{The Shadow of My Father is pure fiction. As I am writing this story, I am above the age of 21. If you want a story with lots of sex, look elsewhere. This is a love story. Seeing as it is a love story, sex is in there, but it's in realistic balance in the characters' lives.

Any similarity to any real events, names, or life events is purely accidental. If you are underage, (according to your state laws as a minor), if this literature is offensive to you or to anyone around your viewing area, or it is illegal for you to view such content where you are reading it, stop reading the story.

This story can't be distributed in anyway, shape or form without the author's expressed, written consent.}

Written by J.P.G.

Chapter 38

Just as Josh closed his books, he heard someone yelling outside. At first he didn't recognize the voice, the more the person yelled, the more Josh was able to place the voice. He jumped up from the floor and walked over to the window. His fears were right; the person outside yelling up a storm was his mother.

Most of what she was yelling about, Josh couldn't make out. He did catch a few words here and there. By the sounds of it, Martha wanted to pick up her kids for a couple of hours. She was swearing up and down that she had the right under the court's rulings that she got when she and her ex got divorced.

The more the security detail ignored her, the more she yelled. It got so bad that several neighbors walked out of their houses to see what was going on. Josh, Cesar, Bernice and Eric were just standing in front of the window watching as everything unfolded.

It looked like Isaac couldn't take it any longer. He walked out and straight over to Martha. Josh noticed the look on his mother's face when she saw Isaac walking towards her. He wished that he took a picture of it. Her blood left her face with her jaw dropping to the ground, she had a look of defeat in her eyes.

"Martha you are making a fool of yourself. You no longer have visitation rights with your kids, not after trying to kill them. If you feel you have been wronged, go to court, but for now you should just leave before you find yourself back in jail. I know a person like you can't be too happy in a place like that."

"Fuck you faggot, I want to see Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon. There's no way I'll allow you to be around my sons. Look at what you already did to Josh. I told Daniel that our kids would catch what you have. Josh spent so much time with you when he was small that you infected him with your sickness. There's no way I'm going to allow you to infect my other three good sons."

"Martha you are one stupid woman. Just you being in that wheelchair proves my point. No smart person would try to shoot at the Governor Elect. Come on, you should have known that you wouldn't have got away with it. Even if you somehow got out of there, you knew that you wouldn't be able to see your kids again.

As far as my sickness, you are one dumb bitch. It isn't a sickness! No matter how much you want it to be, a person is born this way! Josh is a very good kid, with a big heart. I'm glad that you'll never have the chance to destroy him. If I see you again, screw the fact you're a woman. I'll kick your ass so bad, you'll wish that you never left jail!"

Martha just looked at Isaac. Never before had Isaac stood up to her. What she didn't know was why. He never did it out of respect to his brother whether he liked it or not. At the time Martha was his wife and he wasn't about to try and make Daniel choose between him and his wife. If he had, no matter if he'd won, he would have lost.

"I am not leaving here until I see my three boys. As far as Josh is concerned, I did get him that day. The little pervert is the walking dead. I may not have killed him but his lifestyle will. When he comes back to his faggot uncle, after sticking his dick into every hole he can and allowing every man to stick into him, and tells you he has that gay sickness, he'll die and the world will be better off without him."

Isaac couldn't hold back, he launched at her. Several of the security detail jumped in before he got to her, but she reacted. When she did, she tried to turn her wheelchair too fast causing it to flip over. Isaac looked at her laughing as she crawled around on the ground. He couldn't help himself, once again.

"Stay down there Martha where you belong, with the scum. You're not worthy to be called a human being, because human beings don't wish for the death of their children. If you don't leave, you'll be arrested. You know if you get arrested for anything, your bail will be revoked. There is no way you'll be allowed out again."

Martha's friend ran over and helped Martha up from the ground and back into her chair. She mumbled something as she pushed Martha back to her car. Whatever she said, no one understood. Isaac didn't care what was said, all he cared about was that Martha got wheeled away.

After Martha and her friend drove off, the neighbors went back into their houses. The show was over, so there wasn't anything else to see. Isaac had already walked back into the house before the neighbors gave up. Josh could have sworn he saw one of the neighbors out on their porch eating pop corn and drinking soda.

Bernice's father came and picked up Bernice and Eric. This time Josh didn't walk out with Bernice since Eric wasn't with her. He wanted to avoid getting stuck talking with her father about the same old things. He was getting tired of him asking for he and his family to come to his church every time he spoke to him. Josh thought by now he would have gotten the hint.

When Isaac called Josh and Cesar into the living room after dinner, he figured his uncle was going to give him a pep talk. Boy was he ever wrong! He did open up the conversation with for them to not to pay any attention to Martha, and how they were good kids, it wasn't their fault that they were who they were and on and on with the usual stuff. But once he got through all that, he said something that surprised both Josh and Cesar.

"I have spoken with your father Josh and he agrees with me. We're going to add the two rooms to the house as originally discussed, but Cesar won't be getting one of the rooms." Josh and Cesar looked at each other trying to figure out where Isaac was going with this. "Don't panic; let me finish telling you our plans.

Both rooms, top and bottom floor, will be almost twice the size of your room Josh. Your father and I discussed this at length and decided to let you two boys have it. You will have one bed for the both of you to sleep in, which will be at least a queen of course. Still there are a few rules you two will need to follow."

Isaac went down the rules. He made it clear to the boys that they knew there was no way to keep them from having sex. Hopefully giving them this freedom, like a married couple, they would practice safe sex. At the same time, they couldn't have sex every chance they got either. Josh's uncle and father wanted Josh and Cesar to use common sense and respect when it came to that. Isaac went on with the several other rules for another ten minutes.

"Let me explain something to you two. Your father has been wanting to do this since he knew you were going to be adopted, Cesar. If you still lived at home with your father, there would be no way Daniel would have allowed this but that is no longer an issue. The biggest issue at this moment is your dad's job, Josh. Remember that the press looks at him and his family very closely. So don't do or say anything to anyone that might misuse what you guys say. In other words, what happens in this house stays within the walls of this house. The press doesn't need to know every single thing about Daniel."

"We promise that we won't gossip about this." Josh choked out as he held Cesar's hand tight, both of them almost jumping off the couch in excitement. "I also know that our friends that come over won't say a word to anyone. They also knew that they couldn't talk to anyone about our family."

"Sounds good to me Josh, just remember things have changed a lot since your father became Governor. I know you're tired of hearing that, but trust me you two, I am here to try to make your lives as normal as possible. If there's an overreach somewhere, I'll make sure it gets pulled back. So go and be kids again."

Isaac got up from the chair and patted Josh and Cesar on their shoulders as he walked out. Josh and Cesar got up jumping around the room. Isaac turned back and looked at his nephew. This was the first time since he had been back that he's seen Josh happy. He thought the little kid he once knew was gone; that Martha had actually killed the free spirit that was once in Josh. Now he could see that she didn't. That's one thing he plans to make sure doesn't happen. Josh needs to keep the child within him at all times. That's the only way he's going to make it through this world of haters.

