Published: 11 Oct 2018

Beth, the woman who had brought the boys to our attention just minutes ago was the only one left in the kitchen at this point and she was busy preparing our breakfast, the rest of the kitchen staff having taken us literally when we had asked to be left alone with the boys for a while. She had just filled a warmed chaffing dish with scrambled eggs. I got up and grabbed some toast from a warmer basket and cut the slices diagonally and then grabbed some cups and poured out some milk into them. By now Beth had caught on to what I was doing and she had taken some plates and put some eggs on each and some breakfast sausages along with the sliced toast on each of the three plates so we served our guests breakfast.

After they had started digging in we all realized they were ravenous and Beth gathered more food on a platter and brought it over to the table and refilled their plates. Wayne seemed to know just when and who to start talking to and he chose the youngest. He told the boy that he was Wayne and he was 50 years old and that this was where he lived. Before the boy could speak Wayne introduced me as his husband John who was 35 and that the nice lady that had made them breakfast was Beth and she worked here in the house.

The boy looked directly at Wayne and he said “I’m Tom and I’m 7 years old and that’s Gary and he’s 9 and that’s Luke and he’s old like you, he’s 10 already. You live in this big place? And he’s your husband? I thought this was the president’s house, that’s what ma said when she got rid of us and pa said we were just like the president and his fag boyfriend so we all belong together. Do you know where this guy is? We’re supposed to live with him, ma and pa said so. They want to go to New York cause they can get better ‘medsin’ there cause they are sick a lot. I can get dressed all by myself now, mostly”. I told him to eat up a bit more before it all got cold. And his brothers were chuckling as they continued to eat. I asked Luke how his parents were getting to New York and he said in their house, it was on the back of the pick up truck. I asked if he knew the color of the truck and he said it was black and the house was red. So as Wayne and Beth fed and kept watch over the boys I went and told the agents to get a watch put out on route 95 north up to New York for a black pick up with a red camper on it’s back and the adults in it were to be held for questioning for the abandonment of their children and child endangerment. I told the agent that anyone approaching them should approach the pair with caution, as they were suspected drug users.

Someone must have told Bill and Kevin we were in the kitchen, as they came in looking for us and I introduced them to the boys. Little Tom looked up at the big boys and he said, “Wow! You guys are big! You’re bigger than my brothers, they’re 9 and 10, how old are you? Do you live here? Ma and pa said we were going to live here, not with them anymore, are you hungry? Miss Beth makes good breakfasts.” Bill and Kevin were a bit surprised and amused by all this and Bill tried to answer Tom’s questions as best he could, while Wayne and I tried to explain to Kevin, quietly, what we knew already. I noticed the boys were slacking off in their eating so we suggested that they use the bathroom off the kitchen and join us for breakfast in the dining room of the family quarters. I suggested that Bill and Kevin could show them the way and get them soap and towels, even toothpaste and toothbrushes if they wanted. We would meet them all in the dining room when they were ready. Beth assured us someone would be in to serve us shortly and I asked her to bring us three more place settings, as I was sure the boys would find something to eat, if only a danish for their breakfast desert.

About 15 minutes later all five boys arrived in the dining room and by now Luke and Gary had also found their tongues, as we heard them talking to Bill and Kevin as they entered the room and Beth and a steward arrived with trays of food and place settings for our guests. We all had our fill and we sat around, letting breakfast settle and then we joined the conversations going on around the table. It was Luke who spoke to Wayne and I, thanking us for the meals and then he said they better find this President guy as they were supposed to live with him. I chuckled as I told him that he already had, that Wayne was the president and I was his husband. He asked if we were sure and then Bill handed him a copy of one of the local papers which had a headline proclaiming “The Wedding of the Century” as it’s double sized headline and a half page photo of us exchanging our vows. Luke’s mouth was hanging open as he leaned over to show Gary the paper and the two of them sat staring at us. Bill told them it was OK, not everyone recognized us all the time. “They are just our dads here in the Family Quarters”. We had to do something about this real quick, we only had about four hours before our honeymoon was supposed to start. Of course we could adjust that timing any way we wanted to, but I felt the need to get working on this as soon as possible.

