Erastes
The Guardian
Chapters 68-74
Chapter 68
Blending Together
When we woke up Monday morning, I made sure each of the boys was dressed and had everything he would need for the day. While we were doing that, Cherie announced that she would go downstairs and fix breakfast for us, so I got dressed for work too. The boys and I then went down to eat and I gave all five of them lunch money before I kissed each one on the forehead and told him to have a good day. Then, I sent them off to catch their buses, as I got ready to leave for work.
"I'll make sure I withdraw some cash today too, because I don't want you having to take care of my two as well," Cherie told me, once the boys were gone.
"I wasn't worried about it," I assured here. "I just wanted to make sure they didn't go hungry. When the boys get home later, send Marcus over to tell Brenda Riordan that they'll be staying here after they get off the bus, as long as you're still here with us."
Cherie promised she'd do that, so I told her when I'd be home and went out to get in the car. What a difference a few days had made! Not only was our situation completely changed, but we'd be entering December in a couple more days and would have to start thinking about Christmas too. I wasn't sure how any of this was going to work out, but I knew it meant Cherie and I would both have to start doing some shopping. We'd also have to get the house decorated and start preparing for whatever functions the boys might be part of at school.
When I got into work, everyone was asking each other if they'd had a nice Thanksgiving and wanted to know what each of us had done. I merely told everyone that I had Thanksgiving with the boys and some friends and that we had a great time. I also hinted it had been interesting too, but I never explained what I meant by that comment. No one really pressed me for more details though, but I thought I might explain things to my boss if Cherie and the boys wound up staying with us for very long.
To say I was slightly distracted during the day would have been a huge understatement. I couldn't help but mentally stop what I was doing from time to time so I could think about a variety of different things. I not only considered what changes, if any, we might still have to make at home while Cherie, Dylan and Justin were with us, but I was also worried that Don might create even more problems for us, such as claiming that I had molested his sons.
After thinking about these things for quite a while, I decided that for the most part nothing would have to be altered while they stayed with us, at least not in any significant way. I would, however, continue to analyze every scenario just in case, to make certain everything would continue to function smoothly. As far as Don was concerned, there was nothing I could do to prevent him from making outrageous claims if he so desired, nor could I keep him from adding more fuel to the fire. I'd just have to hope he wasn't vindictive or spiteful enough to go to those extremes.
When I went home later, the three youngest boys were there, but Dylan and Tyler were still at basketball practice. After I had greeted those three, I encouraged them to get started on their homework, while I went to talk to Cherie.
"So how are you doing and how was your day?" I asked, just to give her an opportunity to tell me whatever she wanted.
"I had a very busy day," she began. "I contacted the schools first, to let them know that I and the boys would be staying here for the time being, so the boys wouldn't have problems with the bus drivers. I also went to the bank and withdrew some money, before I called both lawyers and made appointments to meet with them. One said he'd be able to see me on Wednesday, but the other one couldn't squeeze me in until Thursday."
"That's not too bad," I replied. "There's really no rush though, so just make sure you check them out carefully and choose wisely."
"I will," she assured me. "I also went over to the house and brought a lot more things over here. I put what we might want right away in the room I'm using, but I left the rest of it in the garage for now. I stored it next to the boxes of things you had out there already."
"That's fine and it should be safe there until you require it," I confirmed. "If you have time now, there are a few other things we need to talk about though."
She looked a bit confused but agreed to do as I'd asked. I then talked to her about getting ready for Christmas, which meant doing some shopping, decorating the house and preparing for whatever else might be going on. After talking it over briefly, we agreed that we would decorate the house this coming weekend, because we both felt it was important that the boys realized life would be going on as it normally would have, although maybe not in the same place. Once that had been agreed to, I left to go pick up Dylan and Tyler.
Shortly after we got back, Cherie advised us it was time to eat, so we all sat down at the dining room table together. Cherie and I sat on either end, Dylan and Tyler on one side of the table and the three youngest on the other side. It was a very workable arrangement and the boys were able to sit by their friends.
After we finished our meal, the boys and I helped clear off the table and took everything out to the kitchen, but then Cherie sent me off with the boys. I offered to help her finish up, but she told me she was fine and suggested I could use the extra time to check over the boys' homework. I understood she didn't mean anything by refusing my help and was merely trying to give me more time with the boys. Therefore, I went to do what she had suggested.
"Ok, those with homework go do it," I announced when I located them. "Those who are finished can bring it to me so I can check it over."
The boys did as I asked, although there was some grumbling at first. When I heard that, I reminded them that Santa was making his list of who was naughty and nice, so they'd better do as they were asked, if they didn't want to end up having a miserable Christmas. That seemed to be enough of an incentive to get them moving and they all took off.
After they'd all finished their homework and I'd checked it over, I let them join Cherie and me in the family room to watch TV. We enjoyed a couple of shows together and then I told the three youngest it was time for their showers. Cherie smiled when she noticed Justin bolt toward the stairs after I'd said this.
"I've never seen him quite so excited about taking a bath or shower before," she teased, as she winked at me. "I'm not sure what you're doing, but keep it up."
Before I left to join the little ones, I noticed Dylan staring at his mother, with an incredulous look on his face. Even though he already understood that she knew most of what was going on, I think he still found it hard to believe that she didn't have a problem with any of it. She was even encouraging me, a fact which I had a feeling Dylan might question me about later.
When I reached my bedroom, all three boys were already there, so I merely closed the bedroom door and started to get undressed. Then, the boys followed me into the master bath and I started to adjust the water temp.
"I'm glad my mom doesn't have a problem with us doing this," Justin told me before we entered the stall. "This is one of my favorite times of the day and I really like that we're staying here now, so we can do this every day."
"I'm glad you enjoy it, but you won't be here with us forever," I reminded him. "Just enjoy it while you can and I'll do this for you as long as you want, but don't make a big fuss when you go back home or your mother gets another place for you to live."
"I know," Justin grumbled as his head tilted toward the floor. "I just hope that doesn't happen soon, because I really like being here with all of you."
"We like having you here too, but we all know it won't be this way forever," I repeated and he merely nodded in response.
I washed Ethan first and then Marcus, before moving on to Justin. When I washed him he got an erection, which was fairly normal for him, although his response to it happening this time wasn't. "Will you rub it for me, like we did with Dylan and Tyler? I want to see what it's like if you do it for me."
"Justin, that might be pushing it a little too far," I cautioned, as I looked him in the eye.
"Why? Mom knows you wash me there and she doesn't care, so please?" he whined, with a hopeful expression on his face.
"Washing is one thing, but doing what you want would be sexual," I replied, as I tried to explain this to him. "I know your mother doesn't have a problem with the showers, but she might react completely different if she discovered I was masturbating you. Not only that, but your father would probably have me arrested and locked up if he even thought I was doing anything like that with you."
"I don't care what he thinks. He's sick in the head!" Justin shouted in reply.
"You shouldn't say those types of things," I warned, since I knew it could aggravate an already bad situation. "You might not want to consider what your father thinks, but he could make a claim like that and then the police would come to ask if I'd done anything of that nature with you. I don't want you to lie, so if I never do it to you, then you can just tell them the truth."
"But I'll never tell my dad or the police anything, even if you do this for me," he countered. "They'll probably ask if you ever touched me there and I won't tell them that either. I won't tell them nothin', so you don't have to worry. Please, won't you do this for me?"
"Justin, maybe under normal circumstances," I began, "but after what happened on Thanksgiving, I shouldn't even be thinking about taking chances like this."
"Please! I just want to see what it's like when you do it to me," he whined again. "I promise I won't tell anyone about it, not even if they try to beat me to make me tell them. This might be the only chance when we can do this, especially if my dad has anything to say about us spending time with you."
"Please, Uncle Blake. I want you to do it to me too," Marcus chimed in, as he put even more pressure on me.
"We all love you, Uncle Blake," Justin quickly added, "and we really want you to do this for us. It's not like we've never done it before, because we do it to each other and Dylan and Tyler have done it to us too, so please. We just want to see what it's like if you do it to us."
I was extremely conflicted over the idea of giving in to them, especially knowing the risks involved, but all three were looking up at me with pleading expressions on their faces. Even though he hadn't said anything, Ethan seemed just as eager to try this as the other two. All I could do was stand there and look at them in return. After doing this for what seemed like an eternity, I finally felt I had to reply. I knew I'd break their hearts if I refused, so I swallowed hard before I spoke.
"Only so you can see what it's like, but this won't be something we're going to do every time I shower with you boys," I relented. All three immediately began to hop around and cheer, so I had to warn them to stop, before someone slipped and fell, or Cherie inquired about what had caused all the noise.
That seemed to do the trick, so I knelt down beside Justin to do this for him first. Since I was slightly worried that he might fall afterward, I had him sit on my knee and lean back slightly, as I put one arm around his back and took his penis between my thumb and two fingers of my other hand. Before I started to do this for him, however, I noticed something.
"Justin, did you know that you have a couple of hairs already?" I asked, as I focus on his pubis.
"Really? Let me see!" he exclaimed as he bent forward to investigate my claim. "Dang, I never noticed them before."
"Well they are a little hard to see yet," I confessed, "but it seems that you're growing up too." After I said this, the other boys moved closer so they could see his hairs too.
"I can't wait until that happens to me too!" Marcus added in a wistful tone.
Once that issue was out of the way, I began to stroke Justin's penis and that's when he unexpectedly leaned over and gave me a quick kiss, to let me know he appreciated that I was willing to do this for him. After I got over the shock, I slid my fingers up and down his slender shaft and he began to pant and moan in approval. I kept this up until his entire body began to tremble slightly, which let me know he had just experienced an orgasm. I stroked his penis a couple more times after that happened before I released my grip and then I allowed him a few moments to enjoy the sensations radiating throughout his body.
"Thank you for doing that for me," Justin gushed when he came back to his senses a short time later. "It was wonderful and way better than when anyone else ever did that for me."
Although I wasn't sure why that might be the case, I opted not to reply to his comment. Instead, I had him stand up and made sure he could support himself first, before I had Marcus take his place on my knee next. I did exactly the same thing to him, although I had to help him get aroused first, since his erection had gone down since I'd washed him. Then, I began to stroke his penis the same way I'd done for Justin. Although he didn't react quite as visibly as his buddy, I could tell when he had a dry orgasm too and noticed that he seemed to enjoy it just as much.
"Justin was right! That was way better than all those other times," Marcus agreed, just before he threw his arms around my neck so he could give me a hug and kiss too. "Thank you. I'm glad you did that for me."
After making sure Marcus could stand under his own power, Ethan let me know it was his turn next. Even though I was slightly concerned that he might be too young for this, his growth spurt over the past few months showed he was ready and his actions proved he was eager. Therefore, I agreed to do the same thing to him.
After Ethan took his place on my knee and leaned back, I saw he was almost fully aroused just from watching what I'd done with the other pair. Therefore, I repeated the process on him and I was amazed at how Ethan reacted. He was obviously enjoying this just as much as the other two and it seemed he was almost purring as I stroked him. His body even shuddered briefly when he experienced his dry orgasm and his eyes appeared glazed over and his mouth hung open when we finished.
"That was fun!" Ethan squealed a few seconds later. "It made my whole body tingle and I thought I was going to pee all over you. That never happened to me before."
"It's because you're growing up," I assured him, before I chased all of the boys out of the shower, dried them off and sent them to their own bathroom to brush their teeth. Then, they went to their bedrooms to put on the pajamas, before we headed downstairs again.
When we returned to the family room, we got a few strange stares from the others, since I think everyone was wondering what had taken us so long this evening. I decided to nip this in the bud early and get them to move on to other things, so I made an announcement.
"The boys had some questions tonight, so I took time to answer them," I stated, hoping that would put the topic to rest.
Cherie seemed satisfied with my comment, but Dylan was still eying me suspiciously. This made me wonder if the other three might have said something to him earlier about wanting to do this, although at the time I had the feeling Justin was making a spontaneous request. I merely took a seat and watched what was on TV with everyone else and ignored Dylan's continued stares.
When the show ended, I told the younger boys it was time to head upstairs and get in bed. I thought Cherie was going to go up with us too, but she merely kissed and hugged each of the boys before they took off and wished them goodnight. I then followed the boys up the stairs to their bedrooms. I tucked each one in bed, kissed him on the forehead and then wished him sweet dreams, and they all thanked me again for what I'd done for them. After finishing up there, I went back to rejoin the others in the family room.
I watched an hour long program with Cherie and the older pair and then we all agreed it was time to turn in too. We walked upstairs together and the boys kissed and hugged Cherie first, before we all bid her a pleasant evening. Then, the boys and I went into my bedroom and shut the door. As the boys were getting undressed and ready to shower, Dylan made sure I didn't walk away from him just yet.
"Uncle Blake, how come my mom is so happy that you're taking showers with all of us?" he wanted to know. "She even told you to keep doing what you were doing, even after you told her that you were washing us. I thought she would be mad about you doing that, especially to me."
"I think she's always been a little frustrated that your father would never do things like this with you and your brother when you were little," I began to give him a little background first. "I believe that now she is just happy that I'm helping you two and making up for what your father wouldn't do. I think she feels I'm giving you boys a chance to erase some of the emotional scars from not having the same type of relationship and opportunities when you were little."
"Ok, I guess I can understand that part, maybe not completely though, but now I have another question for you," he continued while staring at me. "What was the real reason you took so long with the other boys earlier. I'm pretty sure it wasn't just because you were answering questions for them. They were all making these goofy faces and grinning at each other, so I know you must have done more than just what you said."
I looked at Dylan for a moment before I answered. I also glanced at Tyler too, because I wanted to gauge how they might react to the truth. However, since they liked me to do similar things with them, I felt they should understand and shouldn't overreact.
"Yes, you're right about that," I began, as I continued to study their faces. "I washed Ethan and Marcus first and saved Justin for last this time. He popped a boner like he usually does when I wash him, but this time he asked me to masturbate him after it happened."
"No way! Justin did that?" Dylan followed. "Yeah, I know he asked us before and he does it with the other boys too, but I never thought he would be brave enough to ask you to do it to him too. So did you?"
"Yes, Justin pleaded with me to do it so he would know if it felt different," I began. "The other two said they wanted me to do it to them too, so after talking it over with them, I finally gave in."
"Why? They're all so young!" Dylan shot back, obviously disagreeing with what I'd done.
"Justin's not as young as you'd like to think," I countered, while studying Dylan's reaction. "I noticed tonight that he has even begun to sprout a couple of pubic hairs."
"Really? He has?" Dylan mumbled in shock.
"Yes, he has, and I pretty much did this for him for the same reasons I gave in to you and Tyler the first time," I replied. "He said he wanted to know what it would be like if I did it to him, because he wanted to see if it was different from when he did it with the rest of you. I judged that he was being just as honest as you two had been, so I told him I'd do it for him so he could find out."
"So you did it to Marcus and Ethan too?" Tyler followed while staring at my face.
"Yes, I couldn't do it for one and not the others, so I did the same thing to each of them," I confirmed.
"Did any of them cum?" Dylan challenged. I think he was just curious to see if Justin was mature enough to do that yet, since he'd started to grow pubic hair.
"No, not that I could tell. They each appeared to have a dry orgasm though, and I could tell they all enjoyed it," I confessed. "I think it sated their curiosity too."
"I wasn't sure about you doing it to them at first, but since they have all been doing it with each other, plus they've done it with us too, then why shouldn't they do it with you too?" Dylan finally conceded. "I guess it isn't that much different than what Tyler and I do with you either, so let's just get in the shower and you can help us out too."
"Yeah, I really need to get off," Tyler added. "I'm tired of having to sneak off to the toilet to beat off during the day, because it doesn't feel nearly as good."
"Ok, I'm willing to help you boys out too," I concurred.
Once we got in the shower, I washed each of them first and then sucked them off, since they liked that much better than when I merely masturbated them. After I'd done it to both of them, they washed and sucked me off too, taking turns during the process. Each day they would alternate so the opposite one from the day before would start to service me orally, while the other one got to receive my load. Skill wise, they were both very similar, so I didn't really notice when they switched places, except for the brief pause in the service.
As soon as we'd all deposited our loads in one of the available orifices, we finished up, dried off, brushed our teeth and headed to bed. I'm not sure, but they both seemed to cling to me even tighter tonight than usual. I wasn't sure why, but I wasn't about to complain either. Eventually, we all drifted into a very peaceful and relaxing slumber.
Tuesday was pretty much a repeat of Monday. The boys and I went off to school and work, while Cherie kept busy at home and ran a few errands. Tuesday night everyone except Ethan had a basketball practice, so I had to pick them up when they finished. At dinner, Dylan and Tyler reminded us that they had a game the following afternoon, so Justin and Marcus made sure that we remembered they would be playing their games on Thursday. Cherie and I had no problems with any of that and promised that we'd be there to watch their games.
Later that evening I took the younger group upstairs to shower, but this time there was no repeat of the previous evening. I think from the way the boys were shifting their weight from one leg to the other and kept glancing up at me that they wanted to ask, but they never did. I think they really wanted to do it again, but they remembered that I'd told them the previous night it would be a one time deal, so they didn't want to upset me by asking again.
After I'd put those three in bed and tucked them in, I watched another show with Cherie, Dylan and Tyler before we turned in as well. After saying goodnight Cherie, the three of us went to shower too and had a repeat performance of the previous night. We may be in a rut, but it was a good rut.
Wednesday started off just like the previous two days, but this time Cherie was scheduled to meet with the first of the divorce lawyers. When we met up later at Dylan and Tyler's basketball game, she informed me that she didn't want to discuss the visit just yet. She said she would prefer to wait until she had seen the other lawyer the following day before mentioning what they had discussed. I had no problem with that and gave her the latitude she'd requested.
Dylan and Tyler didn't start again, but they seemed to stay in the game even longer than in their previous games. I also noticed that the coach subbed them in together, so they played in the same backcourt. I guess he felt they knew each other's moves and worked well together, so he chose not to split them up.
I was impressed with their play while they were in the game. Not only did they make a couple of good drives and managed to dish out a few assists, but they each hit a couple of jumpshots too. They also played extremely well on defense and overplayed the man they were guarding, which forced him to go to his weaker side. By doing this, they forced him into a few turnovers, but they also made a couple of steals along the way as well. They were both going all out and giving it their best shot, because they were hustling and diving for loose balls, which I think impressed their coach. I know watching their effort definitely impressed Cherie, their brothers and me.
Their team won the game and their teammates had all looked good while they were in the game. It had been a strong team effort and Tyler and Dylan came over to say 'hi' to us before heading to the showers.
"Great game!" Marcus shouted when they got close.
"You two were awesome," Justin followed, addressing both boys.
"You were really good," Ethan added. "I hope I can play like you when I'm older."
"I'm sure you will," Tyler assured him, which brought a smile to Ethan's face as well. Then, Tyler turned toward me. "We'll be back in a little while, because we're going to go in to shower and change." I was expecting that, so it wasn't a problem.
"Ok, just don't take too long," I responded and then they turned and headed for the locker room.
Once that pair finished cleaning up, we drove home, had dinner and went through our usual shower routine again. The hot topic during the evening, both while we were eating and throughout the showers, was the basketball game. Marcus and Justin kept telling me that they hoped they did as well the following night.
After I put those boys in bed and kissed them goodnight, I spent some time with the others downstairs, before we went upstairs to go through our nightly ritual as well. It didn't change from the previous nights, except I told them how excited their brothers were about watching them play and that they told me they hoped they did as well in their games. That was when Dylan and Tyler realized they would be practicing and wouldn't be able to see their brothers play, so they hoped they would get a chance to see one of their brothers' other games.
