Bill W

Castaway Hotel
Next Generation

Chapters 32-39

On Saturday, Danny had a party for Brandon at the house. It wasn't a huge gathering, since so many family members now lived in other parts of the state, or even the country. For this reason, most of them were no longer close enough to come back, except for major holidays. However, those who lived locally, which included our extended family, and a few of the people Brandon worked with, would be attending. The invitations Danny had delivered stated that no gifts were necessary, but their presence would be greatly appreciated to help celebrate this special day.

In the end, it turned out to be not only a beautiful day, but also a very nice gathering. Those who didn't already know the dentist that Brandon worked for now got a chance to meet him, along with the dental hygienist and receptionist from his office. The party was well attended, each of those present enjoyed themselves and Brandon was thrilled that so many had come to honor him.

Throughout the day, Brandon went out of his way to fill everyone in about what Elliot had done for him the previous evening. This, in turn, elicited more than a few comments directed toward Elliot, along with a few encouraging wishes of 'well-done' and 'that-a-boy,'

No matter how much fun we were having or how interesting this get together was, none of this was what made the day so memorable. That happened when Kevin approached his brother Danny a little later, concerning something he had heard about.

"Danny, I know you still want to open your own pediatric office, but is there any chance you may be doing it soon?" Kevin wanted to know.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen anytime in the near future," Danny admitted. "Joshie's pediatrician says he isn't ready to retire yet and this area just isn't capable of supporting another pediatric office. I guess I'll just have to keep my job at the hospital a little longer and do the best that I can, while I'm waiting for something to open up."

"Well, I may have another possibility for you, if you're interested," Kevin told him.

"Of course I am," Danny confessed. "I'm willing to listen to any possibilities that may come up, but how would you know about a pediatric job?"

"It's not a pediatric job exactly, just a chance for you to start one," Kevin clarified. "Look, let me tell you about my idea and then you can make up your own mind." Danny nodded.

"The local school district where Vinnie and I are currently living is thinking about selling one or more of its buildings," Kevin began. "The district's enrollment is down and they're talking about closing some of the neighborhood K – 6 schools, so they can consolidate the district into larger, and more cost efficient, elementary and middle schools. I've learned that one building they will most likely be putting on the market is not too far from us and I believe it would make a great medical center."

"But are they getting rid of it because it's run down and needs a large amount of repairs?" Danny wondered.

"No, they're getting rid of it because it's the least centrally located," Kevin informed him. "Unfortunately, when it was constructed they chose a site that is fairly close to the boundary of the school district and this is what makes it so undesirable for consolidation purposes. However, it is also what gives it potential as a medical center, because it is located really close to the Interstate. It's just a few blocks from I-76 and less than 20 miles from the junction of I-99, so it would be easy to get to. Not only that, but it wouldn't be a bad commute for you either. Hell, it would even give Brandon the opportunity of opening his own dental office there. It would be perfect for both of you."

"It sounds interesting, but what can you tell me about the building?" Danny wanted to know.

"I can tell you it's one of those one story elementary buildings that was probably built in the late 70s or early 80s," Kevin explained. "Sometime in the 90s the district added a two story addition to one end of the school and the entire place looks to be in fairly good shape. It has a lot of land, because it also has athletic fields, and there is also quite a bit of parking space. I think the combination of those features are what makes it perfect for something like a medical facility."

"It sounds as if you might be right," Danny agreed. "I must admit I have thought about doing something like this, but I just didn't think I'd be ready to attempt it for another five or ten years. It's kind of been a dream of mine to open a regional children's medical center."

"Well now might be time for you to act," Kevin told him. "If the district puts the school on the market, someone will probably snatch it up quickly and turn it into apartments. If not, someone else might turn it into a senior center or nursing home. You might not get another chance like this."

"Okay, but let me talk this over with Brandon and Dad first. If they think it's a good idea, then I'll contact some other people I know and see what they think of the idea too," Danny confirmed. "I am definitely intrigued by the possibility, but I need to get some other input first, before I act. Thanks for the info though."

Kevin assured his brother that he was happy he was able to have supplied him with this possible opportunity, and then Danny went back to make sure the party was going well. Danny didn't say anything to either Brandon or me when he returned, but once the celebration ended and the others had left for home, Danny pulled us aside. In great detail, he shared the information Kevin had told him earlier.

"It sounds like a great possibility," Brandon agreed, "especially if it means I might be able to start my own pediatric dental practice too. I'm just worried that it sounds like a really big gamble."

"There will be some risk involved, but we may never get this opportunity again," Danny responded. "I'm going to call some of my contacts at Penn State and talk to them about this, but I'd also like to know what you think about this, Dad?"

"I'm merely wondering if you will be able to afford to do something like this," I stated. "Not only will there be the initial expense for the building and property, but there will also be the cost of transforming it from a school into medical and dental offices."

"I know and that's something I need to check on," Danny agreed. "I still have quite a bit of money left in the fund that you set up for me and Brandon and I have been able to save up some additional money since we've been living here with you. It's not enough to pay for everything, so Brandon and I will still need to take out a mortgage on the place, but I think we can swing it."

"Do you think you can make enough off of the center to make it worth your while?" I asked next.

"I'm not trying to make a killing off this, but I think there is money to be made," Danny confirmed. "If I can get enough others interested in opening an office there, then I think it will be worth it. The other practices will be paying rent for their office space and that should be enough to cover the mortgage and taxes. I think I'll be able to sell others on the idea that it would be a great spot for an office, because a centralize children's center could be a huge draw. Having something like a children's center would also provide immeasurable advantages for the health of the youngsters in this part of the state. We could offer services there that they'd have to travel to a major city to receive, which would also save their families and insurance providers a huge expense."

"I don't disagree," I acknowledged, "and if you determine this is feasible, I might also be able to assist you with the finances. I am willing to arrange a donation from the Castaway Foundation to help you do this, since it will be providing a service to children."

"Awesome, Dad, and thanks," Danny responded. "I still have to do some work to check it out further, but once I'm able to do that, I'll get back to you."

Almost immediately, Danny started spending most of his free-time researching the feasibility of doing this. He began by calling several of his old professors at Penn State, so he could get their input and suggestions. A couple of them even told Danny this was not only a great possibility, but they also informed him that there are grants and other resources available that he could use to get money to help pull this off. After receiving their encouragement and input about funding, he started to believe he might be able to make this a reality after all.

Now that Danny was convinced of the feasibility of making this happen, he contacted Kevin again. This time, he wanted to see if his brother would be willing to take him over to the school, so he could look the building over.

"Sure, but we probably won't be able to get inside yet," Kevin agreed. "I'll be happy to walk around the outside with you and look through some of the windows, so you can see what it looks like inside."

Since Kevin was willing, they set up a time to do this. An hour later, Danny and Brandon drove to Kevin's new place and then the three of them went over to the school. For over an hour, they walked around the perimeter of the building, looked through windows and checked out the grounds and parking area, before looking at the various outbuildings.

"This place is in better condition than I expected," Danny stated, as he started to become even more optimistic that this could be done.

"And there appears to be at least minimal plumbing in every room," Brandon added. "I've seen a counter with a sink in each one and I've noticed some of the classrooms even have a small toilet facility located in one of the corners."

"And it has a gym and athletic fields that can be utilized for youth fitness programs," Danny confirmed. "We could allow local sports leagues to use them, which will help to promote kids getting out to play and staying in shape."

"Kevin, do you think you could find a place to put a pharmacy in there too?" Brandon wondered. "It would be really convenient if the patients coming to these offices could get their prescriptions filled here as well."

"Damn, I hadn't thought about that, but it's something I'm willing to consider," Kevin agreed. "Wow! I hadn't even seen the possibility that this might also lead to me having my own business. I was just thinking about you guys."

Now, they all had research to do, to see if this idea was feasible. All three of them were intrigued by the possibilities, yet still somewhat hesitant about taking such a huge risk. There was a lot more work for them to do first, before they could make up their minds.

While his fathers were doing all of their research, Elliot was getting more involved with tennis. Not only were Hayden and he working out on their own in the gym, but now the tennis team was also meeting to do the same thing, on a limited basis. The problem was, it was getting difficult to find time when the gym was available, because now there were considerably more demands on this facility. The baseball and lacrosse teams were also using the gym for some early workouts, at least until the last of the snow disappeared. This meant Elliot and Hayden weren't able to get in there alone every day and it forced them to workout outside, whenever the weather wasn't too cold or inhospitable.

I was glad to see Elliot and Hayden's friendship blossoming too. From some of the comments Hayden had made and some of the things Elliot had told us, I didn't think this would be anything more than a friendship, but they did get along really well with each other. I think this, along with Elliot fitting in so well with our family, has helped to account for the reason he's bounced back so quickly after his father's death.

Since Elliot was so involved with tennis, Jesse was finding it difficult to fill all of his free time. After I'd spoken with him, he's been hanging around with his friends and doing more things with them, but I thought there was something else Jesse should be concentrating on. Therefore, I sat down with him and began to question if he'd been thinking ahead, about his future.

"Jesse, you're almost at the end of your junior year, so have you made any decisions about what you want to do after you graduate?" I asked him.

"I'll probably go to college," he said, rather vaguely.

"Do you know where you want to apply or what you plan to study?" I challenged, since I felt it was time for him to start thinking about this.

"I've thought about it a little, but I haven't made any decisions yet," he confessed.

"Well, maybe you should start using some of your time to begin thinking about this," I suggested. "What types of things are you interested in?"

"I like science and I really admire what Danny's doing," Jesse admitted. "I think it was neat that he started out taking care of Elliot and then became his foster-father, but I don't think I could ever be a doctor. That would take way too long."

"Well, if you don't think you could be a doctor, how about doing something else in the medical field then," I hinted. "There are plenty of other opportunities that don't require you to become a doctor or take as many years to achieve. There are male nurses and all kinds of technological and laboratory positions."

"Yeah, that might be something I'd be interested in," Jesse confirmed. "I think you're right and I'll look into some of those things."

"Talk to Danny too," I offered. "I think he might be able to give you some advice and help get you going in the right direction."

"Thanks, Dad. I'll do that," Jesse agreed.

He now took off and began to look some information up on the computer.

I found it interesting that there was suddenly a whole lot of research going on at the house. Jesse was looking into possible careers, Danny and Brandon were studying the feasibility of opening a medical center and, even though he wasn't still living with us, Kevin was looking at the possibility of opening his own pharmacy. Since Kevin was frequently in touch with Danny and Brandon about this, to discuss his options, he would often stop by the house and do some of his research while he was here as well. Personally, I thought it was fantastic that each of the boys was seriously considering these possibilities.

This, however, didn't mean they weren't involved in other activities too. Even though they were fairly busy, Elliot was also pressuring his fathers to schedule a sitting for their family portrait. He felt that because it had now been a couple of weeks since he had given Dad Brandon the gift certificate, it was time to use it. After they finally agreed on a time that would be good for each of them, they made an appointment to have their portrait taken. When that time came, they each dressed in a suit and tie, and the three of them were looking absolutely handsome, as they left the house.

Once they were at the studio, the photographer arranged them with Danny and Brandon standing behind Elliot. He was standing in front and between them, and they each had a hand on one of his arms. After clicking off a few shots of that pose, the photographer then arranged them in a similar pose, but this time Danny and Brandon had a hand on Elliot's shoulder. After snapping a few frames of that pose, the photographer placed them in a final pose that had Danny and Brandon seated, with Elliot standing behind them. This time, Elliot had one of his hands on each of his fathers' shoulders. After they told me about the session, I was anxious to see how the photos turned out.

As we approached the end of March, each of my sons was starting to reach some conclusions about the business deals they were considering. Danny, Brandon and Kevin came to me one night, because they wanted to run some of their ideas by me.

"Dad, my contacts at Penn State have really been encouraging me to do this," Danny informed me. "They have given me more information about potential funding sources and have also agreed to get in touch with some of their professional contacts who might be thinking about expanding their practices or even want to relocate. A few of them have even agreed to direct former and current students to contact me about the possibly of opening their own practice with us. A couple of these contacts have also expressed an interest in investing in what we're doing or possibly even serving as consultants."

"That does sound promising," I agreed, and then Brandon added some information of his own.

"I've also talked to a guy I met in college and he is willing to form a dental practice with me," Brandon stated next. "If I accept his offer, it would make the office even more attractive to new clients, because it would now become a Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontic office. That's because my friend's specialty is orthodontics. He's currently working in Pittsburgh with an orthodontic group there, but he says he'd prefer to get out on his own."

"Wow! You guys have really been looking into this very seriously then," I acknowledged. "What about redoing the school into medical suites."

"I've talked to Dustin and he's agreed to do all the HVAC work for us," Danny announced. "He also says he knows a couple of guys who own their own plumbing and electrical firms. He says he thinks he can talk them into doing the work for us at a discounted rate."

"That could save you some bucks," I agreed.

"It could," Danny concurred, "and when I told Ricky what we were thinking of doing, he contacted Jay and told him. Jay then called me and said he'd be willing to draw up the architectural plans for free. He said it would be his way of repaying us for everything our family did for him. Since he's willing to do that, all I'll need to do is hire a general contractor to handle the structural changes to the interior of the building."

"Damn, this is really coming together," I concurred.

"Yes and I've found a possibility for me too," Kevin announced, since he was here for this meeting as well.

"I went back and looked at the school again, but didn't see a good spot in it where I could locate a pharmacy. Since I couldn't find a place in the current building, I was thinking about adding on to the end where the school had storage facilities and those extra trailers," Kevin continued. "Then I discovered something that would work out even better for me. About a hundred yards from the school, on the same side of the street, is an old bank that's currently for sale. It came on the market when two banks merged, because the other bank has a branch of equal size, but in a slightly newer building that is less than half a mile from there. This meant the other building was now unnecessary, so they put it up for sale."

"And it would work as a pharmacy?" I asked.

"Oh, yes," Kevin agreed. "It's a perfect size for one thing and I could use the bank vault to store the controlled drugs and as many of the others drugs as I could. I could also keep the store's reserve cash supply and our daily receipts locked up in there too. Doing that would make the pharmacy really secure – probably the safest pharmacy in the state, if not the entire country." Kevin chuckled after saying this.

"I suppose it would at that," I agreed.

"Another great feature about the bank building is that it also has a bulletproof drive-thru window," Kevin added. "We could use that for people who don't want to come inside to pick up their prescription. Not only that, but the doctors at the medical center would be able to call or fax over the scripts and we could have them ready by the time the patients are leaving the office. Then, they can either come in and pick them up with some other things or just come to the drive-thru window to get it."

"Man, I like that idea," Danny confirmed.

"Me too," I concurred. "It seems as if you boys have done your homework on this. So, Kevin, are you planning to just carry the standard pharmaceutical products?"

"No, besides the typical pharmacy products, I also want to carry things that not many other places have," Kevin stated. "I want to offer an expanded line of first aid items, as well as a collection of specialized supplies for those who are handicapped, either long-term or as a result of an injury, accident or old age."

"I wonder where he got that idea from?" Brandon teased, while looking at Kevin.

"Okay, Vinnie did have some input along this line," he confirmed. "Since he works with children that have disabilities, he's told me about some of the extremes they have to go to at times, in order to get certain items. That's why I've decided to carry what I can, but I'll also set it up so I can sell other items and have them delivered overnight or in two days max, so I'll be able to meet their needs."

"I believe doing something like that could also attract an additional clientele to your store," I agreed.

"Yes, with carrying those items and being conveniently located next to the medical center, it should give me a leg up on any other nearby pharmacies," Kevin concurred. "That's why I think this might be the best opportunity that will come my way, no matter how long I wait."

"You may be right about that," I agreed. "So what do you guys plan to do for your next move?"

The three boys looked at each other, to decide who was going to answer. Finally, Danny stepped forward.

"I'm going to call and schedule an appointment with the superintendent and board of education, so I can find out what they're going to ask or the property," Danny informed us. "Once they give me a price, then I'll be able to make an offer. I feel if we can hammer out an agreement before the district signs on with a realtor, then they'll be able to save the realtor's cut. That way, we can split the difference and both make out on the deal."

"If they agree to Danny's offer," Kevin added, "then I'll make an offer on the bank building and the two of us can begin negotiating with the bank about taking mortgages out on the two properties. I think by going together, and since the bank already owns one of the places, we'll be able to make out better."

"Sounds like a plan to me," I agreed. "Will you have enough cash for the required down payments?"

"Yes, we both still have enough in our accounts to cover that," Danny confirmed, "plus Brand and I have been able to put away a little more from our current jobs. I think this will work out great, even though I'm getting into it a few years earlier than I'd first planned."

"That may be true, but opportunity knocks only once, so if it is knocking for you now, then go for it," I told him. "I'll back you all the way and will do everything I can to help. You can use the money from the Castaway Foundation to renovate some of the interior."

"We know you will do everything you can and thank you, Dad," Brandon added.

Now, I was just as anxious as they were to see how all of this was going to work out. I thought this was a great possibility for each of them.

The boys had also come up with a name for what they wanted to call this place. Danny and Brandon had agreed to name it the 'South-Central PA Regional Children's Health Center.' I know that's a very long name, but it describes exactly what they're trying to do there.

I also feel the location of the center has possibilities to attract patients from out of state too. The building isn't situated very far from the Pennsylvania border with Maryland and can be easily reached by coming up I-70. I-70 also connects to I-68, which runs the length of Maryland's northern border. Since traveling to the health center can be done easily over any number of major highways, I think this fact could influence people to come to them, rather than going someplace they can only reach by traveling over less hospitable local and county routes.

Just before the month was to end, I got a call to tell Danny and Brandon they could come down to see the proofs of their family photo. I told the photographer I'd have them call him back, but I couldn't wait to see how the photos came out. For that reason, I called Danny on his cell phone and left a message for him to call the photographer back.

When he came home, Danny told me he had made an appointment to go down and look at the proofs the following evening. He told me I was welcome to come with them, because he knew I didn't want to wait to see how they turned out. Even though I didn't wish to impose on their family decision, they talked me into going with them.

There was at least one good proof of all three poses, but Danny, Brandon and Elliot agreed they liked the photo with Danny and Brandon seated the best. They ordered a wall-sized (16 x 20) copy of that one and two table-sized (8 x 10) copies of all three poses. They said they'd keep one of those sets and give me the other. I thought that was really sweet of them and offered to pay for my copies. However, Elliot wasn't about to let me do that either and insisted that he was paying for everything.

We were now into April and Easter was fast approaching. Danny, Brandon and Kevin were putting a great deal of thought, time and effort into exactly what they wanted to do with the school and bank buildings, as well as how much they felt they'd be able to offer. When Danny finally met with the superintendent and school board, he learned the district was indeed considering a consolidation proposal, but no formal decision had been made on it yet. However, they also confirmed that if the plan were adopted, the school he had mentioned would most likely be placed on the market.

Next, Danny asked if they'd be willing to provide him with a copy of the blueprints of the building. He told them that by having them he'd be able to determine if this building would be feasible for doing what he intended. If so, it would also allow him to have plans developed, so he could get a head start on the project. This way, if the building did go on the market, he'd know whether or not he could make an offer.

After discussing Danny's proposal briefly, the board members concurred that they saw no problem with doing this and agreed to give him what he wanted. Once they agreed to that, Danny asked what price they might be thinking of asking for the property, if it did come up for sale. After some whispered discussion, they told him they couldn't give him a specific price, but they did give him a ballpark figure. Danny thanked them and then agreed to return and pick up the copies of the blueprints three days later.

Once he got the blueprints of the building, Danny overnighted them to Jay, who was eager to determine if the property could effectively be converted to meet Danny's goals. Jay was familiar with what would need to be considered when laying out medical and dental offices, but he also talked extensively with Danny and Brandon to see what they specifically had in mind. In the end, Jay concluded the building could be adapted to serve the purpose they wanted, so now the boys only had to wait for the school district to make their final decision.

Kevin had also gone to look at the bank and asked Jay if he'd also be willing to help him adapt that building for his purposes, in case he decided to buy it. Jay said he would and told Kevin to forward him those blueprints too. After procuring a copy of those items, he forwarded them to Jay, who began his preliminary sketches for that location.

