Shadow of My Father

Shadow of My Father: Sophomore Year 5

Written by: J.P.G.

{"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 is 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, 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 cannot be distributed in anyway, shape or form without authors' express written consent.}

Story Written by: J.P.G.

Love Scenes Written By: Trevor

Edited By: Ed

Edited By: Jack

Edited By: Trevor

Chapter 65

When they returned to the house, the family sat together in the sitting room talking about the last couple of weeks. With the lights coming from the tree being the only real lights that were on in the room, it made everyone feel more comfortable talking about things. It was like not having a spotlight put on you as you talked.

Josh and Cesar sat together on the floor and it was not long before their hands found each other's. Same thing with Daniel Sr. and Barbara, they were sitting there holding hands as they listened to the boys talk about what has been going on in their lives.

It was Daniel Sr. this time that escaped into his mind thinking about what was unfolding before him. He could not help but think how lucky and loved he is knowing how rare something like this is in a family. Nowadays a family is lucky to sit down at the table for a meal, even less chance to talk to each other. Talking in a family went out the door when the Cosby Show and shows like that went off the air.

Pulling Daniel back to reality was his son Brandon. "Wait a minute there, wait just a minute!" Daniel Sr. leaned forward, looking at Brandon. "Are you telling me, telling us that you have a girlfriend? Why is this the first I am hearing about it and who is she? Are we going to be able to meet her anytime soon?"

"Honey, come on let your son catch his breath. You are throwing way to many questions at him and not letting him answer one of them." Daniel agreed with his wife. He leaned back into the couch and stayed quiet letting Brandon answer the questions.

"Well, first dad as far as when you can meet her is all up to Mr. Benedict. After all, he has to clear her before she can even get close to me, more so to you. Once that happens, I am going to bring her down for all of you to officially meet her." Brandon looked over at his brothers, which confused Daniel Sr. and Barbara.

"What is it that I am not seeing here? Do your brothers know who this young lady is?"

"They have seen her and had a few polite words with her, but they have not really sat down and talked with her. In fact, none of them knows her name yet because when they met her I was not going out with her. I wanted to go out with her from the day I saw her, but I was too afraid to ask her until I talked with my brothers the other night."

"Okay now I see what is going on here Brandon. I will check in with Mr. Benedict before going to bed to see where he stands as far as getting her on the approved list. I know as far as her it can't be hard since she is just in high school. What is probably taking them time is clearing her parents and anyone else in the family. They have to make sure that none of them is a threat to me, you guys or anyone I work with."

"Dad I understand why they are doing what they are doing, so does Kalinda. She and her family are cooperating with Mr. Benedict on everything he is asking."

Daniel Jr. looked over at Carlos and then over to Brandon, trying to keep a straight face, but could not. He cracked up laughing after hearing the name of Brandon's girlfriend, which did not make Brandon happy at all, or Daniel Sr. The governor grabbed a cushion from the couch and threw it at his son to get him to stop laughing.

"I am sorry dad, but I never heard of that name before, Kalinda." Daniel sr. struggled to hold in his laughter as he looked over to Brandon. With a straight face, he started to speak again. "Brandon I am sorry! Do not take my laughing as anything but being surprised on the name and that is all. It's just I never heard the name before."

"Neither have I, and I had the same reaction you had when she first told me her name. I thought I lost any chance on going out with her when I did that, but she said yes. She told me that most of the time when she gives her name, she gets the same reaction, either laughter or being asked to repeat it, Kalinda Torres."

Everyone looked at each other with the same thing going through their minds; Brandon's new girlfriend is Hispanic. That really didn't matter to them, but with the first name that she has, they thought she was not Hispanic, maybe Anglo or down those lines. At the same time, Daniel Jr. and the others would never have believed she was not Hispanic. Like Brandon said at the beginning, they have met her and she looks Hispanic.

"Okay everyone it is getting late and I had a long day already." Daniel Sr. broke the silence in the room. "Plus I know you guys are going to get up early in the morning to open gifts, so why don't we call it a night and head to bed."

All at once, everyone agreed with him. The first to walk out of the room were Daniel Sr. and Barbara, followed by the boys. However, they didn't go up to their rooms, instead they went down to play video games before going to bed. One by one, they started to get tired and headed off to bed. By one P.M., everyone had made their way to their rooms and turned in for the night.

Nothing has changed over the years. The boys got up early in the morning and were the first down stairs around the Christmas tree. Moreover, like in the past, Daniel Sr. heard the boys get up. Therefore, he pulled himself out of his bed, and put on his slippers to go down and join them. He tried to be quiet in order not to bother Barbara when he got up, but she had already been awake for an hour or so.

As he leaned in to kiss her, he saw that she was awake. "Honey I had no idea that you were already awake. Let me help you out of bed so we can join the boys down stairs to unwrap gifts. That is if you are up to it! I know you have been having a hard time since we returned from Washington."

Barbara turned and smiled at her husband. "No I am feeling alright this morning, unlike the last few mornings." Barbara extended her hands for Daniel to grab. "Help this elephant out of bed please!" Barbara started to laugh as Daniel slowly and gently pulled her up from the bed and helped her put on her slippers.

"You are not an elephant honey, so stop saying that please." Daniel helped his wife comb her hair and make herself presentable. "Let me tell you what you are. You are a beautiful woman that is carrying our son or daughter inside of you. A gift that both of us is going to cherish the rest of our lives, you will see."

They walked down stairs to the sitting room where the boys were already driving Rose crazy by asking repeatedly if they could open at least one present. When they saw their father and stepmother walk in, they dived to the tree. One by one, they pulled out presents. Before Daniel Sr. and Barbara were able to sit down, they had most of the presents out from underneath the tree.

Once all the presents were out, Daniel Sr. and Jr. started to hand out the gifts to everyone. The minute the boys got their own gifts, they started ripping them open. It didn't take them long to open all their presents and were happy with what they got because they received exactly what they wanted.

As the boys cleaned up the wrapping paper from the floor, Barbara stood up asking for everyone's attention. "I know you guys have been wondering why I have been getting a little bigger than I should." All at once, everyone in the room either shook their heads or said no. "Well I am going to still tell you why I have been getting bigger than a buffalo, even though you have not been wondering why."

Barbara turned and looked at Daniel Sr. "It is not that I have been eating everything in sight, including the furniture. Well I have been doing that!" Everyone chuckled. "But I have an explanation why I have been eating the way I have been eating. I am not just eating for two, I am eating for three."