Thursday turned out to be a repeat of each of the previous days, except that this time I picked up Cherie and Ethan to go watch the younger pair play. Their games were played on the shorter courts that were laid out across the main basketball court. One sideline for each of the smaller courts ran just inside the mid-court line for the full court. The one on the other side ran along the baseline for the main court. Since the 5th-6th grade league had four teams, the two games were going on at the same time. Seeing Marcus and Justin's teams weren't playing each other today, we had to watch the action on both courts at the same time.
These games weren't nearly as organized as the older groups and the boys pretty much played a run and gun offense. Of course they made some passes too, but it was a pretty open attack without any organized offense. From what I could see, Marcus and Justin both looked pretty good playing for their teams and I saw each one score. Their teams also won, so they were both pretty pleased when the games ended and they came over to speak with us.
"You both looked really good out there," I told them when they approached us.
"Thanks, that was fun," Justin told us.
"Are you going to wait for us to shower?" Marcus followed.
"Sure, we can do that and then you won't need to shower at home later," I replied, which drew two very surprised reactions in return. They didn't say anything and just raced off, but then I realized they must have showered after practice on Tuesday too, but they still showered with me later. In fact, Dylan and Tyler were doing the same thing as well and it just hadn't occurred to me. With the older pair, however, I knew they were doing it so I could help them get off.
"I may be wrong, but I think they're still going to want to shower with you again later, judging by their reaction," Cherie observe while watching me.
"You know, it hadn't dawned on me before, but I just realized they've all been doing that all along, well except for Ethan," I mused.
"I think it's because they each enjoy their special time with you and don't want to miss out on it," Cherie pointed out. "It's better than not having them shower at all, so I certainly don't have a problem with it."
She surprised me yet again and before long the other pair was jogging out of the locker room to join us. We also picked up Dylan and Tyler, since it was time for their practice to end as well. When we got home, I suggested to the boys that they get started on their homework, while Cherie went off to fix dinner. I went out to see if I could help her, but I also wanted to talk about what she'd done earlier in the day.
"Are you ready to fill me in about your visits to see both lawyers now?" I asked while looking at her and waiting for an answer.
"Yes, this is as good a time as any," she agreed. "I think I'm going to go with the lawyer I met with today. He seemed to be a little sharper and had a much better plan for how we should do this."
"That sounds great! So when are you going to tell him this and get things started?" I followed, while wondering if she already had.
"I told him I was pretty sure I was going to use him before I left his office," she confirmed. "I just wanted to talk things over with you and Sally first, to see what you thought."
"Ok, so what can I do to help you?" I asked, curious to see how I fit into her plan.
"The lawyer said as soon as I notified him that I was going to use his services, he would prepare temporary support and custody agreements for Don to sign. After doing that, he's going to serve Don with an eviction notice and a restraining order," she informed me.
"Eviction notice?" I asked, totally puzzled.
"Yes, since I have the boys and will be asking for full custody, the lawyer felt I should also be living in the house," she replied. "He said Don would have 45 days from the date he was served to find a new place and move out, so it looks as if you will be stuck with us for at least that long, if it is all right with you."
"Of course it is. Even longer, if necessary," I confirmed. "Is that why the lawyer is doing the restraining order too?"
"Yes, he felt Don might come after us once he was served with the eviction notice, but the restraining order should prevent it," Cherie concurred. "If he shows up anyway, the lawyer told me to contact the police and have him arrested for not obeying it."
"This doesn't sound as if it's going to be a very amicable divorce then," I acknowledged. "How bad is Don's temper?"
"It isn't too bad, but as you saw on Thanksgiving Day, he does have one," she answered shaking her head as she thought about this. "The other lawyer didn't say anything about doing all of those things, which might have been less confrontational, but I don't think that's how it will go down with Don, no matter how I try to approach it."
"Then you have to do what's best for you and the boys," I countered. "If this lawyer has a better plan about how to take care of those things for you, then he's the one you should go with."
"That's what I thought too, but I'm still going to call Sally later and talk to her about it too," she announced.
We actually continued to talk about this until dinner was ready. Afterward, I went to check the boys' homework and gave them all their showers, while Cherie called Sally. Marcus and Justin were relieved that I wasn't cutting them out tonight and I merely told them I didn't mind, as long as they wanted to do it.
"We're glad, because we only take showers after basketball because we were all sweaty and it helps us cool down," Marcus offered as his way to explain the situation.
"And so we can see the other boys naked, since a bunch of them are taking showers now too," Justin chimed in with a grin. I merely shook my head and smiled.
Once those boys were in bed, I showered with Dylan and Tyler next. Cherie was still on the phone with Sally when we went to say goodnight to her, so we didn't stay long. Instead, we went back to our room and cuddled with each other until we fell asleep.
Chapter 69
Holiday Memories
I was thrilled when the workday ended on Friday, because I was looking forward to being with the boys and decorating the house for Christmas. I felt this would help to get us all in the mood for the holiday, but it would also give us something to do together, as well as letting the boys know that things were pretty much still the same.
On the way home, my cell phone rang and I wondered who was calling. When I answered, since I had a hands-free option, I was surprised to hear whose voice replied.
"Hi, Blake. It's Sally," she began. "I was wondering if you'd mind if Andrew and I came over and spent the weekend with you? Cherie seems to need to talk things out, so I felt this might be the best way to do it. Besides, Andrew wants to be with all of you too."
"That's fine and we're going to be decorating the house for Christmas, so you can help with that too," I replied, drawing a chuckle from her.
"We've been doing a little of that at home too, so sure," she agreed. "It sounds like fun and it will be a total family effort."
"I like that," I quipped back. "So I'll see you later."
I made the call short, since I was driving home at the time, but I thought we'd covered everything necessary and we'd be able to discuss anything else after they arrived. When I got to the house, I filled Cherie in too, but it seemed that Sally had called her in between so she already knew. Cherie informed me that Sally and Andrew wouldn't be arriving until after dinner, since they didn't want to impose any more than they'd already be doing. I didn't look at it that way, but it was Sally's choice.
After I'd picked up Dylan and Tyler from their practice, we rushed home and ate dinner together. During the meal, I told all the boys that Sally and Andrew were coming over, but I also told them we'd be decorating the house too. Tyler immediately offered to show me where his parents kept their Christmas stuff, so I told him we'd do that as soon as we'd finished eating.
Once we'd rinsed off our dishes and put them away, Tyler took me upstairs and we pulled down the folding stairs that led up to the attic. Once there, Tyler pointed out the area where the boxes with Christmas decorations were kept, but I noticed there was much more than those things up there too. I'd have to come up here again and investigate what was in those other boxes later, but only when the boys weren't around. I wasn't sure if they might contain items that could trigger unwanted memories and I didn't want to take that chance.
Dylan and Tyler helped me carry everything downstairs and we piled all of the boxes in the living room for now, so we could see what was in them. The box containing the artificial tree was obvious, but I asked the boys if they wanted to use that or get a real tree instead.
"That's the tree mommy and daddy put up, so I want to use that one," Marcus quickly stated and I saw Ethan and Tyler nod to let me know they agreed.
"Ok, then let's start putting it together," I concurred.
As we were doing that, Sally and Andrew showed up, so we stopped briefly to greet them. Since we didn't need everyone to help with this, I let the younger boys go off to do what they wanted and Sally and Cherie went out to the dining room to talk. Dylan and Tyler stayed to help me put the tree together and then we tested the lights, before stringing them on the tree too.
When we were done with that, Tyler took me out to the garage and led me to the storage area above it, which I didn't previously realize was there. He told me that it was where his dad had kept the outdoor lights and decorations, so we went up to pull those down next.
I was surprised by how many items were there, but we hauled each carton down so we could check out what was inside. I also noticed that there was plenty of available storage space above the garage, so we could move some of the items from below up there too. We would do it later though, but not until after the holiday, possibly when we were packing away the Christmas decorations again.
After we'd done that much, I decided we'd stop there for the night. Dylan and Tyler opted to head to the family room to see if they could find a basketball game to watch, while I went out to the dining room see what Cherie and Sally were doing. If they weren't discussing something personal, then maybe I would join their conversation.
"Blake, we were just talking about you," Sally stated when I walked into the area.
"Oh, no! I hope it was something good," I joked as I watched their faces.
"Of course it was," Cherie replied with a giggle. "Sit down and I'll get you a cup of coffee before we start."
"You don't have to do that. I am capable of getting my own coffee," I countered, since I didn't want her to think she had to wait on me while she was here.
"Sit!" she shot back, as she strolled out to the kitchen.
"Yes, ma'am, or is it sergeant?" I teased in response.
"Either will work, as long as you do what I tell you," she quipped back before she and Sally began to laugh.
"Damn! I'm not used to having women in the house to boss me around," I stated with a grin. "My mother was last one to fill that role."
"You'll get used to it," Cherie joked as she set the cup on the table in front of me. "Since it looks like I'm going to be here until after the first of the year, Sally and I thought it would be nice to have Christmas together too. We wanted to run the idea by you first though, to see what you thought."
"I think it's a wonderful idea," I quickly agreed. "I understand that Don probably won't be invited, but we must include Ann."
"Of course! That's a given," Sally shot back. "We just felt it might be good for the boys."
"Especially my three. This will be their first Christmas without their parents and it will be just a month before the anniversary of their deaths," I confirmed, while pointing out a couple of facts that neither of the women had really considered.
"Oh my God!" Cherie mumbled. "I hadn't even thought of that. I was just thinking about how it might keep my two from thinking about us not being at home with their father."
"I'm just as guilty," Sally added. "I was merely thinking that Andrew would enjoy himself more if he had the other boys to share it with."
"Whether you considered it or not, it will definitely be good for all of the boys, especially my gang," I confirmed. "Having their best buddy around might prevent them from thinking about other things and getting bogged down in darker thoughts."
"Yes, this could work out for all of us," Cherie concluded, as we continued to sip our coffee.
Once that had been agreed to, we talked about how we were going to work everything out to do this. We even discussed whether Andrew and Sally would stay over on Christmas Eve and if Sally should bring all of their gifts to our house, so they could open them with the rest of us Christmas morning. We also discussed what we were going to have for Christmas dinner and sought everyone's input, before we switched topics and discussed Cherie's current situation for a while. We spent quite a bit of time talking about these things before I finally had to excuse myself, because it was time to start the shower routine.
I found all six boys together watching the basketball game in the family room. When I asked who was going first, Andrew and Ethan volunteered, since they weren't quite as into the game as the other four. Marcus and Justin promised they'd come up by the time I finished with the younger pair, so I wouldn't have to come down to get them. That's when I told Dylan and Tyler they should plan on coming upstairs when Andrew and Ethan came down in their pajamas, if they wanted me to wash them too. They said they would, so I went up with the first pair.
Andrew was thrilled to be with us again and could hardly stand still as I washed him. I was scrubbing him as I usually did, but this time when I washed his midsection, Andrew popped a boner. His face lit up when it happened and he squealed with joy. "My wiener got stiff too. Just like the other boys!"
"It sure did," I agreed. "You're growing up just like all the rest of them."
Ethan took the opportunity to explain to Andrew that he'd been getting 'rections' too. Then, when I was washing him, his penis stiffened up as well, so he turned toward Andrew and swiveled his hips to make it sway from side to side. "I got one too!" he stated simply.
As soon as I finished with that pair, I dried them off and sent them off to brush their teeth and put on their PJs. Marcus and Justin were waiting for me in my bedroom, so I took them into the shower next. I washed them quickly and without incident, well except that they both sprouted erections too, and then I sent them off as well. I was about ready to turn off the shower when Dylan and Tyler walked in to join me.
"I thought maybe you two got distracted doing something else, so I was just about ready to give up waiting for you," I stated as I looked at them.
"We were really into the game and almost didn't notice Ethan and Andrew had come back downstairs," Tyler admitted. "I'm glad we caught you in time though, because I'm hoping you'll suck us off again."
"Yeah, me too!" Dylan chimed in.
"Oh, I think I might be able to do that for you," I confirmed, as they stepped into the shower stall with me.
After we did the rounds with me sucking off each one after I'd washed him and then having the two of them return the favor, we went back downstairs to join the others. The boys all stayed in the family room, while I went out to the dining room to spend time with Cherie and Sally again. Before I sat down this time, I went to the kitchen and poured my own cup of coffee first.
"So did you get the boys squeaky clean?" Sally teased as I pulled out the chair beside her.
"They're clean, but they only squeak when I poke them," I joked in return.
I then talked to them about how we'd handle the decorating the follow day. "The tree is put together and the lights are on it, but I'll leave the rest of the inside decorating to you two. I'll let you go through the boxes of items we brought downstairs and you can trim the tree and do whatever else you think is appropriate to decorate the rest of the house. You can even use the four youngest to help you and Marcus can probably give you ideas about what his mother put where, but you can do it however you think best.
"Before you get started," I continued, "I suggest that you have the boys dust and run the vacuum first. I'll take Dylan and Tyler to help me outside, because I want them brace the ladder for me while I'm hanging the lights. They can also help me with the other items too, since it seems that Matt and Kelly managed to collect a lot of different things over the years."
"Your suggestion sounds fine to me," Cherie readily agreed with a smile. "I'm looking forward to decorating something different for a change."
"And I'm interested to see what types of things there are to use in the boxes you brought down," Sally added and I could tell she was eager to do this as well. "We don't have a lot to put up at home, so this will be totally new for me and I look forward to the challenge."
"I'm glad to hear that and it will help me out too," I confessed, looking between the two of them. "I'm not sure how I would have managed everything if you weren't here to help."
"I'm sure you'd have worked something out and I know the boys would have been happy to do more too," Cherie countered as she gave me a wink.
We talked for a while longer as we finished our coffee and then I told them it was time for me to take the youngest boys up to bed. They said they'd go with me, since they wanted to say goodnight to their sons too, so we went to fetch the boys from the family room. Once we got there, we agreed to wait for a few minutes so they could finish watching the game.
Once that ended, we took them upstairs, but I let the women tuck the boys in and do their thing first. Then, I followed after they were done, kissed each boy on the forehead and wished him sweet dreams. As soon as I'd said goodnight to each of them, Cherie and Sally decided to turn in too, while I headed back downstairs to the family room. I watched a show with Dylan and Tyler, and explained what I'd planned for tomorrow during the commercials. When that show ended, we went up to turn in too.
The women were up before the rest of us on Saturday morning and were prepared to fix us breakfast when we came down to join them. After we'd all eaten, Tyler and Dylan grabbed their duffle bags and we all loaded in the Outback to go to their game. It was an away game, but it was still fairly close by, which made it a little easier on us. We drove to the school and dropped the boys off so they could ride on the bus with their team and then we followed behind the bus to the school.
Once we arrived where they'd be playing, the team was greeted by the opposing coach and led to the visitor's locker room to change. We went to find seats in the bleachers as the other team came out to start their warm ups. A short time later, our team came trotting out to do the same thing, so we sat back and watched both teams go through their paces. Finally, the refs came out and spoke with both coaches briefly, and then a few minutes later, the coaches were calling both teams over to their benches, as they got ready to start the game.
Dylan and Tyler didn't start, but they both came in about halfway through the first quarter. Their team was dong fairly well, but their opponents seemed to be doing a little better, so they were down 4 points by halftime. The teams then went into the locker rooms again, so their coaches could talk to them and possibly make some changes.
The starters took the court to begin the second half too, but Dylan and Tyler didn't get in the game until a couple of minutes before the end of the third quarter. They stayed in to start the fourth quarter too, but then came back out before the end of the game. They had done fairly well and their team was only down 2 points when they went to the bench again, but in the end their team lost by a half-dozen points. It was a tough defeat and the boys looked dejected as they headed toward the locker room to shower and change.
The rest of us got in the Outback and drove back to the school, without following the bus this time. I had only done that in the first place to make sure we went to the correct school building, but I didn't need to do it now. Needless to say, we were all a little down too, especially the other boys, as we waited at the school for the bus to arrive.
When Dylan and Tyler got back and climbed into the Outback with us, the boys started to commiserate with them. "Sorry you lost," Justin began, "but you both looked good when you were playing."
"Yeah, the coach should have played you more," Marcus agreed.
"The one boy on the other team was way bigger than you guys," Ethan chipped in. "He looked a lot older than you."
"I think I heard someone say he'd failed a grade once, but he was just taller and not that good," Tyler responded, sounding slightly depressed.
"But he got in the way and changed a bunch of shots," Dylan added, making his point. "He might not have been their best player, but he did enough to help his team win."
"Maybe, but we didn't play our best game either," Tyler countered. "The offense didn't run as smoothly as usual and we made a bunch more mistakes than in the other games."
"I think some of that had to do with how they played defense," Dylan observed. "They switched a lot on the picks and they even double-teamed us when they could. That's what screwed up the offense."
"Yes, I think Coach Jackson needs to work with your team and show you how to react when the other team does things like that," I added, hoping to help. "There were a few times when a pick and roll would have worked, but your team seemed to be too focused on running the offense the way you'd been taught. You almost looked like robots at times and weren't ready to make changes or take advantage of what they were giving you."
"Yeah, you might be right about that," Tyler agreed. "Those of us just learning the offense are a little afraid to try things like that, because we're not sure if we should or if it would get us benched."
"I understand and it's why Coach Jackson needs to explain to you that it's ok to do things like that on occasion," I agreed. "I also saw some places where a backdoor cut would have worked too, since they were overplaying the boy you were trying to pass to. Just remember that when a team is pressing or double-teaming you, it's more effective to pass over or around them, rather than dribbling out of it. You just need to learn that there are times when you have to freelance a little and go with what the defense gives you." Dylan and Tyler then began discussing some ideas with each other during the remainder of the ride.
When we got home, the women whipped up a quick lunch for all of us and then we split into two groups so we could put up the decorations. Cherie had Marcus and Justin help her trim the tree and put the candles in each of the front windows, while Sally had the other pair help her unpack the Victorian village pieces and arrange them on the counter above the cabinets and in front of the bookcases in the family room. She also arranged the lovely ceramic nativity pieces on the mantle of the fireplace.
While they were doing those things, the older duo helped me check out the strings of outdoor lights to make sure they all worked first, before I climbed the ladder and began to hang them. The boys then helped to steady the ladder so it wouldn't fall and handed me the strands of lights so I could put them in place. In addition to the lights, Matt and Kelly had a few other items to decorate the outside, but I was afraid people in the neighborhood, mainly younger ones, might mess with them or even try to steal the items. Therefore, I had to come up with a way to eliminate that possibility, yet still be able to display them. That's when I had an idea.
There was a slight overhang that ran across the front of the house above the lower level and extended over to the garage, which jutted out a few feet forward of the rest of the house. I decided that would be the perfect place to show off these items. There was a three-piece lighted nativity, with Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus lying in a cradle, as well as Santa in his sleigh, which was pulled by a single reindeer. I placed the nativity on the overhang above one side of the front entrance and then I put the Santa and reindeer on the side closest to the garage. Once I had each piece where I wanted, I temporarily secured it into place so it wouldn't blow over or slide off.
Once those things were arranged and connected to an electrical outlet, the boys and I added the final decoration. It was a large wreath with a red bow that we hung on the front door. I had to admit the outside looked quite festive and I couldn't wait to see how it appeared when it was lit up after dark.
After we finished all of that and had put the storage containers back in the garage, we went inside. We quickly discovered the women had been playing Christmas music while they worked and the interior of the house appeared just as festive as the exterior. The women and younger boys had done a fantastic job getting the inside looking good too, so we merely walked around as a group and check everything out, both inside and out. After we'd done that, we decided to forgo watching any sporting events on TV and sat down to watch a Christmas movie instead. After some discussion, we finally agreed to watch the musical, Scrooge, starring Albert Finney, so I went to get the DVD.
