Chapter 91

{RECAP: It has been a while since a chapter of ‘Jacob Finding His Way’ has been posted, so let me remind you what is going on. This saga has a lot of plot lines open and as I have said many of times, I just don’t have enough space in a chapter to cover all the plots lines I wish I could. Right now there is the wedding that is fast approaching for Gloria and Andy Sr. As each day passes, the wedding continues to change. It was small at first, now it has gotten big because of who is going to be at attendance. If you are reading ‘Shadow of My Father’ you will know from the last chapter that the Governor, Al and others are traveling in for the event.

 

Jacob is still recovering from the car accident. Tom and Thomas are still in the hospital. Thomas’ mother is out there trying to sue Jacob and Joey for what happened to her son in the accident. Tom got his settlement, but was told that he was going to have to go out of town to do his rehab. David needs to decide if he will go and if he does, will he go to school in Colorado. Jacob got the student council presidency. It looks like there isn’t any backlash, but will there be any as time goes by? Joey is helping Jacob out with his duties in ROTC and their relationship is getting closer again. Jacob got the cars for everyone including the cars for Drivers ED at El Paso High. That included a new van for Joey. There is Jacob talking with Principal Michaels about building a new building to house a new cafeteria and library. And a lot more going on, so let’s sit back, grab our drinks, something to eat and enjoy the new chapter to the Jacob saga.}

 

“Don’t worry sir! I know you didn’t mean for what you just said to sound the way it came out;” Jacob said with a chuckle in his voice. Principal Michaels relaxed back into his seat. “No, I don’t want to name the building after myself. That wouldn’t be right. I would, however, like to name the building after…………” Jacob looked around the room to see if there was anyone listening in. He felt like there was someone looking over his shoulder, but he didn’t see anyone around. “As I was saying sir, I would like to, if possible, name the new building after Tom. He is going through a lot right now and all he wants is to get out of that bed and get back on the field and that won’t be happening by the way things look right now. Who knows in future that might change, but now, I don’t know.”

 

Principal Michaels leaned forward, rubbing his chin. “Well I don’t see why we can’t name the building after him.” With a half-smile, Michaels chuckled. “To tell you the truth if you are going to be the only one donating the money, you can name the building after anyone you want. All I am asking, or should say, recommending you to do is think really hard and long before you make that decision. If you choose a person that really doesn’t deserve it, the backlash from the public might be so strong that it could keep the building from being built.”

 

Jacob had already thought about that. He knew he couldn’t name the building after himself or really anyone in his family. Firstly, the public wouldn’t accept it, and second, if he would have chosen himself or anyone directly in his family, it would make him look like those rich people he swore to never become no matter how much money he gets.

 

“Thank you for your suggestions in this matter, but I have already been thinking for awhile about this whole scope of building a new cafeteria and library on to the school. I thought about getting other donors, getting the district involved and on and on so I don’t look like this little rich kid. However, in the end and after weighing everything, I came to the conclusion that having less people involved in a project there would be less of a chance things can go wrong.” Jacob looked at Michaels in the eyes. “You know that is the truth sir!”

 

“Yes, son, you hit the nail squarely on the head. I have been in the middle of projects like the one you are suggesting that had more than one donor all too many times. Let me tell you after those experiences that I’d rather deal with only one donor, not two, three and so on and so on. Things will get done a lot faster that way.”

 

Principal Michaels got up from his seat and started to pace. “Before I say what I am thinking Jacob, I want to say thank you for everything you are giving back to your school. I have never had a student like you that put others first before him or herself. You having that quality at such a young age indicates that you are going to turn out to be a very good and honorable man when you get older. Something this world desperately needs.”

 

Michaels stopped talking when he reached the door. He just looked out the window into the busy hallway gathering his thoughts. He wanted to make sure the next words that came out, came out right. If he worded it wrong in anyway, it might back fire to a point that Jacob might pull the offer of building a new cafeteria and library and giving to Driver’s ED.

 

“With that said, you have already given so much to your high school. From everything you have done in the ROTC program to the most recent thing, donating vehicles to the Driver’s ED program, you have done enough. There isn’t any need for you to do anymore for your school. Let’s try and raise the money from the public for the new building. If we fall short, you come in and put whatever we need to complete the project.”

 

“I thought of that sir, but I don’t think it is a good idea.” Principal Michaels turned around with a confused look on his face. “Let me explain what I mean before you say anything. Bringing the public into this project will take too much time. There is no doubt in my mind if they are asked, they will give, but by the time we raise the necessary funds, I will be probably in my second year of college.

 

No sir, I think the best way on getting this done is by one donor.” Jacob could see that he still hasn’t sold the idea of one donor to Principal Michaels. “If you fear having my name mentioned as the donor, I am fine with being a silent donor. All that matters to me is that we get the building built and it gets named after Tom. That is all I want. My name doesn’t have to be mentioned anywhere in this project once it gets started.”

 

Thrown back a little by what Jacob said, Michaels didn’t respond immediately. “Jacob I don’t want you to be a silent donor. Not when it comes to that much money. You should get the recognition of the good you are doing for your community. So get that idea out of your head! Your name as the donor will be in all caps and billed all over the place. That is the end of that conversation! Okay?” Jacob nodded his head.

 

“Now as far as getting the building built, I agree having the public helping will take too long. So I will go along with you as the only donor. That way we can get the building built over the summer and when you return for your senior year, it will be open. Also it will give me a chance to figure out what I’m going to do with the old cafeteria and library.”

 

Before Jacob could respond, the door to the restaurant flew open and several of the kids that lived in the hotel walked in. Shortly after they walked in, Davey’s class let out and they all filed into the restaurant, ending Jacob and Principal Michael’s conversation. They promised each other they were going to pick it up as soon as time permitted them to before joining the others that walked from Davey’s class.

 

Unlike Principal Michaels, Jacob’s day wasn’t over. It was already down to the wire for his parents’ wedding just three short days away. A lot had been discussed on what was going to happen, but no action has been taken. So Jacob decided to pull his family together and try and get the times set in stone on getting their suits fitted, the church and everything else that hadn’t yet been done.

