MadMood- Thanks again, you rock!

Strawberry-Shortcake01- I didn't really mean for Jesse to be a womanizer, it just sorta happened, lol. Sorry!

mistygurl121- Yes, Lilly, it is Winnie.

Thanks for reading you guys!

Disclaimer- I own no one, and nothing. Except my brain and my imagination. Woo!

Chapter 3

"You said you'd always love me. You said you'd always love me..." The whispering voice echoed in Jesse's head until his eyes fluttered open. He slowly looked around. He was back in his room. How? Had the whole thing been a dream?

He hoped so.

Jesse sat up in his bed. He raised a hand to his throbbing head. Ohh God, this sucked. He wanted to go home. Of course whle there he'd have to find a new home. He didn't want to go home anymore. He was thinking of where in New York he could possibly go, when there was a knock on his door.

"Y-Yes?" he said, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat as his parents walked in and sat down.

"Are you feeling any better Jesse?" said Mae, full of concern.

"Wh-what?" He sighed. "What happened?"

"You showed us this picture," said Tuck, handing it back to him. "And said you didn't remember her."

Jesse groaned. "I was hoping it was a dream."

"What's going on Jesse? What happened?" Mae asked.

"I wish I could ask you the same thing." They looked at him, puzzled. "Ok. A couple of days ago, I had a dream. A dream of her." he explained, holding up the photo. "I don't know who she is. I know I remember her, and I know I've seen her face before, but I just can't remember who she is. Now I know you guys know. So please, who is she?"

There was more silence. Right now, Jesse really hated silence. He didn;t want silence, he wanted answers, dammit!

"Say something!" he demanded.

Mae swallowed, and opened her mouth to speak. "Her name was Winnie Foster. You met her at the spring. Many years ago, when we lived here before. She was the one person in the world, who knoew our secret."

"Why is she haunting me like this? What happened to her?"

"She died, son." said Tuck. "About fifteen years ago. She lived to be a hundred."

Jesse didn't know what that had to with anything. But at least he knew her name. Didn't he know someone named Winnie once? Oh wait, it was her wasn't it?

"I-I don't understand"

"Jesse," said Mae, trying to calm him down. "You met her when she was sixteen. Her family, the Foster's, were very wealthy, and owned the woods we lived in. When we found her, we made her stay so we could trust her. To make sure she wouldn't tell anybody about us."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You two fell in love." she said smiling. "We all loved her, she was quite a girl.After a few weeks of staying with us, she learned our secret, as did another man who had been following you and Miles. He threatened to kill her if we didn;t show him the spring. But--" her voice started to quiver, and she suddenly stopped talking.

Tuck calmed her. "Your mther killed him, trying to protect Winnie. Her father found us, and while you and Miles got away, we were sent to jail."

"Winnie helped us escape." said Mae, wiping away tears. "But we couldn't stay there anymore and we had to leave. You told her to drink from the spring and that you'd be back for her someday. Then you said you'd, lover her forever, and... that was the last time we ever saw her."

"So that's what she ment." Jesse whispered.

"Ment what?" asked Tuck.

"In my dream, she said, 'You said you'd always love me.' But I didn't know what it has ment until, now." he saide raising his eye brows.

"Well now you know." said Tuck.

"But where did I get the pictures from?"

"Well, when came back here, the first place you went was to her house, to see her. But when you learned that she had died, her great-granddaughter, who lives there, gave them to you."

"Oh. Why did I leave?"

"Well, when she died, you must've died with her." said Tuck. "You weren't the same anymore."

Then Mae spoke. "You were always angry. You felt that she betrayed you, In all our years, you had never been like that."

"Then one day, you just left. Without a word. And never came back. Until now." Tuck finished.

"And Miles?"

Mae looked down, and Tuck spoke. "Left a few months ago. He'd already lost everything he had. Except his brother. And when you left..." he shrugged, figuring Jesse would know the rest. He did.

"I'm sorry you guys." Jesse said holding back tears. "I didn't know. I didn't remember, I couldn't. I-"

"It's not your fault, Jesse." said Mae, reaching for his hand. "You suffered a great loss. We all did."

"How could I forget her?" Jesse demanded, chiking back tears. "If she ment that much to me, to all of us!"

"We don't know, sweet heart." his mother replied. "I guess, in all your sorrow, and... depression, you tried to forget her. And it worked. And that's why you left. To forget."

"But why does she want me to remember?" That, Jesse still could not understand.

"You made a promise to her, son." said Tuck, standing up. "You don't have to remember the bad things, or what happened when she died. Just remember when she lived." And with that, he left the room, leaving Mae and Jesse by themselves.

"He's right, Jesse. You did make a promise." she patted his hand. "Keep it." Hesse looked away, then back at his mother. "Now you rest some more. It's been a long day. If you have any more questions about all this, we'll talk later."

She stood up, kissed her son on the fore head, then left the room.

Jesse layed back down. So that was it? He had all the answers, like he wanted. But now there was something else he wanted.

"Seems that she disappeared without a trace. Did she ever marry old what's his face? I made a point to burn all of the photographs. She went away and then I took a different path. I remember the face, but I can't recall the name. Now I wonder how what's her name has been."