Bill W

Castaway Hotel IX

Chapters 9-16

Chapter 9
September Memories

As September rolled around, so did the school board election. Our district likes to hold the election at the beginning of the school year, when the interest in the district seems to be the greatest. This way, we can seat the new board by the end of the month and then they'll be in place for the rest of the school year.

The friends I had spoken to about the one board member had had recruited their own candidate and he came with great credentials. They decided to oppose the current board members re-election because they were shocked at the way he had reacted when the gay-straight alliance had first come up for approval. They concluded from his actions that he wasn't the type of person they wanted in such a crucial position. I had only spoken to them one additional time, after our initial conversation, when they informed me about the guy they wanted to run against him. They also promised they'd do all they could to make certain the current member was ousted. They were emphatic in their belief that he didn't have the appropriate attitude or background to hold such a sensitive and influential position.

Before the election, another candidate also came forward and threw his name into the hat as well, so now we had four people running to fill the two seats. There were two incumbents in the mix, along with these two newcomers. The other person that was currently serving on the board was a female and had held the position for three terms, or six years, already. She was very good at asking probing questions in private and came to the meetings well prepared. Her only concern was what was best for the district and the students, so I hoped she'd retain her seat.

It looked as if this was going to be a hotly contested election and the two debates held prior to the voting were extremely interesting and highly enlightening. The three other candidates had done very well and made the other incumbent, the one that had given us so much trouble, look like an ass. They pinned him down about facts he was unsure about and details about school policy that he didn't know. In the end, it appeared as if this man had only one topic in his repertoire, and that was attacking the gay alliance, as he called it. I thought he had pretty much sealed his own fate during the debate, especially when he couldn't respond intelligently to many of the questions put to him.

I was also fairly certain that his run in with the law wouldn't help his re-election bid either. The story about the incident at the dance had become the next day's lead headline on the local page. He spent the night in jail because of his actions and was arraigned the following day. He was then released on bail, but he still had big legal problems ahead of him. I think his continuing legal woes could sway some voters, since they might prefer someone that would be able to concentrate on school related issues instead of being consumed with upcoming battles in court. They might also be against having someone serve on the school board that couldn't control his temper.

On the day the votes were to be cast, the turnout was quite heavy for a school board election. I was glad to see it, because it meant we had generated some interest this year, although I hoped it wasn't in support of the old board member's stance on the gay-straight alliance. If a lot of these people were in his corner, then the club and I would be facing a lot of heat to disband. I'd know before long if this was the case, but it did concern me, at least in the short term.

The voting was held in the conference room at the district office, so I could see the people as they came in and recognized a good number of them. That cheered me up a little, since I knew most of those I recognized to be levelheaded, honest folks that were willing to look at issues in a rational manner. Many of them even knew some of my boys were gay and never seemed to have a problem with it, so I was hoping this would work to our advantage.

A television reporter from the local station was conducting an exit poll in front of the building and was doing everything she could to get a scoop on the local newspaper. She would ask people if they'd mind sharing how they voted, and many of them cooperated, so by noontime she had a fairly good idea how things were going. I decided to watch the noon news while eating my lunch and learned she was predicting a tight three-way race and reported the only candidate that seemed to be out of the running was my arch-nemesis. I wanted to do back-flips right then, if my aging body would have allowed it, and I couldn't wait until the votes were verified.

The school board president had been watching the same broadcast and called me immediately, so he could share the information personally. He seemed a bit disappointed that I had already seen it, because he wanted to be the one to give me the good news. He and I were both thrilled that we might not have to prepare for further battles with this gentleman as a member of the board. We might still have to deal with him as a concerned taxpayer and parent, because he did still have one child in school. She was a sweet young thing and a senior this year. I sometimes wondered how she turned out as well as she did, considering what her father was like.

Regardless of our optimism, we wouldn't know the actual results for a couple more days. The rough tally should be in by later tonight or early tomorrow, so we should have a pretty good idea by then, but it looked as if my sparring days with this jackass might be nearing an end.

I literally floated through the rest of the day and was in such a good mood when I got home that everyone wanted to know what was up. After I explained the situation to them, the high school boys also became excited and made comments like 'that's one less ass we'll have to worry about.' I told him his losing the election didn't mean it would be the last we'd hear from him, because knowing his type, he'd still be out there swinging for the fences and trying to get things to go his way.

I believe that night I slept about as well as I had in months. It was almost as if this huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders and I was able to walk upright again. Although I knew, as I told the boys, this guy would probably still try to cause problems with the gay-straight alliance, I felt his arrest and the elections results may bring him crashing back to earth. I just hoped this is what would actually happen.

I woke up the next morning refreshed and rearing to go. I reached my office and my secretary greeted me with a smile, before explaining she had placed the unofficial results of the election on my desk. I thanked her and then hurried in to see them, hoping they'd turned out as I'd hoped. As I scanned the sheet containing the numbers, my eyes grew wide. The board member that had been a thorn in my side hadn't been defeated – he had been totally destroyed. I could hardly believe the information that was on the paper. He had not only received the lowest vote tally of the four people running, but he had also received less than three percent of the total votes. I couldn't help but shout, "All right!"

When I looked up, my secretary was standing in the doorway, with a huge grin on her face. "I thought you'd be pleased to see that," she commented. "Even a recount won't save him now."

I nodded in agreement. She was right, even being unofficial, there was no chance he would be back in an official capacity. The winning candidates had just under forty-three and thirty-seven percent of the vote, respectively, with the other incumbent receiving the largest vote total. Even the other loser had received just under eighteen percent of the vote, so the pain in my ass came in a very distant fourth in a four horse race.

I immediately got on the phone and dialed the board president, so I could share the news with him. He seemed as happy as I was about it, although he also cautioned me it was probably not the last we were going to see of this guy. I agreed with him, but pointed out it wouldn't be as bad to deal with in the future, since he wouldn't carry any official weight, as he had in the past. The board president concurred and then we both went on with the rest of our day.

By the time I got home that evening, I was nearly bouncing off the walls, but they already knew why. They had either heard the numbers for the election results at school or saw them on the early news. I did call my friends that had recruited the new board member to congratulate them and then I placed calls to the two people that had been elected, so I could congratulate them personally. Now, I could focus my attention on the next event on our calendar, Andrew's birthday.

Andrew's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so I had arranged to have his party at that time. Since Jesse was also aware that Andrew's birthday was coming up, because Sammy had clued him in about it, he insisted he wanted to help me get things ready. I told him that would be fine and then gave my 'assistant' the task of deciding what we were going to buy for Andrew for his special day.

Jesse accepted and discharged his duty with great zest, while keeping it totally secret from Andrew. He asked the others if Andrew had mentioned any things he wanted and jotted their suggestions down. He then added some of the things they'd mentioned to the list of ideas he had about what Andrew might like, and then came to me with the composite list. Jesse then accompanied me when I went to pick everything out, because he wanted to be certain it was exactly what Andrew wanted. We even spent a long time in the card aisle, as Jesse read through the numerous birthday greetings until he found the one he thought best indicated how he felt. I was impressed by the lengths he had gone before choosing his card, so I made a point to praise his efforts.

Of course, we'd be having another cookout and the extended family would be invited, but somehow I knew the day wouldn't revolve solely around Andrew. A great deal of attention would be focused on Jesse, as well, since he had been involved in nearly every detail of the planning. Not only had he helped with the presents, Jesse had also played a very substantial role in nearly everything that was done. He picked out what type of cake we would have and then explained to the decorator how he wanted it to look, before selecting which ice cream flavors would be served. He even chose the decorative plates and napkins we'd use, so they'd all tie in together with the theme he had in mind. I had very little to do, except drive him around.

When the big day came around, Jesse took Andrew out for a bike ride after we got home from church, so the rest of us could get things set up. We were certain Andrew knew we were having a party for him, so it wouldn't come as a surprise in that regard, but Jesse didn't want him to see what we were doing. I thought that was a nice touch.

While that pair was gone, the rest of us got everything ready and the guests started to arrive. By the time the boys returned, nearly everyone was here, so we all came out front and wished him a 'Happy Birthday,' before he and Jesse went inside to clean up and change. When they came back out to join us, everything was ready and Andrew's eyes began to sparkle. The plates and napkins on the table had 'Tour de France' scenes on them and then Jesse went on to tell Andrew some of the differences he had insisted on for the meal.

Instead of hot dogs and hamburgers, we were having cheese-brats and hamburgers. We were still having steak, but instead of BBQ-chicken, Jesse had insisted we marinate the chicken in the red sweet and sour sauce that Andrew liked so much, whenever we ate Chinese. Instead of having our normal potato salad, Jesse had asked us to switch to a Southern potato salad, which used more eggs and had a totally different taste. He also asked us to make a salad consisting of cherry-jell-o and whipped cream, which he knew Andrew also liked. All in all, the menu consisted of only items that Andrew enjoyed, but it was a nice changeup for the rest of us too.

When it came time for us to have cake and ice cream, Jake brought the cake out and Andrew saw it for the first time. Not only did it have the typical birthday greeting, it featured two boys riding bicycles, with big-bro written under the larger figure. Andrew just grinned and then hugged Jesse in appreciation, when I explained nearly all of this had been Jesse's ideas.

For ice cream, Jesse had selected black cherry, chocolate chip and Dutch apple ice cream, but I also saw to it that we had the typical vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, in case someone would prefer those instead. Andrew thought it was great and couldn't figure out how Jesse knew he liked all of those flavors, since he'd never had any of them since Jesse had been around. That's when Jesse told him he found out by asking the others, and Andrew began to realize how much effort Jesse had gone to, in order to make sure this day was special.

When it came time for Andrew to open his presents, he got several new articles of clothing, many of which Jesse had personally picked out for him. His brothers also gave him some videos they knew he wanted and a few other things, and then Jesse handed him a card, just from him. When Andrew opened it and began to read, I could tell he was trying very hard not to become too emotional, but it became a real struggle for him. I had seen the card in advance and knew what it said, so I understood what he was going through. It was a semi-humorous card that went like this, and each phrase had a picture that corresponded with it.

Some guys end up with brothers that pick on them…

Others have brothers that aren't much fun…

Some have brothers that would rather be with their friends…

While others have brothers they wish they could trade in…

I was lucky, because I have a brother who is also my best friend…

So I wanted to wish him Happy Birthday on his very special day…

And thank him for being him.

Jesse had signed it, 'To my big brother and best friend, with all my love. Jesse'.

If Andrew didn't cry when he read it, I'm certain some of the others did when he passed it around for them to see.

Once Andrew thanked Jesse and gave him a very special hug, Jesse went rushing inside to get Andrew's final gift and came back pushing a bike. Andrew thought it was Jesse's bike and figured he just wanted to go out for another ride, but then Jesse explained it was a new bike for him. It was exactly like the one we had picked out for Jesse's birthday, only it was a size larger, and then Jesse went to get his bike, so Andrew could see them standing side by side.

After Andrew thanked all of us for his gifts, I explained to him that Jesse had done most of the work, so Andrew thanked him again. In fact, after the others left, not only did Andrew thank him again in the privacy of their bedroom, but Jesse also gave him another special present, one he knew Andrew would love.

Even though I didn't suspect either boy was truly gay, what they did that night would have put real gay lovers to shame. I heard from Andrew later, as he told me about that night, and I must say I was impressed. During one of our many trips, Jesse had me buy one of those air fresheners that you plug in, so he'd have it for this purpose. I believe he chose the vanilla scent, but he also had me pick up a special candle, which he lit and placed on the nightstand. That's all the light they had in the room, as they undressed each other, slowly kissing each area as it was exposed. Once they were totally naked, the boys hoped into bed and cuddled. They just held each other for quite awhile, enjoying the soft touch and his delicate fragrance, which was a combination of boy, soap and shampoo.

Once they had held each other for several minutes and their souls had essentially combined as one, they slowly moved around until they were in position to sixty-nine. Gently and lovingly, they took a hold of the part that made the other boy male and tenderly suckled on it, as a newborn would nurse at the breast of its mother. After more time elapsed, they eventually brought each other to their own dry, yet totally satisfying, orgasm. Once they had both experienced this wonderful release, they cuddled against each other again, with arms and legs draped over and about their best friend and brother. Gradually, they drifted off, into a pleasant and restful slumber, while Morpheus helped them relive those glorious moments.

When Jake and I went to bed, I explained to Jake how impressed I had been with everything Jesse had done. Seeing how important doing this was for Jesse, I realized those two would be close forever. They may not end up as lovers, but they will always be brothers and best friends, I had no doubt about that. This also made me realize it was also time to talk to Jesse, to see what his thoughts were concerning his mother. I wanted to get a feel as to whether he might prefer to go back and live with her or if he wanted me to adopt him.

Over the next two days, the boys went out at least once a day for a bike ride, and Sammy and Little Ricky often accompanied them. Graham and Dion weren't really into the bike riding, but would go out with them from time to time, depending on what else was happening at the moment. Dion and Graham almost always went out when Jake and I got roped in to joining Andrew and Jesse and it was nice to see all of the boys were bonding through this activity.

At the end of the week I received another email from Frankie and this one left me trying to figure out what he was alluding to, because it was just as cryptic as the one before. This is what he said.

Hey, Dad.

What's up? I hope you guys are having a better time at home than I'm having here. I'm really wondering if I did the right thing by enlisting and I sometimes have trouble seeing how this is going to help me get a job in law enforcement. I don't believe the things I'm learning here will have much relevance or use once I get back and I'm not sure if my superiors are even going to leave me in this position for much longer. I may end up getting transferred to an infantry unit or something, because I'm having a hard time adjusting to what they want me to do.

Dad, I've seen some things here that are hard to describe. I've also been asked to do some stuff that I've had trouble forcing myself to do. When I'm asked to do those things, I think back to how you taught us to respect ourselves and to respect others, and I don't feel we're making the world better or safer by what we're doing here. I'm sorry, Dad, but I think living with you and my brothers has given me a different perspective than some of the others have, and if this is the way it's also going to be when I get home, I may have to choose a new career.

Sorry, I had to get that off my chest and now I want you to tell me what's going on at home. I think about you guys all the time and can't wait to see you again. How's Jesse doing? Is he continuing to talk better and did Andrew get the cast off yet? How is everyone else? Did they get the gay-straight alliance started and, if so, how is it going? How are you and Uncle Jake doing? I hope he's doing all right now and no one is sick or anything. Have you heard from our older brothers and sisters? I hope they've stopped being so selfish and have gotten in touch with you again.

Well, I'd better get going, but I want you to know that I love all of you, but especially you, Dad. I don't know how or what I'd be doing right now, if I didn't think about what you'd do, if you were in my place. I'll write again soon.

Frank

As I said, Frankie's email was just as confusing as the one before. What was he talking about? What did he mean when he said he's having a hard time doing the things he's been asked to do and may get transferred to the infantry? What was he referring to when he was talking about me teaching him respect for himself and others or about switching to a new career. Damn, his email raised more questions than it answered again, but at least I know he's well.

The next thing on our plate was the Homecoming football game. The boys were involved in getting a float ready for the parade and they wanted to make sure it truly represented the gay-straight alliance. They asked if I'd pull it with the Yukon, and I told them I would, so they set out to put their ideas together and design the float, with the assistance of the other club members.

The homecoming game was going to be held on Saturday afternoon this year, instead of Friday night. The boys also had the concession stand to run and worry about, as well as being included in all the other festivities. Jake and I volunteered to help them out with the concession stand, along with Andrew, Jesse and a couple of the club members that weren't interested in doing any of the other things. The boys happily accepted our offer and then spent their time pursuing other concerns.

When it came time to drive down and hook up their float to the Yukon, I was quite impressed. They had done a nice job with the float, but I hadn't seen it until this moment. All the work was done at the bus garage, and it was also stored there, along with the floats from the other clubs. Of course, it had a rainbow above the gay-straight alliance name, but below the rainbow it said, "Under the rainbow we are all equal." I had never heard it put this way before, but I thought it was very appropriate. They also had several other items on the float, which symbolized various aspects of school life, but they were all tied together by the theme.

The parade wasn't going to be held until halftime, so we settled in to watch the game first. A few faculty members stayed at the bus garage, so they could watch over the floats and insure no one tried to damage any of them. After some of the recent activities at school, we felt that would be prudent.

Our school was actually leading by a touchdown at the half, but that was probably to be expected, since the athletic director had picked one of our weaker opponents for this event. To kick off the celebration, an announcement was made over the P.A. system welcoming everyone, before asking them to rise and participate in the singing of the alma mater. Once that was completed, the announcer asked all former athletes, cheerleaders and graduates of our school system to rise. This was done by calling each group separately, such as the football players, soccer players, on down through the various sports, until finally all the graduates were asked to rise. Some people had to stand numerous times, since they were members of several different groups, but it was nice to be recognized once more by the school system.

Once this was over, the floats were driven on to the track and pulled around the oval that surrounded the football field. I drove the Yukon personally, since I didn't wan to chance one of the boys having a mishap, and I was proud to be dragging the gay-straight alliance float behind me. The entire event went off very well and with no problems, and then the drivers took their floats back to the bus garage, before returning to watch the rest of the game.

Before the game ended, an announcement was made welcoming everyone, including former graduates, to attend the homecoming dance in the gymnasium, which would be held a little later in the evening. The homecoming king and queen would be crowned at a point during the dance and it was stated that everyone and their partners would be welcome, without exception. Hearing this made my boys feel fantastic, since it meant even gay couples were welcome, and this dance wasn't even being sponsored by the gay-straight alliance.