During the second full week of April, I also received a call asking me to inform Danny and Brandon that their family portraits were ready for them. Once they had picked them up from the photographer's studio, they took them over to the frame shop to have them all put into nice frames, including my set. When they picked them up, a couple of days later, they all looked fantastic.

Since the wall size photo had been done in an antique looking wooden frame, we found a spot for it in the foyer, where everyone could see it. Danny, Brandon and I then took our personal sets of the three proofs they'd chosen and hung them on a wall in our bedrooms. We were both pleased with how they looked.

Around this same time, Jesse had also come up with an idea he was pursuing. Since I'd prodded him to start thinking about his future, he came up with something he thought he'd like to do.

"I'm thinking about becoming a radiologist," Jesse told me one evening. "I've talked to Danny about this and looked up a whole bunch of information about it online. I've even talked to my guidance counselor about this. It not only sounds interesting, but it also helps people and I can make a decent living doing it. Danny even said by the time I graduate, he might be able to give me a job at the health center, once he's able to arrange for the equipment necessary to have a diagnostic and imaging department."

"Wow! That would be awesome and you'd be able to work with your brother," I said.

"Yes, he said he might not be able to put the equipment in right away, but he should be able to have something set up by the time I graduate," Jesse added. "If that happens, I'll be able to do x-rays, sonograms, mammograms, MRIs, CT and PET scans and Danny said the majority of the practices at the center would be able to utilize my services."

I was impressed by the amount of research he'd done on this and that he had conferred with Danny about it too. I'm glad now that I had urged him to start thinking about his future.

Since we were now into April, Elliot's tennis practices had moved outdoors. Hayden and he had both made the JV squad and were going to play singles, but they were also going to team up as doubles partners. One day, Elliot came up to me, so he could ask me a question concerning this.

"Papa, I know my dads are going to be working most of the times that I have tennis matches," Elliot began, "but I was wondering if you might be willing to come watch me play sometimes."

"I certainly will," I agreed, "and I know both Danny and Brandon are planning to be there as often as they can. We're all looking forward to watching you play. Who knows, maybe someday you'll play at Wimbledon."

"I'm nowhere near that good," Elliot confessed, "but I would like it if you came to watch me."

"I'm looking forward to it and I know your fathers are too," I confirmed.

This seemed to make Elliot happy and I really was looking forward to watching him play. In fact, I'm planning on taking Joshie along with me, since he has proven he's interested in sports and loves playing tennis against the others on the Wii. This might end up giving him another outlet to burn off some of his excess energy, if he discovers it's something he's interested in.

That weekend, Elliot spent Friday night and Saturday at Hayden's house again. The boys were becoming thicker than thieves, but I knew they weren't up to anything sinister. They would go out running, practice their tennis and do other things while they were together. They had quickly become friends and totally reveled in the time they got to spend with each other.

When he got home, Elliot reminded me that he had a home match on Tuesday and wanted to know if I'd be there. I told him I would and I'd bring Joshie with me, but his fathers wouldn't be able to make it this time. I did assure him that they would make some of his other matches, but they couldn't finagle this particular match into their schedules. Now that they knew when his future matches were, they were going to arrange for time off so they could attend, which seemed to make Elliot happy.

When Tuesday came around, I bundled Joshie up, after he returned home from school with his fathers. It was still a little chilly out, so I made sure that Joshie was dressed warmly enough that he wouldn't get sick, and then we went down to the high school.

"Where are we going, Papa," my little man wanted to know.

"We're going down to watch Elliot play tennis," I advised him.

"Can I play too?" Joshie asked, almost as soon as I'd finished my sentence.

"I'm sorry, little man, but you won't be able to do that this time. Today, it's only something the older boys will be allowed to do," I answered. "It's not like playing the Wii game at home. You'll see and maybe you'll like it too. Then when you get older, maybe you'll want to play on the tennis team too."

We situated ourselves outside of the fence where Elliot would be playing, but we could also watch Hayden's match from there as well. Although I was enjoying the action, I knew Joshie was only intent on watching Elliot. Joshie seemed to be quite interested in what was going on, but I think some things were confusing him. That became obvious when he asked me a question.

"Why do they keep saying 'love,' Papa?" Joshie wondered. "Do the boys love each other?"

I couldn't help but to chuckle slightly.

"No, little man," I answered. "Saying love is just the way they say zero in tennis. It means the one player hasn't scored any points."

"Then why don't they just say zero?" Joshie demanded.

"I know it's confusing, but it's because tennis is a very old game and that's how they did things way back when it started," I explained.

Joshie may have accepted my explanation, but I could tell by the way he looked at me that he still thought it was stupid. I'm not sure I disagreed with him either, because the scoring system does make it confusing for beginners and non-players to understand. I mean, why do they score fifteen points the first two times they score, but then only ten point the third time? I mean the love, 15, 30, 40 game progression can baffle more than just a few casual observers.

I was pleased when both boys won their singles matches, but they didn't do nearly as well in doubles. In fact, their attempt was almost comical. It very quickly became obvious that both Elliot and Hayden were extremely aggressive, so much so that they might even be considered ball-hogs. If the idea of dividing the court in half had even occurred to them, they weren't very good at putting it into practice.

Whenever a ball was hit anywhere between them, they would both go for it. On more than one occasion this led to them bumping into one another, hitting the other's racket or just interfering with the other's swing. The worst time was when they actually ran into each other and then tumbled onto the hard court. They suffered a few bruises and scrapes in that incident and I even saw a trickle of blood on Elliot's knee and Hayden's shin.

"What the heck did you think you were doing?" Hayden screamed, as he was getting up.

"The ball was on my side, not yours," Elliot screamed back. "This was your fault, not mine!"

"No! That ball was on my side of the court," Hayden challenged.

"Was not!" Elliot screamed back, and then he bent over and looked at his knee.

"Was too and you should have stayed on your own side," Hayden disagreed, and then two boys began to glare at each other.

After hearing the snickers from the spectators, the boys must have realized how silly their outburst was and they both burst out laughing. They then apologized to one another for their comments, before continuing the match. I'm definitely glad they were able to work out this little misunderstanding, but I hope it doesn't take them very long before they get a better feel for the court, so nothing like it happens again.

I was a little surprised that on the way home Elliot hadn't asked me what I thought of the match or for my take on how well he had played. He may have been afraid of the answer I'd give him, but I decided to tell him anyway.

"You looked good in your singles match," I told him. I could see him grimace after I'd said it.

"Yeah, but we really sucked at doubles," he confirmed. "That was a complete disaster, especially when Hayden and I knocked each other over."

"That was a problem, but you really didn't play that badly," I told him. "It's just that doubles takes a whole different mindset, since you have a partner to help you out. You boys just need to come up with a way to determine how you want to split up the court and who will be responsible for which types of shots."

"Yeah, but I guess we don't know how to do that," he sighed, despondent.

"Maybe it would help if you watch other doubles players and take notes on how they do it," I suggested. "I don't mean to do this with just the other guys on your team either. Watch matches on TV or look up some videos of doubles matches and see how they do things. I think it will help you two out a lot."

"You might be right and we can do that," Elliot replied. "Thanks. Maybe I'll invite Hayden over again this weekend, and see if there are any matches on TV or we can look up videos online. I'm sure they must have some there."

"It sounds like a good idea to me," I told him. "Just make sure you also clear it with your fathers, before you ask Hayden over."

"I will and thanks again, Papa," Elliot told me, before he raced into the house and went up to his room.

Hayden's parents happily allowed their son to spend Friday night and Saturday with us, as long as he returned home Saturday night. Sunday was Palm Sunday and they wanted him to attend services with them, which we could all understand. Danny and Brandon quickly agreed to their request, so Hayden came home with Elliot Friday, after school.

The boys spent much of their time, both Friday night and Saturday morning, looking up this information. They found videos on ehow.com, tennisexpress.com and youtube.com that went over the rules and tactics of doubles play. While watching these, they agreed about how they would split up the court, but they also agreed to have one of them play the net and the other would stay back a bit, so they wouldn't bump into one another or hinder the other's shot. Now, they just had to work this into the way they played and, hopefully, their efforts would turn out better.

Saturday afternoon, the boys went to the tennis court to practice, but unfortunately they weren't able to find anyone with whom they could practice playing doubles against. Therefore, they merely ended up playing each other, while hoping they could work the kinks out of their doubles game at practice the following week.

That night, they took Hayden home and he thanked Danny and Brandon for letting him stay over. Hayden then told Elliot he'd see him on Monday and told him that he looked forward to ironing out their doubles problems at practice. They both seemed optimistic about this, so I hope things work out as easily.

On Palm Sunday, we all went to church together and I found myself having to explain to Joshie about the palm leaves that adorned the altar. He had asked Trey, since Dion was seated with the choir, but when his Poppy didn't give him what he thought was a satisfactory response, he turned to me.

"Papa what is that green stuff up there?" he wanted to know.

"Joshie, those are leaves from a palm tree," I explained. "One time, when Jesus traveled to Jerusalem riding a donkey, the people greeted him by placing palm leaves on the ground in front of the donkey. The leaves are there to help us remember."

"So he didn't have a car?" Joshie wondered.

"No, little man, it happened before there were cars and people had to ride horses and donkeys to get places," I told him.

"So they didn't have roads either?" he asked next. "Is that why they had to put the leaves in front of his donkey?"

"There weren't as many roads then, but there were some," I answered, "but they put the palm leaves down to show him respect. They were trying to let him know that they thought he was a very important person and that's one way they did it."

This must have sufficed, because Joshie didn't ask any more questions about it. I just hope he understood what I was saying and that it was beginning to make sense to him.

During the following week, Elliot would return home every evening and tell us how Hayden and he were working hard to solve their doubles problem. He also reminded us that he had another match on Thursday, which his fathers, Joshie and I would all be attending. Brandon had arranged his day so he had no patients after 3:00 and Danny took a half-day off from work so he could be there. Elliot seemed pleased that they had worked it so they could watch him play and I could sense he was determined to do well, because they were going to be there.

Once again, I was able to find us a good spot from where we could watch Elliot play. Shortly after the match began, Joshie was busy informing Danny and Brandon that love meant zero, not that the boys loved each other. Danny and Brandon smiled and thanked him for clearing that up and then we watched the boys play and cheered them on.

Today, Elliot won his singles match again, but Hayden lost a very close and hard fought contest. When it came to their doubles play, they did much better, but it still wasn't perfect. The problem this time was that they were both trying so hard not to cross into the other's side of the court that they would occasionally let a ball go without either of them swinging at it. I'm sure they'll work this out too, but unfortunately they still lost the match.

I think Elliot was more chagrinned about this, because they had lost the match when his fathers were watching. We all told them they had played well, even if they hadn't won all of the matches. I also pointed out that they showed considerable improvement over their previous doubles effort and my comment appeared to embarrass Elliot. When I asked him about it later, I explained that I had meant what I said as a compliment.

"I know that's what you meant, but I'm sure my dads got the implication," Elliot reasoned. "If we got beat like that today, and it wasn't even very close, then they must have figured out that the way we played in our first match must have been absolutely terrible."

I could see where he was coming from, although I told him I thought his fathers wouldn't judge his play so harshly. Elliot said he hoped that was so, but he expected his fathers' ability to judge talent and athletic prowess would be more astute than that.

The next day was Good Friday and the boys had the day off from school. Therefore, I took everyone who was available at the time to attend services with me at church. It wasn't a long or drawn out service, but the pastor did cover the basics. His sermon gave sufficient details to remind us about why this day was so important to those of us who adhere to the Christian faith. Of course, it was a somber and sobering experience.

After the service, we went home and waited for the arrival of the other family members who were going to be joining us for Easter. I knew Jay was coming home with Ricky this time, because Jay wanted to go over what he had done on the architectural plans with Danny, Brandon and Kevin. Ricky was also picking up Graham and Sammy on his way, because he was carpooling with them again. Frankie and his girlfriend were also going to be driving in to join us, since Frankie had this weekend off. Pat was also coming in from Pittsburgh, and he was going to be bringing Duck and his girlfriend with him. Regrettably, Mark wouldn't be with us for this holiday, because he was going to spend it with his girlfriend's family this year. That, of course, didn't sit well with Susan.

The various vehicles began pulling in shortly after we arrived home and continued showing up for the next couple of hours. It was good to see them again, but having the family with us was what made the holiday even more special.

"Dad, come look at the plans Jay brought with him," Brandon yelled to me, a little while after Jay arrived. "He brought the plans for both the health center and the pharmacy."

I went in to see what Brandon was talking about and they eagerly showed me the new blueprints Jay had just given them. It was immediately apparent that Jay had spent quite a bit of time on these plans and had taken into account every detail that Danny, Brandon and Kevin had mentioned. I was impressed by what I saw.

Starting with the health center, Jay had worked it so there would be ten suites of medical offices and he'd turned the school's old main office into a very nice dental suite for Brandon and his soon-to-be business partner. Jay also managed to work in smaller offices, which were meant for a child psychologist, speech therapist and physical therapist's practice. Jay had turned the two coaches offices into a workable office for the physical therapists and the old gym storage room into a storage area where they could keep their equipment. He planned for the therapists to wheel their apparatus out and then use the gymnasium to work with their patients. Once they'd finished work for the day, they would then move their equipment back into the storage area, so the gym could be used for other activities.

Danny then showed me that Jay had turned the two-story addition into facilities that each of the offices would be able to utilize. First, there would be two elevators added to the exterior of the structure, one for patients and the other for freight and to move gurneys. Jay also worked in two operating rooms, which could be used for emergency and outpatient procedures, along with a recovery area and a small employee lounge, all on the upper level. The second floor would also contain a laboratory, which would be independently run and would bill the offices separately for the services they were asked to perform.

Jay had designated a large part of the lower floor to be turned into an area that would be used as a diagnostic and imaging department. However, it would remain vacant until Danny had secured the necessary funding to purchase the required equipment. This area was divided into several smaller rooms, each with adjustable doorways, so the appropriate equipment could be installed and then used there.

Jay also told Danny that he could turn the library into either another medical suite or they could possibly use it as a daycare. The daycare could be used by the employees or by parents who had no other option but to bring their other children in with them, when they brought another child in for treatment. By turning this area into a daycare center, it would become another of those intangible extra and beneficial services that would help to attract both patients and prospective employees.

Jay also planned to turn the kitchen area into a snack bar, which could also be utilized by both the employees and patients. Danny would be able to rent this space out to an independent businessman, to help his bottom line. There would be an additional door through which others could come in to utilize this service. The old cafeteria would then be set up with either booths or tables and chairs, so their patrons would be able to sit down and enjoy their purchases.

"Damn, this looks fantastic and it appears as if Jay has covered all the bases," I told them, once I'd seen the plans. "It looks absolutely incredible and I think I might want to invest in this with you, not just have the Castaway Foundation make a donation. Do you know what types of practices you want to include in this health center?"

"I do, Dad," Danny answered. "I'm just trying to line up someone for each of the different specialties I'd like to see included."

"Do you mind sharing what you have in mind?" I asked next, since I was really interested in what he was doing.

"Only if you promise not to get bored with all the details," Danny joked.

"Not at all," I agreed. "I'm not only impressed, but I'm eager to see how all of this is going to fit together."

"Well, besides a pediatric office for me and the dental office for Brandon, there are several other offices I want to include," Danny began. "The ones I absolutely want to be in there is an OBGYN office and I want them to have a fertility expert on their staff as well. I know this will appear to be a little strange in a children's center, but I feel that pre-natal care is important to have in there as well."

I definitely concurred with his statement.

"I'd also like to see a hematology-oncology practice, to deal with blood diseases and childhood cancer," Danny continued. "I also see the need for an endocrinology and diabetic practice to deal with growth and hormonal problems, as well as juvenile diabetes."

"That all sounds good so far," I agreed. "Is that it?"

"Not by a long-shot," Danny acknowledged. "I also want someone specializing in allergies, immunology and rheumatology and I'd like another practice that deals with asthma, pulmonology issues and cystic fibrosis. I think lung diseases are far too frequent in the young, so I'd like a specialist who has in-depth knowledge of the underlying issues."

"Again, it sounds very good and I hope you can find someone for each of those specialties," I told him. "Anything else?"

"Yes, there are a few more I want included on the staff," Danny confessed. "I also would like to include an otolaryngologist, which you used to call an ear, nose and throat doctor, plus an orthopedic specialist. That practice might come in handy with Elliot in the house. I also would like a pediatric surgeon, who can handle the intricate operations that the rest of us feel would be better off handled by a specialist. I think that covers it, but I'd also be open to having a cardiologist who deals with childhood heart disorders and a gastroenterologist who can not only deal with internal problems, but can also address childhood eating disorders."

"That sounds like quite a shopping list and I hope you find people to fill all of those slots," I told him.

"It's actually been easier than I thought it would be so far," Danny answered. "I already have people who've told me they're interested in filling at least half of those spots, so there aren't that many more slots that I still need to recruit."

"That certainly sounds great and I pray the school goes on sale and you're able to buy it," I agreed. "I'd hate to see all of this planning and hard work go to waste, not to mention what a great loss it would be to the community at large."

"Thanks, Dad. That really makes me feel good," Danny confessed.

"Now look at what Jay has set up for me," Kevin stated, with great excitement. "Everything works out perfectly. Jay was able to arrange the pharmacy counter so I can utilize both the vault and the drive-thru window."

"That's fantastic, because I remember you mentioned both of those things were important to you," I concurred. "How about the rest of the area and the sales floor?"

"Jay's got that all worked out too," Kevin told me. "He has three cash registers up front and one at the pharmacy counter, plus numerous shelves for the merchandise. He's even left a corner open in the back where I can put the larger display items. I couldn't be any more pleased by what he's done."

"Then I think you both owe Jay a big thank you for doing this," I told them, so they both immediately thanked their benefactor.

"I'll take your thanks, but I owed you at least that much," Jay replied. "I don't know what I would have done or how I would have turned out if you guys hadn't been there for me when I was younger. Hell, I even ended up choosing my career because of things I saw and became interested in when you took me on vacation with you. Besides, since this will help other families with children, I feel honored that you let me help out."

I think we were all touched by Jay's reply and the sincerity with which it was offered. Even though we may have helped him when he was younger, he also helped us. I think Ricky needed Jay, just as much as Jay needed our family.

Shortly before noon on Saturday, the O'Haras arrived to celebrate Easter with us. Since Patrick had realized he'd have to work all day Friday and didn't want to travel tired, he'd booked a flight for early Saturday morning. Now, they arrived refreshed and ready to spend time with their son's family.

Danny, Brandon and Elliot were all overjoyed to see them again and greeted them warmly as they came through the door. Brandon also thanked his parents for making this trip, because he knew they were primarily doing this so they could spend more time with their grandson. He was glad they were all getting along so well and marveling at the deep love they already had for Elliot.

Throughout the rest of Easter weekend, the boys showed the blueprints Jay had developed to all of their brothers, and anyone else who was interested. Eagerly, Danny, Brandon and Kevin explained all of the different areas within those plans and described the intricacies of what they wanted to accomplish in each section. The trio did admit they hadn't been able to put a purchase offer in on the buildings yet, but stated they would, once the school district decided what they were going to do. I just pray things don't go awry now, because everything is looking super.

The O'Haras were also very interested in this endeavor and pleased that both boys were going to have their own practices. Just think, a doctor and a dentist in the family, along with a wonderful grandson. They didn't think their lives could get any better.

On Saturday afternoon, Graham came up to me and asked if we could speak alone. I agreed, so we went to my bedroom and shut the door.

"What's up?" I asked, once we were by ourselves.

"I saw something earlier and wanted to tell you first, to see what you think I should do next," he began.

From the look on his face, I knew he wasn't talking about a normal occurrence. I suspected this might have something to do with his gift.

"I take it this must have to do with your special ability?" I asked, to be certain.

He merely nodded his head in response. From the troubled look on his face, I wasn't sure if this was good news or not, so I listened to what he had to say.

"When I was in the foyer earlier, I saw something," he explained. "It was nothing bad, but I just don't know how to handle it, since it has to do with Elliot."

