Shadow of My Father

Shadow of My Father: Sophomore Year 7

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 author's written consent.}

Story Written by: J.P.G.

Love Scenes Written By: Trevor

Edited By: Trevor

Final Edit: Ed

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/

Chapter 7

The first couple of classes went about the same for everyone else as it did for Josh when he arrived. His fellow students looked at him, and whispered as he walked by. There was no doubt in his mind that they were talking about him and his mother. It took every ounce of power for him not to go off at them as he did Garratt earlier.

Meanwhile back at the principal's office, Principal Michaels did not talk with Garrett until his mother arrived. When she walked in, she acted as if she owned the school. Treating everyone as if they were there just for her and her son, this didn't make anyone happy. Several of them actually told her where to go, and not in pleasant words, before they went on with what they were doing.

When she walked into the principal's office and saw her son sitting there with a security guard at each of his sides, she got angry. She demanded that they leave, but they didn't budge. When she demanded it the third time, she yelled so loud, her voice echoed up and down the hallway. All the classrooms close to the principal's office heard her, but that did not budge the security guards at her son's side.

"Ma'am your son is a threat to the well being of the students in this school and we are required to make sure he does not hurt anyone. Therefore, we can't oblige you and leave your son alone without the principal saying so."

Mrs. Buchanan turned and walked over to the counter yelling. "I want to see the principal this minute. If he does not come out and speak with me, I will take my son out and he will then have to deal with my attorney. Trust me he does not want to deal with my attorney over me after what has happened in the past with this school and the court system." Mrs. Buchanan shot the principal's secretary's dirty looks.

Mrs. Buchanan refused to leave the counter, even after the secretaries asked her to take a seat. Just as they were about to call one of the school security guards over to have her escorted to the seats, Principal Michaels walked up. Before he was able to say a word, Garret's mom started yelling at him.

"I do not understand why you have my son here." Mrs. Buchanan walked up to the principal and got right into his face. "With what I understand all he did is say a few words to a kid here. It was the kid that started the confrontation and he should be the one here not my son and you know that."

"Ma'am, why don't we go to my office so we can discuss this in private?" Principal Michaels turned sideways and pointed towards his office. Mrs. Buchanan shot Principal Michaels a dirty look as she headed down the hallway. Before the principal followed her, he looked over to Garret and waved him over.

When they walked into the office, Garret sat next to his mother as the principal made his way around his desk. As he sat down, the principal opened up Garret's student file and started going through it. He has already read the file several times and the only reason he is pretending to read that file again is to irritate Garret's mother.

"This is not the first time that either your son or you have been in my office, but it will be the last time." Principal Michaels looked up from his desk. "Your son is the one that started the confrontation this morning and was the first one to take it to the physical level. I don't care who he started with, I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my school. So therefore I'm going to expel him and feel free to take this up to the next level."

"You bet your ass that I am going to take this up to the next level. The only reason my son is in your office today, and being expelled from school is because of the person he said a few unkind words to. Don't be sitting there behind your desk all high and mighty saying it doesn't matter who the kid was because we know that it is a lie. Once I go to school district and let them know about this, I will get my son back into school again."

"You might be right as far as you being able to go to school district and get your son back into school, but I am not going to make it easy. I will do everything in my power to make sure the school district does not over turn my decision to expel your son. He is a menace, a troublemaker and he doesn't listen to any of his instructors or my staff. I believe he gets that from home, and that is something you have got to fix."

The last couple of sentences that Principal Michaels said sent Mrs. Buchanan over the top. She started to yell even louder than she was yelling when she first entered the building, causing several school security guards to come running in. When she saw them come in, she settled down and sat back in her seat.

"I am sorry if the truth hurts, but someone had to tell you, your son has no respect for authority and does not listen. His teachers have had enough of his mouthing off, and troublemaking in their classrooms. Garret has one of the largest files of the students in this school, and it is mostly filled with nothing but write-ups from his teachers. When the school district gets his file and sees this. I don't believe they will overturn my decision.

If your son had shown any willingness to change for the better, I would have tried to work with him. Instead of expelling him, I would have sent him to detention for a week or something like that but he has an attitude as if the world owes him something. The world doesn't owe him anything and the sooner he finds that out, the better it will be for him." Principal Michaels got up from his desk and walked to his door.

"Son, I truly hope that you realize what I am saying is true, because I am scared. If you don't change the direction in which you are going, you are going to land up either in jail, or maybe even worse, dead. I don't want that for you or any of the students that I have the privilege to see grow up and become productive adults in society."

As Mrs. Buchanan walked past Principal Michaels, she had to have the last word. "This is not the end of it. My son will be back and he will be back by the end of the week. When that happens, be prepared to lose your job, because I am coming after you. No one talks to my son or me the way you just did, I mean no one."

Principal Michaels did not respond to her threats. He knew that she was angry, and needed someone to yell at and didn't mind being that someone. As he stood there watching them walk down the hallway. He could not help but hope that he got through to Garret because he truly fears that if Garrett doesn't change his ways. The words that he just spoke to him will become reality.

Meanwhile back in the classrooms, Josh was getting ready for lunch. His morning got a little bit better by third period, but not by much. He couldn't wait until they got bored at looking at him and talking about the death of his mother, which he knows is not going to happen anytime soon.

Tomorrow is her funeral, and more than likely it will be broadcasted all over the six o'clock and ten o'clock news. That will give all the students here at the school more to talk about when they return to school on Wednesday. More than likely the finger pointing and the gossiping will not stop for at least a couple weeks.

The moment the bell rang, Josh got up and was one of the first ones out the door, followed by Cesar. They didn't say a word to each other as they made their way to their locker to put away their books and then on to the cafeteria. Even as they stood in line waiting to be served, they didn't say a word to each other. They didn't speak until they got to their table, and even then, they stayed away from the big elephant at the table.

Josh picked up the conversation he was having with Chris in the morning and ignored the other conversations at the table. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, Josh became himself again. He got so into the conversation he was having he was able to block out every one and every other conversation around him.

When they headed outside, neither Josh nor the others paid attention to those that have nothing better to do than to gossip about the death of another. However, that was not the biggest surprise of the afternoon. It was when Josh all of a sudden stopped the conversation that was going on and did something he has not done in a very long time.

"You know what guys, there has been something weighing on my mind for a while now and I bet you that none of you will be able to figure it out." Josh looked into each of his friend's faces, and found that they all have the same look, confusion. "Come on you guys, you can figure out what's on my mind." Playfully Josh continued to egg them on, but after a few minutes of trying to get them to guess. He gave up.

"It has been a while since I've told you all a riddle." Almost all at once, everyone started to moan. "Come on you guys it's not that bad. If you can't get the riddle, I promise you I will not keep you guessing for days this time. I will give you the answer before lunch is over if none of you figures it out." Reluctantly, everyone agreed to Josh's terms, as they gathered around him.