Wayne had better connections in DC than I did, even though I was now being called the “First Man” in the papers, too bad my name wasn’t Adam. I told Wayne we had to talk and we went off to his “home office” and we sat and discussed the situation. I told him that there was just something about those boys that was drawing me in and that with the prospect of both Bill and Kevin going off to college in six months I felt we could give the younger boys a real good new beginning, and this might just be the last time we would get this kind of chance, considering our ages. He took up his phone and called the Chief Justice who had just married us and asked if they could speak on a private basis about a totally private matter. He told the judge that we needed some legal advice and as soon as humanly possible. The judge had just dressed and he asked if we could wait until his driver could bring him to us and Wayne said yes. We went back to the dining room and the five boys were talking about anything and everything imaginable, with all five of them with the paper opened to the pages with the photos of the event opened in front of them.

Chief Justice Rogers arrived and was shown in to the dining room and we introduced the boys to him and he graciously shook all their hands and we took him to the home office and we explained all we knew at that moment about the three lads and asked what would have to be done to make us keeping them possible. I don’t quite think he was expecting something quite like what we had asked, but after a moment or two thinking about it he told us to relax, the boys had stated that the parent’s wish was that the boys came to live with us, whether it was said out of spite or malice wasn’t the issue, since by all the boys statements the parents were the ones to have left them here, even if they hadn’t rung the doorbell and talked to us personally, they had left them in our care. He went to the desk and stared the ball rolling by calling the Director of Children’s and Family Services for the entire district and laid out the complete scenario, then listened as the director told him the steps that would have to be taken, not knowing who the interested parties (us) exactly were. The steps were pretty basic, you applied for an emergency temporary placement and during that time period you applied for and took classes to become permanent guardians of the children involved. Adoption was an option after guardianship was granted. The director was asking the judge where he should send out a social worker to assess the home for suitability and get a feel for the applicants to assure the agency they were of good moral character. The judge explained this to us and we said we’d be available whenever the social worker wanted to come, so the judge told the director the address was 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue and to make sure the social worker sent had the proper identification on them when they arrived and all the correct forms to be filled out. The director stuttered and stammered and asked if this was some kind of a joke and the Chief Justice of the land told him in no uncertain terms that this was not a joke, but for the country this was now a priority one.

Wayne asked me if I hadn’t had to do something similar to get guardianship of Bill and I told him that that was stipulated in his parent’s will and it was all handled by Todd Michaels, their family lawyer. The judge told him that everyday family law wasn’t his forte, but maybe we should hire Mr. Michaels to handle this for us, as I at least, had prior legal relations with him. I poked around in my wallet and found Todd’s office number and called and asked if I could speak to Mr. Michaels and as soon as I gave the secretary my name I was connected. Before we could get bogged down in niceties I asked Todd if he could possibly come to the White House Residence on a child custody matter the President and I had gotten involved with. I briefly told him we were expecting a social worker here at any moment and he told me his office was only 6 blocks away and he would be right over. I thanked him and told him I’d phone down so the guards would allow him entry and then told him which entry to ask them for. I called the security office and told them we were expecting visitors and who they might be and asked them to call if they had any questions or problems.

With that all taken care of we offered Justice Rogers coffee and danish and he gladly accepted, saying he wanted to sit with the boys if he could so we three went out to join the kids at the table and Kevin pointed out which pictures in the paper were of Judge Rogers, one of the two men who performed the wedding. The three youngest had a bunch of questions, like “Wasn’t you scared in front of all those people? What if you had to go to the bathroom? What was the best food there? Did you see anyone barf like at their parent’s parties? Why did he and the other guy wear dresses?” By the time we got through those questions a White House guard was escorting a young lady and an older gentleman into the dining room. He announced the social worker and the Director of Children’s and Family services had arrived and Walt and I greeted them, and then Justice Rogers introduced himself and we adults went to the office and I asked Bill to keep an eye out for Mr. Michaels and to show him in to the office when he arrived. He told me no problem, just let him know if we needed his talents! I smiled at him and then went to the office. We had just about finished filling our forms out when Bill showed Todd in and then he handed me a crumpled paper and told me that Luke had found it in his pants pocket. He also told me that he and Kevin were going to get the boys showers and that Beth had arranged for clothing in their sizes to be bought and delivered here in about a half hour, so he and Kevin had better get busy so the boys would have a good clean before putting on their new duds.

