With Love

With Hope

By

Retta Michaels

Disclaimer:

If you are under the age of eighteen, or live in a locale which doesn't allow you to read these sorts of stories legally, then please don't. Come back when it's legal for you to do so and it will be great with us who are here legally. In fact, we'll support you and in the right circumstances help get you laid. Now, skedaddle and shut the door on your way out!

Now, for the rest of you who are supposed to be adults, act like it!

Notes From Retta:

To those of you who've written to give support, I really would like to give a great big shout out. You've been great and I really appreciate your words of encouragement. No, we all don't live each other's lives, but it helps to know when one is going through problems, you're there to give support. You know who you are. Once again, Thanks.

Chapter 4

We went to city hall to get the power bill switched. It wasn't anything big, but it was the first official part of owning our home...not my home, but ours. I loved that sound.

After doing that, Mark called his office and said, he'd be out for the rest of the day and to save all calls except dire emergencies. We went up to the house and the number of our workers there was surprising. Today wasn't going to be cheap for us financially, but I'd find a way to get it covered.

"Rhett, I couldn't say anything in the bank, but the town has had a lot of ill will towards that man owning this house. You two being gay is going to carry things over onto you which he did. I really don't look forward to it for you all. I just want you to know if there's anything which you need, call my cell phone number."

"I will"

I took his number and as I was standiing there, I heard "Shakira!"

"Oh Lord."

"Who's he?"

"A guy that was straight one moment and when I dyed my hair for Halloween, he took one look at me and instantly got a boner. Now, he's asking all sorts of questions which lead me to believe he's cracking open the closet door."

"What's his name?"

"Ben"

"What's his last name?"

"Dover"

"What!"

"If you want to know go ask him his name. As his employer, I can't do that."

"Rhett, do you think he'd talk to me? Yeah, I'll go up with you. I might blind him with my greatness, but at least you'll get a closer look if that's what you want."

"Rhett, he's a babe."

"Mark, do me a favor. I know things aren't right between you and the Mrs., but please wait and don't do anything which will pull her heart out like mine was. As much as I don't like what you became with her, I don't want her to go through knowing you've fucked around to achieve happiness before you split."

"Rhett, she's going to drag this out and get a hell of an attorney."

"Then get a better one or go to Mexico. Shit, you're an attorney, fuck back!"

"With what I make a year, she'll rip me a new one on child support."

"If you want advice, my suggestion is to wait until you get divorced and then come out. You having kids is going to be rough. I'll tell you now, kids are going to be o.k.. They're resilient. They'll resent you more if they discover you were fucking around before hand. And, whomever your lover is will never get their love. They'll see that person as the one that split up mommy and daddy."

"She's already said they're coming with me."

"Great, just don't give her grounds to come back and get them by a messy scene. Be discrete and if you need to, come over to our house and we'll be support, but I won't be supportive if you're trying to fuck around with someone...no matter how much I love you."

"Rhett, I love you. You're like a brother to me and it makes me happy to know you're back."

"I never went anywhere except through hell. Then night after Tony's funeral, his family came in with the sheriff and gave me eviction papers to leave our house. That's a night I wanted to call you. That comment, Mark, kept coming back to haunt me..."My fag cousin"...I knew you would've made things difficult for them, but after that, you would have been the last person I would've called. Then, when things were going bad between Michael Ray and me, I was sitting there one night with a noose in my hand to end it. The only person I could think to call was you and once again that comment came to mind."

"I'm so sorry."

"I just hope you know you'll face comments like that from friends, family, and loved ones. I don't envy it, but it's some of the dues you pay to be out."

"Rhett, let's not dwell on all this and let's go introduce me to that hunk."

"If you think so, he doesn't even begin to compare to Kevin."

"I hear my name over there, what's up?"

Kevin came walking over and just from his walk, I knew he was happy. When he walks like he's on a pogo stick...happy. With his shoulders droopy...sad. Head thrown back and shoulders squared...pissed."

"Babe, I'm so happy!"

"I know, I can see it in you."

"I can see it in me too, but you don't want it."

"Kev."

"Rhett, take my hand and let's put a show on for these people if nothing else."

"O.k., but it's not all show. I do love you."

We took hands and we walked Mark over to where Adam was working. I looked at them and saw them as a cute coule. As soon as I did, I thought of my favorite hotel, the Adam's Mark. I chuckled.

"What's funny?"

"Oh, my cousin is deciding to show interest in Adam."

"Should we be doing this?"