In the meantime, several other activities were planned for everyone to enjoy and we took advantage of those too. We did go home to eat after the other activities ended and before the dance began, as did everyone else. By the time we drove back down, there was already a fairly nice crowd and it kept growing for another thirty minutes or more. I actually did see some girls dancing with each other and even a few guys dancing with other guys, but I wasn't sure if they were actually partners or just doing it as a joke.

Jake and I took the two little ones home with us, shortly after the king and queen were crowned, but the other boys stayed behind. It was a pretty typical homecoming event, except for the fact that same sex couples were encouraged to participate this year, as opposed to the past. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and I never heard any negative comments. In fact, there were absolutely no incidents even remotely similar to what had happened at the previous dance.

Chapter 10
One Strange Board Meeting

Since I had my suspicions that the board member who had been arrested at the dance and just lost his bid for re-election would show up at the next board meeting to carry on his battle, I intended to be prepared. I spent a good share of the day doing research and jotting down notes containing facts, figures and other information I thought I would need to refute his claims and expose his self-righteous agenda. By the time I left work, I felt I was sufficiently prepared to tear apart any argument or justification he might present.

By the time I got home, Jake and the boys could tell I was in one of my heightened states and worked up for a good battle. They had seen me this way before, and since they knew about the board meeting and what I suspected was going to happen, they all wanted to go with me so they could watch the fireworks. Even though I appreciated their support, I told them I'd rather not have them in the line of fire and wanted to take care of this matter on my own. I reminded them the board meetings were always recorded and shown on the local access cable network at various times, so they could view it the following evening. Since they realized I was unlikely to budge from my stance, they didn't argue, although they made comments such as they'd prefer 'to see the bloodshed live and as it happens.' I wasn't sure if they were talking about his blood or mine, but I didn't ask.

I got to the conference room, where the board meetings were held, rather early, since I didn't want this confrontation to take place in the parking lot. I wanted it to happen where it would be recorded, so I could finish exposing him to the entire community. I laid out my papers on the table where I normally sat and then greeted the others as they arrived. I saw the old board member strut in, followed by a small entourage of a half dozen supporters, which included his wife and the parents of the boy that had been the ringleader of the group that had harassed Sammy. They all glared at me when they came in and took their seats in the peanut gallery, since he no longer had a claim to a seat with the rest of the board.

The meeting started out with the swearing in of the new board and a quick vote to reaffirm the board's officers. I was mildly surprised the old board member didn't stand up and raise a ruckus then, but I guess since he'd been defeated so soundly, he didn't feel he should do anything and kept his seat. You could sense how upset he was and note the hostility in body language and posture as he sat in his chair, but he didn't say a word. In fact, the meeting was going quite smoothly, but I realized this was merely the calm before the storm. However, the uneasy truce ended when we got to new business. Once the board had covered the topics on the agenda, the board president asked if there was any other new business and the old board member stood up and spoke.

"I have some new business, I'd like to bring up," the former board member stated. "I wish to address the inappropriateness of the activities scheduled by the gay alliance club." I noticed a couple of the other board members roll their eyes when he made his announcement.

"If I may," I interrupted, "that's the gay-STRAIGHT alliance," I corrected, with great emphasis on the use of the word straight.

"So you claim," he countered. "I bet you thought working to get me voted off the board would keep me from raising hell about this club, but you can see your efforts didn't pay off."

"First of all, I had nothing to do with you losing the election," I told him. "You managed to do that on your own."

"Yeah, right," he sneered.

"Unfortunately for you, others in the community noted your actions and chose to support other candidates, which cost you your seat up here," I countered.

"I doubt your hands were clean on this, but anyway," he said, while facing the other board members, "I see in September they've listed a panel discussion about, and I quote, 'the intolerance and misinformation the club was subjected to at the end of the previous school year.' I think that, in itself, is misleading and bias. For those reasons alone, it should be disallowed as a school sponsored activity."

"And why do you think that?" the board president followed.

"The officers of the club are planning to use that meeting to advance the gay cause and indoctrinate others to embrace their lifestyle. They don't really want to hear any opposing views and will try to squash them. It will be a one-sided discussion, since those of us that disagree with them won't be allowed to participate and share what we think."

"If I may, Mr. President," I responded, "I'd like to respond to his comment." The school board president nodded, so I continued.

"First of all, this is a student gathering and all students, regardless of their viewpoint or sexual orientation, will be able to attend and state their opinions. The topic has been selected because of its timeliness and relevance to the district and the discussion is meant to enlighten the student body about what occurred last year."

"They will present the faggot arguments, excuse me, I mean gay arguments to try to recruit others to their side" he said, correcting his obvious bigoted remark. "I doubt any of the students will feel brave enough to speak their mind, since the ones running this club are your sons and have your support. Therefore, I think a parents' group should be allowed to participate and present another viewpoint."

"Since this is a student function, not even the faculty will be participating," I responded. "Therefore, the involvement of a parent group would be highly inappropriate."

"Why, because we may stop others from turning queer?" he challenged.

"No, because student activities, such as this, are limited to only student participation," I explained.

"Look here," he challenged, "I represent a group of Christian, God-fearing parents that are opposed to allowing your sons to use the school to recruit more deviates."

"First of all, I'll reserve judgment on your description of your followers and you," I stated, tongue-in-cheek, "but it couldn't be too large of a following. I have the figures from the recent election of board members here, and out of the four candidates and the 3.648 ballots cast, where each person casting a ballot could vote for any two candidates, you merely received 196 votes. Mary was re-elected with 3,127 votes, the new member with 2.672 votes and the other losing candidate received 1.301 votes. Seeing those glaring figures, I don't see your backers as being an overwhelming segment of the population. Not only that, but I object to your comments about my family. My sons are not the only members of this club and only one of them holds an office. The alliance has quite a large membership and the majority of the members describe themselves as straight. There is no recruiting going on, if that even was possible, just an honest dialogue to clear up misunderstandings."

"So you claim, but the bible says being a homo is wrong," he spat back.

"You know, it seems that every time there is a sensitive issue being debated, those opposing it try to use the Bible to support their position," I countered. "Prior to the Civil War, those in favor of slavery attempted to use the Bible to support their claim that slavery was a God given right. They would quote a verse from Ephesians that says, 'Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ,' to support this ridiculous claim.

"When women were trying to gain the right to be allowed to vote, opponents used verses in the Bible that stated 'men are head over their wives' and 'women should submit to their husbands' to deny them this right. They attempted to interpret these verses from Ephesians and Romans to mean that men were superior and should be in charge of all decision-making processes, so women shouldn't be granted such rights. Are you saying you agree with these claims?" I paused.

"What I believe is that the Bible is the word of God and should be followed, without debate," he countered, "You can take that how you like and I'm sure you will try to twist what I've said and make it look like I support slavery and would deprive women of any rights."

"Well, would you?" I pressed.

"That's not what I said," he responded, somewhat annoyed.

"Actually, you haven't said anything about whether you agree with those positions, so I'm trying to clarify your stance," I replied.

"That has nothing to do with what we're talking about here," he sneered. Rather than push the issue, I moved on.

"So you believe the Bible should be taken literally and followed, without question?" I asked next.

"Yes, I, well I mean we, do!" he stated, adamantly, while motioning toward the others with him.

"Let me clarify your position then, I continued, after luring him into my trap. "Since you feel the Bible must be obeyed without exception, then you must also be following the dietary restrictions about not eating pork or consuming anything that lives in the water and doesn't have fins or scales, which means things like shrimp, crab and lobster. Do you adhere to these restrictions?" He stood very still and didn't respond to this, so I continued on.

"You must also donate ten percent of your income to the church, because Leviticus also states that tithing is part of the law. Since the Greek and Hebrew words for tithe literally mean a tenth, I assume you must give a tenth of your income to your church. Do you?" Surprisingly, he chose to answer this question.

"We donate generously to the church," he answered.

"That is not what I asked," I challenged. "Do you tithe ten percent of your income, as required by the Bible?" He didn't appear as if he wanted to answer this, but I think he felt he had to now.

"We don't make a lot of money, so we can't afford to give that much," he said dryly.

"But tithing, or giving a tenth of what you earn, is part of Biblical law. If you believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible, don't you HAVE to give the church ten percent?" I could see he was getting frustrated and had nearly reached the breaking point.

"What does any of this have to do with anything?" he snapped. "What we're talking about is our concern that the homosexuals are using the school to recruit new members. None of what you have been mentioning has anything to do with what they're doing."

"Ah, but what we were discussing is that you think homosexuality is wrong because it says so in the Bible and you believe the Bible should be read literally and adhered to," I stated. "However, it seems you are willing to pick and choose what parts of the Bible you want to follow verbatim and what parts you'd rather ignore," I stated, much to his dismay and disagreement.

"That's not what we're doing and it's not the same," he claimed.

"Why, because it would be an inconvenience for you to follow those other precepts?" I asked.

"Times have changed and much of what you mentioned no longer applies," he stated.

"Oh, so now you are saying the Bible is a living and flexible document that can grow and be interpreted to fit the changing times? Or can that only happen when it's convenient for you, and others like you, but must be strictly followed by those you oppose or when you say so?" The former board member was now struggling to find words to express his position, so his wife jumped to his defense.

"You're twisting everything he is saying and trying to make my husband look bad," she screamed. "He's a good decent man who just wants the rest of the world to be morally responsible and not allow sin and debauchery." Those sitting around her were busy nodding their heads in agreement.

"So you're telling me you also agree with his attitudes and stance on these issues?" I asked.

"Yes, because we follow the principals laid out in the Bible," she announced defiantly.

"And are you also a literalist, when it comes to the scripture?" I followed.

"That is correct. I also believe in a strict interpretation of the word of God," she agreed.

"So that means you agree with what I said earlier to your husband, about the arguments that were used against giving women the right to vote?" I continued. "You actually believe 'a man should be head over his wife' and 'women should submit to their husbands' and obey their every ultimatum?" I paused, to give her a chance to respond.

"Maybe not everything," she hedged. "I mean, I'm his wife, not his servant."

"But isn't that more or less what a literal interpretation of the Biblical passages would make you?" I went on. She looked a bit confused.

"How about when you menstruate, or have your monthly period? Do you follow the guidelines in Leviticus that forbids you to touch or be touched by your husband, share a bed with him or allow him to even come into contact with your clothing for seven days? Do you leave your home and stay somewhere else for a week when this happens, thus becoming 'set apart,' as it states in the scriptures?" Again, she looked baffled and didn't say anything.

"You have children, so did you follow those same rules for a seven-day period following the birth of a son or for a two-week period after giving birth of a daughter?" I continued. "Those are the restrictions that Leviticus states you must follow." This time, she merely glared at me.

"That type of thinking is old fashion and a woman's monthly cycle is not considered a curse or that she is untouchable any longer," she replied. "And women don't stay in the hospital for a week or more after a baby is born, as they did during my mother's and grandmother's time."

"So then you don't strictly follow biblical teachings, because they might be old-fashion and outdated?" I clarified.

"In some cases, yes, like with the pork and seafood," she continued. "I believe those restrictions were there because many diseases could be picked up by not preparing those items correctly. However, we now know what to do to prevent that, so it's no longer a concern."

"Ah, so we don't always have to follow every edict in the Bible," I rephrased, "because times have changed and we know better about such things now." I think she realized where I was heading with this, so she didn't answer. However, her husband did.

"Well, no matter what you think about us or how you distort what we do or say, it will be you, your sons and all the rest of the queers that are going to end up in hell, not us," he shouted, figuring he had me this time.

"So there is a commandment against being gay?" I challenged.

"Not a commandment, but it does say that in the Bible," he answered.

"Ah, so even if you forgive preachers, Congressmen, Senators and even your neighbors for breaking the commandment of not committing adultery and making a mockery of their wedding vows," I pressed, "then they'll go to hell too?"

"Not if they repent and not do it again," he replied.

"So you can break commandments and repent and still go to heaven, but a gay person can't? Now that's interesting," I scoffed. "And you believe that anyone who doesn't believe in the Bible and follow it literally, both the Old and New Testaments, without question, will go to hell?" I challenged.

"Yes, Fags, Jews, Muslims and a whole bunch of others will all end up in hell," he spat back.

"Interesting," I mused. "So you're telling me no Jews will be in heaven?" I pressed.

"None of them," he responded.

"That's odd. You mean Moses, Elijah, King David, King Solomon, Samuel, Daniel and the others that wrote the books of the Old Testament won't be allowed into heaven?" I reasoned.

"Ah, well… they might be. I think they're different," he mumbled.

"Why? They were all Jews," I pointed out.

"But they lived before Jesus was born," he stated, trying to formulate an acceptable reason for allowing this incongruity.

"Ah, so there will be some Jews in Heaven then?" I clarified.

"I suppose, but I'm not a bible scholar or anything like that, so I don't claim to understand everything the Bible says," he stated.

"I see, and that's probably one of the few statements you've made that I agree with," I taunted. "However, even though you aren't a theologian and don't have all the answers about Biblical meaning, you still feel competent to interpret some parts of the Bible and use it to advance your personal agenda."

"There you go again, twisting my words around," he whined.

"I don't think I've twisted anything, but merely used your own comments to refute your claims," I countered. "First you say that you believe everything in the Bible should be obeyed, then you suddenly change your position. Then you tell me no Jews will be allowed into heaven, and then you make exceptions. You claim the Bible should be interpreted literally and strictly obeyed, yet you and your wife don't and you've admitted exceptions to the rule, such as if a person repents for breaking a commandment – one of God's ten most sacred laws. You seem to be willing to make an exception for everything, except for being gay!"

"You just did it again," he charged, but I think he said this so he could avoid having to respond to my last point.

"I don't agree and think we've clarified your position and cleared the air about a lot of things," I stated. "However, your concerns have been noted, but my decision that only students will be allowed at the panel discussion stands."

"I figured you'd say that, but I have another objection, about something else. This one is about the activities the gay club has planned for October," he continued, even though I felt he might drop all of his concerns by this point, seeing he was already looking foolish. However, I guess he's a glutton for punishment.

"It states this club is proclaiming one week in October as 'coming out week,' so other students can announce they are queer too. They are also planning to hold a Matthew Shepard memorial service. What the hell for? He didn't have anything to do with this school and didn't even live in this state."

"Those activities have already been approved and the gay-straight alliance didn't declare that week in October for coming out on their own, that's a nationally recognized event. As far as the Matthew Shepard memorial service is concerned, he was a young man who was brutally killed for who he was and the students wish to honor his sacrifice and memory. I think it's similar in many ways to the Christian tradition of honoring those who gave their lives because of their beliefs and who they were."

"I can't believe you are saying that gay guy is anything like the Christian saints," he yelled back.

"I didn't," I replied. "I was merely drawing an analogy between the memorial service the students have planned and how Christians honor, or have honored, those who have died for what they were – believers in Christ." I don't think he understood this comment any better than any of the rest of this discussion, and you could tell that was so after listening to his next statement.

"So what are you going to do about these things?" he asked.

"As I stated earlier," I reiterated, "these events have already been approved, so nothing is going to be done to change them."

"Just as we thought," he spat back, "you aren't willing to listen to anyone who has a different view on these things."

"We've listened," I explained, "and have spent many minutes while you ranted on about these things, but listening doesn't mean we have to agree or act upon what you've said."

"You'd be well advised to change your ways and fear the wrath of God, or you will surely taste his judgment," he shouted.

"It's not God I fear, because I believe my God is loving and compassionate," I answered. "What I fear are those who think they speak for God!" This really angered him, so he urged the others to stand up and storm out of the room in protest with him, but he did have one parting shot.

"You may have your way here," he screamed back, "but I hope you enjoy spending eternity in hell, because we won't be seeing any of you in heaven." The rest of us in the room merely, snickered or raised our eyebrows at his final statement, because no one felt he had any chance of making it into heaven, no matter have pious and devout he thought he was.

Once that group had exited the building, we finished up the rest of the board business and adjourned. On the way out, the board president stopped me, to share his thoughts.

"Josh, I thought you handled that amazingly well and kept your cool," he stated. "Each time that guy shows up, he goes home looking like a bigger fool than he did before. I thought he'd give up after losing his bid to be re-elected, but you certainly exposed him as a hypocrite this evening."

"Hey, what can I say?" I replied. "It's not hard having a battle of wits with an unarmed man." This comment caused the board president to chuckle.

"I would have to agree with you on that and couldn't have put it better myself," he stated, with a grin.

When I returned home, everyone wanted to know what had happened, but I merely advised them to watch it tomorrow evening for themselves. I didn't want to rehash everything that had happened, because it was annoying and I was exhausted. It had been a long day so I went to bed, with Jake following closely behind.

Chapter 11
Fall Mania

As we moved into October, I grabbed Jesse and sat him down for a little talk. He did ask if Andrew could join us, but I told him this was something I thought we should do on our own. He seemed a little nervous about this at first, until I explained to him it was about whether he wanted me to adopt him or not, and then he seemed to calm down.

"Jesse, I just want to make sure this is what you really want," I explained. "Are you sure you want to become part of our family?"

"Does it mean my mommy will no longer be my mommy?" he asked, with a great deal of concern showing on his face.

"No, honey. Your mommy will always be your mommy, even if I adopt you," I assured him. "This will only make you part of our family too."

"Will I get to see her again?" he followed.