 

After everyone that didn’t live at the hotel left, Jacob pulled his family into the lobby. As they gathered, he pulled his parents to side to go over a few things before talking about them with the others. Mainly he wanted to make sure he had all his facts straight before he opened his mouth and had to correct himself on something.

 

“Mom, dad, I know we talked a little about what you guys want in your wedding Saturday, but we haven’t gone into much detail about the day. I understand you want a small ceremony, but I don’t agree with that. You guys had that in your first wedding, and we now have a little money to do a lot more. Plus Grandpa and the Governor are coming down! So I was thinking we should have the ceremony at the same church where the Governor got married.”

 

Gloria looked at Andy Sr. to get some kind of guidance, but his face was stone. She couldn’t get any kind of read off him about where he stood on what their son had just said. She looked back at Jacob, scratched her head before responding to him.

 

“Look Jake, your father and I have been giving this wedding a lot of thought. In fact, we have been thinking about this a lot longer than you guys since we kept it from you guys that we were getting remarried for some time. We want a small wedding. It’s not because we can’t afford a big one, but because we don’t want a big thing made out of us getting married.”

 

“Mom, come on! It’s rare that two people re-find love after they thought they had lost it. You two rekindled what you once thought you had lost. That alone should be something to celebrate. Plus, who else can say that their current governor is going to be at attendance at their wedding. Not anyone like us that is for sure!” Jacob cracked a smile, causing his father and mother to crack a smile and then laugh.

 

“So, let’s get Father Gomez to perform the ceremony at the same church where the Governor got married, and then we can bring the party here to one of the ballrooms. Okay?” At the same time Gloria and Andy Sr. nodded their heads. “Now we need to go over a couple more things before joining the others in the lobby.”

 

Jacob handed his father and mother a notebook paper with a list of ten things. One by one they went through the list and knocked each of the things out. Once they came to an agreement with everything on the list, the made their way to the lobby where the rest of the family was waiting. As soon as they walked in, the room went dead silent.

 

Looking around the room, Jacob saw the same look in each of their faces, a mixture of nervousness and confusion. “Well you all should know why we are here, so the confused looks are not needed.” Jacob chuckled, putting everyone in the room at ease. “We only have a couple of days to get everything done for mom and dad’s wedding, so I am going to need everyone to pitch in and help where they can.”

 

With help from his mother and father, Jacob went down the list of things that were still pending that needed to be done. It took them over an hour to get through everything they needed to get through, but when they were done, everyone pitched in. The only thing that was remaining was who was going to be the best man and maid of honor.

 

“A lot of sleepless nights have gone by for Andy and me in the last couple of weeks on this last subject.” Gloria looked down at the paper she was holding. “No matter who we chose, there are going to be hurt feelings. So before we ask the ones to be the best man and maid of honor, let us make clear that the ones that were not picked weren’t picked because we love her or him any less.” Gloria felt like she was speaking a language that everyone in the room didn’t understand by the looks on their faces.

 

“What my bride-to-be to be is trying to say…” Andy Sr. jumped in to try and help Gloria. “…is that we wish we could have all of you up there as our best man and maid of honor, but there could only be one or there won’t be anyone in the seats watching us take our vows.” The room cracked up laughing. “We need witnesses of our special day as much as we need the best man and maid of honor.” Andy turned to Gloria and gave her to a look that only she understood.

 

“Okay I guess we better just get it out there and see if the persons we have chosen are going to even want to be our best man and maid of honor.”

 

Before Gloria could throw out the question, Jacob stopped her and told everyone to go back to what they were doing. He didn’t want the persons that were going to be asked to be put on the spot, and his parents quickly caught on. As soon as the lobby cleared out, Gloria and Andy Sr. went in different directions to look for the individuals they had chosen to be their person on their special day, hoping they would say yes.

 

Meanwhile back at the hospital, lawyer McQueen had wrapped his meeting with Thomas and his father. As he made his way to the elevator, he saw Thomas’ mother sitting in the waiting room with her head between her legs. His heart went out to her, but he wasn’t about to get pulled into the crazy world that she was in. He understood why she was angry, but he couldn’t believe she was taking it out on persons who had no responsibility.

 

As he stood there waiting for the elevator, he kept looking back at Thomas’ mother, by the third time Thomas’ mother and McQueen made eye contact. He saw tears rolling down her cheeks, making him feel even worse than he had when he asked for her not to be involved. For the first time he saw the caring mother that Thomas swore she was. Ignoring his first impression of her, he decided to give her another chance and walked over to her.

 

“Mrs. Juarez?” McQueen whispered as he gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “I have finished up with your son and husband. We have put together a plan and we would like to go after those responsible for what happened to your son. It isn’t my place to talk with you about that plan, but I’m sure if you go to your son, he will walk you through what we have agreed on doing.”

 

Mrs. Juarez looked up at McQueen in a fog. She started to speak, but the words that she wanted to say didn’t come out exactly like she wanted them to and those that did come out, she was stuttering. McQueen tried his best to put together what she was saying, but he gave up and just consoled her, something he thought he would never do.

 

“Mrs. Juarez things are going to get better for your son and your family. That I promise you! There will be nothing that Thomas and you guys as his parents will ever have to worry about. I mean nothing. When I’m done with those that are responsible for putting your son in the hospital, you guys are going to not have a financial concern ever again.”

 

McQueen stood up, helped Mrs. Juarez up, and hugged her one last time before directing her to her son’s room. When he saw that she wasn’t going to turn around, he made his way to the elevator. As he pushed the button to go down, he turned around to take one last look to make sure Mrs. Juarez was going to her son’s room. When he turned around, he was surprised to see Mrs. Juarez looking back mouthing thank you. He smiled, nodded his head and mouthed the words ‘you’re welcome’ as he walked into the elevator.

 

Slowly Mrs. Juarez cracked her son’s door open. Once she has it open wide enough that she could see inside, Thomas called out for her. Straightening out her demeanor, she walked in with her head up high, which didn’t fool her son or her husband. They could see that she has been crying by the redness in her eyes that she couldn’t get rid of.

