Published: 2 Jun 2022

After the boys had finished eating, Angel took them for a walk to the barn and I went into the den to retrieve the temporary and the permanent fostering applications from the fax machine and get stared filling them out. After looking them over I felt that it was OK for me to do the temporary one on my own, but the permanent one had spaces for a spouse to give information, so I did my sections and left the others for Angel to do. It took quite a while and when I was done I left that application on the desk and faxed out the temporary one. I went to the kitchen to see if Rosa was getting on alright and she told me a police officer had come up from the culvert and told her they had finished and Mr. Green had their permission to haul out the temporary structure from the culvert so he took a tractor down there and pulled it out and smashed it.

He had gone through the contents and found a few outfits for Pat, but they were pretty bad. There were some belongings of the parents, but the police had taken them as evidence and when the investigation was done Pat, or his guardian could claim them. She said the detective had called her and told her that as of yet no relations had been found that could care for Pat. She seemed pleased with that, and to tell the truth, so did I. I told her I had faxed the temporary application, and she told me that if I ever broke her son’s heart she would kill me. She told me she had told him the same about me, there wasn’t any use playing favorites this early in our relationship, and I nodded, it made sense when she put that way. She also told me she had arranged for Father Brown to marry Angel and I on Saturday at 1PM. I kissed her cheek and thanked her for that.

I left her planning dinner and went to relieve Angel so he could work on his part of the permanent custody application and I would watch the boys while he did that. Would you believe the boys were playing with the kittens? Yep, that’s where I found them. They were lying on the straw and the three kittens left were climbing all over them. I remembered to ask Angel if he or his mother were allergic to cats and he told me that he wasn’t and had always wanted one and as far as his mother went he didn’t think so, but it was always best to ask. I asked him to please ask his mother if we could have a kitten at the house, as the little tortoise shell colored one I was growing fond of and I thought it might be a good way to teach Jay, and now Pat some responsibilities. He agreed and left to fill out his half of the application for permanent custody and to ask his mom if his fiance could please have a kitten in the house. He said it in such a silly way that I couldn’t help but see the humor in it. He gave me a really nice kiss and grope before he left though. I was going to like being his fiance for a week, but I was going to love being married to him forever. I went and lay down on the straw in the stall with the boys and kittens.

While we all played with the kittens I casually asked Pat some questions. I didn’t want him to think I was interrogating him or anything so I kept it light and I often asked Jay the same questions. What I thought was the beginning of a cold I could now put down to his over excitement and fear earlier. His nose wasn’t running anymore and he didn’t sound horse or feel feverish. Jay asked if Pat could sleep over and I thought for a second and told both of them that Pat would be sleeping over for about a month, and maybe more. I told them that even though they wore the same size clothes and sneakers I thought that tonight or tomorrow we would go shopping and we would get him some clothes of his own to wear. I asked Pat if he wanted a room of his own, or did he want to share with Jay. Jay looked so hopeful and held his breath, and when Pat said he’d really like to share a room with Jay, Jay let out his held breath and hugged Pat, telling him he had hoped he would like to share. I thought if DCS had a problem with that there were about 8 other furnished bedrooms he could have and they could just do sleepovers whenever they wanted. For the purpose of the inspections I knew DCS was supposed to be famous for though I’d set up the one next to Jay’s as Pat’s and we’d leave some clothes and some toys in there too.

The next thing we discussed was Angel and I kissing and getting married. I explained all about how most men and women fall in love and have a family, but there were sometimes men or women, meet another man or woman, and they fell in love and got married and the two boys would be our family, along with Rosa. They would have two dads. Jay asked if he could call me dad and I told him that someday he might, and I thought his father would like that, but I didn’t expect him to do that for a while. I told him that he would have to decide when to do that, but for now Uncle Ray and Uncle Angel would be fine with us. I told Pat the same thing, that we would be doing the daddy stuff for him too, and whenever he was ready he could call us dad too. I gave each of them a kiss on the nose and a hug, then I thought it was time for Pat to meet the ponies.

