah."

I peeked into the rearview mirror for a glimpse of our children, a daughter who looked like me and a son who looked like his mother.

"I love you Char..."

"I love you too. Thank you for telling my story."

"You're welcome."

And we stayed like that...