"I told him I wasn't doing anything as an employer. We're introducing them and then we're walking over and looking at what all you have going on."

"I didn't mean that."

"Kev, I told Mark I wasn't going to condone him doing anything behind his wife's back. He's going to file for divorce, but wants to cultivate friendship. I told him we'd be there for him as support, but we'd not help in liasons."

"O.k., I didn't want to feel a double standard happening there."

"It's not Kev, as much as I don't like what she had him become, I don't want her to go through what I did."

"O.k. I'm not going to say anything more. You told me your stance and I support it."

"I'm glad."

We reached Adam who was working in a light box aimed at the house. He was looking in at it and prying on the socket.

"Don't get your ass shocked off there Adam. Is the power all shut off?"

"Yeah, this place has an antiquated dusk to dawn system which we're ripping out. The wire isn't so hot either for being under ground, but we're making do until we can get a better insulated kind in."

"O.k., well, why don't you all go ahead and install it. How's the conduit? Is it needing upgraded?"

"Rhett, if I told you, you'd be scared shitless. Someone in their infinite wisdom put in aluminum. No, it won't rust, but it conducts electricity like a mofo."

"Why don't we pull it up or go near it and put in something better. That just doesn't sound safe. If we get a heavy rain storm this whole area could be live."

"Yeah, but Kevin wants the lights on tonight."

"Kev's going to have to wait unless you can get us something which won't kill people."

"I'll do something Rhett, but we need to get the equipment here."

"Alright, whatever it needs is authorized, just make sure I get a statement of everything as this house isn't anywhere near the business on our write off statements."

"Adam, this here is Mark. Mark, this is Adam. Mark's interested in a few things, why don't you give him the answers he needs while Kevin and I go around and I see if anything else needs to be done."

The instant I saw Adam look at Mark, I saw a spark. Kev saw it too.

"Adam, take as long as you need with Mark. This house has been without exterior lights, it can do without them a few more days."

"Kev, I want to see this house with the lights on again just as much as you guys do. I think this whole crew does. If it takes voluntarily overtime, I think the guys are up for it just so we get the privledge of being the ones that stands up here and gets to hear the whole town cheer."

"Whatever you all want to do is fine with Rhett and I."

"So you all back together?"

Kev looked at me and said, "Adam, I hate to break your heart, but your 'Shakira' is a taken man."

Adam blushed and I took Kevin by the hand.

"Rhett, he's smitten with Mark."

"Mark thinks he's a total hunk."

"They look good together, but I don't want to see hearts broke."

"Me neither."

"The guys are powerwashing the exterior and discovering a lot of loose paint. I told them to go ahead and paint it. I'll pay for whatever it takes."

"Kev, we'll split it. It's ours, so we're going to start doing this one the right way....together."

"Rhett, it feels so damned good."

"I know Kev, and I'm so sorry I didn't do this with the other one."

"We had our reasons Rhett and I'm glad you didn't. You did the right thing."

"No I didn't. I borrowed trouble and it came home. That's not happening again."

"The awnings over on the south side are really rotten."

"Pull them off. It shouldn't have them anyways. It only promotes moisture to get close to the wood and causing it to rot. We don't even want to get into replacing this stuff. It's all one of a kind."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, but I wanted your input."

"Kev, I'm going to ask you something and I want your input on this."

"O.k."

"Is it alright if I contact the news and Mary Lou at the paper to get coverage of the lights going back on. It seems everyone thought the same thing about the lights. It would promote us being the new owners and it'd get that headache off our minds."

"Yeah, here's my cell phone. You know those people better than me."

"Not yet, I'll do it. I've got my cell phone anyways. I want to discuss some other things with you."

"O.k., let's switch hands, this one is getting sweaty."

"That' better?"

"Yeah, it feels really good to be holding your hand. I'd love to be able to hold you and hug you now, but thanks for what you're doing."

I stopped and walked in front of him. As soon as he saw I was going for a hug, his face crumpled and he started bawling real racking sobs. Tears were streaming down my face too. We held each other and all of a sudden we had about seventy woof whistles and cheers going up all over the place. Guys were yelling to each other what was going on and everyone was getting caught up in it.

We were still hugging and Kev said, "Rhett, I'm sorry. I didn't know they were going to do that."

"Kev, they were probably insecure what was going to go on with us and the business which is what I want to discuss next."

"Oh shit, I knew it couldn't be this good."

"Kev, three times this morning I was told to shut up. If I didn't love you so much, you'd be shitting your teeth out tomorrow, but now, I'm telling you to shut up."