"Okay, before I give you the riddle I am going to warn you that you need to be good with math or you won't get the riddle." Once again, everyone moaned almost at the same time. "Here we go, hope you are ready. When John was six years old, he hammered a nail into his favorite tree to mark his height. Ten years later, at age sixteen, John returned to see how much higher that nail was. He grew by five centimeters each year, how much higher would the nail be?"

Everyone started to do math's in their heads, including Josh's security detail. One by one, they gave their best guess, but they were all wrong. Eric and Patrick came up with the same answer and couldn't believe that they were wrong. They even pulled out a piece of paper and did the math to show Josh that he was wrong, but with even that, Josh claimed that they were wrong.

Patrick and Eric gave up trying to prove to Josh that they were right. As promised, a few minutes before the bell rang, Josh called everybody over. "Okay, since none of you guys figured it out. I am going to go ahead and give you the answer, but before I do that do any of you think you have the answer." No one spoke up, they just looked at Josh.

"The nail would be the same height since the trees grow at their tops." It was complete silence for a few seconds and then it broke out into laughter. Patrick and Eric was the last to join the laughter, but they did. They got the riddle and at the same time patted themselves on the back that they got the answer right, but not how the tree grows.

What was supposed to be a riddle, turned out to make everyone laugh. It was something they all needed to do in order to break the uneasiness that surrounded them. All morning long, they all have been feeling as if they were walking on eggshells around Josh. That has now all changed because they all realized that the new Josh from the beginning of the year has returned and that is the Josh that they all like and want to be around.

Looking down at his watch, Josh saw that they had less than a minute before the bell rang. He grabbed a hold of Cesar's hand and squeezed it grabbing his boyfriend's attention. With a big smile on his face, Cesar leaned in and kissed Josh on the lips, they did not hold the kiss that long because they didn't want any of the other students around them to start making noises and calling them names.

Just as they broke the kiss, the first warning bell went off. None of them wanted their lunch period to be over, but had no other choice. Reluctantly, they turned and followed the other students to the Main building. When they reached the stairs, they detoured to the left and went through the doors that only teachers and school personnel are allowed to use.

Slowly, they walked to their locker and gathered the books they needed for their afternoon classes. Once they had everything in their bags, Josh closed the locker and leaned against it. Cesar leaned forward and started to fiddle with Josh's collar. They did not say a word to each other, because there was no need. The looks on their faces and their body language spoke volumes.

When the minute warning bell rang, it brought Josh and Cesar out of their world and back to reality. They kissed each other before heading their separate directions. Just as Josh walked in to the old auditorium, the final bell rang. He made his way quickly to his seat and settled in, as Mr. Franklin and Mr. Edgar took roll.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back from your Christmas break. I really hope you guys enjoyed it and at the same time rested, because we are about to get really busy." Mr. Franklin said in a chipper voice. "Those of you that are returning from last year know that this is the time of year that the real competition begins.

Before I even get into that part, there are a couple of items that we left off to deal with when we returned from the holiday break. I gave you guys a homework assignment the last time we were here, and I hope you guys have some suggestions. We can no longer be running without a name for our club." Before Mr. Franklin could ask for his student's suggestions, they started throwing them out to him. It got to a point that neither Mr. Franklin nor Mr. Edgar could understand what was being said.

"Alright, I know you all are excited and want to give your two cents, but this is not the way. Neither of us can understand a word that you guys are saying. Therefore, this is what we are going to do. Instead of you guys verbally giving us your answers, you are going to write them down on a piece of paper. Then Mr. Edgar and I will gather your suggestions together to go through them. By tomorrow when you walk back into class we will have nailed it down to three names. At that point, you guys will vote on which one of the three you like. The one with the highest votes will be our new name."

Without needing to say another word all the students pulled out their notebooks and started to write down their suggestions. A couple at a time finished, handed in their papers and waited patiently for their fellow classmates to finish. Once everyone handed in their suggestions, Mr. Franklin got up from his desk and walked to the middle of the stage.

"Thank you guys for doing your assignments and I will make sure that when you come back to class tomorrow Mr. Edgar and I will have the list nailed it down to three. Now with that out of the way, we need to discuss the other item that was left unfinished." Looking over at Josh, Mr. Franklin continued.

"I know a lot happened during your Christmas break. First, let me say on behalf of Mr. Edgar, the entire class and I, congratulations. It has to be a totally different house with a new brother and sister." The auditorium broke out into applause and cheers from Josh's fellow classmates. "Getting a new life is the greatest gift anyone can get.

At the same time I know your family suffered a loss and please accept our condolences on the loss of your mother. Even though we only know of her on what we have seen in the news, but it can't be the complete picture of your mother. The reason I say that is because you are standing here, as perfect as a person can be at your age."

Josh was successfully able to hide his feelings that Mr. Franklin was pulling out of him. He did not want his fellow classmates to see him anything else but strong. If he were to fall apart, the others in the class would not let him forget it.

"Let us move on now to the other subject at hand. Now the reason I said what I said is because if you give a negative answer to the question that I am about to ask Josh, I will understand. Things happen in our lives that are beyond our control and detour us from what we were trying to do. Did you get a chance to speak with Mr. Strait?" Josh shook his head in the positive. "Good to hear that Josh, can you tell us what transpired in that conversation between you and Mr. Strait."

Josh stood up and turned around so where he could be looking at all of his classmates. "I called up George a couple days before Christmas and let him know how excited we are on his offer. He was happy to hear the news and said that he was going to get his people working on the specifics of the concert. Once he gets all the details, he is going to give me a call and then I will inform you all on what he had to say."

"Did he say by any chance when he wants to do the concert?" Mr. Edgar asked as he stood up and walked over to Mr. Franklin in the middle of the stage.

"His major concern Mr. Edgar was making sure that the concert did not interfere with our competition schedule or his tour schedule. I told him that we do not have any competition dates for the first couple weeks of January. He then compared that to his schedule and told me that he had nothing as well scheduled for the month of January. Therefore, it looks like we are going to have the concert within the next couple weeks."

"If you are sure of that, why didn't Mr. Strait confirm a date with you? After all, he has to be busy getting ready for his tour as we are getting ready for our competition the last week of January. Neither he nor us can afford to lose any time."

"Mr. Edgar, I am pretty sure he is aware of every concern you are about to bring up. I did not want to press him for a day because he is offering to do this concert with us out of the goodness of his heart. If we start to demand answers and certain things from him, he might pull out and we are left with nothing. Is that what you want?"

Mr. Franklin did not allow Mr. Edgar to answer. "Of course not Josh that is not what we want. He has a lot more to put together than us and we are aware of that. Whenever he gives you a call and gives you the information, let us know as soon as you can after that. For the meantime we will prepare for the concert and our first performance of the new year." Mr. Franklin turned and walked over to his desk, followed by Mr. Edgar.

When he returned to the middle of the stage, he asked the class to get up and meet him there. As they walked onto the stage, he handed them several sheets of music. When Josh got his copies and saw that it was his songs, he still couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that Mr. Franklin chose his songs over so many other songs out there that are well known and could win them their competitions easily.

