Tom Hughes, the son of Bob Hughes and Lisa Miller, decided to become a lawyer. This pleased his parents. He was pursued by Barbara Ryan, but he wasn't that interested in her at the time. Barbara left town and Tom turned his attention towards Carol Deming. Carol never wavered in her want for Tom. He felt she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Carol and Tom married and had a large, church wedding. Carol was a sweet person and the Hughes' family was very happy about the marriage.

Carol found out that she wasn't able to have children. She bonded with Frannie, Tom's much younger sister. Jennifer went back to work as a nurse after she had Frannie so Carol spent a lot of time with her. Tom kept occupied building his law career. He fell in love with his first client, Natalie Bannon. Carol and Tom soon realized they married too young. They divorced quickly on amicable terms.

Jay Stallings had come to town and he was quite the ladies man. He was originally interested in Lisa, but she only had eyes for Grant at that point in her life. He then focused on Carol, Lisa's then daughter-in-law. Carol wasn't the type to have an affair, but after her divorce from Tom she dated Jay. She wouldn't sleep with him outside of marriage, so Jay married her.

Although Jay was madly in love with Carol, he continued on with a torrid affair with Susan Stewart. Natalie discovered Jay's affair with Susan. However, Jay had known Natalie previously. Jay knew that Natalie had an affair with a married man . Tom was in love though, and he didn't know all about Natalie's past. They married.

Jay knew Natalie quite well and as hard as they tried to stay away from each other, they just couldn't. They had a one-night stand. Tom felt he could forgive Natalie for what happened in her past. When he was about to reunite with her, he found out that Natalie had been unfaithful to him. At this point he felt infidelity was something that was unforgiveable. Natalie and Tom divorced. Tom was friends with Carol, and Jay begged him not to tell her about the one-night stand. Tom agreed. Natalie was determined to get Jay. Jay was in love with Carol and wanted to leave his one-night stand with Natalie at just that. When Carol went to visit her father in New York, Jay couldn't stop thinking about Natalie. They began a full-fledged affair.

Jay was tormented, but Natalie was not. She asked Lisa to tell Carol about the affair. Lisa did and Carol threw Jay out. They stayed married though, and had their ups and downs. Natalie became pregnant and Carol and Jay arranged to adopt the baby (it ended up being a girl, which they named Amy). Carol ended up being a widow when Jay died a few years later, Her next husband was Steve Andropoulos. Amy and Carol were important to Steve, but Carol feared for her safety because of some of the things Steve had been involved in. She divorced him and ended up marrying a minister, Norman Frazier.

Related Links:

Photo of Richard Thomas - Richard Thomas played the role of Tom Hughes from 1966 to 1967

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ATWT: The First 20 Years Main Page ATWT News & Previews Main Page this page last updated 6/10/98

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