 

Thomas looked at his father and without saying a word, Mr. Juarez knew what his son wanted. He got up from where he was sitting and started to make his way out of the room. As he passed his wife, he leaned in and whispered to her to keep her cool. She nodded her head as she leaned in and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek.

 

Once they were alone in the room, Thomas asked his mother to sit at his side. “Mom, I know you think what you were doing and what you want to do is the right thing, but it isn’t.” Thomas spoke in a calm low voice. “Joey and Jacob are my friends! What happened to me and the others last weekend isn’t their fault. Just like you, they couldn’t stop it no matter what they did or didn’t do. So go after them isn’t the right thing.”

 

“Son you don’t still understand that you are going to need a lot of care in the months, if not the years ahead. Your father and I don’t have that kind of insurance or money to cover all the costs of the medical needs you are going to have. So we have no other choice but to go after someone that has the means to help us out to cover those costs.”

 

Thomas pulled himself up as he pushed the button to move the head of his bed up. Once he was in a sitting position in his bed, he looked over at his mother, grabbed her hands and started to speak, but this time it wasn’t in a low whisper.

 

“Mom those guys are not at fault for what happened and I know you know that. I think you are going after them because you see deep pockets, but it won’t work. Not only the lawsuit will be thrown out of court, but when we go after the ones that are actually to blame for this, the courts won’t even entertain the lawsuit because of us trying to sue my friends.”

 

Mrs. Juarez started to shake her head. “Please mom listen to me and stop being blinded by the fact that a couple of my friends are rich.  If you keep going down that road you are going to mess everything up for me. Not only will I lose all my friends at school, but we will lose any chance of getting anything from those that are actually responsible for this.” Thomas let go of his mother’s hands and started to point to all his injuries in his body, grabbing his mother’s attention.

 

“I don’t want to lose my friends mom, please don’t keep doing what you are doing. Dad, Mr. McQueen and I have put together a plan to go after the right people. I believe the plan we put together is the right one. Plus I believe in Mr. McQueen and the promise he made me and dad that he will take care of us as he did Tom.”

 

Mrs. Juarez let down her guard and started to really listen to her son as he went over what was discussed when she was out of the room. The more she listened, the more she came to the same conclusion that that the plan put together by her son, her husband and Mr. McQueen is the right path to take. At the same time, she saw in her son’s face that she was hurting him a lot by going after his friends, something she didn’t want.

 

They sat there in Thomas’ hospital room talking about where they were going to go from that moment. By the time Mr. Juarez walked in, Mrs. Juarez’s defenses melted away. She agreed with her son and husband that Thomas’ friends were not at fault. The trucking company was and that company should be the one they should go after.

 

By the time the Hernandez family got done talking about the upcoming wedding between Gloria and Andy Sr. it was after eleven, almost midnight. Jacob, Dewayne and the other boys headed up to their rooms and turned in for the night. Once they crawled into bed, not one of them woke up again until their alarm clocks sounded the next morning.

 

Thursday nothing really happened at school for Jacob and his friends. The talk about the recount and how the election was almost stolen slowly disappeared. By lunch time, the student body was talking about other things, giving Jacob and his friends a chance to breathe for the first time since the votes were counted the week prior.

 

Jacob tried to get back into his routine of going to lunch, spending the first thirty minutes with his friends and then heading to the ROTC building to do what he was supposed to do there as battalion commander. When he walked into the building, he half expected his in box over flowing with paperwork, but was pleasantly surprised to find it empty thanks to Joey. Joey took over and did Jacob’s duties while he was busy with the election and everything else he had to deal with in the last week from things at school to his private life like the accident.

 

By the time the final bell rang, Jacob was back on autopilot. He and Principal Michaels were unable to find time throughout the day to continue the conversation that they were unable to complete the night before due to the karate ending. Jacob tried one last time to catch his principal after getting his books for his homework from his locker, but he couldn’t.

 

When he found Principal Michaels at the side of the school where the school buses were parked, he was busy breaking up a fight. Jacob stood there watching his principal getting between two guys that got into a fight over a girl they both wanted to date. At that moment it struck Jacob how much his principal actually cared about his students.

 

Michaels pulled the students apart, got the story of why they were fighting and instead of taking them to his office, he sent them home. Jacob stood listening to Michaels as he talked with the students, understanding where they were. He explained to them he once was a teenager and had gotten into fights over a girl. However, he warned them this was the only freebie he was going to give them.  They thanked him for that.

 

Seeing that he was busy dealing with the aftermath of the fight, Jacob decided not to bother Michaels. He headed over to the truck to join the guys who had been waiting for him over twenty minutes. When he got there, the guys teased him being a teacher’s pet as they climbed in and pulled out of the school parking lot. Jacob took the teasing as he sat there in the passenger’s seat, looking out the window as Chase drove them to the hotel.

 

Not wasting much time at the hotel, everyone in the wedding party jumped back into the truck, with Dewayne behind the wheel and headed to Star Western Wear. It took several hours, but everyone walked out of the store with their clothes for the wedding. They even got their boots and their suits sized and done before they left.

 

The women in the wedding party went to a different store and when they got back to the hotel, they had gotten everything they needed for the wedding. By the time they sat down for dinner, they were tired, but they were able to relax just a little more than the night before. The only thing that was left to do was to get the church, which Jacob and his parents didn’t see that as a big problem, unlike they thought getting the clothes in time was going to be.

 

As things were starting to settle down in the hotel, everyone started to head up to their rooms, the front door flew open and two people walked in that everyone had been missing. The first to see Al and Virginia walking in was Dewayne, who immediately walked up to the couple he has been calling his grandparents for awhile now and pulled each into a hug, Before they broke their hug, several of the boys that lived in Jacob’s house saw their grandparents and ran up to them and joined in making it a total hug fest.

 

Al and Virginia couldn’t help but get misty eyed as the young men welcomed them home calling addressing them as their grandparents. When they finally let go, Jacob walked up to his grandfather, the best as he could with his legs wrapped, and pulled him into a hug. The two men held each other in a hug for a few minutes as the others just stood there looked on with misty eyes themselves. Virginia was standing by reveling at the bond between the two and with what she was seeing didn’t feel bad that she wasn’t involved in the moment.