When Josh finally put his head on his pillow, it wouldn't stop swirling from everything that had happened that evening. All of a sudden, all the thoughts stopped on one, Brandon. Josh crawled out of bed and walked over to his brother's room. He slowly opened the door and found Brandon in the corner of his room in a ball.

Josh walked in and sat right next to Brandon on the floor. He heard Brandon crying and then he saw that he is shaking really bad. Josh did the only thing he knew to do; he wrapped his arms around him. When he did that, Brandon fell against him and cried into his chest. Now this was getting Josh really worried.

It didn't take long for Brandon to cry himself to sleep. When Josh started to hear his little brother breathing lightly and the crying was gone, he knew Brandon had fallen asleep. Trying his best not to wake him, Josh got up and picked up his little brother. Josh barely made it back to his bed, before he almost dropped Brandon.

He couldn't believe how much heavier Brandon had become since the last time he picked him up. It wasn't that Brandon was fat, far from it. He just had grown a lot in the last year. It seemed to Josh, every time he turned around; Brandon had grown another inch or two. The rate Brandon was going, he could be the tallest of all of them.

Gently he laid Brandon in his bed before getting in himself. Josh pulled the covers over them before turning out the light. As Josh started to doze off, he looked over at Cesar to make sure he was alright. To no surprise, Cesar was sound asleep, and dead to the world. Josh couldn't help but giggle thinking that if an earthquake were to hit, his boyfriend would sleep through it.

The next morning, Cesar woke up first, like always. He walked over to kiss Josh, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Brandon in the bed. Brandon must have had nightmares again and made his way to Josh's bed sometime during the night, Cesar thought. When he started to walk away, Josh whispered his name.

"You are going to leave without giving me a morning kiss like you always do." Josh pulled the blanket off of his face. "If you don't do that, how do you think I'm going to get through the day? It'll just throw my entire . . ."

Cesar covered Josh's mouth with his lips. Before Josh could finish what he was saying, Cesar put his tongue into Josh's mouth. Josh couldn't help thinking to himself that this is one good way to shut him up. He wouldn't mind at all in the future if Cesar shut him up this way. In fact he would work towards it if this would be the result.

They kissed for a few minutes without coming up for breath. Finally Cesar broke the kiss to get to the bathroom before Carlos or Daniel. As he walked out of the room, he turned around and winked at Josh. Josh already woke up with a morning woody. With Cesar kissing him and winking at him it made it worse. He got out of bed before Brandon woke up and thought the worst.

When Brandon woke up, he didn't know where he was. It took him a couple minutes to figure out that Josh had carried him into his room last night. Once he got his bearings, he looked around to see if Josh or Cesar were still in the room. When he realized that he was alone, crawling out of the bed, he made his way to his room to get ready for school.

When he walked into his room, Brandon jumped back when he saw Isaac sitting at his desk. At first Isaac didn't say anything, he just sat there waiting to see what Brandon was going to do or say. When Brandon just walked in and sat down on his bed and didn't say a word, Isaac knew it is up to him to get things rolling.

"Brandon, the last couple of days since I have been here, I've seen things that, frankly, bothered me. To tell you the truth, I don't know why things are done the way they are around here. I think the reasons things are done the way they are, is because that is how your mother ran the house. I won't talk one way or another about your mother. Regardless of my personal issues with her, she's still your mother.

Now with all that said, I am bothered that you are having a hard time sleeping. From what I understand, you've been having a hard time sleeping for awhile." Brandon looked at his uncle as if he was betrayed by Josh. "Your grandmother and I have been talking about this and she has been seeing the same things I have the last couple of nights. I need to know why you have been sleeping in Josh's bed a lot lately."

Brandon couldn't believe his ears. It is sounding like his uncle and grandmother thought they were doing something on the bad side. They had no idea what was really going on between he and his older brother. Brandon couldn't get it out of his head, that even his uncle thought badly about his brother even being close to another guy that was straight. Of all people, his uncle thinking this way!

"You silence speaks volumes. No matter what you think, I am getting a lot from your silence Brandon. Why don't you want to answer my question? No matter what's going on between you and your brother, we'll understand and work through it with you guys. But we need to know where we can help you. Is your brother . . ."

"What the hell are you thinking Uncle Isaac?" Brandon got up from his bed angry as hell. He looked like he wanted to hit something really hard. "You know Josh and you know me. There's no way Josh would ever do anything wrong with me, no way! He's been there for me when others weren't! That includes my mother and . . ."

"Wait, you don't need to get angry with me for asking. You have to look at this through my eyes and what your grandmother and I are seeing night after night. It doesn't look right that you and your brother are . . ."

"What do you mean it doesn't look right? Do you even know what's going on when I am with Josh at night? No you don't, because if you did, you wouldn't be asking me these kinds of questions or be assuming what you're assuming. You, Uncle Isaac, you of all people thinking the way you're thinking about Josh."

What Brandon was saying to his uncle was slicing straight to the bone. Brandon was hitting a raw nerve and making a lot of sense. He didn't need the very first issue that he was handling to turn out this way. Isaac knew that Josh would never take advantage of his little brother, or anyone for that matter, in the way he just put it out there to Brandon. Now because of that thinking, Brandon was angry and in complete defense of Josh.

"You have no idea what's been going on. What Josh has been doing for me is helping me to get through the things I am going through. If it wasn't for Josh being there when I needed him, I would be gone. There's no doubt of that whatsoever." Brandon started to cry as he sat down on his bed.

"Ever since mom did what she did to Josh and then tried to kill him and the rest of us, I've had nightmares about it all. I can't sleep alone anymore because of the nightmares. I'm so afraid that mom's going to come and try and kill Josh or all of us again. Or she is somehow going to talk dad back into letting her come home again. And when she moves in, she's going to take Josh and tie him outside and treat him like she did.

I can't sleep anymore because of these nightmares. If it wasn't for Josh that is! Whenever I'm in his room, near him, I feel safe. I feel like no one can ever hurt us again. He made it through it all and he helps me get through my nightmares. He does it by just being there for me and comforting me at all hours of the night, not caring if it takes away from his private life. He does it all without complaining.

So no, he is not doing anything bad to me. It's sad that you thought that about him. When you moved in, we thought we finally had someone that would back us, but by the looks of things we were wrong. Instead you're worse than the others, because at least with them we know there out there coming at us. You on the other hand, hid and jumped out when we didn't even consider that you were one of the ones that we should be looking out for."

Before Isaac could say anything to Brandon, he got up, grabbed his clothes and walked out to the bathroom. He didn't mean for it to come out the way it did. One thing he knew for sure was the fact that Josh would never do what it sounded like he was saying. Brandon hit every point right and now he had to find a way to make it clear to Brandon that he wasn't thinking ill thoughts of any kind about Josh and him.