"Okay now we have a lot of work to do to get the dance moves down right. The first song is going to be used as the solo, but the second and third songs are going to be sung by the entire club. That means not only do you guys have to learn where you're supposed to come in at, but at the same time learn the new routines that go with these songs."

"Excuse me Mr. Franklin; I have a quick question for you." Everyone looked over at Sharon and knew this was not going to be good. "I was hoping that you had a chance to rethink your decision about the solo position over the holiday break. At least let the class hear both of us sing and then let them make the decision who should be our soloists."

"Sharon we are not going to go through this once again. The decision has been made and our soloist is Josh. You are going to be his backup and if you are not happy with that, you can step aside. There is no time for your hijacks right now because there is just way too much work that needs to be done in such a short period of time."

"I had a chance to speak with Mr. Edgar before school this morning and he told me that you guys decided to let the class decide who should be our soloists. Has that changed since I have spoken with Mr. Edgar this morning?"

Mr. Franken looked over at his fellow instructor for answers, but did not get any. "I do not know what was said between you and Mr. Edgar, but whatever it was; it was not discussed with me. As I stated before the Christmas break the decision of our soloists has been made and will not be changed. Once again this is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship. Mr. Edgar and I are the only ones that are going to be making decisions on what position each person is going to have in this club. Not you or the entirety of the class as a whole will ever vote on who gets what. That is my job and I will never, ever hand that over to the students I am supposed to be teaching."

Sharon stood there with the eyes of the entire class on her. She thought after the discussion she had with Mr. Edgar earlier in the day, she had a chance at the solo position. At no time did she think that Mr. Edgar spoke without discussing the topic with his fellow teacher. With the information he provided her, she felt she was in the right to bring up what she thought was being forgotten.

"I do not know how much clearer I can be on who is the one making the calls in this class." Mr. Franklin looked glanced at his students. "Mr. Edgar and I are your instructors and you are all the students. That means we make all decisions and if you're not happy with any of the decisions that are made, you can leave the club. The next person that questions my authority or Mr. Edgar's will not get the opportunity to apologize and take it back. I will send you to your counselor's office to have him or her move you out of this class. Have I made myself crystal clear on this issue?"

All at once, the students answered yes and there was nothing more say on the topic. Mr. Franklin dropped it and moved on to what he was about to do before Sharon interrupted him. The rest of the class, Josh and his fellow classmates went through the dance moves and who was going to sing what verse in each of his songs.

About five minutes till the bell, Mr. Franklin let the students go back to their seats and talk among themselves. Josh was talking with two other guys in the club when Sharon walked up and asked to speak with him. He looked at the guys that he was talking to with a look of confusion, mixed with a little bit of fear and surprise.

He walked to the left aisle of the auditorium with Sharon and waited for her to begin. "I know no matter what I say, you will not believe me because of your past experiences with girls at this school." Josh looked into Sharon's eyes trying to figure where she is going with this. "What I am saying should not be a surprise to you. Everyone knows what transpired between you and Elizabeth. I am not that kind of girl, and I want you to know that I am not a person that you've got to be watching."

"Sharon I really don't know you, but I do pride myself in my ability on reading people and you are not a bad person. I believe you have been put into bad positions, but again you're not a bad person. Therefore, there was no need for you to let me know that you are no Elizabeth. After what happened between me and her, I am making sure to never land up in that position again."

"Everything I heard about you Josh I can see now is true." Sharon looked over to Mr. Edgar and then back over to Josh. "You have to know that I was not lying to Mr. Franklin at the beginning of the class. I ran into Mr. Edgar this morning on my way to my locker and he told me that during class today that you and I were going to compete for the soloist position. If he would not have told me that, I would not have ever brought it up.

I do agree that you are a better singer than me and I am more than honored to be your backup. Just do me a favor and never get sick because I know that I can never fill your shoes. You're just so much a better singer and the proof is in the pudding as they say."

Josh had no idea what Sharon meant when she said the proof was in the pudding, but before he was able to ask, the bell rang. He thanked her as he headed back to his seat to grab his book bag. On his way out of the old auditorium, Mr. Edgar asked to speak with him, but Josh pretended that he didn't hear him and continued on his way.

The last two classes of the day went exactly as the first four. When the final bell rang, Josh was relieved, but at the same time worried. By the time he and his brothers got home, his grandparents from his mother's side will be at their house. If they are anything like his mother, the next couple of days are going to be hell on earth for him.

Cesar knew that Josh was going to be worried about his grandparents coming in, so he invited Eric and Bernice to join him and Chris at the house. By asking Josh's closest friends to be there, he hopes that it would relieve some of the stress. At the same time his grandparents might not do or say anything ugly in front of Josh while his friends are with him at the house.

He knows that this is just a temporary fix because eventually Eric and the others were going to have to go home. However, when that happens everyone should be already heading to bed, or pretty close to it. If worse comes to worse and Josh's grandparents make a point to stay up till after everyone goes home in order to say something to him, Cesar is prepared to shut them down at any cost.

At the same time while Cesar was doing everything he could to make the next couple of days easy on Josh, Daniel Sr. was doing the same thing. He went to pick up his former mother-in-law and father-in-law at the airport, but had no plans on bringing them to the house. Instead, he rented a room at the Holiday Inn for them to stay. There was no way he was about to let them into his home to belittle Josh, Barbara or anyone else for that matter. In his mind, they are no longer part of his immediate family.

When he arrived at the airport, all his plans were shot to hell. He found that not only Martha's parents had flown in, but most of her family did as well. As he walked up to them, they shot him the dirtiest looks he has ever gotten in his life and that is saying a lot. Ignoring the looks, Daniel put on a smile as he welcomed them back to El Paso.

"I know you do not have a problem with my family wanting to attend my daughter's funeral!" Martha's father said with anger in his voice. "Sir, I have no problem with anyone that wants to attend Martha's funeral. She's being laid to rest tomorrow and those who want to pay their last respects should be there."

Daniel looked around at all those that came. "Now you know that I do not have enough room in my house to put you all up."

"Why not, we are family and family puts each other up when they come into town. This bit that you do not have enough room, we both know it's a lie. According to my daughter you built yourself a pretty big house that has more than enough room for all of us. So let us stop playing these games and just go home."

"Fine I agree with you, let's stop playing these games." Standing toe to toe with his former father-in law, Daniel refused to give up any ground. "I don't want you or anyone for that matter from this family at my new house. You don't just come into town and invite yourselves into my home on the pretense that we are family, because we are not.

If what I am saying is bothering you, too bad, I don't care. While we are in public burying Martha, we will be courteous to each other out of respect to those who shouldn't be caught in the middle of our family drama. Beyond the funeral and the other events of tomorrow dealing with the funeral, there's no need for us to even be in the same room together."

Daniel looked down at the suitcases on the floor. "Grab your stuff and follow me to the car-rental office. There I will rent you a vehicle that fits all of you and you will follow me to the old house where you will be staying. Do not attempt to come near the new house because you will be stopped at the gates and asked to leave the premises."