 

It took Gloria and Andy Sr. wiggling in to break them apart and hug their father and mother. As soon as they hugged them, Andy Jr. and Jeremy hugged their grandparents, welcoming them home, followed by Marie and Greg and finally Davey jumped up on his grandpa Al for his hug. Tony was the last to hug his parents and welcome them home. Once everyone got their turn to welcome the patriarchs of their family home, Al and Virginia walked to the lobby, followed by everyone else, and sat down.

 

Once everyone settled in, they took turns briefing the grandparents where they were as far as the wedding was concerned. They was stunned finding out how far along the plans were. When Al heard who the best man and maid of honor were, he was blown out of his seat. He thought the best man was going to be Jacob, and hearing it wasn’t him, he couldn’t believe it.

 

Gloria and Andy Sr. knew by the expression on their father’s face that they had disappointed him with their choice for best man and maid of honor. It took Jacob taking his grandfather to the side to get him to see why they had chosen who they chose. When they returned to the group, Al congratulated the two and told them they were the wise choices.

 

Once they got over the selection of best man and maid of honor, they moved onto the church, which Al said he would take care of. Once he said that, they had nothing more to talk about as far as the wedding. The conversation quickly moved to questions about Al’s job in Austin. One after another asked Al how it was working for the Governor and how they decided on how to get things done. Al answered every question he was able to, taking the time into the early hours of the morning.

 

When they realized it was after one o’clock in the a.m., they quickly headed up to their rooms and got ready for bed. Like the night before, none of them woke up before the alarm clocks went off. Unlike the morning before, they all hit the snooze button several times before crawling out of bed and getting dressed for school.

 

Once they all made it downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast, they started talking about calling in sick to the school. Jacob didn’t disagree with them, but knew he was pretty close himself on going over his excuse absences. After doing a quick calculations in his head, he saw he still had a few days to fool with. So agreed with the guys and headed back upstairs to steal a couple more hours of sleep before he had to get his day started.

 

While the boys at the hotel headed upstairs to go back to sleep, Ralph and Ethan didn’t play hooky from school. This was Ralph’s second day back in high school, but on his first day he and Ethan didn’t spend any time alone. Instead, they stayed with the group for the fear that if spotted by the gay hatters they might get into a fight that they didn’t want.

 

However with pretty much the entire group no shows, they were left alone. At first when they arrived at the table with their trays, they thought they were at the wrong table. Once they saw that they weren’t, they sat there in silence waiting on the other guys. It took over fifteen minutes before both of the realized that no one else was going to come and they would have to talk to each other if they didn’t want to be sitting there in the uncomfortable silence.

 

It was Ralph that broke the silence first. “Hey Ethan, please look at me.” Ralph reached over and gently patted Ethan on the hand. He waited until Ethan looked him into the eyes before saying another word. “I know all this is strange for you. Hell it is strange for me, and I’m the one that asked to come back to high school.” Ethan nodded his head.

 

“I don’t know when we got together what attracted you to me was the fact I was a college guy already. If that was the reason, I hope in the time since then we have been dating you have come to love me for who I really am. Or at least like me lot so where we have a chance to at least see if we can be more than what we were. I’m no different now than I was when I was going to college a few short weeks ago.”

 

Clearing his throat, Ethan grabbed a hold of Ralph’s hand and held it tight. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved the fact I got a college guy. Heck, look around this cafeteria to all the girls, and yes, the gay guys. I promise you they would kill to go out with you. Not only that you were a college guy, but you are drop dead gorgeous.”

 

Ralph tried to interrupt, but Ethan placed his index finger over Ralph’s lips. “Let me finish before you say another word. They would kill to have you at their side, but I can actually go up to them and tell them to all go to hell because I have you.” Ralph’s eyes looked like they were about to jump out of his sockets. “Really! If you want I will jump here on this table and say that if you don’t believe me.”

 

Ethan let go of Ralph’s hand and started to climb up onto the table as Ralph started to reach out for him to stop him. “Come on sit back down man!” Ralph started to laugh. “What you were about to do is getting me hot all over, and I love you for it, but I don’t need you to do it. They know I’m taken by the hottest guy in this school, and that’s enough for me!”

 

Ralph winked at Ethan as he guided him down back to the bench. “No you are the hottest guy in this school. I’m so lucky to have you as my boyfriend I can’t say it in words. At least I can’t get it out right that is. I’m thinking something, but what I’m thinking never reaches from my brain to my mouth. Something totally different comes out.”

 

“There is no need for you to say anything. Do you know why?” Ethan looked at Ralph with a confused look on his face as he shook his head. “Everything you want to say to me I see in your eyes and your facial expressions. So whenever you think I didn’t get when you were talking, think again. I always get what you saying by the look in your eyes.”

 

Without a care in the world about who was watching, Ralph leaned in, pulled Ethan’s face gently over to his until their lips touched. They held their kiss for several minutes even though they could feel every eyeball in the cafeteria looking at them. When they broke the kiss and looked around, they saw their fellow students quickly turn away from them to either their tray of food or the friends they were sitting with. However, there was no fooling either of them that almost everyone in the cafeteria was looking at them as they kissed.

 

After grabbing attention of everyone on the cafeteria, Ralph and Ethan decided to take their show out of the building to the stadium. When they walked out, no one standing there could have cared less about what they did in the cafeteria. They minded their own business and kept talking with their group of friends or doing their homework that they didn’t do the night before.

 

With big smiles on their faces, they made their way to the far side of the stadium and stayed there arm and arm until the bell rang. Ralph asked questions about the high school, and Ethan tried to answer them. However, they didn’t get much talking done. Every time they started up the conversation, one of them would lean in and kiss the other, stopping the conversation. Then when they broke the kiss, they forgot where they were and had to start over again, which neither of them minded or cared.

 

They were the last to leave the stadium, but once again they didn’t care. All the way in, they held hands, stealing a kiss from each other every couple of steps. When they finally walked through the doors on the main floor and had to let go of each other’s hands, they were reluctant. They didn’t want to let each other go. They didn’t want the moment they were having end. However, they had to because neither of them didn’t want to be late for class.

