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

“Then after you were born, you just looked at me, and I knew…”


“That I never wanted to go through that hell again. You would have thought my uterus was a trampoline, the way you carried on. I had bruises up and down my body for days afterward. You dislocated three of my vertebrae. It was like you were practicing for the roller derby or something.”


“Me, dear? Exaggerate, dear? Don’t be ridiculous, dear. By the time you were done, it took five doctors with their hands up my vagina to put it all back together. Honestly! Then the nurse told me I should breast-feed you. Heavens! Imagine having someone like Jackie sucking on my breasts day and night! Oh, it was dreadful.”


“If I wanted someone sucking on my breasts, I’d hire someone. I’ve heard you can go downtown and find that sort of thing.”


Mr. Ledbetter pulled in front of a stately building that housed walk-up apartments.


Chapter 32