"Can't make out much from the picture, but for me, I know you'd be the best father to our little one."

Dominic rested his head on the body of the desk, elbows on his knees as s tear slipped down his face. He held the picture of their last child taken at the hospital. He wasn't able to go to that meeting because of an emergency the company had but to cheer him up, she sent him the picture with a note. He has stashed it in the older photo albums, which he shoved at the back of the cupboard.

As with painting, Nadine was fascinated with pictures and saving memories. She told him that when she was young, Nadine was afraid of Alzheimer's disease. She learned about it after googling a completely different disease. It made her intimately vested in saving as many memories as possible; the good, the bad and the ugly. Where ever she was, she could see something that caught her eye, and she would immediately capture it to preserve the memory.

"Where are you, Nadine? How are you."

He looked down at the other picture as he spoke. She was peeking out behind a wall, so only one side of her face was visible. Jonathan had taken it the day she finally bought the building for her restaurant; she had been so excited to start, so full of ideas and energy. It scared him to look at the pictures, to have the memories, because he felt like he was accepting never seeing her again, never seeing their child.

Nadine was pregnant.

The doctor had confirmed it when he called to clarify the night he found out. After that, he searched for her harder, looking everywhere for her. He went from one station to another, in different towns around, to see if anyone had seen her. Everything yielded a total of nothing. He found himself repeating things for a week, checking in on the same places, finding somewhere else to look, asking questions that never seemed to come with an answer, and none of them gave him a clue as to where his wife was.

"How was your day?"

He looked up at Nevaeh and shrugged, indicating the mess at his feet. "Same as the others, horrible."

"What you have over there?" She sat down beside him, resting against the desk as she picked up the box of pictures and set them on her lap, grinning at the first thing she saw. "How long have you been sitting here with the windows closed."

"Long enough to not know what the time is or care. I am tired of the days rolling down. I wish I could stop time so that, even if things move, the time remains the same. Maybe it would give those people time to find my wife without them taking years to do it."

"Ah, the powers we wish we had." She picked a picture from the box, one that he took at the fair. She had her flowery dress on, a handmade fan in her hand, with a peace sign pointing high up in the air. "Nadine's superpower was never to grow old. She always said that the years can pass and she could be fifty, but she would have the heart of a child. If the boss was harsh, she would dance it off at home; if she had troubles, she would laugh them off and keep going in joy."

"I can attest to you that she kept that promise." He wiped a tear from her face, trying to give her a reassuring smile. "Lord knows we had hard times. This town has not always been kind to your sister, or our relationship, but, even with the difficulty, she tried to be happy. No matter what we lost or how low we felt, she would pull me up some nights and dance with me. She would paint, take pictures, tell some silly jokes."

"Oh, her jokes were horrible."

"They were." He chuckled at the memory and then shook his head immediately. "Some, some not all."

"Of course."

They shared a laugh, and he picked another photograph, looking at it fondly. "Have you seen our wedding photos? Have I shown them to you?"

"No." she breathed, smiling even with the tears falling. "No, you have not."

Nevaeh laughed, smiling at him before accepting the picture. It was the original version of the wedding dance he had recreated for her on their anniversary, the day she went missing. Her hair was tied up in a bun, with various strands banging in front of her face. Her veil trailed from her head down her back. She was bent in his arms as he playfully whispered in her ears, her buoyant laugh frozen in time like the flowers that fell around them. The thing about pictures was, he could show Nevaeh a hundred, but she would never hear the laughter or the joy in their voices. Just memories locked away in time on paper.

She picked another one from the album. It was from their honeymoon at a national park, living in a beautiful cabin; surrounded by nature. In the picture, Nadine's right eye was closed tightly and the tip of her mouth lifted in a smile as a giraffe licked around her face. Dominic had been lucky to snag a photo at that exact moment, with her holding a large leaf to her head.

His phone rang, breaking the moment, and he apologised as he searched through the piles of pictures. He found the phone and looked at the name, but there was none; the number was unknown.

"Yes." He grovelled, dropping the photo album on the floor beside him. Nevaeh busied herself with the pictures while he listened to the woman speaking.

"I am sorry, is this...Mr Dominic Marseille?"

He sniffled, nodding to no one. "Yes, this is he. Who am I speaking to?"

"This is Jane, I am a nurse at Darven Teaching Hospital, in Darven. A patient has just been brought in with the name of Nadine Marseille." Dominic shot to his feet, and Nevaeh stood with him, watching him expectantly. "We believe she was reported missing a month ago?"

"Yes. Yes." He pressed a hand over his racing heart. "Please, is she alright? What happened?"

"The doctor is seeing her at the moment, but she is in a delicate condition. We obtained your details from the man who brought her. Do you have anything to write the address down on?"

He looked around, picking a pen from its holder and knocking the entire thing down in his hurry. He didn't focus on it, dragging one of his books over and throwing it open. "Yes, please. Okay, yes will be there. Thank you, thank you so much."

"What is it? Tell me. What is it?" Nevaeh asked, her fingers digging into his hand as she smiled. She knew what he was about to say before he cheerfully could bring out the words.

"They found her. They found Nadine."

"Oh, thank you, God."

"Come on. Come on."

Darven was not a far drive from the town, only a few hours, and they would be in the hospital. It was getting to midnight, so they didn't have any time to waste. They quickly informed her mother, and his parents too, but came to the decision that they couldn't all go. Although he was sure they couldn't mistake her for anyone because of the pictures, he thought it would be better if he and Nevaeh went to confirm. Since the whole month had taken a heavy toll on his mother-in-law, he convinced her to stay with the kids and promised to send her a text the second he saw Nadine.

The nurse had not given him too much information other than she was in a delicate situation, and he was grateful for that. He didn't want to drive distracted with thoughts in the middle of the night and get into a tragedy as well. It was a few hours, he thought to himself, joy welling up inside him, a few hours and he would be with his wife again.