Years have gone by since the death of Noah his special needs son, and Wiley Cantrell realizes it’s time to move on. He and his husband Jackson try to adopt little Tony Gorzola, a deaf boy with HIV who is emotionally traumatized.<br><br>Difficulties quickly set in. Tony is a sweet boy but very damaged by abuse and neglect. And Tony’s mother, in prison, is unwilling to relinquish her parental rights. No sooner do they get the go ahead to foster Tony when another child they had considered becomes available -- the daughter Jackson always wanted.<br><br>With two children on their hands, life is complicated -- wonderfully so. But just as things begin to settle down, Tony, his immune system compromised, falls ill with pneumonia ... and Wiley and Jackson find their little family faced with crisis once again.

Go Tell It on the Mountains

He reached out and took hold of it. Looking as though he were grinding his teeth, he let his body slip off the edge of the pool into the water, which was about waist deep for him. He looked up at me. Something in his eyes told me he was scared and yet determined to make me happy.


I crouched down in the water so I’d be on his level, offering a reassuring smile. He continued to cling to my hand. Very slowly, I held out my other hand, motioning for him to lie on my arms so I could let him drift on the water. He moved closer, leaned back into my arms. I gently swirled him about in the water.


I nodded toward the deeper water, as if to say Want to go out farther?


I let him drift as I carried him down the pool into deeper water, pausing now and again to turn a circle. He smiled as the water washed over his body.


Chapter 11