Daniel Sr.'s jaw fell to the ground. He could not believe his ears. Not only is he going to get another son or daughter, but he is going to get twins. Everyone got up, walked over to Barbara, and hugged her gently, congratulating her. They were very careful not to press up against her stomach.

When she sat back down next to Daniel, he gently pressed his hands against her stomach, still digesting the news she just delivered. He moved his hands from her stomach to her hands and held them tight trying to gather his thoughts. It is rare that he is caught off guard to the point that he could not speak, but that news did the job.

"I know this is a surprise for you!" Barbara spoke softly. "I found out that I was having twins a few months ago, but I did not know how to tell you the news. Having one child at our age is hard enough, and now two. I really hope you..."

"Sweetheart, I so happy that I am lost for words, truly I am! Yes, we are hitting our forties, but that doesn't make us old by a long shot. I believe in that old saying that you are as old as you feel and I feel like a teenager, even more so now with the news you just delivered." Daniel leaned over to kiss Barbara on the forehead. "We are going to be parents to twins and I am so happy that I want to announce it to the world."

"Hold on before you do that. Let us have the babies before you go off announcing it to the world. According to my doctor, she told me that having twins is no easy thing to do. The labor is going to be hard and more than likely, I might not make it to my due date. We need to be prepared for the worse and hope for the best."

Before Daniel could say a word about what Barbara just told him, Jonathan walked over to him. A few words were exchanged before Daniel got up and excused himself. He walked with Jonathan out of the sitting room to the front door where there were several packages sitting right outside of it.

"Sir the packages were just delivered. We checked them for any devices or anything that can harm you family before bring them up to the main house." Daniel Sr. kneeled down to the boxes and started to look through them. "According to the delivery guy these packages are for you sons, Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon."

"Did the delivery guy tell you who they were from?"

"Yes sir and that is why I got you first. The packages are from your ex-wife sir. I felt it was best that I informed you about these packages since there is nothing in there for Josh and Cesar." Jonathan felt out of place talking about this topic. "I figure you will know best what to do with them from this point."

"Well I think what is best is to call out Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon and let them decide what to do with these packages, what do you think?" Jonathan shook his head. "Okay watch the packages and keep Josh away from here. I will be right back with the boys as soon as I can get them away without anyone asking questions."

Daniel Sr. got up and walked back into the house. He found his two older boys together first. He called them over and asked them to go to the front door and stand there until he got there. Not asking any questions, they did as they were asked. As they walked to the front door, Daniel went looking for Brandon. He feared that he was with Josh and Cesar and would not be able to pull him away without raising any flags.

Luck would have it, as Daniel was heading towards the recording studio where he knew he would find Brandon and his other sons, Brandon walked out of the room. Daniel quickly walked up to him and asked him to follow him without giving him a reason. All the way to the front door, Brandon was worried that he was in trouble, but when he saw his older brothers standing there, his thoughts changed.

When they reached Daniel Jr. and Carlos, Daniel Sr. opened the door and waved his sons to follow him. They walked out and saw Jonathan guarding several boxes with wrapped gifts in them. None of the boys thought the gifts were theirs because they got everything they wanted earlier.

"Boys these gifts you see before you are from your mother. The reasons we are out here giving you the gifts is that firstly, they were just delivered. Secondly, she did not send a gift to Josh or Cesar. It didn't feel right to hand you guys your gifts from your mother when she didn't send one at least to Josh."

The boys looked down at the gifts in the box, but they didn't move an inch towards them. Brandon was the first to speak up. "Dad my mother is in the house right now helping out with preparing breakfast. She has already given me my gifts so I do not know who this woman is that sent these." Brandon kicked the box of gifts. "Please send mine back because I don't want anything from her."

Brandon turned and started to walk back in when Daniel Sr. stopped him. Before Daniel Sr. could say what was on his mind, Jr. spoke. "I echo what Brandon just said. Our mother has already given us our gifts and if the woman that gave us life wanted to try to mend things with us, this was not the right way. She either is going to have to acknowledge Josh as her son, or she is going to lose all of us for good."

"Yes I agree with Daniel and Brandon." Carlos looked at his brothers and dad. "This conversation never happened and these gifts never came. Josh can't find out that she pulled this stunt on him. It is going to hurt him way too much and I don't want to see our brother hurting because of the hatred our mother has for him."

The words were taken out of Daniel Sr.'s mouth. What Carlos just said was what he was going to say when he had the floor to speak. That is why he held Brandon back. Since all the boys agreed with what was said, Daniel Sr. did not keep them. He let them go back in and get back to what they were doing when he found them.

Daniel Sr. waited for the front door to shut before he spoke. Jonathan knew what he was going to be told and did not let Daniel speak. "Don't worry sir, I will take care of these items here and get them back to where they belong with a message." Jonathan leaned down, picked up the box and started to walk away when the governor stopped him.

"Jonathan make sure that the message is very clear to Martha, because I don't want any misunderstanding. She has to understand as clear as a bell what her kids said without any coaching from me on how she can get closer to them. There is no grey area here. She needs to accept all her kids, or she will lose them all."

Jonathan nodded his head and walked away as Daniel Sr. walked back into the house. As he made his way back to Barbara, Josh and Cesar were in the recording studio exchanging their gifts they bought each other. A couple of the gifts were private, but the majority of them weren't.

Josh had one final gift that was for the both of them, but was afraid of how Cesar is going to react when he gives him the gift. "This next gift is for the both of us, but before I give it to you, I need to ask you something." Cesar looked at Josh with a serious look. "You know Jacob and Joey from school?"

"Yes, I think everyone at school knows them after their break up."

Realizing that he might have used the wrong example for what he is trying to say, Josh started to back track. While stumbling over his words, Josh concluded that he did use the right example. Before those two broke up, they had what looked like a very good relationship to everyone that was looking in.

"Everyone knows that they broke up, but remember them before they did. They both wore something that showed everyone how much that they loved each other. A love that is rare and hard to come by. A love that I know you and I have for each other and that it will never end like Jacob and Joey's."

With shaky hands, Josh handed a small box to Cesar. "I have been saving half of my allowance all year to get this for us. When I went to the store to purchase them, I still did not have an enough, but Uncle Isaac loaned me the rest. He knows I am good for it since I am going to sell at least enough CD's to pay him back."

Josh laughed nervously as he stood there watching Cesar unwrap the box. "You are going to sell more than a few CD's to pay back Uncle Isaac." Stopping what he was doing, Cesar looked up at Josh. "You have a voice that the majority of the singers out there would kill to have, but don't. So don't say that you are only going to sell a few when you know better than that."

