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

I stood next to him, drummed my fingers too.


I drew a smiley face on one of the frosted panes.


He did likewise, his lips curled into a grin.


Without waiting, he took the first turn, marking out an X in the center box. We spent the next thirty minutes moving from one pane to the next, playing tic-tac-toe. The more he played, the more he seemed at ease, lost in the simple pleasure and happiness of it. His face beamed. He did not at all seem afraid or unsure of himself. He even leaned against me as he waited for me to make my moves.


When we ran out of windowpanes, he looked at me and began to giggle.


Let’s go see what J. is doing, I suggested. You remember the way?


Grinning, he led me from his room, down the hall to the landing. His feet flew down the steps, and for a moment my heart was in my throat because I thought he was going to break his neck.


“Be careful,” I called, knowing he couldn’t hear.


Chapter 64