Flowers in the Park Ch. 16

This is it - the final chapter in the love story of Alex and Wes. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! As usual, I fall in love with the characters I write, and I will think about Alex and Wes long after this last chapter is published.

Thanks to all who have followed this story from the very beginning. I've appreciated your comments and have been thoroughly blessed by your votes!

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The sun was sitting just above the horizon as it made its evening trek downward, and a late spring gentle breeze created the setting for a very comfortable evening on the back deck of the ranch-style home. Alex was there, sitting in a glider chair, drinking a tall glass of iced tea while waiting for her family to get home. Things were starting to pick up around the farm. The guys were trying to get the fall crops in the ground before the summer harvest season began. It meant long days and late nights, but Alex knew they wouldn't have it any other way.

She began to hear the rumble of an approaching tractor down the gravel road that led to the farmstead. She glanced to her right and saw Wes maneuver the big green monster into the driveway, stopping in front of the fuel tanks. She smiled as she saw him climb down the ladder, still in as great of shape as the day when she first met him. He turned to walk to the back of the house and smiled when he saw her sitting there.

He came up the steps to the deck, and spying the iced tea in her hands, said, "Got more of that for

me?"

She smiled and replied, "Pitcher is in the fridge. Get a glass and come back out and sit with me for a while."

Before he walked into the house, he stopped and bent over to kiss Alex on the lips. She smiled and uttered, "You handsome devil, you!" Wes chuckled and went inside, returning in a couple of minutes with a matching glass of tea for himself.

He sat down on the glider next to his wife. After taking a drink, he looked over at her, and noticed she was smiling. "Give it up, Alex - what's going on in that beautiful mind of yours?"

She looked over at him and smiled. Holding out her hand, she simply said, "This..."

"This....what?"

"Life. This life. Perfect, isn't it?"

Wes took another drink. "I agree, but what got you thinking about that right now?"

She blushed and replied, "Oh, you know...watching you walk up to the house from the tractor and seeing the dirt all over your clothes and face. It's a lot different to when I first met you. I can't believe you gave up your engineering career to come work on daddy's farm."

Wes paused for a few seconds. "You know, sometimes life deals you cards that make you change the way you play the game. Your father's death shook us all. But meeting him and spending time with him before he died convinced me that the passion he had for this farm could be transferred to me, and I was right. Now it's just like I was born to do this. He gave me that gift, and I'll spend the rest of my life honoring his hard work in preparing for us to take his pride and joy over for him."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and Wes looked over and saw a tear streaking down his wife's face. He wanted to brush it off, but with his dirty hands, he would have left a mark on her face. "Now what, Alex?"

She looked down at the deck floor. "I wish he could be here to see all of this, and what we have created in his legacy. I think he would be pleased that we built our house just across the drive from their house, and that he would have seven grandchildren to play with and show the farm to. I really miss him, but being here on his land is always cathartic to me, because there are so many good memories here - both old and new."

The birds were singing in the trees as the sun dipped lower, with the bottom edge now touching the horizon. Alex took another drink of her tea, and then realized that Wes had come home alone.

"Where's Wesley? Wasn't he working with you today?"

"He was, and he's still out there. It's much quicker to get the ground ready than it is to actually plant. You know Wesley - demanding precision work from himself. I don't know how he manages, but he plants the straightest rows of anybody I've ever seen. The GPS on the tractor helps, but you can see the extra he puts into it by the results of his careful planning."

As if on cue, the sound of a second tractor approached the farmstead. Coming from the same direction as before, Wes and Alex watched as Wesley's tractor appeared from behind the house. He carefully steered it into the yard, pulling up behind his dad's tractor so it could also be fueled first thing in the morning. They watched as Wesley climbed down from the cab - built much like his father, but a couple of inches taller. He had just turned 24, but he still had a youthful grin, which was on display now as he walked up to his father and stepmother.

"Get that field finished up, son?"

Wesley nodded. "Piece of cake - we're ready to move north tomorrow morning."

He climbed the steps to the deck and stopped in front of Alex. "You won't believe what I saw on the side of the road that I had to stop and bring to you." He took his hand from behind his back, and Alex saw that he was clutching a sprig of wildflowers - the same kind he presented to her in the park over 20 years ago.

"A beautiful woman should have beautiful flowers!"

Alex blushed as she accepted Wesley's gift. His father chortled, however.

"Wesley - don't you think you should find a new line? That one is so old!"

Wesley started to respond, but Alex cut him off. "Don't listen to him, Wesley! It may be old, but it's timeless - it still works as well today as it did in the park the first time!"

Wesley playfully stuck out his tongue at his father before heading inside to shower and change clothes. As soon as he left, Alex asked Wes, "Is he working with you all summer, or does he have other plans?"

"I think he'll stay until harvest is over, but he wants to spend time with his mom and stepdad before he goes back to school. One more year, and he'll have his Master's in Aeronautical Engineering. After that, I would imagine his farming days will be over. He'll be a very hot commodity in the job market with the success he's had in school."

She patted his hand. "You would have been okay if he had decided to stay and farm with you full-time."

"That would have been great, but he didn't have the opportunity to grow up in farming towns like you and I did. So while he loves to come help in the summer, I don't see him giving up his professional goals to come and farm with me."