We spent the next two hours enjoying the movie and it put us all in a really good mood. I think each of us walked away afterward either singing or humming one of the tunes from the show. I caught Cherie singing 'I Like Life' and Sally humming 'December the 25th', while 'Thank You Very Much' was stuck in my brain. I think the boys were all humming or singing 'Father Christmas' instead, but I thought it was cute how we each had our favorite song.
After dinner and once it got dark, we plugged in the lights on the Christmas tree, along with the candles in the windows and all of the outdoor decorations, and then we went outdoors to soak up the effect.
"Wow! It looks really great!" Tyler observed, as he looked at our handiwork.
"Yeah, and most of the other houses don't have their stuff up yet," Ethan observed as he looked up and down the street.
"I like Santa in his sleigh," Andrew followed, as he focused on that particular decoration.
"I think the nativity scene looks nice up there too," Dylan observed, bringing everyone's attention to the other end of the overhang.
"The tree looks really nice in the front window too," Justin added, since he'd helped to decorate that particular item.
"I think it all looks wonderful and I'm glad we're going to be celebrating Christmas together this year," Sally chimed in.
"Are you all going to stay over with us then?" Marcus asked, trying to figure out how this would work.
"Dylan, Justin and I will, since it looks as if we'll be staying here with you until sometime in January," Cherie replied, with her sons looking at her and taking in everything she said. "I don't really see that changing, so we'll be with you the entire time."
"Andrew, Auntie Ann and I will be here Christmas Eve for a while, but then we'll might go home for the night. I really haven't decided yet," Sally added, as we all shifted our attention over to her. "If we don't stay overnight, we'll come back Christmas Day and spend it with you too, but we'll most likely go home after Christmas dinner as well."
"Can't I stay with Ethan?" Andrew asked his mother. "All the other boys will be here."
"We'll talk about that later and we'll discuss it with Uncle Blake too, so we'll see what happens," Sally countered, letting him know it might be possible, without making any firm commitment.
When we finally went back inside, the boys reminded me that UGA had a night game, so I went with them to the family room to watch it. The ladies decided they weren't interested in doing that, so they went to find something else to occupy their time.
At halftime, I decided to take the younger boys up for their showers. I washed the youngest pair first and then sent them off to put on their pajamas. When Marcus and Justin came in, I noticed that Marcus didn't look very happy and this puzzled me.
"Hey! What's up, sport? Did something upset you?" I asked and he slowly lifted his head and looked at me with the saddest expression I'd ever seen.
"After we went outside and looked at the decorations, it got me thinking," he admitted, looking even sadder. "Seeing the house all lit up made me remember how mommy and daddy did stuff like that last Christmas and then it made me sad, because they won't be here with us this year." After saying this, he burst into tears and his body began to visibly tremble. It broke my heart to see and hear his reaction, so I pulled him to me and hugged him tightly.
I'd been afraid Christmas might suddenly evoke these feelings in the boys, although I was hoping we might be able to avoid it. I had been prepared for something like this to happen at their birthday parties, but it never occurred. I guess the boys must have been distracted making their plans for how they were going to get to see other boys naked instead. Since they had been so preoccupied, the fact that their parents weren't around obviously hadn't fazed them. Now, however, it appeared as if I was going to have to deal with this, starting with Marcus.
"I know how sad it must make you feel, sport, because I have been thinking about your mom and dad a lot too," I confessed as I knelt down beside him and continued to hold him against me. "Your dad was my best friend and I adored your mother too, so I miss them a great deal as well. It's going to be rough having a good time without them here with us, but I'm certain they would want us to enjoy ourselves. We'll get through this somehow and Justin will be here to help you too. Won't you, Justin?"
"Yeah, of course," Justin quickly answered. "My dad won't be around either, so I kind of know how Marcus feels, although what he's going through is way worse. Marcus is my best friend, so I'll do whatever I can to make him feel better." Justin then joined us in a group hug, which seemed to last for quite a while.
"Thanks," Marcus finally mumbled, bringing us all back to our senses. "I just miss them both so much."
"I know you do, but please do me a favor," I stated, as I pulled away from Marcus slightly, so I could look him in the eye. "Don't say anything about this in front of Ethan, because I don't want him thinking about your parents and getting sad too, if we can possibly help it."
"Ok, I'll try," Marcus agreed.
I then gave him another hug, before I hurriedly washed him and Justin. We had already taken more time than usual and I didn't want to face a lot of questions when we got back downstairs, since I had a fair idea about what the older two were probably thinking. After we dried off and returned to the family room, we lucked out and no one said anything about how long it had taken us. Instead, we all focused on the game, because it was pretty exciting. Marcus spent the rest of the game on my lap, but had fun just like the others.
When it ended, I took the four youngest upstairs and put them to bed. Cherie and Sally went up with us, so I let them tuck the boys in and I just kissed each one on the forehead and wished him sweet dreams. When the three of us got downstairs again, we went out to the kitchen and poured ourselves a cup of coffee, before we sat down at the dining room table to chat. That's when I told Cherie and Sally about what had happened with Marcus while we were showering.
"Oh the poor dear," Cherie stated when she looked at me after I'd finished speaking. "But now what happened earlier makes more sense. While he was helping me decorate the tree, Marcus was very insistent about where we hung some of the ornaments and was adamant about what would go where. I didn't think too much about it at the time and just thought he had his own idea about what the tree should look like, but now I understand. It must be that he wanted the various ornaments in the exact same place his mother had hung them last year."
"That was probably what he was doing," I agreed. "I just hope I can help to keep him from getting too depressed between now and the end of the year."
"We'll help too," Sally added. "Maybe since you and Cherie will both be here the entire time, it might soften the experience a little. It would probably be far worse if you were the only one with him throughout the holidays though. At least with both of you in the house, it might almost make the boys feel like they still have both a mom and dad around."
"I hope so, because I don't want Ethan to start thinking about this too," I confessed while shaking my head. "I have a feeling Tyler has been dealing with some of his own memories about his parents this weekend, because he'd mentioned them a few times while we were together. He said something about his mother while we were putting the tree together, but then later he told me where his father had put the various decorations last year. He also said he didn't remember doing so much to help his dad either, but that was it. There were times when I could read the pained expression on his face when this happened, but I think he tried to hide as much as he could from me. I'm not sure if I'll have to deal with him about things like this later or if he will continue trying to handle it on his own."
"I hope he talks to you before it gets to be too much for him to handle on his own, if something is bothering him," Sally stated looking concerned. "It won't be good if he lets it build up and doesn't deal with his feelings."
"I know, but I'll give him some time before I say anything to him about it," I agreed. "I'm just hoping he comes to me first."
After we'd finished our chat and coffee, we decided it was time for us to go to bed too. We went in and told Tyler and Dylan it was time to turn in, but they wanted to finish the show they were watching first. Once I agreed, the boys said goodnight to Sally and Cherie and the two women went upstairs without us. About twenty minutes later we were climbing the stairs heading to our bedroom too.
When the boys and I got to the top of the stairs, Cherie came out of her room and asked if I had a couple of minutes to discuss something. After I agreed, I sent the other two on ahead to our room and then I led Cherie down to the living room where we could chat in private. After we sat down, she looked at me and I could tell she was anxious about something, but she didn't speak right away, so I decided to break the ice.
"Ok, what's bothering you?" I asked as I looked directly into her eyes.
"Blake there's something I've been meaning to ask you about, but I didn't want to do it in front of the boys. Since we're seldom alone, it keeps slipping my mind, but I suddenly thought about it again as I was getting ready for bed. Do you remember when you advised Dylan to talk to his dad about having a lump on his... you know, on his... ummm testicle?"
"Yes, of course I do, although I didn't bring it up again after he went to the doctor and had it checked out," I admitted, while glancing at her perplexed. "I thought that took care of it."
"Well it's always bothered me, because I'm not sure Don took care of things properly or not," she confessed, appearing worried.
"I don't understand," I replied confused. "Dylan told me his father took him to see the doctor, so what's still troubling you about it?"
"Don wasn't going to do anything at first, but then I pestered him into making an appointment with the doctor," she continued. "Don went with Dylan, but with the way he acts about sexual matters, I'm not sure the situation was explained properly to the doctor, so I'm not sure Dylan was examined properly."
"Cherie, even if Don had trouble expressing the problem to the doctor, I'm sure Dylan told him everything he needed to know," I told her sincerely. "Dylan's not shy, so I have no doubts he told the doctor everything he needed to know. Besides, once the doctor examined the area, he would have discovered if there was a problem, whether they'd mentioned it or not."
"I hope so, but I have my doubts," Cherie confessed, looking troubled again. "Don assured me it was just a fatty deposit and told me not to worry, about it but there was never any follow up. I was just wondering if the problem had cleared up or if I still needed to be concerned about it. I don't want anything to go wrong and cause Dylan to lose one or both of his... uh, testicles, so I was wondering if you'd do a worried mother a favor and check him out for me? It would definitely put my mind at ease if I knew all was well in that regard."
I smiled and took both of her hands in mine while I looking into her eyes again. "Of course I will," I confirmed. "Dylan is very special to me too and I don't want him to have any problems of that nature either, so I'd be happy to check it out. I'll let you know what I find after I examine him, but I will do it coyly so we don't embarrass Dylan in the process."
Cherie smiled, released a sigh of relief and then thanked me. As soon as I was sure he concerns had been addressed, we headed upstairs again and entered our bedrooms.
Chapter 70
Some Ups and Downs
When I got back to the bedroom, the boys looked at me oddly when I entered the room. "What's up?" I asked, decided to confront whatever this was head on.
"What did my mother want?" Dylan wanted to know. "Why did she want to talk to you alone?"
"It is Christmastime and there are certain things we adult talk about that we don't let you kids in on," I replied, hoping that would throw him off the track.
"So it was just about Christmas," Tyler followed, looking as if he really didn't accept my answer.
"Yes. Is that so hard to believe?" I countered, cracking a smile and trying to appear relaxed.
"It's just that my mom looked like something was bothering her," Dylan responded, studying my face. "It looked like there was a problem or something was wrong."
"Yes, when the women plan things for Christmas they do tend to get upset when things don't go exactly as planned," I informed them. "You're mother just thought we'd forgotten something, but I had taken care of it already. She's also worried about the meal, especially after you boys indicated you preferred to have ham, instead of another turkey. I think she was planning on a meal similar to Thanksgiving, but then you boys threw her a curveball."
Suddenly, both boys looked relieved and began smiling again. "Yeah, I guess women do get upset about silly things," Dylan agreed. "I thought it might have something to do with my dad or how stuff was going with him."
"No, I think your mother is handling that situation quite well and nothing new has come up where that's concerned," I replied, as I glanced at their faces. "Now it's time we take care of other matters."
Dylan and Tyler hadn't taken their showers yet, so I guided them into the master bath and we did that next. It was pretty much a repeat of every other night that we'd done this together, and once we'd finished washing and sucking each other off, we dried off, brushed our teeth and went out to the other room. Before we hopped in bed, though, I decided to ask the boys about the situation Dylan's mother had brought up.
"I'm just curious, but have you two been checking yourself for lumps like I taught you?" I asked, trying to play it cool. "I just want to make sure your not letting that slip, now that spend so much time doing other sex stuff."
"No, we still do that too, but maybe you should check me out again and make sure that thing hasn't got any bigger," Dylan suggested, removing the burden from me. Since he was the one that asked, he shouldn't associate it with my conversation with his mother.
"I can do that, if you want," i agreed, so Dylan moved closer so I could examine his scrotum.
After I'd examined Dylan carefully and assured him that the fatty deposit appeared to be the same size and I could find no change in it, I asked Tyler if he'd like me to check him too. He did, so after I gave him a clean bill of health as well, they both thanked me and we hopped in bed. The boys then cuddled with me as usual and we soon fell asleep.
I'm not sure how long we'd been sleeping, but all of the sudden I heard Tyler scream "NO!" and he bolted upright in bed next to me. To say he had scared the crap out of me would be putting it mildly, but I turned toward him to see what was wrong. There was just enough moonlight filtering into the room so I was able to see the terror etched upon his face. I quickly wrapped my arms around him and could feel his body trembling, like a leaf in a strong breeze, and he was totally drenched in sweat.
"Tyler, what's wrong? What's the matter?" I asked in rapid succession, but I didn't get an immediate answer. "What happened? Why did you scream?"
It took a couple more minutes before he said anything else, and during that time his body slowly stopped shaking. "I just had a really bad dream," he finally told me and then he began to sob. It wasn't difficult to figure out what his dream had been about, so I hugged him even tighter.
"Do you want to tell me about it?" I asked, but he merely continued to sob in response. I gave him some more time to work his way through whatever was troubling him until he eventually spoke again.
"I was dreaming that I was with my mom and dad," he began, with a slight tremor in his voice. "It was last Christmas and we were all opening presents. It was a really nice dream and I was having a really great time with them when all of the sudden I was at the funeral home with you, standing next to their caskets and staring down at their bodies. That's when I woke up. I guess I must have screamed out, because I didn't want to believe they were gone again. I'm sorry I woke you up."
"Don't worry about it," I told him as calmly as I could, and then I gave his body another squeeze.
"Are you alright?" Dylan asked in a very meek voice from the other side. I guess Tyler's shout had awakened him too.
"Yeah, I'm ok now," Tyler assured him. "It was just that I was having such a good time with my parents and then I saw they were dead. I just couldn't stand to see that happening again."
"I think decorating the house for Christmas must have provoked those memories and then they were responsible for the dream," I stated as I pulled Dylan against me with my other arm. "I'm afraid Marcus had his own incident in the shower earlier."
"Why? What happened with him?" Tyler wanted to know, as he looked at me concerned.
"I guess decorating the house had reminded him about doing those same things with your mom and dad and it made him really sad," I explained. "We talked about it a little and I got him calmed down again, but I told him not to say anything about what had happened in front of Ethan. I didn't want to have him suddenly thinking about your parents too."
"Yeah, because they aren't all good thoughts," Tyler agreed.
After sitting next to him for a while, as well as hugging and kissing him repeatedly, he finally started to calm down. That's when I talked him into going to the bathroom with me, so I could wipe him down with a damp washcloth and then towel him off. Then we each got a drink of water before going back to bed.
Dylan had followed us in there too, but he merely took a leak and got a drink while I was trying to cool Tyler off and calming him down. When we got back into bed, I had Tyler get in between Dylan and me, so we were on either side of him. When he was laying down again, I wrapped my arms around him and held him more tightly than I normally would have. I could feel Dylan cuddling with him from the other side and we both did this until I felt Tyler's body relax and could hear his gentle breathing. That let me know he had fallen asleep again.
I stayed awake a little longer, in case there was a repetition of the earlier incident, but it never happened. Luckily, he slept soundly for the rest of the night, although I couldn't say the same for myself. I was on pins and needles and only dozed off from time to time, since I wanted to be there for him if Tyler had another problem.
Sunday morning, after we'd all got up and had breakfast, I asked Cherie and Sally if they wanted to go shopping at the mall with me. After discussing it briefly, I assured them that Dylan and Tyler were capable of watching the younger boys while we were gone, so they finally agreed.
During the trip, I mentioned the other reason I had wanted to get them both alone. "Yesterday I told you about what happened with Marcus, but what you aren't aware of yet is that Tyler had a similar experience. He woke up last night in a cold sweat and began sobbing after having a bad dream."
"Did he tell you what his dream was about?" Sally asked, staring at me with concern.
"Yes, he said he'd been dreaming about being with his parents last Christmas and then he was suddenly at the funeral home staring at their bodies," I answered, as both women shook their heads to indicate they were troubled that this had happened.
"I can see why he woke up in a cold sweat, sobbing then," Cherie stated and I could tell she was worried about Tyler. "What did you do?"
"I hugged him tightly and kissed him of the forehead in an attempt to make him feel better and get him to calm down," I responded. "I told him it was just a bad dream and then I let him know about what had happened with Marcus too, but I asked him not to say anything about these two events to Ethan. I want to keep him from having those types of thoughts for as long as possible."
"I hope it works, but I'm pretty sure Ethan hasn't experienced anything like that yet," Sally added hoping to reassure me. "If he had, I think Andrew would have known about it and then he would have mentioned something to either you or me."
"You're probably right about that," I quickly agreed. "At least I hope that's how things will work out, because I won't be able to help Ethan unless I know what he's going through."
When we reached the mall, I quickly found a place to park and we went inside to look around. We discussed what we wanted to get the boys and tried to work it so no one would get more than the others, because they would all be together when they opened the presents and we didn't want anyone to feel he had been gypped. After we had purchased several things each, we decided to call it a day and Sally suggested we should swing by Ann's place on the way home, so we could leave everything there. That way the boys wouldn't be able to snoop around and discover what they were going to get. She said she had done this with Andrew's gifts every year, so she knew Ann wouldn't mind.
Ann was happy to see us and was more than eager to let us use her place to keep the presents hidden from the boys. After we'd brought everything inside, Ann offered us coffee, so we thought that would be great. As she and Sally went out to get it for us, I decided to use the time to address the situation with Cherie that we'd talked about the previous evening.
"Dylan let me check him out last night and everything is fine," I explained. "The fatty deposit is still there, but none of us expected it would just disappear, but it hasn't seemed to get bigger and it's just under the skin and not attached to the testicle itself." Cherie audibly exhaled, before she smiled and talked.
"Thank you for doing that for me," she confessed, appearing relieved. "I hope Dylan didn't suspect I was involved in it."
"No, but the boys did want to know why you wanted to talk to me alone," I confirmed. "I just told them it was about Christmas stuff, especially Christmas dinner. I told them you had planned on having a turkey, so when they agreed they wanted to have ham instead, it kind of messed up what you were going to do."
"Dang, that was good thinking," Cherie stated, slapping my knee. "I'm glad you were able to handle that without letting Dylan know it was my idea."
"It all went well, so don't worry," I added, just before Ann and Sally entered, each carrying a cup in both hands.
After we'd chatted with Ann for a while and finished our coffee, we thanked her for helping us out. Then, we told her we had to get back home, since we'd left the boys alone. She said she understood and told us to stop by again sometime.
When we got home, the boys were all outside working on their basketball skills and I was pleased to see that Dylan and Tyler were actually tutoring the younger boys and helping them to get better. The women noticed it too and each one turned to smile at me, as if I'd had something to do with it.
"Hey, I didn't know they were going to work on basketball today and I certainly didn't suggest what they should do while we were gone," I confessed, while glancing from one woman to the other.
"Maybe not directly," Cherie countered, "but they had a very good teacher who set a wonderful example for them."
"They were good kids long before I showed up," I shot back. "Their parents set them on the right path."
"Maybe in Tyler's case, but Dylan had Don for an example and this doesn't look like anything Don taught him," Cherie quipped while giving me that knowing look.
"But Dylan had you too," I pointed out, hoping she would accept some of the credit.
"I'd like to think I had something to do with him turning out so well, but I know he didn't really start to blossom until he began coming over here," she stated with a quick nod of her head.
I knew it was useless to continue trying to convince her, so I parked the car on the street and we got out to go into the house.
"You went to the mall and didn't buy anything?" Tyler asked while staring at the three of us as we moved toward the front door.
"We were just trying to get some ideas today, but there's still a long time until Christmas," I replied. "Besides, we felt we should wait to see if you boys were going to end up on Santa's naughty or nice list first."
"You mean you haven't figured that out yet," Dylan groaned. "If we get any nicer we're going to sprout wings."
"Yeah, right!" Cherie countered rolling her eyes.
"Didn't you notice our halos?" Justin followed after catching on to what his brother was alluding to.
"Do you mean the halos that are held place by your devil horns?" his mother offered in return. That remark caused all of the boys to groan.
"You just don't know how lucky you are to have us for sons," Tyler quipped, not letting her comment go unchallenged.
"Yeah, you should have to put up with some of the other kids that go to our school," Marcus added. "Just ask our teachers and you'll find out we aren't so bad."