"Although she hasn't contacted us since you're stepfather's suicide, we will be contacting her about the adoption, if that's what you decide you want us to do," I replied, "If you want, we could ask if she wants to come see you. You just tell us what you want us to do."

"Yes, please ask her then," he beamed. "I've been thinking about her a lot and really want to see her again."

"Would you rather go back and live with her then?" I followed, because I didn't want him to feel obligated to do this for our benefit. I only wanted what was best for him, but I had to wait for him to answer. He seemed to be thinking this over quite deeply.

"I don't want to leave Andrew and you," he answered, "but I do really want to see my mommy again. What shall I do?"

"Jesse, that is entirely up to you," I told him. "I won't be upset or love you any less if you decide you want to go back and live with her, but it has to be your choice. I can't make it for you." I paused a few seconds for this to sink in, before I continued.

"Why don't you take some time and think this over," I suggested. "When you're ready, you can let me know what you decide." He nodded his agreement with my offer, but only weakly, and then he went off.

I didn't know what else to do, but I surely didn't want him to feel pressured into deciding one way or the other. However, as I thought about our conversation, I realized how much better his speech was now. He really had improved tremendously, in a very short span of time, but I didn't know whether to give Andrew or the speech therapist the credit for it. On second thought, it was probably due to a combination of their efforts, so I'll commend both of them, along with Jesse, for their efforts.

While Jesse was considering his options, the older boys were busy getting ready for their upcoming events at school, starting with 'Coming Out Week,' which would run from October 7 to 15, to coincide with the National observance. 'Coming Out Day' on October 11 would be the focal point for the week, but I had no idea if any of the students would take advantage of this opportunity. In the end, a few students actually came out during that time period, but it was mostly girls. For some reason, they seem to incur less abuse and fewer hassles if they choose to come out, where the boys are often subjected to ridicule, derogatory comments and even bullying, if they do the same. That's not to say those things don't also happen to the females, but it seems to be less frequent and to a lesser degree.

On October 12, the alliance held a noon-hour memorial service, to acknowledge the short life and death of Matthew Shepard. Matthew was a University of Wyoming student and on October 7, 1998 he was lured out of a local business, taken to a remote location outside of Laramie, Wyoming, tied to a split-rail fence and then brutally and unmercifully tortured and beaten. He was then left to die in the cold weather. Eighteen hours later a cyclist noticed him, but at first mistook him for a scarecrow. However, the cyclist eventually discovered his mistake and Matthew was taken to hospital, where he eventually died from his injuries on October 12, a month and a half before he would have turned twenty-two.

Even though Matthew lived only a short time, the horrific and unimaginable ending to his life attracted vast media attention and shone a spotlight on hate crimes. During the trial, it was brought out that Matthew was targeted merely because he was gay and the two men accused of the deed where both convicted on felony murder and kidnapping charges. The fact that he was targeted for being gay was also what the gay-straight alliance was focusing on. They used it to draw a correlation between what happened to him and what transpired at the high school at the end of the previous school year, when they were working to be recognized as a club. Their primary goal, as stated, was to use this to promote a general understanding and acceptance of anyone who was different from the norm.

Overall, I think everything went off quite well and there were no incidents surrounding these events, even though the previous board member had claimed he was still going to do everything he could to prevent it. Maybe his lack of votes during the school board election had finally pointed out what negligible support he had, but whatever the reason, nothing happened to mar any of these events.

Jesse approached me several times during this same period, to ask various questions as to how being adopted would affect him and alter his situation, from the way it currently stood. I think some of these arose from his talks with Andrew, since he seemed to be relying on what Andrew told him, more than anyone else. I did mention to Andrew that I didn't want him trying to persuade Jesse to decide one way or the other, because this had to be Jesse's choice. I told Andrew that if we tried to influence the decision, Jesse might hold that against us later, if he decided after the fact it wasn't what he really wanted. It was possible he could also come to hate us, if he felt we had pushed him in the wrong direction, and I didn't want that to happen. Andrew assured me he wouldn't do anything like that, so I ended our discussion and continued to let Jesse work out what he wanted to do.

Of course, October wouldn't be complete without our special Halloween observance, so the boys eagerly began working on the haunted house again and made only minor changes to what we had done previously. Most of those adjustments were brought about due to the lack of boys currently living at home, but nothing major was altered. Once they got everything ready, the boys had me lead Jesse through a practice run of what we did, so Jesse could also see and experience it for himself. He was amazed and delighted by our efforts, but couldn't believe we went to all of this trouble just to amuse a bunch of strangers. I explained that although they weren't members of our family, no one in the community was a stranger to us, even though we liked some of them more than others. I think he began to understand what we were telling him and then commented he had never been part of anything like this before.

Once Jesse had experienced our haunted house, we gave him a part and allowed him to participate. We wanted him to have a chance to bring enjoyment to others, as well as scare the daylights out of those that came through, and he liked the second idea even more. Therefore, his first Halloween with us was a huge success.

Jesse finally came to me a couple of days after Halloween and announced he had decided he wanted me to adopt him. When I pressed him on this, just to be positive it was what he really wanted, I discovered something else.

"Jesse, are you certain this is what you want, rather than living with your mother again?" I pressed.

"I've thought about it a lot," he replied, "and even though I love her, she didn't stop John from doing those things to me. She might say she didn't know, but she had to. I used to spit his stuff out in my underwear and she had to know that stuff didn't come from me. He also did it a couple of times at night, when she was in the other room, so she had to know what he was doing. I want to see her and ask about it, but she had to have some idea about what he was doing."

"Okay, if that's what you want, then I'll ask Uncle Steve to start working on it right away," I agreed. "I'll also ask him to see if he can set up a time when you can meet with your mother, so you can ask her those questions." He nodded and went off, and a short time later I saw him with Andrew, getting ready to go out for another bike ride.

The next day I called Steve and explained the situation to him. He caught on rather quickly to my concerns and said he would handle the situation as quickly, discretely and delicately as he could. I thanked him and told him how invaluable he was to our family, but he merely replied he was happy to be able to play a small roll in helping these boys and watching them grow and mature into fine young men.

When I got home that evening, I received a phone call, but it was not what I was expecting. This one was totally out of the blue and caught me completely off-guard.

"Hi, Dad. It's me, Marie," she began, which momentarily left me speechless. "I know you haven't heard from me in a long time, but I hope you haven't forgotten who I am."

"Ah, no, honey. It's just that this call surprised me a bit," I admitted.

"I know and I'm sorry about that," she apologized, "but there's a couple of things I'd like to discuss with you. I'm not sure if you heard from anyone else, but I had a little girl a couple of months ago."

"Um, you had a baby?" I asked, since I didn't want to get Robert in trouble for alerting me to this.

"Yes, Dad, a little girl," she replied. "Her name is Kylie Marie and she weighed six pounds, nine ounces. She was born a little after midnight, the day after your birthday. I just missed it by twenty minutes or so."

"Oh, that's too bad," I muttered, since I wasn't quite sure how I should respond. "I would have loved to have her born on my birthday, but it doesn't matter as long as she's healthy and doing well."

"She is, Dad, and I'm sending you some pictures of her," Marie explained. "I'll also email you a few, so you don't have to wait."

"Thank you, honey. I appreciate that," I confessed.

"Dad, I'm really sorry about how things went, but I'd like to make it up to you," she announced. "Would you mind if I come home for Thanksgiving and bring Michael's kids, along with my own?" I was momentarily dumbfounded, but quickly recovered.
"Of course not," I confirmed, "but you're bringing Michaels children too?"

"It's a long story, but let me give you the condensed version," she replied. "Michael, Andrea and Adrian won't be coming, just the kids and me. Jordan and Nicky have been giving their fathers grief about not seeing you and this began shortly after we left there that Christmas. None of us knew it, but Jordan and Nicky had been discussing the situation while they chatted online. For over a year, they conspired and literally refused to do anything with their fathers. They said that if their fathers didn't have to see or do anything with you, then they didn't want to spend time with their fathers either."

"Oh, I'm so sorry this got so out of control," I admitted, but Marie merely laughed.

"What can I say, except Michael and Adrian brought it upon themselves," she giggled. "Anyway, Michael and Adrian tried to take the boys out so they could do things together, but the boys wouldn't go. Even when we went places as a family, Nicky would hang with me and it drove his father nuts. I understand Jordan did the same thing, but he pretty much avoided both of his parents and only paid attention to Megan instead. If he had to hang around one of his parents, he always chose his mother, which upset Michael tremendously."

"I'm sure it did and I'm sorry the boys did that," I responded.

"I'm not," Marie stated. "Their fathers acted like asses and that's the way the boys treated them. In fact, the boys didn't even give in when their fathers cut off their allowances and wouldn't allow them to go some places with their friends. The boys just spent their time in their rooms instead and spent time on the computer. Michael and Adrian thought about taking the computers away from them too, but the boys constantly use them to do their schoolwork, so their fathers couldn't do that. That's when Michael and Adrian gave in. Their punishments weren't having an impact and it was obvious they missed doing things with their sons. They finally reached the conclusion that if they had to let the boys spend time with you and their other uncles in order for that to happen, they'd do it. They just won't give in and join us."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear they won't be coming as well," I acknowledged, "but I certainly do look forward to seeing you and my grandchildren again. I can't wait to meet my new granddaughter."

"Great! We can't wait to see you and everyone else either," she answered. "I'm stopping by Michael's to pick up his children first, but I should still arrive at your place late Wednesday night. I'm flying in to the airport near Michael's house and then I'll rent a car. We'll have to leave Saturday afternoon, so I can get back in time for work on Monday, but that will give you a couple of days with the kids."

"Days I won't waste," I replied. "I'm sure the others will be as excited as I am, once I tell them. Thanks, honey, and I look forward to seeing you all again."

Once I got off the phone, I was nearly flying, as I went to tell Jake and the boys. I'd email the college boys as well and let them know too. I'm sure they'll be just as excited about seeing the kids again as I am.

I was still quite 'high' and excited a couple of days later, when Steve called me back. "Josh, I think we're going to have a problem with this one," he began.

"Why? What's the matter?" I asked.

"When I called Jesse's mother and asked her to sign the adoption papers, she balked," he replied. "Then she told me she wants Jesse back."

"Where do I stand on this, legally?" I countered.

"Right now, you're fine," he answered. "She signed over full guardianship to you and it will be up to her to start proceedings to revoke it, if that's what she decides to do. However, there is no way you'll be able to adopt him without her signing off on it." I was stunned and didn't know what to do, but then I had an idea.

"In the letter she left for me when she dropped Jesse off," I countered, "she stated she couldn't keep him because she barely made enough to support herself, let alone Jesse too. Do you know if her circumstances have changed since then?"

"We didn't discuss anything about her financial situation," Steve told me. "However, that might be a consideration that will weigh in your favor, if she decides she wants to get him back."

"Did you mention to her that Jesse wanted to see her again?" I followed.

"I did bring that up," Steve informed me, "but now I'm almost afraid to have you do that. If you go to visit her in the state where she lives, she might be able to convince the authorities to remove Jesse from your custody and give him back to her. Other states don't always act in the most honorable fashion, especially where custody is being disputed."

"Yes, I have heard about problems such as that," I confirmed. "What would you suggest as a compromise?"

"Have her come to us," he suggested.

"If she is financially strapped, I'm not sure she could do that though," I mentioned.

"Would you be willing to pay for her transportation and then meet her someplace?" Steve wondered. "I'd be happy to go with you, to protect your legal interests."

"Thank you, Steve, and I'd be willing to do that, so I could also protect Jesse," I agreed. "Would you mind calling her back and see if she's agreeable to such an option?"

"Of course," he confirmed, "but when would you like to do it, if she does agree?"

"What about the weekend before Thanksgiving," I suggested. "If she can't do that, try the weekend after, but not the weekend of Thanksgiving. I just don't want to put this off for too long."

"Okay, then I'll call her again," Steve agreed, "but what are you going to tell Jesse?"

"I'll simply tell him that his mother has agreed to see him again, once you tell me that is so," I replied. "I'll also have to tell him she wants him back and won't agree for me to adopt him, but I'll try to do it gently. I don't want him to overreact to the news, but I feel he has to know, because she'll probably bring it up when they get together."

"You're probably right about that, Josh," Steve confirmed, "and I won't agree to any meeting with her unless you and I are both present."

"You might also want to include Andrew on that list too," I suggested. "I have a feeling Jesse will want him there as well, as sort of a security blanket when this takes place. I hope she doesn't have a problem with that?"

"Josh, if she does, she'll just have to get over it if she wants to see her son again," Steve clarified. "I will not agree to anything if I even suspect it might allow her to take Jesse back with her or get her in position for her state to supercede our laws."

"I appreciate that, Steve," I assured him, "and I know I can count on everything you do."

I was tempted to go find Jesse and discuss this with him, once I hung up, been then I concluded it would be better to wait until Steve advised me of her reply. In the meantime, I would discuss this with Jake and see if we could brainstorm an idea we could use to get her to capitulate. It would be nice if we could offer her a carrot, instead of having to beat her with a stick, but I was willing to fight her if Jesse decided he still wanted to stay with us, despite her objections.

Somewhat surprisingly, I heard from Steve again, a couple of hours later. He informed me that she had agreed to meet with us, so she could visit with Jesse. She was also willing to do it the weekend before Thanksgiving. Once Steve confirmed that Saturday would also be convenient for him, I set about making the appropriate reservations. I would have her fly in to Pittsburgh and we'd meet her there. We'd spend time in public places and allow Jesse and her some time together, so she could get his take on what he wanted too. I wouldn't coach him, but I would explain to Jesse what was going on and why we had to do things in this fashion.

Once I had finished making the arrangements, I called Steve back with the information and he called her to fill her in about what would be happening. After I got off the phone with Steve, I went to find Jesse and wasn't surprised to find him with Andrew.

"Jesse, I need to speak with you for a couple of minutes," I informed him.

"You can do that here, Daddy," he replied, while indicating the living room. The only other person there was Andrew.

"Jesse, you might want to do this alone," I suggested. "It's concerning your mother."

"No! I want Andrew to stay," he insisted, very emphatically.

"If you're sure," I conceded, before going in and plopping my butt down on sofa next to him. "Jesse, Uncle Steve has helped me set up a meeting with your mother. I'm flying her in to Pittsburgh and we're going to go meet with her there."

"Why not here?" he asked.

"Since she'll be flying in, she won't have a way to get from the airport to our house, so I thought this would be easiest," I offered. "We'll pick her up at the airport and then go somewhere to talk. Depending on the time, we might do it over a meal or just go to a park or some other place where we can sit down and chat."

"Can Andrew go with us?" Jesse asked.

"I had a feeling you might want him to join us," I admitted, "so I've included him in our plans."

"Thank you, Daddy," he squealed, before he leaned over to hug me. That was the easy part, but the hard part was yet to come.

"Jesse, I also want to tell you that your mother doesn't want me to adopt you and would like you to come back and live with her," I explained. Jesse first looked shocked and then he began to grow upset.

"Why? She gave me to you," he countered.

"She says she only did that because she was afraid her husband, your stepfather, was going to hurt you," I told him.

"He did hurt me and she let him do it," Jesse protested. "I didn't feel safe there, but I do here, so I want to stay. I want to see my mother and ask her if she knew about all that stuff, but I want to live here. I want Andrew to be my brother."

"I understand that, sweetie," I replied, "but she's going to insist on exerting her parental rights and I believe she'll claim she only acted under duress, when she left you here," I offered.

"What's that?" Jesse asked, since he didn't understand what I was trying to tell him.

"Jesse, that means she felt she had to let you go, to prevent you from being seriously hurt," I explained.

"She could have left John, not me," Jesse countered. "She picked living with John and gave me away, so I want to stay here. I still love her and want to see her, but I don't want to live with her now." Jesse seemed adamant on this point, but I had to advise him about something else.

"Jesse, unfortunately that's not up to you or me," I told him. "We might have to go to court and have a judge decide who you'll live with, if your mother decides she wants you back."

"I won't go!" he screamed. "I'll come back here instead."

"Jesse, how are you going to do that?" I pressed. "Your mother lives a long way from here, in another state, and it would be very difficult for a boy your age to travel this far."

"I don't care! I'll do it!" he shouted, undeterred.

Since I felt I wasn't going to be able to convince him otherwise, at least at the moment, I decided to end the discussion and come back to it another time. After I convinced him to calm down, and he did so, well at least a little. When he was more relaxed, I told him I loved him and kissed both Andrew and him on the forehead and then left the room. I could see he was going to be a handful and wasn't about to change his mind easily, so I went to find Jake. I wanted to discuss our options with him.

Chapter 12
A Tense Situation

We took the Grand Am when we went to meet with Jesse's mother. Steve rode in front passenger's seat and the boys sat in the back. I had discussed this with Jake and we felt it would be best if he not join us. We felt that if Jesse's mother discovered he lived with us and we shared a bedroom, she might try to use that to get her son back. Therefore, he agreed to sit this one out and stay home with the other boys.

I kept glancing at Jesse in the rearview mirror as I drove along and it appeared Jesse was very nervous about seeing his mother again. Don't get me wrong, I knew he loved her and wanted to see her, but he was worried she was going to try to take him back with her. He had continued his protestations about not wanting to live with her again, because he still felt see must have known what John was doing. Even if she hadn't been aware of what was going on, he still felt she should have left John, instead of abandoning him.