Walt and Judge Rogers had met only yesterday, but they acted like old friends in front of the social worker, who was nervous as all get out, and her boss. I glanced at the paper in my hand and it was a computer generated forfeiture of parental rights, duly signed and witnessed, giving the parental rights to the three boys to Wayne and I and signed in ink by the boys parents, and their witness, there even was a notary public stamp and signature dated yesterday. I handed the document to Todd and just regained my seat. The director was now looking over the waiver of parental rights and he showed it to the social worker after he had read it. He asked the judge and Todd if this form would hold up in court and both said it would be compelling evidence that both parents wanted Walt and I to raise to adulthood their children. He and the social worker talked in hushed tones and then he made a slight change to our application for temporary custody and changed it to be for full, permanent custody and he initialed the change as did the social worker and he signed his approval at the bottom of the last page and had the social worker do the same. The social worker pulled from her briefcase a form allowing us to travel with the boys anywhere we were traveling as long as they were within our supervision. She filled out the form in long hand, listing the boys names and their ages and our names as well. She signed and dated that form and then her boss did so as well.

A server had just brought a cart with coffee and fixings for us when Jim slipped behind Wayne and whispered something to him and Walt then asked Todd how soon could we start adoption proceedings since he had just been informed the boys parents had died in an auto accident at the New Jersey border with New York. Todd said he’d file the paperwork the next day and we made copies for him of all the paperwork we had from that day, including the waiver of parental rights, which somehow came out slightly blurred, but totally legible none the less.

Wayne and I hunted down Beth in the kitchen and asked if we could talk to her privately for a few moments. The first thing we did was repay her for the purchases she had made for the boys. Not only did the boys each have four sets of clothing but she had thought to purchase swimwear, sneakers, underwear, socks and a couple of sweat shirts and a nice jacket for each, she had been reading our minds as we had each thought how much fun they’d have at Camp David with us. It all amounted to a lot of money and we didn’t want her to be out of pocket until we returned. Which brought up another subject entirely.

I asked Beth if she was happy in her job, because with three young ones moving in with us we were thinking of asking her if she would take the position of governess for the three young ones. She’d have to make sure they were off to school every week day, make sure their clothing got to the laundry and was delivered to their rooms when it was finished, make sure they were supervised when we had late or early meetings, and when we had dinner appointments we would like her to dine with the boys. If she wanted, or needed to, we’d like her to live in and her salary would be paid by us, with substantial benefits.

Wayne had checked with the White House HR department and found that Beth had been a member of the staff here since the beginning of the Obama years and had recently been divorced from an abusive husband. She had no children of her own but had always shown great care and affection toward the children living in the White House. She was college educated and would make a great addition to our little family.

Beth gladly accepted our job offer and Wayne made arrangements for her to be transferred to our employment and we then asked her if she wanted to accompany us to Camp David and she said she would, so we called down to the livery service provided to the White House and asked for a car to take Beth to her home and return her here with her packed bag for our trip. She thanked us profusely and left to meet up with the driver and we went to talk to all the boys.