Alex chuckled. "Like you didn't when you were his age?"

"Okay, you got me on that one. I didn't plan on being a farmer either. But then someone came along and led me to change my mind. Just goes to show you that love can change even your best thought out plans."

Alex turned her body to face Wes more directly. "Do you ever have second thoughts about giving up your engineering career to come and take over the farm?"

"Absolutely not. Look at the life we have! We live out here in the peaceful country. The farm has been good to us, and when Aaron came on board, we were able to expand and add in a small cattle operation that he takes care of. I knew it was meant to be when you found out that there was an elementary teaching position open in the same school you attended. Could that have been any better scripted?

"Face it - the city provided us with opportunities, but we mostly stayed in the apartment after we were married, so we didn't need all that. Here we can have the peace and quiet we love, while raising our kids in an environment that was good for both of us. I wouldn't give this up for anything!"

He leaned over to kiss Alex, and then looked at his watch. "Speaking of the kids, where are they? Shouldn't they be home by now?"

"Usually, but the pool had a private party, so they had to stay and lifeguard for it. They should be home soon. Can you believe it? Our babies are going to be seniors in high school this year. I think that means we're getting old!"

Wes groaned. "Don't remind me. The gray hairs I'm seeing are reminder enough."

He looked across the driveway at the old two-story farmhouse in which his wife grew up. "When is Aaron and his family going to be home? I can't remember if it's tomorrow or the next day."

"He said they should be home tomorrow evening," replied Alex. "They were using these last two days to go visit his wife's family. He knew with harvest coming up that there wouldn't be much time to visit until the couple of weeks before school started, and he didn't want to wait that long."

"When he was growing up, did you ever think he would come back to the family farm?" asked Wes. "I know it's cliché to think that the farmer's son follows in his farmer father's footsteps but given the decline in the number of family-operated farms over the past few decades in this country, it's not a given anymore."

Alex thought for a minute and then answered, "Truthfully, I don't ever remember dad urging any of us kids to be tied to the farm. You have to remember that I was quite a bit older than Ana and Aaron, so we didn't have a lot of discussion about our hopes and dreams. Ana had decided she was going to be a nurse while still in high school, and I doubt she and her family will ever leave the city like we did. I knew early on that I wanted to be an elementary teacher, so I was never expected to come back to the farm. Now look at me."

Wes smiled. "I still love looking at you - not only are you the sexiest elementary teacher in the state, but you're also the sexiest farm wife in the state!"

"Stop it, silly! You must have spiked your tea with something!"

Alex playfully punched Wes in the arm - something she still did nearly every day, something Wes dearly loved. Then she continued her memories. "I think we were all surprised when Aaron decided to go to State and major in agriculture management. And I think you had something to do with that, Wes. He saw your determination to keep daddy's farm going and wanted to be a part of that. You two make an incredible team. Add in the fact that mom was ready to move to town with her new husband just as Aaron was graduating and ready to come back, it just seemed like it was meant to be."

Wes smiled. "Without the support of our families, our team wouldn't be worth much. Who knows - maybe in fifteen years or so, one or both of his boys will come home and join the operation. I'll be...well, I'll be nearly into my 60's by then, and I'll probably be needing a walker or wheelchair to get around."

"You're being silly again! Are you ever going to grow up?"

Before he could answer, they heard the familiar sound of a car coming up the gravel road. Alex and Wes watched as it pulled into the driveway. Both front doors opened at the same time, and out stepped their kids - Katie from the driver's side, and her twin brother Doug from the passenger seat. Each had been named after a grandparent - Doug had been named after his late grandfather, and Katie was named after Wes' mom, who was speechless for once when they told her what their daughter's name would be.

Wes called out, "Hey kids - how was the party?"

Doug laughed. "How much fun could a party of 6-year-olds be? It was a lot of screaming and splashing and running around. But at least they had fun."

Katie said, "It wasn't that bad. The kids weren't running until you convinced them to try to throw you in the pool!"

Katie and Doug came up on the deck. "Is Wesley home yet?" Doug asked. "All that running around has made me hungry!"

His mom laughed at him and said, "He should be done with his shower soon, if not already. Supper is ready. Would you two set the table, please? We'll be in shortly."

The twins headed inside. Wes stood up, then turned and offered his hand to Alex, who grabbed it as she stood as well. They looked back at the last glimpses of soft blue twilight in the western sky. Alex snuggled up close to Wes and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Wes."

"For what?"

She looked out over the farmstead. "For this. For the kids. And for loving me when I wasn't sure I would ever be loved again."

She turned her head and lifted it to kiss him - a kiss he returned.

"I should be the one to say thanks to you! You're the one that took a chance on a young single father. I'd just about given up trying to find someone that would take us as a package deal. You came along at the right time and rescued me."

It was his turn to kiss her. Alex said softly, "I guess it was just meant to be. It's funny how things looked so bleak that fall, twenty years ago, and how things have turned out so well."

They kissed one more time, and then turned to go inside. But Wes stopped them. Looking back at the table next to their glider seat, he saw the flowers that Wesley had brought to Alex earlier. Picking them up, he handed them to her and said, "A beautiful woman should have beautiful flowers."

As she took them from her husband, Alex said, "I love you, Wesley Watson!"

"I love you, Alexandria Watson...forever and ever, Amen."