Cesar turned his attention back to the gift and finished unwrapping. He opened the box and found two identical men's bands shining back at him. Seeing that, he could not find the words that would convey what he was feeling at that moment. Since there was just silence, Josh started to think that he might have jumped the gun.

After a few minutes of silence, Cesar spoke. "I really don't know what to say but I love you and I will wear this with honor and love." Cesar pulled out one of the bands from the box and reached for Josh's hand. At first, Josh pulled back, but it dawned on him what Cesar was trying to do. Therefore, he let his boyfriend take his hand.

Slowly Cesar slipped on the promise ring on Josh's finger. "I love you with all my heart Josh and one day we will make this official. If Texas doesn't allow us, we will go where they do and make it official because I cannot see my life without you in it. You are everything to me and much, much more than that."

Josh took the other ring from the box as he grabbed a hold of Cesar's hand. "When we are old enough we will make this official with our family, loved ones and friends watching on. There is not a moment that goes by that you are not on my mind. I am stunned that I am passing all my classes because all I can think of is being with you. I love you with every ounce of my body. There is nothing or anyone in this world that will ever keep me from you as long as I am alive."

As the last words came out of Josh's mouth, he finished slipping on the ring. At the same time, they leaned in and kissed, not coming up for air for a long time. Both of them knew that the road ahead is going to be bumpy and a lot is going to be thrown at them to break them apart. However, as long as they have each other and never lose the love they have right now, nothing will separate them.

Back in the kitchen, Barbara tried to help with breakfast, but was getting more in the way than she was helping. Finally, she realized that she was not helping, so she joined her husband at the table. When she joined him, she could see that there was something bothering him and it wasn't work. He has a look for each problem, and the look he has on his face right now is a Martha problem.

"I do not think she is ever going to stop giving us problems while she is alive." Barbara whispered, trying not to alert Rose or Isaac. "Don't get me wrong honey, I don't wish any harm to come to Martha, but she is making your life a living hell. She knows that, and that is why she keeps doing it."

"You may not wish her wrong, but I do. I know this is wrong to say, but I am going to say it anyways. I hope the woman slips in the shower or falls down a flight of stairs and kills herself. She has been a plague on this family for far too long. The only good thing she has done in her life is give birth to four wonderful boys, but nothing else."

"Come on you don't mean what you are saying. I know she has been a thorn in your side since you two decided to separate, but not enough to wish death on her."

"You have this ability to see good in everyone, no matter what they have done. I use to have that, but after Martha, it is gone. She has shown me that all people have a bad side and if the right circumstances arise, they will go to that bad side." Daniel leaned in. "You will not believe the latest thing she has done."

Daniel told Barbara why Jonathan came over and asked to speak with him. She did not see anything wrong with her sending gifts, but that changed when her husband told her about Martha not sending a gift to Josh. That stunned her and she does not get stunned that often from anyone, but that changed. For the second time in this conversation, what Daniel Jr., Carlos, Brandon did stun her.

"I don't even know what to say about this except I am glad that the boys did what they did and sent the gifts back. You have done a great job teaching all the boys right from wrong, and what they should do whenever someone is being mistreated. That is why I know you are going to be a great father to our kids."

Daniel wanted to go down to the hospital and throw Martha out the window for the last stunt she just pulled, but Barbara settled him down. They talked a little more about what happened, but had to stop when the boys walked in for breakfast. Not another word was spoken on the subject, even when Daniel Sr. and Barbara were alone.

The rest of the day went by without any more hiccups, which made Daniel Sr. happy. Before breakfast was over, everyone noticed the rings on Josh and Cesar's fingers. At first, no one said a word, but leave it to Daniel Jr. to find a way to playfully joke about the rings. Once everyone looked at the rings up close and personal, the conversation moved off them and back to what they were going to do the rest of the day.

At one P.M., everyone was dressed and out the door to go and visit with soldiers at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, as they have done every year before this one. After spending most of the afternoon with the injured soldiers, the Lopez Family headed back to the house for Christmas dinner.

When everyone had their fill of dinner, they made their way to the theatre room and watched movies the rest of the evening as a family. By nine, Barbara called it a night, and Daniel joined her. A little after eleven, Rose and Isaac had enough and headed off to their beds. The boys did not call it a night until after one.

Meanwhile over at the Gomez's house, Patrick felt out of place being that this is the first Christmas not being with his parents. He would not trade what he has now for what he had last year, but it was just difficult for him. There have been many changes since he moved in with Bernice and Father Gomez, which none of them have been easy.

First, they are a very religious family. He knew that going in and they are not forcing him to do what he is not comfortable with, but he feels that since Father Gomez is feeding him, clothing him and putting a roof over his head, he should do what they do. That includes going to mass and prayer whenever they go, which is every day.

Even whenever Immanuel goes down to visit, Patrick does not show the feelings he has for his boyfriend. At those times, he feels like nothing has changed from his parent's house to this house. With his parents, he could never show his emotions or love he had for Frank or he would be hit. The only difference here, at least in his mind, he will never be hit.

After the final service, Father Gomez asked to speak with Patrick in private. Bernice has been on the other end of that voice and knows whatever Father Gomez has to talk with Patrick about it is serious. So she headed up to her room, not saying a word.

Patrick followed Father Gomez into his office and sat down when he was given permission. Father Gomez at first just looked at Patrick, trying to get a read on him, but was not able to. He has not been able to get a clear read on Patrick from day one, which has bothered him because he has always been able to do that no matter who it is.

"Patrick I know you see me as this old religious man that will never understand your life. In fact, I think you believe that I look down at your way of life because I am a priest. You can't be any further from the truth. There are many things in the bible that I believe we have misinterpreted because of our own hatred.

For example, I don't think being gay is a sin and let me tell you why. It is written in the bible that god has made all men in his liking. It doesn't say some of the men it says all men are created in his image. Since he created you, that means you are not living a life of sin and you are not going to go to hell.

The reason I am using that as an example is that you have not been happy living here with Bernice and me. You have not been happy from the moment you walked into the doors of this house. The reason I know that is that I can see it in your eyes. I can see it in your body language, no matter how hard you try to hide it.

On top of all that, you don't bring Immanuel down to visit much. When you do, you guys act like strangers with each other, which we all know is not true. You two love each other and would like to see if there is a future there for you guys. I don't want you living here being the reason you and Immanuel break up."

Everything that Father Gomez said hit Patrick hard. He thought he was successful on hiding the fact he felt so out of place here, but now he sees he was not hiding at all. Instead, everyone knew how he felt about living in a house that is full of love and trust. A home he thought was only in the movies.

