Wesley was in the big bathroom getting ready for a late picnic he and Lacey had planned beneath the stars. Lance was in Jackson with Teresa and he couldn't help but grin, thinking about them. He hoped for his buddy's sake that things worked out. Lance deserved happiness as much as anyone else around here, and Wesley was glad to have had a hand in the two getting together, at least to talk and see where things went from there. Lacey was up at the main house getting ready. Even though they were together a lot, she hadn't been sure about where exactly she and Wesley were headed and this house still was a shrine to his late wife. Even though she had never said anything about it, Wesley was starting to feel like things needed a change. As he was pondering these things in his head, he could almost feel Anne's hand on his shoulder, a light wispy touch as her presence seemed to surround him once again.
He reached up to touch his shoulder as if expecting to feel a hand there. Things did need a change, but he wasn't sure where he was going. He loved Lacey, but he still felt a bit guilty letting his heart go to another woman. Thinking about Anne hadn't hurt as much since Lacey had been around. In fact, it was all happy when he thought about Anne... and he'd thought about her less and less, her presence replaced by Lacey in his dreams and thoughts. He wanted to take the next step, but he didn't know how. He'd found himself in a jeweler's shop the other day, looking at rings before he'd caught himself and stepped out. Things were changing in his heart and all around him and he didn't quite know how to handle it.
Anne's soft touch drifted to his cheek and she seemed to materialize before him, her apparition transparent but clear as she stroked his cheek lovingly, her eyes tender and reassuring as she simply looked at him a long time. "I want you to follow your heart and live life with Miss Lacey King. I, too, need to move on, my Love. My time here is done. It's time to clear this house and stop living in the past." She smiled gently to him, nodding her head a bit as if it had already been done.
He reached up to touch hers, but only felt his clean-shaven cheek. He met Anne's eyes for a moment and smiled a bit. It was a releasing moment, for both of them. It wasn't goodbye... it was a simple acknowledgement that the past was done and would truly become the past once and for all. He nodded in his resolve. Then his eyes flickered to a little girl that appeared beside Anne and clung to her legs. He didn't even have to ask to know who it was and tears sprang to his eyes, but they weren't tears of pain. "I love you, Anne... I always will. ...Thank you."
Anne smiled gently and scooped down to pick up the little girl, balancing her in her arms as the little girl beamed at Wesley. "We'll be watching you and that beautiful Miss King, Wesley ... don't let her slip through your fingers." Touching his cheek one last time, she kissed the girl on the cheek and the little girl's laughter filled the bathroom, fading, their images slowly disappeared for the last time, leaving behind a sense of peace and the closing of one door as another one opened for him.
Wesley dried his eyes with his sleeve and stood up, grabbing his hat, then the ring box he'd set on the counter and shoved it into his breast pocket before smoothing his hair back to put his hat on. Now was as good a time as ever if he really did want things to change.
