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

She hurried off and returned with a towel, which I wrapped around Tony’s waist and legs before wrapping a blanket around him and picking him up.


“What are you going to do?” Jackson asked, his eyes full of worry.


I carried him to our bedroom. Jackson and Amelia followed, looking scared.


“It’s okay, y’all,” I said, propping myself up in bed with Tony on my lap, holding him like a baby. “I’ll just sit with him until he feels better. You can go back to sleep.”


“Why don’t you get one of his teddies for him? Maybe it will help him come around.”


Wordless, she obeyed, returning with the new plush one we’d bought for Tony after our first visit. I brushed the soft fur against Tony’s hand. As if sensing the presence of his bear, he reached out, feeling for it but refusing to open his eyes to look for it. I put it in his arms, and he hugged it tightly, burying his face against the beige-colored fur.


Chapter 82