"I am sorry about all this Father Gomez, truly I am. I do love living here with you and Bernice. It is a lot better than living with my parents. At least here, there is love and security. Where in my parent's house I was always afraid to go home because of what they might say or do to me. There was not a day that went by that I did not get some kind of abuse from them, either verbal of physical."

"Those issues and many more I am aware of that you went through at the hands of your parents, but you have to start to trust me and Bernice. This is not your parent's house and we will never do what they did. It was wrong and no one, no matter who the person is, deserves to go through what you went through in your own home.

Once again as I have said this is not that house. I want you to be yourself while you are under my roof. That includes being with Immanuel the way you guys are when you are not here. It is not your fault being who you are and you should not be ashamed of whom you love. You, Immanuel or anyone like you guys were not put on this earth to suffer and then when you leave this world you are going directly to hell. No sir I don't believe that and you shouldn't either."

Patrick did not expect to hear what he was hearing from a priest of all people. He always thought they were schooled by the bible, which means being gay, like he is, is wrong. No matter how many good deeds he does on this earth, he will go to hell when the time comes that he leaves this world. Now by what Father Gomez is saying, he has some hope for a chance to reach heaven when he passes on.

"Hearing those words being said by you, I do believe what you are saying and never doubted it for a minute." Patrick leaned forward. "I will keep everything you said to me here tonight in mind whenever Immanuel is around. From now on, I won't hide who I am, but at the same time, I will not do anything that will embarrass you. We both know the majority of the people out there don't think like you and they might react wrongly if they see Immanuel and me together. I don't want to do anything that might make you lose everything you worked so hard to achieve."

"Don't worry about that Patrick. Those that attend my church are the most open minded people out there. A few are not, but let's not worry about them. Just relax and be yourself whenever you are home because this is your home after all. No one in his or her own home should feel the way you have been feeling."

Patrick and Father Gomez talked about what they thought were the limits of what he and Immanuel could do around the grounds. Father hated laying down certain things they can do outside the walls of this house, but he didn't want either of the boys to get hurt. Those few that are in his church that are not open minded would do something stupid like hurt the boys because they don't like who they are.

The rest of the week flew by. Between playing their new game system and having their friends over, there was not a dull moment for the Lopez boys. When Sunday rolled around, Josh could not believe the first week of their Christmas break was already over. He prayed that the rest of the break didn't go by as quickly.

Tuesday, New Years Eve, Martha was getting herself out of bed when her attorney walked in. She knew by the look on his face that he does not have good news for her. Before allowing him to say a word, she rolled into the bathroom to clean up. Once she felt she was presentable, she rolled herself over to the table where her attorney was.

"I know whatever you came down here to tell me is not good news, so why don't you just lay on me without sugar coating it."

Martha's attorney pulled out several files from his briefcase. "I am afraid that we relished in a victory we did not have completely when we talked to your ex-husband. This man is determined to make sure you serve time in prison and he has the connections to get it done." The attorney opened the files and started pulling out papers and handing them over to Martha to look at.

"What you are looking at is arrest warrants that have been issued for you by the federal government. They have decided to go forward on prosecuting you with the original charges they charged you with the day you had your stroke. It seems they were told by the president himself to do this and they can't back off when they get those instructions."

"Bullshit it was not the president that gave the order, it was my ex. President Bush does not have the balls to do something like this, but man, my ex has the balls." Martha pushed away from the table. "You have to find a way to get this tossed out of court. Can't you go to the judge and tell him or her that these charges are being brought against me because of the influence of my ex-husband. If he was not who he was and knew who he knew, these charges would never have been brought back up."

"I am sorry, but no judge will throw the charges out on those grounds. Whoever the judge is going to be on this case will let it go forward with a stern warning to the attorney general's office that they had better have a case, which we both know they do. No Martha we have no other choice but to fight this out in court."

Martha turned her chair around and rolled back to the table. "That is not all Martha; your ex-husband got the state attorney general of Texas to file charges against you as well. We all thought it was weird that those charges were never filed, but here they are. He is trying everything in his power to make sure you see the inside of a jail cell for the rest of you natural born life.

I do not know what you did in the last month, but whatever you did really angered him. He is now coming at you with everything he has, not caring how it might look to the voters that put him in office. I told you Martha that we got away with a lot and all you had to do is play nice with your ex, but you couldn't do that."

"Oh no, you are not going to put all the blame on me; after all you are the one that enjoyed telling him over the phone he couldn't do anything. Right there and then is when he more than likely made up his mind to come after me. He was in Washington also, which means that is when he spoke with the president."

Martha looked down at the paperwork that her attorney handed her. "Can't we wage a war in the public? One thing all politicians, like the president and even my ex-husband do not want is negative things said about them, even more so now that the president is fighting to stay afloat on his reelection. If he sees that he is hurting his chances on being reelected by prosecuting me, he might drop the charges. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that he wants a second term in that office."

"There is no way we will ever win an all out media war, and that is what will happen if we go down that avenue. Not only the president's people will come after us, but the governor's people will as well. We have no leg to stand on because of what you did and where you did it. Too many families were touched by what you did that day.

No Martha the best way we can go about this is go to court and try to win there. First, I am going to take us into state court and get those charges thrown out. By your ex-husband, being where he is, and more than likely he gave the order; the judge will throw out the charges. Once that happens, it weakens the federal cases against you in the public eye because they will take a second look at what is going on.

That is when we milk it out in the media. Even though the proof is there, the public will pay more attention to us because of the state court throwing out the same charges the federal court is going after you on. Hopefully if everything works out right, the president will be in the middle of the general election where he cannot afford anything like this."

"Do you think he will then see that it is best that he orders the attorney general's office to drop the charges? Like you said, if things work out the way you hope, it will be right in the middle of the general election where he cannot afford anything that will hurt his chances on getting reelected."

"That is what I am banking on Martha, but for now let us take one step at a time. At the beginning of the year, you will go in front of two judges, one for the state and one for the federal government. They will set a bond after you plead not guilty to all the charges. The bond will not be high because they do not want the bad press locking up a person in a wheel chair that just had a stroke. On top of that, you have a monitor, so you are not going to go anywhere, anytime soon."

Martha's attorney walked her through how things are going to go after the first court appearance. She took a few notes, asked a few questions, but when it was all said and done, she understood what she had to do.

"One last thing Martha, stop pissing off your ex-husband. Leave your kids alone for now. There is going to be plenty of time after we win in court for you to deal with the situation of your kids. I will even represent you in court to at least get visitation rights. However, until then, do not call, do not write, do not send anyone or you go over to your kids. We can't afford to anger your husband any worse than he already is."