"We know," I finally chimed in to put an end to this discussion. "We were only teasing you, but it was also a reminder to let you know that you can't slip up now either."
"But you came back without any presents," Andrew noted, as he looked at his mother.
"We know how nosy you boys can be, so if we wait until the last minute before we get your presents, then you won't have time to snoop around to see what you're getting," Sally stated, while trying not to laugh.
"But then the good stuff might already be gone," Ethan pointed out, thinking we had overlooked that fact.
"Don't worry, you'll all get presents unless you mess up really bad now," I stated, as they all shook their heads in disgust. Then, they resumed what they'd been doing.
"Hmmm, I don't think they're happy with us," Sally observed as we walked into the house.
"It's only because we didn't come back with armloads full of presents," Cherie quipped with a giggle.
"I think they all know they don't have to worry," I chipped in, "but they still like to have physical evidence to support that belief. I'm sure we'll drive them crazy if we don't bring their presents here before Christmas Day."
"Actually, it might be fun if they don't see anything before going to bed on Christmas Eve," Sally added as she looked at me. "I know Andrew still kind of believes in Santa Claus and I think Ethan might too, so this way they will be totally surprised when they come downstairs on Christmas morning."
"I wish there was some way we could get things to the house without them knowing," I offered, as I tried to think of a way we could do it. "We could have it all wrapped and ready to put under the tree on Christmas Eve, but the boys don't give me enough time alone where I could do something like that."
"Actually they do, when they're at basketball practice," Cherie pointed out. "If you want, I can take Ethan with me to run an errand one afternoon when the others are all at practice. Even if he complains and doesn't want to go, he will have to, since he can't be left home alone. That would give you time to swing by Ann's house to pick up everything. If you have a place where we can keep it, I could wrap the presents during the day while I'm home alone."
"That might actually work," I concurred. "I can go pick up the things we left at Ann's house and put it in boxes to bring it back here. I can then swap those boxes for some of the cartons we currently have stored in the garage. I can move those things up to the storage space above the garage and the boys shouldn't even notice the switch. The new boxes will look pretty much like the things that were previously there, so the boys shouldn't catch on to what we're doing."
"That would be perfect, because they probably wouldn't think of looking in the boxes we'd stored things in," Cherie agreed. "I can wrap the items during the day and then put everything back in the boxes before the boys get home from school."
"I don't want you to have to wrap all of my presents too," Sally countered, feeling guilty.
"Why not? You both work and I don't, so I have time to do it," Cherie stated to let Sally know she didn't mind and it wasn't a big deal. "Just make sure there's plenty of wrapping paper, but I also want you to attach a note to each of your packages, so I'll know who it's for and who it's from. It means you have to let me know if the present is from you, the boys or Santa, if you're going to do that."
"Yes, I think all of the boys should get presents from Santa too," I agreed. "I'll make sure there is different wrapping paper and tags to use for the gifts that are from him."
"Do we really need to wrap Santa's presents?" Sally asked looking unsure. I had a feeling she was thinking about the additional expense as well.
"I think it helps to keep the mystery about what they're getting," I replied. "We won't wrap those things as well as the gifts from us, but well enough so they won't know what it is right away. They'll still have to unwrap it to see what they got."
"Ok. I can live with that," Sally agreed. "I'll arrange it with Ann and mark my packages in advance, but you'll still need to let me know when you want to pick things up. If she's working when you want to do this, then I'll meet you there and use the spare key I have for her place so I can let you in to get everything."
Since that had been taken care of, we sat and talked about other things until Sally announced that it was time for Andrew and her to return home. He wasn't exactly thrilled about having to leave, but he went upstairs with his mother and collected his things. Then, we all said goodbye to them before they left.
Once they had driven away, I made sure the boys had their homework done and were prepared to return to school in the morning. After that had been taken care of, we sat down to watch TV together until it was time to go to bed.
Monday morning, after we got the boys off to school, Cherie let me know she wanted to speak to me briefly before I left for work. "I'm going to call the lawyer today and get things started. I just wanted to let you know in case Don goes off the deep end when this goes down. I doubt much will happen over the next couple of days, but I thought it would be best for you to be aware of what was going on."
"Thanks for the heads up and we'll weather that storm when it hits," I responded, using a meteorological analogy.
After we had finished our discussion, I hopped in the car and took off for work. During the drive I couldn't help but wonder if Don might actually show up at the house after the lawyer had contacted him about the divorce. I was sure if he did it would be an intentional response and not just a knee-jerk reaction to what was happening. If he came by, I was convinced it would be for a specific purpose and there would probably be a considerable amount of shouting, if not worse. I didn't believe Don was a particularly dangerous person, but I was worried that he might show up when the boys were at the house. First and foremost, I didn't want any of them to witness a confrontation between Don and Cherie, but even more than that, I didn't want them to get sucked into the middle of an argument and become active participants. However, I wasn't sure how we could prevent it.
Since Don worked, I felt it was unlikely that he would show up earlier in the day, unless he took some time off from his job just for that purpose. I would certainly ask Cherie if Don might be angry enough to do something like that, but if not then I doubted anything would occur before I got home. It would be more likely that Don would show up one evening after I'd returned from work or he would wait until the weekend to drop by, so the boys would be here then too.
These considerations also prompted me to tell my boss about the situation at home and explain that Cherie and the boys were staying with us. I did this in case I got an emergency phone call one afternoon and had to leave early, because this way he would know what the problem was and it wouldn't come as a surprise. I didn't want something like this to create any trouble for me at work, so this way I'd be covered in the unlikely event something unforeseen happened.
When I arrived at home later, Cherie told me the lawyer said he would take care of preparing the temporary custody and support agreements first, before having Don served. Therefore, Don wouldn't be given the eviction notice or restraining order until after those issues had been taken care of and signed. It meant that neither of the latter issues were likely to be addressed this week, and possibly not even next week either, so it would be closer to Christmas before that happened.
When I thought about what she'd just told me, it made me worry that the timing of these events might evoke an even stronger reaction from Don. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to suggest to Cherie that she call her attorney and recommend that any further actions beyond the temporary agreements should be left until after the first of the year. She agreed with my logic, once I filled her in about the reasons behind my proposal, and said she'd advise her lawyer about this change the first thing in the morning.
Once that had been cleared up, I went to pick up Dylan and Tyler from their practice and then we spent the rest of the evening carrying on like a typical family. Although none of the boys had said anything about it, I had the feeling they all liked how this was working out so far. Not only were they constantly with their friends, but Ethan and Marcus also liked being able to stay home when they got off the bus. They even seemed to like spending the evenings with Cherie and me, because they had started to become affectionate with Cherie as well.
After excusing myself under the pretext of having to use the toilet, I took the opportunity to call Sally and arranged to meet her at Ann's house the following afternoon. After she agreed, I went back to the family room with the others and no one seemed to suspect a thing.
When we went to bed later, I suggested to Tyler that he should sleep in the middle again, but he was reluctant to do that at first. It wasn't until Dylan told Tyler that he liked cuddling with him too that Tyler decided it wasn't such a big deal. After Tyler relented, Dylan and I cuddled up against him on either side, and luckily that led to a very peaceful night.
Tuesday, before I left for work, I asked Cherie if she would take Ethan with her for a while in the afternoon so I could move some of the presents to the house. She readily agreed and said she'd make sure not to return home until after I'd picked up the other boys from practice. I thanked her and said it should give me plenty of time to take care of everything.
Before I met up with Sally later, I stopped at the grocery to get a bunch of boxes and some packing tape first. When I got to the house, she helped me packed up everything we'd purchased so far and I put a black 'x' in the upper right-hand corner of each box so Cherie would know which ones contained the presents. When we were done, I thanked Sally for her help and loaded everything into the Outback.
When I got to the house, I unloaded the boxes and carried them into the garage. After closing the garage door to keep others from seeing what I was doing, I began to take some of the boxes that were already there up to the storage area. Then I placed the boxes I'd just bought back where those had been, so everything would appear to be the same. On top of those items, I added an empty box that I had marked with an 'xx' in the corner, which I would use to store the wrapping paper, tags, tape and a couple of special markers to label the gifts from Santa. As soon as I'd finished doing all of that, I examined the area carefully to make sure it didn't look any different than before, and then I went to pick up the four oldest boys from their practices.
Cherie and Ethan were home by the time I returned with the other boys. They had done some grocery shopping and Cherie winked at me when I walked through the door to indicate that Ethan was totally oblivious to what had gone on. I would let her know later about the special 'codes' I'd used to mark the boxes, so she would know which ones contained the Christmas items.
As we were eating dinner, the boys filled us in about their upcoming activities. Dylan and Tyler mentioned they had an away game the next afternoon and told us where it would be played. Marcus and Justin reminded us that they both had a game on Thursday, but then the three youngest boys told us about the Christmas concerts being held at their schools the following week.
It turned out that Ethan's concert would be held one week from today, while the middle school's concert would be a week from tomorrow. Marcus and Justin would be taking part with their classes at that time, but Dylan and Tyler wouldn't be involved. Unlike the younger grades where they all performed as a group, the 7th-8th graders were only involved if they were a member of the band, orchestra or chorus. Since Dylan and Tyler weren't involved in any of those groups, they wouldn't be participating in the concert, but they didn't seem to mind. They were just going with us both nights to watch their brothers perform.
Later, when we went to bed, Tyler decided he didn't want to be in the middle again. He said he slept better when he was on his side cuddling up to me, rather than on his back while Dylan and I were cuddling with him. He said it was because he slept better when he was on his side, rather than on his back, so we gave in to him. We just prayed he didn't have another bad dream.
A couple of hours later, I was sleeping peacefully when I felt someone or something grab a hold of my chest and then start to squeeze it violently. Shortly after that, I felt fingernails or claws digging into my flesh and the pain caused me to instinctively react. With reflexes like a cat, I reached down and pried the offending digits off of my body, only to discover it was Tyler who had been doing this. To my surprise, he was still sound asleep, but his body was flopping around on the mattress as he struggled with me. Obviously, he was having another bad dream.
"It's ok. I'm here with you and nothing's going to hurt you," I told him in a gentle voice, hoping it would help to soothe his fears and get him to calm down a little. I didn't want to startle him awake and felt it would be best if he woke up on his own. I did, however, hold him tightly against my body and kissed him repeatedly on the forehead.
"Is he having another one of those dream?" a voice asked and I realized Dylan was awake too.
"It seems so, but he's still asleep," I answered, although Tyler was groaning now as well. "Tyler, it's just a dream and you're all right. I'm here with you and nothing is going to harm you."
Shortly after I'd said that, Tyler's eyes began to flutter open and before long two moist orbs were staring up at me. His breathing was still rapid and shallow, and his body was trembling, as he glanced around and attempted to figure out where he was.
"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Dylan asked as he stared at Tyler, deeply concerned.
"I just had another bad dream," Tyler answered after a slight pause.
"Was it the same as the other one?" I asked, hoping that talking about it would help to make him feel better.
"No, it was different," he answered, without explaining.
"What was this one about then?" I followed, so I'd better understand what he'd gone through and how he was feeling.
"I was sitting with my parents at Ethan and Marcus' concert last year, since they went to the same school then," Tyler answered in short, halting breaths.
"That doesn't sound so bad," Dylan stated when Tyler paused.
"I think the conversation we had at the dinner table must have reminded you about that, since this year's concerts are next week" I added, holding him tightly.
"But that's not what woke me up," Tyler eventually continued. "We were all in the car going home when all of the sudden there was a horrible crash. Me, Marcus and Ethan were all sitting in the back and were thrown against our seatbelts, before we were slammed back in our seats. The three of us were ok and just had some bumps and bruises, but when I yelled out to see how Mom and Dad were, they didn't answer. That's when I saw their bodies were slumped over and they weren't moving. They were covered in blood too, so I knew right away that they were dead. They were killed in an accident again, but this time I was with them and saw it all happen."
"But you weren't there when it really happened," Dylan pointed out, which caused Tyler to turn in his direction and give him a strange look.
"Of course I wasn't in the car with them when they were killed or I'd probably be dead too," he replied, still trembling. "But what I saw in my dream still made me feel like I was with them when they died. It was awful."
"I know it made you feel terrible, but it was just a bad dream and none of it was real," I assured him once again. "Come on with me to the bathroom and I'll wipe you down again. You're all sweaty and we should take care of that before you go back to sleep."
The three of us then got out of bed and went to the bathroom to perform a similar routine to what we'd done the previous time he had a nightmare. When we got back in bed a few minutes later, I made Tyler get in the middle, but I let him cuddle against me as he usually would have and then Dylan spooned up behind him. We had a fairly peaceful and uneventful night after we fell asleep again and things appeared to be back to normal by morning.
Chapter 71
Fun and Games
After I saw the boys get on their buses Wednesday morning, I stuck around for a few minutes more so I could tell Cherie about what had happened last night. I wanted her to be fully aware of what was going on, because she'd be home alone with the boys during the day, once they were out of school for Christmas break. I felt this would help her to be prepared in case anything else were to happen, since the boys would most likely still be sleeping when I left for work. As soon as she was up to speed, I mentioned that I would come home to get her and the younger boys later, so we could go to Dylan and Tyler's game.
All throughout the day, my mind kept drifting away from what I was working on and I would start thinking about Tyler. I wanted to see if I could figure out a way I could prevent him from having any more nightmares, since I had a feeling that everything we did over the next few weeks was bound to trigger even more of these memories. Although I hoped he would always cherish the good times with his parents, I didn't want him to be constantly reminded about their deaths between now and the New Year. Try as I might, however, I couldn't come up with a way to prevent that from occurring.
As soon as I could leave work for the day, I hurried home to pick up Cherie and the boys, so we could go to see Dylan and Tyler's game. It was an away game, but I was familiar with the school district where they were playing, so I hoped I would be able to locate the correct building quickly and we wouldn't miss any of the game. It appeared as if luck was on our side, because I spotted our team's bus parked in front of one of the schools, so I pulled into a parking space and we rushed inside.
The teams were just finishing their warm-ups as we entered the gym and went over to find seats in the bleachers. Tyler and Dylan weren't starting again, but that wasn't unusual and we knew they'd play, so we settled in to enjoy the game. Shortly after the other team scored their first basket, it became obvious that their opponents were going to set up a full-court press each time they scored. This strategy proved to be very effective and created havoc for our team. Dylan and Tyler's teammates looked confused by this strategy and turned the ball over a couple of times before they reached midcourt. Even when they did get the ball into the frontcourt, they had trouble running their offense, so I had a bad feeling about this game.
When I looked down at the bench, I saw Dylan and Tyler talking things over with each other, while also pointing out toward the court. I felt that maybe they had spotted something they could take advantage of and hoped they could pass this information along to their coach and fellow players. Before that happened, however, I heard Coach Jackson tell both boys to check in at the scorer's table. I was anxious to see how they were going to handle things now, if they had actually spotted a flaw in the other team's defense.
The first time their opponents scored after they were in the game, one of the big men grabbed the ball and inbounded it. He tossed it to Dylan, who had made a move to get away from his defender, and Dylan came to a perfect jump stop as he caught the pass. Then, he pivoted and looked downcourt, where he spotted Tyler as he made a quick cut to get open. Dylan passed the ball in his direction next and Tyler caught the pass in the air and came to a jump stop as well. He also pivoted, so he could look toward the basket, and that's when he saw D'Wayne breaking toward the hoop. Tyler hit him with a perfect pass and D'Wayne scored on a layup.
The coach and the boys on the bench all jumped to their feet in excitement when this happened, while the players on the court switched over to defensive mode. The other team was slightly shaken by how easy our team had just scored and this led them to make another mistake. The boy dribbling the ball upcourt flinched when Tyler faked liked he was going to try to steal the ball and he ended up dribbling it off his foot. When the ball bounced off his athletic shoe he chased after it, but it went out of bounds before he could get to it and gave possession back to us.
Our team set up an inbound play, as the other team prepared to press again. Tyler received the inbound pass, and almost as soon as the ball was in his hands, he fired a baseball pass to the streaking Dylan. Dylan made another quick pass and tossed the ball to Anthony as he broke toward the hoop. Anthony didn't even have to dribble, as he scored on another layup. As the ball went through the net, our bench exploded into the air once again.
Coach Jackson hurriedly signaled the team to set up their own press, which startled the other team. The boy inbounding the ball saw a defender closing in on the man he was going to pass to and tried to hold up, but his momentum carried him over the baseline without releasing the ball and caused him to commit another turnover. The other team's coach immediately called a timeout so he could settle his players down, and we would be inbounding the ball under our own basket when play resumed. I watched as the players rushed over and sat down for a quick breather, while listening to what Coach Jackson had to say. I was sitting close enough that I could hear everything when he spoke.
"Dylan and Tyler, great job!" he exclaimed as he looked at each one. "That's what you've got to do to beat the press. You pass over it, not try to dribble through it. Keep up the great work on offense and nice job on defense too. We'll keep pressing them until they figure out how to break it, but keep looking for the openings on offense. Set up inbounds play three when you go back out there." The boys nodded in agreement, as they formed a circle and placed their hands together in the middle. Then, they yelled 'Go Tigers!' as they broke the huddle, referring to the team's mascot.
When the game started again, our team scored off the inbound play and then the other team scored too. However, after they scored this time they pulled back into a half-court defense and Tyler brought the ball downcourt. Karl stepped up to set a pick for him as he neared the foul line, but as Tyler went to drive off of the pick, Karl's man jumped out in front to double team him. Tyler never hesitated and reached around the defensive player to feed Karl a nice bounce pass as he rolled toward the hoop. Karl handled the pass easily and pulled up to take a short jumpshot, which he hit for the score. Right away the other team's coach jumped up and start shouting directions to his team again, while Coach Jackson and our bench were cheering the team on.
The other team wasn't able to settle down and regain their composure after that and ended up trailing by 10 points at the half. After going to the locker room quickly to talk things over, both teams returned and warmed up again. When they were ready to start the second half, I was surprised to see that Coach Jackson was starting Tyler and Dylan, since they had played the rest of the first half after they came in. I guess Coach Jackson felt they would be able to help the team get off to a better start than they had in the first half.
Dylan and Tyler played all of the third quarter and helped to extend the team's lead. The other team had tried to press them again, but our boys broke it fairly handily and scored some easy baskets. When the other team pulled back into a half court defense they didn't fare much better, so our team was up by 17 points as the 4th quarter began.
Coach Jackson sat Dylan and Tyler down at this point and put some of the other boys in. They all played much better this time and the team ended up winning the game easily. They were all in a really good mood as they headed toward the locker room to shower and change, but Dylan and Tyler stopped to chat with us briefly before they joined the others.
"Great game!" Justin yelled when they came over.
"You two were awesome out there!" Marcus added, just as enthused.
"You were really good," Ethan added, looking at the older pair in awe.
"Even I was impressed and I don't know that much about basketball," Cherie added with a huge grin.
"Go clean up and I'll talk to you about the game at home," I urged, since I didn't want them to hold up the others. "Great job though and we'll meet you back at the school." After we watched them disappear, we went out and loaded into the Outback.
Needless to say, both boys were still walking on air when they got off the bus and joined us in the Outback. "Coach Jackson said he's going to start us next game," Dylan gushed as we began to drive away.
"Yeah, he said we proved something to him today and he was really impressed," Tyler added, equally excited. "He said we certainly didn't play like first year players today."
"I saw you took my advice to heart and you looked super out there," I agreed, smiling at them in the rearview mirror. "I hope the others learned how to handle the press today as well."
"Yeah, coach said he'd work with us on it next practice, but on the way back he told the team a lot of the same stuff you'd told me and Dylan," Tyler confirmed.