We pulled into the airport about a half hour before her scheduled arrival time, but her plane was also running a little late. We sat down near the exit for the gate she was to arrive at and waited. She appeared about fifty minutes later and Jesse spotted her as she approached. I think she had actually noticed him first, because she was walking in our direction when Jesse nudged me and pointed at her.

I stood up to greet her as she approached and watched to see what Jesse was going to do next. I wasn't sure how either of them was going to react, so I stayed where I was and merely observed the scene, as it played out before me. Jesse's mother was a rather plain woman, although not unattractive, but it was noticeable that she wasn't wearing any makeup, at least none that I could see. Her hair was pulled back and tied off in a ponytail and she was wearing a rather nondescript print dress. She was also carrying a small duffle, but I didn't see any other luggage. After a slight hesitation, Jesse began to move forward to greet her, but he seemed reluctant to leave my side. I made sure I wasn't touching him, so she didn't think I was holding him back, but he did have an uncertain expression on his face, when I glanced down at him.

"Jesse, aren't you going to come see me," she said, once she got closer. Jesse hesitated again, briefly and then tentatively started walking toward her.

"What's the matter?" she asked. "Did they tell you not to come see me or anything?"

"No!" Jesse replied, strongly. "Daddy wouldn't do that. It's just that the last time I saw you, you were leaving me at his house." His mother's expression changed from menacing to confused and hurt.

"Jesse, when did you start speaking again?" she gasped. "And so well too."

"I dunno," he answered, so she looked at me.

"If I remember correctly, it was back in May. Andrew and Jesse," I stated, while motioning toward the two boys, "were out riding their bikes and Andrew fell and got hurt. Jesse rushed home to tell me, so I could help, and that was the first time he spoke. Since that time, he has worked hard and his speech has improve greatly."

"I can see that," she said, still somewhat flabbergasted, "but now I'll answer Jesse's question. Son, I left you with them because I was afraid John was going to hurt you."

"He did hurt me," Jesse began, but I cut him off.

"Jesse, I don't think we should discuss that here, where anyone can hear what you're saying," I told him, and he quickly glanced around. "Why don't you wait until we go somewhere more private and you can talk about it then." Jesse nodded, so I turned to his mother.

"Have you eaten?" I asked.

"Not since breakfast," she replied, and it was now past lunchtime.

"Okay, let's go get a bite to eat first," I suggested, "and we can chat a little more there. Do you need to grab your luggage?"

"No, this is all I brought," she replied, while holding up the small bag.

"Okay, then why don't you follow us out to the car," I told her, "and Jesse you can help make sure your mother doesn't get lost."

Reluctantly, Jesse walked toward her and we started out. I had put my comment to Jesse that way because I wanted her to see that I wasn't trying to keep him from her. I wanted her to realize that any hostility she sensed from him was because of how he felt and not due to anything I was doing. Since Jesse first learned she wanted to see him again, he had grown more and more hurt over the way he had been dumped off and this, in turn, led to his reluctance to warm up to her right away. He was convinced she had let him down and failed to protect him, but he did walk over and take her hand, after I'd made my comment to him. In fact, he held on to it all the way, until we reached the car.

I had held back introducing Steve and Andrew, although I had indicated whom Andrew was, when I explained about Jesse speaking again. I wanted her to get comfortable being around us first, since the situation was already a little tense. I thought it would be best to put it off until she cooled off a bit, and then introduce them to her. I also figured she might get upset again, if she discovered Steve was my lawyer and the one she had spoken to on the phone. Given a little more time, I was sure she'd be fine with it, but I didn't want to push things.

When we reached the car, Steve offered to sit in back, with the boys, but Jesse's mother said she'd do it, so she could be near Jesse again. Neither of us argued the point, so Andrew and Jesse got in first, with Jesse in the middle, and his mother on his other side. Once everyone was settled, we left the airport and I drove to a restaurant we had stopped at before, when flying in and out of Pittsburgh. It was a nice place, served descent food and wasn't too expensive. It didn't take long for us to be seated and we made ourselves comfortable, as we looked over the menu. After we'd ordered, I turned and spoke to Jesse's mother.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot at the airport, so let's start over," I said. "My name is Josh, this is my friend Steve and this is one of my sons, Andrew."

"Nice to meet all of you and I think you're the one I spoke to on the phone, right?" she stated, while staring at Steve.

"Yes, that is correct," he agreed.

"And you're a lawyer, right?" she added.

"Yes, I'm Josh's lawyer, but I'm also a close friend and godfather to some of his boys," he answered.

"My best friend," I quickly added.

"So why did you bring a lawyer along?" she wondered.

"I brought my friend along for the company," I explained. "It's a long drive from our place to here, and since I knew the boys would be keeping each other company, I wanted someone I could speak with as well." She merely grunted in response and didn't appear to believe my explanation.

"Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary come to our house a lot," Jesse offered. "He's really nice and I like him a lot." Suddenly, Jesse's mother began to soften her stance a bit, since she noticed her attitude was bothering her son.

"Okay, let's not discuss business here," I suggested, "and let's just enjoy the meal. We can discuss those types of things later, somewhere more private." No one said anything more for a few minutes, until she looked over and spoke to Jesse.

"So how have you been doing, besides starting to talk again?" she asked. Jesse paused briefly and then spoke.

"I'm doing good," he began. "I like where I'm living and Andrew is my best friend. I want him to be my brother too." Although a pained expression flashed across her face, she merely brushed off his comment.

"Are you doing well in school?" she followed.

"I'm doing really good this year," he told her. "I like my teacher and I have made some friends too. They kind of stayed away from me last year, when I wasn't talking. I guess they thought I had something and didn't want to catch it." She merely nodded her understanding.

"And what did you do over the summer?" she continued. "Did you have fun?"

"Oh, yeah," he sighed. "Daddy took us on two different boats and we went to see a lot of fun things. Mostly on islands." She glanced over at me for classifications.

"I took the whole family on two Caribbean cruises," I explained. "We were gone a little over two weeks."

"Sounds expensive,' she replied, sarcastically.

"It wasn't too bad, but I think the boys all had a good time," I answered.

"I'm sure they did," she mumbled. "No wonder he doesn't want to come back with me, because I can't do things like that for him."

"That's not why I don't want to go with you," Jesse stated, forcibly. "Why did you let John do those things to me?" I jumped in again, when Alice's mouth dropped open, just before her head drooped downward, toward the table.

"Jesse, not here," I told him. "Let's eat first and then we can talk about those things afterward." Grudgingly, Jesse nodded and a few minutes later our food arrived.

Even though we all ate our meals, I'm not sure if any of us really enjoyed it. I know I was focusing on what was going to happen next and not really thinking about the food, and I'm fairly certain the others were too. When we finished our meal, I paid the bill and we all went back to the car. I then drove to a small park I had found when researching for this trip online, because I suspected there wouldn't be many people around. It was a cool day, but the wind wasn't blowing very hard, so it wasn't too bad. Once I parked, we got out and began walking. We soon find a picnic table to sit at, so we all crowded around it and started over.

"Look, I understand why you dropped Jesse off at my place," I began, "but Jesse has been very upset about what your husband did to him. Once he told me what happened, I contacted the authorities and you know what transpired from there. I'm sorry John killed himself, but he did far worse than that. He inflicted a lot of emotional damage to your son too."

"I'm sorry that happened," she started, while looking at Jesse, "but I didn't know he did those things to you."

"Didn't you see all his stuff in my underwear, after I spit it out?" he asked.

"I did and confronted John about it," she answered. "He told me he was just relieving some pressure and used your underwear to wipe it up. I didn't know he made you do those things to him. I'm so sorry."

"What about the blood, when he put his thing up my butt?" Jesse pressed. This comment stunned me too, because Jesse had never told me John did that to him too.

"Sometimes I saw blood," his mother confessed, "but John would tell me you cut yourself while playing and things like that. I never had any reason to suspect it was anything else."

"But sometimes he did that stuff to me when you were home," Jesse followed. "How come you never saw that?"

"I just thought he was finally being nice to you. I didn't know he was doing those other things to you dear," she replied. "I was hoping you were just learning to get along with each other and he would stop being mean to you, but I never thought he was doing anything so disgusting." She hung her head and started to weep. Even though I thought seeing this would start to get to Jesse, he remained resolute and didn't crumble, even after she began to cry.

"Jesse, I'm sorry and I really want you to come back home and live with me again," she told him. "Please, you're my son and I want you with me now."

"Then why did you leave me, instead of John?" he shot back. "We would have been all right, once he was gone."

"But I couldn't afford to do it then?" she answered.

"But you can now?" he wanted to know. It was also a question that had cross my mind, so I waited to see how she was going to respond. She swallowed hard this time, before she answered.

"Look, son. It won't be easy and money will be very tight, but we can do it?" she replied.

"Then why couldn't you do that before?" Jesse pressed.

"I guess I was just scared," she confessed. "I was scared about being on my own and I was scared because your stepfather was a cop, well sort of. Things have changed now, because he killed himself, and I'm no longer worried about how he'll react or what he'll do. Now that he's no longer here though, I'm all alone and I want you back."

"So you just want me back because you don't want to be alone?" Jesse asked.

"That may be part of it," she admitted, "but I want you back because I love and miss you." Jesse didn't seem overly moved by her answer. "Don't you want to come back and live with me?"

Jesse hung his head momentarily, as if he thought over about it. When he lifted his face up again, he gave her his reply.

"Mommy, I love you too, but I like living where I am," he began. "I have lots of brothers and they're all lots of fun, but Andrew is also my best friend. I don't want to leave him. Please, mommy, don't make me." She looked crushed after hearing Jesse's reply. After a minute or so of sitting through a suffocating silence, I finally spoke up.

"Look, maybe I can offer a suggestion that would do both things," I began. "First, however, I need to ask you a few questions." I looked directly at Alice, to see how she was responding to my comment. When I noticed she didn't appear to react negatively or look hostile about my making this suggestion, I continued.

"Do you have other family or any other ties where you're living now?" I asked.

"No family, but I do have a couple of friends," she replied.

"And what type of work do you do?" I continued.

"Right now I'm a waitress, but I've done other things too," she told me. She didn't elaborate on what the other things were, so I didn't ask.

"What would you think about moving to the same community where we live?" I propositioned. "I'll help you find a job and a place to live, so you'll be close to Jesse and able to spend time with him again. I'm only suggesting this because Jesse has told me several times he doesn't want to leave and wants to continue living with us, but he still loves you too. This way he could continue to stay with us, but you would also be close enough to spend time with him too and attend his school functions." She looked up and I could see the wheels slowly grinding.

"I'll have to think about it some, but I might be willing to do that," she agreed. "Would that be okay for you, dear?" she asked Jesse.

"You mean I'd live with Daddy, but I'd come to see you or you'd come to see me once in a while?" he asked, to make certain he knew what he was agreeing to.

"That's pretty much what we're saying," I confirmed.

"Yes, that would be okay then," Jesse agreed.

"All right, let me have a week or so to think about this and then you may have your lawyer friend call me again. I'll give him my answer then," she stated, and I immediately agreed

Since we'd reached a tentative compromise, I suggest to Steve and Andrew that we should move to another area, so Jesse and his mother could have some time alone. We'd still maintain eye contact with them, so she couldn't just run off with him, but we'd move out of earshot, so they could speak privately.

Once we moved away, they spent over an hour by themselves and things seemed to go fairly well, overall. At times, I saw Jesse get animated and make some very dramatic gestures, as he tried to emphasize a point to his mother. I imagine he probably raised his voice at that time too, but for the most part their conversation seemed very calm and agreeable. When they finished saying what they wanted to each other, they walked over to join us.

"I think we both understand each other a little better now," she stated, while smiling down at Jesse. "He seems convinced that he wants to live with you and wants you to be his new dad, and after what happened with John, I think it might be good for him too. I'm not saying I'm agreeing to your suggestion or anything, but I think Jesse has convinced me this is important to him." She then turned and faced Steve.

"If you will call me next Friday or Saturday, I'll give you my answer," she informed him, and Steve quickly agreed to do as she requested. Alice then glanced down at her watch.

"I'd like to spend more time with Jesse, but I scheduled my return flight for this evening, instead of tomorrow," she explained. "I didn't think I could afford a hotel room for the night, so I changed my return flight to an earlier time than you had set up."

"I was going to pay for your room," I replied, but she shook her head.

"No, you've already spent enough bringing me here and taking care of Jesse," she answered. "I didn't want to be too big of a burden for you."

"It wouldn't have been a burden at all," I assured her, "but do you have time for dinner before you leave?"

"My flight doesn't leave until 10:00 this evening, so I'm sure I do," she told me, "but you don't have to feel you need to do that too."

"I don't, but I want to," I replied. "What would you and Jesse like to do in the meantime?"

"Well, since I won't be taking him back with me and I missed his birthday in August," she began, "maybe we could go somewhere so I could buy him something."

"Certainly," I agreed. "There's a mall not too far away. Would that be all right?"

"Well, it's probably a little higher priced than the places I normally shop," she confessed, "but seeing it's for my son, that will do just fine."

After driving to the mall, we walked around and she asked Jesse to show her what he might like. Jesse kept looking at everything, but nothing seemed to be catching his eye. I think we had already walked through nearly half of the stores in the mall, before he saw something that intrigued him. Slowly, he lifted his arm and pointed at it. His mother looked where he was indicating and then turned to him.

"You want THAT?" she asked, while looking at the army-like canteen he was indicating.

"Yes," he replied, simply.

"But why?" she followed.

"To take with me when I go with Andrew on our bike rides," he stated. "Sometimes we get thirsty and this way we could always have water with us."

I guess she figured his explanation made sense, so she picked it up and then turned to go to checkout. When she did, I picked up a few more canteens and started to follow. Alice must have noticed what I was doing, so she turned to look at me, with a questioning expression on her face.

"Hey, it made sense, so I figured I'd get one for Andrew too," I told them, but she was still looking at me strangely. "I'm getting one for Sammy and Little Ricky too, since they've been going on the bike rides as well."

Now, Jesse was looking at what I had in my arms and then pointed at them. "Okay, I got one for Jake and me too, since you drag us out with you from time to time. I just figured they'd come in handy."

Jesse's mother laughed when she heard me say that and then we made our way to the checkout. "Sure you don't want to get Uncle Steve one too?" Andrew chirped, as we walked toward the counter.

"Well, I will, if he wants to go bike riding with us sometime," and then I glanced over at Steve.

"I just use an exercise bike at home," he quipped. "I stay close enough to the frig that I don't need one of those." Andrew and Jesse giggled at his response and then we paid for our purchases.

Alice wanted to stop at another store, where she picked out an outfit for Jesse to wear, before we finished our shopping. Once that was over, we went to a different restaurant to have dinner. As we sat down and looked over the menus, Alice also watched Jesse interact with the rest of us. I think she began to soften a bit, once she noticed how happy he seemed to be and how comfortable he felt being around us. I concluded that she finally realized her son was actually enjoying himself and it didn't seem he had been coerced to say the things he'd told her earlier. By the time we reached the airport, so she could catch her return flight, she seemed to be a totally different person.

"Josh, before I leave, I just want to thank you for everything you've done for Jesse," she began. "I can see he really enjoys being with all of you and you've done a marvelous job with him. I will consider your suggestion and then give your friend my answer when he calls. Thank you for letting me see him again and I shall be in touch soon."

With that said, she hugged Jesse and said good-bye, before reaching over and tousling Andrew's hair. Then she took off to catch her plane and we all watched her disappear through the security area and move off toward the gate. Once she was on the other side, she stopped, turned around and waved to us, before moving off and boarding her plane.

Although it was late, I decided to drive home tonight, instead of getting a room. After guiding the boys back to the car, we hopped in and it wasn't long before we hit the highway. When I glanced in the rearview mirror a little while later, I noticed the boys had fallen asleep in the back. I was smiling about how cute they looked, when Steve looked over at me. When he noticed the reason why I was grinning, he spoke.

"Completely out of it," he joked, and then after a brief delay, he spoke again. "Do you think she'll do it?"

"In the beginning, I would have bet against it," I replied, "but now I'm not so sure. It would make things a lot easier and avoid a legal battle, but that will have to be her decision. We should know by next weekend, so let's just enjoy ourselves until then. Don't forget, we're expecting Mary and you over for Thanksgiving."

"Oh, we wouldn't miss it for the world," he replied, and then we merely listened to some music until we arrived home.

Chapter 13
Mending the Family

Wednesday evening, Marie showed up with the kids and what a jubilant time it was. Jordan and Nicky were all over everyone, since they hadn't seen us in such a long time, and I just marveled at how much they'd grown. Megan was a little more reserved, since she had just turned four in September and overwhelmed by the number of people around her, but she was a lot bigger than I remembered too. Then, I spotted Kylie. Our newest little angel was absolutely beautiful and I immediately took her from her mother. I not only held her then, but I continued to hold her for most of the evening, even as I joked around and played with the other kids.

Once things began to quiet down, I gave each of the three older ones their presents for the birthdays I'd missed, and then I handed Marie a gift for Kylie, to welcome her into the family. Each of them thanked me, well Kylie didn't, but her mother did for her gift. Then, we all just sat around for a while, as each of them checked out the things they'd received. Yes, even Kylie did, since I'd purchased a swing for her mother to put her in. It would rock her back and forth when Marie couldn't and I remembered my children all enjoyed similar devices when they were little.

I can't tell you how great it was to spend time with them and catch up on everything that had gone on since we'd last been together. Although this reunion was still not perfect, since I also missed their fathers and my daughter-in-law, but hey – it was their loss more than ours.

