Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2010 15:51:35 EDT
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: Castaway Hotel: Grand Reopening - Book 9, chapters 11 - 12

The Castaway Hotel: Grand Reopening --Book 9 - by BW
Copyright 2010 by billwstories
Chapter 11 -- Fall Mania.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Dad, I'm really sorry about how things went, but I'd like to make it up to
you," she announced.  "Would you mind if I come home for Thanksgiving and
bring Michael's kids, along with my own?"  I was momentarily dumbfounded,
but quickly recovered.

"Of course not," I confirmed, "but you're bringing Michaels children too?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Have her come to us," he suggested.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why not here?" he asked.

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

"Can Andrew go with us?" Jesse asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



The Castaway Hotel: Grand Reopening --Book 9 - by BW
Copyright 2010 by billwstories
Chapter 12 -- A Tense Situation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Have you eaten?" I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes, that is correct," he agreed.

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

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

"My best friend," I quickly added.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sounds expensive,' she replied, sarcastically.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yes," he replied, simply.

"But why?" she followed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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