Their meeting went very well. Jay performed the introductions and I thought he was going to give Pat a replay of his first riding lesson step by step, but I told him he could do that later, as I thought Rosa might be getting dinner ready and she could maybe use their help. I told them we’d go riding after I got home from work tomorrow. We walked up to the house with each boy holding on to one of my hands as we went. It made me feel really good that for now we were totally distracting Pat and he wasn’t dwelling on his parents deaths and the scene at the culvert earlier. I knew at some point he would have to deal with it, but for now it was good to see him out and about, as he had told me he had been locked up in that shack over the water while his parents went out and did their thing just about every day.

Rosa had dinner under control, but she had saved the shredding of the lettuce for the boys to do, after they washed their hands. She told me that Angel had asked her about having a kitten in the house and she said she had no problems with it, as long as she didn’t have to change the litter box. I told her we’d probably wait a week or two, until it was a little bigger so we’d not have to worry about that issue for a while. She inspected their hands when they returned from the bathroom and she sat them at the table and the shredding began. I went to see what progress had been made in Rosa’s unit and I was surprised at what I saw. The sitting room floor had been cleaned and polished and so had the bedroom. The windows had all been washed and the only thing missing were the window coverings and the orientals for the sitting area and the bedroom. The bathroom had been cleaned and everything in there sparkled and even the insides of the closets had been painted. I asked Rosa if she had seen it yet when I walked to the kitchen on my way to the den. She hadn’t so I told her to go look, the guys had done a great job. She came back looking as if she had a tear or two to shed and she said it was beautiful and she couldn’t wait to move in.

I went to see how Angel was doing on the application and he told me he had finished it and was about to fax it when he remembered we were going to include a copy of our marriage license. I told him I thought Monday would be soon enough for that, but what couldn’t wait was that I needed a kiss. He had a new shift to start tomorrow morning so we had planned to have an early night tonight. He would leave about 6:30 to get to the State Police Barracks in Northampton for 7 and I would leave to sign the final paperwork for the practice I was buying and be in the new office I had set up last week by 11AM. No patients were scheduled until Monday, but there were patient files to be reviewed and I could unpack a few more boxes maybe help Beth and Carl get settled in too. I couldn’t wait to tell them my news.

Our love making that night was slow and very passionate. His mother had laughingly taken a room at the opposite end of the main hall and the boys were snuggled into each other after we had tucked them in and we had each given them a hug and a kiss. We had set alarm clocks on each of the nightstands on either side of my bed for our early morning awakening.

Angel started the ball rolling, so to speak, when he came out of our bathroom totally naked and freshly showered. I had been in with the boys as I thought I had heard noises, like the whimpering I used to hear from Jay after his father’s death. All was quiet in there but I did notice the covers all screwed up around Pat, so I gently unwrapped him and he just sort of wriggled up against Jay and again all was calm. I set up the baby monitor unit and took the speaker to our room. That’s when I saw him coming out of the bathroom. I don’t know for sure if he knows the affect he has on me. I could sit and stare at him until the dripping drool and leaking precum made me dehydrated. And speaking of precum, as he moved toward me I reached out and caught a drop from his rapidly disappearing foreskin and sucked it off the tip of my finger. He immediately kissed me and we both got to taste his essence.

He said he wanted me in him right now, and we’d shower after. Who was I to argue with that! He tasted so good, my moans were muffled by his big bubble butt but I soon realized I wasn’t the only one moaning. He raised his butt for me and he buried his head in the pillows as his moaning took on a rhythm which I tried to accompany with the beating of my hips against his muscular butt. I lay on his back and found his mouth with mine and as I sucked his tongue my juices filled him up to the point some was leaking around my cock as it stroked his ass lips as I came into him. With all that slow stroking I must have hit his prostate on several critical occasions because when I had reached down to stroke his heavy, engorged phallus just before I let loose in him, I found it to be very wet and slippery already. We kissed all through our shower, after a fresh sheet had been put on the mattress.

