A Second Chance, Part IV -- A New Beginning
By: Radio Rancher
(Copyrighted by the author)
Editor:  The Story Lover
 

This is a story of love between men. As such, there is some sex but it is really more about their relationship. If you're into romance, I hope this story pleases you. There are also some minor children in this story but there is no graphic sex between them and no sex between children and adults.

The following story has to do with graphically explicit sexual descriptions of sexuality between consenting adults. It is intended for the entertainment of mature adults, is entirely fictitious, and is only intended to be a fantasy. The names are fictitious as well. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. If you are not, at least 18 years old, please do not read any further down in this story.

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at radiorancher@tickiestories.us

 

Author's note:

The first thing I would like to do is thank Tickie for allowing me to continue this wonderful story. It will be a great pleasure for me to continue working with Charlie and the Andersen family. I have had a lot of fun helping to bring this story to you. I only hope that Charlie will be as comfortable having me write his words down as he was with Tickie. Although I did put a lot of Charlie's words down in the earlier books, the final decisions were always made by Tickie. I am extremely honored to have Tickie hand the reigns over to me. Thank you very much. Now I think I will turn things over to Charlie once again, to tell you the next part of the story. I know I am very much ready to find out what happened once everyone managed to get to sleep on Christmas Eve.
 

Chapter 1

The twins had finally settled down and slipped into a gentle restful sleep. It actually took James and Me quite a while to get them to relax enough to fall asleep. They were amazing bundles of energy. James and I watched as the older family members carefully made their way into the living room one or two at a time; each thinking they would place their presents under the tree. It was a constant parade of loving adults wanting to make sure that Santa Clause made his presence known to the wonderful little Angels in training. Tears ran down our faces as we felt the love and concern emanating from each and everyone as they placed presents in, around, and under the gigantic Christmas tree that dominated the huge living room. Of course the one gift for each of the new boys that would capture their hearts the most, would be the beautiful little horses that waited in the barn for their new little human friends, since there was no question as to who really owned whom. The twins would be the loving slaves of their new colts.

It was so much fun to watch each person sneak into the living room carrying gifts and seeing them sneak out, only to see another person sneak in another door ready to enlarge the already huge assortment of gifts, most of which were destined to be enjoyed for at least a week, till all the newness had worn off of them and they would be stored lovingly in their boxes and hardly ever touched again. One exception to that was certainly going to be the train set that had been lovingly set up in one of the rooms in the barn. It was huge and extremely detailed there were miniature buildings, cars, streetlights and greenery, not to mention small people placed in appropriate locations all over the enormous layout. It was simply magnificent. Ben, Colt, Matt, Kevin, and Andrew had put a lot of work into building it with incredible detail and accuracy, and had worked together with Julie to make sure to keep the twins from discovering it too early. Finally everything was finished, and there were high fives all around. It was beautiful. The buildings, cars, and phone booths had working doors and the windows in the buildings opened as well. There were dumpsters behind the buildings that opened and had tiny trash bags inside. And there were fire trucks with ladders and hoses that moved and the hoses sprayed water. Each small human figure was fashioned in perfect detail, and they were dressed in real clothing. It was not just painted on. All the members of the ranch were represented. And the men even had cowboy hats, just like the one hanging on the horns above the mantle. If you looked inside the ranch house, you could see that it matched what the real one looked like. It was beautiful. The roof was removable and all the figures were completely possible, and could be placed anywhere in the structure. There were horses and the tack to go with them. All in all the entire ranch had been duplicated in miniature, plus adding a railroad train around the whole thing. In fact the layout also contained the surrounding countryside as well as a great deal of the nearby town, and, of course, Casper Mountain.

Julie had knitted sweaters and hats for each of 'her' men and boys. How in the world she had managed to find the time to do it, even James and I couldn't figure out. She had managed to sneak the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree several days ago.

The twins had each made drawings of each of their new family members, and had managed to wrap them up as well. No one could say that they did a perfect job of wrapping or of drawing, but, strangely enough, they were much better than one might have thought. They both had talent and a lot of potential.

The sky was starting to show signs that sometime in the very near future that daytime was going to happen. There was the tiniest amount of brightening, just enough so you could actually see some light in the sky. I felt the subtle change in the house, as the entire family began the slow process of moving from beautiful peaceful sleep to wakefulness. It is amazing to watch very young children as the wake up on Christmas morning. Mark and Luke were lying together, holding one another in a gentle embrace as they both slowly awakened. They opened their eyes simultaneously. As they gazed into each other's eyes, they could each see the love that passed between them, to one another. Their lips met and they kissed each other gently. James and I felt the love that they were sharing. It was so beautiful. We sent them our love as we stood in the doorway watching them. Once their kiss ended, they both looked up and they saw us standing there. Both boys looked directly at us and smiled broadly.