Since Josh had no more worries about Glee Club and swim team practice hadn't started yet, he felt relieved. Relieved that a lot of worries he had were gone. Now he could just hang out with Cesar and his friends and not have anything else on his mind. He was going to enjoy this freedom while it lasted.

Josh got pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Bernice calling out his name. He turned to see her walking up to him. Not wanting to be rude, he waited by his locker for her to catch up. Cesar had already gone in to save a spot in the line to get their breakfast. Josh had gone to their locker and put away their book bags so they didn't have to carrying them.

"Thank you for waiting for me! I'm running a little late this morning." Bernice started to talk as she tried to catch her breath. "I still can't believe what your mother did last night. She's worse than Elizabeth when is comes to realizing that they've already lost. Could you believe that couple outside eating popcorn and drinking soda while your mother was making a scene in front of the house?"

"To tell you the truth it really didn't surprise me at all. People in our neighborhood enjoy the fact that they live next door to the Governor and that his ex-wife is a crazy woman! Last night wasn't the first night she did what she did, and it won't be the last."

Bernice could tell that Josh didn't want to talk about it. "Man Josh, I can't believe I ever thought I was gay. I should have tried dating a guy before deciding what I thought I liked. Let me tell you having sex with Eric was like walking on the moon for me. Plus his, well you know, is huge. I loved it in my hand and other places."

Bernice started making the motion with her right hand as if she was jerking Eric off. That not only made Josh smile, but laugh. She was so cute as she described being with Eric. She was like a little kid discovering something for the very first time. Eric was evidently making her very happy. Josh felt happy for her happiness.

"Well Bernice, I can't tell you anything about Eric's size. Now that you're telling me that he's huge, I want to see for myself!" Josh pushed into Bernice laughing. "Just kidding; I'm glad that you like everything about him. When you told me that you two were going out, I knew it was the right fit. Who else is better suited to date you than my best friend? I can tell you very simply; no one."

"You don't have to sell him to me, I know. I want to be with him now more than ever. Since we were together, I can't get him off of my mind. The only thing I can think about now is his gorgeous body! Don't get me wrong, I love that being stuck in my mind all the time, but it's being there that makes me want to be with him even more."

Bernice started to trail off at the end because they met up with Cesar and the others. Josh knew that she had no problem talking about this stuff in front of Cesar, but the others she might. So he dropped the subject, and winked at her as he started talking about another topic. When they get some alone time, he knew Bernice would tell him everything in detail.

After Brandon left for school, Isaac sat down in the kitchen trying to understand what just happened. One thing was for sure to Isaac, Brandon needed some help. If they ignore this, it'll get worse. Brandon needed to talk with someone that could help him to get through everything that was bothering him. If medicine or whatever was needed to get him through it right now, so be it. Brandon was way too young to be having these problems.

Another thing that needed to happen was to get rid of Martha once and for all. More than likely, she caused Brandon to have the nightmares last night with her little show. Isaac knew that he needed to figure out a way to get Martha away from the kids. She had already done so much damage to them; it was no surprise that Brandon was having nightmares.

Not letting another moment pass by before doing something for Brandon. Isaac walked into the study to make the calls needed to help Brandon get through this trying time in his life. Isaac knew that the faster he got Brandon with someone that understood what he was going through, the faster Brandon could start healing.

Governor Lopez walked into his office, none too happy with Rich. He asked Rich to cancel his scheduled appearance at the Roman Catholic Church. Rich has been pushing the Governor to keep the meeting for days. He decided it was in the best interest of the Governor to keep the appearance and not upset the Roman Catholic Church.

"You don't want me over there Rich. If I go down there I'll give them a piece of my mind. They can't seem to keep their noses out of government business. But they yell foul if we ever go into one of their churches and try to execute a warrant or something claiming they are exempt from the law because they're a church."

"Governor, you have to keep this appointment. After you sit down with them for lunch today, you won't have to meet with them again. We just need to keep them happy in order for them to support you and the Republican Party in the upcoming elections."

Reluctantly, Governor Lopez put on his suit jacket and walked out of his office with Rich. Neither one of them said a word as they walked to the waiting motorcade. Once they got in and the motorcade started on its way to the church, Governor Lopez stressed to Rich his feelings about this lunch meeting for the second time.

"I will sit down and eat, but if they ask me to say a few words, I will give them a piece of my mind. During the election they tried to tell me what I needed to do as Governor. Since I took office, it has gotten worse. Like I said, they don't want the government in their house; I don't want them in my house. That's the reason that our founding fathers created our nation this way, with the separation of church and state."

"I hear you and I have made it clear to the cardinals that you're only going to eat with them. We don't have a speech written for this, so you won't make one. Just go in, smile, shake hands, eat and leave. That alone will make them happy, because they get their picture taken with a popular Governor."

The motorcade drove up in front of the church. As the Governor and Rich stepped out of the limousine, the press started to take pictures and throw out questions to the Governor. Daniel waved at the press as he walked to the front door where several cardinals, bishops and priests were waiting to greet him. They shook hands and allowed the press to take pictures of them doing so before walking into the building.

"Governor Lopez, it's an honor to have you in our church today. When the people of this state elected you as the Governor, we felt that the people finally got it right. Since this is your first visit here, we gave permission for any news agency to hook up to our live cameras to broadcast anything live they find interesting. They are the eyes and ears of those you represent after all, Governor."

"That's fine with me if they want to broadcast us sitting around a table eating. That's all they are going to get with this visit. I am very busy right now, I only have time to sit and have lunch with you."

Although the Governor put on a happy face, he wasn't happy about what the cardinals had done. Before entering the room where they set up the lunch, Governor Lopez made it clear to Rich that this wasn't in the agreement. Rich wasn't happy with the surprise either and told the Governor so. The Governor left it at that and walked into the room.

As he made his way to his seat he couldn't help but think about how the church could give a veteran politician a run for their money. They set this up and look good doing it. They knew how to get the people's attention whenever they need to. Politicians should be glad they don't have to face off with the church, because they would have a hard time winning if they did.

Once they sat down, the Governor stayed away from major political topics that were brought up. Many of the topics concerned pending legislation currently in the state house dealing with funding for certain projects and many other things. This was blatantly lobbying. The Governor didn't fall for their tricks. It didn't take too long being there, before the Governor figured out their agenda. They wanted to see where he stood on any legislation right now in the state houses concerning the church.

Before the dessert got served, one of the cardinals got up and quieted the room. "This lunch meeting is held every four years whenever a Governor is elected or reelected. We get to know our new Governor or what the reelected Governor is going to do in the next four years. I know at times it looks like the church and the government are at war with each other all the time, but that is far from the truth.

Now to keep with tradition, the Governor says a few words at this lunch. I know Governor Lopez doesn't have a speech prepared, but would you help me get him up to say a few words?" The room broke into applause, trying to get the Governor to say a few words. "Ladies and gentleman, please let's let Governor Lopez speak."