I never heard another peep out of the boys room the rest of the nigh and I awoke well rested and so very content. Angel was as well and he even tried to get frisky until the snooze alarm reminded him he was back on duty soon. He put on his full uniform as he said it would save him time and with me in sweats for now we went to the kitchen for coffee, only to discover Rosa had not only brewed fresh coffee, but she had a great breakfast ready and waiting for us. As we ate she assured us that between she and Mr. Green they had the boys covered for the time I’d be away from the house today (I expected to be home by noon, Angel by 5). She had spoken with him and he agreed, with her help, to give the boys some riding time this morning and Rosa told me she’d have them all clean for our shopping trip this afternoon.

I was so pleased to see several staff members at the closed practice that morning. They each had things to do as the entire practice had been thoroughly cleaned and freshened up with new waiting room furniture, a few live plants here and there, a new reception desk and two chairs for the receptionist and the appointment manager. I had met Rich Major (Noah’s brother) earlier, at Major Law, and signed all the rest of the transfer of the practice documents and was now stopping at the practice to unpack a few boxes and make sure my office was presentable, and to help where I could. I also couldn’t wait to tell Beth and Carl of my engagement, and to ask if they’d stand with me at our small ceremony at 1PM on the coming Saturday.

I had told Rich about my anticipated marriage and of our filing to become Pat’s foster parents and hopefully adopting him after getting the permanent guardianship. He told me he had handled most of the adoptions for Noah and Chris’s family and he’d be proud to do so for us as well. He mentioned casually that he and his entire extended family knew the current Springfield office director, Helen Evans, and if he saw her over the weekend, as he did most Sunday afternoons, he’d casually mention my situation to her. I thanked him and I told him to just add that to my bill also.

Now that my office was presentable I went looking or Beth and Carl. I found them putting the final touches on their own offices and I asked if I could see them both in my office. After we were all seated I asked if they remembered Angel Maroni, the state trooper who had been at our side during the funeral and Beth said she sure did, what a hunk he was and yada yada. I told her that was the one, and I told them that I had hired his mother Rosa to help out at home and I had to ask her son to marry me so we wouldn’t be living in sin with our two boys in the house. There I dropped both bombs in one pass over.

They sat stunned as I guess I stood there with a huge shit eating grin on my face. They both congratulated me and Angel and then as one they said,“two boys?” So I explained about finding Pat and his dead parents and the aftermath that ensued. They said they were so happy for me, and Angel and they hoped all went well with him. I told them I hoped they’d be able to see for themselves this coming Saturday, as I wanted both of them to stand with me as Angel and I exchanged vows. They agreed whole heartedly and I told them the service would be at 1PM and at the church where we had Charlie’s memorial mass at.

It was just before noon when I got home to find the boys not ready, in fact they didn’t appear to be in the house at all. Rosa was fussing with the coffee pot and putting out three cups and sugar and cream, when she saw me she added another cup and motioned me to the hall. Once there she explained that just when she had the boys clean and in fresh clothing for our shopping trip, there was someone ringing the doorbell and when she answered it there were two women from DCS there to do an inspection to make sure we had room for Pat, and that he was being treated well. Rosa stated that the ladies asked the boys to show them their rooms. The boys were proud to do this and took the ladies upstairs to see their rooms. I wasn’t too concerned, but I still wondered just what the boys would be telling the ladies first about their room sharing, and second about Angel and I.

When they came back downstairs I could hear a lot of laughter, from all four. When they came into the family room Jay and Pat came running to me and hugged my legs before I could lift them and give them hugs. Jay, the little man, introduced me to the two ladies, “Uncle Ray, this is Aunty Helen and her wife Terry. Aunty Helen counts bedrooms and Terry knows all about horses. I introduced myself, saying, “It’s good to meet you, I’m Dr. Ray McKenzie” Helen introduced herself as being with DCS. And I said to her that she wasn’t just with DCS, she was the director for the entire area. She seemed puzzled so I told her that I had a meeting with Rich Major this morning and he mentioned his entire family knew her. She explained that she and Terry, who was one of the owners of the riding school about a mile down the farm road, were out doing weekend chores and she got notified by her office there was an emergency placement in her neck of the woods, which prompted the necessary home visit. By now we were all sitting at the big table and fixing our coffees as Rosa was hovering, so I motioned for her to join us as the boys were sitting and watching TV at the other end of the room.

