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 bolted from my arms, tripped in the living room, and fell on the carpeted floor with a small thud, where he curled up into a ball and sobbed in agony.


I stared at him for a long moment. I felt completely out of my depth. Scared. Bewildered. He could have killed himself running out into the street. It had happened so fast, so unexpectedly. I stood there, staring down, breathing heavily.


Get it together,I thought, rubbing a nervous hand across my face.


I crouched down, lightly touched his shoulder.


He was oblivious to me now. He had his face in his hands, his eyes squeezed shut. He had retreated to some place in his mind, some place of safety, some place where the bad guys couldn’t get him.


I sat down, gathered him to me, held him in my arms.


He did not resist, did not seem to care.


“Hush, now, buddy,” I whispered, stroking his hair. “Everything’s going to be fine.”


Chapter 75