"I didn't mean offense. I just saw you losing this place for us."

"Kevin, that man pissed me off. We've got to find another bank."

"Yeah, or we need to go to the board and lay out our grievances. It's not their fault they have an asshole working for them."

"O.k., we'll handle that how you want to handle it."

"Rhett, my names not on the accounts anymore."

"That's about to change in a hella big way. I told Mark to get co-ownership papers brought over."

"Rhett, no." His voice came out a sob and I felt him crumbling. He went down and onto his knees.

Everyone was stopping what they were doing and I yelled real loud. "Guys it's o.k., I just gave him half ownership."

Once again hoots and hollars went up and suddenly we were enveloped in hugs from about twenty guys all running in. It felt great, but the look on Kevin's face wasn't what I was expecting. He looked sad and said, "Guys, I can't take it."

Everyone looked at him and stopped.

"Rhett, I love you and it's too soon."

"The main source of our problems has been you didn't feel like you had a say. You're getting that now. It's 50/50 here on out for me. Don't you want that?"

"I don't deserve it."

One of the guys said, "Kevin, you're being a dick dude."

Kevin looked at me and said, "Let Rhett and I talk. We need that right now."

"Kevin, you're giving these guys a world of confusion."

I turned to the guys and said, "Guys, we'll have a formal statement in about an hour. He has reasons and I want to hear them. We promise you'll be kept in the loop."

They started walking off and Kevin and I went to one of the sets of steps leading down to the lower yard and sat down.

"Rhett, I love you, but I can't let you do that."

"Kev, let me do it. I need to start doing things to show good faith here. It's not all going to be you doing things different. I need to rectify things so you know things are definitely going to be better."

"Babe, I love you, but hold off for six months until the tests come back."

"Not no...but fuck no."

"Rhett, if I've done anything to you, I'll be in a body bag coming off that bridge. Don't do this to yourself. Hang onto it."

"Kev, you look at me. If anything like that's going on, I'm going to be with you throught thick or thin. It's 'til death do us part' and 'in sickness and in health'. The only way you're going off that bridge is if you tell me you've got someone else lined up in the wings."

"NO, I don't! And that's another reason I can't let you do it. The trust isn't there yet and I don't blame you."

I took Kevin's chin in my hand. I leaned forward and kissed him. "Kev, do me one favor. Promise me everlasting loyalty, faithfulness, and you'll never do anything like this again and I'll deal from this moment on. We've got to have a pact of trust between us and we've got to have trust we'll be there for each other when something does come up."

"I'll never do it again. This has been the hardest time in the world for me. You don't know how close you came to losing me the other morning. I heard that song and I was thinking of everything I'd done and it was awful. A huge part of me was wanting to drive off a cliff. Another huge part of me was wanting to go hunting for my brains with a bullet, but I knew I couldn't do that to you. I knew you'd not be able to make it through it."

"Kevin, suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems. With love, we can make it through anything, with hope, we can achieve it, over come it, and face anything which happens to come at us in the future."

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."

He leaned forward and kissed me. He lay me back on the sidewalk and was hugging me and kissing me more passionate than he'd done in a long time. A huge part of me thought our first love making session at this house would be outside of the house in front of all these witnesses. A bit of me was feeling embarrassed, but a huge part of me was wanting to bang a gong and say, "HEY EVERYONE I GOT HIM BACK!"

He stopped kissing me and about that time is when the wolf whistles started again.

Mark came over and said, "Guys, my office is bringing them papers over now. Kevin, if you don't sign them, I'm committing your ass to a mental hospital. I'm going into that house and when they get here, I expect your asses to be sitting at that table...not on top of it doing the bunny hop however much I'd pay to see that...but, getting this done so these guys can scream their approval for real."

He turned on his heel and the site of him walking up the front walk upside down was hilarious. Kevin looked me in the eyes and said, "He loves you, you know and I don't mean in a family way."

"Yeah, and he knows it's never going to happen. We had that talk."

"What went on between you two."

"Kev, we were each other's puppy love. I loved him and he loved me. He'd pull back and so would I. I think the only thing that kept us apart were we were family. Then one day he met that bitch he's married to and kindly introduced me to her as his 'fag cousin'....like he didn't approve of me. That ended it. I'd never receive his phone calls. I'd not speak to him in public and when they got married, I didn't acknowledge it with a gift, or my presence. Whenever the family would have festivities, I'd not go, or make sure he wasn't going. It was tough, but as time progressed, that bitch pulled him away from the family and it got easier. Then, today happened and he was the first person I knew could work the magic for us. As you saw, he came running."