 

Ralph pulled away from Ethan, but hated every second doing so. As soon as they broke free, they both felt empty. All the way to their lockers they kept looking back to the other to see what the other was doing. Each time they did, they winked or mouthed the words I love you to each other until they couldn’t see each other anymore.

 

Back at the hotel, the Press Secretary, Johnny Walker, walked through the doors, but unlike Al, he wasn’t greeted with a welcoming party. Everyone had stayed up late, and is now up in their rooms trying to get in a couple more hours of sleep before they had to get up and get going. And unlike Al and Virginia, Johnny Sr. didn’t fly with the Governor into El Paso the day before.

 

He had to stay back settling down the press. The press was all over him about the gay rights bill and how it looked like for the second time in less than a month the bill was going to be killed. It took him several hours to answer all the press’ concerns, and even then, he left the press room with the feeling that he didn’t even scratch the surface.

 

His feelings were confirmed when he landed in El Paso and was getting off the plane. The press had followed him into town, those that stayed back, and ambushed him as soon as he wheeled out to his limousine. Being the kind of press secretary that he was, he tried to answer all the questions that were thrown at him, but he had to finally call it quits after thirty minutes of answering questions. He wasn’t getting anywhere and was not about to spend any more time answering the same questions over and over again.

 

So when he wheeled through the doors of the hotel, he was dead on his feet. All he wanted to do was get up to the room where his family was staying in and get a few hours of sleep. The only problem with that was, he didn’t know what room they were in. To make matters worse, there wasn’t anyone at the desk or the lobby to help him out.

 

Tired and frustrated, Johnny Sr. made his way to the restaurant hoping to find someone who could point him the right direction. As soon as he went through the double doors, he was surprised to find his wife sitting there having coffee. When she looked up and saw her husband sitting there at the door in his wheelchair, she jumped up and ran over to him.

 

They hugged, kissed at the door for a few minutes before Mrs. Walker stood up and walked around her husband’s wheel chair and pushed him in. As soon as he got to the table, she locked the brakes, went to the kitchen and grabbed her husband a cup of coffee and his favorite coffee cake and then returned to him. They made light talk while they drank their coffee and ate their sweet bread, but once they were done, Johnny Sr. got serious.

 

“Where is Johnny Jr.?” Mrs. Walker looked up to the roof. “Why isn’t he at school like he should be?” His wife explained why their son wasn’t at school. “Oh, well I understand the late night and everything why he isn’t at school. I just hope this hasn’t been ongoing thing on missing school because he didn’t go to bed when he should have.”

 

“No this is the first time this has ever happened!”

 

“Good, I will leave it at that.” Johnny Sr. looked his wife in the eyes with a serious look. “But I do have a problem with a decision you have made dealing with our son while I was in Austin.” Mrs. Walker knew exactly where the conversation was heading and it did. “Why did you agree with the whole thing of those two boys sleeping together?”

 

“It wasn’t like Gloria and I had any choice in the matter. Davey wasn’t sleeping at night due to what happened to him. With Johnny at his side, he falls asleep and stays asleep almost all night long. Seeing that, we figured, what it could hurt letting them sleep in the same bed with the one condition we laid out along with his doctor; no sex.”

 

“Come on honey you know the boys are not going to be able to keep that promise. Heck when I was there age, my hormones were all over the place. All that was on my mind was sex, and you know that!” Mrs. Walker with a sheepish grin on her face, coyly nodded her head. “And to make matters worse, those are two young boys that want to experiment. What is stopping them now that they are in the same bed with the blessing of their parents?”

 

“Really nothing except their word they gave us. We have to believe in their word and that they will keep it when they give it. If we show them that we don’t trust them at all or take them at their word, they will never come to us when they should.  Until they break their promise, I say we leave things the way they are right now.”

 

Johnny Sr. didn’t agree with his wife at all. “No we are not going to be told by our son what he can and can’t do. Take me up to their room right now so I can have a talk with them before things get busy around here with the wedding and all. Once that happens, I will be too busy with the Governor and the press that will try and sneak in.”

 

Not giving his wife a chance to object, Johnny Sr. rolled away from the table, turned his chair and headed toward the door. Mrs. Walker jumped out of her seat and had to run to catch up with her husband. When she did, he was already at the elevator reaching out to push the up button, which didn’t work since he didn’t have a card.

 

Mrs. Walker swiped her card, the elevator door opened and they got on in silence. The entire ride up to the floor where they were staying, neither of them said a word. However, when the elevator door opened, that changed. Mrs. Walker pleaded with her husband to take it easy with their son. Talk with him; don’t yell at him. At first, it looked like Johnny Sr. wasn’t listening, but just as they got to the bedroom door, he nodded his head.

 

A few soft taps on the door, Johnny Sr. pushed it open. He found his son cuddled up in bed with a young man he has never met. He looked up at his wife for guidance, who just knocked on the door again, but this time harder. It stirred both boys, but neither of them woke up. It just made them get closer to each other. Johnny Sr. knocked harder on the door as he yelled out his son’s name, which brought their son out of the sleep world.

 

After wiping away the sleepiness from is eyes, Johnny Jr. saw his father sitting there looking at him. With a big smile on his face, he jumped out of the bed and ran over to him. He fell into his father’s lap, wrapping his arms around him. It only took one ‘welcome home’ and a kiss from his son to make him melt and forget why he was so angry.

 

They didn’t break their hug until they heard Davey getting up in bed. Johnny Jr. stood up and walked over to his young, sleepy boyfriend and sat next to him on the bed. He introduced Davey to his father as Johnny Sr. and Mrs. Walker made their way to the bed. Davey extended his hand and greeted his boyfriend’s father with a smile and an him saying it is an honor to meet him.

 

“The honor is all mine young man.” Johnny Sr. said as he shook Davey’s hand. “I have heard so much about you, and now I’m able to put a face to the name and the glowing comments I have been hearing.” Davey turned all shades of red as he tried to brush his hair with his hand, but he was just making it worse. “Don’t worry about all that, you guys were asleep.”