Helen went on to tell us about the boys tour upstairs and how the boys slept together but they each had a bedroom and a shared bath, but Uncle Ray and Angel slept together but they only had one room. Rosa burst out laughing at my beet red face and Terry told me not to worry, she and Helen only had one bedroom between them, and they had heard our marriage bans announced at mass this morning. She then explained it was a special mass said for a friend of theirs whose child was very sick. Helen said we didn’t have anything to worry about, that now that space for Pat had been verified our emergency guardianship was approved. I asked her if we should wait until after the wedding to file for permanent custody, and she said no, that wasn’t necessary, but as soon as we had a marriage certificate we should copy it and fax it to her attention, as she had decided to handle our case personally. Rosa was thanking them as I went to the den and gathered our completed application. After I handed it to her she glanced through it and told me that the marriage license would be icing on the cake, but with what she had seen of our living arrangements, Rosa living in with her own attached suite, Angel being a State Trooper and me being a family practice doctor, she didn’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be awarded permanent custody of Pat.

She then told me that should we want to, Angel and I could also adopt Jay. She said it wouldn’t interfere with my custody of him, but should something happen to me then Jay would be cared for by Angel automatically, with him as the surviving spouse. This was exactly what Rich had mentioned this morning to me and I had told him that when we had permanent custody of Pat we would ask Jay if we could adopt him too, but for now my will was being changed to give Angel legal rights to the care of Jay and named Angel as my replacement as far as all the trusts were concerned. Helen said she was glad that I had made those provisions and had the process started with Rich to legalize my wishes regarding Jay.

What else I noticed during our “meeting” was that both visitors were very deferential toward Rosa and I was beginning to get the feeling that Rosa held a lot of sway in our area. She seemed to know everyone and everyone respected her. I was feeling very good about making her a big part of our little family. As the ladies were preparing to leave, and after they had said their goodbyes to the two boys and had gotten hugs from both of them, Terry said something to Rosa and Rosa answered in the affirmative. I raised an eyebrow at Rosa and she told me that both Jay and Pat had shown Mr. Green that they had real skills on their ponies and he had taught them all he knew already and with me working and Angel working she thought she’d hire a trainer a few days a week to come and give the boys instruction and when they were older they could go to the equestrian center for more training if we all decided they would benefit from it, and if they still enjoyed it. I thanked her for thinking of that and for making the arrangements with Terry.

By the time Angel’s shift was over I had, with Rosa’s help, taken the boys shopping and with her help I got the boys fitted with little suits so they could be with us during our wedding ceremony. Pat got a pretty complete wardrobe and Jay got some new items also. With Rosa’s help I picked out some wedding bands and I bought them with the stipulation that if Angel wanted something else I could return them. Rosa said he’d love them.

When we got home Rosa took a lot of the new clothing to be washed, the boys went to the family room to watch TV, and I went to the den to look for a big calendar I knew was in there somewhere. I thought that we’d put it up in the kitchen and use it to put our appointments and work days on it so Rosa would know where everyone should be on any specific day. After I found it in a cabinet in the den I noticed the message light blinking on the answering machine in there. The message was from the Realtor in Springfield, telling me that she had an offer on the condo that was very good and she needed to talk to me. I briefly wondered why she hadn’t called on my cell and then remembered I’d given her the house number to use so I wouldn’t be bothered with my cell going off while I was with a patient. I called her back and she told me she showed the condo to two couples and they both wanted it but one couple wanted it more and they had placed an offer for twenty thousand more than the asking price. She explained that the condo would appraise for that amount, but the buyers were asking for the modern furniture to be included in the sale.

That pleased me as the antiques there had meaning for me. They had been my parents and I hadn’t wanted to let them go, so I’d be moving my bedroom suite and the other few pieces here and there in the condo. I told the Realtor that I accepted their cash offer and I’d have all the antiques removed when the company I’d hire took all my personal things out, probably this week. She suggested a particular company to do this and I called them and arranged for the move on Thursday and everything but the clothing could be stored here in the big room down the hall from Rosa’s suite. She said she’d ask for a quick closing and I signed the offer she had faxed me and sent it back to her.

