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

“Don’t start none, won’t be none,” Jackson said softly, his eyes pleading with me.


“No one is starting anything,” Mrs. Ledbetter said. “We’re making the best of a bad situation and nothing more. And I can’t abide boring people, which my dear sister-in-law knows very well. Besides, having her around makes me feel better about myself. Pinching more than an inch these days, are you, Reet?”


“I am notfat!” Aunt Rita said, horrified.


“A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips,” Mrs. Ledbetter taunted. “I’d think twice about dessert. Besides, we don’t have a trough.”


“I think the two of you need to grow up,” Freda said, looking disgruntled. “We’re here to remember Uncle Stephen, you know. Isn’t that right, George?” She turned to her husband for support.


“Of course,” George said automatically, looking very uncomfortable.


Chapter 81