"He broke your heart too and that was before Tony. You've had a shitty time with relationships."

"Yeah, but that's over. By the way, I want a double rocking chair up on that porch so we can sit there until we grow old."

"You got it. Ummm, another thing I need to speak with you about is something...I'm not sure you're going to like."

"What, tell me now so I can deal."

"I think those neighbors over there are probably the ones which complained. There's not another house close the lights could bother. If we put up a row of poplar trees as a screen, they'll lose their river's view but they won't be bothered by the lights. We should go over and ask them which they're going to want. They're not getting it both ways."

"Oh, that's all....o.k., let's go sign those papers and then we can ask Mark his advice. He'll probably go over there himself."

"We should do it ourselves. If our lawyer goes over there, they might choose to do their complaining throught a lawyer. That would suck."

"Yeah, I gotta bake some lasagna."

"What the hell for?"

"An American housewife bakes cookies. The Italian part of me bakes lasagna and the German part of me bakes bread. The human side of me just wants to take them wine with the meal."

"Well bake enough for us to eat to because we've not had lasagna in a long time. I don't mind the neighbors getting some as long as they don't get some before me."

"What's the kitchen like in this heap?"

"Ooh, you didn't just say that."

"Kev, I paid forty grand for my kitchen at the old house to get it the way I wanted it. If I've got to cook at the old house, then this one's got to improve."

"Babe, let's go look, but I don't think you're going to like it. He moved it to the basement."

"What the fuck? It was in the back corner of the first floor. It had an old crank phone in it. I remember"

"It's a welcome desk now and has a coat closet in it."

"There was no place to put a coat closet."

"He shut off the servant's stairway."

"Oh no. Tell me it's blocked in and all we have to do is rip out a wall."

"I don't know, but the kitchen in the basement is behind the wall behind the bar."

"That's got to change. That bar's coming out and so is that stage."

"Rhett, it's got to stay that way until after Christmas. Our budget doesn't cover a remodel."

"This sucks."

"Yeah babe, but there's nothing we can do. We're at the max as far as what we can do until January one. Christmas is going to be light this year from us as it is."

"Kev, that's got to change. The fruit packages we send have nearly doubled."

"Honey, it might be just Christmas cards from us."

"No, we always send Poinsettias and Fruit boxes. If we send less, they'll think we're in hot water financially and then everyone will pull their ads which will definitely put us in bad shape. We can't cut that corner."

"Let's see what we can do. We're stroking it already."

"I'll cook in the old house."

"That's not in the budget either. We're only going to have money to support one house and this one is going to be huge when it comes to that bill."

"Oh, what have we done?"

"Rhett, we reached for our dream and we achieved it. Now, you're going to have to suck it in until I tell you we can let it out financially."

"This is going to suck."

"Yeah, but it would have sucked more if we didn't talk about it and went out making more bills."

"Yeah, thank God I have you. You can tell me no in ways that I still love you afterwards."

"It's hard telling you no in this instance because I want it all too."

"O.k., let me get up here."

"I like you here."

"Kev, Mark's like my mom. He'll be out here with a riding crop whipping our asses into the house. He think's he's my older brother or something."

"That's good. One other person you respect that can tell you no."

"No, because you do it and stand on it. I know he doesn't. He caves."

"Oh. Well, he'll have to learn because he's our lawyer from now on. He handled them beautifully down there this morning."

"He wants you to work for him. I'm letting you make that decision."

"Umm, that's a hard one. I've wanted to be a paralegal for so long."

"Yeah, and I know it, so that's why I'm letting you make up your mind rather than saying anything like I need you."

He paused for a moment and said, "After giving it careful consideration, I'm going with the sign shop. As a paralegal, I'll never see the inside of a courtroom and it'd get monotanous. I'm at the top of the game at the sign shop and have the best partner on the face of the planet. I'd be a fool if I let that go."

"It's your choice and I'll support you on whatever you want."

"You're too good for me."

"Like hell."

"No I'm serious. Another person would have my head on a stick. You don't. Another person wouldn't have stood beside me and gave the tough love. You did. Rhett, you're too good for me and I don't deserve it. That's why I feel so lucky."

"Kevin, the thing about this is you laid out arguments which I could identify with. Every one of them were sound except for the getting into the sack with him. But, I can see why you even did that. I don't agree with the timing, but I can see it. Another thing I want here as an oath from you is total communication. No excuses for it, just do it. I don't care where, or when."

"O.k., but you're going to be hell to live with."