Daniel stood up from his seat and looked around the room. When he looked straight ahead, he could see the camera pointed directly at him. One thing the cardinal didn't know was that Daniel didn't have speech writers. Every speech he has given, he has either written himself or spoken off the cuff with whatever came to his mind. Now he was going to either fold and say a few nice words, or do what he promised and say what is in the forefront of his mind.

"Well thank you all, first off, for having me and members of my staff here today. It was a great meal and I really did enjoy it. As far as this part of the meal, I was unaware of it. So forgive me if I bounce around as I speak. You already know I don't have a speech prepared for the occasion here today.

Let me first say that I'm not a very religious man. I have read the bible several times cover to cover, but I don't know theology as well as I know the law. I guess that's why I'm in the Governor's mansion and the clergy are here in the church!" The room broke out in laughter at the remark.

"Seriously, I do believe in the man upstairs and I do believe that some evil is below us. I pray every night before I go to bed, but I won't try and preach about something I don't really know. I don't go to church every Sunday but that doesn't make me a bad person.

With that said, I also believe in what the founding fathers of this nation did when they framed our laws. When they separated church and state, it was the wisest decision to make and that wisdom holds true to this day. If you take a good look at our world, you can see perfect examples why church and state should be separated.

Just look at the Middle East right now as a prime example. When the laws are made from the religious point of view, it is a recipe for disaster. The two just can't mix when you need to successfully govern a state or country.

I do respect the church, but I won't allow the church to influence or dictate how I do my job as Governor. Since I decided to run for this position, the church has tried to influence how I ran for the office. It didn't stop after I won, in fact it's grown worse since I was sworn in. I didn't allow the influence when I ran and I won't allow now.

If you haven't gotten the message yet, let me say it once again. I was elected by the people of this state, not by the special interest groups or the religious right. At no time did I ask for your support or accept money into my campaign from special interest groups or any church or religious organization. I didn't want to be beholden in any way except to the people of this state.

The church should stop meddling in government while there are serious problems in their own house. I won't touch the problems you are having except one; one that has hit me at home and I feel I need to voice my thoughts on it.

The issue is the church running camps that basically brain wash the youth of this country. My ex-wife went to one of our local churches and had them try and abduct one of my sons. When I walked into this church, they used the cover of separation of church and state. I found that ironic because the church uses the separation whenever it needs to hide something they are doing wrong while at the same time they try to influence the laws of our land to work in their favor.

Let me tell you here and now, those days are over. One of the key bills I plan to put in front of the state houses in this term is addressing gay rights. I won't sit in judgment on the way the church deals with their gay members, but I will push forward under the proposed law to give equal rights to our gay citizens, as any couple has.

As far as the marriage part of the bill is concerned, it is very simple if you really think about what I've said so far here today. The church's sacrament ratifies the union of two people. The state ratifies a partnership contract between two people. That won't change under the bill I plan to put forward except that there will be no discrimination regarding the gender of those entering into the partnership agreement in the eyes of the law. The law will become gender blind on this issue as it should be.

It is time that our state recognizes all of our citizens equally. I also believe the church should do the same. Like I said, I have read the bible several times. Can any of you show me where it is written in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John where Christ said that love between any two people is wrong? I may have missed it, but I don't think so.

If you want someone to do the church's bidding in this seat, don't vote for me. You might have better luck voting for another guy in the next election, because I am not that guy. Let's keep the separation between church and state. It's worked fine for centuries. Let's not change what works. Instead let's find common ground and work within those wise and proper constraints.

I do thank you for having me here today and hosting this luncheon in the finest tradition of Texas and Christian hospitality and I hope you invite me to come back."

Governor Lopez walked over to the cardinal that asked him to speak and shook his hand. After thanking him for lunch, he made his way out of the church. No one in the room applauded or extended their hand for the Governor to shake as he made his way out. The Governor didn't mind. He said his peace and didn't care if those in the room were offended by what he had said.

As he walked to his motorcade, Governor Lopez noticed the press corps had doubled in size. One after another, they threw out questions about what he said in the church, but the Governor didn't answer any of the questions. Instead he did the same thing he did when he walked into the church, smiled and waved as he got into the limousine.

The Governor couldn't read Rich; he just sat their saying nothing. "I told you I didn't want to go to this event. You and the nation now know my feelings about the church. They should not have asked me to speak knowing where I stood on church issues."

"Mr. Governor, I can't find the words to express what I want to say to you. You totally surprised me today and I think I am far from alone on that! I thought you weren't going to touch the issue of gay rights this early on in your term yet you made it clear here today you do plan to take it on and you plan to take it on very soon."

"Rich, when you talked to me about gay rights, I agreed with everything you said. Since I was given this chance to throw it out there, I took it. I want to see how the people of our state feel about this topic. If there is support for the proposed legislation, I will take it on. Don't get me wrong, I know I just lost the far right of my party but I'm fine with that. As long as there is support coming from the middle, it will be enough to get this bill through. No politician has been successful without the strong support of the middle and independents. Let's see how the truly enlightened of our electorate react and respond on this issue."

Rich couldn't be more proud to be part of this Governor's staff than he was right now. This Governor wasn't a normal politician of today. He cared about every citizen of this state, no matter who they were. If the law didn't work in everyone's favor, he would go out and strive change it. This Governor cared and that would make him more popular than any other Governor in the past that has ever held this seat.

Bernice wanted to go to Josh's house after school and do her homework with Josh and Cesar. But Josh and Cesar already made plans, and those plans didn't include Bernice, Eric or anyone else! So Josh made up an excuse and she bought it.

When the school day ended, Josh and Cesar walked home. They whispered to each other the whole way. Jonathan noticed it, but figured whatever they were talking about wasn't any of his business. As soon as they walked into the house, they ate their snack before heading upstairs to do their homework. At least that's what they told Rose and the others.

Josh closed the door to their room and made sure it was locked before walking over to the bed and stood in front of Cesar. Cesar slid his hands up and down Josh's arms at first and then he moved to Josh's chest and stomach.

Neither of them said a word to each other since they walked into the room. They were taking each other in and didn't want to mess this up with words. The body language between the two was saying everything that needed to be said.

Cesar stood up and pulled Josh's shirt off. He bent down and started to suck on Josh's nipples. After working evenly on each of Josh's nipples, Cesar started kissing his way down to Josh's waist. Falling to his knees, Cesar undid Josh's belt and his pants. With a little help from Cesar, Josh's pants and underwear fell to the floor.

Wrapping his hand around Josh's hard member, Cesar started to jerk Josh off. Once Josh got fully hard, which didn't take too much to get there; Cesar leaned in and started to lick the side of Josh's dick, driving Josh crazy. As he reached the head of Josh's dick, Cesar licked the tip several times, before going back down the other side of Josh's dick. That drove Josh even crazier.

After a few minutes teasing Josh, Cesar decided to stop teasing Josh. He lowered his lips around his dick, and started to do down on Josh's dick as slow as possible. Once he reached Josh's pubic hair, he started to pull Josh's dick back out. Just as it looked like Cesar is going to pull off Josh's dick completely, he stopped and made his way back down on it.