Martha's parents and much of her family stood there stunned on the way Daniel is talking to them. There is no way they're going to allow him to set the ground rules. Before they leave, they plan to gain back control. If everything goes the way they had planned on their flight up, they will be taking back three additions to their family.

While Daniel was dealing with Martha's family, Barbara got a surprise of her own. Jonathan was dealing with the preparation of the funeral, so he was not at the front gates when the packages arrived. The security agents that were there followed procedure and once the packages were cleared, they took them to the main house unaware that these packages were already sent back close to two weeks ago.

When they were handed to Barbara, she knew exactly what they were, Martha's Christmas presents to Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon. It was them that sent the packages back, and that is why Barbara was surprised to see them being redelivered. She grabbed the packages, took them up to a room and put them away in the closet. Before leaving, she took a good look at the wrapping that Martha used.

As she headed back downstairs, she popped in to the nursery to check on the twins. After making sure they were okay, she continued her way to the kitchen. When she got there, she found the person she was looking for, her mother-in-law.

"Rose I need to ask you for a big favor." Rose stopped what she was doing at the stove as she turned around to give Barbara her complete attention. "I need to step out for an hour or so, but I can't take the twins. I was wondering if you could watch them for me while I run an errand really quickly to the store."

"Of course I will watch the twins while you make a run to the store." Rose walked over to the refrigerator and pulled a paper off the tablet. "If you can do me a favor why you are out, and pick up these couple things for dinner tonight." Rose handed Barbara the list of three items that she needed to finish off their dinner.

Barbara took the list and headed out the door. Her first stop was Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of items Josh wanted for Christmas, but didn't get. When she got those items, she headed to the dollar store to try and find the wrapping Martha used. She knew that was probably the place where the wrapping was purchased because it wasn't Christmas wrapping. It was generic and the only place she has seen that kind generic wrapping is at the dollar store.

Immediately Barbara found the wrapping that Martha used for the gifts she bought her kids. Grabbing a couple packages of the wrapping and some to and from labels, she headed to the cash registers and paid for them. As soon as she got back into the limousine, she picked up the car phone and called the security gate.

She could not get off of her mind the thought that Martha might have actually bought the gifts at the dollar store as well. It would not be fair, she thought, if the gifts that Martha purchased were no more than a couple dollars and she spent a lot more than that on the gifts she bought for Josh. At the end of the day she wanted it to be as fair as possible to all of her sons.

When the security agent answered the phone, Barbara asked if he was able to tell exactly what was in the packages. "No ma'am, I can't tell you exactly what was in the packages. The x-ray machine that we put all packages through doesn't give us a 3-D picture of the items in the packages. It only lets us see if the package is a threat to the Governor or his family. Sorry that I couldn't be any more help on this matter."

"Believe it or not you were a lot of help to me." Barbara thanked the security agent before hanging up with him. She instructed the driver to go back to Wal-Mart so she can pick up a couple more items before heading to Albertsons. By the time she got home, the boys were already back from school. Before unloading the car, she made sure that none of the boys were downstairs to see what she is bringing in.

When Rose saw Barbara acting suspicious, she followed her out to the car. "What's going on Barbara?" Rose asked in a loud voice, scaring Barbara. "You are acting really weird and I am assuming it's because of Martha's family coming into town today. You have to know there is nothing for you to be worried about when it comes to them."

"Thank you for your concern, but that is not what is causing me to act weird like you say. It does involve Martha, but not her family." Barbara waved Rose over to the car. "I'm sure Daniel told you about what Martha did at Christmas." Rose shook her head as she looked down into the trunk. "Well somehow her gifts got redelivered and I do not want to put the boys in a position again to send them back.

Therefore, I went to the store and purchased a couple gifts for Josh that will be wrapped and tagged as if they came from his mother. But when I went to go pick up the wrapping to match the wrapping that she used, I ran into a problem. I found the wrapping at the dollar store and I started to think that maybe she bought the gifts there as well. You know Martha and lot better than I do. Do you think that she would do something like that?"

"There is no doubt in my mind that she would do something like that. If you found the wrapping at the dollar store, more than likely she bought the gifts there as well." Rose looked over at the windows to make sure none of the boys were looking out. "At the same time we can't forget that she was in the hospital and there was no way she would've been the one that purchased the gifts."

"She might not have been the one to purchase the gifts, but she was the one that instructed the person where to go. If the wrapping was purchased at the dollar store, there is no doubt the gifts were purchased there as well. People like to save on time and pick up everything they need all in one place."

"That's no lie, because I do the same thing. Since we agree on where the gifts were more than likely purchased, did you come up with a solution?"

Barbara shook her head as she opened up several Wal-Mart bags to show Rose what she had purchased. "Okay this is what we are going to do to make sure that the boys do not get a hint of what we're doing. You are going to unload the bags and take them straight into Daniel's office. While you are doing that, I will make sure that none of the boys will go downstairs. Once you get them all in the office, come up and get me. That way we both can work on getting the gifts wrapped as quickly as possible."

Once again Barbara shook her head in agreement as Rose made her way back inside. A few minutes after she walked in, Barbara followed with all the bags containing the gifts she had purchased. When she got them into Daniel's private office, she went back to the car and unloaded the other items she got for dinner.

After she completely unloaded the car, she went up stairs and found her mother-in-law in the nursery with the twins. They had woken up and wanted to be fed. Rose had already gotten the bottles of Barbara's expressed breast milk, from a little refrigerator in the room that Barbara prepared and started to feed the twins. Barbara walked over and took Abraham from Rose.

They did not leave the nursery until the babies were fed, burped and changed. Once they got all that done, they carry the twins downstairs and place them on the floor next to them with their toys. As the twins play with their toys, Barbara and Rose wrapped the gifts. When they were done, Barbara went upstairs and grabbed the box that contained the gifts that she put in her closet and took them back downstairs.

It did not take them long to take off the labels from Martha's gifts and put them on the new ones. For Josh's gifts Rose wrote them out, trying to get as close to Martha's hand writing as possible. Once they got all the labels on the gifts, they placed them in the box and hid the ones that Martha sent.

As Barbara and Rose cleaned up the office, Josh, Cesar, Eric, Bernie and Chris walked past unaware of what was going on in there. They were concentrating on getting to the pool to get in at least thirty minutes of swimming time before dinner. Practice was not on their mind it was just cooling down and having fun is all they wanted to do.

Just as they all dived into the pool, Patrick and Immanuel arrived in their swimming trunks ready to have some fun. They joined the others in the pool and before they knew it, they were playing chicken fights. When there was only one team standing, they all headed back in to get changed for dinner.

When they made it back downstairs, Daniel was walking in. Josh could tell by the expression on his father's face that he was not happy. He knew who made him unhappy, but he did not know exactly how they did it. More than likely the conversation that got his father angry involved his name throughout the conversation.

Daniel looked over at his son and saw that Josh looked worried. "It looks like you boys just came from the pool." Daniel walked up to Josh and started to mess up his hair. "You need to get an appointment with a barber as soon as possible. Your hair is getting a little too long for my taste." Daniel chuckled as he continued to mess up his son's hair.