I also introduce Jesse to them, since none of them had met him yet, and then, for the rest of the evening, the uncles played with their nieces and nephews and got to know them again. While they were doing that, Marie, Jake and I sat and talked. Marie happily filled us in concerning all of the details about what the boys had done to their fathers, after their fathers had refused to come see us again. Although I'd told Jake some of this when I filled him in about Marie's call, he still roared when he heard some of the things the boys had done. It was obvious they had plotted together to pull this off and I'm surprised their fathers didn't take away their computers anyway, since that's how they communicated and planned what they were going to do.

At various points during our conversation, Jake and I would have to excuse ourselves, as we kept our eyes on the pies we were baking for Thanksgiving dinner. We had to do this tonight so they'd have time to cool and because the ovens would be in use for other things tomorrow. We'll put them back in the ovens and warm them up again, just before we were ready to serve dessert.

When it began to grow late and the kids bedtimes were upon us, Marie and I started getting them ready. Jordan and Nicky begged to be allowed to stay up a little longer, so Marie granted them an extra half hour, and then they pleaded to sleep with their various uncles. After Marie gave in, I showed her to the guest room, where she would stay with Megan and Kylie. Jesse and Andrew had moved to Andrew's room upstairs quite a while ago, shortly after Andrew had his cast removed. Since she could stay in the guest room, Jake and I could sleep in our own room and didn't have to hide our relationship. Marie did tease us about it, in a light-hearted and non-judgmental way, and she also joked about how Michael and Adrian would have reacted, if they were here. Once she brought them up, she also made sport of their situation and wondered how they liked spending the holiday without their children. We were all in a good mood and plenty worn out by the time we went to bed.

After getting a decent night's rest, Jake and I got up early and began preparing dinner. We had the turkey in the oven and several other things started, when Marie wandered in to join us. I fixed her some breakfast, while she took care of Megan and Kylie's needs, and then we talked, while Jake and I continued working. A short time later, the boys began filtering downstairs looking for food, so Jake told me he was going to take a short break from dinner preparations and fix them something. I had no problems with his suggestion, since I was going to do it if he hadn't offered, but this way I just continued working on the side dishes and other desserts.

Duck showed up about 11:00 and all the boys were thrilled to see him again. I quickly introduced him to Marie and my grandkids and explained how we had grown close to Duck over the past few months. Duck was also going to stay until Sunday and Mark had offered to share his room with him, which Duck quickly accepted. I knew it wasn't for sexual reasons, but that pair had grown very close as well, so I knew they had a lot to catch up on and talk about.

Around 2:00, the others began showing up and we chatted for a while. Jake and I began putting some appetizers out, in various places around the house, hoping that would tide them over until everyone else had arrived. As usual, we were having a full house, but this time it would be even better, since my grandchildren and daughter were with us again.

By 3:00 the last of our guests had arrived, so we sat down to eat. We began the meal with our tradition of going around the tables and letting everyone share why they were thankful this year. I won't share everything that was said, but I will point out some of the things that struck me the most. The first was Little Ricky comments.

"I'm thankful for everyone here," he began. "I'm thankful the Spences have helped me take care of Mom and I'm thankful for Pop-One and Pop-Two for giving me such a great home. I'm also thankful for all my wonderful brothers, my sister," he added glancing at Marie, "and my new nieces and nephews. I'm also thankful that Pop didn't beat me up or throw me out after I did that dumb thing that got Andrew hurt. I'm also thankful that Andrew and the rest of you forgave me too and I promise I'll never do anything like that again." There were a few grins brought about by his last statement and then we moved on.

The next touching moment came when Andrew spoke. Although I suspected he would say something about Jesse, I was surprised by some of the other things he mentioned.

"I want to begin by saying I'm thankful for all Dad has done to help me. I'm also thankful he helped Sammy get out of the mess he was in too and for not getting mad at Richard for the prank he pulled on me. I'm also thankful both Dads and all my brothers didn't get really mad at me because of all the pranks I pulled on them. I have to say, my brothers did scare me when they got me back, but I guess I deserved it. Most of all, I'm thankful for my newest brother and best friend. Jesse, I hope you like being here as much as I like having you here." Needless to say, Jesse gave him a resounding "yes" and the rest of us had to chuckle at their antics and hand slapping afterward.

Jesse went next, once they both settled down. "I'm thankful for my new brother too," he said, while punching Andrew in the shoulder, "and for all of my brothers. I'm thankful for both of my new dads too and how they've taken care of me and made it so no one will hurt me again. I'm also thankful because they let me see my mom again and for telling her she could come live close by, so I didn't have to leave here." There were a few shocked expressions as I looked around the table, because I hadn't shared this information with the others yet. I was planning on waiting until after we heard back from Alice first, to see if she accepted our proposal. I was going to say something about this, but didn't, because Jesse started speaking again.

"I'm also thankful for what each of you has done to help me talk again and to speak better," he continued. "That helped me at school and now the other kids aren't afraid to hang around me any more."

After Jesse finished, Shannon asked to speak next. "I'm thankful for both Dad and Pop and for them helping me work things out with Nick so we could stay together," he offered. "I didn't think that was going to happen, but I'm glad it did, even though Nick isn't here with us today. I still love him, and I know he loves me, and I'm glad Dad and Pop were willing to let us work though our problems and remain together."

The next tender moment came when it was Duck's turn to speak. I made sure he had a chance to hear some of the others first, so he could have time to formulate what he wanted to say. "What I'm thankful for is everyone here today. You've taken me in and given me a family again, something I haven't had in a very long time. I just want to thank each of you for accepting me as a family member and doing so much to make me feel comfortable and a part of this wonderful group."

When we got to Jordan, he comment was short and sweet. "I'm just thankful to be back here again," he stated and Nicky quickly added, "Me too!"

The final statement I'll share with you came from Marie. "First of all, I'm thankful for my family – my wonderful son, Nicholas, and my precious new daughter, Kylie. I'm also thankful for my father and this wonderful family he's put together. I only hope next year I can be thankful that my stubborn husband, older brother, sister-in-law and sister have wised up and come back to join us too. Finally, I'm thankful that my dad has found such a wonderful person as Jake and I hope they enjoy many wonderful years together."

Of course, her final statement brought a tear to a few eyes and choked up a few others, including us, but Jake and I composed ourselves long enough to thank her for what she'd said and then we all began to eat.

Robert called Thanksgiving evening, to wish us all a great day. I knew Robert wanted to be here, but he had other commitments that prevented him from doing so. When he asked me if I'd heard from Marie yet, he was a bit taken aback when I told him she was with us, with all four of my grandchildren. He was happy she had done that and spent quite a bit of time talking with her on the phone too, even though they do chat on their own. When they finished their conversation, Robert spoke with everyone else, and it was a lovely end to a nearly perfect day.

I have to admit the entire day had gone extraordinarily well, as we enjoyed the meal, dessert and great company. Arlene was even lucid throughout most of the day and only began to lose it when it started to get late. It was also nice to see Little Ricky being able to spend the time enjoying her company again.

Friday went just as well, when everyone returned for leftovers. Frankie called and apologized for not calling the day before, but he said the trunk lines for the telephones seemed to be overtaxed and he was having trouble getting through. I told him not to worry and it was just nice to hear his voice again, and then I let him have time to speak with everyone else. Overall, I couldn't have been happier with the past two and a half days. Well, I could have been, if the Michael, Andrea, Adrian, Elizabeth and Tim had shown up too, but I'm not going to let them put a damper on this wonderful holiday.

Saturday, Marie and the kids left around noon. It was difficult saying good-bye to them all again, but at least we'd enjoyed what time we had together. Marie said she didn't know when they'd be able to come back, but she promised I would see them all again, so I thanked her. I kissed each of them, as did Jake and all the boys, and then we waved as they drove off. I hated to see them leave, but the great feeling from being with them once more still lingered.

A short time later, I drove over to Steve's house, so I would be there when he called Alice. This way I could learn what she had decided concerning my proposal, because Steve put the phone on speakerphone, so I could hear what was being said.

"Alice, it's Steve and Josh here," he began, to let her know we were both present. "I'm calling, as you asked, to see what you've decided."

"Well, I've thought about what you said when I was there," she began, "and I don't have much here to hold me now, so I'm going to do it. I won't be able to make the move until after the first of the year and can't say exactly when it will be, but I'm going to do it. I just have a lot of things here to take care of first."

"That's great," I replied. "What can we do to help?"

"Well, I'm not sure how I'm going to get all my things there, without it being really expensive," she said, "so if you know of anything that I don't, I'd appreciate a suggestion."

"I have a great one for you," I offered. "I'll order up one of those shipping containers and have it delivered to your place. I think you should have some idea what I'm talking about, since you've probably seen them advertised on television. They deliver the container to any location you specify and you can take your time packing everything in it and they'll also deliver it wherever you request. I'll have it moved here when you're done and keep the container at our place, and then you can take things out of it at your own pace. You'll be able to unpack your belonging as slowly or quickly as you want, until it's finally empty and you have everything in your new place. This way you'll also be able to drive your car when you move here, so you'll have it with you as well. How does that sound?"

"It sounds wonderful," she answered, "but I'm not sure I can afford to do it. I'll have to check on the price first, to see how much something like that will cost."

"Alice, when I said I'd order it for you, I meant I'd pay for it too," I informed her.

"I can't let you do that," she quickly replied.
"Yes, you can," I replied. "It's the least I can do to reunite you with your son and thank you for all the wonderful times we've shared with him." She hesitated, before saying anything else.

"Okay, if you insist, and maybe I won't feel as guilty about you doing this for me, once I've told you what else I've decided," she offered. "Steve, would it be possible for me to still be Jesse's mother, even if I let Josh adopt him?"

"Yes, that would be possible," he agreed. "We could let Josh adopt him and be Jesse's father and be given physical custody of him, and you would still remain Jesse's mother. Josh would see to it that you were given visitation rights as well, if that would be agreeable to you."

"It would and I think that's what Jesse wants," she answered.

"What if Jesse wants to change his last name to Currie, so he'd have the same name as the others?" Steve asked next. Alice thought momentarily before responding.

"I don't see a problem with that," she told us. "We don't have the same last name now and haven't since I remarried. I don't see it being a problem, as long as people know he's still my son."

"That can be arranged," Steve agreed. "Although you'll have visitation rights and will be allowed to spend time with Jesse, you won't be able to sign him out of school or anything like that without Josh's approval," Steve added.

"But I will make sure you are listed as an additional emergency contact for him," I interrupted, "if that's agreeable with you."

"That would be fine and it's actually more than I expected you might be willing to do for me," she confessed. "Thank you for making this easier to agree to and for making it possible for me to be near my son again."

"I'm glad to do it," I explained, "because I know it will make Jesse happy too."

We ironed out a few more minor details after that, but the call ended on a positive note and everyone seemed satisfied. Since everything was formally agreed to, I now felt comfortable informing Jesse and the others about it, once I returned home. I still had some other things to do to make this happen, like ordering the container for Alice to use and talking to some people I know about finding her a place to live and a job, but overall I felt it was a done deal. I thanked Steve for his help and told him I didn't know how we'd survive without him, but he merely replied that he enjoyed doing it. He also informed me he'd draw up all the appropriate papers and send them off for Alice to sign and would let me know once he received them back.

Jesse was thrilled when I shared the news with him, after I'd returned home. He thanked me over and over again, but he also gave me several hugs and as many kisses, and then Andrew and he continued to do their little dance of joy for the next ten or fifteen minutes. Once they settled down, they went off to get ready for their next bike ride, after reminding Jake and I that we had promised to go with them.

Sammy and Little Ricky were also going to join us, but then Graham and Dion asked if they could go too. Once we agreed that would be fine, we filled up the canteens and then took off. Some of the other boys made some comments before we left, such as "the tires on your two bikes look a little soft, now that you guys are on them," and "Dang, I didn't know that bike was capable of carrying that much weight." You see, they couldn't let us leave without getting their digs in and weren't about to pass up such an obvious opportunity, even if it did slightly darkened an otherwise lovely holiday weekend for me.

The outing was wonderful and we all had a great time. Even though it was quite cool out, we had dressed appropriately and the exertion from riding the bikes warmed us up as we went along. I had to admit that going with the boys on these trips was slowly working me back into shape and I was feeling better because of it. Jake had admitted the same thing, so I think the boys were doing us both a favor by asking us to come along. Come to think of it, maybe I'm not as old as I once felt, at least not yet.

After we got back, we spent the rest of the day watching football on the television in the family room. At various times it got a little rowdy in there, since we weren't all rooting for the same teams and everyone had their own take on the action, but the banter was mostly good-natured. When bedtime rolled around, the boys slowly went off to take their showers and get ready, and when they did, Duck came over to speak with Jake and me.

"You know, the only bad part about spending time here is knowing I have to leave," he told us. "I'm already dreading tomorrow, because it means this wonderful time is going to end and I'm going to have to drive back home."

"Yes, we regret seeing you leave too," I countered, "but Christmas will be here before you know it and you can spend as much time as you want with us then too. You'll also be able to join us for New Year's and you can even bring your girlfriend with you, if you'd like."

"Well, she'll be spending Christmas with her family and has asked me to go there with her," he explained. "I think I'll have to do it this time, since I didn't go there with her for Easter."

"That's fine, but it doesn't have to be a holiday for you to come back to spend time here," I teased. "The college boys will be home until the middle of January, so you could come one of those weekends too, but what about New Year's?"

"I think I can convince my girlfriend to come with me then, so we can celebrate with all of you too," he answered. "Plan on us being here, unless I call and tell you differently."

"Great, then I'll make special plans," I replied.

We were all feeling pretty good when we went to bed that evening, and after we got up the next morning and had a small breakfast, we all went to church together. Duck really seemed to enjoy doing this with us too and he talked about it a lot when we stopped for brunch. It was nice to see he was enjoying the simple things as well.

Once we returned home, Duck started getting ready to return to his place. We had enjoyed his company as much as he seemed to enjoy being with us, and all of the boys made sure to let him know it. A short time later he was loading everything into his car and getting ready to leave, so everyone came out to see him off. They all hugged him, to let him know he was a welcome addition to our clan, but they also managed to slip in a few parting digs, to prove to him that they were accepting him as an equal. Duck understood that and merely grinned in approval, before he hopped in the driver's seat. Each of us knew this separation wouldn't be for very long, at least we hoped not, and we'd see him again when he returned to ring in the New Year with us.

We all waved at him as he drove off and the college boys went back inside, so they could get their things together too. They all had to return to their respective colleges as well, but we all knew they'd be back within a month's time for Christmas. Once they left, the rest of us began getting our things together to return to school. It had been a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and one I won't soon forget.

Chapter 14
December Winds

As you already know, December is always a very busy time for us, and this year was no exception. Even though there were fewer boys at home, it still seemed as if the hectic pace continued. Dion had a very special role in the Christmas concert at school this year and would be singing both a solo and a duet. He would perform the duet with the girl that was taking voice lessons with him at the University of Pittsburgh. Those lessons started up again, once school had resumed, and now his music teacher wanted to highlight each of them. She was giving each one a solo and then having them do a duet together. I knew it was a rare that individual performers were featured this way, but the music teacher explained it was something she felt she had to do. She stated that such talent rarely comes along, and she definitely didn't expect to find two such talented vocalists in the same class, but she wasn't about to squander this opportunity either.

I didn't want to spoil the possibility for Dion by pushing the issue; especially since it was so obvious that he and Shelly were looking forward to it. They had grown very close over the past few months, but this might also have something to do with Dion using his singing as a distraction from dwelling on other matters. We all could tell he missed Trey tremendously, since Trey had gone off to college, but even if this had begun as his way of forgetting about that, it had later blossomed into a friendship.

I did wonder if his being featured in this way might bring too much more attention to our family, since it seemed my boys had been in the spotlight quite frequently. I just hoped it didn't produce the negative fallout that I feared it might or give the ex-board member something more to hate us for and come after us about.

This was also a remarkable and wondrous time with Jesse. He was still young enough to believe in Santa Claus and I was glad that was one thing John hadn't taken away from him. I'm not sure how Jesse had managed to hold on to this innocent pleasure, considering everything else he'd been through, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to use it to his advantage. Jesse was a mass of excitement and childish awe, from the moment we started playing Christmas music and continued through the period when we decorated the house and put up the Christmas tree. He even made me feel young again, and that was quiet a feat.

During this period, I approached Andrew and asked him to see if he could find out what Jesse might like for Christmas this year. Unfortunately, I didn't have a clue as to what to buy for him and was grateful when Andrew said he would find out for me. I thanked him for his help and then sat down to figure out what I was going to get everyone else.

As we entered the final two weeks of school before the holiday, I spent a great deal of time running to one concert, sporting event and family errand after another. It was nonstop for me, but I did take enough time out so I could enjoy Dion's special night – and oh, what a night it was.

The concert started with the choir performing a couple of numbers and then a traditional Christmas carol, before Dion and Shelly did a duet of "Oh Holy Night." It was simply beautiful and I marveled at how well their voices blended and how they complimented one another. I was also overwhelmed when they received a standing ovation from the audience, because that was indeed a rare occurrence at school functions.

After the band came out and performed a couple of selections, Shelly strutted on to the stage out and belted out a beautiful rendition of "Silver Bells." Her sweet soprano voice was clear, crisp and without flaw, and her angelic tonal qualities brought the song to life. Once again, she received another standing ovation when she finished and I saw Dion give her a congratulatory hug as she went off stage.