We found the boys all in Kevin and Bill’s room. We told them all we had to have a short family meeting and they all sat up from where they were lounging and talking and we then told them that Luke, Gary and Tom would be joining our family and would be staying with us from now on. We told them that Beth had agreed to live with us and that when we were working or not around she would be the boss of the boys, no arguing with Beth, if there was a problem wait til either Wayne or I were home and bring the problem to us and we’d take it from there. Walt took over and told the three youngsters their parents had had a bad accident and they had not survived the crash and died in New Jersey on the highway. Luke said they must have been doing their drugs and drinking, they were always doing something weird and he was happy being in a nice place like this was. Tom was a little conflicted, but after a cuddle with Bill and Kevin he seemed eager to go with us and pick out a room of his own.

We showed the boys where we slept and then we took them to see the other bedrooms available and Tom and Gary decided they wanted to share one room and Luke thought he would like the room next to theirs. He felt very grown up about all this and we felt we had to point out to him that the other room had two double beds in it so maybe he could sleep with his younger brothers sometimes if they were having a hard time sleeping. He reverted to a kid again and said he might like a sleepover some time too. We chuckled and asked them to go get their new clothes and we were going to pack for a trip that the whole family, including Beth, was going on.

By 4:30 everyone was packed and ready, with Bill and Kevin helping the littler ones get packed and telling them all about the retreat and everything they could all do there. Beth had arrived back and immediately took charge of all of us and had our luggage all gathered and ready for the porter to take to the helipad for loading before we left the residence and then the boys got a short tour as the eight of us made our way to board Marine 1 for the short flight to Camp David.

We were in for a treat as none of our newest family members had ever flown before, let alone in a helicopter, including Beth. Bill and Kevin and Wayne and I all had a munchkin in our lap at one point or another and Beth just sat staring straight ahead and gripping the arms of her seat, totally petrified. What seemed a really long time to Tom was only just under 30 minutes and we were soon landing on the helipad behind the main lodge, Aspen. A Marine aide was there to greet us and with him were Jim and Jake and two more agents who were assigned to the family. Introductions were made all around and when we got up to the back patio and the pool area we were met by a group of about 50 service men and women holding a “post wedding barbecue” according to the congratulatory signs strung about the terrace. This was a non alcohol party and it was actually the mess halls evening meal. The whole crowd got to meet the newest members of our family and the boys and Beth were warmly welcomed. The crew that had attended our wedding was there and had shared their personal photos with the rest of the staff, but they now were showing those pics on a large outdoor monitor for everyone to see. Tom tugged on my arm at one point and asked who all these people were and I told him they were some of the people like Beth who were here to take care of us all and of the buildings, and the grounds, and the pool.

About an hour after eating some of the Marine and Navy staff who were off duty decided to take advantage of the heated pool and they must have planned ahead as they just stripped off to their skimpy swim suits and dove right in. It was only about 10 of the 20 or thirty left on the terrace and as Wayne and I sat near a gas fueled heater we admiringly watched the hard toned bodies splash in the water. Tom climbed up on my lap as his brothers confronted Wayne and we both were asked if the boys could get in the water. We both asked if they could swim and we were told no, that they never had got to go in a swimming pool before and we took all three to their room where we saw that someone had thought ahead as a third twin bed had been set up in the room across the hall from Kevin and Bills. The boys room had a connecting door to mine and Wayne’s rooms, so I helped the boys find their new swim suits as I explained some pool rules to them and Wayne went to get our suits out and changed into his. I gave the correct suit to the right boy and then went to change myself. In minutes there was a lot of laughter coming from the boys room and when I opened the connecting door there were Bill and Kevin in their Speedos helping the boys tie up the draw stings on their suits. Apparently the boys were all very ticklish. We grabbed towels for each of us and went out to the pool and while the two older ones just dove in and began horsing around with the off duty swimmers, Wayne and I had the three younger ones in the pool and began to help make them more safe by showing them how to float and to hold their breath under water. Soon we had a Navy Seal instructor working with one of the boys and giving hints to us to pass along to the boys. After about 15 minutes he suggested that the boys show us what they had learned and they did just fine. He showed them the smaller life jackets in a storage locker on the terrace and we put one on each of the boys and they could float about as we all played in the water. He offered to train the boys in the pool for the week we would be there and I made a mental note to tell Beth about the swimming lessons.