Cesar kept doing this for almost ten minutes. He stopped only when it looked like Josh was about to shoot. As soon as Josh calmed down, he went back to work. When Josh reached the peak for the third time, and Cesar had not let him cum, Josh decided to take matters into his own hands. He pulled Cesar up and fell to his knees.

Josh quickly undid Cesar's belt and the buttons to his pants. When he pulled Cesar pants and underwear down, Cesar dick flew up and hit Josh in the face leaving a stream of pre-cum across the middle of Josh's face! Josh wiped the pre-cum off of his face and ate it before taking Cesar's dick into his mouth.

Cesar looked down between his legs and saw Josh's dick is pointing straight out, begging for attention. Not letting Josh know, Cesar walked back a couple steps, causing Josh to almost fall flat onto his face. As he started to lie down on the floor, he pulled Josh down. It didn't take much to figure out what Cesar was doing.

They got into the sixty-nine position and almost at the same time they took each others dicks into their mouths. For the next twenty minutes they brought each other to their peak, but didn't let the other unload. To their surprise, neither of them got mad at the other for not letting each other shoot.

Josh let Cesar's dick slip out of his mouth as he reached down and pulled his own dick out of Cesar's mouth. Cesar laid flat on his back as Josh crawled on his knees over to the night stand. After grabbing a condom and lube, Josh crawled back to Cesar. It didn't take Josh too long to get them lubed, condom on and Cesar's legs over his shoulders.

Slowly at first, Josh pressed his dick into Cesar's hole. Once he broke through, Josh picked up the speed. As soon as his dick went fully into Cesar, Josh started to pull out. Little by little Josh picked up the speed until he got into his stride.

Both of the boys were sweating out gallons, moaning and having the greatest sex they have ever had with each other. Josh was hitting Cesar just right to keep him hard without touching Cesar's dick. Josh loved how tight Cesar was, he could barely keep himself from shooting.

Without removing his dick, Josh got up, picking Cesar up at the same time. He walked to the dresser, carrying him. Gently Josh put Cesar down on top of the dresser and started to fuck him even faster. Cesar couldn't stand it; he tried grabbing at whatever he could get his hands on, but couldn't get hold of anything.

As Josh slammed his dick into Cesar, the entire dresser pushed against the wall, making loud knocking sounds. The only other noise loud enough that others could hear was Cesar moaning. Anyone near their room would know what was going on in there without seeing it for themselves.

Cesar felt it, he opened his eyes to tell Josh, but it was too late. He started to shoot without even touching his dick. The first shot fired over him and hit the wall above the mirror of the dresser. The second and third shot did the same thing. The fourth and the rest hit from the top of the mirror to Cesar's stomach.

After Cesar shot the last of his cum, he feel against the mirror. All of his is energy is spent, he felt like a rag doll as Josh continued to fuck him. Cesar didn't even have the strength to open his eyes to look at Josh as he fucked him. He just laid there knowing that Josh is enjoying himself because of the moaning.

The next thing Cesar felt is his butt hitting hard onto the dresser. Josh pulled out of Cesar and at the same time pulled off the condom, Josh barely got the condom off in time before he started to shoot. Shot after shot landed somewhere on Cesar's body. Josh tried to aim his shots to hit Cesar's chest, but the first three or so got away from him.

Once he finished shooting, Josh picked Cesar back up and walked to the bed. He laid Cesar down and then joined him. They lay on the bed, full of sweat and cum, not moving an inch. Just as they started to come to, they heard Josh's uncle calling everyone down for dinner.

Josh jumped off the bed first. He quickly grabbed the towel and cleaned himself up the best he could before throwing the towel over to Cesar. He started to separate the clothes when Cesar joined him on the floor. Once they got their own clothes, they got dressed as quickly as possible and headed down for dinner.

No one was the wiser, when Josh and Cesar sat down at the table. They ate and went to the den to watch TV for a couple hours. By nine, Josh and Cesar made their way upstairs to take their showers, do their homework and go to bed.

Before turning out the light, Josh checked in on Brandon. When he opened the door, he found Brandon in his bed, but awake. Josh walked into the room, closed the door and walked over to his little brother. He sat down on the edge of the bed and just looked at him at first. After a few minutes of looking at each other, Josh broke the silence.

"I love you Brandon, I hope you know that. I respect you and never asked what's going on with you. In time I thought you might tell me, but I wasn't going to push you, and still won't. But whatever it is, it isn't getting better. You can't keep going like this. Please Brandon, tell me what's up or go to grandma or Uncle Isaac. There's no way you can have many more nights like this."

Brandon didn't say anything to Josh. He just fell against his older brother and held him as tight as he could. Josh felt bad that he had no idea how to help his little brother. He thought that by being there for him was enough, but it was oblivious now that it wasn't. What Brandon really needed was professional help, Josh thought.

Still, until Brandon was ready to ask for that, he would be there for him. Josh pulled Brandon away from him so he could see his face. Brandon's expression told it all. He was scared, really scared and Josh hoped that Brandon would tell him soon what was scaring him this much. Leaning down, Josh started to talk in a whisper to Brandon.

"Let's go back to my room and go to bed. What we should do is put together a temporary bed for you to sleep in until you are able to sleep in your own room. I don't know about you, but I think my bed isn't big enough for the two of us. It seems even more so now because you seem to be growing faster than you can go to the store and buy new clothes."

Josh started to laugh as he reached down and started to tickle Brandon. Brandon fell flat on his back on his back, laughing and trying get away from Josh's tickling. Josh didn't let up for a couple minutes, but stopped when he saw Brandon laughing so hard, he started to tear up.

Josh got up, turned around and helped Brandon up from the bed. They walked out of the room and into Josh's. As Brandon crawled into Josh's bed, Josh looked over to Cesar and found him already dead to the world. He crawled into bed and fell asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow.

The rest of the week flew by for the boys and the Governor. Nothing major happened in the El Paso home or the Austin home. Before they knew it, the boys were heading home from school and the Governor was closing off his last meeting of the day.

Every time you turned on your TV to a news channel, you would see a replay of the Governor's speech. Not the whole thing, just bits and pieces of it. Depending what channel you watched, you'd get a slant one way or the other. That is one thing Governor Lopez dislikes, the media no longer broadcasts the news. They have to put their own spin on a story in hopes to move the viewing audience their direction of thinking.

CNN, MSNBC and CBS reported that the Governor over stepped his office and this the end of his Governorship. They would keep pounding away on why not to elect a person that has never held political office as they showed clips of Governor Lopez basically taking the church out to the wood shed. It was obvious that these channels liked to lean to the left as they presented their news.

Some ABC news shows presented the news from the other direction. Some of the shows had both sides debating the issue, but you could still tell what direction the majority of the news on these channels leaned towards. These shows served the right and didn't apologize for doing so. It's obvious at this time there's a need for a media news entity that would provide some contrast to the left leaning organizations.