I was somewhat surprised that he mentioned this had to do with Elliot, but maybe I should have expected it. After all, each of the boys' families that had passed had managed to make contact with us sooner or later. Why should Elliot's family react any differently?

"I take it this means you saw one of his family members?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm getting used to seeing loved ones trying to send messages to me or just hanging around in the area, but this one kind of stood out," Graham confirmed. "I wasn't sure who the man was, but he kept standing near Elliot, so I, of course, suspected it had something to do with him. That's why I went up to Elliot's room, so I could look at the photos he's got in there. Doing this let me know the guy I am seeing is Elliot's father."

Since Graham paused, I tried to urge him to continue his story.

"And what was he doing?" I pressed.

"At first he just stood near Elliot and smiled at him," Graham told me. "Once in a while he would point at Elliot and give me a 'thumbs up' sign. Then a little while later, when Elliot was standing in front of the family photo with Danny, Brandon and him, the guy held out a bouquet of roses. I think he was doing this to show me that he approves of Elliot's new family."

"So what's your problem?" I asked.

"Dad, you know how some people react when I tell them about what I see," he confessed. "I don't want to freak Elliot out already, because I don't really know him that well. I mean, how do you think he'll react when I tell him I see dead people? What do you think I should do?"

I thought about this for a couple of minutes before I answered him. I thought about Elliot's situation and how he'd reacted to other situations, before I made up my mind.

"Let me go get Elliot, Danny and Brandon," I suggested. "I'll bring them all in here and we'll tell them together. That way they'll all know what you've seen and Danny and Brandon will be here to help with Elliot, in case he takes this badly. No matter what else we do, I think he has the right to know that you've seen his father and he's giving positive signs. This might even help Elliot a little, if he knows he still has his father's support."

After I finished telling Graham this, I went out and found Danny and Brandon first. Once we were alone, I gave them a very brief explanation of what Graham had seen and told them my opinion about what I thought we should do next. I also advised them that this was their decision, but that was how I would handle it. They, in turn, went and found Elliot and brought him to my room, where we were all squeezed in together. Once everyone was inside, Danny shut the door and Elliot looked around at who was in there. Suddenly, his complexion began to lose color and he appeared absolutely terrified.

"Calm down, you didn't do anything wrong," Brandon immediately told him, after noticing his reaction. "It's just that Graham has something to tell you and we wanted to be here with you when it happened. You know Graham. Right?"

Elliot nodded, but was nervously glancing from one face to another. He wasn't sure what was up, but he obviously had a feeling it wasn't good.

"Elliot, has anyone told you about my special ability?" Graham asked him next.

"You mean that you can sometimes tell when something bad is going to happen," Elliot stated. "Jesse told me a little about that."

"That's a part of it," Graham confirmed, "but I can also see things that the rest of you can't."

"Like what?" Elliot demanded.

"This may sound very strange to you," Graham continued, "but I can often see people who have died. In the past, I've been able to see some of my brothers' parents who were no longer alive and Dad's wife. They appeared to me so I could tell their sons that they were happy about their current situation and would continue to look out for them. They gave me small signs that they were grateful their sons had a new home and were pleased with how their lives were turning out."

Elliot was starting to go pale again, so Brandon had him sit on the bed. After a few seconds, the color began to return to his face and he looked up at Graham again.

"Does this mean you've seen my dad?" he wanted to know.

After a very slight pause, Graham answered.

"Yes, I've seen him a couple of times today," he admitted. "I wasn't sure who he was at first, so I went up to your room to look at your photos. Once I'd done that, I was convinced it was your father."

"What did he want?" Elliot demanded. "What did he tell you?" "When I first saw him, he was standing behind you in the foyer," Graham explained. "He had a huge smile on his face and was giving you a 'thumbs up' sign. This means he's pleased with what he's seeing and he's very happy for you."

Elliot looked relieved and glanced at his fathers quickly. Once he'd done that, he turned back and looked at Graham.

"So he knows I'm living here and he's okay with it?" Elliot pressed.

"I would say that's what he wanted me to let you know," Graham confirmed.

"And he's okay that I have gay parents now?" Elliot continued.

"I would have to say he is," Graham answered. "The second time I saw him, you were standing by your family portrait in the foyer. Your dad was standing next to you, looking up at that photo and holding out a bouquet of red roses. This would indicate that he fully supports your new family and is very happy for you."

Suddenly, Elliot slumped forward. We thought he was about to fall off the bed, so Danny and Brandon grabbed a hold of his arms and sat down beside him on the bed. Elliot, however, was merely leaning forward, so he could rest his elbows on his knees. Then, he placed his hands on his face and began to weep, very softly.

We decided not to interfere and allowed him to do this. We merely observed his actions and waited a few minutes for him to regain control of his emotions. None of us said a word during this time, although Danny and Brandon maintained physical contact with him. They did this to let him know he wasn't alone, while they allowed him to work things out for himself. They continued to rub his back and stroke his arm, while we waited for him to speak to us again.

"So he's really okay with this?" Elliot asked again, seeking confirmation.

"It certainly appears that way," Graham agreed. "He seems to be pleased with your new situation, but he is also very proud of you. I could tell by the way he was looking at you and how his chest seemed to be puffed out with pride."

This news caused Elliot to sob again and this continued for a few more seconds. Once again, we didn't interfere and gave him time to absorb this information.

"I'm so glad you saw him," Elliot agreed. "I know he loved me and wanted what was best for me, so I figured he'd be satisfied that I was here, along as I was happy. It's just nice to know he really does approve and is proud of me."

"I think he's more than proud of you," Graham concurred, "and thrilled that you're doing so well. He also seems very happy that you were able to get everything that was important to you from the house. When I went up to your room to check out the photos, he went with me. He swept his arms around the room, which I felt indicated to me that he was pleased you'd kept your bedroom set. He also pointed to a picture of you at your piano, which I think meant he is also glad you kept the piano as well. He even pointed at a picture of Uncle Mark in the foyer and gave a two thumbs up signal, so I think this was meant to indicate that he's also very pleased with how Mark is taking care of the money he left you."

"Damn, he let you know all that?" Elliot remarked, surprised. "I guess I'm really glad you have this gift, because now I'm not so worried that I couldn't keep all of his other things. I was afraid he might be sad about that, but I guess he's not."

"No, I think he's extremely pleased by everything he's learned and seen so far," Graham confirmed.

Once we ended this little session, the rest of the day went pretty smoothly. After we left my room, Elliot went to share the good news with Jesse, but Danny and Brandon were never far from his side. One or the other was always somewhere nearby, in case Elliot suddenly had trouble dealing with this information again, but that didn't happen. I guess in a way, it was a relief for him to know that his father saw and approved of his new life and was satisfied with the decisions he had made up to this point. Graham's revelation had also helped to validate the things Danny and Brandon had told him about what his father would have wanted for him. It also let him know that he didn't have to worry about his father being disappointed that he hadn't been able to keep everything. I think that has remained one of Elliot's major concerns.

Elliot also shared this news with the O'Haras, since he was eager to tell them that his dad approved of his new life. I think this made Patrick and Brenda breathe a sigh of relief as well, since this meant that Elliot had absolutely no qualms about being part of their family.

After having a very relaxing afternoon and evening, Elliot and Jesse slept together that night and we found out the next morning that he'd slept very well. I think Graham's visions had helped to take another big load off Elliot's mind.

On Sunday, we all gathered together and went to church as a family. Once we returned home, Jake and I put the finishing touches on a huge Easter meal, with two large hams, and then enjoyed being together with the family once again.

Jay and his parents joined us as well and everyone was eager to tell Jay and the Curtises how remarkable his blueprints were. They wanted to be certain that his parents were aware of what a terrific job he had done. The Curtises were nearly bursting with pride as they listened to everyone's comments and assured us they were well aware of what an amazing son they had.

As we were about to sit down, Ricky asked if he might speak. I was a little surprised by his request, since he hadn't mentioned wanting to do this before, but I allowed him to have the floor. Slowly, he rose from his chair.

"I'd like to apologize to all of you for the way I acted back at Christmas," he began. "Someone pulled a few jokes on me and I responded like a jackass. I guess I really deserved what was done to me, after all of the things I've done to the rest of you over the years."

His brothers were all nodding their heads vigorously in agreement. Ricky merely smiled at their antics.

"Anyway, whoever pulled that crap on me was really inventive, and maybe even a genius," Ricky added. "I know I never thought of pranks that were anywhere near as good as those. I have to admit, I first suspected Andrew, after what he did the last time, but now I don't think he was the one who did it. Whoever it was though, my hat is off to you and I hope you accept my apology for acting so crazy."

Ricky bowed slightly and imitated taking off a hat. I think the other boys were slightly surprised at this new Ricky and maybe even wondered if he was only trying to find out whom it was, so he could get back at him. However, I think his obvious sincerity convinced them this was not the case.

As we ate our meal, we had a good time recalling the pranks Ricky had just mentioned. After all, Jay and his parents hadn't been with us during that time and we didn't want them to feel we were leaving them in the dark about this. In the end, we all had another good laugh at Ricky's expense.

Once dinner was over, Jake and I asked everyone to remain seated for a moment, while we went to get something. When we returned, we were carrying two cakes, one with a '3' and '0' lit on top, while the other had a '3' and '4' with flames attached.

"Happy belated birthday, Mark, and happy early birthday, Duck," we shouted, as we set the appropriate cake in front of each individual. Mark had turned 30 on April 2nd and Duck would be turning 34 on May 3rd. I think both boys were amazed we had remembered this and thanked us for the surprise. We then sang 'Happy Birthday' to them and passed out the cake. It was a nice way to complete the meal.

Shortly after we finished dinner, some of the others began to return to their homes. Many of the boys still had to make long drives back to where they lived, because they were required to work the next day. Understanding their circumstance, we bid them farewell and sent them on their way, after they promised to drive safely. It had truly been a fantastic day.

However, before Ricky left, Elliot approached him. Jesse was standing behind him, as backup and for support. After summoning the courage, Elliot spoke.

"I was the one who pulled those pranks on you," he admitted.

"You? No way!" Ricky exclaimed.

"It was me," Elliot confirmed, "although I did need Jesse's help with some of the stuff. Otherwise, it would have taken too long to do it before you woke up. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to find the things I needed to pull it off, unless Jesse showed me where that stuff was kept. Jesse can confirm my story, if you don't believe me."

Jesse was nodding his head vigorously, in support of what Elliot was saying.

"Why?" was all Ricky responded.

"To get even with you for what you did to me at Thanksgiving," Elliot admitted and Ricky grinned.

"Then I did have it coming," Ricky agreed. "But how did you come up with those pranks? They were simply genius."

"All of those things were pranks some of the other guys at my old boarding school had pulled on some of the others," Elliot confessed. "I thought they were good, so I just kind of borrowed them."

"Well, I'll admit I was impressed, but at least now I know who to watch out for in the future," Ricky teased.

The boys had a good laugh and then they rejoined the rest of us. Over the next hour, most of our remaining guests left. After Ricky, Jay, Graham and Sammy pulled out of the driveway, Jesse and Elliot went upstairs to their rooms. It had truly been a fantastic day, but now they wanted some time alone.

April was now nearly over and we wondered if the month held anything more in store for us. That question was answered on the Wednesday after Easter. It just happened to be Dustin's birthday, April 27th and we had just gotten back from taking Dustin out for his birthday. A short time after we arrived at the house, Danny got a call from the superintendent of the school district he had been in contact with about the possible sale of the building.

"Dr. Currie, I am calling to tell you that our school district will be selling the property you were inquiring about," he began. "The school board ratified the consolidation plan last evening and also established a price for the building and grounds. Are you still interested?"

"I am," Danny assured him.

Once Danny heard the amount, he reaffirmed his intent. That's when the Superintendent told him that the board was willing to accept his offer, if he agreed to their price. They said they'd rather sell the property for his endeavor, since his proposal would benefit children and continue the legacy the school had started. They would rather do this than have the property used for other purposes. Danny thanked him for their consideration and expressed his desire to proceed in a way to substantiate their trust.

Danny then quickly negotiated a slight reduction in the asking price, which would be equivalent to half of the percentage a realtor would charge, if the district had to list the property for sale. This way the district would actually end up with slightly more money, but Danny would end up paying less. After thinking about it, the superintendent told him he thought that was a fair offer, but he'd have to get the board's approval on it first. He then advised Danny that he'd call him back to confirm the sale, once he secured the board's approval.

After Danny got off the phone, he called Kevin and told him that it looked as if the deal was a go. If the district didn't accept his initial proposal, Danny was willing to increase his offer to the full asking price, so he would finalize this deal, one way or the other. Therefore, he advised Kevin to start negotiations on the property he was interested in and then they could go to the bank together to arrange for mortgages on both places. Needless to say, Danny, Brandon and Kevin were walking on Cloud Nine for the rest of the evening. It looked as if things were still moving in the right direction.

That night, Jake and I were watching the late night news and noticed that the south was being hit by a wave of tornados. The storms touched down in Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, caused a great deal of damage and had taken many lives. Suddenly, we began to worry about Nick and Shannon. They live in a suburb of Atlanta and we were concerned that they might be in the path of these storms. Jake called to warn them and make sure they were all right, but he couldn't get through. We didn't know if the phone service had been interrupted or if too many other people were trying to reach loved ones and had temporarily overwhelmed the system. Either way, we had to go to bed without hearing from them.

Since Jake leaves for work so early, I told him I'd call the boys and then let him know the minute I reached them. I finally got an answer, a little after 7:00.

"Damn, I was really worried about you guys," I told Shannon. "Did you get hit by those tornados?"

"No. Luckily, they were to the north and west of us," he told me. "We've seen some reports on the news and there has been considerable damage where they touched down, but we didn't get hit."

"I'm glad to hear that and your father will be too," I told him.

We talked for a couple more minutes, but then he had to leave to go to work. As soon as we hung up, I called Jake and let him know the boys were fine. He was very relieved.

That evening, we watched the news and saw how devastating those storms were, so I'm glad they didn't go near where the boys live. This was one time that God was on our side.

The following Monday night, I was still up when the President made an announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces. I immediately ran around the house and told the others who were still up and I would fill in the rest in the morning. We were all happy and excited that he had been made to pay for his crimes, even if it took nearly ten years to do that, and I knew that much more news would be coming out about this the next day. I wanted to see the proof, but I don't think they'd have announced this if they weren't positive they'd gotten the right man.

Two days later, on Wednesday, Danny heard from the superintendent of schools again. The board of education had agreed to accept his offer on the school. After giving Danny the good news, he also told him the district would not need a month to move everything out, as they first anticipated. He said it would probably only take a week to ten days after school was out before Danny could take possession, since the teachers and staff were packing and moving a lot of items already. Danny thanked him for the information and told him that would help out a lot.

Before he hung up, the Superintendent also gave Danny the name and phone number of a general contractor the district often used. He assured Danny that the contractor's rates were reasonable and his work was excellent. The Superintendent also informed him that the contractor has also done renovations at hospitals and other medical facilities, so he is already familiar with the requirements Danny would have, in order to make this happen. This information sounded great, so Danny thanked him again and told the Superintendent he'd bring the contracts to be signed and advise him about a closing date, just as soon as he'd secured the financing.

Danny now called Kevin again, once his call with the Superintendent ended, but this time he explained to his brother that this was now a done deal. He would be having Uncle Steve draw up the appropriate papers, so he and the school officials could sign them. He suggested that Kevin should now do the same thing with the bank building. They also agreed to go to the bank's main office the following week, once Kevin's offer was accepted and Danny had the signed purchase agreement in his hand, so they could start the paperwork for the mortgages.

Once he finished talking to Kevin, Danny then called the general contractor whose name the Superintendent had given him. Danny explained what was happening and what he would need. He also told him the location of the property and the time frame for when the work would most likely begin.

"You're in luck," the contractor replied. "I recently prepared my crew for another job, but I just got word that the project has temporarily been put on hold. The company hiring me to renovate one of its manufacturing facilities has run into some financial problems, due to the slow economic recovery. The company says they may still go ahead with their plan, but if they do they'll have to postpone it until early next year. They admitted that there is also a chance that they may be forced to consolidate plants and close the location I was going to work on, rather than renovate it, but they're trying hard to avoid that option.

"I was just bemoaning the situation with my wife," the contractor continued, "but this will work out perfectly for both of us. I'll be able to do your job and I won't have to lay off my crew. I was really worried about that, so I think your timing is ideal for each of us."

Danny also told him about the pharmacy and agreed to meet him, so he could give him the plans for both places. Then, the contractor could give them an estimate on the cost. If they agreed on a price, then the contractor said he could begin work just as soon as Danny and Kevin had the deeds. The contractor also said he'd have estimates for the work on both places within a few days after he received the blueprints and then Danny could decide if he wanted to hire his company.

Danny also talked to some of his contacts about the other possible funding sources. Danny was looking for ways to get equipment for the laboratory, as well as for the diagnostic and imaging center. Danny had decided he wanted to personally set up both facilities, staff them and then oversee the operation, so he could profit from their work as well. That would be an additional source of income to help make certain this venture was sustainable.

His contacts also agreed to help him file the necessary forms for the appropriate grants and the other funding sources to help make this possible. They would get everything together and then meet with him to help fill the forms out, so he could sign each one and send them in. Much of this funding was what some would refer to as 'free money,' which was offered by the government and other organizations to entice individuals to set up health related businesses in non-metropolitan areas. What could be better than that?

The next day, Danny received a phone call at home. His first thought was that it was from the contractor, but that wasn't the case. This call was from one of the doctors he'd been talking to about opening a practice at the health center, once it came to fruition. This particular doctor was an obstetrician who had expressed a definite interest in opening an OBGYN office in the center. Danny was very interested in making this happen, because he felt having an obstetric practice in close proximity to his own office might encourage the patients going to the OBGYN office to bring their children to see him, after they gave birth. However, this particular call had nothing to do with the health center.

"Danny, I need to ask you a question," the obstetrician began. "I know your family runs a foundation that helps children, but I'm wondering if the foundation ever gets involved with adoptions."

Danny was somewhat surprised by this question and his mind began to race. He wondered what sort of involvement with adoptions his friend might be referring to.

"It's not something we normally do," Danny admitted, "but it's not something we'd totally shy away from either. The Foundation's board has a director of social services and a judge on it, so we might be able to direct you to someone who might be able to assist you, if we can't. Would you mind telling me more about what you have in mind?"

"Yes. I have a young girl, a high school senior, who's pregnant," the obstetrician told him. "She was originally planning to keep the baby, since she wouldn't start showing, at least not obviously, until after graduation and her boyfriend had agreed to marry her. The problem is, he was killed in an automobile accident on his way back from spring break. She knows she won't be able to raise the child on her own now and her parents are refusing to help her out."

"That's kind of cold, but I understand her dilemma," Danny agreed.

"The reason her parents won't help her is another problem that is going to make this adoption tricky," he went on to explain. "The baby will be of mixed-race and the girl's parents are refusing to have anything to do with a child that's half-black."

"Ah. Now I see the problem," Danny confirmed.

"Not only that, but the girl wants the baby to be adopted by someone who will allow her to see the child once in a while," the obstetrician continued. "She wants to do this so the child will know her and understand why she had to give him up."

"Does she live close to here?" Danny followed.

"She lives fairly close to where you told me the health center would be," he replied. "My current practice is about thirty miles from there and she lives about half-way between the two locations."

"If you move into the health center, are you going to give up your old practice?" Danny asked, out of curiosity.

"No! My current partner will continue to operate where we are now," he responded, "while I expand our practice to this new location."

"I was just curious," Danny admitted, "and wanted to make sure you hadn't changed your mind."

"I haven't, but what about the adoption?" the other man persisted. "Do you think you can help the girl with this?"

"Well, I do understand what this will involve, since I have a brother raising a mixed-race child," Danny informed him. "He's also allowing his son's mother to remain a part of the boy's life and she sees the child frequently, even though my brother has sole custody,"

"Fantastic! Do you think he might be willing to adopt another baby?" the obstetrician immediately asked.

"I don't know, but I'll ask him," Danny agreed. "Do you know the sex of the baby yet?"