 

Davey stopped trying to comb his hair and straighten up his pajamas. He stood up straight along with Johnny Jr. and looked Johnny Sr. in his eyes. Both of the young boys could see that there was something not right in the elder Johnny’s eyes. Both of them got the same feeling the look was about them and it wasn’t good.

 

“Boys there is something I need to talk with you about.” Johnny Sr. spoke in a low reassuring whisper. “I need you both to promise me that you will not interrupt me or get up until I am done, okay?” Both of the boys nodded their heads. “What I’m going to talk with you boys about is going to upset you, but when I’m done you will understand.”

 

Taking a deep breath, Johnny Sr. continued. “Davey what happened to you should have never happened. No one deserves what you have been through in your short life already. In fact I can say with confidence that many adults my age and older haven’t gone through anything near what you have gone through so far. I know that isn’t making you feel good, but it is the truth. You have been through so much and all I can hope for you now is that the bad days of your life are all behind you and you have nothing but good days.

 

I also understand why this setup of you boys sleeping together was done. You were not sleeping at all through the night, but once Jr. and you started to sleep together, you were able to sleep through the night. You agreed to not have sex while in the same bed. Not only because it isn’t right, but because you, Davey, will be hurt if you guys do.”

 

Johnny Sr. stopped abruptly to gather his thoughts. He wanted to make sure the next thing he was going to say wouldn’t come out wrong. If it did, he knew there would be no way coming back from it. Not only he would lose his son, but hurt Davey as well. A kid that all he wants to do for him is shelter him from the outside world and the ugliness that is out there and not hurt him anymore than he has already been hurt from adults in his life.

 

Once he felt he had his thoughts together and he wasn’t going to hurt Davey or his son, he started to talk in a reassuring voice. “You guys are barely in high school, in fact just started high school. Both of you haven’t really been out there as far as the dating world is concerned. This relationship between you two was developed through the worst circumstances possible. I am not saying it won’t make it, but we have to be honest here.”

 

At the same time the boys tried to interrupt Johnny Sr., but Johnny put his hand up waving it in the air stopping them. “Boys, I told you to please not interrupt me until I was done. I promise you if you give me the chance to finish, you will understand where I’m coming from and where I’m going, okay?”

 

The boys settled back in the bed nodding their heads. “Good, now as I was saying this relationship was developed during a time in both of your lives when all what was going on made it not the right time to develop a relationship. Davey you are coming out of a horrific rape that should have never happened.” Johnny Sr. looked at his son. “Son you are barely finding yourself right now. You just came out to us a few months ago and that had to be hard.

 

I am glad you guys found each other, don’t get me wrong, but I also feel you guys are rushing this relationship. Put aside the fact that what you are doing is against the law, you guys barely have gotten together. Your mother, those that own the hotel here and myself could get into a lot of trouble allowing you guys to sleep together. But like I said we are going to put that to the side for right now and look at the other side of this whole thing.

 

You guys barely gotten together and I will bet you dollar to donuts you guys really haven’t gotten to know everything about each other. That takes years, if not longer for that to happen. So jumping into bed and sleeping together after just weeks of dating should have not happened.” Johnny Jr. Jumped up, but his father waved him down.

 

“Again son I understand why you guys are sleeping together right now, but let’s be honest here, you’re teenagers. I haven’t forgotten how it is being a teenager and how I was back then. To make matters worse here, both of you are guys! In any relationship, majority of the time, the male of the relationship is always the one wanting to have sex. Now we have TWO guys, teenagers in ninth grade together, it isn’t a good mix.”

 

“Dad come on, we promised that we were not going to have sex until you gave us permission to.” Johnny Jr. interrupted his father. “Come on, Davey here is still recovering from what those asses did to him at school. Sex is far from both of our minds. All we want right now is to spend time together and yes, to really get to know each other. As you said, we barely met and don’t really know much about each other.”

 

“There isn’t a doubt in my mind son what you are telling me is the truth. You have never lied to me, so your word is gold. But I have to look at the big picture of all this. Eventually your guys’ hormones are going to take over, gay or straight, the little head between our legs at that point does the thinking for us. When that day comes, you guys aren’t going to be thinking about the promise you gave us. All you’re going to want to do is scratch the itch.”

 

The last thing Johnny Sr. said didn’t go over well with the boys. He could see the anger and frustration in their faces. At that point he knew no matter what he said or how he worded it, the boys were going to be angry and hurt. The very two things he tried to avoid, but now it is happening. So he is going to finish what he started and hoped over time they would come to understand that he was looking out for their best interests.

 

“Boys this going to sound mean and you are not going to like it, but I’m the grown up here and have to make the hard decisions and be the bad guy. You can’t be sleeping together. Both of you are fourteen, living under the roof of person that can get arrested if the authorities find out you are sleeping together. Your mother and I can get arrested as well since we are aware of what is going on and let it happen. But mainly you guys are just way too young.”

 

At the same time, Davey and Johnny Jr. started to object. Johnny Sr. sat there allowing the two boys say their peace, not saying a word. When they were done, they sat back down, in tears. Both of them knew that they didn’t change Johnny Sr.’s mind, which is tearing them apart. Johnny Sr. saw that and it hurt him, but he had to stick to his decision.

 

“I know right now in your eyes I’m the devil. All I can hope for in time that both of you will come to see and understand why I did what I did. I know both of you are thinking that won’t happen, but all I can do is hope.” Johnny Sr. looked to his wife for support, which she grabbed his hand and reinforced what he had just done.

 

Even after Mrs. Walker backed up her husband, the boys tried to fight them on the decision. They hoped to get one of them to change their mind, but they stood their ground. Even though it was hurting them seeing their son hurting, they had to stand their ground. If they didn’t, they knew that they would little by little lose control of their own home.

 

“Dad, mom please don’t do this…” Johnny Jr.  cried out through his tears. “Please, we promise not to do anything with each other, we promise. Davey needs it, or he isn’t going to be able to sleep at all. Please understand that, please mom and dad, please.” Johnny Jr. begged his parents, bringing them to tears as well.

 

“Johnny I know right now what we are doing doesn’t sound right or feel right, but you will hopefully one day come to understand we are doing this out of love.” Johnny Sr. wiped the tears from his face. “We love you son and all we want to do is protect you from all the bad in this world. In time you will understand that.”