Since it was getting late, everyone was hungry and Cherie hadn't started anything before we left, I decided to take them over to the diner to eat. Ann lit up when she saw us walk through the door. "Well it's been a long time since I've seen you in here," she stated as she came over to greet us.
"Yes, Cherie has been fixing all of our meals, so the food has been ready when we get home," I confessed. "We just stopped in now because Dylan and Tyler had an away basketball game and Cherie was with us. Since we didn't feel like waiting until something was ready to eat at home, we decided to come here instead."
"Well I'm glad you did. Y'all follow me and we'll get you started," Ann offered, as she led us back to a booth.
While we were eating, Ann's boss came over to say hello too. "Nice to see you all again," he stated with a grin. "I'm glad to see you haven't forgotten about us."
"Never!" I shot back. "We all like this place too much, but I'm not sure how often you'll see us for a while. Things are pretty hectic right now, with the holidays and all."
"I understand," he replied. "It's just nice to see you once in a while."
After we finished eating, we went home and I immediately started the bedtime routine. After I had the younger boys clean and in bed, I showered with Dylan and Tyler next. When we went out to get in bed later, I made sure Tyler was in the center and Dylan and I cuddled with him as we had the previous evening.
It was a quiet night and we experienced no more problems, but I wasn't sure if that was because Tyler was in the middle again or if it was due to the fact that he was still riding high from the game and learning he was going to start the next game. Either way, we all got a good night's rest.
Thursday passed by quickly and quietly as well, so I was soon picking Cherie and Ethan up so we could go watch Justin and Marcus play. Once we got to the school, we discovered their teams were playing each other today, which was a little easier for us to watch, but it also meant one of their teams would lose. I hoped it wasn't going to become a problem later.
It was actually a pretty good game and the score was close the entire way. In the end, though, Justin's team won and he earned bragging rights for the night.
"We'll beat you next time," Marcus threatened playfully. "It was a good game, but next time my team will win."
Justin just smiled and said, "We'll see," as we climbed into the Outback.
We then went from there to pick up the older pair before heading home. Cherie had started dinner before I picked her up earlier and had left it cooking on a very low heat. After we got back, she quickly checked on everything and put together a couple of side dishes and prepared a salad. We then sat down to eat together and enjoyed a wonderful meal. It had been another hectic day, but we were now one step closer to the weekend.
Friday night, after I got home from work, I said hello to Cherie, Ethan, Marcus and Justin, but then I spent a little time talking to Cherie alone before I went to spend time with the boys. I had to keep an eye on the clock as well, so I wouldn't be late picking up Dylan and Tyler from practice. Later, after I'd brought them home too, we all sat down to eat.
While we enjoying our dinner, Tyler and Dylan told me about their practice and how Coach Jackson had worked the team hard, both on offense and defense. They explained that their coach had made them practice breaking the second string's full-court press, but they said they also worked on their own press and used it against the second string when they switched up. Both boys mentioned how Coach Jackson worked with the other boys on the best ways to get open, so Dylan and Tyler would be able to pass to them when breaking the press. He also worked with them about not trying to score unless there was an opening and how they should transition into the half-court offense, if they weren't able to get an easy score after getting the ball over midcourt.
Dylan also mentioned how the coach had worked with him and Tyler on how to double-team the ball handler when they were pressing. He taught them how to use the sideline and midcourt line as another defender and then use those two areas to force the man they were guarding to commit a turnover. Using this technique they could force the ballhandler to possibly travel, step out of bounds, commit an over and back infraction, get called for a 5-second violation, or maybe just get him to make a bad pass and throw the ball away. Any of those things would give their team possession again, and Tyler said they were getting good at timing when they sprung the trap. It all sounded really super to me, so I told them I looked forward to watching them do these things in their next game.
Shortly after we finished our meal, Sally and Andrew showed up to spend the weekend with us again. Andrew burst through the door as soon as I opened it and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Thank you for letting us stay over again," he rattled off as he was hugging me.
"You're very welcome, but I hope you know that you and your mother are always welcome here," I stated to reassure him.
"Yeah, but I miss you when we aren't here," Andrew added, as he squeezed my waist even tighter.
"You wouldn't believe the week I had," Sally added, once her son finished talking. "He asked me every day when we'd be coming back here, and it wasn't just Ethan he was anxious to see."
"It's more fun here and I like spending time with Uncle Blake too," Andrew added after he finally released me. Then, I sent him off to spend some time with the other boys while his mother and I walked out to the kitchen.
As soon as Sally said hello to Cherie, we each grabbed a cup of coffee and headed into the dining to chat for a while. We started off just asking how each other's week had gone and then we chatted briefly about going shopping the next afternoon and what presents we were thinking about buying on this trip. We did this in a very hushed tone, in case little ears were listening in, and when we finished our discussion, it was time for me to take the boys upstairs to start getting them ready for bed.
Andrew was so excited about taking his shower and seeing the other boys naked again that he literally grabbed me by the hand and dragged me along behind him. Of course I followed willingly, or else he wouldn't have been able to move my much heavier frame, but there was no doubt there was an urgency behind his actions. I could hear his mother chuckling behind us as she watched his antics.
"What's the hurry?" I asked, once we reached the top of the stairs.
"I just missed doing this while I was home," Andrew offered in reply. "I knew the other boys were still taking their showers with each other, but I was at home and couldn't do it with them."
"Oh, I'm sure the others will let you make up for whatever you think you missed out on," I teased in response. I was certain the rest of the boys would let him fondle their privates all he wanted and would returned the favor if he was so inclined, so he should be satisfied before the night was over.
I washed the younger pair first and they had their hands all over each other the entire time. When I finished with them, I brought the next pair in to clean, but Andrew wanted to stay in with them too. I didn't see in any harm in what he wanted, so Ethan dried himself off while I stayed in the shower with the others.
While I was washing Justin, I noticed something and made a comment. "Justin, I see you've got a few more hairs now," I stated, as he bent forward to check it out for himself. "I hadn't notice it before, so I guess I must not have been paying attention lately, but there are certainly more hairs there now than before."
"I didn't notice them either," he replied, somewhat amazed. "I play with my dick all the time, but I guess I just forget to look and see if anything else had changed."
"Yes, you were too wrapped up in the good feelings you get from playing with your penis," I teased, as he looked up at me and grinned.
"Yep," was all he replied.
When I glanced over at Marcus and noticed his reaction, it was fairly evident that he was feeling a bit depressed that he hadn't started sprouting any hairs yet. In order to make him feel better, I reminded him that Justin was seven months older than him and he still had time to catch up. I think that helped a little, although not entirely, since Marcus still appeared to be in a rush, or was that a race, to mature.
While I'd been washing each of the older pair, Andrew had been happily groping the other one. Neither objected to what he was doing and happily returned the favor by doing the same thing to him. I think Andrew was pretty well sated by the time I had dried everyone off and they'd put on their pajamas, so we headed downstairs to join the others again.
We soon discovered there was a Christmas special on TV and quickly agreed to watch it. I sat in the rocking chair, which I had recently moved into the family room because it was getting a little crowded for all of us to sit on the sofa, and it didn't take Andrew very long before he climbed onto my lap. Sally and Cherie were sitting on the sofa, so Justin sat down between them and Marcus plopped his butt down on one of the armrests and then leaned against Cherie. Not to be left out, Ethan walked over and wiggled his way onto Sally's lap, while Dylan and Tyler sat on the floor and leaned back against either end of the sofa. Once we'd all settled in, we focused on the screen and enjoyed the show.
Every so often I would let my attention drift away from the program for a few moments, so I could see what everyone else was doing. They all seemed to be quite comfy and very content, as I noted the expression on each of their faces and watched how they were silently, and even subconsciously, interacting with one another. Anyone peeking through the window and viewing the scene inside would have thought we were just one big happy family.
When the show ended, I took the four little ones upstairs and tucked them into bed. The women followed behind us so they could say goodnight to the boys too, and we kissed each one on the forehead as we wished him sweet dreams. Then, the ladies stayed upstairs and got ready for bed as well, while I went down to spend a little more time with the oldest pair.
Once the boys realized we were alone, they wanted to know if we could do something sexual. I reminded them that there was still a chance one or both of the women might come downstairs to get an item they might have forgotten or even just return to say goodnight. They hadn't done that before going upstairs to tuck the other group in bed, because I don't think they had made up their minds to turn in until they were upstairs.
After Tyler and Dylan thought about it for a while, they reasoned they didn't want to get caught doing anything like that, so they asked if we could do something when we got to the bedroom instead. They felt Cherie and Sally might already be asleep by the time we turned in, but the problem was that I was worried they might not be sleeping or that we might even wake them up. If they were to overhear what was going on, they might realize I'd been having sex with these two all along and I was afraid that knowledge could cause serious problems. Even though Cherie and Sally had been supportive of everything else I'd done with the boys so far, they might change their minds if they thought I was using them for sex.
Hoping we still might be able to do something, the boys pointed out that there was a basketball game on TV that they wanted to see, so they suggested we could watch it up in the bedroom. That way, the noise from the TV should drown out any noises they might make if I did something with them, but I pointed out that the TV might also keep the women awake or wake them up, if they were already asleep. After discussing this a little more, we decided to see if the women were still awake when we went upstairs and agreed to ask them about watching the TV if they were.
After taking care of everything downstairs, we headed up to our bedroom. We could hear the women talking as we got closer, so I decided to knock on their door. "Come in," I heard one of them respond, so I opened the door and the three of us went inside.
"The boys wanted to say goodnight, but we also planned to run something by you," I began, trying to explain the interruption.
"We were just discussing that we hadn't said goodnight to the rest of you, so we were just getting ready to go back downstairs to do that," Sally responded, as she and Cherie moved in our direction. We then hugged each one and wished them sweet dreams, before the boys kissed them on the cheek.
"And what else did you want to discuss?" Sally continued, once we had made the rounds.
"The boys want to watch a basketball game before we go to sleep, but they wanted to do it while we were in bed," I stated, hoping to get their reaction. "I was afraid the sound might keep you two up, so I told them we might have to watch it downstairs instead."
"Why don't you go turn on the game and then we'll come over to let you know if it bothers us," Cherie offered as a solution.
"Ok, we'll do that, but if you don't come over to complain within the next five minutes, then we'll take a quick shower and hop in bed to watch the game," I countered, to seal the deal.
"That will work for us," Cherie agreed, so we thanked them and left.
I wasn't sure if they might have figured out that we had an ulterior motive, but they never said anything or indicated that they were suspicious. Hopefully, they'll just think it's a male thing and write it off as such.
"It's a good thing we didn't try to do anything when we were in the family room, because they were going to come back to say goodnight to us," Dylan pointed out, looking horrified. "If we had, they would have caught us and seen our junk!"
"I'm glad Uncle Blake was smart enough to realize that might happen," Tyler added, as they both began to look relieved.
We continued to wait to see if the women would come over to complain, but when we still hadn't heard from them several minutes later, I went over to lock the bedroom door and then we all got undressed and headed to the shower. We cleaned up in record breaking time, but while we were washing each other I felt I still needed to make a point.
"Ok, we can do something if you want, since the sound from the TV didn't seem to bother them, but you still have to promise that you will keep the noise down," I urged. "I don't think any of us wants either of them to become aware of what we're doing or it could change our overall situation. It might even get the women to move into Dylan's father's camp."
"Yeah, we definitely understand," Dylan agreed, while eyeing me oddly. "Even if it doesn't make them agree with my dad, I'm not sure I want my mom to know exactly what we've been doing. I think that would be kind of embarrassing."
"Didn't you kind of admit it to her on Thanksgiving, when you said you've done things before?" I countered, looking at him confused.
"I only said I'd done stuff with Tyler and some other boys, but I didn't tell them what I did," he confessed. "I guess they might have been able to figure some of it out, but I'm pretty sure my mom just thinks that we have jacked each other off. It's gross enough to think that she has pictured that happening in her mind, but I don't want her thinking about the stuff we're really doing. I think it would really gross me out, because I don't want my mother trying to mentally picture my dick. I know she saw it when I was little, but this would be waaay different." Tyler and I were trying to keep from giggling after hearing his comment, but I think we pretty much felt the same way.
Once we finished washing each other and drying off, we brushed our teeth and then the boys raced out to get into bed. I hadn't turned the volume up too loud, because I knew that would definitely bother the women, but I hoped it was loud enough to mask what we were about to do.
"I figured we'd go back to the activity you boys liked the most, meaning I'll rim and suck each of you off," I began, while looking at their faces. "My only question is, who's going first?"
I thought one of them would quickly volunteer, but they merely turned and looked at each other instead, as they communicated with their eyes and facial expressions. Finally, Tyler spoke. "I'll let Dylan go first," he offered and Dylan jumped up on his knees so he could hug his buddy.
"Thanks. I really appreciate it," he confirmed. "It's been so long since we've done this that I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever be able to do it again."
As soon as he finished speaking, Dylan let his body fall back on the bed and pulled his legs up to his chest, exposing his butt to me. I guess he definitely was eager, but I looked over at Tyler and made a comment before I started. "Just help me make sure he keeps the noise down. If you have to, gag him for me."
"You can bet on it," he agreed with enthusiasm. "I don't want him messing up my chance to have you do it to me too."
After hearing his response, I had to stifle a chuckle as I lowered my head so I could attack Dylan's butt. He eagerly accepted my attention and I have to admit that he was just as animated as he always was when I did this to him, but he also managed to keep his whimpering and other noises down to a bare minimum. I considered that Dylan may have been worried that I'd stop and leave him unfulfilled if he didn't keep the noise down, which was probably a good bet on his part, but it never came to that. After I had rimmed him for about fifteen to twenty minutes, I began to work my way up his perineum until I reached his scrotum. He slowly lowered his legs on either side of me at that point, so I could have complete access to his boy parts.
I thought I heard him gently humming as I licked and tugged his fleshy sac, but then I realized it was more of a satisfied purr. It was obvious that Dylan was now as content as a kitten being held and petted, as I toyed with the watery orbs and then moved up to his granite pole. Dylan's penis was as a rigid as I'd ever seen it before and had an abundance of pre-cum leaking from it. I was able to get most of it as I slurped my way up his shaft, and then I opened my mouth wide before lowering it over the spongy head. After I'd completely swallowed his pride and joy and had moved my head downward until my lips came into contact with his public patch, I performed the best oral sex on him that I was capable of giving.
Dylan was writhing around on the mattress as I worked on him, but then he suddenly began to aggressively thrust his hips up and down, as he buried his penis deep in my throat. I knew this meant he was about to feed me his load, so I concentrated on helping him achieve his goal. Before the next minute expired, his penis exploded and released a flood of juices that slithered down my throat. I almost gagged on the quantity, because there was a great deal more than he usually produced, but I managed to handle the situation without pulling away. As soon as Dylan was completely drained, his body collapsed onto the bed and then he remained absolutely motionless. I would have been worried that something might be wrong with him, if I hadn't noticed the heaving of his chest. He'd just had quite a workout, so now he was panting as if he'd just run a race and attempting to calm down, as he enjoyed his post-orgasmic afterglow.
While Dylan was recuperating, I slid over so I could do the same thing to Tyler. When he saw me moving in his direction, he quickly got into position and prepared for his own pleasurable release. I did virtually the same thing to him that I'd just done to his best buddy, but Tyler's reaction to my effort wasn't quite as animated. That didn't mean he was enjoying it any less than Dylan had, because Tyler was cooing and moaning in pleasure the entire time too, although he kept the volume down to just above a muted level.
Eventually, Tyler's body stiffened, he arched his back off the bed and drove his penis into my throat, just before he released his boy cream. After a handful of healthy spurts, his body slowly relaxed as his backside settled onto the mattress again. Once he was completely drained, I released his penis and let him enjoy his climactic afterglow, as I took up my place between him and Dylan.
As I was getting comfortable, Dylan began urging me to lift my legs so he could rim me next. I had basically been thinking that they were merely looking for some action tonight and hadn't really anticipated them returning the favor, but obviously I had been mistaken. Before I did what he wanted, however, I checked the TV to make sure the game hadn't ended yet. I felt if it was already over that it might be a dead giveaway that we hadn't gone to sleep yet and were wrapped up in other activities. The game was still on though, so I did what he'd asked.
Dylan dove into the task with his usual relish, as his tongue worked its way over and around my most private place. I'd never seen anyone enjoy doing this, or even having it done to him, as much as Dylan always has, so I let him carry on for as long as he wanted. When he finally pulled away, Tyler had recovered from his orgasm and attacked my penis like a dog going for a bone. He was as aggressive doing this as Dylan had been when he was rimming me, and between their joint effort I enjoyed a very powerful release. I think we were all satisfied, so we just cuddled against each other as we watched the end of the game.
When the final horn sounded, we got up to use the toilet and grab a drink first, before I turned off the TV and we got back into bed. We put Tyler in the middle and he cuddled against me, as Dylan spooned up behind him. They fell asleep within a matter of minutes, but it took me a little longer to do the same. Before that happened, I began to wonder if this pair would now try to pressure me into using this same pretext in the future, so we could do something like this again. I concluded it was possible, but I'd deal with that situation when it arose.
Chapter 72
Christmas Preparations
After we woke up the next morning, we went downstairs to have breakfast with everyone else. They had all eaten already, but Cherie made sure we were feed too. While we were chowing down, she asked how the game was and, fortunately, we had watched the end of it and were able to answer. Hopefully, she wasn't just checking out our response because one of them had heard something or were just basically suspicious about our sudden change in behavior.
As soon as we were done eating, Dylan and Tyler said they were going to go to the family room to join the other boys. I advised them that the younger group was probably watching cartoons or one of the other Saturday morning kiddie shows, but they said they didn't have a problem with that. They were just going in to keep the rest of the boys company.
As soon as they were gone and I'd helped Cherie and Sally clean up the mess from breakfast, I suggested that we go upstairs and change, so we could head over to the mall. They agreed it was a good idea, so we went to our rooms and slipped into something appropriate for a day of shopping. We stopped by the family room on the way out and told the boys what we were going to do. They had no problem with it, although they made a few tongue-in-cheek comments about making sure we came back with something this time.
We were at the mall for a few hours and picked up quite a few more gifts for the boys. We dropped everything off at Ann's house again before returning home, but the three of us also agreed that we'd do a repeat of the previous week on Tuesday. At that time I'd meet up with Sally, while Cherie was busy getting Ethan away from the house, so I could move everything over to our place.
When we got home, we received the reaction we were expecting. "How do you guys keep going shopping, but then never bring anything back?" Dylan asked as soon as we entered the house.
"Most of the bigger stores have a thing call 'layaway', where we can purchase something and pay for it a little at a time until it's all paid off," I explained. "It is also a good way to keep from bringing those things home until the last minute, so nosy boys can't go rummaging through the closets looking to see what we bought." I felt this was another way to throw the boys off, so they wouldn't go looking for anything.
"You think we'd do that?" Tyler shot back, while trying to look innocent.
"Without a doubt," Cherie responded before I had a chance to open my mouth.
"Even though your Uncle Blake might not realize it, we've seen you boys do things like this before," Sally added, referring to her and Cherie. "We know you like to go looking to see if you can find out what you're going to get, so we've done what we can to prevent it. We may bring everything here by Christmas Eve, and then again maybe not. We've just decided not to give you any reason to tear the house apart."
"Come on! We just want to know that we're gonna get something," Marcus whined, trying to make us feel guilty.
"Yeah, the presents can be wrapped and put under the tree. We just like to have an idea about what we might be getting," Justin added.
"Yes, by shaking the packages and tearing little holes in the wrapping paper. I know your tricks," Cherie retorted, causing Justin to give her a surprised look.
"Dylan may have done that, but I never have," he offered, but he wasn't convincing in his delivery.
"Hey! Don't try to pin all of that on me!" Dylan shouted. "You did it just as much as I did." Justin merely hung his head and blushed.