When I left the den there wasn’t anyone around, but I did hear noises coming from the hall and when I went down to Rosa’s there they all were, the boys were helping Rosa place a few nick knacks and books on the shelving in the sitting room and Mr. Gault and his son in law were carrying in the last few boxes. They had already hung the window coverings up and rolled out the rugs and the place looked fantastic. I went down the hall and noticed she had only stored a few pieces of small furniture and 10 boxes, plenty of room left for my things. I went back to Rosa’s and she was telling the two boys the stories behind each of the items they were helping her with. She seemed in seventh heaven with her precious items around her. So a lot had happened in a short amount of time and it was the weekend!

When Angel did arrive he was in a real good mood so I sat on our bed and watched as he removed his uniform and before he could get in the shower I pulled him to me by his hips and engulfed his rapidly swelling dick. I buried my nose in his pubes and inhaled his scent as my tongue explored his foreskin as it tickled the head of his dick. I swallowed his shaft and began to hum on it and in just a few minutes I was rewarded with copious amounts of his spunk, as he braced himself on my shoulders. When he could breathe again he lifted me up from my sitting position and tasted himself by swabbing the inside of my mouth with his tongue, murmuring,”I love you” with each swallow.

I let him shower and dress, watching him the entire time, and then we sat on the bed and I showed him the rings his mom and I had picked out. He told me he loved them and he couldn’t wait to wear his, and to put mine on my finger at our ceremony. He told me he had spoken to a few of his fellow officers and had told them of our engagement and his boss had called him into his office and told him that as of Friday we would be on two weeks family leave, so even if we didn’t go anywhere he’d have time to bond a bit more with the boys.

It wasn’t long before we were thinking about dinner. We went downstairs and Rosa and the boys were still unpacking in her space and Angel got to see the finished space for the first time. I made the suggestion that maybe we should go out to eat and Rosa told me that wouldn’t be necessary because she had chicken baking in the oven and had the side dishes already in the fridge. She said the chicken had about a half hour to go and she’d be right out to see to dinner. I told her to carry on with what she was doing, and Angel and I would get dinner on the table.

The chicken in the oven was about two dozen pieces of oven fried chicken and the sides were a big bowl of cole slaw and one of potato salad. It all looked and smelt delicious. Angel set the table and I poured out milk for the boys and iced tea for the adults. I noticed a chocolate cake on the sideboard which I hoped was for desert as it was a favorite of mine. While we performed these domestic duties I filled Angel in on my day and he told me more about his and his decision to have his sometime partner and his husband stand up for him at our ceremony. I told him about buying the boys suits and how I thought we’d put the rings in their suits so they’d be handy when we needed them. I told him Chris told me about he and Noah doing that at their wedding and Angel thought that was a great idea, as it gave the boys something to do without them feeling pressured. We finished our preparations and then I checked the chicken one more time and it’s temperature indicted it was finished cooking. I took the baking tray out of the oven and set it on the counter and then Angel went to make sure his mother washed her hands before coming to the table. I’m pretty sure he made sure the boys did also.

The boys were so proud they had been able to help Rosa unpack and they both loved looking at pictures of Angel growing up. I told them I thought they were supposed to be helping Rosa unpack and they said they did, but boy those pictures of Angel before he got big were really funny. I told Rosa that I’d like to see those sometime, and she chuckled and told me that she’d be happy to show them to me anytime. After we had eaten and cleaned up I showed everyone the big calendar I’d put up on the other side of the fridge. Each day had a big box where appointments or a note could be written so others in the family could look and see where they, or others, should be. Pat asked where Saturday was and I pointed to the box for our wedding day and he shyly asked me to write something for him. I told him I’d be happy to and he whispered what he wanted put in the box and I happily wrote what he told me. In the box for Saturday I wrote “Family wedding, Pat gets two dads” I hugged him to me as I pointed to each word and said them out loud, and Jay said he was getting two dads that day too, so I added his name next to Pat’s and both boys gave me and then Angel hugs. Rosa hugged everybody and then Angel took the boys to read to them until their show came on and Rosa and I went to inspect her new quarters and to move her few things from the upstairs room so she could spend her first night in her new digs.