"I have not done anything that he could get angry with me about. In fact I have been more of a mother to my sons these last couple days than I have in years."

"Come on Martha I am aware of the stunt you pulled on Christmas." Martha's attorney pulled out a box from his bag that was wrapped in Christmas wrapping. "You sent gifts to your children for Christmas, and they were all returned except this one. Didn't you wonder where this gift was at?"

Staring at the box, Martha shook her head. "Anything that gets sent to the governor goes through so many checks before it gets handed to him or his family. One of the checks it goes through is x-ray. What do you think they saw in this box when they ran it through the x-ray?" Martha didn't say a word, she just kept looking at the box. "Fine I will tell you, shit, yes this box is full of shit.

You sent your son Joshua a Christmas gift that was literally shit. If the governor found out that you did that, he would have come down here and killed you, but the head of the house secretary held the gift back. These kinds of stunts can't happen while we are fighting to keep you out of jail. The people of this state already hate you, so don't give them any more reason to hate you even more."

"Um, will my ex-husband ever find out about that gift you have in your hand?"

"If he looks at the log in reports of the items that are rejected at the gate, yes he will find out. Jonathan, the head of the security at the house, told me he has to write a report about this and file it, so there is another way your ex-husband will find out about this. All we can hope for is that he is really busy with his job and spending time with his family that he doesn't look at the reports."

After sliding the gift over to Martha, her attorney gathered all the paperwork and put it back into his briefcase. "You need to be what you are not, an angel until we get through the court systems. Once I get you off all this, and I will succeed on that, you can send as much shit as you want to your son. It is your life after all you are screwing with."

"I promise I will stop this kind of stuff, not only for the time being, but for good." Martha pushed away from the table and rolled over to help her attorney gather his stuff. "I know I have not been an easy client to have. We both have seen what happens to those that have taken up my cause and I don't want that to happen to you."

"Oh don't worry about that, it won't happen to me. I'm not going to do anything that breaks the law or even stretches it to get you free. The way I am going to get that accomplished is by following the letter of the law without looking for a quick solution. As far as you being a hard client, that's true, but I knew that when I took you on. Just stop doing what you are doing and we will be fine."

Martha made it as clear as she could that she is not going to cause any more heartache for him. She rolled along side of her attorney as he walked to the elevator. They didn't discuss the case because of all the people around, but they did set up a meeting on the third of January to go over everything in detail again.

Once the elevator door closed, Martha turned her chair around and started back to her room. She noticed on her way several people that looked out of place. The way they were dressed, they didn't work at the hospital or were here to visit someone on the floor. The more she looked at them, the more they tried to hide, which confirmed to her they were here to spy on her.

She turned her chair towards one of them and rolled over. The guy tried to scramble, but Martha was able to block him in against the wall and her chair. "You tell my ex-husband this is low, even for him. He or anyone else for that matter will not spy on me. You make sure to tell him that when you go back and hand in your report."

"Ma'am I am not here by the request of the governor. I am here by the request of the courts. They want to make sure you don't try and hightail it out of town before you go in front of them and deal with the charges you are being charged with." The officer pulled out his badge and showed it to Martha. "There are five of us on the floor and will be until whatever happens in court."

"Okay, put your badge away please." Martha moved back to let the officer out of the corner. "I know no matter what I say, you guys are stuck here." The officer shook his head. "Well then I hope you like sitting in this cold hospital waiting room because none of you are going to be allowed in my room. So don't even get near it, or I will file charges against you and the city."

Martha didn't wait for the officer's response. She rolled back to her room and shut the door once she was in. She sat there near the door thinking on how everything fell apart in less than a day. Her life was looking good finally, but this had to happen. Her ex-husband had to call upon his friends to hurt her. Now there is a big chance that she is going to see the inside of a prison, and be there for a long time.

Meanwhile back at the Lopez house, they were getting ready to ring in the New Year together. Barbara was having a really bad day, which put a downer on events, but by mid afternoon, she was feeling almost like her normal shelf.

She has not been sleeping that much for weeks now, and it has finally caught up to her. On top of that, the little ones that she is carrying are getting very restless. They have been kicking and moving around a lot in the last couple of days, which is getting Barbara worried. They are not due for ten days, but they seem to want to come out now.

Daniel Sr. has been waiting on her hand and foot ever since Christmas. He doesn't want anything to happen to her or their children. No matter how hard he tried to keep her in bed, she refuses. She gets up and starts to help around the house and if anyone tries to stop her, they get a piece of her mind.

The grownups wrote it off as hormones from the pregnancy. Josh, Cesar, their brothers and friends just stayed away from her. They knew it was not her fault, but at the same time, they did not want to get her angry with them. All of Josh's and his brother's friends loved having her around. They have said many times that she is the coolest mom out of all the mothers, but for now that has changed. At least until she has the babies.

During dinner, the family discussed what they were going to do to ring in the New Year. They all agreed to meet up in the Theatre room where there will be drinks and snacks to enjoy as they ring in the New Year together. Before everyone got up, Daniel Sr. gave his kids permission to have a few friends over, but not their entire tribes.

For Josh that was difficult to decide because of all the friends he and Cesar have. No matter who he invites, the others would get hurt, which they don't not want to do. After talking it over with Cesar, they both agreed that it was best not to invite anyone. That way no one would get hurt, and they are not without friends they didn't invite.

When Josh saw Johnny walk in with his family, he got a little worried. There is no doubt that Johnny will tell the others that he rang in the New Year with him and Cesar. What he thought that he and Cesar avoided didn't happen. They are back to square one that some of his friends might feel less than the others because they were not invited down.

After saying hi to the Walker family, Josh ran up stairs to his room, with Cesar on his tail. Once the door was closed, they both started to talk. Cesar stopped and let Josh go first. Exactly what was on Josh mind was on his. Now all they have to do is find a way out this so none of their friends get mad with them.

"Why don't we call up everyone and invite them over. I am pretty sure due to the hour, most, if not all of them, will say no because they have other plans." Cesar spoke in a soothing voice as he sat in the chair. "I think maybe Chris might jump at it, but the others will say no. Bernice, Eric, Patrick and Immanuel will be together and celebrate with Father Gomez at the church. The others, well they are not as close as these four."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Before Josh or Cesar could ask who was there, it swung open and those they were talking about walked in, all except Chris that is. At first, Josh and Cesar were confused, but then it hit them. Their father did the invite to Father Gomez more than likely, and they of course were part of the invite.

"When were you guys going to call us and invite us to ring in the year here?" Bernice asked in a chipper voice as she sat down on the bed. If it wasn't for your dad inviting mine, we would be still be waiting by the phone still waiting for your call."