It got to a point that the Governor stopped watching the news altogether. He even stopped reading the local news papers because they pounded him for standing up to the church. They didn't write anything in the positive on what the Governor did. In fact they kept ripping him to shreds day after day.

The last meeting of the day for the Governor was with his staff. The main topic of the meeting was what was happening to him in the press. First they got through all the other issues that were on their agenda, before moving onto the red hot topic of the week.

"Governor Lopez we need to stop the bleeding, and we need to stop it now. Everywhere we turn, we're getting beaten up over what you said at the church on Tuesday. What I don't understand is why you didn't clear your remarks with us. We would have told you not to say that. We know the pulse of the people and what they are ready to hear right now. With all due respect sir, you've got to hold back at times in order to fight another day."

"I know you two are my political advisors, but I don't have to clear anything with you. Neither of you got elected by the people of this state. In fact neither of you were with me when I ran for this office. I didn't watch what I said then, I won't watch what I say now. If you haven't figured it out yet, I don't govern by the polls. It doesn't matter if there is support for a law or not; if it's right, I'll push for it to pass."

Governor Lopez looked at his two political advisors with daggers in his eyes. "Mr. Serna, what do you think about what I did on Tuesday? Do you believe what the news is saying that I over stepped my position and I should go out and apologize to the church? Or do you think I was right saying what I did?"

"Mr. Governor, I am like you, I have someone in my family that is gay and I don't like what they have to endure in their daily lives. To tell you the truth, those naysayers out there, more than likely, have no one close to them that's gay or have disowned those that were. That's why they're saying what they are saying.

Look, the church knew where you stood. They should have taken the photo op and left it like that. When they asked you to say a few words, they knew what they were getting themselves into. It was no surprise to them or anyone in this room as to what you were going to say. You spoke the truth and they didn't like it.

Once everything settles down, the real truth will come out revealing what the people really think about what you said. I believe you will have huge support on this and it will get passed when you put the legislation in front of the state houses. Those that are beating you up right now would have beaten you up no matter what you said. What really matters here is the people of your state. When their voice is heard, you will be fully supported."

"I agree with you Mr. Serna and that is why I said what I said. You guys need to know something about Texas voters. They don't like to be told what's right and what's wrong. They don't like being told what they should and shouldn't do. Just like me, they will always do what is right for all those in this state. That's all that matters to them and to me. So let's move on from this subject and work on the education bill that's pending in the houses right now."

Reluctantly, the subject got dropped and they moved on to the two bills that were before the houses right now. After the meeting concluded, the Governor spoke with Al in private. He asked Al to do what he has done for him in the past; move heaven and earth to help pass this bill when he does send it down to the houses.

Isaac kept Brandon home from school on Friday so he could take him to see a therapist. No matter what Brandon wanted, Isaac knew that this was the best solution to what was going on with his youngest nephew. He couldn't sit by and let Brandon suffer the way he was right now with the nightmares.

To make things easier for Brandon, Isaac stayed in the waiting room for the entire hour while he talked with the therapist. When he came out, the therapist wrote out a prescription for Brandon. It wasn't heavy medication; it was the lowest dose to give people that were having a hard time sleeping.

Brandon walked out to the vending machines, leaving Isaac in the office. "Mr. Lopez, the first thing we need to work on with young Brandon here is to get him through a night without any nightmares in his own room. This medication should help with that. It's only to be taken at night though.

The other thing I see that needs to be fixed is to get young Brandon away from his mother. If she is still in the picture, you need to get him out of that house. If she doesn't live with her son, but comes around, you need to put a restraining order on her. I will be more the glad to go in front of a judge to help you get that done. She is doing severe damage to her son. If she is not stopped now, there will be nothing anyone can do for Brandon. There is no time to waste getting him away from his mother."

"She is no longer living in the home, but does come around making a scene every so often. I think when she does that, Brandon ends up having the nightmares reoccur. These kids have gone through a lot with their mother in the last year. The others are older and that's why I don't think it is affecting them the way it's affecting Brandon. His father and I agree that Brandon's health is what matters here and we will do whatever it takes to make Brandon happy and feel secure for his own safety and for that of his family once again."

"I know Governor Lopez is a very busy man, and he did the right thing having family around taking care of his kids during this transition. What he needs to do is get his ex-wife far way from their kids. Other than that, don't change anything in the house. That includes the relationship between Brandon and his older brother Josh. Josh is his support beam right now. Don't take that support away from him when he needs it the most."

Isaac agreed with therapist about the relationship between Brandon and Josh. They shook hands before Isaac walked out to find Brandon kicking the vending machine. He couldn't help but laugh as he saw Brandon cursing at the vending machine.

"What, did it eat your money?" Isaac walked up to see the candy bar half in and half out of the spiral. "No matter how much you curse at these things or kick them, your candy bar won't come out. Sorry, but that's the truth."

"That is my last fifty cents until tomorrow when we get our allowance again. I'm hungry and I wanted that candy bar to carry me over till we get home for lunch." Brandon kicked the machine several more times before giving up.

"Here, let me help you get your candy bar!" Isaac pulled fifty cents out of his pocket and put it in the machine. "I don't like this kind of candy bar, so you get two for the price of one. Just don't eat both of them before we get home. Grandma will have my head if you don't eat lunch due to eating sugar!"

Brandon thanked his uncle as he opened his candy bar. They walked down to the SUV and headed home. As soon as they walk in the door, Rose was there to greet them. She immediately asked what had happened at the doctor's office. The only answer she got from them was that things are going to get a lot better.

After lunch, Josh made his way to fourth period class. As he walked into Mrs. Nunez's classroom, he heard Mr. Edger calling out for him. He turned and walked over to him to see what he needed. No matter what happened at the beginning of the week, he still respected Mr. Edger a lot.

"Josh, I am going to ask you once again to come back to Glee. We need you and the class knows that more now than before. What I predicted when you left has come true. The one that replaced you has more off days than good days. The soloist's position is for the strongest singer of the group, not the most popular singer of the group."

"Mr. Edger, I really loved doing what I did in Glee. The problem is the class didn't like it when I walked in and took over the soloist's position. They knew I didn't ask for it. They knew you went out looking for a person for that position. Still, they felt I was the devil and I should not be part of the Glee Club. There's no doubt that this hasn't changed."

"Okay, let's say you're right on that, will you at least give me a chance to make it clear it isn't their choice who is part of this class and who isn't. After all I am the instructor and I won't make the same mistake twice. I decide who is where and who gets the soloist's position, not them. What happened earlier this week should never have happened.

Will you please at least take this and learn the songs? That way if you do decide to come back, you're not behind the others. You'll be able to jump right in when you come back." Mr. Edger handed Josh an orange folder with sheet music in it.

Josh took the folder and nodded his head. Mr. Edgar smiled at Josh as he walked back into Mrs. Nunez's class. She looked at what Josh had in his hand when he walked in and couldn't help herself from looking across the hall to Mr. Edger. She gave Mr. Edger a look that only they knew the meaning of.