"No, because I know the consequenses if I don't. I'll tell you now, I'm not going to hold shit over your head."

"I'm expecting you to. We really need to get up."

"O.k., one more kiss."

"O.k., a little one"

"Mmmm.......mmmmwwffff...what'ttthe fuck man!"

"I thought I said I needed your asses in that house in five minutes. I've waited fifteen. Get up and get it in gear."

"Mark, we were just getting one for the road and we were coming in. Straighten out his collar."

"You straighten out his collar while you are moving."

"Asshole."

"Yeah, and you love me for it."

"Not really, because no one rips his lips off mine. You should have your head ripped off your neck and flushed."

"Oooh, I think I heard that for the first time when we were in the third grade. It didn't intimidate me then either."

"I wasn't kissing anyone in the third grade and you know it."

Kev interrupted us,"Mark, are we going to discuss first kisses? Or, were you serious about gettng into the house?"

"He sounds like he's jealous Rhett!"

"Nah, his tongue was in my mouth and I nearly sucked it off when you pulled him up off me."

"Kiss it later and make it better. I want to see those papers signed. Then you can go get a room. Lord knows you'll have enough up here. Seventeen bedrooms, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking a dream of mine was coming true. Who the hell knew I should've invested heavily in cases of Pledge."

We went into the house and the place was sparkling. Whomever had put the peach and magnolia air freshners together knew what they were doing. It brought home thoughts of an antebellum plantation house."

When we got to the dining room, I took a look at the table, "This isn't the same table."

"He sold some things off to pay the bills the past few months."

"How much?"

"The spinet's gone. The dining room table's gone, and you'll notice most of the doll collection and the old dresses on the mannequins upstairs in the red room are gone. Other than that, the only other thing is a persian rug in the morrocan room. It's gone."

"O.k., hard to replace, but we got this place for a steal. We can deal with that."

"Rhett, you ready for the bad news?"

"What?"

"In the paperwork, he had full use if he held onto this place for the next month. It's a bed and breakfast and you'll be having house guests in a full house from the weekend before Thanksgiving all the way up until the weekend after."

I stumbled. That meant I couldn't knock out the bar or the stage and had to cook for nearly thirty people.

"Rhett, he had a drag show planned for the weekend after Thanksgiving. He never got it booked as to whom the entertainment would be. Flyers are already out on the internet and in the mail. They could sue you for false advertising."

"Mark, one second. Kev, are you game for this?"

"We have no choice. I'm taken by surprise just as much as you, but it's your call. We could possibly get sued and piss off a bunch of people, or we can turn it into a publicity nightmare because we'd be seen as doing what he was doing with the place. The money could come in handy because it'd pay for Christmas and get you your kitchen remodeled, but that's a lot of hard work."

Mark slid the papers over to us and I read them. They said everything I wanted and I signed them without a moment's thought. Kevin was reading his really carefully and said, "The appraised value of this is considerably higher. When did you have these papers drawn up?"

"He had them drawn up over a year ago."

"O.k., that's the reason. I know what I'm getting into."

He signed the papers and then turned to me and said, "Alright up on that table. Mark, you have to go.You interrupted us. We have unfinished making out to do."

Mark laughed and I smiled. He looked at me and said, "Adam said he'd like to go out with me just as soon as I get my divorce finalized. I'd love to give her papers tonight, but I think we're having a house lighting ceremony here."

"Go ahead and go home, Kevin and I've decided we need to get a few things organized around here. With the lighting of the house, I want it to signify change. Now, we've got to run it as it's been run and I'm not liking it. We're attaching our names to this house being pimped. Somehow, I feel unclean about it.

When we do light the house, I'd like to have the media here and make a press announcement. I'm not sure what I'll say, but I do know I want the area to know they're not sending their kids up here to tour with a bunch of things going on which shouldn't be. My message will be we're going to let kids be kids. "

"It's kind of knocked the wind out of your sails to have to have houseguests you didn't invite, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but without them, it'd be rather rough, so we're a bit thankful too."

"Rhett, I can lend you all the money if you'd like."

"No, we'll do this. A lot of people have chosen to stay here and I'd hate to ruin their hopes of having a place to stay they wanted. We can work for a bit here and then get what we wanted when the time comes."

"O.k., just remember the offer stands."

Kevin spoke up, "We appreciate it. Rhett and I are still getting used to the idea of having this house and maybe that's what we need right now."

"Well, let me help with something. I can do the press announcement or whatever, I'd like to help you."