"We did a sonogram and determined the baby is a boy," he answered. "Will that help or hurt our chances."

"I don't think it will do either," Danny advised him, "but I wanted to know, in case he asked."

"I'd really appreciate it, if you could help me out with this," the obstetrician added.

"Why don't you give the girl my name and phone number," Danny suggested, "and in the meantime I'll check around and talk to my brother to see what I can arrange for her."

"Thanks, Danny," the other doctor stated. "I knew there was a reason I wanted to get involved with your project, besides the great opportunity."

They then exchanged good-byes and ended the call. As soon as he finished this conversation, Danny went to speak with Brandon next. After explaining the situation to him, Danny then went to approach Dion and Trey about it.

"Guys, I've got something to run by you, if you don't mind," Danny began. "I just got a call from an OBGYN who has a pregnant teen who's looking to give her baby up for adoption. The child is mixed-race and she wants to stay a part of the baby's life, since she knows she can't raise him on her own. It's a boy and I was wondering if you might be interested. Brandon and I would consider taking him in, because we'd love to have a baby, but with the health center renovations and opening our own practices on the horizon, we don't feel this is a good time for us to do anything like this."

Dion and Trey eyed Danny momentarily, before one of them answered.

"Dion and I have talked about having another child," Trey immediately informed him, "but we didn't know how we were going to work it out. Even though we were hoping the baby would actually share our genes, we knew that might not be possible. Why don't you give us some time to talk this over and we'll get back to you within 48-hours."

"That will work for me," Danny agreed, and then he went to the family room where Brandon was.

Before long, Dion and Trey came into the family room to speak with me. When Danny and Brandon saw them, I think they suspected what they wanted to talk to me about. Therefore, when I agreed, Danny and Brandon started to get up to leave, but Dion and Trey just motioned them to stay put, as they addressed me.

"Dad, Danny just told us about a baby that's going to be put up for adoption," Dion began. "It sounds like this baby will be a lot like Joshie and we'd love for Joshie to have a little brother. Since we both work, we wanted to know if you'd be willing to help us out again. It won't be as much work as it was with Joshie, because this time we won't be at college and will be around to help. We'll be able to take care of the baby at night and on weekends, holidays and vacations, so you'll only have to take care of him while we're at work. If you don't want to do this, we can afford to put him in day care too, so you don't have to feel you have to say yes."

"Wow! This is a total shock," I answered. "I guess I missed out on your initial conversation, but I'd be happy to do this for you again. Do you know when he'll be born, assuming it is a he?"

"It is, but I don't know that. Do you Danny?" Dion asked.

"Since the obstetrician I talked to told me the girl felt she still wouldn't be showing by the time she graduated," he replied, "I would assume her due date is sometime in the fall."

"So we'll be teaching when the baby's born," Dion added.

"That's fine and I'll be happy to help," I agreed. "Besides, I think Joshie will make a great big brother."

The others all agreed, so I guess it had been decided. Danny then informed us that the girl was supposed to call him to set this up and then he'd ask her if she had a problem with a gay couple adopting her son.

"You are also agreeing to let her be a part of the child's life, right?" Danny asked, to confirm this detail.

"Yes, we're doing it with Shelly, so we can do it with her too, as long as she isn't too demanding," Dion agreed, with Trey's nod of approval. "Does she live close by?"

"She lives closer to where the health center will be, but I don't know exactly where," Danny explained. "I'll get that information when I talk to her, but she's not too far away. If you want, I can also tell her that it will be her obligation to come visit or transport him back and forth, if you let her take him for a while."

"We can work that out later, but I don't see it as being a problem," Dion agreed. "It's not like she lives hundreds of miles away."

Seeing this was settled, we just had to wait for Danny to talk to the girl and see if we could iron out a set of details she will agree to. Actually, I'm excited by the thought of having a baby in the house again.

That Friday was also Danny's birthday and Elliot had worked with me to plan a party for his Dad Danny, the same as he had done for his Dad Brandon. Fortunately, Brandon was going to have Danny's party on Sunday, because Danny had to work Saturday, so this worked out well. Once again, Elliot didn't tell anyone until they came home from work that evening, so he asked them to clean up and dress nicely, because they were all going out to dinner with him again.

I'm not certain if Danny suspected that Elliot might do this, but he acted completely surprised when Elliot told him when he returned home from work. Then we loaded everyone into the Suburban and rode down to the restaurant.

Elliot had rented the small, private dining room again, which made this a very intimate gathering. Once again, he told each of us to order whatever we wanted, since he was paying for it, and he wished Danny a Happy Birthday, followed by a very energetic and affectionate hug.

After the cake was brought out and we sang to Danny, Elliot gave him his gift.

"What this?" Danny asked.

"Just open it and you'll find out," Elliot told him.

Danny opened the small box and looked inside.

"What the hell?" he wondered, in shock.

"It's a reservation for Dad Brandon and you to spend a romantic weekend at the Hershey Pocono Resort," Elliot told him. "All you have to do is let me know when and I'll confirm the reservation. The credit card is pre-paid and there is more than enough money for you two to go there and have a great time. They have wonderful restaurants, rooms with heart-shaped beds and lovely grounds. I want you to use it as a second honeymoon."

Both Danny and Brandon were amazed at what Elliot had done. His gift to Brandon had been well thought out and perfect, but he had just outdone himself with this one. Both presents were something both Danny and Brandon would benefit from, but they were worried he was spending too much money this time. Therefore, they decided to speak to him about it alone, after we returned home.

"Elliot, we really appreciate your thoughtfulness and what you're trying to do for us," Danny began, "but this is costing you far too much. I'd feel better if you did something that doesn't use up so much of your money."

"No way!" Elliot shouted.

"Son, it's just too much," Danny advised him.

"It's nothing!" Elliot exclaimed, "at least nothing compared to everything you've give me."

"But Elliot…" Danny began, only to be cut off.

"No, Dad," Elliot interrupted. "You treated me when I was sick, you brought me home with you and gave me Dad Brandon, Papa Josh, Papa Jake, Jesse, Joshie and all my uncles, so this is just my way of showing you how much that's all meant to me. You HAVE to accept my gift."

"Although I understand where you're coming from too, he makes a pretty compelling argument, sweetheart," Brandon told Danny.

"Will you promise you won't do anything this elaborate in the future?" Danny asked.

"I swear I won't, just please, please take this gift," Elliot begged.

"Well, I guess we have a second honeymoon to take," Danny announced, as he smiled at Elliot and Brandon.

Although Danny and Brandon would have preferred not to accept this, it seemed this gesture meant a great deal to Elliot. Since they didn't want to break his heart or make him feel badly, they agreed and graciously accepted his generous gift.

"One thing I want you to remember," Danny whispered in Elliot's ear, "you may have ended up gaining all of us the night I brought you home, but we got you in return. I'd call that a pretty fair trade."

Elliot smiled and gave Danny another big hug. Then he turned and did the same thing with Brandon.

Later that night, I became aware of something else. After I saw Elliot head up to bed, I noticed Jesse was still back in the rec room. Curious, I went out to speak with him.

"I'm surprised you're still down here," I began. "I saw Elliot head up to bed a little while ago. Aren't you guys still sharing a room?"

"Nah, we haven't been doing that for a while," Jesse replied, while nonchalantly shaking off my question.

"Is something wrong?" I wondered. "Did you two have a disagreement?"

"No, nothing's wrong and we're still cool," Jesse confirmed. "We just stopped spending nights together."

"Any specific reason why you stopped doing that?" I pressed, since this had roused my curiosity.

"I guess we just got out of the habit," Jesse clarified. "I mean, Elliot spends time at Hayden's, and when they're not there, Hayden stays here and spends the night in Elliot's room with him. I just didn't want to get in the way. Besides, Elliot's usually pretty tired at night, after tennis practice and hitting the books so hard, so he goes to bed kind of early too. He's also a pretty restless sleeper and that sort of keeps me awake a lot."

"So it's not that you're jealous of Hayden spending time with Elliot or you haven't had a fight?" I continued, since I wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"Nah, nothing like that," Jesse explained. "I even encouraged him to have another friend, so he won't be alone when I go off to college. Besides, we still get together once in a while for some fun, just not every night any more."

"Do you think Elliot's doing that with Hayden then?" I wondered.

"No way!" Jesse confirmed. "Hayden's too uptight to do anything with another guy. I mean, I guess he doesn't have any problems changing in front of Elliot and they shower together at school after tennis practice, but Hayden's made some comments that's made it clear that he doesn't mess around with guys."

"How do you think he'd react if he knew Elliot and you did that sometimes?" I pressed.

"I don't know," Jesse answered. "He might just say 'you do what you want, just don't mess with me,' or he might just stop hanging around with Elliot. I'm not sure what he'd do."

"But you don't think he'd try to hurt Elliot, do you?" I continued.

"I don't think so, unless Elliot tried something with him," Jessed conjectured. "I think they're too tight as friends for him to do more than that. Besides, I think he might have his hands full, if he picked a fight with Elliot."

"You might be right and that's good to know," I concurred. "I hope Elliot's smart enough not to try anything with Hayden then."

"I'm sure he is," Jesse confirmed.

Now that my curiosity had been sated, I said good night to Jesse and went back to the family room with Jake. This conversation had given me something else to think about.

I kept my eyes open after that, to see if I picked up on any other signs, but I didn't see anything that alarmed me. I could tell that Jesse and Elliot were still friends and weren't ignoring one another, but they just weren't always together, as they had been for much of the time that Elliot had been with us. I guess it's just that the novelty of doing things with each other and hanging out together all of the time has just seemed to wear off a little. I hope there aren't any deeper implications here, but I see it the same way as it was for many of the other boys, as they started to get older and gradually grew apart.

The next day, Danny, Brandon and Kevin went to the bank to deliver the last of the paperwork needed to secure the mortgages on their intended purchases. They not only had provided the bank with the signed contracts and the financial data the bank had requested, but they also delivered copies of the blueprints, their business plans and Danny also gave them a list of the practices that had agreed to rent suites at the health center, once the renovations had been completed. I think they had crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's, so we just had to wait for their decision.

After getting all of this information from the boys, the bank requested some more documentation, since they still had some reservations about the purchases. The bank was concerned that since the boys would be giving up their current positions to move into these new ventures, and thus be giving up their existing salaries, they might not be able to meet their obligations. We were talking about this one night when Elliot walked in on our conversation.

"You don't need to go through the bank," Elliot stated.

"That's where the money is, son. If we want to get a loan, then we have to go through the bank," Brandon responded.

"Elliot rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Dad, I'm almost fifteen, so I know how banks work," he remarked, sarcastically. "What I meant was, you already have the money. Just have Uncle Mark take it out of my account."

"No way! We won't gamble with your future by risking it on something like this," Danny told him. "We appreciate your offer, but we'll just do this some other way."

"It's not a gamble, because you're a great doctor," Elliot argued, and then he turned to Brandon, "and you're a great dentist, Dad. This would be a good investment, and besides, I want to help," he insisted.

"We know you want to help and we appreciate your generous offer, but we won't take that kind of risk with your money," Danny explained.

"It may take a little more work, but we'll get the loan from the bank. We'll be fine, financially," Brandon stated, "and you can help when the center opens. We'll find something for you to do, if you'd like."

"That sounds great and I would like that, but wouldn't it be easier to just use my money? Please! I want you to have it," Elliot pleaded. "Come on, Papa, back me up. Tell them they're just being silly."

"Actually, I agree with your dads, Elliot. Your father left you that money to benefit you and that's what it's going to be used for. Besides, with all of the investments that Mark has it tied up in, I don't even know if you'd be able to get enough money to help your dads out.

"But don't worry," I went on. "I think I know a way to handle this without tapping into your inheritance."

To relieve the bank's concerns that they might default on their mortgages, I co-signed for both of the mortgages. I pledged both my personal financial backing, plus I also promised the support of the Castaway Foundation to guarantee repayment. This seemed to be all that was needed to get the bank to agree to loan them the money, so their mortgages were approved.

Now that this was set, the boys merely needed to attend a formal closing ceremony and sign the remaining paperwork. The titles to the properties would be transferred at that time and they could begin their renovations. Kevin would be able to start immediately, since his property was currently vacant, and Danny and Brandon would be able to start right after the work was finished on Kevin's place, because the school property should be vacant by then.

The next couple of days went smoothly and I was getting ready to take Joshie with me to watch Elliot's next tennis match. When Jesse noticed we were getting ready to leave, he came over to me.

"May I go with you?" he asked. "I'd like to go watch Elliot play too."

"Certainly," I agreed. "I just didn't realize you were interested in tennis."

"I'm not really, but I want to see Elliot and Hayden play," he explained. "Elliot's technically my nephew, but they're both my friends. We get along really well and I want to watch them play and cheer them on."

"Fine, then let's get going," I agreed.

We had missed a couple of the road trips Elliot had made in between, but we felt they were too far away for us to get to them. Elliot told us that he had lost both singles matches and Hayden had split his, but they lost both of their doubles matches as well. He said they'd played better, but just didn't win.

Danny and Brandon were already there when we arrived, so we joined them. They had taken off to watch Elliot play again and Danny looked at me as we approached.

"Dad, I got a call from the general contractor earlier and he gave me the estimates for both jobs," Danny told me, while we waited for Elliot's match to begin. "I then called Kevin and told him what his renovation would cost and he had the same reaction I did. The contractor came through with a better bid than we expected."

"Really? It was lower than you thought it would be?" I questioned.

"Yes, we'd both talked to others about what we were planning," Danny confirmed, "and the contractor's bid was nearly thirty-percent lower than we'd been told to expect. It might be because this guy had another job recently cancel on him, so he may have been willing to do it a little cheaper, rather than not having any work at all for his crew. He possibly thought that if his quotes were too high then we'd go with someone else. Either way, Kevin, Brandon and I will take it."

"So everything's all set for the renovation?" I followed.

"That was the last piece of the puzzle," Danny confirmed. "Dustin and the two guys he's going to have do the plumbing and electrical work are all ready to go as well. I think their workload has also been a little slow, due to the economy, so this is helping them too, almost as much as they'll be helping us."

"That's fantastic and maybe it's a blessing that this came along now," I told him, "even though you didn't think you were ready to do this yet. By taking advantage of the building opening up and then being able to hire people who might otherwise be unemployed, it's saving you a little money in the process. I don't think you could have asked for more."

"I know," he confirmed.

Having finished this discussion, we anxiously waited for Elliot and Hayden to take the court. When Elliot finally did, Joshie yelled out.

"Hi, Elliot," Joshie greeted him, with a wave.

Elliot smiled and looked up and waved at Joshie and then he nodded his acknowledgement to the rest of us. I could tell he was pleased that we were all here, but somewhat surprised that Jesse was with us. I could tell, because he sort of stared at Jesse for a moment, as if he couldn't quite believe it was actually him.

Elliot was playing quite well today and it made me wonder if he was trying extra hard to impress us. I know it means a lot to him that we come to support him and watch his matches, so I suspect he might be giving a little more effort today, as a way of showing his appreciation. In fact, he won his match quite easily today, in straight sets, and finished ahead of Hayden.

Since Elliot was done, we moved over to watch the remainder of Hayden's contest. He was tied at one set each, but he was currently ahead in the last set. We all cheered him on and he ended up winning his match too.

Now, we all kind of held our breath, as we waited for Elliot and Hayden's doubles match. They hadn't won one yet and I was positive that they didn't want to go through the season without winning at least one of their doubles contests. For that reason, I think we were all praying today would end their drought.

Unfortunately, they started out a little shaky and ended up losing the first set. Both boys were looking a little down at this point, but then I heard Jesse shout at them.

"Come on guys, you can do it," he encouraged them. "Don't give up. Suck it up and get your heads in the game. I believe in you guys."

Surprisingly, Jesse's little 'pep talk' had just the effect that he wanted. Both boys lifted their chins up again and stood a little straighter, as they took the court for their second set. They started playing a little better and I even heard one or the other call 'mine,' when the ball was hit back up the center of the court.

I could actually see their confidence growing, after they scored a few points and then won the first game. After that, they won the second and third games too, before losing the fourth. However, they managed to win the set and were all smiles now. They even seemed to move and play with a new confidence as the third set started. They no longer thought of themselves as losers and began to attack the ball.

The boys quickly won the first four games this time, before losing the fifth. However, they ended up winning this set 6-1, which meant they won not only their first sets as doubles partners, but they had also won their first match. They were all smiles as they approached us, after they finished.

"We finally did it! The curse is broken!" Elliot exclaimed, and Hayden was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"We aren't the world's worst doubles team any longer," Hayden added.

"You must be our good luck charm," Elliot told Jesse. "It's the first time you came to watch us and the first time we won a doubles match. Hell, it's the first time Hayden and I won all of our matches since the season started."

"Yeah, you've got to come more often," Hayden urged Jesse.

Jesse was all smiles as he listened to the two boys rant on. I'm certain he didn't feel as if he was the one responsible for their success, but he did seem to enjoy the attention.

"Okay, I'll come with Dad to your home games from now on," he agreed, and then Elliot and Hayden each gave Jesse a high-five.

Since Elliot rode home with one of his fathers, and they were giving Hayden a ride home too, Jesse went back to the house with Joshie and me. This arrangement temporarily ended their little victory celebration, at least until they got home. Once Danny pulled into the driveway, Elliot jumped out of the car and was whooping up his success and enjoying the 'thrill of victory,' after having so often experienced the 'agony of defeat.'

I guess the boys went up to Elliot's room after dinner and enjoyed victory blowjobs, but I understand Jesse went to his own room to sleep, once they were done. At least now I wasn't worried that they were feuding or that anything was wrong. It's just that they were each finding their own niche, which didn't always have to include the other.

That weekend was also the first wedding we were scheduled to attend this summer. We loaded up the Suburban and rental van and headed out to the town where Duck's fiancee lived. Duck and Jennifer were having a small ceremony in a church there and our family was invited. Of course, Vinnie was going to be the best man, but this would also give us a chance to meet Jennifer's family too.

The ceremony was nice and not too long. Jennifer looked absolutely lovely in her wedding gown and her bridesmaids all wore blue. The matron of honor wore a midnight blue dress, while the other's two girls' dresses were a lighter shade of blue. All the guys wore tuxes and looked very handsome.

Since Jennifer's family isn't very well off financially, they first suggested having her relatives prepare the food for the reception. Jake and I heard about this and offered to pay for them to rent a hall and arranged to have it catered, buffet style. They had previously explained her family was paying the photographer, so I felt I would do this as the representative of Duck's family. After some discussion, they finally accepted our assistance and I finalized the reception arrangements.

Once the bridal party was introduced, Vinnie offered a toast and did a very nice job with it. Then we slowly made our way to get our food, beginning with the bridal table. Everyone had plenty to eat, it was quite good, and then we all relaxed and enjoyed the music. We even took a spin with the bride, during the dollar dance, although some of the boys joked around and danced with Duck, since there were more males than females in attendance.

Jake and I also chipped in for them to honeymoon in the Poconos, because we didn't want the couple to start off their married live without some sort of special beginning. Duck and Jennifer thanked Jake and me for all our help and for everything we'd done for them and we wished them a long and happy life together.

Since the reception didn't go very late, we drove back the same evening. Shortly after we arrived at home, Danny received another phone call.

"Dr. Currie, my doctor told me to call you," the voice began, "because he said you might be able to help me find someone to adopt my baby."

Danny quickly moved off to a place where he could deal with this phone call in private.

"Yes, I told your doctor to have you call me," Danny confirmed, "because I think I might have a solution for your problem."

"Did my doctor tell you that even though I need to give my baby up," she continued, "I still want to be part of his life? I'll only let someone adopt him if they agree to let me see him once in a while. I want him to know me, but I also want to be able to tell him about his father and explain why I had to give him up."

"Yes, your doctor made that very clear, and I have a couple that is very interested in doing this," Danny told her. "I just have a question for you, before we go any further though."

"Okay. What do you want to know?" she agreed.

"My brother is one of the people I'm talking about," Danny continued, "but he has a male partner. Would you have a problem with allowing a gay couple to adopt your baby?"