"Good morning Grandpa Charlie and Grandpa James," they both said in unison. We walked over to their bed and reached out to them as they reached out for a hug, which we gladly gave them.

"Merry Christmas boys, we both said to them, simultaneously. We kissed each of them on the forehead. We love you boys very much.

When we backed up, they both quickly got up and headed into the bathroom, in a hurry to relieve their morning bladders. James and I were both still a bit surprised that the twins could see and hear us, but we chalked it up to them being young, and innocent. They were not the least bit concerned that no one else could see us. I guess they just took it for granted that we were there, and, naturally they could see us.

"Boys, it is Christmas morning," I told them, "and I imagine that everyone will be waking up pretty soon, so you guys should get dressed and go in and wake up the sleeping beauties." I I chuckled, as I patted them gently on their little bottoms, Matt, Colt, Mike, and Andrew were sound asleep, holding each other in a warm loving embrace, as the two little dynamos invaded their bed. It soon turned into a tickle war, and it didn't take too long for everyone to be fully awake. The situation was priceless.

"What got you two so excited and raring to go?" Colt asked, as he held both boys in his arms and kissed them good morning.

"Grandpa Charlie and Grandpa James told us that it was time to wake you up." Mark said, smiling broadly.

"Damn! We are so busted," I giggled to James, as I pulled him to me and hugged him tightly.

"Don't worry, honey," James said, "I don't think they will mind."

Colt kissed each of the boys and said, "Yeah, I suppose they would do that."

"It is Christmas morning. I wonder if Julie is up and starting breakfast yet?"

Matt yawned, completely accepting the boys' statement without the slightest hesitation. Both of them were calm and happy, not the least bit surprised or shocked.

"I am so glad that they can accept us being around, looking after them."
I said to James, as I kissed him again.

"It really is wonderful to see that their faith in us and their love for us has made them fully trust that we are here looking after them. There is no fear and no worries, coming from either of them, just pure love and faith." James replied. We gently kissed Colt and Matt. They each rubbed their cheek where we had kissed them and they both said, "Thanks, Charlie and James. Thanks for loving us and caring about us, and thanks for giving us our new family. We love you."

Mike and Andrew had just come back from the bathroom when Colt and Matt were saying they loved us. Mike spoke first,

"Charlie and James, That goes for us too, you have been here for us and we really are glad you are here. I know that JC and Richard are here too, and we still miss them, but you have been here for us all along, and we really do appreciate it." Of course, we had to give them each a gentle kiss, as well. It was so cute. Their loving smiles were simply amazing.

As soon as we finished kissing Mike and Andrew, the little munchkins grabbed us by the hand and pulled us to the living room, yelling "What did we get from Santa Clause?!?!" It wasn't long before the entire family was crowded around the huge Christmas Tree. Mike got the honor of distributing the presents, since he was now the senior member of the household, with the exception of Julie, of course.

Once everyone quieted down a little, Mike announced, "Okay now, we are going to open one present each, right now, as soon as I can find the right one for everyone. Then we will all go have breakfast. I can already smell the coffee and bacon, so I know breakfast won't be too much longer in coming. I want to make sure that Julie gets to see most of the presents being opened." James and I giggled as we watched Mike carefully find a present for each person that was in the room at the moment. JC and Richard came up to James and me and gave us warm hugs.

JC said, "Charlie, it looks like they are going to be alright. Those twins have brought smiles back to their faces and it seems that they all are thriving."

Richard smiled and nodded. "I must admit I was a little worried at first, the way they acted right after the accident, but the munchkins have really given them a purpose in life again and they all love each other very much, and that is the most important thing."

Once the first presents were handed out and opened, everyone gathered in the dining room and Julie, Colt and JoAnn, began bringing in the incredible breakfast that the two ladies had prepared and soon everyone had devastated the buffet, and the twins, along with everyone else, inhaled enough for an army. Finally everyone seemed to have eaten their fill.

"Alright everyone, I think since it is Christmas, we should leave the mess sitting here until after we open all the presents, then we can see who wants to help clean up everything including all the wrapping paper and stuff, when we finish. I am sure there are at least two of us that are anxious to get back to the real important business at hand here, namely opening gifts." Mike chuckled.