I didn’t have long to wait to fill in Beth as just as we were getting back into our clothing we could hear the boys filling her in about their swimming with the big guys and that they were going to be trained by a real Navy man to swim every day. Wayne and I were chuckling as we heard their descriptions, especially when Beth asked what this Navy man’s name was and the boys said they didn’t know, only that he had muscles on muscles and he had a really tight swim suit and he was real nice.

Beth had arranged for a snack of fruits and milk for the boys before bed and she took them to the kitchen for their snack. I don’t know how they knew, but Kevin and Bill miraculously appeared to claim their share before Wayne and I could even get shoes on our feet. We all chatted over our fruit bowls and I told Beth that about 1:30 each afternoon the boys would have swimming lessons at the pool, whether we were available to take them down there or not. The boys were pretty excited about their time in the water tonight and they regaled us with tales about their conquering the huge muscleman from the Navy. Beth said she was anxious to meet this paragon of virtue they were raving about and Wayne and I exchanged a knowing wink. We all watched a little TV before Beth announced it was bedtime for the boys. Wayne and I had the boys say goodnight to the older boys and to Beth and we told her we had this and we made sure the boys had hit the bathroom before getting into their beds and we tucked them in and told them how happy we were having them with us. We both kissed their foreheads goodnight and we left a night light on in their bathroom, just in case. We rejoined the older boys who told us Beth had gone to her quarters and had said to tell us goodnight and also thank you for her new job. They said she was pretty emotional about it, but very thankful.

The next day after lunch the boys were told to change into their swimsuits and we adults went with them to the pool to watch their lesson. The Commander arrived shortly and we could hear Beth suck her breath in as he disrobed to his skimpy swim trunks and before he entered the water he approached and stood to attention, and after he was acknowledged by Wayne, Wayne introduced me to Commander Scott Nelson and the Commander shook my hand and then I introduced Beth.

I suppose I should tell you little about Beth. She was about 40, was very trim and shapely. She wasn’t exactly pretty, but she was a very pleasant looking woman. Wayne and I both thought she’d be a good friend, after she started to relax around us, and we knew she had a kind heart and a bad five year marriage under her belt.

The commander was very polite as he took her hand to shake and inquired about whether she swam or not. She stammered that she had been on the girls swim team in high school, but she was more a diver than a swimmer. He told her he’d love to watch her some time and he left us to join the boys as they put their life vests on. He checked their bindings and tossed them in the pool to begin their lesson. Wayne whispered to me that for his age, about Wayne’s age,50, the Commander was very fit for someone about to retire. Beth’s eyes never left the pool for the next hour of the lesson, nor for the playtime after when the older young men joined their little brothers in the pool, and Commander Scott Williams joined us for a coffee poolside after drying off and redressing.

Beth and Scott held a private conversation as Wayne and I kept an eye on the gang of five in the pool, with a Marine lifeguard at the deep end also watching all the minor horseplay going on in the pool. About 3:00 PM the younger boys were getting tired and I suggested they go shower to get the chlorine off their skin and then dress in jeans and a sweat shirt and a light jacket, but this time to put their new hiking boots on and we would go explore.

We had a great time taking the boys along the trails to various places on the retreat. They, of course, wanted to stop at each one and spend some time, and the off duty staff who we encountered all wanted to have them stay so they could all have some fun, but we had a special place we thought the boys would love even more than the games room or the movie theater. We had asked the staff at the barn to add three ponies to the stable and they had informed us during the boys swimming lesson that they had borrowed 3 from the National Park barn. The retreat sits in the midst of the Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland and it had a score of natural beauty spots and activities in nature all year long.

Needless to say the boys loved being able to ride the ponies and the staff were having just as much fun with the little buckaroos. Wayne and I had our phones out and were capturing these moments forever. We’d transfer them to disc later, but we were all having fun right now and we didn’t want the kids dwelling on their parents deaths.

Are you following this story? Then let Art know by telling him. ArtWest at CastleRoland dot Net