The orchestra performed a couple of selections next and then Dion strode out for his final number. His solo was also the last event listed in the program, so his performance of 'Ave Maria' would close the concert.

Knowing how difficult this song is to perform, and after spending several previous Christmases listening to Luciano Pavarotti belt it out on my favorite Christmas CD, I was a little concerned for him. It was not only a challenging piece to sing, but I was also fairly positive the rest of the audience had heard other marvelous renditions of it by famous entertainers, so he also had mighty big shoes to fill. As Dion came out on stage and stood in front of the microphone, his music teacher began the accompaniment on the piano. As I heard her play those first notes and saw Dion open his mouth to sing, I held my breath.

I shouldn't have. It was pure magic and he was perfectly on pitch, and from there it only got better. Even before he was halfway through the piece, I had tears streaming down my cheeks and I realized the maestro would have been proud, if he could have heard this too. As soon as Dion finished, not only did everyone rise to acknowledge his masterful performance, but the room was also filled with cheers, whistles and the sounds of thunderous applause. I almost fainted with pride, when Jake turned to hug me and let me know he felt the same way. I think this moment, more than anything else, convinced me how truly talented Dion was and what his music teacher had noted in him, long before I did. I always knew he had a lovely voice, but until now, I didn't realize how absolutely special and unique his gift was.

As soon as the concert ended, I rushed to find Dion, so I could hug and congratulate him. I couldn't find words appropriate enough to tell him how marvelously he had done, but I did stumble through it. He was slightly embarrassed by all the attention he was getting, but he thanked me nonetheless, before he asked a question.

"Dad, there's going to be a concert party in a little while and Shelly asked me to go to it with her," he rambled out. "Would you mind if I used the Grand Am to take her and then drop her home afterward?" He looked at me and I could read his hopeful expression.

"I think you've both earned the right to have a little fun after what a beautiful job you both did tonight," I quipped. "Just don't get home too late. You still have school tomorrow, Okay?"

"Yes, Dad, and thanks. I really appreciate you letting me do this," he stammered. "Wasn't she great?"

"You both were," I countered, before I hugged him again. Once I released him, he rushed off to find Shelly, so he could tell her the good news.

When we got home, the rest of the boys wouldn't stop talking about how well Dion had done and how proud they were of him. They said they knew their friends were going to be telling them the same thing tomorrow, because some already had when they ran into them tonight, once the concert was over. I think we were all amazed and busting our buttons because of what he had done.

Dion came home a little later than I hoped, but he did get in before midnight and didn't give me any problems the next morning. By the time I got to work, I found numerous messages on my email account and received several phone calls from people passing along their praise of Dion's vocal ability. There was fallout from his being featured, but it was far from the negative kind that I had feared. It appeared that his outstanding talent had silenced any of the detractors he might have had that would have suggested he only got so much recognition because he was my son.

Once the concert was behind us, the time remaining until Christmas just flew by. Before I knew it, school was out for the holidays and all the boys were home from college. Unfortunately, Frankie, Nick and my biological children, other than Robert, wouldn't be here this year. Frankie would be spending this Christmas at Guantanamo, Nick would be with his parents and most of my biological children were still staying away. At least I'd seen my grandkids at Thanksgiving and their parents were now letting them send emails and IM's to us on the computer.

Robert showed up on Christmas Eve and I was thrilled he had made it. All the boys were excited to see him too, because Robert was just another kid to them, even though he was considerably older. Since he was still single and didn't have the family responsibilities or an example to set, he usually let loose and played around like he was fifteen or twenty years younger and the boys loved him for it.

After he got settled in, we talked for a while, but eventually I had other obligations to attend to. He went with me, as I led him to the family room, so I could do my traditional reading of 'The Night Before Christmas.' I always try to be very dramatic when I do this and had just finished when one of the boys looked out the picture window and announced, "Look, it's Santa Claus," while pointing outside. I knew Jake had slipped out the room and dressed in our Santa outfit, so he could do this. Then, he waited until he knew I was finished with my reading, so he could peek in at the boys. Jesse was all hyped about seeing Santa and started asking questions.

"Why is he here already," he wanted to know.

"I guess he's just checking to see if you're in bed yet, so he can drop off the presents," I explained.

"Come on, Andrew. We've got to hurry up and shower, so we can get to sleep," he announced, as he tugged on Andrew's arm. "Everyone else too. I don't want to miss out on getting things from him just because some of you want to stay up late." He scowled at the others after saying this, as if it would motivate them to do what he wanted.

The other boys grinned and started to get up, to do as their little brother had commanded. They all remembered the time when they still believed in Santa too, so they didn't want that to end just yet for him either. I kind of chuckled to myself, as I watched them all disappear.

Once Jake came back, changed and joined me, we began taking the presents from our hiding places and putting them under the tree. Thanks to Jesse, we were able to do this a little earlier this year, than we would normally be able to.

Although everyone went to their rooms, it didn't mean they all went to sleep. This was especially true in Dion and Trey's room.

"So, have you missed me?" Trey teased.

"Big time," Dion replied.

"And you haven't messed around while I've been away?" Trey followed.

"I haven't even spoken to another guy, well except at our gay-straight alliance meetings, but I haven't done anything with any of them," Dion assured him.

"So you haven't been hanging around with anyone?" Trey pressed.

"I didn't say that," Dion countered. "Shelly and I have been spending a lot of time together, especially when we were getting ready for the concert and all, but she's the only one."

"And I heard you two were unbelievable that night," Trey gushed. "I wish I would have been there to see it for myself."

"Well, my music teacher did have someone film the concert for her, so I probably can get her to make a CD for me, so you can see it too," Dion suggested.

"Oh, yeah. I'd love that," Trey agreed, and then he leaned over and kissed Dion.

Of course, one thing led to another, so before long both boys were clawing at each other's clothes, until they were totally naked. Dion then covered his huge shaft with a condom, lubed it and a few seconds later was burying it into Trey.

"Oh, God, I've missed this," Trey moaned, once Dion was fully inside him.

"Me too," Dion agreed, as he began his long and slow thrusts in and out of his lover.

"Is it my imagination or have you gotten better?" Trey asked.

"I think you just forget how good I was," Dion quipped back, as he continued his steady rhythm, while slowly working his way toward an explosive crescendo.

The pair gradually melded into one combined, rhythmic body, as they carried out this sensual and passionate dance of love. If anyone had been observing, I think it would have been obvious that they were destined to be together for life. Each boy carried out his role, which didn't infringe on the other, and together they fulfilled the desires burning deep within the other's soul. Trey preferred being on the receiving end and Dion was happy to oblige. Dion always saw to it that Trey enjoyed a body-shaking orgasm as well, and was also very happy to be on the giving end. Two creative souls, the writer and the singer, each unique and special, but together they created the ultimate pairing for love.

Once Dion reached the point from which there was no turning back, and neither of them had been in any hurry to get there, Dion buried himself as far into Trey's body as he could, embraced his lover and kissed him passionately, as they both exploded in total bliss and reckless abandon. Once again, they had satisfied each other in many ways, not just sexually, as their emotional and psychological well being was also tied to this single event.

Now that they were spent and totally satisfied, they quickly cleaned up and then cuddled together for the rest of the evening. Well, at least until a little banshee went running wildly about in the middle of the night, reminding them what day it was. Just as I suspected, Jesse woke up very early Christmas morning, in fact it was only about 5:00, and began running around waking everyone up, starting with Andrew.

"Come on, it's Christmas! Get up so we can see what presents Santa left us," he urged.

Although Andrew was still groggy and would have preferred to sleep longer, he knew this was important to Jesse, so he rolled out of bed. He even went around helping to wake the others up as well, since he felt it would be better to get this over with as quickly as possible.

When they came down to get me up, I resisted the urge of telling him to go back to bed and we'd do this in a couple of hours. I could see how excited Jesse was and didn't want to stifle that enthusiasm in the least. Even the other boys were very good about him waking them up so early, although I suspected a few of them had stayed up quite late getting reacquainted with their partners, after their long abstinence and time apart. Robert was probably the grumpiest, seeing he was never much of a morning person, but he joined us too and held his tongue about how early it was. Once we were all in the family room, we merely chuckled, as we watched Jesse tearing about.

"Oh, wow!" Jesse exclaimed. "The room is full of presents. How are we going to sort them out?"

I quickly explained how we did it and then Robert and a couple of the older boys began passing the gifts out. They made sure everyone got something during every round and even noticed that Jake and I had remembered to use special wrapping paper for the stuff Santa brought, so Jesse wouldn't ask questions.

It was a wild time, as Jesse went around checking out what everyone else received, after they opened their present. He did this with each and every gift, until we were down to the final one.

"What's the big one over there?" I asked, pointing to an unopened present way in the back.

"I'm not sure," Dustin said, "but it says it's for Jesse from Santa." Jesse's eyes grew wide when he heard it was for him and his mouth hung open, as Dustin carried it over to him.

"Jeez, I wonder what that could be?" I asked. We all watched as Jesse tore off the wrapping paper and saw what was underneath. It was a green, two-man mountain tent.

"That looks like it might be the same type of tent Frankie uses in the Army," Jake offered, on cue.

"It certainly does," I followed. "I guess Andrew and you might have to wear those army clothes Frankie's friends got you whenever you use it." Both boys' faces lit up.

"Can we do that tonight?" Jesse wanted to know.

"Well, it's a bit cold outside right now, but I'm sure some of your brothers will help you set it up in the rec room later," I suggested. "Then you can get out a couple of the sleeping bags to sleep in tonight, if that's what you want."

"Oh, yeah," Jesse confirmed. "Dustin, will you help us put it up? Please."

Of course, Dustin eagerly agreed, and then coaxed Danny, Brandon and Pat into helping him. Instead of using tent pegs, they tied the ropes to other things, to keep the tent upright, and they had it up in no time.

"Oh, thank you, thank you," Jesse squealed, once he saw it. "Come on, Andrew. Let's get our things, so we'll be ready to sleep in it."

"Jesse, we just got up," Andrew protested. "We won't be going to sleep for a long time. Can we at least have breakfast first and then go back to bed for a while, before we do that?"

"Okay, we can have breakfast," Jesse agreed, "but I want to get everything ready after that. We can go back to sleep after that's done."

Reluctantly, Andrew agreed and then Jake and I went off to fix everyone a big Christmas breakfast. The rest of the day went by in a blur. Most of us did go back to bed for a little while, once the presents were all opened and the boys' bellies were full, and when we got up again later, we spent some time together and talked about what we'd gotten.

Later that afternoon, before we sat down to eat again, I received a phone call. It was from Frankie.

"Merry Christmas!" he screamed into the phone.

"And Merry Christmas to you too," I replied.

"I hope this isn't too early or I didn't interrupt anything," he offered, apologetically.

"Jesse had us up hours ago, and even if you had interrupted something, I wouldn't have minded," I informed him. "The best Christmas present I've received today is hearing your voice." There was a pause and I began to wonder if we'd been disconnected.

"That goes for me too," Frankie confirmed, and I noticed his voice choked with emotion. "Look, I have to make this real quick, because everyone else wants to call home today too and it's been really hard to get through. Tell everyone I wish them a Merry Christmas and send my best, and that goes for everyone who is there or will be there later. I wish I could talk longer, because I have a lot to tell you, but I guess I'll have to do it in an email. Love you, Dad, and make sure you tell everyone else that too."

"I will, Frankie, and I hope your next email says more than the last few," I hinted, before he had to hang up.

I was hoping he'd call again later, but I wasn't sure he'd be able to. He sounded well and seemed happy enough, so I guess I might have read more into his emails than he'd intended. I then went to tell everyone else I had spoken with him and that he sent his best. They were disappointed that they hadn't gotten to speak with him too, but after I explained the reasons why his call had to be so short, they seemed to accept it. We were just settling down, when my phone rang again.

"Merry Christmas, Papa," a child's voice wished me.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Jordan," I answered, as I wondered if he had his parents permission to make this call.

"Papa, I wish we could be there with you," he added, "but Daddy says we come there next year." I almost fell out of my chair when I heard him say this.

"That would be really nice," I replied, "and I hope you can."

"Papa, I have to go now, cuz Daddy wants to talk to you too. When he gets done, can I talk to everyone else?"

"Jordan, you MAY," I replied, "as long as it's okay with your parents."

"It will be, but here's Daddy," he informed me, before I heard Michael's voice.

"Merry Christmas, Pop," he began.

"And the same to you, Andrea and Megan," I countered.

"Look, I'm sorry about what happened in the past, but my son has enlightened me about how foolish and stubborn I've been," Michael continued. "He told me how much fun he'd had there, when Marie took the kids with her for Thanksgiving. She and I talked for a while too, when she dropped them off, and she filled me in about a lot of things. I am really sorry I let that get to me. I'm sure Mom would want to see you happy again and she might find it easier to accept that she wasn't replaced by some cute, young lady." Michael laughed after saying this.

"I think you might be right about that," I replied.

"Pop, Andrea wants to wish you a Merry Christmas too, before Jordan gets on the line with all of his uncles," Michael informed me. "Speaking of which, I hear we have a new little brother."

"You do," I confirmed, "and I'll send you an email and some photos soon, but I won't take the time to do that now."

"Okay, here's Andrea and I love you, Pop," he told me.
"And I love you too and thanks for calling," I replied.

After speaking briefly with Andrea and Megan, Jordan got back on the line to talk to everyone else. When the phone made its way back to me again, all of us wished him a final Merry Christmas by shouting as a group before I hung up.

A short time later, we had our big Christmas dinner with the extended family and they were happy Robert was with us too. Not only that, but due to Jesse's youthful innocence, we all enjoyed this Christmas more than any that I remember since my grandchildren were last here.

Just as we were finishing, Marie called to wish us all a Merry Christmas too. After this, she began to hit me with questions.

"Have you heard from anyone else?" she asked.

"Well, Robert's here and Frankie called a little while ago, but then Jordan called. I got to speak with Michael, Andrea and Megan too," I stated.

"So Michael did call?" she repeated.

"Well, Jordan called, but I did speak with Michael too," I clarified.

"And was he civil?" she pressed.

"Yes, in fact he even apologized about before and told me Jordan had showed him that he was wrong," I explained. "Jordan even told me his father said they'd come here for Christmas next year."

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Now I'm sure Michael will mention that to Adrian and he'll change his mind too, but I'll leave that for another time. Right now, I've got someone standing next to me, begging for the phone. Here he is."

"Hi, Papa. Merry Christmas," he told me. "Thanks for the presents. I really like them."

"I'm glad, little man, and I hope your sister liked hers too," I responded.

"I think she does, but she's too little yet to tell me. She has been playing with it," he added, "and her eyes get all big when it lights up and moves, and I think she likes the music too." I had to chuckle, because I could just picture her reaction to it in my mind.

We had a lovely conversation and my day was nearly complete. The only one I hadn't heard from was Elizabeth, but she always was the most stubborn of my children.

Chapter 15
The Days of 'Auld Lang Syne'

Right after Christmas, I received another email from Frankie.

Dad,

Hope you had a nice Christmas and I sure missed being there with all of you. I'm sorry that my earlier emails were kind of vague, but you know how that goes. I have to be careful about what I write and say. I wish I could tell you that things have improved here, but they haven't. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder what country I'm serving, because we don't seem to be acting in a way that would uphold our national values or improve our image as a nation. I can see why maybe some countries don't believe us. We sometimes seem to contradict our own standards – I mean I think you've heard about what happen at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, although the situation isn't quite the same here. Again, I can't clarify, but some day I will be able to explain all of this to you.

I hope Jesse had a great Christmas. I wish I could have been there and seen him, since this was his first Christmas with the family. I still think about Jesse and Andrew and when you guys came to visit me for the graduation and how cute they looked in their army clothes. One of my friends is here with me and he still asks about them too. They certainly became instant celebrities with my buddies.

I'll try to keep in touch as much as possible and I'm quite safe, although not really happy, where I am. I should be home by next Christmas, but until then I know I'm going to miss all of you. Take care and I know you're going to write back.

I send my love to all, Frank

Again, he is alluding to problems, but I have yet to figure out what they might be. I think he was trying to give me a clue of sorts, by mentioning Abu Ghraib, but I can't see the U.S. doing other things like that, seeing how much furor was generated because of the scandal there. However, it does sound as if he's being asked to do some things that go against his personal beliefs and standards. I'm not quite sure what types of actions those might be or why they would cause such a dilemma for him, but I hope it doesn't get to the point where he has to choose between the two. If it came to that point, it could put him on shaky ground with the military and threaten his future.

I wrote back immediately and told him how Christmas went. I explained about Jesse getting the tent, which he thought was an army tent, and how he picked out the army canteen to use on his bike trips. I also told Frankie how the two boys camped out in the rec room, after putting on their army clothes, plus I informed him that once the weather broke and it got warmer, I was certain they'd be doing the same thing outdoors. I knew Frankie would get a kick out of it.

I also urged him to hang in there and consider all of his options before he made any decisions or acted in ways that might come back to haunt him later. I reminded him that his army record would follow him through life, so he had to walk a fine line between his own beliefs, the army code of conduct and what he was ordered to do. I told him I'd be here for him if he needed my input, but I knew he already understood that. However, it was all I could think to tell him, since I didn't know the details surrounding his current situation. Knowing Frankie though, I'm sure he'll be very careful about doing what is required, while not lowering his own standards.