"Yeah that's for sure!" yelled Colt, Matt, Earl and Jack. The twins looked at their dads and Godfathers, and shook their heads. Then everybody burst into hearty laughter, as everyone stampeded into the living room again.

This time Colt got to the tree before Mike did. As Mike got there, Colt handed him a good size box and said, "I notice that you didn't take a present for yourself when you handed us all our first ones, so go ahead and open this one."

Mike took the box and shook it. "Let me see who this is from." He read the tag. 'To the most wonderful man alive, from the luckiest man alive.' it was signed Andrew. Mike reached over and hugged Andrew. "What is it?" He couldn't tell what was inside.

"Well, you'll find out if you just open it, silly." Andrew giggled.

Mike kissed Andrew again and started ripping off the wrapping. He opened the box and inside, there was a beautiful hand tooled leather belt, with a huge buckle that had the Horns and Hat on it. "Oh Andrew, It is beautiful. Thank you so much. I love you. Hold on; let me find one here for you." Mike shuffled through presents for a minute and came up with a box for Andrew.

Andrew took the box and saw that the tag was almost exactly the same as the one he had put on his present to Mike, only with the names reversed. They kissed again and then Andrew opened his present. It was a leather vest. It was also hand tooled and was very beautiful. The two men stood there hugging each other and tears were streaming down both their faces. After a few minutes of that, Mark and Luke came over and each of them started pulling on the two hugging men, "Come on stop bein' so mushy and open the other stuff." they chorused. That got everyone's attention, and soon the presents were once again being passed around and frantically opened.

Everyone got a lot of nice clothes and the youngsters got lots of toys and a few board games as well as computers and some interesting computer games and other software.

After quite some time, the tree looked kind of bare underneath it, but there were still a few presents under it which hadn't been opened yet. They had been purposely put at the bottom of the pile so they would be opened last. We watched as Mike looked at one of the gifts. "That's funny, this one says it's from Santa and it is for Andrew. It looks like there are presents for each of us from Santa, or so these all say." He handed out the gifts and took the one that was his. They all opened the boxes, and inside they found hats that matched the one hanging on the horns over the fireplace. Each hat was the perfect size for the person that received it.

Mark and Luke looked up at the one hanging above the fireplace and said, "These are just like that one." Then they turned around and saw us. They came running over to us and we hugged them. Everyone saw us, but no one but the kids saw us clearly.

The boys hugged and kissed us and they both said, "These came from you, not Santa."

I picked up Mark, and James picked up Luke and we each held our little bundle of energy and told them, "Yes boys, you need to keep those hats. All good cowboys wear hats like that. We gave them to you so you will always think of us, and remember that we love you all very much. As you grow, these hats will grow with you and they will always fit perfectly.

We made sure that everyone heard us, and then we went and kissed each of the grown ups and then I told them, "It's time for everyone to go out to the barn and see what is out there." The adults already knew what was there, of course, but Mark and Luke had been kept out of the barn for quite some time, so they wouldn't see what had been lovingly prepared for them. Everyone put on their coats and headed for the barn.

The first thing everyone saw, when they got inside, was the beautiful new colt. She was almost a perfect twin to Dotty. Colt picked up Mark and stood him down near the new little one, "Mark, This is Dawn; would you like to say hello to her?"

"Hello Dawn." Mark managed to get out, before the beautiful little foal came up to him and put her nose in his tiny hand.

She nickered softly, 'Are you going to be my little boy?'

"Oh yes, please." He managed to say, as he gently kissed her nose.

The two new friends stood there talking together for several minutes. No one bothered to translate the conversation for the few adults who didn't understand Dawn. They could easily tell that the two were becoming very close, in the first few minutes that they had seen each other. Meanwhile Luke was doing much the same with Dotty. It was so adorable to see the love that flowed back and forth between the children and the horses.

"She's my little sister." Dotty Nickered to Luke as he snuggled up to her.

Star was so proud of his babies, and he whinnied his approval of the friendship between the twins and the two young horses.

"Oh Star! They are really pretty." the boys chorused, grinning broadly.

"They look just alike, just like we do."

Matt had gone to the curry box and brought back brushes and handed one to each of the boys.