"So this way no one will be tempted to be 'naughty' before the presents are due to be opened," I concluded. "You all know you'll be getting something, but just how much and if they are items off the top of your list or somewhere near the bottom will depend on how well you've behaved."
"Then we should get everything we asked for!" Ethan chirped, flashing us a grin.
"Yeah, we've all been really good!" Andrew added, to support his partner in crime.
"We'll see," Sally challenged, before moving us on to the next topic. "It's already after lunchtime, so is anyone hungry?"
Of course they all were, and the thought of putting something in their bellies made them temporarily forget about what they might be getting as gifts. Sally and Cherie then went out to the kitchen and started making lunch, while I went to the family room with the boys, so I could have a private discussion with them.
"After lunch, I want all of you to get dressed so I can take you to the mall," I advised them. "This trip is to allow you to pick out some things to give Cherie and Sally."
"But we won't be able to get stuff for you too, if you're with us," Tyler pointed out.
"Let's worry about one thing at a time," I replied. "I'm sure one of the women will take you to do that another time."
"Ok," they all agreed.
After we'd finished lunch, the boys all got ready so I could take them to the mall with me. We walked around and I let them pick out various gifts for the women, including Ann, since she was going to be with us for Christmas too. I sometimes had to step in and explain to them that what they wanted to buy wasn't such a great idea, and in most cases they eventually agreed with me, but sometimes only after a fairly heated discussion. I had also done a little snooping before we left the house and had made notes on both women's clothing sizes, in case the boys wanted to buy something along those lines instead. Once they had selected what they wanted to get and I'd paid for it, we took all of the items back to customer service area and had one of the professionals at the store wrap them for us, so we wouldn't have to do it. I also made sure to collect all of the tags and various receipts, just in case the women wanted to return something later. Then, we carried those packages with us when we went out to get back into the Outback to head home.
"Where are we going to put this stuff so they won't snoop?" Dylan asked, thinking it was only fair.
"I'll keep these things in the trunk of my car," I offered. "I always keep it locked and I've got the only keys, plus the car is at work with me during the day, so your mother won't be able to find anything when she's all alone at home. I only leave her the keys to the Outback for her to use, in case she needs it before I get home."
"Ok, that will work," Dylan agreed, with the other boys nodding their support.
I guess the women hadn't noticed me moving those things to my car when we got back, because when we went inside Cherie made a comment. "So where are all the things that you boys just bought?"
"We used that 'lay-aside' thing too, so you can't peek at what we bought you either," Justin replied, looking smug. I don't think any of the boys caught his slip in terminology, because they were chiming in their own two-cents as well, but both women were grinning.
"Yeah, it's that tit for tat thing Uncle Blake is always saying to me," Tyler added, thinking back to one of the phrases I'd used on him when he was injured.
"Yeah, it's only fair," Andrew chimed in.
"Ok, so that should mean you won't be asking us any more questions about what we got you," Sally confirmed, in an attempt to end future complaints from the boys. Reluctantly, they all agreed.
After that had been settled, the boys and I went in to watch a few of the various sporting events that were on TV. We had both football and basketball games to choose from, so I only had to get them to agree on what we were going to select. It wasn't really a problem though, at least not after we discovered the UGA football game would be starting shortly.
I noticed the boys kept getting up during the commercials and leaving the family room, but I thought they were only going to the toilet or getting a drink. They even brought me a drink at one point, but that wasn't why they had been leaving. However, I didn't find that out until after we ate dinner together.
"Sally and I are going to take the boys to the mall for a little while, so you will have the house to yourself," Cherie informed me. "The boys mentioned to us that they wanted to go shopping again, so we agreed to take them this time. It will allow you to watch whatever you want without any hassle now."
I concluded this was the boys' attempt to have a chance to buy something for me, but I pretended as if I had no clue why they wanted to go shopping again. The boys seemed satisfied as they took off, so I handed Cherie the key to the Outback and then went to see what was on TV.
When they returned they had no packages with them, so I felt the boys had probably suggested that Cherie put those things in the trunk of her car for the time being. I didn't quiz them, like everyone else had done and just made a simple comment. "I know. You used the layaway thing."
Once the game I was watching ended, I had the boys say goodnight to Cherie and Sally before I took them upstairs for their showers. I washed the four younger boys first and then put them to bed, because it was already past their bedtime. Then Tyler and Dylan came up for their turn, but tonight we merely sucked each other off quickly in the shower. Then we cuddled together for the rest of the night.
After breakfast on Sunday, we decided to split up and take the boys shopping again, but this time so they could buy things for each other. We figured they would definitely want to buy something special for their best buds and their brothers, so we agreed how we would split up when we got to the mall. Sally would take Andrew and Marcus with her while Cherie took Justin and Tyler, which left me with Ethan and Dylan, as we headed off in different directions. We'd already agreed on a time and place to meet up again, so we took our pair with us to select the items they wanted to buy.
As soon as the boys in our group had what they wanted, we went to our rendezvous point and waited for the others to show up. When we were all together again, we headed home, ready to call it a day. When we got back, Sally and Cherie took the things the boys in their group had bought and placed them in the trunk of Cherie's car, while I did the same for my group, although they put their packages in the trunk of my car.
Once inside, the women took off to fix our lunch, while I had the boys help me vacuum and dust the rest of the downstairs. I felt we shouldn't leave everything for Cherie to do, so this would leave her less to deal with. I also had them bring down their hampers, so we could do some laundry afterward.
After we ate, I started a load of laundry and then we all headed to the family room to see what was on television. We discovered 'One Magic Christmas' on the Disney channel, so we agreed to watch it, and then that was followed by 'Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas', so we opted to watch that too. Cherie and I got up during the commercials to go take care of the laundry or to work on dinner, but we saw most of both shows. What was nice was that the boys continued switching where they were sitting, so we got to spend some time with each of them.
After we ate dinner together, Sally told Andrew it was time for them to return home, but he thought quickly and talked his mother into letting him take his shower with us first, before he had to go. Sally merely chuckled as I led the four youngest upstairs, but I was glad she was allowing Andrew to do this again. Since Justin and Dylan had been staying with us, he'd been feeling that he was missing out, so maybe this would make up for some of it.
Once I'd finished with that group, we all went downstairs to say goodbye to Sally and Andrew. They both thanked us for the wonderful weekend and we agreed to all get together the next weekend too. That seemed to help make Andrew feel a little better as well.
After putting the younger boys to bed later and saying goodnight to Cherie; Dylan, Tyler and I had a repeat of the previous night's activities. It wasn't anything time consuming or elaborate, but it did prove to be very satisfying and we were all quite relaxed when we cuddled up with each other in bed. Once again, we placed Tyler in the middle so he could cuddle with me, while Dylan spooned up with him from behind. This helped us to have a very relaxing and peaceful slumber.
As soon as I got off of work on Monday, I raced to the house to pick up Cherie and the younger boys, so we could go watch Tyler and Dylan's home game. I was eager to see how well the boys actually performed, since they had told me so much about what they'd been doing at their practices.
Dylan and Tyler both started again and their team set up a full-court press the second they were on defense. I was impressed with how well Tyler and Dylan worked together to steer the ballhandler where they wanted him to go and then set up a delayed trap to pin the boy against the midcourt line. As he attempted to pivot so he could make a pass, he stepped on the midcourt line and committed and over and back violation, giving our team the ball.
The other team wasn't pressing, so Dylan got the inbound pass and set up the offense. The team seemed very sharp today and scored easily, which set the trend for how the game was going to go. Dylan and Tyler played a little more than half of the game and caused some turnovers, had some assists and both scored as well, so they had a very productive game. When they came over to speak with us afterward, we all congratulated them.
"The press worked really well!" Tyler exclaimed after receiving everyone's accolades.
"Yes, you did a great job trapping the ball," I agreed, nodding at each of them.
"Yeah, the other team tried to dribble against our press and made it really easy for us," Dylan added with a huge grin. "I hope their coach teaches them how to break the press before they play some of those other teams though."
"Yes, they'll have a poor season if they don't learn to do that," I concurred.
After we'd got home and had dinner, Ethan reminded me about his concert the following night. I assured him that I remembered and confirmed that we would all be there to see him and Andrew perform. He seemed pleased by this and then we put our heads together to decide what we were going to do next. After looking at the TV listings and found out that the 'Frosty the Snowman' Christmas special was on, followed by the movie 'The Polar Express'. The younger boys quickly agreed that was what they were going to watch, but Tyler noticed a basketball game was on that he wanted to watch instead.
"You and Dylan can go upstairs and watch the game in our bedroom," I told him and they both thanked me and raced upstairs.
"Go ahead, you can go with them," Sally urged. "I know you'd rather watch the game then what we're going to do, so Cherie and I will stay with the other boys."
"Are you sure?" I asked, since I had my doubts, but this time they both nodded their heads to confirm it. "Ok and thanks. I appreciate that you're so understanding."
After I said that, I went upstairs to join the other boys. It was a great game with two really good teams, but the boys had a proposal for me during one of the commercials. "Since we're alone up here, how about we do something during half time?"
"I suppose we could, if we hurry," I agreed. "What did you have in mind?"
"Would you rim us and suck us off again?" Dylan basically pleaded, hoping I'd agree.
"Ok, but I'll stay dressed the entire time, in case anyone comes up and knocks on the door," I agreed. "If that happens, you two can slip on your underwear and get under the covers while I open the door."
They eagerly agreed and we watched the rest of the half. The score was tied when the buzzer sounded to end the second quarter, which signaled the boys to hurriedly strip off their clothes and get into position. I decided to work on Tyler first this time, since Dylan went first the last time we did this.
We knew we wouldn't have very long pull this off, so I attacked Tyler as if I were a starving man and he was my first meal in several days. I rimmed him first, before sucking him off, but the sexual release seemed to be enough to satisfy him. I then started to do the same thing to Dylan, after warning him to keep the noise down, but I knew this would last into the first part of the third quarter. He didn't seem to regret missing some of the game, since he enjoyed these activities so much, and after he'd had his release too, I went to get a drink and brush my teeth, just in case the women stopped by later to say goodnight. Then, the three of us settled in to watch the rest of the game.
It wasn't much of a surprise later when there was a knock on the door, but I told Cherie and Sally they would have to come inside if they wanted to say goodnight to the boys, since they were only in their underwear. They grinned at each other and came in to kiss both boys first, and then they said goodnight to me before they left. I was hoping that their shared glance didn't mean that they were suspicious about what we'd been up to.
Even though I didn't have to rush home from work on Tuesday, I still had to go to Ann's house to meet up with Sally and move the presents we had left there temporarily. Cherie took Ethan to the grocery store again so I could move the items from my car to the garage, and I was waiting for them in the kitchen when they returned home.
The rest of the evening was just as hectic. After picking the four older boys up from their basketball practices and making sure all of them had their homework done, we had dinner earlier than normal. Then, I had to make sure everyone was ready to go and Ethan was dressed appropriately for the concert. Then, we all piled into the Outback and headed to the elementary school.
Ethan had to go to his classroom first, so the rest of us went to find seats. Sally spotted us after Andrew took off to go to his classroom too, so she and Ann came over and sat in the seats we had saved for them.
"Ann, it's nice to see you again and I'm glad you could make it to the concert," I greeted her when she arrived.
"My boss knows that some things are very important to me, such as watching my nephew's big moments, so he always makes sure I get to go," she replied, grinning broadly. "He also told me to say hello to y'all for him, since he knew Ethan would be here too."
"Thank you for passing that message along and it was very nice of him to think of us," I commented, quite pleased at receiving the message.
"He really likes y'all, and like he said before, he thinks of y'all as family," she confirmed with a nod.
"In that case, I'm sorry he couldn't join us too," I added, meaning every word.
The concert was quite entertaining and we had a few laughs over the antics of some of the younger kids. A few of them were aggressively waving at their parents and others were shouting out "Hi Mommy" or "Hi Daddy" at some very awkward moments. There were also a couple of kids that were either very nervous or had to use the toilet, at least that's what I suspected by the way they were wiggling and dancing around on the risers, but as far as I could tell there were no accidents.
Ethan and Andrew's group was quite entertaining as well. They sang two songs, 'Up On the Housetop' and 'Jingle Bells', and I thought they did a fantastic job. Although they both looked in our direction and smiled broadly at all of us, neither one yelled out any comments or did more than that. They also sung their little hearts out, judging by the way they were belting out the lyrics, but it was impossible to hear any particular voice over the others, seeing there was so many of them.
After watching each of the groups perform, from Kindergarten thru fourth grade, Santa made a brief appearance on stage and wished everyone in the audience a "Merry Christmas!" He also reminded the kids to be good, since he was still keeping track of them. Once the concert was over, Sally and I walked down to get Ethan and Andrew from their classroom, before going back to meet up with everyone else. We didn't all go, because we thought it would be best to limit the crowds in the hallway.
"Did we do good?" Andrew asked as soon as we were out in the hallway.
"You did an excellent job," Sally confirmed, as Andrew looked up at her with an ear-to-ear grin.
"Yes, I was very impressed and I think your grade was the best one out of the entire concert," I chipped in, which caused Ethan to light up as well.
"It was fun!" Ethan announced, as a glow of accomplishment surrounded his face.
After we'd all said goodbye to Sally, Andrew and Ann, we told Sally and Andrew that we'd see them again on the weekend. That comment caused Andrew to smile broadly again and then we all headed home.
It was a bit of a struggle to get Ethan to calm down while he was putting on his PJs, so I'm not sure how long it took him to fall asleep. I don't think it took him too long though, because he seemed fairly alert and quite chipper at breakfast the following morning.
Wednesday proved to be nearly as hectic as Tuesday, except I had no other stops to make and only had to pick up Dylan and Tyler from practice this time. It worked out well though, because tonight was Marcus and Justin's turn to shine. We sat down to eat dinner nearly as soon as we walked through the door and then we all had to get ready for the concert. I went upstairs to make sure our performers were ready and give them a hand, since I had to tie their ties for them, because they'd announced they were planning to wear a dress shirt and tie. They both looked quite handsome, as they followed me down to the car so I could drive everyone to the middle school.
The cuteness factor was definitely lacking at tonight's concert, since this was the fifth thru eighth grades, but it also took on a slightly more 'professional' air. Marcus' fifth grade group was up first, followed by Justin's sixth grade classmates. Both groups sang a couple of songs and then we watched the 7th and 8th grade orchestra and band perform, followed by the chorus. I'm not sure if everyone else felt the same way I did, but there were times during the evening when I felt the concert was never going to end. That was due to the fact that the pieces the band and orchestra played were quite long and the chorus sang four songs, not two, possibly because it was composed of two grade levels.
"Well, how'd we do?" Marcus asked, almost as soon as he'd joined us again.
"You sounded great and helped to put us all in the holiday spirit," I replied, trying to be as positive as I could.
"Yes, both your groups sounded wonderful," Cherie added, as she hugged both boys.
"I think we were better," Ethan groaned, not giving in to the older pair. The rest of us merely chuckled at his comment, since we didn't want to confirm or deny his observation and possibly offend the other two.
"I wish we'd left after you guys finished up, because the last part was kind of boring," Dylan added, while also putting my thoughts into words.
"Yeah, I'm glad Dylan and I wasn't part of any of those groups, because I thought they were lame," Tyler added. "The guys on stage had plenty of talent, but I think they should have picked what they were going to do, not the teachers." Dylan, Marcus and Justin were all nodding their heads in agreement, while the rest of us merely listened to what they had to say.
Once we returned home, I discovered Marcus and Justin weren't quite as wound up as Ethan had been, but they were both talking a lot more than usual. I think it was merely their response to the excitement of the day, but I had to remind them to stop their yapping and try to get some sleep after I'd tucked them into bed. I reminded them that they would need all of their energy for the following afternoon, because they both had another basketball game. They reluctantly agreed, so I was interested in seeing if they were actually able to follow my advice.
Chapter 73
The Lead-up to Christmas Break
To my surprise, Marcus and Justin appeared more energetic than usual Thursday morning, so maybe they had been able to settle down. Before I left for work though, Cherie informed me that there was a question she need to ask.
"Blake, I want to know if it would be alright with you if I plan our Christmas Eve dinner to include the types of food a traditional Italian family would have on Christmas Eve? This means the meal would consist mostly of fish, seafood and pasta dishes, so I wanted to check with you first, before making my shopping list, because Christmas Eve is a week from tomorrow."
"Yes, it's creeping up on us quickly and that sounds fine," I agreed. "I just hope there will be enough that the boys will like."
"I'll ask them tonight, but I'll fix fish sticks for them instead, if they don't like cod, since I know they will eat the fish sticks," she confirmed, while looking pleased that I agreed. "I'll plan on serving fried shrimp for all of us, as well as lobster tails that we'll share. I think the boys should like those items, but there will also be a large pan of baked ziti too."
"That's good, because they can always fill up on the pasta, if they don't like the other items," I concurred. "It sounds fine, so go ahead and plan on doing it then. And don't forget that I'll pick you and Ethan up after work, so we can go to Justin and Marcus' game."
Since that had been cleared up, I took off for work. Some of the women at the office were busy trying to get everyone's input about having a holiday luncheon at work the following Thursday, since we would be off on Friday, seeing Christmas was on Saturday. It was beginning to look as if I was going to be doing a lot of pigging out next week.
When the workday came to an end, I rushed home to pick up Cherie and Ethan, and then we went over to watch the next older pair play their basketball games. They were on opposite courts this time, so we had to shift our attention from one game to the other, as we tried to be fair to both boys. It was truly a shame that they weren't on the same team, because neither one ended up getting our complete attention.
Both teams played a good game, although the outcomes were different. Marcus' team won, but Justin's team lost when a boy on the other team threw up a desperation shot just before the buzzer sounded and it found its way in the hoop. The boy had literally just thrown the ball in the direction of the basket and it hit the backboard, smacked off the front rim and then bounced off the backboard again before bouncing around on the rim again and then falling through the net. It was a heartbreaking way for them to lose the game.
Even though we congratulated Marcus when both boys came over to speak with us afterward, we all commiserated with Justin. We all did our best to perk him up again, after such a heartbreaking loss, but when we finished he still seemed a little down. Eventually, he and Marcus raced off to the locker room to take their showers, and when they came back Justin didn't seem to be taking the loss as badly as he first had.
Now that they were ready, we went to pick up Tyler and Dylan from the elementary school next, because that was where they were practicing. As soon as they were in the Outback with us, we drove home and I sent them off to do whatever they felt like, while I helped Cherie get dinner ready. I almost told the boys to go do their homework, but since tomorrow was the last day of classes before the Christmas break, I doubted any of them had homework, so I switched my thought and what I was going to say in mid-sentence.
After dinner, we all went to the family room and got comfortable, as we checked to see what was on television tonight. We quickly discovered that 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' was on, so we all agreed to watch that. There was a basketball game on too, but I think the older boys were trying to give Cherie a break and spend some time with her too, seeing we had opted out on Monday. This way, we could all be together for the evening. Even though I didn't say anything, I also suspected the teams playing weren't teams the older pair was interested in.
During one of the commercials, Dylan reminded us that they had a home game after school the next day. "Yes, I remember, but I still think it's kind of odd that you have a game on the last day of school before the break," I stated, still puzzled about the logic behind it.
"We were supposed to play today, but that meant the fifth and sixth graders would have had to cancel their games, so they moved our game to tomorrow," Dylan offered in explanation. "We couldn't use the elementary school either, because it was being used by the PTA for Santa's Secret Workshop."
"Yeah, that was fun," Ethan offered with a grin. "We got to see Santa and some of the elves, and they gave us cookies too."
"I kinda wish they had cancelled our games so you guys could have played. Maybe my team wouldn't have lost then," Justin sneered sarcastically.