"No, not just because they're gay," she confirmed, "but are they nice guys and will they make good parents?"

"They already have a five-year old son and he is a very happy and intelligent boy," Danny confirmed. "He also loves his daddy and poppy, since that's how he distinguishes between his fathers."

"That's cute," she agreed, "but do they also know the child will be half-black? That's why my parents don't want to help me keep him."

"That's not a problem, since my brother's son is also mixed-race," Danny explained. "You see, my brother is also black. We were all adopted."

"Wow! You were all adopted too?" she asked, amazed.

"We were and raised in a very loving home," Danny replied. "We will see to it that your baby grows up in a similar environment."

"And they'll let me see the baby once in a while?" she asked next. "I probably won't do it very often, maybe just on his birthday or Christmas, and I might not even do it at all until he's old enough to understand what I want to tell him."

"That's not a problem and they have already agreed to work this out with you," Danny confirmed. "My brother already lets his son see his mother and her parents, and they have a very friendly relationship. In this case, my brother is also the boy's biological father, but he said that wouldn't make a difference."

"So he was a sperm donor?" she asked.

"In a way," Danny answered. "My brother is bi-sexual and actually got this girl pregnant. When she decided she couldn't keep the baby, my brother took sole custody of his son and has raised him since. He has also made sure his son's mother or her parents have been involved in his life."

"That sounds perfect," she agreed.

"Would you like for me to arrange a time when you can meet them?" Danny followed. "I'm sure they would love to have you come to the house for a visit. They, along with another brother, my partner, me and our son all live with our father."

"That sounds pretty crowded," she observed.

"You'd think so, until you come to know us and see the house," Danny replied. "Our dad adopted a bunch of us after his wife died and raised us as his second family. We are also close with his biological children, but we've always had a lot of people in the house when we were growing up. That's why I want you to visit, so you can see how this works."

She agreed and Danny set up a time for her to visit on the weekend. He gave her our address and directions to the house, and then he asked if she had transportation. She said her father would let her borrow the car for the day, as long as it will help 'to get rid of the abomination that's growing inside of me,' she told him.

Danny felt badly that she was being treated so harshly, but he was glad they might be saving the baby from having to endure the same kind of treatment. When he finished the call, he asked the rest of us to join him in the family room, so he could explain what would be happening. I think we were all excited about meeting her, but I presume we were more excited about having a baby in the family again.

The girl showed up Saturday evening, shortly after we finished dinner. Danny had selected this time, because he knew we'd all be home then. After greeting her at the door, Danny brought her in and introduced her to each of us. She introduced herself as Penelope, but said everyone calls her Penny. Once the introductions were completed, Danny allowed her to spend some time alone with Dion, Trey and Joshie.

After they had talked for a while, she asked if she could speak with Jesse and Elliot, so Danny told her she could. She asked the boys about what they thought of being raised in a house with only guys and they gave her their answer. They also told her about their own situations and Jesse also explained that we had helped his mother move here, after his stepfather was out of the picture. He also told her how his mother is now invited to many of the family gatherings and is considered part of the extended family. He even explained that all of the other boys call his mother Aunt Alice now, which I think really impressed her. The boys even offered to take her on a tour of the house, so she could see we really weren't that crowded.

"Wow! This place is huge," she exclaimed, once she'd seen everything and returned downstairs. "It's more like a motel, than a house."

"Actually, do you see that sign?" Jesse mentioned, as he pointed to the old plaque that still hung in our foyer. "Dad's friends affectionately refer to this place as the 'Castaway Hotel,' because Dad took in kids that others had either thrown away or had nowhere else to go."

"I guess that would certainly describe the situation my son would be in, if I'm not able to find someone to adopt him," she stated. "It's not that I don't want him, but my parents refuse to let me keep him and I can't afford to do it on my own. That's why I want to tell him when he gets older that I did the best I could, but I didn't have much choice."

I think it was after she'd talked to the boys that she made up her mind. She was definitely going to let Dion and Trey adopt her baby. They then agreed to take care of handling the legal paperwork and to get everything set up. Then, they brought her back into the family room with them.

We sat and talked to her for a while longer, but before she left, I asked her if she had insurance to cover the cost of the delivery. Penny told me she was still on her parents' insurance and it would cover most of the hospital and doctor bills. She also said her father had told her she'd have to pay whatever the insurance didn't cover, because it was her mess and she'd have to take responsibility for it. Hearing this, I told her to bring those bills to me when they came and we'd cover the rest of her expenses as part of the adoption agreement. She thanked us for being willing to do this for her and then left. I just wish there was something more we could do to help her as well. Maybe I'll ask her if there is a way we can be of assistance, more than we already are, the next time we meet up with her.

I was pleased that everything had been agreed to and the adoption was working out. Now, it was time to get back to focusing on the health center and pharmacy. Kevin told me that the contractor had begun work on the bank building the day after the closing. The first thing he did was to have the general contractor meet with Dustin and the two guys he was having handle the plumbing and electrical work. He did this so they could arrange times with the general contractor when they could complete the work they needed to do, as he was making the structural changes.

After a quick meeting, Dustin said he'd be back the next day to take care of checking out the HVAC systems and tweaking whatever was needed. He said he could finish what had to be done in only a couple of days, since there was nothing major that needed to be addressed.

There also wasn't a great deal the others would need to do either. The general contractor merely had to section off the pharmacy area, make a security room with direct access from outside, close off a limited area for storeroom space and then build the checkout stands and counters. Kevin was also having some extra electrical outlets put in throughout the store and was wiring it with security cameras, plus he was also enlarging the rest rooms, so his customers could also have access to them.

While the work was being done at the building, Kevin was able to purchase the shelving he would need, courtesy of a now defunct department store. He was also able to buy their cash registers and security system, which the electrician was going to install for him. Kevin would then set up the shelving himself, with the help of some temporary laborers.

Once the building was taken care of, all Kevin had left to do was to handle the legal issues that needed to be addressed. This was because he still needed to arrange for the appropriate certificates and licenses that were required in order to open his business.

Since work was nearly completed at the pharmacy, Danny and Brandon spoke to the contractor and arranged for him to begin work on the center right away. They had been informed that the school building was totally empty when they had the closing and the boys were anxious to get the work started.

While Kevin, Danny and Brandon were doing this, Dion and Trey were busy with the legal paperwork for the adoption. They checked to make certain the specific details they felt should be included in the adoption papers were there, and then once these papers were signed, they'd have another son. There were certainly a lot of changes happening in our lives, but fortunately all of it was good.

Speaking of good, Elliot and Hayden were doing better at tennis as well. Jessie, Joshie and I went to their next match, but unfortunately Danny and Brandon couldn't be there. They had already taken so much time off from their jobs or had switched hours so many times to deal with the mortgage and to keep things moving on the health center that they didn't feel they could take off more time to watch their son. Elliot told them he understood and was fine with it, as long as the rest of us came and cheered him on.

This time when we went to see Elliot play, he did fairly well. It was a tough match for him, but he won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Hayden also won, but he didn't have as tough of a time doing it. In the end, he pulled his singles match out with a 6-4, 6-2 decision.

Their doubles match went quite well too and they were definitely working better as a team. They won this match in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) and were all smiles as they come over to join us afterward.

"See, I told you that you were our good luck charm," Elliot told Jesse. "You come and we win."

"Maybe you're just playing better," Jesse countered.

"Maybe, but I still think you being here has something to do with it too," Elliot replied.

I could see his comment had pleased Jesse, even though he was trying to downplay whatever role Elliot thought he was playing in his recent success. It was also obvious that there was still a feeling of closeness between them, even though they weren't spending quite as much time with each other.

As the weather got warmer, I noticed that Elliot was often taking Joshie outside to play. Elliot would let Joshie use one of his old rackets and then toss or bounce tennis balls to Joshie, so he could hit them back. Elliot was making sure he was teaching Joshie to do this with both his forehand and backhand, which impressed me. Not only that, but Joshie seemed to be enjoying his time with Elliot and eagerly attempting to please his mentor by trying his hardest to do what he was being told.

Elliot would also pitch the Wiffle ball to Joshie, so he could hit it, and he also shot hoops with Joshie on our portable backboard, next to the driveway. Since I knew these were sports Elliot wasn't actually interested in, it was clear he was doing this just to please his younger cousin. It was really cute to watch how Elliot took Joshie under his wing and spent time with him, but there were also times I'd see Jesse out there with them too, and other occasions when Hayden would join them as well.

It was clear that Joshie was enjoying this attention and actually beginning to think of himself as one of the boys. He would even tease me when he was doing things with the others and tell me I was too old to join them. I'd pretend to pout and try to make him feel badly, but he would just laugh at my antics, because he knew this really didn't upset me.

When the boys went swimming though, Joshie couldn't quite understand why they had to wear swimsuits now. Since I didn't want him blurting out in front of Hayden that they usually skinny-dipped in our pool, I pulled Joshie aside and explained that they had to do this now because Hayden was with us. I told him that Elliot and Hayden didn't feel comfortable swimming naked and we never did this when we had company. Although Joshie didn't seem to comprehend why this was such a big deal, he didn't fight with me over it and didn't say anything to the others.

I also used one of the swim outings to get even with Joshie for constantly telling me I was too old to join them. When the boys were planning to go out and hop in our pool, one of the older ones would always came to get Joshie's Daddy, Poppy or me first, so we could go out with them and play lifeguard. One time when Dion and Trey weren't there, I told the boys to tell Joshie I was too old to do this, so Joshie couldn't swim with them today. When this happened, Joshie came running into the house to find me.

"Papa, you've got to come out so I can swim too," he pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," I responded. "You keep telling me I'm too old to be with you boys, so I'll stay in here."

"No! You're not too old," Joshie insisted, while looking totally panicked. "I was just making a joke."

"I don't know," I reasoned. "It didn't sound like a joke to me, so I guess you'll have to wait for one of your fathers to come home."

"Please, Papa. I'm sorry," Joshie pleaded. "I won't say you're too old any more."

"Are you sure about that," I teased, to drag this out.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "You're just the right age."

I couldn't make him suffer any longer, so I told him I would do this, as long as he never told me I was too old to join them again. Joshie promised he'd never do that again, so I accompanied him out to the pool.

Andrew was also home for the summer, but Little Ricky would only be with us for a couple of weeks. He was planning to return to college so he could finish up the last of the requirement for his M.S.W. degree during the summer session. Once he's done this, he'll be able to come back home and start looking for a job. He won't be attending his graduation ceremony until next spring though, because his college doesn't have fall or winter graduation ceremonies. It is just nice to have both of my college boys at home, if only for a short time.

Things were also going well for Kevin. The construction work had not only been completed on the pharmacy, but he had been able to get the shelving delivered by the beginning of June. The contractor had also just finished installing the signage across the front of the building, because the large letters had been delivered only a short time before. Now, in big block letters, the front of the building read 'Currie Pharmacy.' Kevin had also put up a professionally made sign in the front window that announced 'Opening in August!'

The reason Kevin had decided to delay the opening of the pharmacy until August was due to the fact that he wanted to wait for a few of the practices to open at the health center first. By doing this, he'd at least have a few of them sending business his way when he first opens, so he'd having some money coming in until he has a chance to publicize his business, build his clientele and establish a reputation.

He also needs a little more time to cover the legal aspects of opening his own business, which were taking longer to handle than he'd first thought. For that reason, he ordered his supplies and stock to be delivered in July and he would work at night to stock his shelves the way he wanted. During this time, he would also keep working where he was currently employed, so he'd have an income to help cover his expenses.

Danny and Brandon also had a decision to make, once things started to come together at the health center. After talking this over at great length, they felt they would get Brandon set up on his own first and Danny would keep his job at the hospital a while longer. This would give Brandon time to get established, but it would also mean that some of the other offices would be opened too, before Danny opened his practice. Danny was hoping the OBGYN would be one of those opening before he hung up his shingle, because some of those patients might decide to bring their children to see him, once they were born.

Fortunately, Brandon's current boss has agreed to let him tell the patients he was working with that he was planning to start his own practice and then give them the choice of staying where they were or going with him to his new office. Brandon was amazed at how many of the parents of the children he'd been treating had agreed to have their kids continue with him as their dentist. Many told him their sons and daughters really liked him and had even improved their dental habits since they had started seeing him. This gave him an instant patient list and meant that Brandon would have an immediate, although limited, source of income when he opened his door, although he'd have more expenses as well. Unfortunately, Danny would be starting from scratch, so he would wait a little longer before jumping in.

Now that work had started at the health center, Danny and Brandon would go there to check on the progress whenever they could. Dustin had pretty much left his employees to handle his other jobs, so he could oversee what was going on here. He had built up a relationship with the general contractor while they worked together on the pharmacy, and even though they didn't have nearly as much work to do there, they had still worked well together. The general contractor was even pleased with the two groups Dustin had set up to handle the plumbing and electrical work. Who knows, this guy may opt to use them in the future on some of his other jobs too, now that they'd built a rapport with him.

All three of my entrepreneurs were getting a little nervous by this point, because so much money was rolling out and so little was coming in, as they got themselves set up in these new ventures. The good news was, they each knew this was what they wanted to do and understood it would eventually pay off, somewhere down the road.

Although Elliot was busy with school and tennis, he wasn't oblivious to what was going on. He knew full well that his dads were busy preparing to open their own medical center and that many of his uncles and I were playing some sort of role in making it happen. He also knew how worried Danny and Brandon were concerning their financial situation, since it seemed as if all their money was going out and very little was coming in.

Knowing this, Elliot wanted to contribute something to help, but they'd already turned down his offer to loan them the money they needed to make this happen. Still, he wanted to do something to show them he thought this was a great idea, but he realized they wouldn't let him do that directly. Therefore, he tried to come up with a way of doing this, without their knowledge.

The next day at school, Elliot told Hayden to head to lunch without him, because he had to take care of something and would meet up with him later. Elliot then found a quiet spot where the other students wouldn't bother him. When he was sure he wouldn't be interrupted, he pulled out his cell phone and called Uncle Mark in New York.

When the receptionist answered, she indicated that Mark was busy, so she asked Elliot to leave a message. As she was taking it down, Mark returned from his meeting, so the receptionist asked Elliot to hold briefly, while she told Mark about the call. When he heard it was from Elliot, he decided to take it in his office.

"Hey Elliot, how's my nephew and favorite new client doing," Mark greeted him.

"I'm good, thanks," Elliot responded. "You said I could call you if I ever had any questions and there are some things I wanted to ask you about. Is that ok?"

"Sure, what can I do for you?"

"Ok, first, what's the Castaway Foundation," Elliot wanted to know.

Mark hadn't seen that one coming. He assumed Elliot was calling to ask something about one of the investments he had made for him.

"Oh, that's a charity your grandfather set up to help kids from broken homes," Mark replied.

"Wow that's cool," Elliot agreed. "I'll have to ask Papa about it sometime."

Out of curiosity, Mark was about to ask Elliot why he hadn't just asked me in the first place, but Elliot interrupted his train of thought with his next question.

"What's a venture capitalist?" Elliot asked next.

"Where did you hear that term," Mark inquired.

"My dad had a job a lot like yours, you know, investments and stuff," Elliot answered. "He dragged me to a lot of business meetings with him when I was little. Anyway, I picked it up from him and I think I know what it means, but I want to make sure."

"Basically, it's a person or company that invests money in new businesses or buys out existing companies to either improve them or break them up for parts," Mark answered.

"That's what I thought. Is any of my money invested in a firm like that?" Elliot continued.

Mark informed him that he had put a little of his money into a venture capital firm out of Boston that was run by an old friend from college. Mark explained that it was a small company, but his friend had presented him with an interesting investment opportunity, so he placed a small amount of his money in the hands of that firm.

"Do you have any say in what they invest my money in?" Elliot asked next.

"Not really no, but as I said, the manager is a friend of mine and I'm sure he'd consider any proposal I made. Are you ready to tell me what this is all about?" Mark asked, becoming a little concerned.

"Well you've heard about how my dads are buying this old school, so they can turn it into a medical center?" Elliot asked. "Papa is even going to help them out with some money from this Castaway Foundation. Right?"

Mark informed Elliot that he was indeed aware of what we were up to.

"I'd like for you to find out how much money my dads need and then put that much into your friend's company and ask him to use it to invest in the medical center." Elliot stated bluntly.

"First of all, I'm not certain how much money that would entail," Mark responded, "but as your advisor it is my responsibility to look into any investment and access the risk level involved, regardless of who owns it. On top of that, I can't move any money without Danny or Brandon's signature. Have you talked to them about this?"

"No, I don't think they'd accept this money if they knew it was from me," Elliot confessed. "They'd say it was for my future and I shouldn't be touching it. I figured if you could invest it with one of those venture guys and direct them to invest it in the center I'd be able to help out and no one would be the wiser."

"Elliot I think that's a really nice gesture and I'm sure they would appreciate it, but I have to agree that they probably wouldn't go along with this," Mark explained.

"But this is really important, isn't there anything you can do?" Elliot whined.

"I'll tell you what, I'll think about it and see if I can come up with a way to legally make some kind of arrangement," Mark offered. "If I do, then I'll give you a call back. Will that be okay with you?"

Elliot assured Mark that would be fine. He then said goodbye and went to find Hayden in the lunchroom.

Mark had been sincere when he told Elliot that this was a nice gesture, but he knew there really wasn't any way he could make it happen. Besides, even though it was Elliot's money, until he turned eighteen Danny and Brandon were in control of how it was invested. Mark felt he had no other choice but to call them and tell them about his conversation with their son. He hated to betray Elliot's trust, but the laws governing his profession were very strict. With that in mind, he picked up the phone to make a call.

Mark reached Danny at the hospital and let him know about his chat with Elliot. Danny then called Brandon and discussed it with him. When they got home later, they pulled me aside so they could fill me in on the situation, while Elliot was still up in his room.

"That was really sweet of him to want to help with the medical center," I agreed, "but he shouldn't be going behind your back like that, even if it is for a good cause. I'm not sure how you should handle this though."

"We've talked about it and have a plan," Brandon answered. "We just wanted to let you know so that you could tell the others and back us up at dinner."

They quickly shared their idea with me and I thought it was brilliant. None of us felt punishing Elliot was a good idea. After all, his intentions had been noble even if he hadn't gone about things the way he should. Instead, Danny and Brandon thought we should make him sweat a little. I secretly shared the plan with the rest of the household and they eagerly agreed to help out.

When Elliot came down for dinner later, after showering and cracking the books for a bit, he exchanged his usual greetings with his fathers. Then, Danny and Brandon put their plan into action.

"Dad, you won't believe this," Brandon announced, "some investment firm called earlier. They heard about our plans for the medical center and want to invest a huge sum of money in it."

Before I answered, I looked over at Elliot. He was having a hard time keeping the Cheshire-Cat grin off his face.

"Wow that's amazing. Do you know what you're going to do with the money?" I asked.

"Yes, we looked into it and think we've come up with a way to double that money," Danny announced. "I know a guy at the hospital who said we should bet on this horse at the racetrack. It's supposed to be a sure thing,"

The grin suddenly disappeared from Elliot's face and he looked at me, expectantly. He figured I'd set his dad straight and not let him handle the money so foolishly.

"Hmmm, a sure thing like that doesn't come along very often, and it's not like it's your money. What the hell, I say go for it," I said, giving them my full support.

Elliot's jaw dropped open, as he stared at me in shock. Then, he turned back to his dads.

"But… uh… what about using the money to buy equipment for your medical center?" Elliot asked. "I think that's a better idea."

"Nah we've got the financing for that all set up," Brandon replied. "It's not every day you get free money and a shot at a sure thing."

Elliot began to look very uncomfortable.

"But what about the investors that are giving you the money?" Elliot asked. "Didn't they do it so you'd spend it on the center?"

"Ha, what a bunch of suckers. If that's what they had in mind they shouldn't have made the check out to us," Danny laughed.

Elliot couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could his dads be so irresponsible with the investors, no, with his money!

"Maybe Dion and I should get in on this too," Trey interjected. "It would be nice if I could quit my job and focus on my novel."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Jesse stated.

I saw Elliot breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, someone was making sense, or so he thought.