"Guys, you each now have a horse of your own. You are going to have to take care of them." He put a hand on each of the boys' shoulders. "Mark, Dawn is your horse now, and you will have to make sure that she gets fed, watered and brushed, every day." He handed Mark a brush. "Luke, Dotty is your horse, and the same thing goes for you." Luke reached for the other brush.

Colt walked up to the boys and Matt; He gently put a hand on Matt's shoulder and said, "We don't expect either of you guys to do all the work to take care of them, but you will have to at least check once or twice a day to make sure that they are properly fed and have plenty of water. You will need to brush them when ever their coats need it, that means almost every day, if you want them to be shiny and beautiful, like they are now, and since I know you already love them, I am sure you will want to do it anyway. The only thing is, once you start on something as important as taking care of a horse, you can't just forget about doing it. It is called responsibility. The older you get the more responsibility you will have."

Matt leaned over and kissed each of the twins on the top of their heads. "You have quite an advantage over many other people already, boys, because you can simply ask Dotty and Dawn what they need and they will tell you. Most people can't understand horses, because horses speak a different language than people do. Here on the ranch, for instance, the only people that can understand the horses are you two, Colt, Earl Jack and I. Everyone else just hears noises when the horses talk. In fact, the only other person that I even know that speaks to horses is our vet."

"Really?" Luke asked, looking very surprised. "I heard Dotty talking just as plain as anyone else."

"So did I." Mark answered.

"Well, the four of us do too, but it seems to be a gift that most people don't have." Colt replied, smiling, "You guys are very special, in more ways than one."

The two boys each had moved close to his horse and had started brushing her coat. Dotty and Dawn each thanked their respective friend for the attention, and shivered happily.

When the boys had finished brushing the little horses and had their coats shining like a mirror, Andrew came over and complimented them on how good a job they had done.

"Boys they really look beautiful, don't they?"

"Yes Grandpa Andrew." They both answered simultaneously.

"Well boys, we have one more surprise for you two; it is over here in this other room." Andrew pointed to a door. "Put the brushes away and then come with us and we will show you the surprise." Andrew grinned.

It was about noon by then, and everyone was getting pretty darn anxious to see that boys' reaction to the incredible train layout. Once the brushes had been stowed in their proper place, Andrew took Luke's hand and Mike took Mark's, and they led the boys into the train room. Both boys squealed with delight when they saw what it was. Neither boy had ever seen anything like it. Their mouths were hanging wide open and they looked at everything wide eyed.

"Is this really for us?" Luke asked, finally.

"Yes son, it sure is." Colt explained. "I do hope that you will let us play with it sometimes though. We all helped build it for you. I will show you how it all works, if you can step back just a little so I can get in here." The twins moved back just a little to give Colt room. "Thanks." Colt said as he reached out and powered up the amazing set up.

"Oh my God!" Both boys gasped, as they saw the whole town come to life.

There was a policeman in a perfectly designed uniform, standing at an intersection, directing traffic which moved past, and followed the streets of the miniature town. Another figure was sweeping the sidewalk in front of a hardware store. There were two boys sitting on a park bench, swinging their legs in and out in perfect timing as they licked their ice cream cones. The whole display was scaled to about one sixth size. There were magnets under the platform that moved some of the figures and made the cars move. The buildings were detailed perfectly as well. The whole thing was computer controlled and was very elaborate. Ben, Matt, Colt, Kevin and Andrew had worked their butts off building all the miniature things, and making them movable where necessary. Some of the figures were just refitted Ken and GI-Joe dolls but others were specially made with articulated remote controlled arms, legs, heads and bodies. It took two weeks to build the store keeper that swept the walk in front of his store. Colt had ordered the tiny motors and lovingly installed them in the little guy, with a pair of tweezers and a little magnifying glass. When he was finished, the little guy could actually walk up and down in front of the store, and sweep the walk. He could also stop sweeping, look up at the on lookers and tip his hat.

Colt told the boys that he had plans to motorize more of the little people some time soon, but he hadn't yet had the time to git them done. He already had the parts, just not the time as yet. Everyone was quite impressed, especially the twins.

James and I had a hand in the construction as well; we made sure that all the faces on the figures closely resembled the real people that we knew they represented, including the ones that lived on the ranch. It took quite a while for people to notice that the two little boys, sitting on the perk bench, actually looked like Luke and Mark. The boys were actually the first to notice it. They, and most of the adults, played with the lay out for hours.

It was almost three o'clock when that damned triangle rang, announcing that it was time for Christmas Dinner.