In the morning we lazed a bit after pleasuring one another and then prepared to go to church with the boys and Rosa. Angel would have to high tail it to get to work on time, but he’d just make it for 8:30, his weekend time to start on the day shift. I appreciated that his troop commander had put him on day shifts this week and after his family leave, after our wedding, it looked like he might be able to keep that shift, as two more troopers were being hired and the newbies always got the shit shifts, he told me. Everyone was ready on time. The boys had needed a little adjusting, mostly in the tucking in department, but they were both super awed by Angel’s uniform and I have to admit, so was I. This was the first time we’d been to church as a family and I warned Pat that a lot of people would want to meet him today.

We weren’t the first to arrive, and we weren’t the last either. There were several of Chris and Noah’s boys there with their spouses and children so Angel and I didn’t feel out of place as there were at least 5 other gay couples with children in attendance. Our two started to clap when Father Brown said Angel’s and my names when he was was reading the marriage bans during the announcements but Rosa just smiled and put her hands over theirs, but you could tell, she really wanted to clap too. We were stopped many times on our way out and everyone of them congratulated us. It was a good feeling of belonging in our community. Many of the Major children had spoken with Jay and Pat and we heard our two telling them they were going to ride at Terry’s place. Some of them said they’d see them there others said to go to the swimming place too.

Over breakfast after church (I cooked my special “samboled” eggs as Jay called them) we adults went over the schedule for the week as we knew it then. The most important thing was the marriage license, but Angel said he was off for the 3 days before the wedding so we put on the big calendar Wednesday for that. Rosa said that she had arranged a rehearsal dinner for Friday night and she was hosting it at a local restaurant and we were all going, along with the two couples standing up with us. So Friday evening was marked off the calendar. I remembered what Helen had said about faxing her a copy of our marriage certificate so I marked that down in the following Monday’s box. Rosa said that a riding instructor was coming to work with the boys and their ponies on Tuesday and Wednesday and that Mr. Green could help them on Monday and Thursday mornings and she had already set the times at 10 each morning. So the boys riding lessons went on the calendar and I added a full checkup for Pat for Wednesday afternoon, and I remembered I had to have my good black suit cleaned and put that on for Tuesday. Angel remembered to write himself a note to have his good dress uniform cleaned as well. He could turn it in at the barracks, as they had a service that would return it cleaned in 24 hours. I asked that if anyone forgot something to please add it to the calendar as it was going to be a hectic week, and an important one for all of us, and we didn’t want to forget anything if we could.

Over the next several hours I saw Rosa adding more things to the squares on the calendar. There was grocery shopping one day, picking up flowers on another, and dropping off dress on another. I think we were on our way to being an organized household. I was looking at the calendar later and I realized I had forgotten a very important item, the movers getting my things from the condo and delivering them here on Thursday. I went and put that on the calendar and then thought that if my own bedroom suite was coming here, maybe it was time to re-open the master suite. My parents had used it, after Mr. and Mrs. Brainard had died (Charlie’ parents). They had it repainted and had used the bedroom suite I now owned in it. Charlie had used it when he married, but never had seen the need to use it after his wife had died, he had just moved adult furniture into his childhood room and never had changed a thing after that.

I took Angel up to the second floor and opened the double door at the end of the long hall and there it was, untouched since Charlie’s wife had died. It was a big room with a sitting area in front of a working fireplace. There was room for a desk in front of the bay window and two generously sized walk-in closets along the left wall. Off the right wall was the master bath. In there was a whirlpool tub, a large walk-in shower, a double sink vanity, and two good sized linen closets. What surprised me was everything looked fresh and newly painted, and the hardwood floors gleamed and the oriental rugs looked clean and fresh too. I smelled Rosa’s hand in all this, I bet she had Mr. Gault and his son in law do this room too after we announced our engagement. I told Angel what I thought and he just laughed, saying she had always been one or two steps ahead of him all his life. He said he was surprised there wasn’t any furniture in it yet. I told him about my bedroom set and he said he thought it would look great here again. I told him that if he didn’t like it we could get our own, but I was glad he was willing to at least try it.