Josh wiggled away from his father and started to pretend to box with him. They threw play jabs at each other as they made their way to the dining room. Cesar and their friends looked on in awe as they playfully boxed each other. Not one of their jabs hit the other, which made it more fun to play because they wanted to see if one of them would accidentally connect with one another's punches.

It never happened. When they walked into the dinning room, Rose bonked her son over his head with a spoon playfully. That got Daniel and Josh to call a truce so they could sit down and have dinner. Nothing was spoken about Martha's parents and family that came in during dinner. Daniel informed the family of who came, but moved on to another subject. No one at the table minded, in fact they were glad that he did that.

As soon as the boys and Bernice finished eating and left the table, Barbara and Rose told Daniel what they did while he was gone. When he heard that the gifts were delivered again after his sons sent them back, made him angry, but Barbara settled him down before he flew off the handle.

"I understand why you did what you did honey, but the boys made the decision on their own, with no arm twisting at all, to send the gifts back to their mother. It is not your fault or mine that they were redelivered, but that did not mean they had to be given to the boys. We could have simply tossed them into the garbage because again the boys chose not to take them. They were not expecting them now that their mother is gone."

"I know all that, but they should never have to make that decision. Neither you nor I are to blame for putting them in that position, but they should have never had to do it. Martha was being true to herself to the very moment she left this world. Let us try and give the boys a last memory of their mother as a caring woman that loved them very much. You know that deep down even with all that hate, she did love all her kids very much."

"Yes I know that and her last words sort of said that, if you were to believe that she was saying what she was saying because she meant it. Not because she was seeing the light and knew she was leaving this world. The woman she had become I believe she said what she said because of seeing the light, not because she really meant it."

"I agree with you son, but Barbara is not thinking about that. She wants what is best for your sons, as well as I know you do. If telling them a white lie to make them believe that their mother was truly thinking about them, what is the harm? Your kids get to have the last memory of their mother as what she once was, and we get to see them happy."

"Fine, but let's not lie to ourselves here. With what you told me about the wrapping and your thoughts, I think you are right. Since we are not going to ever give the boys their real gifts, let's go and see what she bought them for Christmas. I do not know about you guys, I will always wonder what was under the wrapping paper."

Neither Barbara nor Rose objected to seeing what Martha bought. They got up from the table and walked over to Daniel's office. Before leaving the dining room, Daniel grabbed Victoria and Barbara picked up Abraham. They put them down on the carpet in the middle of the office to play, as they unwrapped the gifts.

Just as Barbara suspected, the gifts were bought at the dollar store. Putting all the gifts together, the most Martha spent on her three sons was around thirty dollars. When they came up with that number, Daniel and Barbara said at the same time it was the thought that counted, not the amount that she spent and then put the gifts away.

Later that evening, before the boys headed to bed, Daniel called them downstairs. When they walked into the sitting room where he and Barbara were at, they could not help but worry that the conversation they are about to have was not going to be a good one. Then Daniel Jr. saw the box of gifts, and tapped Carlos on his arm. He looked over where Daniel Jr. was looking and they knew what the conversation was going to be about.

"Boys this box was delivered this afternoon from your mother's friend. It contains the gifts she bought for you guys for Christmas. Do not ask me why they were not delivered until now, because I don't have the answer. Just be thankful they were delivered and you guys get to unwrap gifts that your mother had purchased for you on the eve of her funeral. The final thing she did in her life for you guys was something nice."

No one moved and inch, they just stared at the box of gifts. Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon all knew that there was nothing in that box for Josh and they would not feel right to accept the gifts because of that. Then when their father started to hand them the gifts, and they saw that he handed Josh a couple, they were stunned. They looked over at their father for answers, but all they got was a wink, which they understood what it meant and started to unwrap their presents.

When they saw what the gifts were, they knew the gifts did not come from their mother. For one thing they are items that she would never have bought them. Her thought on gifts was clothes or something boring like that, nothing that they can actually have fun with. And secondly, the gifts were things that they told their father and Barbara they wanted, but never got. There is no way their mother would have known about their wishes.

Daniel Jr. walked over to his father and hugged him. "Thank you for the gifts, but you know you didn't have to go out and buy these gifts. You and mom gave us plenty for Christmas." He whispered to his father.

"I was not the one that bought the gifts for you guys, you mother did." Daniel Jr. broke the hug and looked at his father, confused. He knew that he was lying, but could not figure out why, until he saw his father's hands. He was pointing to Barbara, which explained it all. Daniel Jr. turned around and walked over to her and hugged her like he did his father, thanking her for the gifts.

He was followed by Carlos, Josh and Brandon. They as well figured out that the gifts did not come from their mother and knew they could have only come from Daniel and Barbara. After cleaning up the wrapping paper, Daniel Sr. asked Josh to send Cesar down for a few minutes so he could talk with him.

Not questioning his father, he did what he was asked. A few minutes later, Cesar walked into the sitting room and sat down across from his father. Daniel Sr. and Barbara both could tell that Cesar was worried, and wanted to put his worries to rest quickly.

"I know a lot has happened in the last week and we have not talked with you about any of it. I want you to rest assure that you have not been forgotten. The same amount of money that was left for each of my sons, Barbara and I have put in a trust for you. You may not have been Martha's son, but you are ours." Cesar fought back his tears, but was not doing a very good job at it. "In this house everyone is treated equal, not matter what it is.

So when you turn twenty-one, no matter if you are still with my son or not, you will have a trust to access. On top of that, you never have to worry about college, because we are going to take care of that as well for you. That doesn't mean that you can slack off at school and get pure D's. If you do that, you are going to see a side of us that you don't want to see. Again you are my son and you will be held to the same standards and requests I have for all my kids." That did it for Cesar, he started to cry.

Barbara got up from the couch and walked over to Cesar. She pulled him in and held him tight. Through the sobs, Cesar kept saying over and over thank you and how much he loved them. Barbara reassured him that they knew that and they loved him. It took a while, but Cesar was able to stop crying.

"Cesar I didn't say what I said to make you feel bad. I said it because I wanted you to know without any misunderstanding where we sit. You are our son and nothing will ever change that." Daniel got up and sat next to Cesar pulling out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to him. "Josh and your brothers got a couple of gifts from their mother tonight, and this is from your mother to you. Go out and buy yourself something nice, don't spend this money on Josh or I will have your hide."

Cesar laughed as he looked down at the envelope that was handed to him. "Thanks for everything you have done for me. Not only have you given me a place to live, but love to go with it. You are my parents, and I don't care what anyone says to the contrary. Even if my real family appears tomorrow, they won't change what is true, they are not my family and you guys are."

"If your real family appears tomorrow, they better be prepared for a battle because they will not take my son away from me." Daniel brushed his hand through Cesar hair playfully. "Now you wipe your face and get out of here and join my son in your guy's room." Cesar got up and started to walk out of the room, when he heard his dad. "You two better not keep us awake this evening with your bed post hitting the wall all night long. Get some sleep because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Cesar turned around, turning all shades of red, but with a smile on his face. He bid his parents good night and told them once again that he loved them before heading up stairs. When he got into his and Josh's room, he showed Josh what their parents had given him, before putting the card and money in his sock draw.