Everyone on the ranch was invited to have Christmas dinner with the family. There must have been more than twenty five people there. The dining room table was pulled out to its full length, something that hadn't happened for many years. All the food you could possibly think of that you would have for Christmas Dinner was there, including roast goose, ham, roast beef, and Julie's wonderful fried tomatoes. There was a huge bowl of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. There was green bean casserole, and of course tons of salads.

Everyone ate till they couldn't eat any more, and they all decided to wait for a while to eat dessert. Colt and Matt wanted to watch "A Christmas Story." The movie really looked great on the huge screen TV in the living room and everyone enjoyed watching it. Mark and Luke snuggled up real close to Colt and Matt; the little ones in the middle and Colt and Matt leaning in toward each other and hugging the two little guys. It was so sweet.

After the movie was finished, Julie brought in the deserts. There were several kinds of pie and cake, as well as ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. There was a serving pot filled with hot chocolate, and everyone helped themselves to the wonderful rich drink. Matt and Colt each chose a piece of the double dark chocolate cake, while Luke and Mark opted for the apple pie with ice cream on top.

Luke tapped Julie on the arm and softly asked, "Can I have some chocolate syrup on the ice cream, please?"

Julie had a hard time keeping from making a face, but she managed somehow and said, Sure, Munchkin, you can have anything you want; It's Christmas. She went out to the kitchen and brought back the syrup and drizzled it on the ice cream. Luke giggled and started eating the concoction, causing everyone to at least grimace just a little, but after all it was his tummy that would pay the price.

Once all the dessert had been devoured and the dishes had been removed and put in the dishwasher, Colt asked Julie to sing some more Christmas songs. She was happy to do it and everyone helped out and sang along on the more familiar ones.

About nine thirty or so, most of the ranch hands decided that they should head out to bed, and then the party started to wind down. Once it was just family left sitting around, we went around the room and gently kissed each one on the forehead and wished them a merry Christmas. Lastly we came to the twins. They jumped down from their daddies' laps and ran straight to James and me. We, of course, picked them up and gave them hugs, and we kissed them goodnight, and wished them the happiest Christmas ever, and told them that they should go to bed, since they were falling asleep on their dads' laps anyway. They each grabbed a dad and pulled them to their feet to take them to bed. JC pulled Mike up off the couch and hugged him tightly and Richard pulled Andrew up into a hug as well. James and I just hugged each other. All four of us then stepped back and I said, "This has been the most wonderful Christmas we have had in many years. We love you all very much, and you have done a wonderful job of keeping the family going. I know things will go well for you, and we will be here with you to make sure that you will be happy." With that, we took our leave of them and they all headed to bed. I guess it must have taken a lot out of them, because no sooner did they lay down, than they all fell sound asleep and dreamed of sugar plums and fairies, not necessarily in that order.

To be continued...

Author's Note:

God that seems so strange to be saying that on this story. I have managed to get through Christmas day. I honestly have no idea of exactly where it will go next. I have been thinking of the story a lot, and I have a few ideas, but there is nothing concrete yet about the very next chapter. I don't know if I will pick up on Boxing Day or if I will take it to New Year's Eve. I will just have to wait and see what the characters tell me they want me to do.

I would say My characters but I think it is more like I am their author instead. I know the story will involve happenings both at the Lazy L and at the lodge in Canada . I just don't know just what will happen yet. If any of you have something that you would like to see happen in the story, feel free to let me know. I won't promise to use it, but I will run it past the guys and see if they think it would fit in, and if so, we might just try to put it in. If at any time I use an idea from a reader, I will, if you want, give you full credit for the idea. If, of course, you don't want your name used, I will change it and keep it anonymous. I once again want to thank Tickie for allowing me to continue the story and keep his dream alive so to speak. I will do my best to keep it going in the same spirit that he envisioned for the story.

Darryl
AKA The Radio Rancher

Note from Tickie:

Thank you Darryl for a beautiful chapter in the saga of the Anderson family. I read it with tears in my eyes, and love in my heart for the whole cast of characters. Take care of them my friend; it looks as if you are doing a great job of it.

Tickie

Editors Notes:

This is a wonderful continuation of a very heartwarming story with very loveable characters. It is very unusual when a story is turned over to another author to continue and the story continues in the same vein. It is tribute to both Tickie and The Radio Rancher that this story is one of those rare ones. The partnership between the two is the reason that this story is continuing on as if nothing had changed.

Thanks guys for a great job,

TSL AKA The Story Lover