"I want in on this too," Jesse stated. "Why don't you cash in my college fund and make a bet for me? That will give me twice as much money to use later."

Elliot nearly spit out his drink.

"That's not a bad idea either," I agreed. "I'll have to speak to Mark and see if I can close out your account."

Elliot couldn't take it anymore and he slammed his hand down on the table.

"NO, NO, NO! This is insane! You can't take that money and bet it on a damn horse!" Elliot shouted. "I gave you that money so you could…" but Elliot never finished his sentence.

Instead, he clapped his hand over his mouth. He couldn't believe he'd just let the cat out of the bag. Seeing his discomfort, the rest of us burst out laughing.

"Dude, I can't believe you are such a sucker," Jesse taunted him.

"Wait, you mean this is a joke?" Elliot wanted to know.

"Duh," said Jesse.

"And it's why we won't go behind our dad's back and try to make investments without talking to them first," Brandon told Elliot.

"Jeez, you almost gave me a heart attack. I thought you'd all lost your minds," Elliot stated, as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, Mark called and told us about your little chat," Danny admitted.

"Oh, he wasn't supposed to do that," Elliot grumbled.

"Don't be upset with him," Brandon scolded. "The rules for the kind of work he's doing for you are very strict. He didn't have any choice but to call us."

"So you guys aren't mad?" Elliot asked next.

"We think it was very sweet what you were trying to do, but we're definitely not happy with the way you tried to do it," Danny told him. "From now on, you talk to us before you go and try to do anything like this. That money is for your future."

"Besides, we have all the financing in place for what we're doing. We don't have as much as you do, but we're not exactly hobos you know," Brandon added, which got a chuckle from the rest of us.

"I just wanted to help," Elliot explained.

"And you can help," Danny told him. "Once the center opens, we'll find something you can do to pitch in. How does that sound?"

"That's great, I'd like that," Elliot agreed.

"So everyone was in on this?" Elliot wanted to know.

We answered him with another round of laughs at his expense.

"Ha, you guys are so busted when I think of a way to get you back for this," Elliot smiled.

We continued to banter back and forth while we enjoyed the rest of our meal. I think Elliot is starting to see that talking to us before acting is the best policy, so he'll think twice before doing something like this again.

Since Dion and Trey were home for the summer, they started doing a little renovating of their own. They began by moving Joshie out of the small bedroom he had been using and put him in another, larger room. The room they moved him into was just on the other side of their own bedroom, but they did this because they wanted to use the small bedroom for the new baby when it arrived. This way, they'd have a son on either side of the room they currently shared.

Dion and Trey also retrieved Joshie's old crib and baby furniture out of storage and they dug through Joshie's old baby clothes and got them ready for the new baby to use. They also started stocking up on baby supplies, such as newborn diapers, A & D cream, baby wipes, baby lotion and other items they knew they were going to need. When I asked them if they weren't jumping the gun, because I feared if something went wrong they'd be stuck with all of these items, they ended my doubts.

"If something happens and we don't get this baby," Dion explained, "we still want to try to have another one. Besides, Danny and Brandon will eventually want to have a baby too, so they can use this stuff, if we don't use it before then."

I guess that made sense, at least for our unusual family, so I let the subject drop. I was just glad to see they were so excited about the baby's arrival and trying to get ahead of the curve, since the baby would be arriving after they had returned to work in the fall.

Along this same vein, Dion and Trey asked to speak to Jake and me one evening. Of course, we agreed, although we had no idea what they wanted to discuss. We were in the family room when they approached us.

"We need to talk to you," Dion began. "Actually, we want to ask Pop something."

Jake looked puzzled and surprised.

"Okay, what's up?" he asked, in return.

"Trey and I have been discussing what we want to name the baby," Dion began. "At first, we thought about naming him after you, but then we thought there are too many 'J' names in the family already. I mean, just here at the house we have Josh, Jake, Jesse and Joshie. On top of that, there's also Jordan and Jay, so we dropped that idea."

I'm sorry to say this, but Jake looked crushed. It was as if he had just been built up and then suddenly had the rug pulled out from under him. It also made us wonder why they'd asked to speak to us in the first place, if this wasn't their reason.

"I think we've decided on a name, but we wanted to get your approval first," Dion continued, which confused us even more. "We want to name the baby Wyatt Jacob Currie. Would that be all right with you?"

Immediately, Jake was beaming and I was thrilled for him as well. I thought this was a wonderful gesture on Dion and Trey's part,

"Of course, it is," Jake quickly concurred. "Not only is it all right, but I'm pleased and honored that you would gave the baby my name as his middle name. I like the name Wyatt too. I think it will be perfect for him."

Once they left us, Dion and Trey went out to tell Danny and Brandon about their decision as well. That pair was also quick to agree that adding another 'J' name would have added to the confusion in the house, but then they followed that up by stating they liked the name Dion and Trey had chosen instead. Dion and Trey also thanked Danny again for setting this up for them and explained that Joshie was overjoyed when they told him that he'd soon be having a little brother.

By the middle of June, the work on Brandon's office was nearly completed, so he began planning the move into his new place. First, he told his current employer that he would be opening his own practice right after the Fourth of July and then he contacted temp agencies and asked them to send over the names of candidates he could interview for the dental hygienist and receptionist positions.

Brandon also contacted the orthodontist that was going to share the practice with him and gave him an update on the current situation. The orthodontist was ecstatic that work was nearly completed and eager to set out on his own as well, but he admitted that he wouldn't be able to leave his current job for another month. Brandon told him he understood and looked forward to him arriving and setting up shop. Brandon also agreed to advertise his expected arrival, as a way of drumming up some interest in his business.

Since Brandon's new practice and office was right off the main entrance of the health center, the other work could go on without affecting his patients, as they entered and exited the building. Danny's future office suite was also nearly finished and would be in the medical suite located closest to Brandon's dental practice.

The medical suite across the corridor from Danny's future office was also nearly finished, so Danny called his obstetrician friend to advise him of this fact. His OBGYN practice would be moving in there and Danny wanted to let him know he could start setting up shop in the next couple of days. The snack bar was also nearly to the point where it could be opened, but Danny needed to find an operator to run it, before the snack bar would begin serving the employees and patients.

At this point, Danny and Brandon told the contractor they wanted the medical suites finished first. Once they were done, the laboratory would be completed next, followed by the installation of the elevators. Once that was done, the contractor could start work on the operating and recovery rooms, along with the employee lounge, which were to be located on the second floor of the addition.

Since some of the smaller offices were easy to complete, they were also nearly done, so Danny and Brandon would start contacting the individuals who had inquired about opening a psychological and speech therapy practice at the center. Many of those moving into their offices first felt they might only be at the center part-time to start, at least until they had a chance to build up their patient list.

This means that by the time August rolls around, Danny and Brandon will finally have some rental income coming in. This will help them out in meeting their financial obligations while the rest of the center is being completed. I felt things were coming together very nicely, so maybe this wouldn't be such a gamble after all. It looked as if Danny, Brandon and Kevin would not only soon be their own bosses, but Danny and Brandon will also be landlords and collecting some rent.

The weekend before Elliot's birthday, Dustin and Katie were getting married. This particular wedding would be taking place locally, so we won't have to travel this time. It is also being held in the church we normally attend and officiated over by the same minister who had conducted the commitment ceremonies for our gay couples. I was glad that he would be the one performing the wedding service.

Dustin had asked Pat to be his best man, since they had grown quite close over the years. I think he might have been tempted to ask Kevin instead, but felt Kevin might not be able to handle doing this for him. I think Dustin was fearful that it might dredge up memories from when they were temporarily a couple and force him to deal with those feelings, on top of performing the duties of the best man. Anyway, I plan on watching Kevin that day, to make certain it isn't bothering him, but I'm sure he'll be happy for his former lover.

Jake and I also offered to do the same thing for him that we had done for Duck. We'd spend the same amount of money on his wedding, but it would be split up a little differently. Since Katie's family was a little better off than Jennifer's parents, we offered to split the cost of the reception with them, but we were also chipping in a substantial amount toward their honeymoon trip. They had opted to go to Bermuda.

The wedding was nice and our minister was happy to unite another of our couples, but this time in marriage. Katie also looked beautiful in her wedding gown, which was a lovely white floor-length design, but without a long train. She had chosen to have her matron of honor wear a dark pink gown, while her bridesmaids were dressed in a lighter shade of pink. The entire female bridal party carried bouquets and looked lovely.

Dustin, Pat and the ushers all wore tuxes with a flower in their lapels. The entire wedding party looked as if they had just stepped out of a bridal magazine photo shoot. I was positive their wedding album would contain some great photographs and give them something to cherish for the rest of their lives.

The reception also went very well and Pat offered a wonderful toast to the happy couple. During his little speech, he also dredged up a few memories that I think Dustin would rather have had him leave out. Regardless, the toast was well received and gave us a chance to chuckle about some of the things Pat had mentioned.

The couple left directly from the reception and drove to the airport in Philadelphia. Their flight to Bermuda was scheduled to leave very early in the morning and they didn't want to risk not being there on time. After making sure that they had their passports with them, we wished them well and made Dustin promise to drive carefully, before we sent them on their way. That's two weddings down and one to go.

As June was coming to a close, I received another surprise when I got a call from Ted Beckham. If you remember, Ted's Aunt Jane had introduced him to our family shortly after she took care of one of my sons in the hospital. Ted was gay and his father wouldn't accept him at the time, so she brought him to us, so he could see that there was nothing wrong with being gay. Over time, Ted and his father were able to mend their tattered relationship, so now they are close once again.

The reason Ted called was to ask if he and his partner could come visit for a week. He had mentioned it when I'd talked to him previously. He'd said he wanted to do this so his partner could meet the family, so his request didn't come as a total surprise. Therefore, I told him we'd be thrilled to have them. That's when he told me they'd like to come for the Fourth and stay until the following weekend. I agreed that would be fine and assured him I was certain that everyone would love to see him again and meet his partner.

Before Ted and his partner arrived for their visit though, we had a birthday to plan and celebrate. Elliot's birthday was June 29th, and his father's wanted to make his birthday as special as he had made theirs. Even though Elliot's birthday fell on a Wednesday, they still wanted to celebrate it on that evening. Danny had even taken off work an hour early, so he and Brandon would arrive home about the same time. When they did, they found Elliot right away.

"Happy Birthday, Son!" they both shouted in unison. "We need you and Jesse to get dressed quickly, in your good clothes, because we're taking you out to dinner. Our reservation is in an hour."

Elliot looked surprised, for a couple of reasons. First, he didn't expect them to make a big deal out of his birthday. Besides that, he thought they'd wait until the weekend to do anything, rather than doing it on a weeknight. Even though he was still slightly confused, he raced off to shower and change, with Jesse right behind him. They came downstairs about a half hour later and the rest of us were waiting for them. Fortunately, I had told each of the others about our plans the previous evening, so they had a head start on getting ready.

On the way to the restaurant, we made a little detour first. I think Elliot was surprised when we pulled up in front of Hayden's house. Luckily, Hayden must have been watching for our arrival, because he came rushing out to join us, just as soon as we pulled up. You see, I had called his parents the night before and told them about our plans and asked if they'd agree to allow Hayden to go with us. They said that would be fine and promised to tell him the following afternoon. Now, he was racing out to the Suburban and hopped in, almost before I had come to a complete stop.

"You knew about this?" Elliot asked, as Hayden buckled up.

Unfortunately, this almost sounded as if it were meant as an accusation, rather than a question. I was hoping that Hayden didn't over-react to Elliot's tone.

"Not until I got home, after we finished playing tennis today," Hayden confirmed. "That's when my mother told me that your family had called and asked if I could go with you."

That seemed to placate Elliot's curiosity without ruffling his feathers, so he settled in for the rest of the ride there. When we got to the restaurant, we were led back to the private dining room and when we walked in, Hayden looked surprised.

"Damn. What's this?" he wondered aloud. "I didn't even know they had this room."

Danny tried to play it down and nonchalantly told him that we often used it for private family events, like special birthdays, and Hayden merely nodded.

"It's really nice," he mumbled. "I don't think I've ever been to a place as nice as this."

Once we were all seated, Hayden was told to order whatever he wanted. At first he seemed reticent to do this, but after Elliot whispered something to him, he began to look at the menu again. Once we'd all ordered, he had another question for us.

"Do you guys celebrate all your birthdays here?" Hayden wanted to know.

"No, we usually have a cookout on the weekend whenever we have one, but because this is Elliot's first birthday with us, we wanted to make this one special," Brandon told him. "We'll have a cookout for him this Saturday too, so the extended family can join us and you're welcome to come to that as well, if you'd like."

"Yeah, that would be great, because I didn't bring a present for Elliot tonight," Hayden admitted. "If I come to the cookout too, I can bring one then. I wish I had known about this beforehand."

"You don't need to get me a present," Elliot informed him. "Just the fact that you came up to me that first day at school, when I was kinda scared and alone, that was present enough. Now, you've become my best friend ever, so you don't need to give me anything else."

"Come on. I'm still going to get you something," Hayden insisted.

"No, you really don't have to. Really," Elliot countered, adamantly.

"Nice try, but I'm still going to do it, no matter what you say," Hayden stated, equally defiant.

Nothing more was said about it at that point, but I was certain Elliot was going to say something to Hayden about it later, either tonight or tomorrow.

After our meal was delivered, we chatted while we ate. I noticed that Hayden kept glancing around the room the entire time, so he could watch how we were interacting with each other.

"My parents celebrate my birthday too," I heard him tell Elliot, "but not like this. It's usually just the three of us and we also go out to eat, but we don't go to anyplace this fancy. I can't believe they're going to throw you another party on Saturday too. Damn, that's awesome and you are really lucky."

Although I overheard what he'd said, I didn't comment about it. I don't know if any of the others might have heard what he'd said as well, but no one mentioned it if they did. I'll be interested to hear what Elliot might have to say about it later, when we're at home.

As soon as we were done eating and the tables were cleared, the waiter brought in the birthday cake. It read, 'Happy 15th Birthday Son' and had the appropriate number of candles on it. Once Danny lit them, we sang to Elliot and he blew out the candles. Then Brandon handed Elliot a flat package, similar to the ones Elliot had presented to Danny and him on their birthdays.

"Well, open it," Danny urged, when Elliot froze and just stared at the wrapping paper.

Elliot's hands were trembling as he tore off the paper and opened the box. Then he pulled out a piece of paper that his fathers had placed inside. He unfolded it and read it quietly. Then his eyes welled up and he turned to hug his fathers.

"What is it?" Hayden demanded. "What did they give you?"

Obviously, Hayden couldn't think of anything that would make Elliot act this way and was curious as to what the paper contained. As soon as Elliot had calmed down enough to release his fathers, he turned to face Hayden. He just stood there momentarily and didn't say a word, but then he finally spoke.

"It's a certificate that says my dads want to legally adopt me whenever I want," Elliot told him, "provided I'm willing."

I think the rest of us choked up a little at that point, once we heard what Elliot had said. Danny had only told me they planned to do something special, but he never divulged what it was going to be.

"If you're willing? Why wouldn't you want them to do that for you?" Hayden wondered, aloud.

"We just weren't certain he was ready to take that step yet," Brandon explained. "It's only been eight months since he lost his father and we didn't want to push him, if he wasn't ready yet. We can do this anytime and there's no time limit on our offer."

"And we're telling you, upfront, that you don't have to change you last name either, unless it's what you want to do," Danny added. "You can either keep your father's surname or use that as your middle name, if you decide you want to use the Currie name. The choice is absolutely yours and it won't change the fact that we want to adopt you."

I think this was too much information and Elliot's mind was on overload. When I noticed his current reaction, I decided to bail him out.

"I'm sure your fathers aren't expecting you to answer them about this tonight, Elliot," I clarified, in case he was confused. "You can think about it and let them know, whenever you decide what you want to do."

"That's right, honey," Brandon assured him.

I wondered if anyone else had picked up on the fact that Brandon had just called Elliot 'honey.' If they did, none of them said anything about it.

"As we said," Danny added next, "we can do this whenever you're ready."

Now that this had been cleared up, Elliot hugged both of his fathers again, thanked them for the gift and told them he'd let them know soon. I think the rest of us were all thrilled for him, especially Hayden.

"I'm happy for you. What a cool birthday gift," Hayden whispered to him. "Not every foster home is as nice as this one and they wouldn't offer to adopt you either. I think most of them are just doing it for the money."

Elliot's face suddenly contorted in a questioning grimace. Something was obviously troubling him.

"You get money for me being here?" Elliot asked his fathers, in disbelief.

"We do, but we don't spend any of it. We chose to put it directly into an account for you to use later," Danny verified, "just like my dad did for my brothers and me. We don't touch that money at all."

"But you don't have to do that. I've got more th…" Elliot started, before I cut him off, by placing a finger across my lips.

I know Elliot trusts Hayden, but I felt it would be best if we kept his inheritance in the family for the time being. Elliot saw what I'd done and lost his train of thought, so Hayden spoke again.

"Damn! That's even more awesome!" Hayden exclaimed, although I'm not sure he meant for the rest of us to hear his comment.

Once the party was over, we dropped Hayden off at his house and then the rest of us went home. Jesse went upstairs with Elliot tonight, because he could see Elliot's head was spinning and he thought he might need company. As soon as they were alone in Elliot's room, Elliot turned to him and spoke.

"Did they do all of that for you too?" Elliot asked him.

"Yes, but Papa Josh is my dad, so he's the one who did that for me," Jesse confirmed. "They put that money in with whatever other money we got from our families, plus I think he threw some other money in there too."

"Wow. I didn't know that," Elliot stated. "And he offered to adopt you too?"

"He did and I decided to change my last name to Currie when he did that," Jesse confirmed. "I can use the money he put in my account for college, to start a business or to just get a head start in life. Danny used his money to pay for his education and then used the rest of it to put toward the health center. I'm sure it made things easier for him and that's what he wants to do for you too."

"I didn't expect them to do this," Elliot admitted. "I figured they might want to get me a special present, after what I did for them, and I spent hours trying to think what they might get me. I thought of tons of things, but I never expected them to do this. I was just blown away."

"Yes, I'm sure you were," Jesse agreed, "and it looks like Hayden was surprised by it too."

Elliot nodded in agreement.

"What do you think you're going to do?" Jesse wanted to know.

"I don't know exactly, but I'll tell you one thing. This is the happiest I've been since I came here," Elliot answered.

Jesse stayed in with Elliot and cuddled with him that night, so he'd feel safe or maybe just to help him relax. Elliot's body was trembling slightly, but Jesse guessed it was due to the euphoria he was feeling about his present, not from fear or worry. Jesse just thought he should stay in there with him, to help keep Elliot calm. It must have worked, because Elliot was his normal self again in the morning, although he may have been walking more on air, than on the ground.

The weekend after we celebrated Elliot's birthday at the restaurant, Danny and Brandon had a cookout in his honor, which amounted to Elliot's second birthday party. However, this time the extended family was going to be there too, along with Hayden. Danny and Brandon had also asked Hayden to invite a few of the others Elliot had become friendly with. They told Hayden to advise them presents were NOT required, although they felt Hayden was planning on bringing something for Elliot.

The cookout was well attended and we got to meet some of Elliot's other friends. Three of them were members of the tennis team whom he'd become close to, and there were also two members of the swim team that Elliot had hit it off with. It was nice to see that he had made other friends too.

The party went off nicely, and after we had the cake and ice cream, Hayden presented Elliot with a gift. After a brief discussion that he shouldn't have done this, Elliot unwrapped the package. Inside, he found two separate gifts. First, there were two cans of tennis balls and the second was a new Speedo, in the school colors and with the school logo on it. I guess Hayden was telling him he had no excuse not to join the swim team in the fall.

I believe Elliot really enjoyed the cookout and then he took his friends inside for a brief time, so they could challenge each other on the Wii, air hockey or table tennis. I think his new friends had a good time too.

As we got closer to the Fourth of July, Jake and I began planning and preparing for our big celebration at home. It was party time again and a large percentage of the family was going to be here. Fortunately, the boys were cooperative when I asked them to help get the bedrooms ready and it didn't take us long to finish up.