I did show the email to Jake later and we speculated about what he was alluding to, but there had not been anything in the news coverage of the war, other than what happened at Abu Ghraib, to indicate any such potential problems. There were some unsubstantiated reports that some prisoners were being sent to other countries to be tortured, but I can't believe they'd be doing anything like that on an American base. Of course, if they were, I'm sure the government would try to suppress any mention of it and claim national security reasons for doing so.

Oh, I almost forgot. We also received a Christmas card from Peter, which arrived the Monday after Christmas. I guess the boat was a little slow this time of year. Anyway, he seems to be doing well and says he misses all of us. He also said his parents sent their best wishes too and wanted to thank us, once again, for everything we'd done for him. The reason I almost forgot to mention this was that we webcam chat with Peter on a regular basis, at least once a week, so we've pretty much kept up to date about what everyone, on both sides of the world, was doing. I'm thinking about taking our vacation there next summer, so we can all spend some time with him again.

On Tuesday, I received a very strange phone call. It went like this. "Mr. Currie, you don't know me, but my name is Chester Pell and I believe I have a belated Christmas present for you, or at least someone in your household," he began and I was totally confused at what he was getting at.

"I'm a county legislator in the county where a young man you are raising used to live, one Jesse Cornell. I believe you know he was apparently molested by his stepfather, John Wells, who was a county employee." He paused here, so I felt he was waiting for me to respond.

"Yes, Jesse's mother made me his guardian and I was the one who brought that matter to the attention of the authorities," I confirmed.

"So you did," he reiterated. "Well, the county has been in a bit of a dilemma about something, but we've finally worked the remaining details out so it will benefit young Master Cornell and maybe make up for some of the suffering he endured at the hands of Mr. Wells.

"Even though Mr. Wells committed suicide," he continued, "his life insurance policy, which had been maintained through the county, has been in force long enough so it qualified to be paid out. Since Mr. Wells never changed the beneficiary on his policy, which initially listed his father, who is also deceased, and he had no secondary beneficiary given, we were in a quandary about what to do with the money.

"At first, we were planning on giving it to his wife, Alice, but when researching their documentation, we discovered they were never actually married. It appears as if Mr. Wells talked a guy he knew into pretending he was a justice of the peace, so he could marry them. The gentleman worked for the justice of the peace and stole paperwork from the office, which made it look legitimate, but the man had no authority to do anything of that nature, so the ceremony wasn't valid. Therefore, as far as the insurance policy was concerned, there was no next of kin to pay the proceeds to." He paused again, so I felt I should speak.

"I can see where that would create a dilemma," I told him.

"Yes, it did," he confirmed, "and because the county paid the premiums on the policy, the insurance company wanted to give the proceeds to the county, but the legislature didn't think that was the correct way to handle the matter. Instead, we have selected another individual we think is more worthy to receive the proceeds, so we have convinced the insurance company to pay the money to the young boy Mr. Wells molested. Let's just say we did it to compensate him for the pain and suffering he endured at Mr. Well's hands. The coverage was for twice Mr. Well's annual salary, which was $38,000, so I need to get some information from you as to whom to make the check out to and where to send it."

"Wait, you're going to be sending Jesse a check for $76,000," I wondered.

"Well, we're putting the check in your name, since Jesse is a minor and you are his legal guardian," he replied, "but we expect you will either use this money to raise him or put in an account until he is old enough to make such determinations for himself."

"Of course. I'll set an account up for him, just as soon as I receive the check," I agreed.

"Then I'll just double check to see if I have your full name and the correct spelling, and then I'll jot down your address. I'll see to it that the check is sent out to you, right after I have given this information to the insurance company," he announced. "Please wish the young man a Merry Christmas from the county and our apology for what Mr. Well's did to him."

"I certainly will," I concurred.

"Oh, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too, sir," he added, after taking down the information and before ending the call.

What do you know about that? No matter how magnanimous this act might appear, I am convinced their generosity was motivated more as a means to improve their image, reduce future liability and avoid legal action being taken against them, since they had been negligent in how they handled the previous situation. The county, but more specifically the sheriff's department, failed to investigate the claim against Wells when it was brought to their attention and essentially downplayed the entire allegation, so as a result they could be conceived to have acted in a negligent manner in performing their duty. I hadn't planned to take legal action against them anyway, but at least now Jesse will end up with something positive out of this mess. I'm not sure if any sum of money will ever be able to make up for what he had to endure, but it will help provide him with the funds for college and give him a decent start in life, as I have tried to do for the other boys as well.

I spent the rest of the week making plans for our New Year's celebration. Everyone would be at our place again, including Duck and his girlfriend, so I wanted it to be special, although not too elaborate. Jake and I brainstormed with the boys to see if we could come up with anything new and exciting, but we ended up mainly relying on the things we had enjoyed in the past. It keeps getting harder and harder to come up with new and unique ideas to celebrate the various holidays.

Nick arrived from Oklahoma on Wednesday and would spend the week here with Shannon and the rest of us, before returning to spend more time with his parents. He was thrilled to see Shannon again, and Shannon was equally as excited about Nick being back. In fact, Nick hardly spent any time with the rest of us, before Shannon dragged him off to their room to spend time alone. I don't believe Jake was happy about it, but I assured him that I knew the boys would take appropriate precautions, if they did anything.

When the boys were alone, they actually spent most of their time just hugging, holding on to each other and kissing. No matter how strange it may seem, neither of them appeared to be in a hurry to do more. Instead, they were merely enjoying being together again, after six months apart, and were more than satisfied to have the other in his arms and enjoying the sweet taste of his lips. Even though we all realized they would eventually move to fulfill their more animalistic sensual urges, they managed to take their time getting there.

This didn't happen until after they came down for dinner and spent some time with the rest of us first. During the meal, Nick filled the others in about what he'd been up to, including the things he'd done with his family at the end of the summer and what he thought of his college and campus life. Nick then assured us, because I think he had already done this with Shannon in private, that he had not been with any other guys and hadn't even had the urge to be. He said that other than focusing on his studies, he has just thought about Shannon and when they would see each other again. Unbeknownst to Jake or myself, the pair had been speaking to each other on the phone and keeping in touch via the Internet, which helped convince Shannon of Nick's sincerity. He figured between his schoolwork and the time they had spent chatting with each other that Nick wouldn't have had much time to find or spend with anyone else.

When Shannon and Nick returned to their room, surprisingly it was Shannon that made the first overture concerning sex.

"You know, I've been waiting to see you for a long time, so I hope you plan to do more than just kissing and hugging me," he stated, in an attempt to push Nick into a more aggressive role. I think Shannon actually missed Nick being the predator that attacked and nearly molested him in his haste to appease his sexual desires, as Nick had been known to do in the past.

"Oh, yeah, I've got big plans for you," Nick assured him, while flashing him a devilish grin.

"I hope it includes the big treat between your legs," Shannon teased, "because I've missed it AND you." Nick just chuckled.

"Oh, my little buddy has missed you too," he quipped back, while grabbing his crotch and stroking it.

Seeing that, Shannon reached out and quickly unfastened Nick's jeans and lowered the zipper. "Wait, hold on," Nick screamed. "You know I have to cover it first."

"Come on. Do we still have to do that?" Shannon whined.

"Absolutely," Nick stated. "I was foolish before and jeopardized my own health, but I won't do anything to risk yours. Remember, you agreed and promised your dad and Pop that we would always use protection.'

"Okay, but hurry up and get ready then," Shannon relented. "I want to feel you inside me NOW!"

Since Shannon left no doubt as to his urgency, Nick rushed off and prepared himself for a night of fun. It wasn't long before he returned, with his member appropriately sheathed in latex, and then Shannon literally turned the tables and attacked him.

"Whoa, when did you become so aggressive?" Nick asked. "I always thought I was the one that instigated things all the time."

"Maybe you used to," Shannon replied, "but since you've started being more interested in just being close, it seems like I have to force you to do things with me now."

"Not force, baby," Nick assured him, "but it's just not my only focus, like it was before."

"Well, focus on it now, because I need it," Shannon announced, as he grabbed Nick by the dick and pulled him onto the bed.

Nick seemed to be getting a kick out of the role reversal and let Shannon take the lead. He even remained the passive partner, at least until he had penetrated Shannon, and then his old instincts took over. Suddenly, he was a beast again, happily ravaging his partner. Oh, don't get me wrong, because Nick didn't hurt Shannon in any way. In fact, Shannon was thoroughly enjoying how Nick was behaving. Nick was loving and considerate the whole time, but the sex was rough and stimulated Shannon beyond belief. In fact, Shannon ended up cumming without anyone touching his dick, at nearly the same moment Nick exploded inside him. Both boys were thoroughly spent, yet satisfied, and they remained together, alone in their room, for the rest of the evening.

New Year's Eve Day, while we were resting up and getting ready for the big night, I checked my mailbox and found another email from Frankie.

Dad,

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year. I'm sure you have big plans for tonight and I hope everyone will be there. I know I wish I was, but I'll be there with you next year – I promise.

So, what else is going on at home? Are my little soldiers on bivouac yet? Hehehe I'll bet they sure look cute doing it, even if its just happening in the rec room for now. Hope the college guys are having fun and glad to be back home for a while too. I know I would be, if I were them. And how's Uncle Jake, after his operation. I know you didn't tell me, but I've been writing to some of the others and they filled me in. We figured you didn't say anything because you didn't want me to worry, but I can handle it. Just let me know if he's going to be all right now.

Things are a little better here. I'm only observing and assisting when it comes to the hard stuff and not actually doing very much. I do have to guard the prisoners while they're locked up, but that's about it for now. I did question if some things they were doing might be unlawful, but they answered that question by showing me documents confirming that they were legal. Those opinions came from people pretty high up, so I guess it takes care of what I was worried about. I'm still not comfortable with it, but like I said, I'm just observing and assisting for now.

Time is actually going pretty fast. Can you believe I've been here for four months already? I thought the time was dragging, but dang, I'm a third of the way done with this tour. It's supposed to be for a year, but I've heard they've been extending some guys for up to two years and I hope that doesn't happen to me. I think that's mostly the guys in Iraq, but who knows, they may ship me from here to there. I hope they let me come home for a few months in between, so I can be with you for the holidays next year.

Well, I guess this email is long enough, so I'll end it for now. Tell everyone I miss them and wish them a Happy New Year.

Love you all, Frank

Well, that email didn't have him sounding as depressed as the others, so maybe he's adjusting to life there. It appears as if he's resolved some of his problems, so I hope he is able to successfully complete his tour of duty.

After replying to Frankie's email, I went back to getting ready for tonight. The boys seemed to be fairly excited about this too, so I was hoping it would go over fairly well. The extended family would be joining us for dinner, but I also told the boys they could invited some of their friends to the later festivities.

Duck and his girlfriend showed up just after noon and he eagerly introduced her to all of his brothers. She was a cute young thing and slightly shorter than Duck, but they made an attractive couple. I was sure he had told her all about us, so she wouldn't be shocked when she saw some of the boys holding hands or kissing, and we all spent time chatting with them.

The evening began at our favorite restaurant, where I had reserved part of a room for us. In addition to my family, Duck and his girlfriend, we were joined by Steve and Mary Shay, Margaret and John Spence, and they brought Arlene with them, Sally, Mark's mother, Jay and his parents, and Brandon's mom and dad. Brandon's folks had been planning on joining us for Christmas, but his mother came down with something a few days beforehand, so they stayed home until she was feeling better. Since she was now back to her old self, they had decided to join us for this celebration instead, so they could spend a little time with both Brandon and Danny.

After enjoying a wonderful meal and some delightful conversation, we all went over to the local Elk's club, where we were going to spend the rest of the evening. I know, it probably sounds lame to you, but I had rented the place out this year for a private party. The Elk's club had tried to throw their own bash the previous year and it was poorly attended, so this year they jumped at the opportunity, when I offered to rent their hall for our family celebration. Since they had a fully stocked bar and offered to provide the snacks and party favors for this joyous night, all I had to do was to hire a DJ to provide the music.

I hired a local guy, at the recommendation of my college sons. They said they knew him and he did a great job, so after explaining to him that we'd have a mixed crowd, meaning a wide range of ages, he agreed to provide an appropriate selection of tunes, so everyone would find something they liked.

Some of the boys had invited dates and many had invited their friends to join us too. I knew most of them, so it wasn't a problem, at least about them being here. The bartenders were doing a good job making sure that no one underage was drinking, which took a big load off my mind. It was one of my concerns when I agreed to let the boys invite some of their friends, since I felt a few of them might try to get into the booze. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind if the kids have a drink or two – hell, it's New Year's Eve, but I just didn't want anyone getting drunk and hurting himself or anyone else, especially if it involved a vehicle. We had asked for everyone's car keys when they arrived, even the adults, and the keys were kept behind the bar. They wouldn't be given back until we were convinced the driver was sober and could make his way home safely.

We ended up with a fairly decent crowd and, as promised, the DJ played a very wide selection of music. He had big-band music from the forties, classic rock and roll from the fifties, sixties and seventies pop and rock, some disco music from the eighties, and then some pop, rock, hip hop and country music from the nineties on up. I think we all found something to dance to, including the boys' friends, so the dance floor was always packed.

All of us spent a lot of time dancing, either with our partner or with someone else. Jake and I danced with each other quite a bit, but we also took time out to dance with Sally and Susan (Mark's mother) too, so they weren't merely sitting by themselves. To my delight, I also saw Mark, Duck, Dustin and Pat dancing with them as well, so both women seemed to have plenty of opportunities and were enjoying themselves. I also received another special treat later in the evening, when I caught Sally and Susan dancing with Andrew and Jesse. It was just so dang cute and precious that I snapped a few photos of them together, so I'd never forget the moment.

Jesse also wanted to dance with Jake and me too, so he dragged Andrew over to ask us. We quickly agreed, much to his delight, and I danced with my two youngest angels. It was almost as emotional as when I danced with my daughters at their weddings and I saw Steve and Sally taking pictures of it, so we'd always have the memory to talk about and share.

I also spent plenty of time walking around and chatting with various guests, when I ran across Shelly Novak. She and Dion had sung the duet at the Christmas concert and Dion had invited her as his guest. He introduced her to Trey and even danced with her a couple of times. I was glad to see he was making sure not to ignore her, seeing he was spending most of his time with Trey.

Arlene wasn't doing too badly this evening and although it wasn't one of her worst times, it also wasn't one of her best. Little Ricky was able to spend some of the time with her and even danced with her a couple of times, before her condition started to deteriorate. When that happened, he took his mother back to the Spences, so they could take care of her, and then he went off to do his own thing.

Duck and his girlfriend were spending most of their time with Mark and his date, but they did move around and spend time with everyone else as well. Besides getting acquainted with the others and dancing with Sally and Susan, Duck and Mark often danced with each other's girlfriend too, so they could all get to know each other better. It was nice to see them getting along so well and before the evening was over they each thanked Jake and I multiple times for inviting them.

Danny and Brandon made sure to dance with Brandon's mom, which I think Brandon's father enjoyed as much as she did. He had been complaining of some minor back spasms, after injuring himself doing some work around the house. It wasn't a bad or debilitating injury, but it did make doing some simple things painful, and some of the faster dances were on that list. Therefore, he appreciated the boys for taking him off the hook and entertaining his wife when he didn't feel up to it.

It was also nice to see Jay and his parents again. Jay had grown into quite a handsome young man and definitely overcome the awkwardness of his early teen years, as well as doing very well in college. He was an architectural major and had just spent his summer working as an intern for a very well-know architectural firm. It was unusual that he got the position in the first place, since most interns were between their junior and senior years of college. He was obviously doing well enough to impress someone with his ability, since he got the internship the summer before starting his junior year. It appears he will do quite well in his chosen field, so his parents and I were thrilled with his achievements.

Jay and I did spend some time chatting about some of our past memories, including the vacation we took to Washington, D.C., shortly after Ricky and Danny had come to live with me. Jay surprised me when he confessed that was when he first got the bug about getting in to architecture. He said that after seeing all of the fantastic and beautiful buildings, and then learning about Thomas Jefferson and how he designed his home and the University of Virginia, he was hooked. He thanked me for that, and so did his parents, but I pointed out that it still wouldn't have happened if he hadn't taken the initiative to pursue it, even if the seeds had been planted on that trip.

Jay was also going to come to the house afterward and spend the night. He and Ricky had a lot of catching up to do and he wanted to spend time with the other boys too, which he would do the following day. Hell, I could tell from his comments that he was probably going to be at our place almost as much as he would be at home with his parents this break.

As the evening wore on and we got closer and closer to midnight, the bartenders turned on the various televisions and put them all on the channel featuring the festivities in Times Square. Nearly everyone wanted to watch the ball drop and countdown with the announcer, so we obliged them. Starting with the final ten seconds, we all counted down together and then began wishing everyone around us a 'Happy New Year,' once the magical hour had arrived. There was a great deal of kissing and hugging going on, and I must say that I also did my share, and then we began dancing as the DJ played 'Auld Lang Syne.'

Even though the Spences left shortly after that, and took Arlene with them, the party continued on. The younger crowd didn't seem to want to leave and I can't really say I blamed them. I didn't want the night to end either, but there were restrictions on how long these various establishments could remain open. When the bartenders finally announced last call and told us they be shutting down within thirty minutes after that, the crowd began to thin out. Luckily, no one had gotten carried away to the point where they were deemed unfit to drive home, and the few borderline cases had someone else that was going to drive their vehicle for them. I was pleased how that went.