 

“Johnny, Davey…” Mrs. Walker jumped in. “We talked about this whole thing of you guys sleeping together for hours and hours. Both of us had sleepless nights trying to come to the right decision on this whole thing. We went back and forth, weighing everything you could imagine, but at the end we decided this was the right decision.

 

But we are not saying that you guys can’t be together or even stay in the same room. We are just saying that you can’t sleep together in one bed.” Mrs. Walker looked around the room to see if there was enough space to move in another bed. “What we are going to do is have another bed moved in here. That way each of you has your own bed.”

 

Johnny Jr. Jumped up from the bed, scaring Davey! “Jr. sit back down and let me finish.” Mrs. Walker stood up, waving her son to sit down. “Before you get going, you need to let me finish. If Davey has a nightmare, you get into bed with him and console him, but once he is back to sleep, you need to get back into your own bed. If your father or I catch you in two asleep in the same bed, you guys will have to have separate rooms. But we are going to give you guys three chances on that, so try your hardest not to fall asleep when you are consoling him. We know it will happen, so try your best not to do so.”

 

Once again the boys tried to change Johnny Jr.’s parents mind, but they wouldn’t budge from what they said. They went over a few more rules with them before letting them jump back into the conversation and ask questions. Once they were all talked out, Johnny Sr. and his wife tried to reassure them once again this decision was the right one and they will see that over time before they left the room.

 

Meanwhile on the other side of the hallway in the hotel, Jacob and Dewayne were getting up from bed. Dewayne helped Jacob to the bathroom, undressed him and got him into the shower. As Dewayne moved up and down Jacob’s body, soaping it up, Jacob got a roaring hard-on. In less than a minute, Jacob’s dick was sticking straight up, grabbing Dewayne’s attention.

 

Licking his lips, Dewayne reached down and tugged at Jacob’s dick a couple of times. “It looks like you are wide awake.” Dewayne said as he laughed. “If you want, I can take care of this for you.” Jacob looked at Dewayne with a look that Dewayne knew too well, a look that told him that he already knew the answer to the question that he just asked, which he did.

 

Taking the soap, Dewayne lathered his hands. He reached down and wrapped his lathered hands around Jacob’s dick and slowly started to stroke it. Little by little he picked up his speed, and just as Jacob reached his climax, he stopped, causing Jacob to yell out at him what the hell was he doing, grabbing at his dick to finish the job.

 

Slapping away Jacob’s hand, Dewayne ignored what Jacob just said and leaned in. When their lips met, Dewayne slowly started to stroke Jacob’s dick once again. Taking turns playing tongue hockey in each other’s mouth, Dewayne brought Jacob back up to his climax again. This time he didn’t stop, he kept jerking him off. Just as Jacob started to shoot, Dewayne broke the kiss and quickly went down on his boyfriend, wrapping his lips around Jacob’s dick, sucking him dry.

 

The whole time as Dewayne was satisfying his boyfriend, he didn’t realize that he had gotten hard and exploded in his underwear. It was Jacob who saw it first. He leaned over and pulled down Dewayne’s boxer briefs and placed Dewayne’s hard dick into his mouth, getting what was left in his boyfriend’s balls.

 

Once both of them were spent, Dewayne fell to the floor, trying to catch his breath. Jacob fell back against the shower wall, trying as well to catch his breath. With his underwear around his thighs, Dewayne got up from the floor, shook them off and turned his attention back to Jacob. Both of them smiled at each other, not saying a word.

 

Dewayne leaned back down and re-cleaned his boyfriend. When he was done, He helped Jacob to get out of the shower, towel dried him and sat him down before jumping into the shower. As he was shutting the shower door, Jacob stopped him. Dewayne looked at him to see what was wrong, but he saw an evil grin on his face.

 

“You bathed me, now it is my turn to bathe you. So take a seat.”

 

Jacob pointed to the shower seat that was installed for him to take a shower. Matching Jacob’s grin, Dewayne sat down. Leaning in, Jacob grabbed the soap and washcloth, lathered the it and started to gently rub up and down Dewayne’s back. Once the back was fully lathered, Jacob turned his attention to Dewayne’s legs. The closer and closer he got to Dewayne’s dick, the harder Dewayne got.

 

Wanting more than he got, Jacob started to tease Dewayne until he was fully hard. Once he was, Jacob went down on him and didn’t come back up until he got what he went down for, which didn’t take long. Dewayne exploded for the second time, but this time Jacob was able to take every drop of his boyfriends cum, and enjoyed it.

 

Reluctantly, Jacob let his boyfriend’s dick slip out of his mouth. He just starred at his boyfriend’s dick that was still hard. Little by little it started to go soft. Once it was, Jacob snapped out of it, and finished bathing Dewayne tenderly and with as much care as Dewayne has given him since he was released from the hospital.

 

When Dewayne was done, he got out and let Jacob towel dry him. Once he was dry, he helped Jacob up and back into the room onto the bed. Both of them were thinking the same thing, but held back. Dewayne gently cleaned Jacob’s legs again, put the ointment before gently wrapping them back up. Once Jacob’s legs were rewrapped, Dewayne helped him get dressed and then dressed himself.

 

Once they were dressed, combed and ready to go, they headed down to the lobby to see if anyone else had gotten up yet. When they reached the lobby, they found Al sitting there talking with the Angle Corporation CEO, Oscar Olson. They made their way over and joined the conversation.

 

At first, the conversation was boring because it was Olson briefing Al about everything Jacob already knew. However, once he finished the briefing, they moved to the purchases Jacob spoke with his about CEO days before. After hearing everything, Al liked it all. He loved the fact that his grandson was being proactive and making very wise business decisions already. He didn’t think was going to happen this soon and he was delighted.

 

The meeting lasted a little over an hour before Al ended it. It was already early afternoon and he had to get to a meeting with the Governor. When Al got back to the hotel, everyone was sitting down for dinner. He joined them, and soon after all the single conversations joined into one, a conversation about the wedding the next day.