Now that the rooms were ready, I began to look forward to celebrating with everyone again. Since the Fourth was on a Monday this year, it meant the family would begin arriving on Friday. Those who were currently employed had opted to take an extra day off from work on Tuesday, so they could return home without having to rush or miss out on the fireworks. This also meant we'd get to enjoy the entire holiday with them.

Mark and his girlfriend were coming in from New York this year, which made Susan very happy. Mark was bringing Jay with them and they were also stopping to pick up Ricky in Philadelphia, so they'll have a full car.

What this also meant was that Sammy and Graham had to drive themselves this time, since Ricky was the one who normally carpooled with them. Although they've also done this with Frankie, he would be working over the holiday and unable to attend as well. Pat was coming too, but he would be driving in from the west, so that wouldn't help them either. Besides, Pat was bringing Duck and his new bride with him.

Each of these groups left to come here right after they finished work on Friday and arrived at different times throughout the evening. We greeted them as they came in and then quickly got them settled into a room, so they wouldn't have to do that later. Once they had their belongings in the room they'd be staying in, they came back to the family room to visit with us for a while.

Most of them went to bed fairly early that evening, since they were all tired from working that day, followed by the long ride, and we could understand how they felt. We bid them sweet dreams and sent them off to bed, although we stayed up a little longer.

Most of our guests also slept in Saturday morning, with some of them staying in bed longer than others. We weren't sure if they'd been sleeping the whole time or just enjoying some quiet moments with their partners, but none of us cared. We were just happy they were with us for the holiday.

Just before noon on Saturday, Ted and his boyfriend pulled in. After I gave Ted an affectionate hug and a warm greeting, I welcomed him to our home again. Once we broke our hold on each other, he quickly introduced me to his partner.

"Pop, this is my boyfriend, Gavin Finch," Ted stated. "Well, we're actually more than boyfriends, but we're not married or anything."

"Gavin, I want you to meet my Pop, Mr. Josh Currie," he told his partner.

After we exchanged hellos, I gave Gavin a hug and welcomed him not only to our home, but also into our family. I think he was surprised by this, but I explained that Ted was just another of my sons, even if he lived far away and we didn't get to see him as often as we'd like. He thanked me for the wonderful greeting and then paid attention, as Ted took him around to meet the others.

Ted introduced Gavin to Jake next, and then the boys who had also come out to greet him. Ted looked great and Gavin was cute, so the attraction between them was obvious. I also noticed that Gavin was a little shorter than Ted and had a slender build. That's when I realized he was built like Sammy. Since Sammy was Ted's first crush and infatuation when he came to visit us, I wondered if this had anything to do with Ted's choice of his current partner. I couldn't help but wonder if his decision had been influenced on either a conscious or unconscious level.

Throughout most of Saturday, we just sat and chatted, as everyone caught the others up on what they'd been up to. Dion and Trey got to tell anyone who didn't already know about their upcoming addition, while Danny, Brandon and Kevin filled everyone in on the progress toward starting their own businesses.

Jake, Danny and Brandon offered to fix dinner Saturday night and urged me to stay in with our guests. They said most of them came to see me anyway, although I countered that they'd come to see all of us. No matter how persuasively I argued this point, they were still insistent that I stay out there. Therefore, I acceded to their request.

After we finished eating, the boys began playing games and were challenging each other to various competitions. It didn't matter if it was on the Wii, air hockey, table tennis, cards or one of the board games. The rest of the evening was filled with shouts of 'I won,' 'you lose,' 'gotcha' or other similar exclamations. Fortunately, it was all good-natured and no one took it the wrong way.

After being involved in several of these challenges, Ted asked if Gavin and he could chat with Jake and me in the family room for a while. He really wanted us to move into the other room – just the four of us, but I told him we needed to do something else first. Somewhat confused, Ted agreed to hold off for a bit and I called everyone together. Once they were all present, I went out to the rec room quickly and then came into the dining room carrying a cake with a '2' and '5' candles lit on top. Then, we started singing Happy Birthday to Ted.

"You remembered?" Ted asked, possibly rhetorically, but I answered him anyways.

"I certainly did," I agreed. "I know your birthday was yesterday, but since you didn't arrive until today, I wish you a belated happy birthday."

"Thanks, Pop!" Ted exclaimed. "I really wasn't expecting anything like this."

"Wow, this place is wild!" Gavin announced. "Ted told me I'd enjoy my time here, but I wasn't so sure. You guys really are as neat as he said you were."

"Thank you for that compliment," I responded, "but most of it is due to the boys."

"Only because you raised them to be that way," Ted corrected me, and I elected not to argue the point.

Once we all had a piece of his cake and some ice cream, I signaled Jake and we went out on the front porch with Ted and Gavin. I know they'd asked to speak with us in the family room, but since it was such a lovely evening and the boys were playing on the Wii in there, I thought this would be better. We let Ted and Gavin sit on the porch swing, while Jake and I sat on two of the lawn chairs.

"You know, I still wish I could have grown up here, even though I'm getting along much better with my parents now," he began. "Heck, my dad even treats Gavin like a son too. In fact, Gavin is getting treated better than I did when I was growing up."

"Well, your parents have come a long way since then and I hope you have forgiven them and don't bring this up," I remarked. "I wouldn't want anything so silly to jeopardize your current favorable relationship with your parents."

"No, it's all cool now," Ted admitted. "I do still kind of wish that it could have happened earlier, but I guess it's better late than never."

"I would agree with that," I responded, with Jake doing the same.

Ted and Gavin then went on to tell us about how they'd met, fell in love and broke the news to both of their families. Then, they filled us in about how they had found their jobs, what type of work they do and about their apartment. It really was an informative and interesting conversation. We stayed out on the porch with them for quite some time, before they told us they were getting tired. Since we understood how they were feeling, we went inside and let them head off to the room they were using.

Most of us turned in fairly early that night, since I'd gotten them all settled into a room shortly after they'd arrived. I warned everyone that I'd be going around and pounding on doors in the morning, since I expected them all to go to church with us. They all answered, "We know," so I didn't have to argue with them.

Sunday morning I got everyone up, and while they were getting ready, I called the restaurant where we usually had brunch. I then asked if they could reserve one of their three dining areas for our group and told them we'd probably fill the room up. Hearing this, they agreed, but probably because we ate there on a regular basis – nearly every Sunday.

We also ended up filling a large section of the church, because we met most of our extended family there as well. They wanted to see everyone again and were going out to brunch with us afterward, so they could chat with the boys and their mates.

The service moved right along and I didn't notice anyone falling asleep during the sermon. Ted did comment when Dion sang a solo with the choir, and Gavin and he were both impressed with Dion's voice. I think it was the first time Ted had heard Dion sing, because when he first came to visit us, Dion hadn't yet developed the beautiful voice he has now.

The pastor greeted us warmly on the way out and said it was nice to see the visitors once again. The family then told him they had enjoyed the service and most thanked him for his continued support of each of our couples. He merely smiled and said he believed 'it was what Jesus would have done.'

When we arrived at the restaurant, we certainly had enough bodies to fill up the room they had reserved for us. Once we were seated, we squeezed together even more tightly, so we could free up a couple of tables for their other patrons. They thanked us for doing this and then served us quite quickly, considering the large number in our group.

Once we were done, we all went back to the house, so the extended family could chat with those who had returned. Around that same time, Sally pulled me aside.

"Where's Richard?" she asked. "I was hoping to see him today, because I have some good news for him."

"He went back for the summer session at college, so he could finish the requirements for his degree," I explained. "He felt he'd rather do that over the summer, than go back for the fall semester."

"When will he be coming home?" she asked next.

"He'll be home for good in August," I told her.

"Fantastic! That will work out perfectly," she replied.

"Work out perfectly for what?" I wondered.

"For me to hire him," Sally announced. "One of the girls who works for me is pregnant and is going on maternity leave in September. I'll be able to hire Richard to fill the job temporarily, so he can gain some hands-on experience. Rumor has it that she might not be returning and will stay home with her baby for the first few years, so it may turn into a permanent position. Will you tell Richard that for me?"

"I'll be happy to and I'm certain Little Ricky will be thrilled to hear this," I agreed. "One thing he's always told me is that he wants to work for you."

I think this made Sally blush, but I'd told her the truth.

The rest of the day went perfectly, with Ted filling the extended family in about his good news. I saw each of them going up to welcome him and say how nice it was to see him again. In fact, Steve and Mary spent quite a bit of time chatting with Ted and Gavin, since they were the ones who had inquired about him the previous year. I was glad they had a chance to spend some quality time together.

I was just getting up to make a quick run into the house when Graham approached me.

"It's happening again," he told me. "I'm seeing someone standing near Elliot, but this times it's a woman. I can only assume it's his mother, but I can't be sure. Elliot doesn't have any photos in his room with a woman in them. It usually happens when he's standing by or playing his piano."

"Unfortunately, his mother died when he was born," I agreed. "That would explain the lack of pictures and link her to the piano too. She was the pianist in the family before Elliot learned to play."

"Do you think I should tell him?" Graham asked.

"Does it look like she's giving him a positive sign?" I questioned.

"Yes, she is," Graham confirmed.

"Well, he took the other message okay, so we might as well tell him about this one too," I suggested. "Let me just get Danny and Brandon first and explain this to them. I think they should be there when Elliot hears what you have to tell him."

I went off to find Danny and Brandon, so I could advise them that Graham has had another vision. Then I asked them to find Elliot and meet us back in the house. This time we went in the family room and shut the door.

"What's up? Did you see my dad again?" Elliot asked, as soon as he saw who was in the room with him.

"No, this time I'm seeing a woman," Graham told him. "I assume it's your mother, although I'm not sure."

"I've got to go," Elliot said, as he bolted out the door.

Elliot was looking pale as he moved toward the door, but Brandon blocked his way.

"What's wrong? Why don't you want to hear this?" he asked.

"It's nothing. I just have to go," Elliot responded, as he tried to get past his father.

"Elliot, hang on a second," Graham told him. "Your dad just returned and now he's holding this woman's hand. They're both smiling and each one is holding out a rose to you."

"Just stop! Please. I don't want to hear this," Elliot insisted. "Just let me go to my room."

After saying this, he pushed past Brandon and got the door open far enough to slip out. Then I heard his footsteps, as he stormed up the stairs.

"What's wrong with him?" Graham asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out," Danny answered.

He left the family room too and was heading up the stairs. Danny went directly to Elliot's room, but the door was locked. Danny knocked on it, but received no response.

"Elliot, please let me in. We need to talk," Danny told him.

"I don't want to talk about it," Elliot responded.

"Elliot, please open the door. I really think we need to discuss this," Danny insisted.

"No!" was all he said in return.

Danny knew Elliot wasn't about to change his mind, so he headed back downstairs. Instead of going back to the family room, he remained in the foyer, as he tried to come up with a way to approach Elliot. That's when he noticed movement on the stairs. When he turned to look, Elliot was coming down in his gym shorts and running shoes.

"Elliot, we need to talk," he told him.

"There's nothing to talk about! I'm going for a run," Elliot replied.

"No! You're not going anywhere until we hash this out," Danny countered. "You're clearly upset and I don't think you should be going out just now."

Since Danny was between the door and him, Elliot saw no way he was getting past his father. Therefore, he turned around and went back upstairs, with Danny in hot pursuit. Elliot tried to lock the door again, but Danny prevented him from closing it before he could accomplish that task. Frustrated, Elliot threw himself onto the bed and lay face down.

"What's up, sport?" Danny asked. "Why are you acting this way? This isn't like you."

"Just leave me alone. Please," Elliot whined.

"Son, you know by now that you can tell Brandon and me anything," Danny told him. "Just tell me what's wrong. I'm sure you'll feel better once you get it off your chest."

"I can't. I just want to go," Elliot announced, as he attempted to get up and move past Danny again.

This time, Danny wrapped him in a powerful hug and held him against his chest. In part, this was meant to keep him from making a break for the door, but it was also meant to give him comfort.

"Look, you're not going anywhere until you calm down," Danny stated, gently. "I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know what's going on here."

Danny waited patiently for him to say something, but he never did. Finally, Danny felt he had to push the issue.

"Look, I don't know what's wrong," he began, "but both of your parents seem to be supporting you. Graham's had this ability for a long time now and he's certain the roses are a very good sign."

Elliot turned and looked at Danny, as he tried to gauge if he was telling the truth. After a few moments, he finally responded.

"I can't believe that," Elliot stated. "I'm sure she hates me, because I'm a bad son. I don't miss her like I do my dad. Sometimes I go weeks, even months, without thinking of her."

"I'm sure she understands that you don't feel as strongly about her, because you never really had a chance to know your mother and your dad isn't here to tell you about her," Danny told him. "She's just pleased to see that you're happy and healthy. She knows you love her and she loves you too, even if those feeling aren't as strong as they are for your father. She knows how you feel about her. She's your mother. The person who gave you life."

"Yeah, and it cost her hers," Elliot replied, sarcastically.

"That doesn't matter," Danny told him. "I've met dozens of pregnant women through my work and I don't think any of them would act any differently than yours did. It's what moms do for their babies. It appears she's obviously proud of you too or she wouldn't have appeared to Graham, so he could relay her message. No one has ever come back to tell Graham they were upset with their loved on. They only do it to show their support and allow that person to go on with his own life."

Elliot looked up and studied Danny's face.

"Do you really think that's what she's doing?" he asked.

"I do or she wouldn't have shown up carrying a rose," Danny answered. "Maybe that's why your father showed up when we were downstairs, so you'd know who she was and understand that they are together again and will always be with you."

Elliot spent the next few minutes mulling over his father's words. Eventually, he must have agreed that this was what his parents were trying to tell him, so he got up and hugged his father. He returned to the family room with Danny a few minutes later, but this time he was ready to listen to what Graham had to tell him.

Graham didn't reveal much more to him, except that both Elliot's parents were there and they seemed to be showing their support for their son. Finally, Elliot accepted this for what it was and lost his concerns that his mother was upset with him, because he didn't have the same deep feelings for her, as he did for his father. I think this little encounter made him feel significantly better and helped him cope with some of the demons that had been lingering within his soul.

Now that this crisis had been handled, we went back outside and rejoined the others. No one asked where we'd gone or what we'd been doing, so we didn't bring it up either, but Danny, Brandon and I did keep an eye on Elliot over the next hour.

Most of the extended family opted to leave before dinner, even though we told them they were welcome to stay. They then stated that they'd be attending the cookout the following day and providing them with one meal, along with today's brunch, was more than enough. We still argued with them that one more meal wouldn't break us, but they left anyways.

Once the rest of us finished eating, everyone agreed we should go to the movies. Since this was fine with me, it's what we did. Elliot even asked if he could call Hayden and invite him to go with us, and his fathers told him that would be fine.

I didn't think the selection was that great, but we ended up splitting up into four different theaters. Joshie wanted to see 'Mr. Popper's Penguins' with Jim Carey, because he thought the penguins were cute. Therefore, Dion and Trey ended up taking him to see that movie. The rest of us split up between three different theaters and saw 'Larry Crowne' with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, 'The Green Lantern' or 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon.'

Jake went with me to see 'The Green Lantern,' and to my mild surprise, so did Ted and Gavin. We had chosen this movie, because I think I'd read every Green Lantern comic book as a kid and both Jake and I had watched the TV series with the same name. Now, we wanted to see how this film compared to the other two. Neither of us were blown away by it, but we didn't hate it either, so I'd say that, overall, we enjoyed it.

Of course, Jesse, Elliot and Hayden went to see the Transformer movie, along with Elliot's fathers. However, I understood they didn't sit very close to each other, since Danny and Brandon had agreed to let the boys have their space. A few of the others also went to see that movie as well.

Most of the girls dragged their boyfriends off to see 'Larry Crowne,' but I wasn't sure if they had chosen that particular movie because of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts or if they thought the storyline sounded good. Unfortunately, I could tell their boyfriends weren't as excited about seeing it as the girls were.

Although Hayden had wanted to spend the night, his parents wouldn't let him, so Danny and Brandon dropped him off on the way home. I know Elliot was disappointed too, because this meant Hayden wouldn't be with us tomorrow either, but I could understand why his family wanted him to be with them for the holiday.

After we got back to the house, everyone went off to do his own thing, whether it was in the privacy of one of the bedrooms or with some of the others in one of the family areas. Whichever they chose, they seemed satisfied with their choices.

The next morning, Danny and Brandon fixed everyone breakfast when they got up. Although Jake and I told them we could do it, they told us to relax and enjoy the holiday and they'd take care of this. Therefore, we didn't argue and did as we were told.

After he'd finished eating, Elliot went up to his fathers and asked if he could speak to them. They agreed and took Elliot out on the front porch to chat privately.

"Dads, I've made up my mind," Elliot began. "I knew I wanted you to adopt me as soon as you offered, but I wasn't sure about changing my name. After thinking about it more and after what Graham told me about seeing my parents, I've decided they would have encouraged me to do this, so I'd fit in with the rest of you. I believe they'd tell me that now I have a new family to learn about, a new heritage to get acquainted with, new traditions to enjoy and a new life to live with people who love me. That's what convinced me that I should change my last name."

"That's really sweet," Brandon agreed, "but are you certain?"

"Yeah, I am," Elliot confirmed. "I've given it a lot of thought and I'm very certain."

"Then do you want to use Kennedy as your middle name?" Danny followed. "Yeah, that would be great too," Elliot concurred.

"Okay, then what if we have the papers read 'Elliot Edward Kennedy Currie.' We'll have that put on your new birth certificate and all of your other paperwork from now on, including your school records," Brandon suggested. "Then you'll just have two middle names."

"Yeah, about that. I've never liked Edward, so I was thinking, if it was okay with you, then I might change it to Elliot Kennedy O'Hara Currie." Elliot agreed.

Brandon was deeply touched and reached out, so he could hug Elliot tightly.

"That's really sweet of you, son," Brandon stated, as he released his grip on Elliot. "Are you sure that's what you want to do? After all, it's a bit of a mouthful."

"I'm sure," Elliot confirmed. "You're my dad too and I want to honor your family, as much as the Kennedys and the Curries."

"Well, that makes me very proud and I would be honored to have you use my name," Brandon stated, before giving Elliot another hug.

"Great!" Danny concurred. "We'll make sure this gets done before you go back to school in the fall."

After the breakfast dishes had been put in the dishwasher, the older boys dragged everyone out for their annual Currie family touch football game. It was an energetic game, with more than a few flubs, but it was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I know the girls did! They liked watching all of those bare-chested guys running around, all hot and sweaty.

After the players went in to shower and change, Dion and Trey informed us they would man the grills this year. I think Jake was slightly offended at first, thinking that someone would be taking his job, but he got over it quickly. While they were doing that, some of the others dragged out the other dishes, which had either been brought by the extended family or were made by the other boys the previous day and then kept in one of the refrigerators in the interim. By the time the last of the extended family arrived, we were ready to eat.

The food was plentiful and it all tasted great. We chatted while we ate and were regaled with tales about the football game, the movies they'd seen the previous evening and anything else that came to mind. It was fun, informative and entertaining.

Once everyone was full, Elliot dragged those who agreed into the family room, so they could watch some of the videos we took of his tennis matches – but only the one's he'd won. He even gave them sound effects by playing the piano while they watched the screen, which gave it the feel of an old-time silent film.

Before it got dark, we went down to pick out a spot to watch the Fourth fireworks display. As anticipated, it was a wonderful aerial show, which ended with an explosive and spectacular finale. Joshie enjoyed it, although he did clamp his hands over his ears as the sounds of the final cumulative burst was more than what he could tolerate. However, he still loved watching the colorful and brilliant light display.

From there, we went home and merely chilled out for the rest of the evening. Most of our travelers went to bed fairly early, seeing they'd have to make the long trip home the following day. Before they turned in though, we thanked them for sharing this special holiday with us and told them we hoped they'd enjoyed themselves. They all assured us they had and then they went to their rooms.