They took their clothes off, all the way to their underwear, and jumped into bed. Once settled in, they cuddled with each other as they talked about how their first day back to school was. Eventually the talk moved to the conversations that neither of them were part of. After recounting their conversation in the sitting room, the room got quiet.

"I agree with dad when he told you to spend the money he and mother gave you on yourself. You better not spend one red cent on me, like you normally do. Go out and buy yourself something you really want, but had no money to do so. It is just fair because of the extra Christmas gifts we got this evening from them."

Cesar looked over at Josh with a look that Josh had never seen before. "You know as well as I do the things you got, we are going to share. Put that aside, the biggest gift I ever want is you happy. Whenever I make you happy that makes me the happiest person in the world. I don't need physical things to do as long as I have you at my side."

Josh jumped on top of Cesar's chest and started to tickle him. Cesar struggled to get away from Josh, but couldn't. He was laughing too much and couldn't muster enough strength to push Josh off. No matter how much kicking and moving back and forth on the bed Cesar did, Josh was able to stay on top and continued tickling him.

When Josh got tired and saw that Cesar's face was losing color from all the laughing he was doing, he got off and lay beside him. It took a little while for Cesar to catch his breath, but once he did, he returned the favor. He jumped on top of Josh and started to tickle him. The only problem there was that Josh was a lot more ticklish.

After ten minutes of torture from Cesar's hands, he stopped ticking Josh and crawled off of him. Josh lay there on the bed, breathing hard, trying to catch his breath. It took him a little longer than Cesar to do so, but once he did, Cesar was prepared for pay back. When Josh wrapped his arms around him and pulled Cesar into him, it surprised Cesar.

"You know I love you with every ounce in my body right?" Josh whispered into Cesar's ear. "I need you to keep that in mind when you meet my mother's family." Cesar asked why, which surprised Josh. "Think about my mother and then think about how she got the way she got. Then look at my grandparents and know that is where she got it. Knowing that, times the hatred and dislike of us a hundred fold and that is my grandparents.

They are going to give us hell tomorrow and we need to be prepared for that. When they do, the best thing we can do is let it slide off of our backs. Do not let them get under our skin, because that is what they want to happen." Josh leaned in and kissed Cesar up and down the back of his neck. "These words are really more for me than you since I am the one that lets things get to me quickly. Please make sure that does not happen tomorrow."

"That is what I am here for; to make sure you are not hurt in any way, emotionally or physically. If they succeed in what you fear, I will have your back. However, if they over step, I am going to say something. No one, I do not care who it is, says anything that hurts the love of my life, no one."

Cesar turned his head and looked straight into Josh's eyes. His eye twinkled with the light of the room shining down on them, which got Josh hard instantly. Feeling how happy he makes Josh feel, Cesar got a big grin on his face as he let his head fall back so Josh could lean in and kiss him on the lips.

At the same time they caressed each other's body, feeling every inch of flesh. When their hands reached the others underwear, they cupped the hardness in their shorts and felt the other's heartbeat. Both of their hearts were beating a mile minute out of excitement and love that they have for each other.

Breaking the kiss, Cesar crawled out of bed, leaving Josh wondering what was going on. Before Josh was able to ask what was going on, Cesar pulled the covers off of their bed, put them nicely on the floor before returning to the bed. Still not saying a word, he grabbed Josh's right hand, pulled him off the bed and guided him to the make shift bed on the floor. Gently Cesar lowered Josh and himself to the floor.

Once they were both on the covers, they started kissing. It did not take much for them to take each other's underwear off. When they did, their dicks flew to attention, which grabbed their attention. Their mouths started to water for the sight that stood before them; they couldn't wait any longer. They got into the sixty nine position and at the same time took the others dick in their mouths.

Slowly and lovingly they moved their mouths up and down each other's dicks savoring every moment of pleasure. Before it was too late Josh let go of Cesar's dick moving further down between his legs licking and sucking gently on his lovers' ball sac before going even further down to that beautiful pink hole just begging for his tongue.

Slowly he pushed his tongue into Cesar's hole until he found his prostrate, and once he went to work on that his lover went wild thrashing about on the floor, gently moaning.

Josh moved away, his dick leaving his lovers mouth as he positioned himself between Cesar's legs which were pointing towards the ceiling.

"Darling please make love to me." Cesar whispered. As Josh positioned his dick and slowly pushed in waiting briefly for his boyfriend to recover before going in all the way.

Gently he began pushing in and out of his lovers butt and the look on both of their faces showed the love and affection they had for each other. Josh leant forward and their lips met in a passionate kiss which lasted until they both ran out of breath. By this time Josh could feel that he was reaching his peak and got ready to blow his load deep inside his beautiful partner. Nobody had touched Cesar's dick but it too was going to blow and soon. Both of them willed themselves to shoot at the same time and it worked, with a grunt Josh pushed his dick up to the hilt spewing forth load after load of love juice while Cesar's sperm splashed all over his body and face reaching as far as his hair.

Josh got slack and pulled his cock out, ready to begin lapping up all of Cesar's juice making sure not a drop was left behind.

"I love you so much Cesar, you are mine for life." He whispered before kissing his lover passionately. Coming up for air Cesar said, "I love you so much my darling it hurts and I intend to make it my life's work to love you, care for you and keep you safe." After hearing those words tears began to form in Josh's eyes, which Cesar kissed away. They lay together feeling so much in love both content and happy with the feeling that it was forever and ever.

Little by little Josh came to life. The knocking on the bedroom door is what brought him out of his sleep. It started out in the distant, but got louder and louder until he heard it clear as day. He mumbled to whoever was knocking on the door that he is awake and will be right down, and that got the knocking to stop.

Moving to his side, he looked at his sleeping partner and realized that they were still on the floor where they made love to each other. Still not understanding why Cesar moved them to the floor, he did not mind. It was a night of love making that he will never forget. Cesar made him see stars and feel feelings that he has never felt before in his life.

Josh was recounting the events from the night before, he didn't see Cesar wake up and move in for a morning kiss. When their lips touched, it sparked the feelings that he felt the night before. Josh wrapped his arms around Cesar and pulled him on top of him as he fell back to the floor. They did not move from that position; or break the kiss until the knocking on the door started again. Josh broke the kiss and this time yelled out.

"We are awake and will be down in just a few minutes..." Josh was able to catch himself before saying the last words and boy was he thankful that he did. His father's voice came through the door telling them to stop whatever they are doing and get ready to go. They can't be late today like they are always are.

Josh jumped up from the floor, pulled Cesar up and quickly gathered the covers. They fixed the bed and straighten up their room. Before they knew it, they were heading to the shower. Not wanting to waste any more time than they already had, they showered together. It took a lot of energy from both of them to keep their hands off each other, but they did, to a point.

