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

In a few minutes, he was fast asleep.54: I Can See Why No One Likes You


“Wiley, this is Aunt Rita,” Jackson said in a tight voice.


They had come down on the elevator together.


“Nice to meet you,” I said, feeling sheepish since I couldn’t get up to shake her hand properly. Tony slept on, oblivious. I had sat there so long my back was starting to cramp, but the poor little guy was exhausted.


Aunt Rita was short, spare of frame, severe-looking in the face—all bones and skin pulled tight. Her neck and fingers were adorned with so much gold and silver, she looked like a walking jewelry store.


“I’ve heard about you,” Rita Cummings announced in what seemed a long-suffering voice. “You’re the homosexual who wrote that book.”


“And you’re from the South. You inflicted Bill Clinton on us, and for that, I will never forgive any of you. Not to speak of Jimmy Carter. But then you gave us Paula Deen and Elvis too. I really don’t know what to say.”


Chapter 63