"That is what we were about to do." Josh looked over at Cesar with pleading eyes. "Right when you walked in, we were about to call Chris and then you guys." Josh did not feel good that he is lying to his friends. "Since you guys are here already that saves us time on the phone. The only one that is not here is the one we were going to call first."

Cesar picked up the phone and dialed Coach Montoya's house. He let it ring several minutes, but there was no answer. After the tenth or so ring, he hung up the receiver and joined the conversation. Josh broke away from the conversation ten minutes later and tried again, but there was no answer. Josh and Cesar took turns every ten minutes for forty minutes before giving up and headed down stairs to join the others.

As they reached the bottom stair, the doorbell rang. Josh went to answer it, but the security agent at the door stopped him. He waited a few feet away from the door while the security agent made whomever it was at the door wait to be let in. When they walked in, Josh breathed a sigh of relief. It was Chris and the Montoyas.

"We have been trying your house for over an hour now." Josh spoke in a worried voice, but settled down when his friend smiled back at him. "Forget it, you are here is all that matters." Josh looked over at the coach and his wife. "Welcome coach, it is good to see you, but we are not going to have swim practice in the pool tonight."

The little jab Josh gave his coach lightened up the room, making everyone laugh. "We will see about that Josh. By the looks of it, you have been pigging out in front of the television and not practicing at all." Coach Montoya tapped Josh's stomach, but there was no fat there. "I might be wrong, sorry!"

Once again, everyone laughed as they made their way to the theatre room. When they walked in, the coach and his wife were stunned on the size of the television on the wall, if it was a television. After picking up their jaws from the floor, they walked over to the governor and Barbara to say hello and then made their rounds around the room before settling down in a couple seats with wine in their hands.

The television was on a local channel that was going back and forth from the studio and to New York with Dick Clark. The coaches attention was pulled away from the TV by the way Barbara was looking. She did not look at all comfortable hosting this. In fact she looked like her legs were about to give out for underneath her.

He got up to see if he could help her, but as the coach was almost to her, Daniel Sr. helped her to a seat. Once she was sat down, he propped up her feet and took off the slippers she was wearing. He stayed there kneeled at her side, rubbing her swollen feet as he talked with those around him. Seeing that she was being taken care of. The coach went back and rejoined his wife.

"Did you think that the governor was going to keep her on her feet?" Mrs. Montoya leaned over and whispered into her husband's ear. "That is not the governor we know and I am glad he proved me right."

"I know you are right and I should have never suspected anything less than that from him. It was just I saw her standing there looking very uncomfortable and the governor was talking to the other people around them. I thought that maybe the governor was deep in conversation he did not see his wife almost collapsing."

"When we walked in and greeted the governor, I heard him ask Barbara if she wanted to go up to their room so she could relax. She said no, but the governor didn't leave it at that. When we got out wine, I heard him ask her if she wanted to take a seat and put her feet up, and once again, she said no. It looks to me like he didn't take no for an answer."

The coach smiled at his wife, leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips before turning his attention back to the television. When the studio handed over the show to Dick Clark, the Montoya's attention was pulled away from the television and down to the front where Barbara was sitting out.

There was a lot of commotion going on. The governor telling his brother to go out and alert the security they have to go and then he barked out a few orders to his kids and they left the room in a hurry. The Montoya's quickly made their way down to see what was going on. When they reached the governor and his wife, they saw it all.

The floor was wet and Barbara was breathing really hard, clutching the governor's arm. Not needing anything to be explained to them, they knew the new edition to the Lopez family is coming. They offered to help, but did not get a response from anyone. Therefore, they stepped out of the way to let those that are helping, help.

A few minutes after they stepped aside, EMT's walked in with a bed. They knew what was going on and started to instruct Barbara what to do as they got her up and onto the bed. Once they secured her, they rolled the bed out and down the hall, with everyone right behind it. When they reached the front door, Daniel Sr. turned and spoke for the first time to the Montoya's and Father Gomez.

"I am sorry for all this! I know this is not what you expected when you came down tonight, but it is happening and we need to go along with the flow." Daniel grabbed his coat and Barbara's. "Please do me a favor and help my brother and mother get the kids to the hospital. Barbara and I would like it if you all were there to celebrate the new arrival of our twins coming into the world."

When the governor said twins, it floored the Montoya's and Father Gomez. It took him asking again for them to come around and say yes. When they finally answered, the governor thanked them again and ran out the door to the ambulance.

Before the ambulance was able to start moving, the security had to make sure everything was in place. Several police cruisers drove up to the gate and waited for the ambulance and the rest of the convoy to exit. With sirens blazing, two cruisers were in front and the other two went to the rear.

The press corp that was camping out on the bottom of the street heard the sirens and saw the lights way before they reached them. They informed their stations what was going on as they set up to get whatever footage they could as the ambulance and police passed them. When the convoy of police cars, ambulance, limousine and regular cars got to the bottom of the hill and passed the press core, they went live.

The local studios asked their reporters on the ground if they knew what was going on, and all they got back is that they do not know. It took them a while to even think of Barbara. At first, they reported that it could be someone hurt in the governor's family and that is why they were rushing out in an ambulance with a police escort.

While the press was trying to figure out what was going on, Josh, Cesar and their brothers were in the limousine with their grandmother and uncle right behind the ambulance. The others were in their own vehicles following the limousine. When they got out of the residential area, they increased to a good speed, rushing down Mesa Street. Each time they got to a stop light, one of the police cruisers stopped and blocked traffic from all directions, even if the light was green for them.

It took less than ten minutes to reach Schuster, and less than five to reach the entrance to the ER. On their way to the hospital, Mr. Benedict called ahead and informed the ER that they were coming in and they needed to clear it out. At first, the ER nurse thought it was a joke, but when Benedict gave the code word, she knew it was for real.

Lucky for them, only a few were in the waiting room, and hardly any of the bays were in use, so there was not much for them to clear out. They quickly prepared the paper work for those in the ER waiting to be seen and sent them across to Columbia Hospital. Just as they cleared out the ER waiting area, the first cruisers arrived with their sirens blazing.

Several uniformed officers and the governor's security staff walked in to make sure that the procedures were followed. Seeing that the waiting room was empty, they quickly walked to the bays and saw they were still working on getting that cleared out. Knowing it was just a matter of minutes before the governor and his family were going to arrive, they went to plan B. It was taking the ER staff way too long to clear out the bays.

They walked out of the bays and into the hall area that was leading to the elevators, secured that area and one elevator. The governor's security staff and the officers split into teams. Half of them stayed down stairs making sure the area they secured stayed that way. While the other half went up stairs to the fourth floor, the maternity ward, and secured that area for the first lady of Texas to go right up.