Once they were done in the bathroom, they got into their suits, which got them both horny. Although it is a sad day, since they are burying someone, they couldn't help but see how hot the other looked in their black suits.

They were matching suits from head to toe. Josh has a slimmer build than Cesar, but the suit hugged all the right places that got Cesar going. It showed off his shoulders, waist and more importantly his nice tight butt that he got from swimming. Not able to help himself, Cesar walked over to his boyfriend and squeezed both of Josh's butt cheeks.

Cesar on the other hand is more of a built guy than Josh so the suit fitted him a little differently. Not only it showed off his shoulders, butt and waist, it also showed off his chest and depending how much you stare at it, you could see that Cesar is big. As Cesar squeezed Josh's butt, Josh reached back and did the same thing, but to the item he loves the most having in his hands, Cesar's dick.

They both stopped doing what they were doing because they knew if they didn't, they would not be able to get out of their room and downstairs as instructed. With a big grin on his face, Josh leaned in and kissed Cesar on the lips. They held the kiss for a couple minutes before breaking and heading down stairs to join the family at the table.

Daniel Sr. had already started going through the days agenda when the boys sat down at the table. When they got their plates of food, Daniel turned the conversation to Josh. He asked his son if he was going to sing at his mother funeral. Before he was able to answer, his father gave him the line to be a better person than what she was, but that did not change Josh's mind from the decision he had already made.

"Ever since our mother started acting the way she was acting, all of us at this table have been taking the high road. Enough is enough of doing that. We were her kids and should have never been asked to take the high road. She was the grown up that was supposed to be teaching us and making our lives easier. That didn't happen the last year or so that she was alive. Instead she made our lives a living hell and enjoyed doing so.

Don't get me wrong, I never wished her dead, but once again she knew what she was doing the day she died. If she was not filled with so much hate and anger, she would still be alive today. She would be living a happy life maybe, who knows. What I know is that she hated me and I know without a doubt that she wished death on me.

So the answer to your question dad is no, I will not sing at her funeral today. Maybe one day I might regret this decision, but not today or even tomorrow. It is going to take years for me to forgive her for what she did to me, and that is if I can do that. If that day ever comes, I might forgive her, but I will never forget the way she was with me."

Daniel Sr. understood where his son was coming from. Out of all them, he was the one that Martha wanted to hurt the most. Like Josh, he believed that his ex-wife only thought of how she could harm Josh; even kill him every moment of every day. That is an ugly thought, but it is a true thought that has been on his mind since his divorce.

"I am not going to say anything more on that issue Josh. You have the right to make your own decisions without any of us trying to pressure you into changing your mind. The only thing I do ask of you is to try and find a way to forgive you mother sooner than later. If you carry around that anger and hate too long, it will eat away at you. It will make your life miserable and eventually destroy it."

Josh agreed with his father as he returned to eating his breakfast. As soon as they finished, the boys helped out their grandmother and Jonathan's sister clean the kitchen up. With all the boys pitching in, the kitchen was clean in no time flat.

Not long after they finished the dishes, they had to leave for the church. Getting their overcoats, the boys headed to the limousine, followed by the grownups that included Barbara, Rose and Isaac. Those three didn't want to go to the funeral, but when Daniel asked, they couldn't say no. Plus they didn't want to Daniel and the boys by themselves with Martha's family. Just like Martha, they would try and eat them alive.

As Barbara got into the car, she looked up at the window of the nursery. This would be her first trip away from her twins for a long period of time and she hated it. She didn't want to leave them home, but at the same time she didn't want to take them to a place they are not wanted. Martha's family would probably try and finish off what she started and that is to try and hurt the twins.

After standing there looking at the window of the twins for a few minutes, Daniel helped Barbara in the car. Once she was in, Daniel climbed in and the car pulled out of the drive. When they made it to the bottom of the hill, the press corps grabbed their cameras as they always do and started filming and taking pictures of the first family as they exited out of the gate. Their cameras were unable to penetrate the tint of the windows of the car, but they tried each time in hopes that they might actually get lucky.

The motorcade made its way down Mesa and turned off a smaller street that led to a small church where the service was being held. Martha requested that the church that Daniel and Barbara got married in be used, but Daniel didn't allow that to happen. She has already made one of their days of joy a little cloudy by what she did the day she died. There was no way Daniel was going to let her dirty the place he took his vows.

As they pulled into the parking lot, he could see Martha's father storming towards the car. He was stopped way before he was able to reach the car. The security agents stopped him, and then pushed him back another thirty feet or so. Daniel got out and helped his wife out of while the rest of the family got out of the other door.

Daniel looked around and saw the only people that were there to pay their respects to Martha were her family from Mexico and her best friend. The friend that the police knew brought Martha the gun that caused her death, but could not prove it. Other than them, no one else showed up except the press of course.

Straightening out his jacket, Daniel took Barbara's hand and started walking to the door of the church, followed by Josh, Cesar and the others that came with them. As they walked to the front door, Martha's family cursed at him and Barbara. When they got tired of cursing at them, they turned their attention to Josh and Cesar.

They ignored the words that were being thrown at them and continued on their way into the church. When they stepped in, they were greeted by Father Gomez, Bernice, Patrick and Immanuel. They talked a little while at the entrance before making their way inside where Martha was laying in wait.

Josh started to sweat as he made his way down the middle of the isle. The closer and closer he got to his mother coffin, he got more nervous. Cesar looked over at Josh and saw how nervous he was. He grabbed his hand, and that settled him down some for a few seconds. They let go of each other's hand, not because they didn't want to hold hands, but because of Martha's family.

Daniel Sr., Barbara, Daniel Jr. and Carlos were in front of Josh and Cesar, so they saw Martha first. When Josh got to the casket and saw his mother, he could not believe how much she looked at rest. This is the first time in a very long time he has seen her look so peaceful. Even the day at the hospital, she did not look at peace. She had the look in her eye that she wanted to kill him, but not here.

Spending a few minutes looking at his mother, Josh made his way to his seat. Once everyone that came to pay their last respects to Martha walked passed her coffin and sat down, Father Gomez started the service. He read from the bible Martha's favorite passages and then had everyone stand for a prayer.

Everyone sat back down and Father Gomez finished his sermon before asking for people to come up and say a few words. At first, no one got up. They all looked around, but kept their butts in their seats. Finally after almost eight minutes of silence, Martha's father got up and walked to the podium. He had nothing prepared, so he winged it. In his speech, he took a couple swings at the governor, but he didn't care.

When Martha's father was done, several other members of her family followed. They said a few words, and just like Martha's father, they took a few swings at Daniel Sr. Martha's mother was one of the last to speak. Several times in her speech, she lashed out at Josh. At one point she actually said that he should be the one in the coffin, not her daughter.

Before she was able to finish saying what she wanted to say to Josh, Father Gomez got up and had her escorted out of the church. She was not the only one escorted out of the church by the time Father Gomez stopped the speeches. When he finally stopped allowing people to come up and say a few words, it looked like all that happened was planned out. When one was escorted out of the church, the other family member picked up right where the other one before them left off.