"We appreciate it, but we don't have a real good idea what we're going to say. If you happen to see some of the things which we'll need with the house, we would take a loan for those. This table in the dining room just seems dinky compared to what I know should be in here."

"Yes, the one I remember was big enough to have at least twenty people around it. This one is nice, but it's just not as heavy as this room requires. I'll give a look in some magazines and different antique places I know."

We went outside and the guys were giving the old conduit a pull up. It made the yard look like hell, but if it saved a life, it was worth it.

"Kevin, when the time comes,. I want to get some lights along the drive which will pull the exterior of this house on down the hill"

"We need to measure the drive and see how long it is. It has to be what....a quarter of a mile long?"

"I don't know, I'm not good with distances. But, we also need to put lighting along that walk which goes down the other side. Another thing I want to do is get gates which all match, that stock gate out back makes the place look like a farm. This place is in the middle of downtown, some things are just crazy."

"Yeah, I think I know what we're going to be getting each other for gifts for a while."

"The best gifts I received from you were ones which we got to share equally. I like it when we do it that way."

"Yeah, it pulls us into the goal and keeps it in focus."

We walked on around the yard. Kev began looking at the foundation which stood nearly five feet tall. "Rhett, there's a spot which is designed to have a doorway in it. I wonder what the designer had planned out this way?"

"I don't know. The yards awfully big over here. It could've been a tennis court, football field, or whatever. I don't know if they had those sports back then. We'll have to look. Maybe it was going to be another way to get out here for croquet or a gazebo."

"That would be nice to put out here, but to keep it in scale with the house and not have it seem like a toy, it'd have to be as big as a city park band stand."

"I hadn't thought of that, but you're right. The size of the house doesn't seem so big until you put something which is normal size up against it."

"My perspective comes from when I was a kid delivering newspapers up here. There was a tour bus up by the house and it just seemed small. When you think of the ground floor having twelve foot tall ceilings, and the one's upstairs being at least ten feet tall, and what are they on the third floor?"

"I don't know, we'll have to go look."

"It's such a beautiful house, They really spent some money on this place."

"Yeah, it's said he spent over two hundred thousand on it when he built it. That'd be like over forty million today."

"Makes us seem rich doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but I don't feel rich. I still feel the same."

"We've been lucky. I do know one thing I'd like to do."

"What's that?"

"When the time comes, I want that back parking lot torn up and I want a garden out there."

"Where are we going to park?"

"Babe, think of it like it origionally was...the stables were down there and the carriages came up the front drive. If we give tours, I'd like to buy a piece of property down there and tear that house down so we can have parking down there and have a tour shuttle come up the hill. It will unclutter everything."

"That's a good idea, but that's a big expense."

"No, there's auction sites which have those shuttle buses all the time.

Copyright Notice - Copyright © November 2007 by RettaMichaels

The author, RettaMichaels copyrights this story and retain all rights. This work may not be changed or duplicated in any form, media, ( known or unknown ) without the author's expressed permission. All applicable copyright laws apply.

Disclaimer: All individuals depicted are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental

Notes From Retta:

It's interesting how some friends pull away in times of trouble and others step up. It's the same way it was when I was in trouble and awaiting going to prison. Sometimes I wonder if those friends are the sort that will walk right by a child who is lost in the mall crying for it's mom. It's pathetic, but I use times like this to guage who my friends are and who they aren't.

Little tidbits which aren't mentioned in this chapter is we found the house infested with mice. Mice don't scare me, but it is a bit startling to see they're brazen enough to run across the floor when we walk through a room. I've ordered a bunch of ultrasonic pest repellers as a cousin of mine says they're the sort they use in the housing authority out in Las Vegas. I don't know as I've not been in those, but if they work, I'll be happy.

What I am liking is straight friends are now reading my stories. I welcome them all and hope they're satisfied with what they read.

Lastly, if anyone would like to do editting work, please contact me and I'll certainly be happy to give you a try. My only requirement is you not try to write the stories your way and be able to put up with a whole lot of spelling and grammatical errors. I may not be able to spell and I may not have a good grasp of the way to word things, but I do know what I want in my story...my words.

Once again, Thanks for taking the time to read my stories. This week has been rather hectic. I'm sure things will settle down.

From My Keyboard To Your Heart Rhett "With Love"

Here is a list of stories I've written and where to find them:

With Love - Nifty - Beginnings Section Rural Love - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com Write Me A Love Story - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com To Love Him - Author Heading - DeweyWriter.com Military Zone - Nifty - Military Section Evan - Nifty - Beginnings Section