When Josh got home, he and Cesar were called into the living room. They walked in to find Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon already sitting there. Not knowing what this was all about, they didn't say anything; they just took a seat on the couch.

Rose got up and handed each of them their allowance, except Cesar. "You boys need to make time during the weekend to clean the yard and the gutters. It's bad because you boys have not been doing your chores lately. If it's not done this weekend, you won't get any more allowance for a month. Plus there will be no more movies or game playing on the TV for that same amount of time. Don't think I won't do it. Where do you think your farther got his thinking about discipline? He got it from me!"

All of them nodded their heads and walked out of the living room. Isaac held back Cesar while the other boys walked out. Cesar looked at Isaac as he sat back down on the couch. Trying to figure out what he did wrong to be held back from the others. Then Isaac surprised him, he handed Cesar an allowance.

"I know you have not been getting an allowance since you have been living here. That's something that Daniel has been wanting to get fixed, but hasn't had a chance to. Now you will be getting an allowance at the same time like the others boys and same amount. But by getting an allowance, you will have chores to do also. Do you have a problem doing chores Cesar?"

"No sir, I don't have any problem doing chores. In fact, I help Josh do his chores every week, so there will be no difference being assigned my own." Cesar couldn't help but smile about getting an allowance. "Thank you so much! This is the first time I have ever gotten allowance. My dad did give me money, but it was to pay the bills. Once the bills got paid, there wasn't anything left."

"This is your money to do whatever you want to do with it. Remember though, if you spend it all in one day, you will have to wait entire week to get more. Don't get me wrong, if you come to me or my mom and give us a good reason to get your allowance earlier, we will do that. But that will be rare for us to do. Now go and have fun with my nephew. You two look so happy together."

Cesar got up from the couch, hugged Isaac and walked out. The minute he walked into their room, he couldn't hold back. Cesar showed Josh his allowance as he grabbed his wallet from his drawer. He hasn't needed to carry a wallet since he hasn't had any money to put in it. His school ID was the only thing he had to carry so there was no need for a wallet. He simply put the ID in his back pocket every day.

The next morning, after breakfast, the boys went outside to work on the yard. Shortly after they started, Patrick and Frank showed up. They wanted to hang out with Josh and Cesar, so they jumped in to help them out. With two extra set of hands, the yard and the gutters got cleaned by mid day. That left them enough time to clean up and go out somewhere.

Josh, Cesar, Patrick, Frank and Brandon decided to go to the arcades at the mall. The intent wasn't to play the games so much as to just hang around the mall. Most of the games they have played and gone as high as they could. Now they just went to see if anyone had broken their records yet. If their records were broken, they played the game to reclaim their standing.

Governor Lopez went into the office like had done every Saturday since he took office. In his mind, there was not enough time in the five day work week to get things done. He had to give up his weekends to stay anywhere close to caught up. No matter how much delegating Daniel did, his desk never got cleared off.

Barbara, Daniel's secretary, came into work whenever Daniel did. That's something Daniel was bothered by. No matter how many times he told her not to come in, she refused and came in anyway. She always replied that if he came in to work, she would be there as well. There was no way she would let him work without her being there to help him with whatever he needed to get done.

Over the years, Daniel had fallen for Barbara but had never acted on it. He had always respected his wife and never cheated on her. That was one thing he learned from his parents when he was growing up. Once you get married, you belong to that one person. There was no shade of grey when it came to marriage.

Now that he was no longer married, Daniel had been debating asking Barbara out. If he did ask her out and she took offense , he might lose her all together. But at the same time, if he didn't ask her, he would never know if he had a chance with her. He needed to know if there's any chance for them to become more than close friends and coworkers.

Just like Daniel, Barbara was married and was also now divorced. It took a long time for her to finally leave her ex-husband. He wasn't only a drunk, but a mean one at that. He drank all the time, couldn't hold down a job more than a week at a time. Everything that went wrong in his life, he kept blaming Barbara for. He got his message across by hitting her in places where others wouldn't notice the marks.

After ten years of marriage, having no kids and the beatings, Barbara had had enough. She woke up one morning went to work and never went back home to her husband. She filed for the divorce several weeks after she left her husband. Not once did she return to their house. The only thing she left the house with the day she left was the clothes on her back.

When Daniel finished working on the work that he set aside to work on, he got up enough nerve to ask Barbara out. He walked out of the office and handed her the files that he completed. She took them and immediately filed them where they belonged.

"Barbara, what is it now, six years we have been working together?" Barbara looked up to Daniel as she nodded her head up and down. "Man doesn't time fly by when you enjoy working with someone that you work with. I'm glad that you decided to come with me when I retired from the military."

"You should have never worried about whether or not I would follow you wherever you went. You are a great man and you are going to do great things for this state. I'm just glad to be part of this whole thing. I can tell my friends and family I was there when a new law was written, passed and signed. These next four years, I really believe are going to be historic for our state."

Daniel actually blushed as Barbara talked. Daniel then decided to take the plunge saying; "I might be over stepping here, if I am please tell me. My marriage was over way before we actually got divorced. I think we stayed together just for the kids, because we both didn't love each other anymore. Martha stuck around because she had everything she wanted. I stayed with her to have the boy's mom always there. That changed the day that she miss-treated Josh.

Anyway, I am procrastinating about what I want to say. I am wondering if you want to go out with me sometime. I know you have had bad experiences in the past, but I promise you I am not that type of guy. I would like to take you out for dinner and see where it goes from there, if that is okay with you that is."

Barbara couldn't believe that Daniel was actually asking her out on a date. What she told him earlier was the truth, but not the whole truth. The other part of the truth was that she has fallen for Daniel over the years as well. But because he was her boss, she never acted on her feelings towards him. Now here he was asking her out!

"Yes, I would love to go out to dinner with you. Just let me know when you can, and I'll be there."

"How about tonight I'll send a car to get you around seven or so? We can have dinner together and maybe catch a movie if my security detail could get us a theatre."

"Yes, that's fine with me. I will be ready at seven, so you can send a car anytime after that." Barbara felt all warm and tingly inside as she accepted the invitation.

Daniel told her where they were going for dinner, so she didn't have to guess what she should wear. After making their plans, Daniel walked over and grabbed Barbara's hands, but not to shake them. He held them together as he leaned in and kissed her gently on the cheek before letting her hands go.

Barbara headed out to the salon to have her hair done. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this way. Even with her ex-husband, she never had these kinds of feelings. All that she knew right now was that she wanted to do everything she could to look good for her date with Daniel tonight.

TO BE CONTINUED...

WRITER'S CORNER:

{Another chapter filled with drama and action. Man I am telling you I like this story because I can write all day long without freezing up and scratching my head. This story has so many mini plots, you don't know if you are coming or going as a reader. This story has something for every type of person. I know I have said that before, but it is true.

The chapter started out with Martha up to her old tricks. She kind of dropped off in the last couple chapters after she got released on bail. In this chapter she popped back up, creating a scene for the entire neighborhood to see. Josh and the other three in his room saw a neighbor actually out there eating popcorn and drinking a soda like it is a movie. When that happens, you know something has to change.