Right when the ambulance along with the rest of the governor's family pulled up to the ER of Providence Hospital. The first team of security had executed plan B. Benedict was informed they switched to plan B, so when he got out of the ambulance with the governor and Barbara he instructed the EMT's to take her straight to the elevator and up to the fourth floor. Not questioning him, they did what they were told.

The EMT's followed the security agents through the ER entrance and over to the elevator where there were several uniformed officers standing holding the elevator open. As they made their way, the staff and patients looked on to see what was going on. When they saw the governor walking, and his son's right behind him, they were relieved. By what they were being told on the news, the governor was the one being rushed to the hospital, but instead it is his wife in labor.

The first elevator was only able to hold the EMT's, Barbara, the governor and the security staff. Daniel Sr. turned to Russ and instructed him to get his sons and family friends up to the fourth floor on the next elevator. As he finished talking, the elevator next to the one he was on, pinged and opened.

Not waiting for instructions from the governor, Russ and several other agents cleared the elevator and then filed everyone that came in. When they got to the fourth floor, the governor and Barbara were already rushed into the delivery room that was prepared for them. Russ looked around and found the waiting area, which had already been cleared out and secured for the first family and their friends. Therefore, Russ escorted everyone to the waiting area and asked them to wait there while he finds out what he can.

While Russ was securing the first family of Texas and their friends that came with them, the hospital went into lock down. Several reporters managed to get through before the hospital went into lock down, but they were quickly found and escorted out. Those that had no business in the hospital were also escorted out of the building. The family members and friends of patients in the hospital were instructed to stay in the room of the person they were there to visit. If they were caught in the hallway, they will be escorted out of the building. In addition, those that had not had the chance to get in before the lockdown began, were not allowed in.

The hospital staff was running a code that they were trained to run ever since the governor was elected in. Their hospital was the dedicated hospital for the governor and his family if anything went wrong, including childbirth. So they trained repeatedly for this situation, but never thought that they would be executing it this soon after the governor was elected.

On each floor of the hospital, the staff went room to room making sure the announcement over the intercom was being followed. When then nurse poked her head in Martha's room, she was stopped and asked several questions. At first, the nurse tried to pretend that she didn't hear Martha, but Martha yelled out to her even louder a second time. That left the nurse no other choice but to give the patient they all hated the time of day.

"I asked you what is going on out there." Martha said in an angry voice. "I do not like to be ignored by anyone, more so those that are supposed to be here to answer my questions that I have or get me whatever I need."

"Ma'am, yes we are here to answer your questions, but not personal questions. Only those questions that pertain to your health and what we are doing for you to get better. Anything beyond that, I or anyone else does not have to answer you." The nurse walked in and made sure there was no one else in the room.

"Since I know if I do not answer the question you are asking me, I will never get out of here. Therefore, I am going to go ahead and tell you what I know and then leave. If you have any questions after that, too bad, I don't have the answers to them. With that said, the governor and his wife and family are here. The first lady of Texas was rushed in here because she went into labor. That is all I know."

The nurse turned and walked out of the room. She has seen the look that Martha got when she told her the news before, and it is not a good look. It is the look that all the staff members know too well and stays away from her when she gets it. Now there is no way she is going to be caught in the path of her anger.

As she got to the end of the hall, the nurse started to hear yelling and things being thrown against the wall in Martha's room. Several staff members walked into the hallway, but when they realized that the noise was coming from Martha's room, they went back to what they were doing.

The noise and the yelling went on for almost fifteen minutes. When it stopped, the staff members didn't notice. They have gotten so used to blocking her out, they didn't even notice when she rolled passed their station with a gun tucked under her blouse.

There was no security or the undercover cops that are usually stationed there to keep an eye on her. Due to it being New Years, and the governor and his family coming into the hospital, all available police officers, and security guards were called down to secure the first floor and the fourth floor. Since there was no threat on the other floors, they pulled off all security from them and placed them in the areas where they needed them the most.

That made it easy for Martha to just roll on by, unnoticed. When she got to the elevator, she pushed the down arrow, a few seconds later the door opened and she rolled in. Figuring that her ex-husband and new wife came in unscheduled, they would be down in the ER, not on the maternity floor. Therefore, Martha pushed the G button and the elevator began to go down.

Not planning it, she landed on the elevators that were normally used to bring patients up and down. Rarely do visitors or patients use these elevators, but Martha was not thinking that when she got on. All she was thinking is there is no way that she is going to let the woman that has stolen her family away from her, to bring into this world a child that will insure that she has no chance of ever getting Daniel back.

When the elevator door opened, Martha rolled out to an empty hallway, which surprised her. She looked around to make sure she was on the right floor, and that is when she realized that she used the back elevators, not the main ones. After settling down, she rolled into the hallway and started her way down to the ER.

As she got closer to the lobby, she saw all the police and security. She stopped her chair and looked around to see if there was a way that she would be able to get through with her gun, but there was not. Everyone is being checked from head to toe, even kids and handicapped people like her.

Weighing her chances, Martha decided there was no way she was going to be able to get across and do what she wanted to do. Trying not to be noticed, she turned her wheelchair around slowly and started back towards the elevators that she came down in. Just when she thought she was in the clear, she heard a male voice yelling at her to stop.

Ignoring the orders for her to stop, Martha rolled up to the elevator and pressed the up arrow, but the elevator did not open. The thing that she did not know was that the officer who was asking her to stop was also radioing in to lock down the elevators where she was. In return, when she got to the elevators, they were out of service.

Getting a weird feeling about the woman in the wheelchair, the officer called for backup. Several officers answered the call and went running down to the back elevators with their guns drawn. Once the original officer had his back up, he ordered Martha to turn around and put the brakes on the wheels of her chair.

Martha lowered her head trying, trying to figure out a way out of this. No matter the choice she takes, her life is over in one way or another. If she does what the officer is asking her, they will find the gun on her, which means off to jail for the rest of her life. However, if she does not, and tries to shoot her way through, she might actually get through and do what she came down here to do.

Slowly she slipped her right hand under her blouse and grabbed the gun, while with her left hand she turned her chair around. As she was coming into view of the officers, they saw that her right hand and part of her arm was under her blouse.

"Ma'am stop right there and let us see both of your hands." The first officer that saw her ordered. "Ma'am please do not make us shoot you. We will if we feel you are a threat to us or anyone else in this hospital. Please stop whatever you are doing under your blouse, pull your right hand out and into the air until we search you."

