Heartfelt Good-bye

Wes turned toward Stevie and smiled. "My favorite person," he said. "Even if you are a hard taskmaster. I guess you'll be leaving for Los Angeles today," Wes said, the smile fading from his eyes. "I'll miss you."

Stevie swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'll miss you too." As she gazed at her young protege, she recalled the long hours they had spent together in the hospital as Wes fought through his pain to question her about faith and forgiveness. Once again she had to fight tears as she remembered his sweet, simple prayer of repentance and commitment to God.

"I have a present for you," Wes said. "A present for me? How thoughtful." Stevie opened the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper. On it was scrawled a simple poem, one that expressed gratitude and appreciation—and hope.

"Thank you, Wes," she whispered, the tears she had been fighting finally spilling over onto her cheeks. "I couldn't have wished for a nicer gift." "You’re my favorite writer in the whole world," Stevie said, brushing the wetness from her face.

 

The Real Facts

Finally Stevie found the person to whom she did not want to say good-bye. Wes Bellardi was sitting on the leather sofa in the family room, still appearing thin and fragile, but growing stronger every day. He was sufficiently healed from his life-saving abdominal surgery but burns had left him badly scarred. He wore a soft knit cap over his skull where as yet little hair had grown back. But thankfully he still tested negative for HIV.

As soon as he had been well enough to talk, he had told Stevie the details of that Halloween night. His original plan was to escape from the boat before the explosion and swim to shore. Unfortunately, he drank too much vodka and lost his balance on the slippery boat deck just after lighting the fuse. Wes had planned to disappear for a while, hiding out as long as he could in the gay community at Berkeley, allowing his father to believe he was dead. Stevie—and Senator Bellardi—had been extremely relieved to know that Wes had not intentionally tried to kill himself.