By Wednesday afternoon we were well on the way to getting married. Our suits were cleaned and in our closet. Angel had moved out of his little furnished place in Belchertown, Rosa had sewn a little clip in the breast pocket of each of the boys suits, for the rings, her dress had come back from the cleaners and Angel and I had our marriage license in hand. Rosa had gone grocery shopping and expected to be gone for about 2 hours, so Angel and I took the boys to our pool where we had a skinny dip swim. The boys thought we were doing something naughty and I reminded them that we wore swim suits when we had company or when Rosa was home, but it was nice to swim in our own pool naked. We tossed the boys for a while and then I noticed Angel looking at me with that leer he gets when he wants sex and we got the boys rinsed and dressed before Rosa got home. We did our own rinsing and washing each other pretty quick, and we were both so turned on it only took a few minutes to get each other off. We too were rinsed and dressed before Rosa arrived back and we all helped her get the groceries in the house where she supervised all of us guys in putting the items she had purchased in the right places.

Early Thursday afternoon my belongings from the condo arrived and the movers were very accommodating in putting the bedroom furniture in the master bedroom and the boxes of clothing in one of the walk-in closets there, everything else, not that much, went into the storage room. Rosa had handled all this while I was at work and when I came home she sent me up to see if I liked how she had arranged everything. As I said it was a large room, but with the bedroom set in it, it looked just right. The bed was set up on a different wall, the one that faced the fireplace, and the dressers were strategically placed to allow a direct path from the door to the closets. There was something about the sitting area and it dawned on me that these were the big winged back armchairs from the den. They looked great with the small occasional tables from the storage room that Rosa had moved up here. I liked the look and feel of the room and I hoped Angel did too

He did, we talked about moving in here and setting all our belongings in the chest and drawers, hanging our clothes up in the closets and our linens in the bathroom closets. But we would save sleeping in here for our wedding night. So we got the boys to help and by their bedtime an awful lot had been accomplished.

The next day centered around the wedding the next day, but first there was the rehearsal and the dinner after. To keep things as normal as possible we took the boys for a ride after breakfast. We saddled up their ponies and then our horses and with the boys between us we rode the trails in the wooded areas and some of the paths between the fields. On our way back to the barn we stopped at the old swimming hole and I was pleased to see it at it’s normal state. We dismounted and then lifted the boys down and Jay took Pat by the hand and showed him how to find lizards under the plants and rocks. They were fascinated by them and I cautioned them about grabbing their tails and Jay told Pat that their tails could fall off if grabbed. They chased a few and called us over to show us a salamander. It was red and had black spots, but to tell the truth it could have been the other way around the darn thing moved so fast I really couldn’t tell. These reptiles were all new to Angel, as his first years were spent in the city, so we had a lot of fun and he acted more like a kid every time one was spotted. They got to watch a frog grab a bug off a leaf with his long tongue and then jump back into the water. The boys thought that was so cool and Angel looked at me over their heads and wagged his tongue at me, Angel said we ought to have a table out here for picnics or just for hanging around. I agreed and then I told him I could just see Rosa out here chasing lizards with the boys. He laughed and told me that if it would make the boys happy, she would probably do it.

We made it back in time to shower and change into nice clothes for the rehearsal and we four guys escorted Rosa to the car and then into the church after we found a parking spot. There we met up with Beth and Carl and as we stood and chatted Fr. Brown walked in talking to Angel’s partner and his husband. I hadn’t met Angel’s partner, but I did know the man with him. He was Dale Rogers, the son of the town’s police chief and one of the nicest guys in our graduating class. He came right up to me and told me how sorry he was about Charlie’s death and told me he and his husband had been away at the Cape (Provincetown) when the accident occurred and they didn’t find out about it until Angel came back to work last week. I thanked him for his thoughts and then introduced Rosa and the two boys to him while Angel talked to his partner Mark. We got together in a group and introductions were made all around, Fr. Brown and the boys included. We had asked Father for a simple service and that was what we got. What we didn’t know was what was up Rosa’s sleeve for her only child’s wedding.

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