Once we returned home, the boys began to disappear. Some of them had plans to celebrate privately with their partner, while others were tired and merely went to bed. Jake and I didn't doze off right away either, since we wanted to ring each other's New Year's chimes, but we did go to sleep once that had been accomplished.

Chapter 16
That Special Moment

Once the merriment of New Year's had passed, January ushered in some less than happy moments. It all began on January 5th, when I realized it would have been Cody's fifteenth birthday. My heart ached when I remembered our angel and the short time we had together. This, in turn, caused me to think about Brent, whose birthday would have been in March, when he would have turned nineteen. Suddenly, all of the dark memories concerning the events leading up to their deaths flooded into my brain and I slowly started my descent into a deep depression. It had nearly killed me when I lost Brent, because I'd suffered a heart attack right after his funeral, but losing Cody was certainly no easier. Damn, I miss both of them and can only wonder what they might be like today, if they hadn't left this world so quickly.

I struggled to pull my mind away from these gloomy thoughts and pull myself out of the depths I had sunken to, but it was a losing battle. I quickly discovered my memories of them were completely controlling my mind and I was about to hit bottom. No matter what I did to distract myself, it wasn't effective and I gradually became more and more morose.

Jake noticed this almost immediately and tried to snap me out of my funk, but his attempts were unsuccessful. In fact, I was so unresponsive and withdrawn that the boys began to question what was wrong, even Jesse.

"Why's Daddy so sad?" he asked Andrew, a couple of days after I began to slip into this foul mood.

Even though a few of the older boys had figured out what was troubling me, Andrew didn't understand my situation at all. Concerned, he confronted Jake and asked if he knew what was wrong with me. Once Jake confided in him as to why I was so down, Andrew was able to also share this information with Jesse.

"Daddy's sad because he's thinking about our two brothers that died," Andrew told him.

"Really?" Jesse responded, totally shocked. "You mean some boys have died here?"

"Yes, Jesse, they did," Andrew answered. "They weren't very old either. I think Cody was a little younger than I am now and Brent was only slightly older."

"But how? Why did they die so young?" Jesse asked, totally bewildered.

"Brent died in a car accident, when he went on vacation with one of his friends," Andrew explained. "Cody had leukemia – that's a type of cancer – and the doctors did all they could, but he still died too."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Jesse told Andrew, while thinking he had made Andrew feel bad too. "No wonder Daddy looks so sad."

Having said that, Jesse immediately took off and came looking for me. I was sitting alone in the living room, just staring off into space when he found me. I almost didn't notice when he entered the room and crawled onto my lap, but when he wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a big kiss on the cheek, he was hard to ignore.

"I love you sooooo much Daddy," he said, once his lips separated from the side of my face. Then he settled in against me, placed his head over my heart and then we just sat like this for the next twenty or thirty minutes.

I was confused about what had prompted his actions and why he was so willingly to just sit on my lap, without saying a word. My confusion ended a short time later, when Andrew filled me in about their conversation. It was the combination of these two events that began to pull me out of my melancholy, because I realized the other boys depended on me too and I couldn't let any of them down by wallowing in remorse and self-pity. Slowly, I regained my grip on reality and fought back the tides of despair.

Once I was able to do this, the rest of January went much better and flew past us in the blink of an eye. The college boys had spent the first couple of weeks of the month at home with the family, before returning to their respective campuses, but they were gone now too. It had been nice to have them back, because the house had been full and came alive again, so I missed them even more now. Oh, I still enjoyed having the other boys around and I also like having some quiet time once in a while as well, but there are still times when I miss the bustle, laughter, good-natured banter and serious discussions that seemed to abound when everyone is home.

In mid-January, I got a call from Jesse's mother, so she could inform me I could have the container moved to our place, whenever it was convenient. She was going to sell everything else off in a garage sale and then hopefully leave to join us before the end of the month. I told her that would be fine and added that I even had a job lined up for her when she arrived.

Everything else was going well during this period, so we started looking forward to Jesse's mother's arrival. I had arranged for her to stay with Mark's mother when she first arrived, while I helped her find a place of her own. Actually that didn't take very long, because shortly after we started looking, she found a cute little apartment that she ended up renting a couple of days later. The boys and I helped her move her things to her new place, and once she was unpacked, I told her about the job. I had arranged for her to work in the Middle School cafeteria, because that way she'd be able to see Jesse every day when he came through for lunch. I also told her I had a friend that owned a restaurant and he was willing to let her work nights or weekends, if she felt she needed a little extra money. She thanked me for doing this for her and then we let her settle in, with Jesse going down from time to time to help out.

Once this task was also behind us, I began talking to the boys about making plans for Valentine's Day. It fell on a Monday this year, so I thought we should have the party on Saturday. They agreed that would work fine, so I encouraged them to start making arrangements.

Sammy wanted to invite Ted again, which I had no problems with, but the boys thought we should also ask Mark and Duck to bring their girlfriends too. I liked that idea, so I told them to go ahead and do it. As for Dion, since Trey was going to be away at college, he wondered if could invite Shelly. I just had a few questions I wanted to ask him first, before I agreed.

"Will she have any problems with the boys being with other boys?" I asked.

"Heck, no," he replied. "She knows I'm going with Trey and she's cool with it."

"And explain to me why you are inviting her again," I pressed.

"She's my friend and if I'm with her, I won't feel as if I'm cheating on Trey." After hearing his response, I gave the idea my blessing.

When Sammy called Ted, he immediately agreed to come, but then he called back a short time later. He still wanted to come, but he said his Aunt Jane was going to bring him and she wanted to help out this year too. I thought that would work out fine, so I told him we looked forward to seeing both of them again.

Once Mark informed his mother about our plans, she called and insisted on preparing the meal again. Since my mother didn't raise a fool, I graciously accepted her offer. After telling her about Jane, Susan said she remembered her from the previous year and the two of them could handle everything. Susan also insisted that all I had to do was to concentrate on keeping Jake happy, so I thanked her and assured her I would.

Jake will have his six-month follow-up visit coming up in March, so I wanted to use this holiday to keep his mind off of the appointment. It's not because there had been any problems and everything had been going well so far, but I didn't want Jake to start dwelling on it. Jake always dreaded having to go through these exams, so I intended to take his mind off of it by making this a Valentine's Day he wouldn't soon forget.

The boys began making their personal arrangements, while Susan planned the meal and I checked over the guest list. Jake and I would be there, Graham had asked Little Ricky to pair up with him again, Sammy was inviting Ted, Dion was going to bring Shelly, Duck and Mark would be there with their girlfriends and Andrew and Jesse told me they wanted to be there with each other. How cute! It looks as if we'll have a pretty eclectic group.

I explained to Susan that the menu didn't have to be elaborate and whatever she recommended would be fine. The boys said they were going to stick pretty much with what they did the previous year, except for changing a few of the songs. I was fine with that, as long as they were, although I did put in a few song requests of my own, for Jake. Dion was going to take care of the music, while still being able to spend time and dance with Shelly. Dion said he had explained this to her, and since they weren't really a couple, she didn't mind. This way, none of the others would have to worry about anything but their partner.

The time in between the start of our planning and the special day passed swiftly, as everyone concentrated on what they needed to do for the big night. On the Friday before the party, Ted and his Aunt Jane arrived and she was as chipper as ever. It was nice to see both of them again and Ted was all excited about being here with us. Jane was having fun teasing Ted and Sammy about what they might have planned and kept dropping little comments about it throughout the evening. This continued into Saturday as well, and she made them both blush on many occasions. Even though they scolded her for saying such things, we all knew they didn't really mind the attention.

Ted stayed with Sammy that evening, while his Aunt Jane used the guest room. The boys were excited about being together again and Ted couldn't wait to have sex. I noticed he was continually whispering to Sammy, and then Sammy would respond with comments such as, 'it's too early yet' or 'in a little while,' which let me know what Ted was talking to him about. They did eventually disappear, earlier than most of the others, and Jane didn't miss that fact.

"I think those little devils are off to have some fun," she said, before following it with her girlish tittering.

Once they got to the room, Ted quickly announced his intentions. "I want you to do me again," he told Sammy. "I've been having an itch back there ever since going with you guys on vacation, so I need you to scratch it for me."

Sammy agreed, but had his own suggestion to add. "Okay, and then you can do it to me afterward."

"You don't have to, if you don't want to," Ted confirmed.

"I don't do it often, but I'll do it for you," Sammy told him. "I don't mind and I want you to keep trying everything."

Ted didn't object further, so they slowly began undressing each other. In the past, they would have hurriedly ripped off their own garments and then jumped into bed, but even though Ted was anxious to do this, he was still willing to take his time. Sammy said he felt Ted enjoyed taking his clothes off, because Ted would touch or pay attention to each exposed area in one fashion or another. Sammy did the same to him, but most of his attention was done orally, as he kissed Ted's neck and chest, nipped and sucked on his nipples, ran his tongue around and in Ted's bellybutton and eventually lathed his genitals thoroughly, before swallowing Ted's penis and bobbing on it momentarily. Sammy didn't have to do it very long, before Ted blew his load, but this way Sammy knew Ted would last a while, when he moved into the top position.

After Sammy prepared both of them, he had Ted get on the bed and lay on his side. Then he sidled up behind Ted and carefully began to poke at his rear entrance. Sammy was surprised at how little resistance there was this time and figured Ted must have been preparing for this to happen since well before he got here. Once Sammy slipped totally inside of him, he asked Ted if he was okay and merely received a very breathy, "Oh, yeah. I'm fine," in response. Hearing that, Sammy began to thrust his hips back and forth and quickly worked into a pretty good rhythm. Ted was even working his anal muscles this time and would tighten them each time Sammy withdrew, which was making the experience much more pleasurable for both of them.

Ted was also rocking back and forth to match Sammy's thrusts, so it was also apparent Ted was a quick learner. This also helped to bring Sammy to the boiling point much quicker than during their previous encounters, but it was also much more satisfying. As Sammy began to feel those familiar sensations beginning to well up in his groin, he quickened his pace. Both boys were panting and moaning, so much so that anyone passing by in the hallway knew exactly what was going on behind the closed door. It was a good thing Ted's Aunt Jane had remained downstairs, because I know she wouldn't have been able to resist the urge to bang on their door and tease them about what they were up to. I think Ted might have fainted, at the very least, if she had done that to them.

In short order, Sammy arrived at the brink of the precipice and his body began to stiffen, as he drove his penis as far into Ted's netherworld as it would go. Sammy grunted several times, once for each shot of semen that exploded from his dick, while Ted merely cooed in delight and satisfaction. Once it was over, both boys remained as they were and didn't move a muscle, as Sammy stayed imbedded in Ted's warm tunnel. Eventually, he lost his erection and slowly slipped out, at which time both boys gave up an 'awwwww,' due to the loss of their connection.

When the moment came for them to reverse roles and Ted had prepared himself, Sammy got on all fours on the bed and got ready for Ted to enter him. Once Ted was fully seated in Sammy's bowels, Sammy lowered his head and chest until they resting on the bedding and then Ted began to piston himself in and out of Sammy's tight channel.

Ted did last longer than either boy had expected, but that was probably due to the fact that Sammy had sucked him to a climax earlier. Regardless of the reason, both boys enjoyed it, although Ted was a little tired and winded by the time he had relinquished his load. After resting a few minutes, the sweaty boys got out of bed and sauntered over to the bathroom, where they showered together and got ready for bed.

When they returned to Sammy's room, they cuddled up facing each other for a little while and exchanged a few steamy kisses, before Sammy turned over and laid on his other side. Sammy then backed against Ted, so they were spooned together, and that's the way they spent most of the night.

Oh, I know some of the others were having a little fun too, but it wasn't as big a deal for them as it was for this pair. I had no idea if Sammy and Ted might one day wind up as a couple, although I doubted it, but they were willing to have some fun, whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Throughout Saturday, the boys ran around making sure they had everything ready for tonight. Ted's Aunt Jane, Jake and I each ran several trips to various locations, so one or more of the boys could pick up this or that, but by 6:00 all of them were ready for the big event to begin.

Duck and his girlfriend showed up earlier, around 3:00 and Dion took the Grand-Am down to pick up Shelly a little before 6:00. Mark also took off to pick up his date and then my boys started coming downstairs dressed to the nines, to impress their dates. Of course, Susan, Jane, Jake and I all had to snap numerous pictures of the spectacular looking couples, so we'd have a reminder of this wonderful evening. I even had them take some of Jake and me, and then I took a few of Jane with Ted and Sam, as well as some others of Susan with Mark and his girlfriend.

Once the photo op had finished, Jane took over getting our drink orders and then delivered the appetizers and Caesar salads to each table, while Susan made sure everything else was ready. Once we had finished the first course, both of them went about clearing the dishes, before delivering the main course, which we all enjoyed. The Chicken Parmesan was moist and very tasty, but it was also set off very nicely by the garlic-mashed potatoes and candied carrots. It was obvious everyone enjoyed the meal; along with the wine we served.

Even though we were all stuffed by the time we finished the entrees, we made a little more room for the Chocolate Mousse Susan had prepared for dessert. Once we downed this marvelous treat, we sat back and relaxed momentarily, before Dion got up and began playing the music.

It was cute watching the various couples dance, but I got a special kick out of watching Andrew and Jesse together. When I looked over and spotted Dion, I thought he was holding Shelly a little closer and more tightly than I would have expected, and she seemed to have a glow about her. I began to wonder if maybe something more was going on here, than just being friends.

I was also glad to see that Sammy and Ted were both dancing with Jane from time to time, and Jake and I each cut the rug with her during a couple of other songs. The same was true with Duck and Mark, as they both took turns dancing with Susan, while Jake and I also took a spin around the dance floor with her as well. Jake and I each danced one dance with both Duck and Mark's girlfriends too, but these occurrences were spread throughout the night and didn't all happen one after the other. In between, it left some special time for us.

When the evening first started out, we danced through the first three or four songs, and then Dion made an announcement. "We have a special request for this next song, and it goes out from Josh to Jake, with all his love."

As soon as he finished, Dion started playing the first song I had requested, 'Someone To Watch Over Me.' I'm not even sure as to which artist sang it, but I've always loved the lyrics and hoped Jake listened to them carefully and we swayed to it's gentle beat.

There's a saying old
Says that love is blind.
Still we're often told
"Seek and ye shall find."
So I'm going to seek a certain lad I've had in mind.
Looking everywhere,
Haven't found him yet;
He's the big affair I cannot forget -
Only man I ever think of with regret.
I'd like to add his initial to my monogram.
Tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb?

There's a somebody I'm longing to see:
I hope that he
Turns out to be
Someone who'll watch over me.
I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood;
I know I could
Always be good
To one who'll watch over me.
Although he may not be the man some
Girls think of as handsome,
To my heart he carries the key
Don't you tell him, please, to put on some speed,
Follow my lead? Oh, how I need
Someone to watch over me.

As the song ended, I whispered in Jake's ear. "I've found him and he's right here in my arms."

Jake hugged and kissed me at the point and I think I heard a few oohs and ahs when it happened.

We danced to a few more songs, and then Dion spoke again. "It seems as if we have another request and this song also goes out to Jake from Josh, with all his love."

After Dion said this, he began to play 'As Long As He Needs Me,' from the musical, 'Oliver!' It was the shortened version that Melinda Doolittle sang on 'American Idol' and intentionally cut out Lionel Bart's darker lyrics about the callous relationship Nancy had with Bill Sikes.

As long as he needs me…
I know where I must be.
I'll cling on steadfastly…
As long as he needs me.

As long as life is long…
I'll love him right or wrong,
And somehow, I'll be strong…
As long as he needs me.

If you are lonely
Then you will know…

When someone needs you,
You love them so.

I won't betray his trust…
Though people say I must.

I've got to stay true, just
As long as he needs me.

"I'm not lonely any more, now that I have you," I told him, softly, as the last notes faded. Jake merely squeezed and kissed me again.

Several songs later, and just before the evening came to an end, Dion made one final announcement. "I have one more request, which is again from Josh to Jake, with all his love."

At that moment, Bobby Helm's voice broke the stillness, as he belted out his rendition of 'My Special Angel.'

You are my special angel
Sent from up above
The Lord smiled down on me
And sent an angel to love

You are my special angel
Right from paradise
I know you're an angel
Heaven is in your eyes

The smile from your lips brings the summer sunshine
Tears from your eyes bring the rain
I feel your touch, your warm embrace
And I'm in heaven again

You are my special angel
Through eternity
I'll have my special angel
Here to watch over me

Here to watch over me
(Angel, angel, whoa-oh-oh-oh, oh, oh oh, oh)

This time I didn't say anything when the music ended, instead I knelt down on one knee and looked up into Jake's face, while popping open a ring box. It contained an elegant man's ring with a diamond setting.

"I know we can't get married, legally, in this state," I began, "but will you join me in a commitment ceremony this Easter, where we will declare our love and commitment to each other in front of our family and friends? Then will you fly off with me to Canada this summer, to have the ceremony performed there? I know that still won't make us legal in Pennsylvania, but we will be able to say we are married." Jake's mouth was hanging open.

"Are you serious?" he asked, still stunned.

"As serious as I was about adopting these boys and making them my sons," I replied.

"Then yes. Yes, I'll do it," Jake confirmed, before I began hearing shouts, screams and some applause. When I looked around, we were surrounded by many smiling faces, some of which were covered with more than a few tears. I was positive I had succeeded in making this one night Jake would never forget.

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