 

Everyone in the wedding party and out of the wedding party couldn’t wait for the big day. In such a sort period time, Jacob, Gloria, Al and the others that helped them put the wedding together were able to get a lot done. Not only did they get the church, but they also were able to line up entertainment that will be the talk of the hotel for weeks. It is already the talk of the hotel because that is all they are talking about now during dinner. The wedding and who is coming in to do the entertainment.

 

TO BE CONTINUED……………..

 

WRITER’S CORNER:

 

{Welcome back one and all to another filled chapter of ‘Jacob Finding His Way’. I am sorry for such a long break between chapters. I hope you enjoyed this new edition to the saga. I know this chapter answered some questions, but it also put out a lot more questions for you all to think about. This time it went through a lot more time than just a day. We are now at the eve of the wedding, which you guys can’t miss.

 

So let’s get to why you are reading this corner, the summation of the chapter. As always I picked up where I left off, this time with Jacob talking with Principal Michaels about the naming of the building. They got interrupted before they were able to decide on the name, but we now know who Jacob wants to name the building after. What do you guys think about that? Also we know that Jacob is going to be the sole benefactor of the building.

 

It looks like finally Thomas’ mother is seeing things the right way. After talking things over with her son, she seems to be on the same page. She agreed that the right entity to sue is the trucking company, not Joey and Jacob, but who knows. Women always seems to change their minds all the time, LOL. If McQueen does for Thomas what he did for Tom, Thomas is never going to have to worry about anything. This should put his mother’s mind at ease.

 

Ethan is back, YES! It has been a while since we have seen him. I promise you now that Ralph is now attending high school you are going to see a lot more of Ethan and Ralph. Their relationship seems to be blossoming. They threw caution to the wind and kissed in front of everyone in the cafeteria without a care in the world. I hope it doesn’t come back to haunt them in the future. You know as well as I do, it takes only one hater to get those that are on the edge to go over and cause trouble.

 

We heard a lot about the wedding, but we also have a lot more questions about it as well. Jacob is not going to be the best man, so who is it? Do any of you want to give a guess or just want to wait until the next chapter where the wedding is going to happen? Who is going to be the maid of honor? By the way Al reacted at first, it is someone he least suspected. Again we are going to have to wait till the next chapter for that answer as well.

 

A little sex scene in this chapter, or some would say just playing around between Jacob and Dewayne. Jacob got his rocks off first, and then Dewayne did, but not once, but twice. It is good to see these two finding ways to still satisfy their needs to have sex without hurting Jacob. I wonder what they are going to think up next as far as their next sex encounter. I am sure it isn’t going to be a simple blow job in the shower. That’s a hint for my excellent editor and sex scene writer, “Daddy” Rick.

 

We are seeing as more and more chapters of my sagas coming out with characters of ‘Rebirth’ in them. As you know they are going to fold into all my stories, and in this chapter it was Davey and Johnny, Jr. How many of you thought that in my writings that Johnny Sr. was going to allow his fourteen year son to sleep with another fourteen year old? No matter the reason, he wasn’t going to let it happen. Put aside the big one, people getting arrested, they are just way too young to be sleeping together.

 

At the same time he understood why it was agreed upon in the first place. That is why they found a middle ground by moving in another bed and telling Johnny Jr. he could console Davey if he had a bad dream, but couldn’t stay in bed with Davey and sleep. Do you guys think they will follow the new rules laid out before them? Or do you think they are going to be teenagers, let their heads between their legs eventually take over and do the thinking for them?

 

As always I can go on and on about the open plots in the story! If I do that, I can actually write several more chapters. So many plots can take a turn at any time. You might think it is going to go one way, but is lands up going another. Do not miss anything, or you will be kicking yourself for it. If I missed anything in my summation, my editor will hopefully go over it in his.

 

There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Stick around and keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

 

EDITOR’S CORNER:

 

I don’t know about all of you, but I’m VERY glad to be back with all the characters in the JPG stories! I’ve really missed my time with the stories each week.  I’m glad our author’s situation has resolved to the point that he is able to have time to write once again.

 

I want to extend my personal thank you to every single one of you that wrote with your kindness, concerns and prayers for JPG and his mom.  I can tell you that every single message to JPG was deeply and sincerely appreciated. It feels like all of us have a bit of a “family” connection.

 

Things still aren’t totally peachy in that situation, but things are on a good track. Continued prayers and good thoughts are still needed.

 

Now, onto the story.

 

I can sense the anticipation growing as the wedding approaches. It’s nice to see Al and Virginia at home with the family. We got proof that the separation with Al and Virginia being in Austin has weighed on all those close to them heavily; much more heavily than was realized as each day came and went while they were away. The reunion let that dam break and those feelings to be brought to the surface.

 

Thomas, it appears, has gotten his mother to see the right path to getting the right entity held accountable for his injuries. Like JPG says, we’ll have to see if what Thomas got through to his mother truly sticks.

 

Things sure have heated up between Ralph and Ethan!  Those two have really taken the plunge and accepted what the fates of love have in mind for the pair. I’m glad to see Ethan no longer hiding his reality from the world. That, in and of itself, is a great stress lifted from his psyche. He’s going to have much more energy to live and enjoy life and it’s going to be good for both he and Ralph. I will enjoy seeing their journey of love and discovery.

 

I’m sensing some serious and ongoing drama with Johnny Walker IV, Davey and the parental units.  There was the slightest bit of give on the parents’ part when they agreed to the boys having two beds in the same room but with serious restrictions. I just sense we’ve not heard the end of this issue. I know the boys are only fourteen, but there is maturity showing that goes beyond their years and the forces of love are in play. Let’s see how this one plays out.

 

I’m glad Jake’s burns have healed to the point he can enjoy a shower…and enjoy he did from what I read.  JPG snuck in a bit of intimacy on us. I did catch his not-so-subtle hint about upcoming love scenes for me to craft. No objections from me! I always enjoy writing those and I’m already formulating in my mind an intense and loving scene with Ethan and Ralph. I’ll have it ready to go when the time is right.

 

OK, so just WHO were the two selected to be the best man and maid of honor?  What a sneaky way to tuck a cliffhanger in at the middle of a chapter!

 

Until Next Time,

 

“Daddy” Rick