" I'm glad they didn't do that, because my team won," Marcus shot back defiantly.
"It's only a game and you win some and lose some," I offered, philosophically. "Just count your blessings that you're all healthy enough to participate."
They hesitantly agreed with my observation, although Justin still would have liked to go back and erase that game from history, but he didn't have a time machine available to him to pull it off. Instead, we just told Dylan and Tyler that we'd be there to see their game.
The boys were all fairly upbeat for the rest of the night, seeing tomorrow was the last day of school before they enjoyed a two-week vacation. They were still kind of giddy the next morning as well, as Cherie and I sent them off to get on their buses and told them to have a good day.
While I was at work, my mind drifted away from what I was doing a few times, as I thought about how fortunate it was that Cherie was going to be with us and able to watch the boys while they were on break. I felt badly for her though, seeing it appeared as if her marriage was going to end and she would soon be a single parent. Even though she and the boys might all be better off without Don and the baggage he brought with him, I imagined that Cherie was probably terrified at the thought of having to do this on her own. She would probably have to get a job when that happened, in order to make ends meet. I'll offer to let her and the boys stay with us for as long as they need to, since it was working out fairly well this way, and maybe I could help them get over the rough spots by doing this for them.
After I left work at the end of the day, I rushed home to pick everyone up and take them over to Tyler and Dylan's game. Dylan and Tyler were starting again, but the other team wasn't pressing. For that reason, the boys just ran their half-court offense and were doing quite well. On defense, however, they set up their own press and Tyler and Dylan were able to effectively trap the ballhandler and caused several quick turnovers. By the end of the half, their team had a sizeable lead.
The coach started a group of other players to begin the second half and they were able to maintain the lead. Dylan, Tyler and the other starters got to play a little more, but the coach let the other boys get more experience and they did quite well while they were in the game. In the end, our team won handily. After slapping hands with the other team, they spent some time giving their opponents a few pointers about the other teams in their league, hoping it might help them. In return, the other team told our boys about some of the teams they had faced and our team hadn't. In the end, both groups had gained some insights.
After the boys took their shower and changed, I drove everyone over to the diner to eat. I called Sally to let her know what we were doing, if case she wanted to join us. I also didn't want her to get to the house before we got back and then think that we'd deserted them. Seeing she had already prepared dinner for her and Andrew, I told her that I'd call again when we were ready to leave for home.
Ann was thrilled to see us again and I told her that we were looking forward to seeing her at our house the following Friday and Saturday. She thanked us for including her and then we all ate quickly, so we didn't give Andrew an anxiety attack. By the time we pulled into the driveway, they were already there waiting for us to arrive.
"What took you so long?" Andrew asked, as he followed me to the front door.
"We took time to chew our food before swallowing it, so we wouldn't choke," I replied, which caused Andrew to give me a strange look. "We were hungry and didn't want to wait to fix something at home, so we went over to see your Auntie Ann and ate at the diner instead."
Andrew seemed to understand that better, as we squeezed through the doorway together. Once we were inside, the boys immediately went off to do their thing, so Sally, Cherie and I went out to the kitchen and talked, while I made a pot of coffee. After it had finished brewing, we each grabbed a cup and went into the dining room to chat. While we were there, Tyler showed up to tell me something.
"I forgot to mention it earlier, but Coach Jackson said there wouldn't be any practices over the break, but he told us there would be an open gym on Tuesday and Thursday of both weeks, from 1:00 to 4:00. He said we'd be able to just shoot or even play some pick-up games, so do you think we'll be able to go?"
I didn't immediately reply and merely looked over at Cherie. She would be home with them during those weeks, not me, so it was actually her decision to make, not mine. She understood what my meaning was and answered instead.
"Is this just for you and Dylan?" she wanted to know.
"It's for anyone in the middle school, which would include Justin and Marcus too," Tyler replied. "We could probably get Andrew and Ethan in with us too, but I'm not sure."
"Well I will take you, if you want to go, but we'll see what the other boys want to do," Cherie agreed. "They can go with you if they want or they can stay here with me. I'll just need you and Dylan to watch the other boys for me on Wednesday afternoon, so I can run to the grocery store to purchase what we'll need for Friday and Saturday's meals."
"Yeah, we can do that," Tyler quickly agreed with a grin. "Thanks, Aunt Cherie."
Since that was taken care of, Tyler took off again and left the three of us to finish our conversation. The women mentioned a few stocking stuffers and some other things they still wanted to pick up, so I told them they could go do that tomorrow and I'd stay home with the boys. I would make sure the boys were kept occupied and stayed out of the garage while they were gone, but we also made plans about how we were going to work the final details out for the following weekend. This was all done in whispers, so little ears wouldn't overhear, but I felt the boys were too busy doing other things to be paying attention to what we were up to right now.
When we went in to join the boys later, they were watching 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation' on TV. It had just started, so we sat down to watch it with them. It was holiday themed and provided us with plenty of laughs, so it worked out well on many levels. When it ended, I took the younger group upstairs for their shower.
"We don't got no school for two weeks," Andrew announced as I was washing him, "so can I stay here with you the whole time?" His request caught me by surprise.
"You'll have to ask your mother and Aunt Cherie that question," I told him after a brief delay. "It's up to your mother if she'll let you stay, but Aunt Cherie will have to agree too, because she'll be here watching the other boys. I won't be home during the day, because I'll still be working."
Andrew seemed to think about this briefly before he replied. "Ok. I'll ask them after I get my jammies on."
Since the boys were on vacation, I had agreed to let them stay up a little later, although I felt some of them would probably fall asleep before then on their own. When we went downstairs again, Andrew didn't waste any time and asked his mother if he could stay with us the entire time.
"Let's see what Aunt Cherie has to say about that," Sally offered, since she had the same concern I'd had. "It would help me out, because then I wouldn't have to hire someone to watch you, but I don't want to take advantage of her either."
"Of course that will be fine," Cherie quickly agreed. "I was pretty much expecting him to be here anyway. In fact, you could bring over enough things for both of you and then stay here too. I don't mind sharing my room with you while the boys are home."
"Yes, I guess that would work out better, because then I'd still be able to see Andrew each night," Sally concurred, while nodding her head slightly.
"And we could all celebrate New Year's Eve together," I quickly added, as I looked at the women to gauge their reactions. "I can pick up a few things for that night, plan a few activities we can all do together and then we can bring in the New Year together."
"Ok, that sounds like fun too," Sally confessed. "Andrew and I can stay here until Sunday and then we'll go home to get ready for work and school the next day."
"That sounds good to me," I confirmed, smiling at her.
"And it sounds like a fine idea to me too," Cherie chimed in. "In fact, I think it's the best idea I've heard in a very long time. And just like spending Christmas together, it will be sort of a family New Year's celebration, with our uniquely blended family." Sally and I quickly agreed with her observation and now we got busy planning the following weekend as well.
By the time I went to check on the boys, I found Ethan, Andrew and Justin had all fallen asleep. I asked Tyler and Dylan to carry Ethan and Andrew upstairs for me, while I picked up Justin. Marcus followed behind us, because he was starting to doze off too, and I quickly tucked those four into bed. Tyler and Dylan went to our bedroom and got ready to shower, but I told them I was going to run downstairs quickly to let the women know what we were doing. The boys were fine with me going to do that and said they'd wait for me.
When I went to speak to Sally and Cherie, they said they were about ready to turn in too, but they would stop by the other rooms first so they could kiss the younger boys goodnight. Then, they'd come to our room to say goodnight to the oldest pair. I told them I'd make sure Dylan and Tyler were decent first, since they were getting ready to shower when I left and I didn't want anyone to be embarrassed by an awkward encounter. The women said that would be fine, so I headed upstairs first, so I could make sure Tyler and Dylan were prepared for them to drop by.
As soon as the boys were ready, the women came to our room and bid the pair goodnight. The boys stripped down again as soon as the women left the room and then we hopped in the shower. The boys immediately asked if we could turn on the TV and do something again, but I told them that might be a dead give away to what we were up to. We hadn't really watched TV in the bedroom without telling the women what we were doing first and they might already be suspicious that it was for more than just watching basketball games. Dylan and Tyler didn't take very long to agree with my logic, so I offered to suck them off in the shower instead, which they immediately agreed would be fine.
After I had washed and performed oral sex on both of them, they eagerly returned the favor. Then we went out and got into bed, with Tyler in the middle again. He hadn't had any nightmares since we'd been doing this, so we weren't about to change the arrangement and tempt fate. Luckily, we enjoyed a very relaxing and restful slumber.
Saturday, after we'd all had breakfast together, Sally and Cherie took off in Cherie's car to finish up the shopping. On the way back, they stopped at Sally's place so she could pick up clothes for her to wear to work and whatever else she thought she and Andrew would need while staying with us for two weeks. They took everything upstairs when they got back, leaving Andrew's things in Ethan's room and taking the rest of it to Tyler's room, which Cherie had been using.
They left the other things they had purchased in the trunk of Cherie's car, so the boys wouldn't see what they'd bought. They let the boys think they'd just gone to pick up the clothes and other items from Sally's house.
While the women had been gone, I had spent the time talking to the boys about what they thought we could do on New Year's Eve, because I thought it would work out best if they helped to plan everything. Then, I took their ideas and ran them by Cherie and Sally next, and once they agreed with most of the ideas, I made a list of the things I would need to get between now and then.
Later that evening, after dinner, we talked the boys into watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' with us on TV, since I'd found a listing for it. They were a little hesitant at first, saying it was old and gross, but we conned them into watching the entire movie, after we'd promised to take them to see a movie at the theater complex the following afternoon. After a while, I think the boys decided the movie wasn't so bad after all, but I also tried to point out during the commercials how people lived back then, so they would understand the movie better.
When the movie ended, I took the younger boys upstairs for their shower, but this time the women came up to say goodnight to them after they were all in their pajamas. Cherie and Sally also said goodnight to Tyler, Dylan and me at the same time and then they went to their room to turn in as well. As soon as they did that, the older pair and I went to shower too.
We opted to suck each other off in the shower again and then we snuggled together on the bed, with Tyler between Dylan and me. Before we fell asleep, the boys mentioned the names of a few movies they wanted to see, so I told them we'd run them by everyone else after breakfast and see what they agreed on.
After we had finished eating breakfast the following morning, I got everybody together so we could discuss what we were going to see. I had Tyler and Dylan tell them their suggestions, but we also searched the listing on the computer of what was playing locally before we began to discuss our options. Dylan and Tyler really wanted to go see 'Hitman: Agent 47', but not everyone else was thrilled with that idea. After much discussion, Cherie and Sally agreed to take Andrew and Ethan to see 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip', which that group preferred to see, while I took Dylan and Tyler to the other theater. Justin opted to go with us too, but Marcus was afraid that movie would give him nightmares, so he went with the other group.
I wasn't sure what to expect as we took our seats, but the movie turned out to be about a genetically engineered assassin, who was only referred to by the last two digits of the bar code on the back of his neck. We soon discovered there had been 46 other agent clones, so he was the beneficiary of what the scientists had learned from those mistakes. What it meant was that 47 had unprecedented speed, strength and intelligence, which made him very dangerous. He'd also made plans to break into the corporation that had produced him, so he could build an elite army of killers like him. The movie was definitely full of action and excitement, and the boys seemed happy that they'd had a chance to see it.
When we met up with the others after it ended, those boys were equally pleased with the movie they had seen, so we returned home with a bunch of happy campers. After we grabbed a quick bite to eat, the boys wanted me to watch the UGA football game with them, so Cherie and Sally told me to go ahead and they'd find something else to do. They said there were plenty of other things to keep them occupied and they seemed fine with the idea, so I went off with the boys to the family room.
It was an exciting game and the UGA 'Dawgs' won again, so we were all in a great mood when we went out to have dinner with Cherie and Sally after the game ended. While we were eating, I asked the boys what they planned to do during the day while they were home and each group had their own ideas about how they wanted to pass the time. I felt they would definitely keep busy and stay out of Cherie's hair for the most part, which was one concern I'd had. I also told Cherie that I'd pick the boys up after the open gym sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, since they should be finishing up about the same time I was getting home from work, and she thought that would be fine and take another task away from her. Ethan and Andrew had already decided that they didn't want to go with the other boys to the open gym, so I'd be able to squeeze the four that were going into my car when I brought them home and wouldn't have to pick up the Outback first.
After dinner, we looked to see what was on TV and discovered that the Patrick Stewart version of 'A Christmas Carol' was on. I thought it would be fun to watch, so the boys could compare it to the musical version, and I finally got them to agree. I think they were willing to do it because they were familiar with Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on the various Star Trek TV episodes and movies, so it worked for me.
When it was over, we briefly discussed and compared the two versions, and the boys all agreed this one was much darker and not as much fun as the musical. I was glad that they got to see it though, and then I took them upstairs to shower and change for bed.
Monday morning, Tyler woke up the second I crawled out of bed to get ready for work. I immediately urged him to go back to sleep, since he was on vacation this week, and he nodded his head slightly and told me to have a good day. I thanked him and said I'd see him later, as I put on my suit and went downstairs to grab a bite to eat.
Sally was already there when I got to the kitchen and Cherie had prepared something for the three of us to eat, so we sat down at the dining room table and enjoyed our breakfast together. Just before Sally and I took off for work, we both told Cherie to call us if she needed anything or had a problem, and she promised she would.
It was a very busy day at work, as my coworkers and I did what needed to be done to ensure everything was ready for the end-of-the-year reporting process to begin. We also prepared to take care of the other special tasks that would have to be performed once the New Year began, to wrap up the previous calendar year's business. I was moving from one task to another the entire time and barely had a chance to think about anything else. Cherie never called, so I felt things must be going well at the house, as I finished up what I was working on and got ready to go home.
The drive back seemed remarkably quiet, because there weren't nearly as many cars on the highway as there normally would have been. I'm not sure if it was because school was out, so the buses, teachers and school personnel weren't on the road too, or whether a bunch of people had merely chosen this week to go on vacation. Either way, it was a very enjoyable drive back home.
Everyone was in good spirits when I arrived at the house and Cherie told me the boys had been terrific and spent most of the day playing outdoors. She said it worked out great that they had each other to keep them entertained, because she really only saw the boys at breakfast and lunch. The rest of the time they either did things in pairs or sometimes as a group, but there were never any problems. I joked that this was only the first day of the Christmas break, so she should thank her lucky stars and start preparing for future flare ups.
After dinner, we went to the family room to watch 'The Santa Clause', starring Tim Allen. We had all seen it before, but we were eager to see it again because it is a hilarious movie, so we quickly settled in and got comfortable. I must admit that it made us all laugh again, so we weren't disappointed.
When the movie ended, I took the four younger boys upstairs for their showers and put them to bed. Then, Dylan and Tyler came up to join me next and I showered with them too, but we also took a few minutes to suck each other off for some temporary relief. After we finished, we piled into bed and cuddled together, ready for a good night's sleep.
Tuesday started off about the same as Monday and we were still very busy at work. When the workday finally came to an end, I remembered I had to swing by the school to pick up the boys on the way home. They were all smiling as they walked out of the building and seemed to be in a really good mood when they got in the car.
"I take it you had a good time," I stated, as they were fastening their seatbelts.
"Yeah, we played some pick-up games and it was pretty cool," Tyler agreed.
"Did you play on the same team or against each other?" I followed, since I was curious.
"Nah! Me and Tyler played in the games with the older guys, while Justin and Marcus played with the guys their age," Dylan informed me.
"But we took showers with the older boys and got to see them naked too," Justin piped up, all excited.
"Yeah, and we got to see the younger boys in the shower too," Tyler confirmed. "It was pretty good."
"I thought it was great!" Marcus chimed in. "I can't wait to do it again on Thursday."
During dinner, the boys told the women about playing in the pick-up games, but they avoided mentioning anything about the showers afterward. I wound up chuckling to myself when I did a quick mental comparison of how they had explained their time at the gym to me and how they had just explained it to Cherie and Sally.
After we finished eating, I noticed that 'Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause' was on tonight, so I asked the boys if they wanted to watch that. They did, so the women and I agreed to watch it with them so we all sat together in the family room, as we had the previous evening.
When the movie ended, we did a quick repeat of what we'd done the night before. I showered with the younger boys and tucked them in bed first, before I showered with the older pair and we helped each other take care of our sexual needs again.
Chapter 74
Getting Ready for Christmas
On Wednesday morning, I chatted with Cherie and Sally as we ate breakfast together. I asked how things were going in general and wondered if they needed anything from me. Both women seemed satisfied with the way things had been progressing with our current living situation and said they were fine, so I added my approval as well and then said I'd see them later, as I went out to get in my car.
We were busy at work again, but our female co-workers who were planning the luncheon also took a few minutes out of their day to make certain that everything was set for the following afternoon. Since we'd all agreed to provide something for the meal, they just wanted to make sure that each of us remembered what we'd promised to bring. The women had made a list of the items that would be needed and then asked each of us to sign up to bring one of them. This way, they could make sure there wouldn't be any duplicates, that everyone was taking part and that nothing had been forgotten or overlooked.
Rather than trying to fix something the night before or asking Cherie to do it for me, I signed up to supply the beverages. I planned on picking up an assortment of non-alcoholic drinks after work, which would include ice tea, soda, bottled water and even some eggnog, which I thought would help to add to the holiday spirit.
When I got home that night, the boys were playing video games against each other in the family room, so I merely said hello to them and then went out to talk to Cherie.
"Did you have a good day?" I asked, to get the conversation started.
"For the most part, but after lunch I had to go in and break up an argument," she confessed. "It seems that not all of the boys thought they were getting a fair shot at playing the video games, because the boys who were better at it got to play a lot longer."
"So how did you settle the problem?" I wondered, as I awaited her answer.
"I sat down and watched the older boys play their game, since they were supposedly the best at it, and I timed how long it took them before something ended their session," she replied. "Then I told the boys that everyone should get to play for that long, even if it took more than one attempt to use up their time."
"And did that work?" I followed, while wondering how the boys responded to her suggestion.
"For the most part, but then there was a question about what should happen if the boys used up their time and hadn't finished their last game," she explained. "I merely told them that if they ran over by less than two minutes then they should just ignore it, but if it was more than two minutes then they could subtract the amount of time they went over from their next turn. That seemed to work out fairly well."
"I'm glad you were able to solve the problem, but today may only be a sign of things to come," I warned, as she looked at me and rolled her eyes.
"I know, but I hope it doesn't get much worse than that," she countered.
After we had dinner together, I noticed the same channel we'd been watching the past couple of nights was showing 'Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause' this evening. Once again I asked the boys if they wanted to watch it and the four younger boys said they did, but Dylan and Tyler said they wanted to watch a basketball game instead. I wondered if they really wanted to see the game or if it was just a ruse to give us a chance to do more than merely suck each other off tonight, so I decided to put it to the test. I think I disappointed them when I suggested they could go ahead and watch it in the bedroom, without offering to go with them. Although they looked at me oddly, they headed toward the staircase without a protest.
Sally and Cherie immediately picked up on the fact that I didn't go with them, so they urged me to join the older pair, since they figured I'd rather watch the game than the movie. After thanking them for being so considerate, I set off to catch up with Dylan and Tyler. I reached the bedroom shortly after they did and it didn't take long before I found out what their true intentions were. After I had entered the room, Tyler walked over to shut and lock the bedroom door behind me, while Dylan was busy turning on the TV and finding the channel for the game. Then, they both began to perform an extremely seductive striptease in my honor, while also licking their lips and gyrating their pelvises provocatively. I had no doubt this was going to be a very interesting evening.
Once they were both completely naked, they came over and began to remove my clothing as well. I tried to object and told them I should stay dressed in case someone came upstairs, but they countered that it would be quite a while before the movie ended and anyone showed up, so we would be in our underwear again before that happened. Otherwise, we could just tell them we were getting ready to take our shower. It seemed as if they had thought this out beforehand.