Martha got the wind knocked out of her when Isaac walked out of the house. She won the battle with Daniel when she demanded him to disown him, but it looks like Isaac won the war. She is sitting on the outside looking in, while he is in the house that she wants to be part of and has lost. If she doesn't watch herself, she might end back up in jail. Her friend needs to settle her down whenever she gets the way she did that evening.

Poor Brandon, this guy is suffering a lot. We finally learn in this chapter why he is having the nightmares. Remember Brandon is still a very young boy, so when things happen around him, it influences him a lot more deeply than the others. The last year has been a living nightmare for him. No wonder he has been having the nightmares at night.

First he witnessed what his mother did to Josh. Can you imagine being a thirteen year old and seeing your own mother treat one of your brothers or sisters worse than a dog? Then you held you older brother in your arms when no one else would! That alone would mark you for life, but it didn't end there. To make matters worse, his mother tried to kill him and his family. Even after she didn't succeed, she keeps coming around wanting to be with her kids. If you were in his shoes, you would have nightmares as well.

Now at first Isaac miss-worded what he was trying to say. He knows that Josh would never take advantage of anyone, no one no matter what. He was just worried about Brandon and he didn't word what he was saying right. I am just glad that he knows about it and is taking the steps that are needed to help Brandon through this.

We have a love scene in the chapter. I know it is about time, but these kids have a lot going on in their lives. We can see from the way they make love with each other, how much they do love each other. Just the way they touch each other shows their love.

Isaac and Daniel gave in and decided to let the boys have their own room. Not only have their own room, but to be able to sleep with each other. With this plot, I thought it was very tricky one. If Daniel wasn't in politics, he would have allowed them to sleep together when Cesar first moved in. Because everything he does is carefully watched and taken apart, he has to be careful. But just like the presidents in recently history, he told the press that his family is hands off.

Now a couple new plots opened up dealing with Daniel in this chapter. The first is his speech at the church. He made it clear to Rich that he didn't want to go. He also made it clear after he folded and agreed to go that he wasn't going to make a speech. If he does, they won't like what he has to say. I know this topic is very touchy one, and no matter how I wrote it, I am going to anger some readers out there.

But let's be honest with ourselves here about this topic. More and more we are seeing the influence of religion influencing our lawmakers and laws. I have nothing against the church, but I do think and believe that church and state should be absolutely separate. Whenever laws are made through religious influence, it is a disaster waiting to happen. Our founding fathers were right when they created our laws and separated church and state.

Daniel is not going to tell the church how to run their business; he wants the same respect that he is giving. He gave his opinion, but he made it clear that he won't attempt to influence in anyway how the church conducts their business as long as it doesn't break the law like that church that ran that camp that tried to kidnap Josh. This plot is going be hanging around for a while, so don't expect it to end anytime soon. Just a look at chapter ten of "Regrets and Heartaches" will show how long it will take to end this plot.

Finally let's talk about what Daniel did at the end of the chapter. He asked Barbara out on a date. Neither of them knew that the other likes them. Now they are going out on a date. Something might happen there. Daniel does need a first lady for the state of Texas. Who else is better for him than Barbara? This is another plot that is not going to end anytime soon. So stick around and see what is to come between these two.

So many open plots and so many more plots to come in this story. I love the political scenes a lot and I hope I am not offending anyone with them. Keep in mind it is only a story and I am trying my best not to preach my beliefs. Please stay tuned and I promise that you guys won't regret opening every new chapter.

I could stay here all day long, with all the open plots already in this story, but I won't. I warn you though! Don't skip a chapter, or you will be lost. There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR'S CORNER:

Martha is on a self destructive path and I don't see her pulling back. She is going to plague her family until she steps, once again, over the line and ends up having her bail revoked and new charges filed. She continues to inflict pain and anguish on her family. It was justice of a sort to find Isaac in "her house". That was something she never dreamed would happen! She missed that call by a mile!

Isaac did approach the situation with Brandon and Josh from the exact wrong angle. Although he hasn't been around for a number of years, he should have never voiced any concern he had about appropriate behavior between Josh and Brandon. He should have kept that concern quiet until the facts, one way or the other, revealed themselves. I hope that he didn't irreparably damage his relationship with Brandon.

Josh and Brandon have switched roles as brothers. For a time, it was Brandon being Josh's support; now the shoe is on the other foot. I'm glad that Josh is perceptive enough to have caught on to Brandon's having problems and stepped up to help him.

Josh and Cesar's lovemaking is what it should be in a committed and loving relationship. I hope that when they get their own room that they will be able to take more time to explore and expand their lovemaking talents to make it even more incredible. There's so much that they haven't as yet explored in the physical sense. Perhaps when lovemaking is more frequent it won't be as harried and they will be able to find new and wonderful ways to make love. Jacob, let me know when you want some creative input on this matter! <wink>

Daniel didn't just touch, but grabbed onto a third-rail political issue with his impromptu speech at the church. I think the high ranking clergy never expected him to spank them in their own house! What was said is important and the issues needed to be aired. Yes, it caused a flurry of controversy, but then what vital issue in politics doesn't?

The problem Daniel has with the media will hound him until 1996 when the FOX News network came to be. The left-leaning media had no counterbalances until FOX came on the scene. The only place one could turn to get a counterpoint to the liberal point of view was local talk radio programs here and there. Rush Limbaugh was on the air via ABC radio network since 1988. His numbers were on the rise but he had yet to gain a widespread audience in 1991. There was no solid and influential conservative mainstream national media of any sort in 1991.

The other way news today is disseminated widely is by the internet. In 1991, the `net' was still in its infancy and not a factor in news reporting. In 1991, the hot computer of the day was a 286 processor with 512K of memory and a, get this, TWENTY MEGABYTE hard drive! Windows wasn't out yet; we ran on DOS at that time. Monitors were monochrome; one color either amber or green. Connection to the `net' was by phone modem and a HOT modem was 1,200 Baud.

Now we have the Governor touching the gay rights issue. The rub here from the media perspective is that he can't get either side to report on the issue fairly. At the time, and Daniel being a Republican, the liberal media was against him on the principle alone. Then the right leaning media would be solidly against him on the gay rights issue. It's a classic "catch-22".

I sensed the Daniel and Barbara connection potential a long time ago, when Daniel was still active in the military. As is many times the case, two people have mutual interest and because of circumstances, it's not revealed. Daniel and Barbara both deserve to have love in their lives. If they make the connection, I hope that Jacob will give us a glimpse of the passion of love without too much intimate detail. He's done that before most masterfully. <hint, hint> I hope that they can find common ground upon which to lay the foundation for a committed, lifelong loving relationship.

Like Jacob, I could write on for pages and pages, but I will spare you that angst. As Jacob said, this story has a life of its own and will last for a long time. I just hope that Jacob's creative juices continue to flow!

Until next time,

"Daddy" Rick