Father Gomes apologized to the governor and his family before concluding the service. Everyone stood up and turned to look at Martha's casket as it was being carried down the aisle and out of the church. Once the casket was out of the church, the security detail stepped forward and held back Martha's family as the governor and his family left.

Once outside, they watched as Martha's casket was being loaded into the hearse. As soon as the door was closed, Daniel and the rest of his family made their way to the limousine they came in. They got in and followed the hearse out of the parking, onto the side street that led to Mesa St. Once they got onto Mesa, they made their way to I-10.

All the way to the cemetery, no one said a word. Daniel knew the conversation he was going to have to have with Josh and the rest of the family was going to take more time than the drive to Martha's final resting point. Therefore, he bit his tongue and held his thoughts to say when they got home.

When they got to the cemetery, they were greeted with much of the same from Martha's family that they got at the church. Just as they did at the church, they rose above them and ignored everything that was being said as they followed the casket to Martha's grave site.

Father Gomez knew if this funeral did not end quickly, there was going to be problems. Therefore, he shortened what he normally says at the grave site in order to get these two families away from each other. Once he was done, Martha's casket started to get lowered into the ground as her family walked by and tossed something personal of theirs on the casket. The Lopez family stood there watching as they did that and when they were done, they said their final goodbyes to Martha, but didn't throw anything onto the casket.

Martha's father stopped Daniel as he and the rest of the Lopez family made their way to their car. "I am just letting you know that I and my wife are not going back to Mexico. We are staying here to make sure you pay for what you did to our daughter. I don't care how it happens, but you are going to pay for what you did."

"Sir you can stay, I can't stop you from doing so. What I can do though is make sure you do not have it easy. Tonight is the last night you have permission to be staying in my house. The rental car must be turned in tomorrow morning when the rest of your family get on the plane and head back to Mexico. If you don't leave the house, my security agents will remove you by force and I will enjoy seeing that."

"Have your fun right now, but when it is all over and done with, I will have the last laugh. When we return to Mexico, we will be taking Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon with us. You denied our daughter her right to be with her kids and in return I will make you feel what she felt the day you threw her out of the house."

"The day you take my boys away will be the day I am dead. There is no way I will ever let you near my boys. You guys are no longer family to us now that Martha is dead and buried. More so after the stunt you guys pulled in the church earlier. After seeing that, there is no way in hell I am going to let you or anyone in Martha's family near my kids. If you come near my family, you will be taken down."

Daniel turned around and started to walk to the limousine. Martha's father tried to stop him, but several security agents tossed the guy to the ground. He yelled out curse words and threats at the governor as he was pinned down, which made it worse for him. The security agents did not like what they were hearing and made it clear.

Being told what he was told and hearing what he heard, Daniel knew his troubled days of Martha and her family are far from being over. Although she is gone, her family is going to make sure that her ghost haunts him. That he does not care, as long as the ghost of Martha and her family does not go anywhere near his sons.

TO BE CONTINUED...

WRITER'S CORNER:

{Welcome back one and all to another exciting chapter of "Shadow of My Father". I hope with the ending of this chapter, those that feared that I might bring Martha back to life are assured that won't happen. Many of you have written me saying that I might somehow bring her back to life after being shot and pronounced dead. I am evil, but not that evil. The witch is gone, but the ghost will be around for a long time.

This chapter picked up with the boys returning to school. Just as they feared, all the students were looking at them as they got to school. Poor Josh seemed to get the worse of it. The kid has gone through hell already once by the hands of his mother, and that hell seems to be coming back up on Josh.

I like how Josh talked with Chris and made him feel at ease. Now those that are reading all four of my stories know that early February, Chris tried to date Ethan in "Jacob Finding His Way", but it didn't last. So we all know at least up to February, Chris has not found a boyfriend, but that will change. Once again if you are reading all four of my stories a character from one of the other stories will become Chris's boyfriend.

What is up with Garratt and his dislike of Josh? This name should be familiar to guys, but if not, go over to Rebirth and read chapter one. This guy egged Josh on and Josh fell for it. Josh is going to have to grow thicker skin in order to survive what is coming in the future. He can't get angry the way he did with Garratt.

It looked like Garratt's mother is going to fight Principal Michaels. If you have read chapter one of "Rebirth", you somehow know how that came out. Poor Principal Michaels it seems that everyone is gunning for his job. The guy is doing things right, but he gets slammed anyways.

It looks like Sharon in the Glee Club surprised all of us. At first, it looked like we were going to have another Martha, but boy were we wrong. She went up to Josh at the end of class and told him that he had nothing to worry about from her. The one Josh needs to worry about is Mr. Edgar. What is up with that guy?

Josh and Cesar, what can I say that I have not said before. The love scene is not yet written as I write this now, but I know it is going to be great because Trevor is going to be the one writing it. I hope you all enjoy the love scene and see how much love that is between Cesar and Josh.

What can I say about the ending of the chapter that I have not said already? Martha's family doesn't know what they are getting themselves into. One thing is for sure, the gloves are off the governor after the stunt they pulled in the church. You guys be prepared for a bumpy ride in this area, because that is what's coming.

So much going on in this story and not enough paper to write it all on! I know if I forgot anything in my writer's corner about this chapter, Trevor will take care of it in his corner. There are still a lot of open plots out there that I have not even touched on, and many more new plots are to come. I hope that you all didn't forget about any of those plots, and if you did, well then it will be a lot of fun when they come back up again. So hold onto your hats ladies and gentleman, the ride is just beginning!

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 jacob@jacobmillertex.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR'S CORNER:

Well quite a fiery funeral, but let's get back to looking at first things first. A long time ago in England when I was fairly well known it used to piss me and my boyfriend off when people would recognize you and point and whisper. So I know just how Josh and the guys feel at school and as for Garrett and his mother well I sense they are going to be a problem not only in this story but also in Rebirth.

There is too much hate in the world today even more so these days than back in the 90's. Writing the love scene this time I found difficult, in fact I had three goes before I was anywhere near satisfied, because these two guys are so much in love and it is hard to put into words just how much they really do love each other.

I had to laugh at Daniel Sr.'s comment about the bed knocking the wall and Cesar putting the bedding on the floor because I've `been there done that' LOL as I expect some of you have. Mind you wouldn't it have been easier to just move the bed away from the wall?

I can see a lot of problems with Martha's family coming up and it's going to turn very nasty too. Back to the funeral and I thought Father Gomez could have put a stop to all that rot going on much sooner than he did.

I had a tear in my eye when Daniel and Barbara included presents for Josh and threw out the trashy things Martha had bought. I cried along with Cesar when Daniel and Barbara gave him the money and the news that he was going to get the same as the other boys. Now that he is classed as their son in Daniel and Barbara's eyes does this mean Josh and him are indulging in incest? Just kidding.

Keep letting us know how we are doing folks, we love to hear from you and a personal thanks from me for all the kind words you said about `Rebirth'.

Hugs Trevor

trevor@jacobmillertex.com.