As soon as they had me equally naked, they pushed me against the bed until I fell backward onto the mattress. Then, they both attacked me, like a pair of hyenas that had just found a carcass left behind by a pride of lions. I was totally at their mercy. Now that I was prone on the bed, Dylan placed his mouth over mine and began to kiss me with an aggressiveness and urgency like never before. His tongue not only dueled with mine, but there were times when he merely used it to trace over and seductively caress my lips, as he displayed a passion he had never shown before. It was unlike anything I had ever encountered with him previously and it left me puzzled.
At the same time, Tyler hovered over one of my nipples and playfully attacked it with his tongue first, before wrapping his lips around it, as he began to suckle on it like an infant at its mother's breast. Then he started to nip at the erect nub and tugged on it as gently as a mother cat picking up one of her kittens in her mouth to move it safely. When Dylan finally broke contact with my mouth, he moved down to the other nipple and Tyler began a slow journey down my abdomen. He paused briefly so he could use his tongue to tease my belly button for a few moments, before he zeroed in on my shaft.
Once there, he began to use his tongue to explore every inch of its surface, before dropping slightly lower, so he could do the same thing to my scrotum. After paying attention to that area for a while and toying with the watery nuggets contained within the fleshy sac, he moved up to my penis again. After running his lips and tongue from its base to the spongy head, he opened his mouth and swallowed the top half of my shaft and began to nod up and down on it. After doing this for a time, he lifted up and allowed Dylan to take over, as he crawled back up my body until his lips made contact with mine.
Tyler expressed his love for me through his kisses next, while Dylan brought me closer to release. When I finally busted a nut and exploded into Dylan's mouth, I wrapped my arms around the back of Tyler's neck and kissed him deeply, in an effort to show my gratitude for what the two of them had just done. Then, after allowing me a few moments to catch my breath and mentally return from a mind-blowing experience, I knew it was time to return the favor.
I moved over to Dylan first and kissed him again, to show him my appreciation for his efforts as well. Then, I worked my way down his body and did many of the same things the two of them had just done to me. After working on Dylan's scrotum for a few seconds, I lifted his legs, pushed them back to his chest and attacked his virgin opening with my tongue.
Since Dylan loved to be rimmed, I knew he would soon start to become vocal, so I pulled away momentarily and asked Tyler to kiss him, to help muffle the sounds he was making. Then, I dove into his most private place again and used my tongue to provide him with as much pleasure as possible. Dylan was bucking his hips to assist me, as well as using them to give me his not so subtle signal that he didn't want me to stop. At the same time, Tyler was doing his best to use his mouth to mask the guttural sounds emanating from Dylan's throat.
After paying homage to Dylan's backside for what I considered to be a reasonable amount of time, I began to work my way higher, as I moved toward his scrotum again. I slowly lowered his legs at the same time, as I started to nip and tug at his fleshy sac. I also toyed with the water nuggets contained within, until I made my move on his granite pole. His penis was leaking profusely as I began to run my tongue up and down the shaft, and I did my best to capture the sweet ambrosia running down its sides.
Once I'd captured all of it, I lowered my mouth over the perfectly shaped helmet crowning his penis and continued to move my head downward until my lips came in contact with his pubic patch. Then, I began to nod up and down on his straining pole and applied suction as I lifted my head upward, while also letting my tongue and lips stimulate the outer surface until he was ready to blow. When that happened, he sent several blasts of his heavenly cream down my throat, before his body relaxed and then remained nearly motionless upon the mattress. I quickly noticed that the only sign of movement was his heaving chest, while I was making sure he was completely drained.
As soon as I had siphoned off the last drop of his sweet nectar, I slid away from Dylan and gave him a chance to enjoy his recent orgasm. I then moved over to the other side of the bed, so I could start doing the same thing to Tyler. Since he wasn't generally as loud as his buddy, I didn't have to wait for Dylan to recover so he could kiss him first, before I began to give Tyler the same attention I had just given Dylan. I repeated every step and continued to worship his magnificent teen body until he'd enjoyed an equally powerful release. While he was recuperating, I glanced at the TV and noticed the teams were just ending the first half, so I urged the boys to go with me to take their shower before the second half started.
We hurriedly washed each other, since it was all we had left to do, and finished up with a little time to spare. After urging the boys to slip into their boxer briefs first, because I felt someone would be stopping by eventually, I unlocked the bedroom door and then we all crawled under the covers. After we got comfortable with our backs propped up against the pillows we had placed against the headboard, we watched the rest of the game. Before it ended, however, there was a knock on the bedroom door, so I called out for the person on the other side to enter.
"Sally and I just stopped by to say goodnight to Dylan and Tyler, but the other boys want you to go over and say goodnight to them too," Cherie informed me.
"Give me a second to slip my pants on then, because we took our shower during halftime and only put our underwear back on afterward," I answered, as the two women smiled, left the room and shut the door.
When I was ready, I went over to kiss the other boys goodnight and wish them sweet dreams, but before I did that, I told Sally and Cherie they could go inside to do the same with the other pair. I also mentioned that the boys were still only in their briefs, so they probably wouldn't be getting out of bed, and both women smiled and winked at me, before entering my bedroom.
When I returned, both women said goodnight to me as well and told me they were going to turn in now. After biding them a pleasant slumber, the boys and I watched the rest of the game and then we called it a night as well. The three of us cuddled with one another and it didn't take very long before we drifted off and enjoyed a very relaxing slumber.
Thursday morning, I was actually able to slip out of bed without waking either boy, but both women were already up and waiting for me downstairs so we could have breakfast together. Once we finished up, Sally and I headed off to work for the last time this week, since we were about to begin the three-day Christmas weekend.
Things were very relaxed at the office, since we had all been working so hard and things were pretty much set for the end-of-the-year wrap up and reporting process. When lunchtime rolled around, the women organizing the luncheon set everything out, so the rest of us proceeded to grab a plate and filled it with the assortment of goodies provided for this purpose. After we had selected a beverage too, we sat down at tables set up for this purpose and enjoyed our meal.
We quickly discovered this was actually the best-of-the-best, since everyone brought in their most popular dish and the one they were most famous for. While we were eating, we also got a chance to chat with each other about subjects other than work and found out what each other was going to be doing over the Christmas weekend. It was a truly marvelous experience, as well as a very delicious and filling repast.
I think we all moved a little slower that afternoon, which seemed to drag on, because we were all a little drowsy from the big meal. Going back to our desks was also kind of a letdown after having such a good time, but we all managed to last until the end of the workday. I still got to leave before everyone else too, even though I'd joined them for lunch. but then I wished my boss and each or my coworkers a "Merry Christmas" before I raced out to the parking lot and headed home. Fortunately, I remembered to pick up the four older boys along the way and drove over to the school first.
The boys were waiting for me as I pulled up, but they didn't all look happy. This surprised me, since they'd all been in such a great mood when they did this on Tuesday, so I was curious as to what was different about today. I didn't have to wait very long before finding out either.
"Why so sour, you two?" I asked, as Marcus and Justin got in the backseat. "Didn't you have a good time today?"
"Yeah, at first," Marcus spat back, "but then the older boys decided to play a full-court game and wouldn't let us play too. Their coach backed them up, so we only got to shoot at the baskets that are where the bleachers pull out from against the wall."
I glanced over at Tyler first and then looked in the rearview mirror at Dylan next, waiting for an explanation. After an awkward silence, Tyler finally spoke.
"The guys in Justin and Marcus' grades aren't used to playing on the big court, so we knew they wouldn't be able to keep up," he began. "They also aren't used to the way we play, compared to what they do, so it wouldn't really be fair to them."
"I see," I said blandly after listening to his explanation. "And how do you think they're supposed to get used to playing on the bigger court and doing the things you boys do if you don't let them play too. It's not like this is one of your league games and will have an effect of your standings."
"See, I told ya!" Justin snapped from the backseat.
"But it wasn't just us," Dylan argued. "The other guys didn't want them to play either."
"And you two didn't stick up for your brothers and their friends?" I challenged, which caused both boys to look away from me, showing they were embarrassed by their actions. "I expect a little more from you two than that."
As I looked in the rearview mirror again, I noticed Justin and Marcus were looking quite smug as they stared at their brothers. I was sure those two must have thought the same thing earlier, when they wanted their brothers to talk the others into letting them play too, and now they had my support as well.
"Since this isn't working out fairly or the way I'd expected, I think you guys should stay home next week and not do this again," I stated, after which I received an immediate reaction from all four boys.
"No! Me and Dylan will get the others to let them play next time," Tyler offered, since he didn't want to be left out from going again.
"Yeah, we'll do that next time," Dylan quickly agreed.
"I'm not sure this is worthy of a second chance though, since you should have known better today," I countered, as I noted the shocked expressions on both of their faces.
"But why do we have to stay home too?" Justin wanted to know, since he didn't feel that was fair.
"I didn't think you'd want to go back, since you didn't have very much fun today," I answered, which caused them to react in a shocked manner as well. "If your brothers aren't there next time, then I doubt the other boys will treat you any differently, so why go if you won't be happy or have fun?"
They were all stewing about this as I pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Before I went into the house, I overheard Tyler make a comment to the others. "Don't make a big fuss about what he just told us and let it drop for now," he urged. "He'll be in a better mood after Christmas, so we'll ask him again on Sunday." The other three boys echoed their agreement and then they all followed me inside.
I didn't see Ethan and Andrew when I first entered the house, so I went out to the kitchen to see what Cherie was up to. After pouring myself a cup of coffee, I filled her in about what had happened when I'd picked up the boys. She merely shook her head and said she hoped the next couple of days would put them all in a better mood for next week.
As I glanced out the window and surveyed the backyard, I noticed the youngest pair were out there playing catch. I smiled as I watched them toss the baseball back and forth and realized how much they missed playing that sport. Since they weren't actually involved in playing basketball like the other boys, they fell back on the one thing they really enjoyed doing.
Shortly after Sally arrived at the house as well, we all sat down to have dinner together. The conversation was lighthearted and the boys didn't offer much, but when we finished eating, they all raced off to see what was on TV. When the rest of us got to the family room, the younger boys advised us that 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' special was going to be on and it would be followed by 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', although on a different station. Since there wasn't anything else on that looked really interesting, Cherie, Sally and I agreed to watch those programs with them. Since the older pair was still stinging from the mild scolding I gave them earlier, Tyler and Dylan decided to go upstairs and see what they could find on the TV in our bedroom.
Later, after both programs ended, I took the younger boys upstairs for their showers and then put them in bed. We all decided to turn in after that, and when I went to my room I discovered Dylan and Tyler had already fallen asleep. They had stripped down to their underwear and were under the covers, but the TV was still on, so I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth first, before I turned the TV off and climbed into bed beside them.
Since we were all home on Friday, I suggested that we wait until everyone was up and then have our breakfast together. I even offered to fix everything, so after asking those already up what they would like, I went out to whip up those items for all of us. I merely got everything ready though and didn't start cooking it yet, as we waited for the last of the sleepyheads to come down and join us. When they did, I fired up the burners and prepared our meal.
After we finished eating, I sent Cherie and Sally off with the six boys, while I cleaned up the mess I'd made. When I went to join them later, I was greeted with a question.
"Tomorrow's Christmas, so why aren't there any present under the tree yet?" Ethan demanded, while the other boys looked at me and waited for my answer.
"Dang! Did we forget to go pick up those things from layaway?" I countered, while looking at Cherie and Sally in mock surprise. "I guess what happened last night made me forget that I had to run out after dinner to get them. Are the stores even open today?"
"Gee, I'm not sure," Cherie answered, while glancing over at Sally and continuing the game.
"Yeah, they are, but only until six," Justin responded. "I think some will be open until nine o'clock too, but I'm not sure which ones. I saw commercials on TV that said that."
"So will all the stores be open to at least six or just some of them?" I shot back, pressing the issue.
"I think all of them, but I'm not sure," he answered, as he started to look scared.
"I'd better call and check then," I responded. "I'm sorry, but we might have to wait until Monday and have our Christmas then, unless those stores are open on Sunday."
The boys all groaned at first, before urging me to go call and see if they would be open. I then went to my office and spent some time there, before coming out to join them again. "I only got an answer from one of the stores we need, so I'm not sure about the others. Maybe we should just wait then, so you can get everything at once," I announced.
"No, we want to open something tomorrow," Andrew quickly countered, with his eyes bulging out and staring in my direction.
"You'll have the presents from Santa Claus to open, if he didn't decide you'd been naughty. That should be enough to hold you over until Monday," I replied, as I saw the older boys roll their eyes, since they believed the adults were Santa.
The boys continued to urge me to go to the stores just to be sure, because they wanted me to pick up their gifts. However, I explained I had too much to do right now, because I had to help get everything ready for dinner. After hearing this, each boy assured me that I didn't need to worry about having a big meal later and they'd be happy with whatever we had, because they thought the presents were more important. I told them I'd see about doing that in a little while then, before Cherie, Sally and I took off to start our preparations in the kitchen.
"That was cruel," Sally stated, once we were alone.
"Come on. You had to know something like that was going to happen, since we wanted to keep everything under wraps until they were all in bed tonight," I pointed out. She merely sighed and nodded.
I continued to put the boys off for a couple more hours, but then I had to run out to pick up a few items we'd forgotten to get from the grocery store. I told the boys I'd check the other stores too, but when I got back, I informed them those stores were either closed or were way too crowded to even fight my way inside. I then added that I'd had a heck of a time just getting through the aisles of the grocery store to get the things we needed, so they'd just have to put their big day off for a little longer.
Needless to say, none of the boys were in a very good mood throughout dinner or for the rest of the night. Ann even made a comment about their less than festive mood shortly after she'd arrived, so Sally pulled her aside to explain the situation to her.
The boys ate well enough though, since Cherie had done a truly marvelous job with the meal. I was willing to give her most of the credit, even though she had Sally and me helping her out, because she'd planned everything and had done much of the work. She'd fixed fish sticks for the boys who didn't like cod, but we asked each of the boys to at least try the fried shrimp and lobster tail, because there were several shrimp and half a lobster tail for each of us, along with plenty of melted butter. There was also an assortment of side dishes, along with the large pan of baked ziti, so we were all stuffed by the time we pushed our chairs away from the tables. In addition to the dining room table for the adults, we still had the banquet table that Don had loaned us for Thanksgiving that the kids used.
After dinner, we all went to the family room and watched the 1947 version of 'Miracle on 34th Street'. The boys all agreed that Edmund Gwenn, who'd played the part of Kris Kringle, actually looked like Santa Claus, so I responded, "Maybe he really was."
When the movie ended, Ann left to go back to her place for the night, since she didn't want to sleep on the couch, but she made sure to thank us for inviting her again. After she had departed, I took the boys upstairs, rushed them through their showers and put them all in bed. I even turned in with Tyler and Dylan too, since Sally, Cherie and I had all agreed that doing anything different would probably make that pair suspicious.
As Tyler was getting undressed, he suddenly looked up at me and his face was covered with a strange expression. Then he glanced over at Dylan for a second, before he looked over at me again and shrugged his shoulders. That's when it struck me as to what his problem was. I'd told him I'd make love to him as a Christmas present, but now he was suddenly wondering how we were going to be able to do that with Dylan sharing the room with us. He knew I had agreed to do it with him, but I also didn't want Dylan to know about what we were doing, so I could read the apprehension on Tyler's face, as he wondered how I was going to keep my promise. I'm sure that was still on his mind when he eventually fell asleep.
Later, when Cherie and Sally were convinced that all of the boys were asleep, they snuck out of their bedroom and went down to the garage. After they'd moved all of the presents inside, they arranged everything under the tree. I had offered to help them do this, but they were afraid I would wake the older pair up when I got out of bed, so they turned me down. They didn't want to ruin the surprise, so they assured me they'd be able to handle it on their own. I thanked them and did my part in carrying out the deception.
We were awakened sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 the next morning, when Ethan and Andrew began running up and down the upstairs hallway shouting for us to get up.
"Wake up! Wake up. Santa's been here and there are loads of presents under the tree!" they both screamed. They were truly excited and both boys were dancing around in pure joy.
While the rest of us were stretching the sleep from our bodies and yawning as we crawled out of bed, the boys noted that some of us were doing it more slowly than the others. The other boys had already joined Ethan and Andrew in the hallway long before the rest of us got there, so they began urging Sally, Cherie and me to hurry up. When we eventually got downstairs, we discovered that half of the living room floor was covered in presents.
"Hey, some of this stuff is from you guys too!" Marcus pointed out after looking at a few of the gift tags.
"Son of a gun!" I exclaimed. "Santa must have bailed us out and picked up our gifts from the layaway department." I got some strange looks from the older boys after I'd said this, but the younger ones were just eager to start opening their presents.
"Ok, get back and I'll pass things out," I offered, to limit the confusion and make sure everyone got something to unwrap. I called out who each gift was for, along with who it was from, as I picked up each package and handed it to the person mentioned.
Cherie began playing some Christmas music in the background while I was doing this and we spent the next couple of hours opening gifts. There were presents from all of us to each other, but there were also plenty of presents from Santa as well, even for the adults. The boys got a mixture of toys, sporting goods and games, along with some clothes they'd mentioned that they wanted. The adults got mostly clothes, although the women got some jewelry and perfume too, while I got a few sporting items. As soon as everything had been unwrapped, I made one final announcement.
"There is one present that's not here right now, because it was far too big to wrap," I advised them. "It's also for everyone to enjoy, because I've purchased an above-ground pool for the backyard and it will be delivered and set up in the late spring."
My announcement received more than a few cheers and I got just as many hugs of appreciation, as the boys thanked me for doing this for them. Marcus even whispered in my ear that he was going to get his friends to swim naked with him at his next birthday party.
Once we'd cleaned up the wrapping paper and got the living room in decent shape again, we all went upstairs to get dressed, because Ann would be showing up shortly so we could have breakfast together. Once she arrived, we all sat down to eat, since Cherie, Sally and I had worked together to prepare a large breakfast. We felt this should hold us over until later, when we had an early dinner.
After the meal was over, we exchanged gifts with Ann. Sally, Cherie and I had advised her to only get presents for the boys, because our gifts to her were from each family group, and we made sure she got some very nice things in return, as per Sally's suggestions.
I was beginning to think that Ann had spent way too much doing this, when she announced that all of the gifts were from her and her manager. He had given her money to buy the boys' presents too, so I felt guilty that we hadn't invited him to join us. Ann assured me that we needn't worry, because he was celebrating with his family and wouldn't have been able to come anyway. When I heard that, I told her we'd have to pick up a gift for him and then we'd stop by the diner to eat, so we could thank him and give him the present from us.
After we finished exchanging those gifts, we all went in to watch the Christmas parade on TV and each of the boys made their rounds to spend time with each of the adults. We had a very nice time, especially Ann, who seemed to revel in the boys' attention.
Once the parade ended, the boys got busy checking out the various things they'd received and started taking some of the items up to their rooms. While they were doing that, the rest of us went out to the kitchen so we could start getting things ready for Christmas dinner, as well as to sip on our coffee and chat at the same time.
After we'd put the ham and various other items in the oven and were busy getting everything else ready for later, I heard the doorbell ring. I was mildly surprised by this, since I wasn't expecting anyone else to show up, but then I thought it might be the Riordans stopping over from next door to wish us a Merry Christmas. Therefore, I went to answer the door, but as I pulled it toward me and exposed who was there, I think my mouth must have hit the floor. It was a total shock.
"I know I'm the last person you expected to see today, but I'm hoping you'll give me a few seconds to explain why I'm here," Don stated with a hopeful expression on his face. After a few awkward moments of standing frozen in place, I finally stepped to one side and asked him to enter.
PART
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