Martha looked in the eyes of the officer that was giving her the orders and saw that he doesn't want to shoot her. After keeping eye contact with her for a few seconds, she turned her attention to the other officers. She saw in their eyes that they are itching to shoot her. They have their guns drawn and cocked ready to go.

Seeing there is no way out of the mess she has gotten herself into, she cocked her gun. The officers heard the gun being cocked, but gave her one more chance to surrender peacefully. As the first officer tried to talk her down, the others took positions for the worst and radioed in what was going on.

Before they could get orders on what to do, Martha pulled out her gun and fired it as she was bringing it down. Not giving her a chance to get a second shot off, the officers opened fire and hit her several times in the chest, knocking her and her chair over. The sound of gunfire got every officer and security agent's attention. Some of them stayed to hold back the public, while others went down to see what was going on.

When they arrived, they found a scene they never thought they would ever see in their life, a middle age woman on the floor bleeding out. To her left was a wheel chair and to her right was a handgun, near her forehead.

Not long after the officers arrived, several ER nurses and doctors came running up. They pushed their way through and went over to the body on the floor. Kneeling down, the doctor checked for a pulse. He found a weak one and ordered the nurses to do what they can to stop the bleeding until they get her into surgery.

Slowly and gently, they picked her up and put her on the bed. As they secured her head, they started to move her to the ER. Halfway down the hallway, Martha grabbed with all her strength the arm of the doctor. The doctor leaned in to tell her not to worry and not waste her strength, but Martha did not let him speak.

Barely able to get her breath, Martha forced herself to talk. "Can you please tell my kids that I love them? I have always loved them and would have done anything to keep them safe and happy." Martha started to cough up blood, but continued. "I know where I am going, and it is not good. Please also tell my son Josh that I am so sorry for how I was with him, I wish now I was different with him. Please tell them, pleaseeeeee..."

Martha's arm dropped and the alarms to the machines went off. The doctor stopped the bed and started to give Martha CPR. When he saw that was not working, he pulled out the paddles and yelled for everyone to stand clear. He shocked her once, but nothing, he shocked her twice, and nothing again.

"Don't you die ma'am, do not die on me. I will not let you destroy my record of no one dying on me this month while I am running the ER. Do not die on me!"

The doctor shocked Martha several more times, but it did nothing to bring her back. After reaching all his limits of shocking and drugs, the doctor had no other choice but to give up. He put down the paddles and looked over at the nurses.

"Time of death is zero two thirty six."

TO BE CONTINUED...

I have a home page for you to see what the characters look like or what the places look like. If you want to walk in their shoes, please go to: http://jacobmillertex.com/

WRITER'S CORNER:

{Wow, I mean wow what a chapter this one was. First, let me welcome you all back to another exciting chapter of "Shadow of My Father". I know this chapter was packed with a lot, but there is a lot going on in the lives of these characters, I had no other choice. I hope you were on your toes and did not forget things from this chapter because they will come up in the chapters to come.

As I promised many of you, I was going to stop using many cliffhangers. I had to keep writing in this chapter so there was not a cliffhanger, but if I was to have put one in the chapter, I would have left you guys wondering if Martha was going to get shot or not. Well I was nice and gave a conclusion to that plot before signing off, even though it made the chapter a couple more pages longer than normal.

Let us leave that for now and go back to the beginning of the chapter. Christmas is where the chapter picked up and what a Christmas it was. The boys enjoyed themselves and got what they wanted and more. It is good to see Barbara being accepted as part of the family as she is. In fact, the boys look at her more as their mother now than their real mother did.

To give you proof of that, just look at what they did with the gifts that Martha sent them for Christmas. Since she did not send one for Josh, Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon did not want their gifts from her. They asked their dad to send them back unopened and walked back into the house. This really shows the character of these three and the great job Daniel and yes Martha did bringing them up.

Even though many dislike Martha, she did do good bringing up the boys. The little things she taught them wrong, Daniel Sr. was able to fix it before Barbara became their mother. If they had another year with Martha, I don't think Daniel would have been able to do what he did on turning Daniel Jr. and Carlos around on their thinking towards Josh.

The visit between Martha and her attorney is now obsolete due to how the chapter ended. I know you guys are probably wondering if she would have gotten away with not serving time. The way her attorney sounded, it looked like it, but no one knows. That includes me since I am not going to write out that plot.

We got to see a little of Patrick and Father Gomez in this chapter. It has to be hard on Patrick to get used to a new house. I am glad how Father Gomez handled this talk and made it clear to Patrick he doesn't need to hide who he is. He needs to start being who he is, or he will become bitter. I think things at home for him are going to be a lot better.

The promise rings that were given in this chapter were a great Christmas gift from Josh to himself and Cesar. We saw the love we knew all along that they had for each other. These two are each other's strengths and will be there for each other for the rest of their lives. More so now that Martha is now out of the picture.

Talking about Martha, let us get back to the end of the chapter. I really hated writing her off because she was a good bad guy, but I listened to you the readers and agreed. She has used up all her nine lives and then some. It was time to write her off.

It looks like at the very end she realized how bad she was to all her children. She tried to apologize, but I do not think that is going to save her from going to hell. She did so much bad in her life and there is no way out of all that. There were many ways we discussed to kill her off, which included her falling to her death from her room, a pulmonary embolism and others, but I went with the shooting. At the end, she died the way she lived. No mercy and no remorse.

I could stay here all day long, with all the open plots already in this story, but I will not. I warn you though! Do not 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 jacob@jacobmillertex.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR'S CORNER:

Well folks it's finally happened, it looks like we are all going to be uncles to twins and the wicked bitch, witch is dead.

What a way to spend New Year's Eve, still let's hope it finishes up a very happy occasion with the birth of two lovely healthy babies. What will they be I wonder two girls, I don't think so because Jacob has a thing about the female species (don't most of us), So it's either going to be two boys or one of each. What do you think?

The boys finally got their rings, which bound them and their love even closer together and maybe sometime in the future they may be able to do it legally. My partner and I many years ago did the same and were lucky enough to have them blessed by a priest. After that, we felt well and truly married.

After talking to Father Gomez Patrick must be feeling more at home than he did, plus it will surely strengthen his relationship with Immanuel.

It was good to see the boys send the bitch witch presents back and quite frankly that little speech as she was dying didn't have any effect on me, all she was trying to do was make her peace with her maker and I it was too little too late.

Keep reading and of course letting us know how we are doing. I am trying to publish one of my stories every Wednesday and once again, I look forward to your comments. They have all been very kind so far; keep up the good work LOL.

trevor@jacobmillertex.com