Overall, I'd have to say this was a fantastic weekend, especially since we spent the time surrounded by the people we cared about the most. No matter how much we'd enjoyed it, this wonderful weekend had to eventually come to an end, but we weren't too sad about it. We knew we'd be seeing most of them again, in a couple of weeks, when we went to Mark and Amy's wedding – the last of the nuptials scheduled for this summer.

The next morning, Brandon got up early to go in to his new office. He did have a couple of appointments scheduled for the afternoon, with some of his former patients who were transferring to his new practice, but that wasn't his primary reason for going in. He wanted to get the receptionist setup and familiarized with the place, plus he wanted to help the dental hygienist organize her things the way she wanted them. He also planned to make certain all of the other areas were ready for business before the patients arrived.

The rest of us merely chilled during the day, since we were still a little tired from the hectic weekend. I did do a little cleaning up, but not much, but I made sure the others had plenty of time to relax.

When Brandon came home later, we barraged him with questions about how his day had gone. He merely smiled and then spoke.

"Wow! No one's been this curious about how my day's gone before," he teased. "Now I know how the kids feel when we ask them about their day at school."

In the end, he told us that things went well and he'd spent most of his day just getting everything organized. He said he was impressed by both the hygienist and receptionist and was looking forward to working with them. He also said he got a chance to meet the obstetrician, when he came into the building carrying supplies for his office.

Brandon explained that he'd even found time to draw up some sketches of various ads he wanted to run in the local newspaper and some of the free publications. They were designed to announce the opening of his dental practice and the August arrival of his partner. It was good to see him so positive about his day.

Throughout the week, I spent my time with Ted and Gavin. We spent many hours talking, but they also enjoyed time in our pool and socializing with the other boys. I also took them on several day trips, so I could show Gavin some of our local area and a few places of interest. I also took them to see Kevin's new pharmacy and we did a tour of the new children's health center, while explaining they were still works in progress.

Ted also told Gavin about some of his earlier visits with us, without the graphic details of his sexual escapades. He also explained about our very special Valentine's Day parties that he'd been able to attend. It was nice to see that he'd had such wonderful memories of those times with our family.

At the end of the week, Ted and Gavin got ready to leave, but promised to come back to see us again in the future. We assured them they were welcome any time and Gavin told us he had enjoyed himself and loved meeting the entire family. We were quick to point out that there were still others he hadn't yet met, which he had trouble believing, since we'd introduced him to so many. He emphasized that everyone had greeted him warmly and treated him as well as his own family did. I was glad to see we'd made a good first impression.

It was very difficult when it came time for them leave. No matter how many times we say good-bye to our visitors, it never gets any easier. It's just something we do because we have to. We kissed and hugged them both and then bid them a safe trip home.

Kevin was very busy throughout July, as he worked at his normal job during the day and then went to stock shelves at his new pharmacy at night. Vinnie helped him do this, as much as he could, and slowly things began to come together at the pharmacy.

Kevin also called Jeff, to tell him about the pharmacy. In case you don't remember, Jeff was the young man that Kevin switched scholarships with. Since Jeff probably wouldn't have been able to attend college with only the partial scholarship that he had won, Kevin talked the scholarship committee into letting him switch his scholarship with Jeff. Kevin gave Jeff his full scholarship, in exchange for the partial one, since he also had a trust fund that he could use to pay for his education. The two boys became very close after that and even went to Temple University together. They have been great friends ever since.

When Kevin told Jeff what he was up to, Jeff had a bunch of questions for him. He was interested in what Kevin was doing and wanted to know more about how he was managing this.

"So what hours are you going to be open?" Jeff asked first.

"To start, I think I'll be open from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.," Kevin responded.

"And you're going to work the entire day by yourself?" Jeff pressed.

"Yes, I'll be covering the pharmacy the entire time, but I will hire other people to watch over the rest of the store," Kevin confirmed.

"That's a long day," Jeff observed. "You might be able to handle working that many hours while business is slow, but I don't think you'll be able to do that once the traffic picks up."

"You're probably right and I do intend to hire another pharmacist to overlap shifts with me, once we get busy," Kevin advised him. "Once we get established, I figured one of us will open and the other will close. We can even alternate the shifts weekly or monthly, if that's what the other person wants to do."

"When you get to that point, let me know," Jeff suggested. "I'd love to come work for you, if you're willing to have me."

"You bet your sweet ass I am," Kevin replied. "You can even live with Vinnie and me and use our spare bedroom, until you find something on your own."

"Wow, that's very generous of you," Jeff admitted. "Are you sure Vinnie will agree with that offer."

"Actually, I know he will," Kevin confessed. "When I told Vinnie I was going to call you, he told me to see if you were interested in moving here to work with me. He was also the one who suggested you could stay with us, until you got set up on your own. The thing is, you beat me to the punch and asked first."

"I'll be damned!" Jeff exclaimed. "He really said that, huh?"

"He certainly did," Kevin confirmed.

The two of them talked for a while longer and Kevin agreed to call Jeff again, once his business started to pick up. At that time, Jeff would give notice at his current job and make plans to move here. He seemed excited about the possibility, until he thought about his mother. When he did, he confided in Kevin that he didn't want to leave her alone.

"Once you get set up, then you can move her here too," Kevin told him. "I'm sure my brothers or I can find a job for her, maybe even at the pharmacy with us, and then you'll still be close to each other."

"Thank you," Jeff stated. "You certainly go out of your way to do nice things for people. I guess that's how we became friends in the first place, when you switched scholarships with me. I still owe you for that one."

"No, you don't owe me a thing," Kevin told him. "I was happy to do it and now we're both pharmacists because of that. It also looks as if we'll be working together soon, so it was worth switching scholarships with you."

I think both boys were happy with how this was working out, so Jeff was going to explain this possibility to his mother. He was fairly certain she'd be thrilled about it too and wouldn't hesitate to move, since they don't have any other family in the area. She will be leaving some of her friends, but Jeff was positive they'd stay in touch and she'd make new friends once she got settled.

Kevin, however, wasn't the only one who was getting things organized. Dion and Trey received the finalized adoption agreement from Uncle Steve and they sat down and read it over. When they finished, they agreed that everything had been adequately covered, so they called Penny and told her they'd bring it over to her to sign. They explained they would leave it with her and she could take it to her own attorney and he could peruse it too.

That's when Penny informed them she couldn't afford a lawyer and stated that she'd just read it over herself, as long as it didn't contain a lot of legalese. Once they explained it was written in language that she could understand, she said she'd go over it and decide if she was willing to sign it. Since she had agreed to do this, they set up a time to meet her.

Dion and Trey were excited that they would soon have another son, but Joshie was growing impatient.

"When is the new baby coming to live with us?" he asked his fathers one evening. "I want to see my brother."

"Joshie, it takes time for a baby to grow inside its mommy, before it is ready to be born," Dion told him.

"Did I grow inside my mommy?" Joshie wondered.

"You certainly did," Trey confirmed. "In fact, maybe you should ask her, the next time you're with her." Joshie nodded in agreement.

"So when will I see my brother?" Joshie wanted to know.

"The baby won't be coming to live with us until about a month after you have your next birthday," Dion told him.

"When's my birthday?" Joshie demanded.

"It's still about two months away," Dion confirmed.

"How many days?" Joshie challenged, since he didn't understand what his daddy was telling him.

"A lot," Trey answered, when he saw Dion trying to count them up in his head. "It will be quite a while before we actually get the baby."

"That's too long," Joshie pouted.

"It may be, but babies only come when they're ready," Dion assured him.

"You should tell him to hurry," Joshie insisted, and this made his fathers laugh.

This basically ended their conversation, but Joshie still wasn't happy. He did agree to be patient and wait, but his fathers were convinced they'd be having similar conversations with him about this same subject in the very near future.

While they were working this out with Joshie, I was calling my older children, to confirm our vacation plans. When I talked to Marie, I had something else to ask her.

"I hope you remember that last year Michael and you agreed to let Nicky and Jordan spend the two weeks before our vacation here with us," I told her.

"It's hard to forget when your son is reminding you every other day," she replied, with a giggle. "We are both well aware of this and are looking forward to a couple weeks of peace without them."

I had to chuckle at her observation.

"Do you think Nicky might be old enough to fly here on his own this year?" I asked. "If not, I'll fly down to get him."

"You won't have to do that, Dad," Marie told me. "We've got it covered. I don't know if I mentioned this to you before, but we had a situation at work with the lack of business, so each of us in the office agreed to take a month furlough."

"When did this happen?" I pressed. "Are Adrian and you okay financially?"

"Yes, we're fine," she confirmed. "What happened was this. Our boss came in one day and told us he was going to have to let one person go. He also told us that since there is no seniority and our last evaluations had been about the same, he was going to have a lottery drawing to determine who would be leaving. Since we didn't want to see one of us lose her job, we all agreed to take a month unpaid furlough, so no one had to be terminated. We all felt it would be easier to make up a month's salary, than risk losing our job."

"That might have been a wise choice," I agreed. "So you have to take a month off at a time?"

"No, we just have to take four unpaid weeks between the time we agreed to this and the end of the year," she advised me. "We will have to do the same thing next year as well. For now, two people will be out most weeks, since there is only a half year remaining to do this in, but we don't have to take it all at once."

"That's good," I confirmed. "So when are you taking your time off?"

"I decided to take mine in four consecutive weeks," Marie told me. "I'm starting with the last week of July and I'm flying with the kids to Michael's house. Kylie and I are going to spend those two weeks with Megan and Andrea, while Jordan and Nicky are with you. Then, the following week we're going on the family vacation together and I'll use my final week getting the kids ready for school."

"It sounds like you have everything figured out," I told her.

"I try," she agreed. "Do you want us to drive the boys up or do you want to come get them?"

"I can come get them, that way I'll be able to see the rest of you too," I acknowledged. "I'm looking forward to seeing you all again, even though we'll be spending a week together shortly after that."

Since all of this had been agreed to and settled, we just had to wait for them to arrive at Michael's house.

The time in between went by fairly quickly, since Jesse and Elliot were keeping me busy getting ready for Jordan and Nicky's arrival. I knew Jesse and Elliot were making other plans for what they were going to do when the other two arrived, but we did plan a few things we could all do together.

When the day came for us to pick them up at Michael's, Jake announced that he was planning to go with us. Since Jesse and Elliot also wanted to ride along, I talked Danny and Brandon into allowing Elliot to go with us too. We each packed an overnight bag and took off in the Suburban.

It was a long trip, but the boys were so excited and going on about things that it seemed to make the time go by faster than normal. When we arrived, the others greeted us and helped take our bags inside. Jake and I were going to be using Jordan's room overnight, because Michael and Jordan had set up their family tent in the backyard for the boys to stay in for the night. Since they had limited space at the house for this mob, Kylie was staying with Megan and Marie was given the guest room. It all seemed to work out fine.

We spent the next few hours together, although the kids would disappear from time to time, but we were really enjoying each other's company. We had dinner at the house and played some games afterward, and then the boys went out to spend the rest of the night in the tent. I was fairly certain they'd be messing around a little later, at least after they saw the lights in the house go off.

The next morning, we got the boys together and started our trip back. This trip seemed to take a little longer for Jake and me, because the boys were busy interacting with each other in the back and not paying much attention to us. That ended, once we got closer to home.

"Papa, since we're older this year," Jordan began, "are you going to let us do everything this time?"

I knew he was referring to having anal intercourse this year.

"Let me think about that and we'll talk about it more, once we're at the house," I told him.

They agreed and I knew they were also hopeful. As we pulled into the driveway, less than an hour later, the boys were rearing to go.

"Are we going to talk about it now?" Nicky asked.

I could see the expectation on his face.

"Not yet," I told them. "I'm sure you want Elliot to be involved in this too, so I'll have to talk to Danny and Brandon first, before we can make it happen. Since they are at work now, I'm sure you'll be able to hold out for a little while longer, since you're going to be here for two weeks."

The boys accepted my argument, but only because I left them no other option. I knew they were going to keep pestering me until I gave them a definitive answer, but I'll handle that. In fact, when they approached me about it again later, once Danny and Brandon had arrived home from work, I told them I would do it after dinner, not before.

Danny and Brandon welcomed Nicky and Jordan at dinner, because Dion and Trey had done that when the boys first arrived. I saw the four of them keep glancing at me throughout the meal, but I wasn't going to do this until after we finished eating. In fact, it became obvious as to how anxious they were, when they offered to take care of the clean up and put things away, after we got up from the table. I knew they were just doing this to free me up to speak with Elliot's fathers. Seeing I wasn't going to have a minute of rest until I did, I asked Danny and Brandon if I could speak with them in the family room. I took Jake with us too.

"What's up, Dad?" Danny asked, as we entered.

I quickly described the situation to them.

"I'll leave it up to the two of you, as to how you want to handle this with Elliot," I told them.

"Well, if he really wants to do this, I think we should consider it," Danny told us. "He is older than Brandon and I were the first time we did it and he's in good physical health, so he should be able to handle it, as long as it's done correctly."

"Yes, I think he's old enough to decide if he wants to do it or not," Brandon agreed. "He will be a sophomore in the fall, so I'm fine with it, if that's what he wants to do. What have you decided about Nicky and Jordan?"

"I've kind of reached the same decision," I answered. "As long as Jesse is there and oversees what's going on and it is done gradually, then I don't see a problem with it. I've seen all of the boys naked and I think they will be able to handle each other, except I don't think the three younger ones are ready to take Jesse yet. I'll make that clear to him, so he doesn't try to get involved."

"If you're going to do that, then I think it should be fine," Danny confirmed.

Jake had sat silent throughout this entire conversation, so I thought I'd get his input too. I turned to him and asked what he thought.

"I think you've covered all the bases," Jake told me. "I wasn't aware when Shannon did it the first time, but I'm pretty sure he was younger than any of these boys. If he was able to handle it at that age, then I feel they probably can too."

Since we had a consensus, we broke up our little meeting. The second the boys saw one of us leave the family room, four eager faces quickly surrounded me, waiting to discover what we'd decided.

"I have to talk to Jesse first, before I can give you an answer," I told them, which elicited another collective groan.

Once the other boys left the room again, I sat down with Jesse. He looked at me and I could tell he was a little nervous.

"Is there a problem, Dad?" he asked, immediately.

"Not a problem, but I want to tell you the ground rules first, so there is no confusion," I told him. "I'm leaving it up to you to make certain these rules are followed and no one breaks them. Do you think you can do that?"

"It's a lot of responsibility," he admitted, "but I'll try."

"With something this important, you can't just try," I advised him. "You either have to promise you can do it and get the other three to listen to you, or we'll have to say 'no'."

He looked at me for a few seconds, but didn't say a word. Eventually, he spoke again.

"The others really want you to say yes, so I'm pretty sure I can get them to listen to me," he confirmed. "They won't, dare not to, especially if it means they won't be able to try it."

"Okay, if you're certain, then here are the rules," I stated. "First of all, are they all going to get involved as both a top and a bottom?"

"Yes. We talked about that earlier," Jesse confirmed, "and they all agree that if they want to do it to someone else, then they should also be willing to let someone do it to them."

"That clears up one issue then," I confessed. "The next thing is that we don't think any of those boys are ready to handle a penis as large as yours, so I don't want you doing this with any of them."

"I'd already decided that myself," Jesse confirmed. "None of them can really take me orally, although they try, so I knew they wouldn't be able to take me anally."

"I'm glad you reached that decision on your own," I agreed. "Therefore, we want you to pair them up with a person you think they can handle easily, at least to start. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Dad, I can," Jesse concurred. "I'm going to have Jordan do it to me, since I think he's too big for the other two to handle as well."

"Great! Than I trust your judgment and will leave it at that," I advised him. "Now, we'll tell the others the rules too."

We then called the other three boys in and I advised them that Jesse would basically call all the shots. He will also explain what they'll need to do and how to do it. I then asked if each of them would agree to these rules and be willing to listen to Jesse. The boys immediately said they would, so I sent them on their way. However, before they left, each one gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I told Elliot that he also needed to thank his fathers, so all of the boys went to thank Danny and Brandon too. I guess Elliot was no longer bothered that his fathers and I knew what he was up to.

Jesse told me later what happened after they went upstairs. First, he had them all take a shower and told them to wash well all over, including using a finger to clean out their rectum. Although the boys giggled when he said that, they all agreed to do as they were told. Once they finished their showers, they all gather in Elliot's room, still completely naked. Then, they waited for Jesse to tell them what to do next.

"I'm going to have Elliot do Nicky first and then Nicky can do Jordan," he began. "Then Jordan will do it to me, since I don't think Elliot or Nicky are ready to take him yet. He's not as large as me, but it would still be tricky. I want you to get comfortable with this first, before any of you do it."

"Hey, I want to try it," Elliot protested.

"You will, tomorrow," Jesse confirmed. "Tomorrow, Nicky will do it to you and you will do it to Jordan and Jordan will do it to me again. Are you all right with that?"

"Yeah, I guess," Elliot confirmed.

Since that was settled, Jesse had Nicky get on all fours, since that's the easiest way for someone to do it the first time. To get the process started, Jesse had Elliot rim Nicky for a couple of minutes first and then he handed Elliot the lube. He told Elliot to put some on Nicky anus and then put more of the first three fingers of his right hand. Then, he had Elliot work the lubed digits, one finger at a time, into Nicky's chute until he could easily handle all three fingers at once. When this happened, Jesse had Elliot lube up his penis and get into position.

Since Elliot, Nicky and Jordan hadn't had any sexual contact with anyone other than the four of them, it was decided they could do this without condoms this time. Now, Elliot got behind Nicky and slowly entered him, since Jesse had warned him not to do it too quickly.

Although Nicky and Jordan didn't know this, Elliot had done this before with Jesse, so he knew what he was doing. Once he was seated inside Nicky's butt, Elliot began thrusting in and out, but he went slower than he had with Jesse the first time. However, once he began to feel the churning in his groin, he picked up his pace and went like a madman, until he emptied his load inside his partner. He stayed in Nicky for a while after that, but once he pulled out, Nicky turned around and spoke.

"That wasn't bad at all," he began. "In fact, it kind of tickled. No, that's not right. It was more like I had an itch and you were scratching it, so it felt good. I didn't think I'd ever end up saying this, but I liked it."

Once he finished his comment, he giggled.

Now, it was Nicky's turn to do it to Jordan. After going through the same preliminary procedures, Jesse told Nicky to line his dick up with Jordan's hole and slowly push his way in.

"Dang, he's keeping me out," Nicky whined.

"Jordan, push out a little, like you're taking a crap," Jesse advised him. "Just don't do it hard enough that you actually do."

"Oh, that's romantic," Elliot laughed.

Nicky giggled and Jordan gave both of them a dirty look.

This time, Nicky slid right in and began humping like a dog attacking a bitch in heat. After Jesse told him to slow down and enjoy the ride, he did a little, but not much. Therefore, he finished quite quickly and ended up dumping his seed into Jordan in a matter of minutes.

"Wow, that was freaking awesome!" Nicky exclaimed, once he'd recovered. "It felt warm and slippery, so if that's what it feels like to do it to a girl, I can't wait."

"Just remember, they get pregnant and we don't," Jesse warned him, "so you have to be more careful with a girl. That means you never do this with them unless you're wearing a condom. I'll show you how to use one before you leave here."

"And I thought it was okay too," Jordan added. "Like Nicky said, it felt like I had an itch and he was scratching it."

Now, Jesse had Jordan prepare him the same way and then go slowly as he entered.

"Why? You've done this before," Jordan argued.

"I have, but not for quite a while," Jesse confessed. "That's why I need to be loosened up first. Besides, your penis isn't exactly tiny, so I don't want this to hurt."

Understanding what Jesse was telling him, Jordan did as he was instructed. Jordan, however, went at a pace somewhere between what Nicky and Elliot had used, so he lasted longer than Nicky.

"Wow, that felt fantastic," Jordan said, once he'd finished. "I agree with Nicky about this too. If it feels anywhere near this good with a girl, then I'm certainly looking forward to doing that too."

Fortunately, this went quite well and the boys were all happy with what they'd done. In fact, Elliot felt badly that he had only done one thing and Jesse hadn't got off, so he sucked Jesse to climax afterward. Then, they split up between the two rooms and went to sleep, one pair to a room.

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